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Wed, 29 Apr 09
US Officials Hopeful on Climate Talks
http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-04-28-voa62.cfm
Voice of America: Senior Obama administration officials say they believe a Washington meeting on climate change this week has somewhat improved chances for a new international treaty to tackle global warming. Experts from 16 major countries and the European Union took part in the discussions. The officials say they're not underestimating the difficulty of achieving an effective agreement to replace the 1997 Kyoto protocol. But they say the tone of the discussions in Washington was positive and ...

Wed, 29 Apr 09
Biggest Emitters Seek an Early Consensus
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=46654
Inter Press Service: A two-day meeting in Washington of the 17 nations that collectively emit three-quarters of the world's greenhouse gases concluded Tuesday with optimism that it helped provide a springboard toward more comprehensive talks on a successor to the Kyoto Protocol at the end of the year. "It is important that you bring together this small group of countries that are key players sitting around the table so that we can actually move past the finger-pointing and find a solution to this ...

Wed, 29 Apr 09
Philippines: Climate change to cut rice output-ADB
http://business.inquirer.net/money/breakingnews/view/20090429-202049/Climate-change-to-cut-rice-outputADB
Various: Rice production in the country is forecast to fall by three-fourths from current levels in 10 years if nothing is done to mitigate and adapt to climate change, the Asian Development Bank said Tuesday. Zhuang Juzhong, the ADB assistant chief economist, said rice production could fall from 50 to 70 percent by 2020. He said this decline could continue until the end of this century, "if there is a business-as-usual attitude toward climate change." Zhuang is one of the ...

Wed, 29 Apr 09
Envoys more optimistic for climate treaty
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090428/pl_afp/usclimatewarming3rd
Agence France-Presse: Top climate envoys Tuesday said they were more optimistic about sealing a global warming deal this year after the two-day 18-nation talks here, but some participants said countries were still not making firm commitments. US President Barack Obama, who champions more aggressive action against global warming, invited negotiators from 17 other major economies including developing powers such as China and India to meet in Washington. The talks came as the clock ticks to a December ...

Wed, 29 Apr 09
Al Gore calls for prompt action on melting ice
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jiRQm6GfHnBVeZk8oiSGg3SUOLPQD97RISIO4
Associated Press: Al Gore said Tuesday the world must act quickly to slow the melting of the world's polar ice packs and glaciers before it reaches a critical rate for global warming. "We have to act and we have to act quickly because we don't want to cross this tipping point," the Nobel peace laureate and former U.S. vice president told a meeting of foreign ministers, experts and scientists from the most affected countries. The meeting, called "Melting Ice Regional Dramas, Global Wake-Up Call" ...

Wed, 29 Apr 09
Philippines to slash coal use: official
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090428/sc_afp/philippinesenergyenvironmentclimatecoal
Agence France-Presse: The Philippines plans to reduce its energy dependence on coal over the next five years to lessen carbon emissions which contribute to climate change, an energy official said Tuesday. "Part of the plan is to reduce the share of coal in the total energy generation mix from more than 20 percent at present to a range of 10 to 15 percent in five years," said Energy Undersecretary Zamzamin Ampatuan. Ampatuan said this is part of a five-year Clean Energy Investment Plan that the ...

Wed, 29 Apr 09
The world's melting glaciers
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/gallery/2009/apr/28/glaciers-melting-climate-change?picture=346586112
Guardian: In pictures: The world's melting glaciers | Environment | guardian.co.uk The world's melting glaciers (16 pictures) 1 / 16 Antarctica. A polar landscape of snowy hills, dramatic cumulus clouds and coastal glaciers. A glacier is a large, slow-moving mass of ice formed from compacted layers of snow, that slowly deforms and flows in response to gravity and high pressure. Glaciers cover vast areas of the polar regions and are found in mountain ranges of every continent ...

Wed, 29 Apr 09
Al Gore calls on world to burn less wood and fuel to curb 'black carbon'
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/apr/28/black-carbon-emissions
Guardian: The world must burn less diesel and wood, Nobel peace prize-winner Al Gore said yesterday, as the soot produced is accelerating the melting of ice in polar and mountainous regions. Gore, backed by government ministers and scientists, said that the soot, also known as "black carbon", from engines, forest fires and partially burned fuel was collecting in the Arctic where it was creating a haze of pollution that absorbs sunlight and warms the air. It was also being deposited on snow, ...

Wed, 29 Apr 09
Draft climate proposals reveal split on new pact
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE53R51420090428?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: A gulf needs to be bridged if the world is to sign a new climate treaty by a December deadline, according to proposals from more than 30 countries posted on a U.N. website on Tuesday. The first suggested texts for a new pact underlined a rich-poor split on sharing the cost of fighting climate change, which has hampered ongoing U.N.-led climate talks meant to agree a deal in Copenhagen at the end of the year. Rich countries agree they have to lead a climate fight after enjoying ...

Wed, 29 Apr 09
In Climate Change Debate, It's All About Jobs
http://news.yahoo.com/s/usnews/20090428/ts_usnews/inclimatechangedebateitsallaboutjobs
U.S. News and World Report: Rep. Betty Sutton, a Democrat, wants Congress to tackle climate change, but she has some concerns. She represents Ohio's 13th District, which includes Akron, where the unemployment rate is 10.3 percent. "I certainly want jobs," Sutton said last week, responding to Republicans' claims that proposed climate change legislation will cause further job losses. "I want to find ways--and I believe it can be done--to get these jobs of the future without sacrificing the livelihood of people in the ...

Wed, 29 Apr 09
Obama emissions plan to cost $1,400 a family: study
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE53R68U20090428?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: The Obama administration's plan to impose a cap-and-trade system to cut U.S. greenhouse gas emissions would result in 1.9 million job losses and cost the average household $1,400 a year by 2020, according to a new study released on Tuesday. The analysis comes as Congress debates the cost on the U.S. economy of passing legislation that would implement a emissions-reduction plan similar to what the White House wants. "All consumers and businesses would face steep increases in ...

Wed, 29 Apr 09
U.S. climate talks make progress, with some gaps
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE53Q0NH20090428?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: U.S.-hosted climate talks with the world's biggest greenhouse gas polluters concluded on Tuesday with signs of progress but sizable differences as nations work toward a deal this year to fight global warming. President Barack Obama called the Major Economies Forum to relaunch a process that began under his predecessor, George W. Bush, whose initiative drew skepticism from countries who feared it would circumvent wider United Nations negotiations. The two-day meeting was meant ...

Wed, 29 Apr 09
US envoy more optimistic on climate treaty
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090428/pl_afp/usclimatewarming
Agence France-Presse: The top US climate negotiator said Tuesday he was more optimistic about reaching a new global warming treaty this year after two days of talks in Washington among major economies. "I come out of this meeting a bit more optimistic," climate envoy Todd Stern told reporters after the talks. Representatives from 18 major economies met for two days in Washington to help lay the groundwork for December's conference in Copenhagen which is meant to approve a new global treaty on ...

Wed, 29 Apr 09
GOP on offense in fight against Democrats' climate bill
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=125965
ClimateWire: When it comes to climate change, Republicans are all over the map. Some are skeptics about the science and causes of global warming, while others worry about the potential economic costs of a cap-and-trade program. What brings them together? Democrats. From demanding more hearings on the House Democrats' climate change and energy bill to asking Al Gore about potential financial gains from renewable energy investments, the GOP is on the offensive and dialing up the ...

Wed, 29 Apr 09
US more optimistic about climate deal after talks
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090428/ap_on_go_ot/us_climate_forum
Associated Press: The top U.S. negotiator on climate change said Tuesday that he is slightly more optimistic about striking a new international agreement to curb global warming after a two-day meeting with the world's largest emitters of greenhouse gases. Todd Stern, the U.S. special envoy for climate change, told reporters at a briefing Tuesday that he is "a bit more optimistic" that the U.S. will be able to broker a new deal in Copenhagen in December. But he warned that it is not going to be ...

Wed, 29 Apr 09
Is Algae the Biofuel of the Future?
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=algae-biofuel-of-future
Greenwire: There are some signs that the algae-based fuel industry might be ready to bloom. One of the nascent industry's biggest and most well-heeled players, Sapphire Energy, announced last week that it would be producing 1 million gallons of diesel and jet fuel a year by 2011, double its initial estimates. The La Jolla, Calif.-based company – with big-name backers like Bill Gates and the Rockefeller family – says it will be producing more than 100 million gallons a year by 2018 and 1 ...

Wed, 29 Apr 09
Climate change hitting entire Arctic ecosystem, says report
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/apr/28/climate-change-poles
Guardian: Extensive climate change is now affecting every form of life in the Arctic, according to a major new assessment by international polar scientists. In the past four years, air temperatures have increased, sea ice has declined sharply, surface waters in the Arctic ocean have warmed and permafrost is in some areas rapidly thawing. In addition, says the report released today at a Norwegian government seminar, plants and trees are growing more vigorously, snow cover is decreasing ...

Wed, 29 Apr 09
Melt from Andes to Arctic may spur U.N. climate pact
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE53R33020090428?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: A fast melt of ice from the Andes to the Arctic should be a wake-up call for governments to work out a strong new United Nations treaty this year to fight climate change, Norway said on Tuesday. Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere, starting two-day talks of the eight Arctic nations and scientists in the northern city of Tromsoe, said ice was vanishing from land around the planet as temperatures increase, raising sea levels. "It is a global phenomenon reflecting global warming," ...

Wed, 29 Apr 09
UK funds sea acidification study
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8021459.stm
BBC: The UK government has launched an £11m ($16m) five-year research programme into ocean acidification. Researchers say seas are becoming more acidic as a result of CO2 from human activities being absorbed by seawater, which alters the oceans' chemistry. Ministers say acidification of the oceans will be one of the major environmental concerns of this century. The study will focus on the Atlantic, Antarctic and Arctic oceans and assess how marine ecosystems are ...

Wed, 29 Apr 09
United Kingdom: Climate change activists in custody after Westminster protest
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/apr/28/climate-change-protest-westminster
Guardian: Four climate change protesters arrested after gluing themselves together around a statue inside the Houses of Parliament remained in custody today. The three women and a man fixed themselves yesterday around the statue of Viscount Falkland outside the historic central lobby after entering the building as visitors. Ambulance staff worked to release them before officers arrested the four for public order offences and criminal damage around two hours after the protest began, the ...

Wed, 29 Apr 09
Brazil: In search of forestry's El Dorado
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8020573.stm
BBC: The world's tropical forests face the double challenge of climate change and deforestation, says Andrew Mitchell. In this week's Green Room, he explains why he is not giving up on the "impossible dream" of convincing governments that these trees are worth more alive than dead. Rumour has it that Brad Pitt is going into the Amazon. He will play out the story of an enigmatic explorer in search of his personal El Dorado. The explorer in question was Colonel Percy Fawcett, a ...

Wed, 29 Apr 09
New York-sized ice shelf collapses off Antarctica
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/new-yorksized-ice-shelf-collapses-off-antarctica-1675400.html
Reuters: An area of an Antarctic ice shelf almost the size of New York City has broken into icebergs this month after the collapse of an ice bridge widely blamed on global warming, a scientist said today. "The northern ice front of the Wilkins Ice Shelf has become unstable and the first icebergs have been released," Angelika Humbert, glaciologist at the University of Muenster in Germany, said of European Space Agency satellite images of the shelf. Humbert told Reuters about 700 sq km of ...

Wed, 29 Apr 09
United Kingdom: Biggest wind farm almost complete
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/glasgow_and_west/8020474.stm
BBC: Construction work on Scotland's largest wind farm is set to be completed ahead of schedule in the next few weeks. The 140 turbines at the Whitelee development on Eaglesham Moor, near East Kilbride, will produce enough electricity to power 180,000 homes. The site is due to open to the public later in the summer. The developers, Scottish Power Renewables, have submitted plans for a further 36 wind turbines at Whitelee to the Scottish Government. In January the ...

Wed, 29 Apr 09
Bangladesh feels the heat, clocks 14y highs
http://bdnews24.com/details.php?id=82483
bdnews24: Temperatures in Bangladesh soared to their highest since 1995 on Sunday, with Jessore recording a blistering 42.2 degrees Celsius and capital Dhaka registering 38.7. At least one person was reported to have died from heat-related causes in Jessore. Sixty-five year-old Ansar Ali died at Nijampur Bazar at around 2pm, shortly after arriving there on an overcrowded bus from Khulna. Police and witnesses said he got down from the bus, had a glass of water from a roadside stall and ...

Wed, 29 Apr 09
The Truth Behind Global Jellyfish Swarms
http://www.usnews.com/articles/science/2009/04/27/the-truth-behind-global-jellyfish-swarms.html
U.S. News and World Report: Large swarms of jellyfish and other gelatinous animals--sometimes covering hundreds of square miles of ocean--have recently been reported in many of the world's prime vacation and fishing destinations. In this interview with Lily Whiteman of the National Science Foundation, renowned "jellyologist" Monty Graham of the Dauphin Island Sea Lab in Alabama discusses the origins and impacts of such swarms. (Note: Jellyfish and other gelatinous animals are called "jellies" here.) West ...

Wed, 29 Apr 09
Eurostar cranks up carbon target
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2241278/eurostar-cranks-carbon-target
Business Green: Eurostar has today announced that it is to upgrade its carbon emission reduction target after increased passenger numbers and a switch of electricity supply for the Channel Tunnel link meant that it has met its goal of reducing emissions by a quarter by 2012 well ahead of schedule. The company's first sustainability report following the 2007 launch of its Tread Lightly initiative, confirmed emissions per passenger had been cut by 31 per cent against its 2007 base line largely as a ...

Wed, 29 Apr 09
Ecuador: Galapagos Penguins Need 'Condos' as Shelter From Global Warming
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601124&sid=aztNehQBxBTM
Bloomberg: The Galapagos Islands, renowned for rare animals that inspired Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, may have to create special shelters to save species from global warming and rising sea levels. Scientists who met there last week decided the indigenous penguin needs "condos" built in cooler, higher areas to nest more safely, Giuseppe Di Carlo, marine climate-change manager at Conservation International, said in an interview. Shadier bushes would protect plants and animals such as ...

Wed, 29 Apr 09
House Democrats still talking in quest to pass climate bill
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=125914
New York Times: Negotiations over a sweeping global warming and energy bill resume today with no clear consensus on whether House Democrats can muster up enough support to pass the legislation at the center of President Obama's environmental agenda. Most key lawmakers headed back to their districts for the weekend and worked the phones with their colleagues, while staff in Washington addressed sticking points on the draft proposal from Reps. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and Ed Markey ...

Wed, 29 Apr 09
Nepal: Wildfires reach unprecendented scale
http://www.kantipuronline.com/kolnews.php?&nid=191504
eKantipur: The country has witnessed a series of devastating wildfires on an unprecedented scale spreading across the highly fire-prone pine forests in high altitudes. National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA) has listed Nepal as a most vulnerable country because of wildfires this year. The wildfires that started last January have turned vast tracts of forests into barren lands. Worse, meteorologists say there is no possibility of rainfall in the immediate future. Sundar Sharma, ...

Wed, 29 Apr 09
United Kingdom: Climate change protesters held at parliament
http://news.scotsman.com/politics/Climate-change-protesters-held-at.5210849.jp
Scotsman: FOUR climate change protesters were arrested yesterday for gluing themselves together around a statue at the Houses of Parliament. The three women and a man fixed themselves around the statue of Viscount Falkland outside the central lobby. Ambulance staff worked to release them before officers arrested the four for public order offences about two hours after the protest began. The protesters belonged to the group Climate Rush, whose members say they are inspired by the "peaceful civil ...

Wed, 29 Apr 09
Climate change threat to Asian economies
http://news.scotsman.com/world/Climate-change-threat-to-Asian.5210839.jp
Scotsman: THE economies of south-east Asia will contract by as much as 6.7 per cent annually by the end of the century, experts warned yesterday. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) study focuses on Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. It says those countries are especially vulnerable as they have large coastal populations facing rising sea levels and rely heavily on rice and other aADVERTISEMENTgriculture products that could suffer from water shortages, as well as floods. Vietnam was said ...

Wed, 29 Apr 09
South-east Asia faces huge costs from climate change
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/c4ec712e-338c-11de-8f1b-00144feabdc0.html
Financial Times: The economic impact of climate change on four of south-east Asia's biggest nations will be 2.5 times more severe than the global average by 2100 if carbon emissions continue at their current level, the Asian Development Bank warns in a new study. Annual losses incurred by Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam are predicted at $230bn (175bn, £157bn), or 6.7 per cent of their combined economic output, it said. This compares with a global mean prediction of 2.6 per ...

Wed, 29 Apr 09
World's major rivers drying up
http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/news/2718/worlds-major-rivers-drying
SciDev.net: Many of the developing world's largest rivers are drying up because of climate change, threatening water supplies in some of the most populous places on Earth, say scientists. Researchers from the U.S. National Centre for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colorado, analysed data combined with computer models to assess flow in 925 rivers – nearly three quarters of the world's running water supply – between 1948 and 2004. A third of these had registered a change in flow and ...

Tue, 28 Apr 09
Subsidies for electric cars do not serve green goals
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/5d7d8432-338d-11de-8f1b-00144feabdc0.html
Financial Times: Hard facts and informed opinion have been the first casualties of the maelstrom of comment, debate and public relations generated by the government's plan to provide a subsidy of up to £5,000 to buyers of electric cars. Missing is an answer to the main question: is this a good way of spending public money to address climate change? The government argues that the move will encourage early adopters of the technology, helping electric car manufacturers achieve economies of scale. But, ...

Tue, 28 Apr 09
China: Research: Tibet sees temperature rise continuously over past 48 years
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-04/28/content_11271480.htm
Xinhua: Temperatures in Tibet have risen continuously over the past 48 years at a rate much higher than the national level, a meteorologist said Monday. The research, based on data from 38 weather stations of the Tibet Autonomous Regional Meteorological Bureau, indicated that the average temperature in the landlocked region rose 0.32 degree Celsius every 10 years between 1961 to 2008, according to Du Jun, a senior engineer with the bureau. In China, average temperatures rose 0.05 ...

Tue, 28 Apr 09
Australia: Govt commits funds for water projects
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/04/28/2554761.htm
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: The Victorian Government is spending an extra $5 million on water conservation projects. The government is funding 21 projects, including studies into making recycled effluent colourless and reusing water discarded after kidney dialysis. Water Minister Tim Holding says Victorians must use water more wisely in the face of climate change. "In the 19th and 20th centuries it seemed to be easy - we relied almost exclusively on surface water collected in dams and reservoirs, ...

Tue, 28 Apr 09
Prince Charles Takes His Climate Campaign To Pope
http://planetark.org/enviro-news/item/52636
Reuters: Britain's Prince Charles took his campaign to save the world from the ravages of climate change to Pope Benedict on Monday when he had his first meeting with the pontiff. The heir to the British throne met the pope shortly after making a major speech on the environment to Italy's parliament, where he said that unless the international community acted together to tackle climate change, a "new Dark Age" could hit the world. The prince and his wife Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, ...

Tue, 28 Apr 09
Q+A: How Does Climate Change Hit GDP?
http://planetark.org/enviro-news/item/52639
Reuters: Southeast Asia faces one of the world's highest climate change bills, the Asian Development Bank said on Monday, unless the region adapts to climate change and joins the rest of the world in cutting greenhouse gas emissions. The destructive effects of higher temperatures, rising seas and fierce storms are likely to knock more off its gross domestic product (GDP) than the current financial crisis, the ADB said in a report. The report, "The Economics of Climate Change in ...

Tue, 28 Apr 09
Climate Change Means Shortfalls In Colorado River Water Deliveries
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/04/090420182203.htm
ScienceDaily: The Colorado River system supplies water to tens of millions of people and millions of acres of farmland, and has never experienced a delivery shortage. But if human-caused climate change continues to make the region drier, scheduled deliveries will be missed 60-90 percent of the time by the middle of this century, according to a pair of climate researchers at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego. "All water-use planning is based on the idea that the next 100 years will ...

Tue, 28 Apr 09
United Kingdom: Local windfarm is threatened by RWE's new nuclear plans
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/local-windfarm-is-threatened-by-rwes-new-nuclear-plans-1675330.html
Independent (UK): RWE's plan for a new nuclear power station at Kirksanton, near Sellafield, would mean the destruction of a community-owned wind farm already producing electricity on the site. The three companies running the Haverigg wind project on the Cumbrian coast only found out that their land was part of the German utility's plan when the full list of nominated sites was published by the Government earlier this month. Colin Palmer, the founder of Windcluster, one of the companies with ...

Tue, 28 Apr 09
Climate risk checklist highlights ignored business threats
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2241238/climate-risk-check-list
Business Green: Company directors were yesterday advised to ask themselves 10 questions designed to assess how their businesses will be impacted by climate change or risk seeing their competitiveness severely compromised over future decades. A new report from climate change consultancy Acclimatise warned that while growing numbers of companies know they face climate change-related risks, relatively few had assessed their scale and nature and fewer still had drawn up plans to address ...

Tue, 28 Apr 09
Ten climate risk questions every firm should ask
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/analysis/2241239/ten-climate-risk-questions
Business Green: Your Risks 1. What are the operational impacts of climate change on your company? - How are your supply chains and suppliers' operations affected? - What are the implications for the price, supply and demand for commodities (e.g. agriculture, fisheries, minerals), and services (e.g. water, energy, telecommunications and IT)? - How will international and internal security threats due to climate change affect your local labour supplies and supply chains? 2. ...

Tue, 28 Apr 09
Drilling drives a wedge at climate change summit
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/8475427
Associated Press: MARY PEMBERTON Associated Press Writer= ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) â?? To drill or not drill for new oil and gas. That was the issue that drove a wedge Friday between young people and many of the older delegates at the United Nations-affiliated Indigenous Peoples' Global Summit on Climate Change. The five-day summit ended Friday with Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann, president of the United Nations General Assembly, describing it as "a rather successful gathering." After ...

Tue, 28 Apr 09
Little power price impact seen from U.S. renewable mandate
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE53Q6ZA20090427?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: A proposed federal mandate to force power companies to provide up to 25 percent renewable energy by 2025 is likely to have little impact on electric prices though 2020 and negligible impact after 2030, the Energy Information Administration said in a study Monday. The largest impact would likely be seen in 2025 when the renewable electricity standard would go into effect, boosting average prices by up to 2.9 percent, EIA projected. Price impacts would vary from region to region, ...

Tue, 28 Apr 09
Hurricanes reduce ability of forests to store carbon
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17034-hurricanes-reduce-ability-of-forests-to-store-carbon.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=climate-change
New Scientist: Destruction wreaked by hurricanes over the past 150 years has severely affected the ability of US forests to store carbon, say ecologists. The finding suggests that an increase in hurricanes and tropical storms induced by global warming could turn forests into overall emitters of carbon dioxide, fuelling further climate change. Trees absorb CO2 from the atmosphere as they grow, then release it again when they die and decay. Ecologist Jeffrey Chambers of Tulane University in New ...

Tue, 28 Apr 09
Tropical storms affect carbon sinks by knocking down forests
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0427-hance_tropicalstorm.html
Mongabay: Studying nearly a hundred and fifty years of tropical storm landfalls in the United States, researchers have discovered that the storm systems have a sizeable impact on forest carbon sinks due to the large-scale destruction of trees. Published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the study found that on average tropical storm systems impact 97 million trees in the United States, mostly in Florida, Texas, and Louisiana, although the east coast's forests also proved ...

Tue, 28 Apr 09
US pledges to make up for lost time in climate fight
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/27/AR2009042702450.html
Reuters: The United States gathered China, India and the world's other top greenhouse gas polluters in Washington on Monday to "make up for lost time" and lay the groundwork for a U.N. deal to fight climate change. The meeting, which U.S. President Barack Obama called last month, groups countries representing some 75 percent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions to find ways to help seal a global warming pact this year. "The United States is fully engaged and ready to lead and ...

Tue, 28 Apr 09
Arctic CO2 levels growing at an 'unprecedented rate'
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/apr/27/arctic-carbon-dioxide-levels
Guardian: The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has reached a record high, according to the latest figures released by an internationally regarded measuring station in the Arctic. The measurements suggest that the main greenhouse gas is continuing to increase in the atmosphere at an alarming rate despite the downturn in dip in the rate of increase of the global economy. Levels of the gas at the Zeppelin research station on Svalbard, northern Norway, last week peaked at ...

Tue, 28 Apr 09
United Kingdom: Climate protesters glue themselves around Parliament statue
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/apr/27/climate-rush-protest-parliament
Guardian: Police sealed off part of the Houses of Parliament today after four climate change protesters glued themselves around the base of a statue. The four, from the group Climate Rush, stuck their hands together to form a chain around a statue of Viscount Falkland, which was the site of protest by a suffragette 100 years ago. The statue is in St Stephen's Hall, a corridor leading up to the central lobby at the parliament. The police closed the hall this afternoon as the authorities ...

Tue, 28 Apr 09
United Kingdom: Time low in global warming fight: Prince Charles
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090427/sc_afp/italybritainroyalsenvironmentclimate
Agence France-Presse: Time is quickly running out in the battle against global warming, and history will judge the world's response to the crisis, Prince Charles of Britain told Italian lawmakers Monday. "If we are to bequeath to our children a world that is fit to inhabit, then I fear we must act now," said Charles during a visit to Rome. "What on earth is the point of procrastinating? "History will judge us by how we respond to climate change. Do we want our children and grandchildren to ... see ...

Tue, 28 Apr 09
United Kingdom: Climate change protesters target Tesco with paint campaign
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/climate-change-protesters-target-tesco-with-paint-campaign-1675014.html
Independent (UK): Environmental activists made a series of early morning guerrilla raids on more than 20 Tesco stores today to protest against an in-store promotion that offered airmiles to people who bought energy saving lightbulbs. Campaigners from the "Climate Suffrajets', a women-led direct action group, used stencils and green paint to daub the words "Every Little Hurts' on 27 stores across central London. Above the slogan was a picture of two energy saving light bulbs and the Tesco brand ...

Tue, 28 Apr 09
Dems delay climate change bill
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0409/21752.html
Politico: Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee are postponing consideration of their landmark climate change measure, as moderate Democrats on the panel continue to voice their frustration about a proposal to cap carbon emissions. Authors of the legislation were expected to roll out their ambitious proposal in greater detail this week, during a series of public meetings before the panel's Energy and Environment subcommittee. But Republicans on the committee alerted GOP members ...

Tue, 28 Apr 09
U.S. will 'lead the way' on int'l climate plan, Secretary Clinton says
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=125867
Greenwire: Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton called on leaders of the world's largest economies today to rein in greenhouse gas emissions and pledged that the United States will "lead the way." In opening remarks to the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate, Clinton called climate change a "clear and present danger to our world" and told environment ministers from the world's 17 largest economies that the Obama administration is "fully engaged in negotiations toward a global ...

Tue, 28 Apr 09
US admits responsibility for emissions to bring big polluters together
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/apr/27/carbon-emissions-us
Guardian: The Obama administration issued a mea culpa today on America's role in causing climate change, in a move to get the major economies working together on a global warming treaty. The admission by Hillary Clinton at a two-day meeting of the world's biggest polluters was intended to ease some of the obstacles towards a deal at UN talks in Copenhagen in December. She placed the gathering of officials from 17 countries, the European Union and the United Nations on a par with the G20 meeting ...

Tue, 28 Apr 09
EPA to review emission rules for power plants
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE53Q59C20090427?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said on Monday it would reconsider three rules issued under the Bush administration that affect how coal-fired power plants account for their air emissions. Environmental groups said the Obama administration is moving to reverse several loopholes created by the EPA under the Bush administration. "It's part of an ongoing effort by the EPA to clean up the polluter-dominated mess it inherited from Bush," said Frank O'Donnell, president of ...

Tue, 28 Apr 09
U.S. seeks to end Bush mountaintop coal mining rule
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE53Q57820090427?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: The U.S. Interior Department said on Monday it will try to overturn a Bush administration rule that made it easier for coal mining companies to dump mountaintop debris into valley streams. Calling the rule "bad policy," Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said he will ask the Justice Department to go to the courts to withdraw the Bush regulation and send it back to Interior to stop the policy. Salazar said the Bush-era rule allowed coal mine operators to use "the cheapest and most ...

Tue, 28 Apr 09
Clinton: No longer AWOL on climate change
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/04/27/us.global.warming/index.html?eref=edition_technology
CNN: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told representatives of the world's leading economies Monday that the United States is no longer "absent without leave" in the global warming debate. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton tells other countries that the U.S. is "back in the game" on global warming. Clinton urged greater cooperation in advance of an international climate change conference to be held later this year. Climate change is "an environmental issue, a health issue, ...

Tue, 28 Apr 09
United Kingdom: Whitehall dismisses reports of energy policy turf war
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2241208/whitehall-dismisses-reports
Business Green: Whitehall officials have today denied reports that business secretary Lord Mandelson and energy and climate change secretary Ed Miliband are engaged in a turf war over UK energy policy. However, industry insiders insist tensions remain between the two ministers' departments, following the launch of a new "energy and climate change unit". The unit has reportedly been set up within Lord Mandelson's Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) to lobby the ...

Tue, 28 Apr 09
Clinton tells nations US acting on climate change
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090427/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_climate_forum
Associated Press: Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Monday that any agreement to combat global warming should require developing countries like India and China to reduce emissions, a position that prevented former President George W. Bush from signing an international pact. At a forum on energy and climate change, Clinton told representatives of 16 major economies representing the world's biggest emitters of greenhouse gases that the United States will work tirelessly to forge a new ...

Tue, 28 Apr 09
Death knell sounds for Europe's beekeepers
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE53Q3KP20090427?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Europe's beekeeping industry could be wiped out in less than a decade as bees fall victim to disease, insecticides and intensive farming, international beekeeping body Apimondia said on Monday. "With this level of mortality, European beekeepers can only survive another 8 to 10 years," Gilles Ratia, president of Apimondia, told Reuters. "We have had big problems in southwest France for many years, but also now in Italy and Germany." Last year, about 30 percent of Europe's ...

Tue, 28 Apr 09
United Kingdom: Climate change protest in Commons
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8021150.stm
BBC: Four environmental protesters have glued themselves to a statue in the Houses of Parliament. Three women and a man have stuck their hands together to form a chain around the statue of Viscount Falkland, just yards from the Commons chamber. The protesters, from the group Climate Rush, say it is designed to be a wake-up call for the government. It is a protest against last week's decision to allow a new generation of coal-fuelled power stations.

Tue, 28 Apr 09
US 'ready to lead' climate change fight: Clinton
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090427/sc_afp/usclimateenvironmentdiplomacy3rdlead
Agence France-Presse: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the United States "is ready to lead" and make up for lost time in the fight against climate change, as she opened an international forum here. "The United States is fully engaged and ready to lead and determined to make up for lost time both at home and abroad," Clinton told a forum President Barack Obama set up to build political momentum for UN climate change talks in December in Copenhagen. "The president and his entire administration ...

Tue, 28 Apr 09
Clinton tells nations US acting on climate change
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2009/04/27/clinton_tells_nations_us_acting_on_climate_change/?rss_id=Boston.com+--+Latest+news
Associated Press: Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is telling representatives from 16 major world economies that the United States is moving quickly to address global warming. At an international forum on energy and climate change Monday, Clinton said the U.S. is fully engaged and no longer doubts the urgency or magnitude of the climate change problem. She cited the recent finding by the EPA that six greenhouse gases pose threats to human health and welfare as a sign that the Obama ...

Tue, 28 Apr 09
EPA edict stirs debate about rural emissions
http://www.yankton.net/articles/2009/04/27/community/doc49f5257b5c7ac297594662.txt
Press and Dakotan: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently issued its proposed finding that greenhouse gases may be an endangerment to public health. Since that report was released April 17, the atmosphere has definitely heated up in the debate over which emissions should be regulated and how it should be done. "This finding confirms that greenhouse gas pollution is a serious problem now and for future generations," newly appointed EPA administrator Lisa Jackson stated in a recent press ...

Tue, 28 Apr 09
Washington forum draws worst greenhouse polluters
http://uk.reuters.com/article/marketsNewsUS/idUKN2649291920090427
Reuters: Diplomats from the world's biggest greenhouse gas polluters including the United States, China and India are set to take part in a forum on Monday at the U.S. State Department aimed at getting a U.N. agreement to curb global warming. The two-day meeting of so-called major economies is meant to jump-start climate talks in advance of a December deadline, when the international community meets in Copenhagen to find a follow-up agreement to the Kyoto Protocol, which limits climate-warming ...

Tue, 28 Apr 09
Cellulosic scale-up
http://pubs.acs.org/cen/coverstory/87/8717cover.html
Chemical and Engineering News: IN FEBRUARY 2007, the Department of Energy selected six cellulosic ethanol projects to receive up to $385 million in grants. Authorized by the Energy Policy Act of 2005, the funding was part of an effort by the Bush Administration to end the U.S.'s "addiction to oil" and enhance the nation's energy security. The money was intended to further two of President George W. Bush's goals: to make ethanol out of nonfood biomass, including billions of pounds of agricultural waste, at a cost ...

Tue, 28 Apr 09
United States: Report: New coal plant will lead to higher rates
http://hamptonroads.com/2009/04/report-new-coal-plant-will-lead-higher-rates
Virginian-Pilot: An environmental coalition today will launch the first serious attack on Old Dominion Electric Cooperative's proposed coal-fired power plant in Surry County. A report, to be released today by the Wise Energy for Virginia Coalition, which includes five environmental groups, argues that consumers who receive power from Old Dominion will pay more for electricity from the coal plant than they would with the use of renewable energy and efficiency programs. The environmental ...

Tue, 28 Apr 09
An aged electric grid looks to a brighter future
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=103327321
National Public Radio: The nation's electricity grid is facing some huge challenges -- it's outdated and unprepared for increasing demand and a future that includes more renewable sources of energy. In a weeklong series, NPR is examining the state of the nation's electricity infrastructure. The economic stimulus bill passed in February includes $11 billion to upgrade the country's power grid, but that's just a down payment on a massive undertaking. That's because when it comes to electricity, not much has ...

Tue, 28 Apr 09
Experts discuss sea level concern
http://www.jdnews.com/news/sea_63850___article.html/rise_level.html
Various: Some experts predict a three- to five-foot sea level rise could affect coastal communities by the year 2100. A study published in the journal Nature Geoscience claims there is a better than 90-percent chance that the sea level rise along the coast will exceed the mean global sea level rise by 2100. The study attributed the rise to thermal expansion and the slowing of the North Atlantic Ocean circulation because of warmer ocean surface temperatures. The researchers found that ...

Tue, 28 Apr 09
Burden Lies with Rich Polluters, Native People Say
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=46634
Inter Press Service: Already suffering significant impacts from climate change, indigenous peoples at the close of an international summit here rejected the concept of carbon trading and offsets. Many also called for a moratorium on all new oil and gas exploration in their traditional territories and the eventual phase-out of fossil fuels. "It has been heartbreaking to hear everyone's stories about the dire threats climate change poses to their survival," said Andrea Carmen of the Yaqui Indian Nation in ...

Tue, 28 Apr 09
'Major Emitters' Meet To Tackle Climate Change
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=103465542&ft=1&f=1025
National Public Radio: Sixteen nations are responsible for 80 percent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions. Now those nations, dubbed the "major emitters," are sending representatives to a conference beginning Monday in Washington, D.C., to see if they can work together to slow the pace of climate change. The Obama administration has moved quickly to deal with climate change in the international arena. It has joined the United Nations talks that will take place in Copenhagen later this year and are aimed ...

Tue, 28 Apr 09
Climate Change Increases Cholera Cases In Africa, Study Suggests
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/04/090423133742.htm
ScienceDaily: A study led by researchers from the Madrid Carlos III Institute of Health associates the increase of cholera cases in Zambia with climatic factors. For the first time, the results confirm that the increase in environmental temperature six weeks before the rain season increases the number of people affected by this sickness by 4.9%. "This is the first time that it has become evident in the sub-Saharan region that the increase in environmental temperature is related to the increase in ...

Tue, 28 Apr 09
Climate change threat to SEAsia development
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090427/sc_afp/adbenvironmentclimate
Agence France-Presse: Climate change could "seriously hinder" Southeast Asia's development and efforts to reduce poverty, a new study released by the Asian Development Bank said Monday. With its long coastlines and heavy dependence on agriculture and forestry, Southeast Asia is highly vulnerable to the effects of climate change, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) report said, warning: "The worst is yet to come." "Combating climate change requires urgent action on both adaptation and mitigation -- ...

Tue, 28 Apr 09
Obama keeps climate pledge, but Congress is key
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090427/sc_afp/uspolitics100daysobamaclimateenergyenvironment
Agence France-Presse: During his first 100 days, US President Barack Obama has kept his word to reverse the environmental policies of his predecessor. But the success of his battle over global warming ultimately depends on Congress. "The president has laid out ambitious goals for climate policy," said Michael Levi, climate change expert at the Council on Foreign Relations. In addition to measures promoting environmentally-friendly industries contained in Obama's economic stimulus package, the US ...

Tue, 28 Apr 09
EU looks to Washington for climate change
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,4208892,00.html
Deutsche Welle: The world's biggest greenhouse gas emitters have gathered in Washington for two days of climate talks. The meeting will bring together diplomats from the world's 17 largest economies, including German Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel. The April 27-28 talks are the latest in a series of meetings meant to jump-start climate talks in advance of a December deadline, when the international community meets in Copenhagen to find a follow-up agreement to the Kyoto Protocol, which limits ...

Tue, 28 Apr 09
U.S. pledges to make up for lost time in climate fight
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090427/ts_nm/us_climate_economies
Reuters: The United States gathered China, India and the world's other top greenhouse gas polluters in Washington on Monday to "make up for lost time" and lay the groundwork for a U.N. deal to fight climate change. The meeting, which U.S. President Barack Obama called last month, groups countries that produce about 75 percent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions to find ways to help seal a global warming pact this year. "The United States is fully engaged and ready to lead and ...

Tue, 28 Apr 09
United Kingdom: G20 protesters 'offered cash' by police to spy on environmental groups
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/apr/27/police-spies-environmentalists-scotland-protesters
Guardian: Fresh evidence has emerged of police efforts to recruit paid spies within environmental groups after the Guardian revealed that police in Scotland are running a network of hundreds of informants inside pressure groups. Anti-nuclear protesters in Scotland said yesterday that military police had offered them cash in exchange for information. One protester said he was offered money on top of his jobseeker's allowance - a move sanctioning benefit fraud - if he gave military police ...

Tue, 28 Apr 09
United Kingdom: Why spy on peaceful protesters?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/apr/26/protest-surveillance
Guardian: Three weeks ago I decided to record my interactions with the police. It seemed like the most obvious and sensible thing to do as I was beginning to understand their sinister tactics. Indeed, fellow members of Plane Stupid told me that I as not the first from our group to have been recently approached by officers. Over the last six months Plane Stupid has been targeted by a campaign of police intimidation and intrusion. Some of us have been approached and menaced to inform on the rest ...

Tue, 28 Apr 09
Study: SE Asia will be hit hard by climate change
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090427/ap_on_sc/as_sci_asia_climate_change
Associated Press: Southeast Asia will be hit particularly hard by climate change, causing the region's agriculture-dependent economies to contract by as much as 6.7 percent annually by the end of the century, according to a study released Monday. The Asian Development Bank study focused on Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. Those countries are especially vulnerable because they have large coastal populations facing rising sea levels and rely heavily on rice and other agriculture products ...

Tue, 28 Apr 09
Walden calls Obama's energy bill 'an Oregon job killer'
http://www.mailtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090426/NEWS/904260335
Mail Tribune: Rep. Greg Walden said Saturday that an energy bill hailed by the Obama administration as a "jobs bill" is "an Oregon job killer." Speaking to TV cameras in front of White City's Biomass One site for recycling wood waste, The 2nd District Republican denounced the bill's definition of renewable energy. "Where the measure could create jobs in the woods, create new markets for woody biomass, attract new investment to our rural communities, it instead turns off the oxygen and pulls the ...

Tue, 28 Apr 09
Europe's biggest onshore wind farm to be ready early
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE53Q2J420090427?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: ScottishPower, a unit of Spain's Iberdrola, said on Monday its Whitelee wind farm near Glasgow is to be completed ahead of schedule in the next few weeks. ScottishPower Renewables said all of the 140 turbines at the farm would be ready in the near future, raising its capacity to 322 megawatt -- enough to power more than 180,000 homes. It would be Europe's largest onshore wind farm. The company began working on the project 10 years ago, with planning consent awarded in 2006. Its ...

Tue, 28 Apr 09
Study says warming poses peril to Asia
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=125766
New York Times: With diminished rice harvests, seawater seeping into aquifers and islands vanishing into rising oceans, Southeast Asia will be among the regions worst affected by global warming, according to a report scheduled for release on Monday by the Asian Development Bank. The rise in sea levels may force the sprawling archipelago of Indonesia to redraw its sea boundaries, the report said. All these changes will occur progressively over the next century, the bank estimated, giving ...

Tue, 28 Apr 09
United Kingdom: Early opposition to Gatwick's second runway takes off
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2241109/early-opposition-gatwick-second
Business Green: As the chances of a third runway being built at Heathrow recede further with every poll point Labour loses, airport operators are turning their attention to proposals for a second runway to be built at London's second largest airport, Gatwick. However, opposition to the plans is already building, with both the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats pledging to block any proposals for a second runway if elected -- just as they have vowed to reverse the government's decision to expand ...

Tue, 28 Apr 09
Global warming threatens economic chaos in SE Asia-ADB
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/MAN451616.htm
Reuters: Southeast Asia is one of the world's most vulnerable regions to climate change and could face conflict over failing rice yields, lack of water and high economic costs, a major Asian Development Bank report shows. The region's economies could lose as much as 6.7 percent of combined gross domestic product yearly by 2100, more than twice the global average loss, according to the ADB's report on the economics of climate change in Southeast Asia. "By the end of this century, the ...

Tue, 28 Apr 09
United States: Water controversies boil over
http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/story/1808446.html
Sacramento Bee: Any doubt that California is hip-deep in an epic struggle for water was put to rest earlier this month when an estimated 10,000 farmers and farmworkers marched 50 miles across the gasping San Joaquin Valley. The goal was to heighten awareness about their water shortage, brought about by a third year of drought in California and environmental problems in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. Their alliance is surprising, given a long history of acrimony between farm owners and laborers. It ...

Tue, 28 Apr 09
Australia: Australia and the sunset on coal
http://www.greenleft.org.au/2009/792/40808
Green Left Weekly: The more some things change, the more the Australian government's close relationship with the toxic coal industry seems to stay the same. This is the theme of "Quarry Vision: Coal, Climate Change and the end of the Resources Boom" published in Quarterly Essay Issue 33. A change in the government from Coalition to Labor; new evidence about the enormous threat of global warming; the rise of a grassroots climate movement demanding action; and the end of Australia's long resources ...

Tue, 28 Apr 09
Nature crusader draws links between greening the globe and saving the world
http://www.mercurynews.com/centralcoast/ci_12230626
San Jose Mercury News: For all his political pedigree, it seems clear being an environmental champion is really a spiritual sojourn for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. "There is no where God connects with us most forcefully -- no where with such force, clarity, detail, texture and grace than through creation," Kennedy said Friday night during a speech at the Cocoanut Grove. "We know our creator best by immersing ourselves in nature." The 55-year-old author of "Crimes Against Nature" kicked off UC Santa Cruz's ...

Tue, 28 Apr 09
Our Ocean Backyard: Greenhouse gases and climate change
http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/localnews/ci_12226286
Santa Cruz Sentinel: Fortunately for all of us, the Earth's atmosphere contains natural greenhouse gases that have made the Earth a habitable planet by keeping it warmer than it would be otherwise. Our atmosphere behaves much like the windows in your car. Short wave solar radiation passes through the glass. The interior heats up and reradiates long wave back radiation. But the glass windows don't allow it to escape, so the inside of your car can get pretty hot. The Earth works much the same way, only ...

Tue, 28 Apr 09
Environmentalism grows. Slowly. When it suits us.
http://www.jacksonville.com/news/metro/2009-04-26/story/analysis_environmentalism_grows_slowly_when_it_suits_us
Florida Times-Union: We're all environmentalists now. At least we are when it's about an issue in our backyards. Or when it makes us feel good. Or when it's not too inconvenient. A case in fact: Small cars, hybrid cars, were hot when gas was $4 a gallon. At two bucks? Super-size us, again. But maybe we'll pass on the Hummer this time and get something a little less gargantuan. Hey, it's all progress, of a kind. Oh, you'll easily find those who'll cringe at having that ...

Tue, 28 Apr 09
EV Stores announces UK launch of Italian electric car
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2241101/evstores-announces-uk-launch
Business Green: The latest electric car from Italy should appear on UK roads from the end of the year after EV Stores secured the rights to distribute the Tazzari ZERO in the UK and Ireland. The company, which launched earlier this year and already distributes the MyCar electric vehicle, as well as a number of electric vans and bikes, said that it would start taking orders for the Tazzari ZERO this summer ahead of its scheduled launch in December. The car will be the latest model to exploit ...

Mon, 27 Apr 09
Food, fuel and climate threaten Asia
http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/connectasia/stories/200904/s2553383.htm
Radio Australia: HEYZER: Basically we'll be looking at the development threats to the Asia- Pacific region and these are the convergence of what I call the triple threats - the financial crisis, the food fuel volatility and the climate change agenda. And the whole discussion is really how do we manage these threats so that they become opportunities, to shape economies of the future and also how do we deal with some of the short term threats like the financial crisis but also in terms of a longer term ...

Mon, 27 Apr 09
Australia: What will we tell the next generation?
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/opinion/what-will-we-tell-the-next-generation-20090427-ajma.html
Brisbane Times: LAST month, the chief scientific adviser to the British Government, Professor John Beddington, predicted a global catastrophe by 2030 on the simple premise that while global demand for food, water and energy is escalating, the supply of these three essentials is diminishing. He predicted civil unrest and international conflict. If this scenario was to come true, I can imagine a voice in the future asking us – particularly those of us who had the privilege and responsibility of ...

Mon, 27 Apr 09
United Kingdom: Extreme police tactics targeting campaigners exposed by Plane Stupid
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2009/04/428414.html
IndyMedia: Tilly Gifford of Plane Stupid Scotland exposed extreme police tactics used in an attempt to infiltrate the direct action group. Using spy cameras and skype phones she recorded two officers making offers including thousands of pounds in return for regular insider information. Extreme police tactics targeting campaigners exposed by counter-espionage by Plane Stupid activist Over the past few months the police have been approaching climate activists with offers of cash for inside ...

Mon, 27 Apr 09
Climate changing for ethanol industry?
http://www.thonline.com/article.cfm?id=241160
ubuque Telegraph Herald: Maybe you noticed a well-dressed man ambling about, swarmed by security officers and fans alike. No? Well, if you failed to follow every step of President Barack Obama's trip to Iowa on Wednesday, I assure you one group picked up where you might have left off -- the media. Why? Because Iowa is big news now, and once again, it's for something we're doing right. This past week, the Obama administration revealed a 648-page draft detailing what it aims to ...

Mon, 27 Apr 09
Stemming the water wars
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cif-green/2009/apr/26/water-shortage
Guardian: Many conflicts are caused or inflamed by water scarcity. The conflicts from Chad to Darfur, Sudan, to the Ogaden Desert in Ethiopia, to Somalia and its pirates, and across to Yemen, Iraq, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, lie in a great arc of arid lands where water scarcity is leading to failed crops, dying livestock, extreme poverty and desperation. Extremist groups like the Taliban find ample recruitment possibilities in such impoverished communities. Governments lose their legitimacy ...

Mon, 27 Apr 09
Climate lobbying group ignored its own science advisors
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/04/climate-lobbying-group-ignored-its-own-science-advisors.ars
Ars Technica: One of the major players in last decade's arguments over anthropogenic climate change and its policy implications was the Global Climate Coalition, which received funding from both individual companies and industry groups. Now, documents from that era have come to light thanks to the involvement of one of the GCC members, the Association of International Automobile Manufacturers, in a suit that has attempted to block California's efforts to regulate automotive greenhouse gas emissions. ...

Mon, 27 Apr 09
Business group calls for energy cuts in buildings
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5g18VHluvRtahYFBWopY0w2rYsC4wD97QDKS00
Associated Press: The chairman of United Technologies Corp. will join other executives Monday to urge governments and industry to adopt building codes that will boost energy efficiency in buildings worldwide. George David served as chief executive of United Technologies for 14 years until retiring in 2008, and remains chairman of the Hartford, Conn.-based conglomerate that makes Otis elevators, Carrier heating, ventilating and air conditioning systems and other building components. He will ...

Mon, 27 Apr 09
The missing sunspots: Is this the big chill?
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/the-missing-sunspots-is-this-the-big-chill-1674630.html
Independent (UK): Could the Sun play a greater role in recent climate change than has been believed? Climatologists had dismissed the idea and some solar scientists have been reticent about it because of its connections with those who those who deny climate change. But now the speculation has grown louder because of what is happening to our Sun. No living scientist has seen it behave this way. There are no sunspots. The disappearance of sunspots happens every few years, but this time it's gone on far ...

Mon, 27 Apr 09
United Kingdom: Coal: Capturing the future
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/apr/27/coal-carbon-capture
Guardian: Climate change needs the same kind of mass support that fired the Make Poverty History campaign, the energy secretary Ed Miliband said yesterday. He is right to try to provoke a sense of obligation in this generation to future generations, but although we can all play our part in reducing demand, only government can deliver the incentives and the structure for clean energy supplies. Coal, globally available and flexible, will be a key energy source for the foreseeable future. Mr ...

Mon, 27 Apr 09
Ecuador: Galapagos Penguins Need 'Condos' as Shelter From Global Warming
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601102&sid=aztNehQBxBTM&refer=uk
Bloomberg: The Galapagos Islands, renowned for rare animals that inspired Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, may have to create special shelters to save species from global warming and rising sea levels. Scientists who met there last week decided the indigenous penguin needs "condos" built in cooler, higher areas to nest more safely, Giuseppe Di Carlo, marine climate-change manager at Conservation International, said in an interview. Shadier bushes would protect plants and animals such as ...

Mon, 27 Apr 09
The truth about climate change is that we know the bad truth
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=5&article_id=101366
Daily Star: Many people ask how sure we are about the science of climate change. The most definitive examination of the scientific evidence is to be found in the work of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and its last major report published in 2007. I had the privilege of being chairman or co-chairman of the Panel's scientific assessments from 1988 to 2002. Many hundreds of scientists from different countries were involved as contributors and reviewers for these reports, which ...

Mon, 27 Apr 09
Reactor at oldest US nuclear plant is shut down
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090426/ap_on_bi_ge/us_oyster_creek_nuclear_plant
Associated Press: The operator of the nation's oldest nuclear power plant has manually shut down its reactor after equipment failed on one of its two transformers. Officials at the Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station in New Jersey say Saturday night's shutdown occurred without incident. But they won't say how long it's expected to last or when repairs will be completed at the facility in Lacey Township, about 60 miles east of Philadelphia and 75 miles south of New York City. Plant spokesman ...

Mon, 27 Apr 09
Weatherizing Contractors In Short Supply
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=103502330&ft=1&f=1025
National Public Radio: The federal stimulus plan is giving states $5 billion to make leaky homes more energy efficient. But there's a shortage of qualified contractors to do the work, and trainers are scrambling to get more builders up to speed on weatherization.

Mon, 27 Apr 09
United Kingdom: Lord Mandelson has set up rival 'energy and climate change unit'
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/apr/26/mandelson-energy-climate-change-unit
Guardian: Lord Mandelson has set up an "energy and climate change unit" to lobby Ed Miliband's new energy and climate change department on behalf of business. Energy insiders said the move was further evidence of the peer encroaching on Ed Miliband's brief in a bid to water down green policies which may damage business. According to Mandelson's Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) website, the unit's aim is to "help create the conditions for UK business success ...

Mon, 27 Apr 09
Cheaper gas goes against the agenda
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2009/04/26/cheaper_gas_goes_against_the_agenda/
Boston Globe: TESTIFYING before the House Energy and Commerce Committee last week, Energy Secretary Steven Chu was asked about something he said in September. "Somehow," the Nobel laureate had told The Wall Street Journal, "we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe." At the time, gasoline in Europe was going for around $8 a gallon. Did the secretary, Florida Representative Cliff Stearns inquired, still want to see US gas prices rise that high? "In today's ...

Mon, 27 Apr 09
United Kingdom: Call for new deal on green issues - BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/northern_ireland_politics/8017838.stm
BBC: Sammy Wilson's sceptical views on climate change are incompatible with his role as environment minister, Green Party MLA Brian Wilson has said. Mr Wilson told the party's annual conference in Belfast the assembly's progress on green issues was dismal. "In fact, it would seem to be stuck in reverse gear," he said. The Green Party MLA said the minister's dropping of a government "Act on CO2" advertisement had made Northern Ireland look ridiculous throughout the ...

Mon, 27 Apr 09
United Kingdom: Picnic protest over airport plan
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_yorkshire/8018201.stm
BBC: Sixty climate campaigners have held a picnic in the check-in hall at Leeds Bradford Airport in a protest over its planned expansion. The airport wants to build a £28m two-storey extension to the terminal building which would house an improved check-in area and departure lounge. Campaigners say the plan will cause an increase in greenhouse gas emissions. The airport has said it planned to "improve and refine" its method of monitoring air quality. Protesters ate ...

Mon, 27 Apr 09
Democrats May Ease Bill's Emissions Rules
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/24/AR2009042402148.html?wprss=rss_politics
Washington Post: Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee are negotiating among themselves on whether to scale back legislation that would impose a mandatory limit on greenhouse gases, with some conservatives and moderates calling for electric utilities to be given free pollution allowances and for more modest cuts in the targets for reducing emissions. Many environmentalists argue that all emissions allowances should be auctioned off under a cap-and-trade system, using the proceeds to ...

Mon, 27 Apr 09
Trillions at stake in House climate-change bill
http://www.timeswv.com/business/local_story_116042658.html
Times West Virginian: Lawmakers heard reactions this week to the 111th Congress`s first greenhouse gas cap-and-trade proposal, the likeliest so far to become law. The 648-page American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 was the focus of hearings in the House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce. The bill, which would establish a cap-and-trade system on all large emitters of greenhouse gases, or GHG, was released on March 31 by Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., ...

Mon, 27 Apr 09
A court for environment
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090426/jsp/calcutta/story_10877677.jsp
Telegraph: Do we need an international court of environment? Stephen Hockman QC (Queen's Counsel), a former chairman of Bar Council in the UK, thinks so. The eminent lawyer, whose areas of speciality include environment, health and safety and regulatory law, was recently in town. He was delivering this year's Sarkar Lecture, instituted by senior advocate Sudipto Sarkar in memory of his parents Prabhas Chandra Sarkar and Sunity Sarkar, at the British Council on April 13. Hockman spoke about the ...

Mon, 27 Apr 09
United States: Fluorescents have yet to catch on
http://www.sacbee.com/business/story/1808519.html
Sacramento Bee: Compact fluorescent light bulbs have been supported by years of promotions and subsidies, and a good bulb should pay for itself 14 times over, if it lasts its full rated lifetime. But CFLs still account for only about 21 percent of the state's household bulbs (though that's twice the national average) according to estimates from the California Lighting Technology Center in Davis. The traditional incandescents still make up 56 percent of the total. Other fluorescents are at 13 percent, ...

Mon, 27 Apr 09
United Kingdom: Winds of change blow for offshore power operators
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/apr/26/offshore-wind-power
Guardian: It's official: it's getting windier down south. This unexpected quirk of climate change has given a much needed boost to offshore wind-farm developers. For those struggling to make the economics of hugely expensive wind farms work, more wind equals more money. Experts said that the waters off the coast of East Anglia and Essex could host many more wind farms as a result. The research, from Atmos Consulting, has found that wind speeds in these areas have been rising so ...

Mon, 27 Apr 09
United States: Legislature tries to energize renewables
http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_12229017
Denver Post: Rick Roser, in van, and Rhodes Thompson of Independent Power Systems fish around for parts Friday as they work to outfit a home in south Boulder with a solar-energy system. (RJ Sangosti, The Denver Post ) Despite the emphasis on renewable energy, money remains a crucial stumbling block between those with the good intentions and those with the good inventions, say clean-energy executives and activists. Solar-power companies report a surplus of ready-to-go projects without the ...

Mon, 27 Apr 09
Gore, Gingrich return to debate on unequal terms
http://www.dailymail.com/ap/ApTopStories/200904250193
Associated Press: Once powerful rivals and leaders in their own parties, Al Gore and Newt Gingrich were anything but equal in their return Friday to Capitol Hill to debate the very future of Planet Earth. The Democrats running the House made sure of it. This time, the face of the 1994 Republican Revolution wasn't allowed to share the stage with Gore, the Democrats' Nobel-and-Oscar-winning hero. Instead, Gingrich waited his turn before the House Energy and Commerce Committee in an anteroom, as ...

Mon, 27 Apr 09
United Kingdom: 'Green initiative' by Charles will cost £80,000 and leave 53-ton carbon footprint
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1173588/Green-initiative-Charles-cost-80-000-leave-53-ton-carbon-footprint-flies-12-seat-private-jet.html
Daily Mail: Prince Charles is being accused of hypocrisy after it was revealed that he is chartering a luxury private jet for a five-day tour of Europe to promote environmental issues. The Prince and the Duchess of Cornwall, plus ten Clarence House staff, will fly from London to Rome this evening. Then they will fly on to Venice and Berlin, before returning to Britain. Clarence House aides stress that the trip is at the request of the Government to promote its climate change ...

Mon, 27 Apr 09
Virginians get it on green issues
http://hamptonroads.com/2009/04/virginians-get-it-green-issues
Virginian-Pilot: As further evidence of their discernment and the natural world's degradation, Virginians are troubled about the condition of the environment and the prospects for improvement, according to a new study by researchers at Christopher Newport University. Specifically, Virginians are worried about mountaintop-removal mining of coal, as ecologically disastrous a practice as occurs just about anywhere; the dire and declining condition of the Chesapeake Bay; and the state of our other rivers ...

Mon, 27 Apr 09
Ed Miliband urges new push in climate change battle
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/apr/26/copenhagen-climate-change-ed-miliband
Guardian: Ed Miliband, the climate change secretary, warns today that he is "fearful" that the world may miss the opportunity to halt global warming and is calling for a Make Poverty History-style popular movement to push for a breakthrough at this year's Copenhagen summit. He will travel to Washington this week for preliminary talks, amid concerns that Barack Obama's ability to back genuinely ambitious cuts in carbon emissions could be hindered by domestic political opposition. "We do ...

Mon, 27 Apr 09
United Kingdom: Wind farm may be torn down to make way for nuclear site
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/wind-farm-may-be-torn-down-to-make-way-for-nuclear-site-1674379.html
Independent (UK): To passionate advocates of the atom and renewable energy alike, this says it all. One of Britain's pioneering wind farms is threatened with demolition to make way for one of the Government's planned new generation of nuclear power stations. The tall turbines of Haverigg wind farm, only the second commercial one to be built in Britain, have been turning for 17 years between the hills of the Lake District and the waters of the Duddon estuary on the Cumbrian coast. But they also happen ...

Mon, 27 Apr 09
Australia: Warm welcome for $25bn climate change upside
http://www.theage.com.au/national/warm-welcome-for-25bn-climate-change-upside-20090425-aitr.html
Age: WORRIED about Arctic sea ice melting? Fretting about dwindling water supplies? Well, fear not. There is an upside to climate change and it comes in the form of money. Up to $25 billion for Victoria, in fact. A climate-changed Victoria will be hotter, drier and more fire-prone, but some industries will make more money, according to a report commissioned by the State Government, due for release tomorrow. Predictably, the report found that in the next 20 years, the climate change ...

Mon, 27 Apr 09
United States: Panhandle Republican takes middle path in carbon rules
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/region/legislature/stories/04/26/0426carbon.html
Austin American-Statesman: That rule gets at the political savvy of Chisum, a Panhandle Republican who was stripped of his power as a budget writer but re-emerged as a pivotal player in the future of Texas' energy economy. With ever more likely federal rules limiting emissions of carbon dioxide, which have been associated with global warming, Chisum has teamed up with Democrats and some Republicans to make business-friendly proposals that would give subsidies to companies that capture greenhouse gas ...

Mon, 27 Apr 09
Stop the spam and save the planet
http://www.smh.com.au/environment/global-warming/stop-the-spam-and-save-the-planet-20090425-aiqk.html
Sydney Morning Herald: AS IF spam email wasn't unloved enough already, new research shows all those unsolicited messages, 62 trillion of them last year, generate greenhouse gases equivalent to driving a car around the planet 1.6 million times. More than 80 per cent of the world's email traffic is now deemed spam and - between the energy devoted to sending, storing and sorting phoney messages - 33 billion kilowatt-hours of power is wasted. The study, commissioned by the computer security firm McAfee ...

Mon, 27 Apr 09
Rising seas threaten renowned French coast
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=31&art_id=nw20090426064620741C565963&set_id=
Agence France-Presse: France's Aquitaine coast stretches north from the Spanish border to the Gironde river estuary, encompassing rocky bluffs, giant lagoons, deltas, beaches and Europe's largest dune. Now climate change has laid siege to this natural oasis, dramatically speeding up the erosion of the 270 kilometre-long Atlantic coastline and threatening local communities. A study published in 2006 by the European LIFE program identified 13 coastal communities as erosion "hot spots". "There ...

Mon, 27 Apr 09
India: Reduced flow signals death of Ganga
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Varanasi/Reduced-flow-signals-death-of-Ganga/articleshow/4448512.cms
Times of India: A study of American scientists at the National Centre for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) suggests that there is a reduced flow in many rivers of the world and it is associated with climate change. The study is also applied on the Ganga, the lifeline of millions of people living in its plane. Not only NCAR scientists, but the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), the global conservation organisation, also reports that the Ganga has been enlisted on the list of 10 most endangered rivers of the ...

Mon, 27 Apr 09
United States: Could Trash Solve the Energy Crisis?
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/AheadoftheCurve/story?id=7422453&page=1
ABC News: At first glance, 303 Bear Hill Road in Waltham, Massachusetts, doesn't look like the scene of an environmental revolution. But packed into a shipping container in the car park of this modest suburban commercial building is a compact piece of technology that its maker IST Energy insists can turn even the filthiest waste into clean, green energy. "Trash will move from being a liability to an asset, providing a clean source of energy that can be used right where it is produced," says Stuart ...

Mon, 27 Apr 09
Ready or not, California's fuel rules are changing
http://www.thedailysound.com/042509fuel
Daily Sound: In keeping with a 2006 law called AB32, the world's first carbon-fuel emission standards were set April 23 by the California Air Resources Board, or ARB, in Sacramento. This comes a week after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency proposed declaring greenhouse gasses a threat to public health – almost three years after California started acting on the issue. EPA officials in Washington D.C., had no public comment on California's move. Some South Coast business leaders have ...

Mon, 27 Apr 09
United Kingdom: Wind energy plans in budget will raise cost of bills
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financetopics/budget/5208911/Wind-energy-plans-in-Budget-will-raise-cost-of-bills.html
Telegraph: Alistair Darling announced £525 million for offshore wind farms in the Budget as part of a range of measures to boost the renewable energy industry. The money will be delivered through the Renewables Obligation Certificate or Roc scheme, which rewards energy companies that invest in green power. By pumping in the extra cash, the Government expect to boost investment in wind by £9 billion and increase the number of homes powered by offshore wind by 2.8 million. However ...

Mon, 27 Apr 09
Fuel-cell cars have a long way to go
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/business/stories.nsf/developmenteconomy/story/39D5502D9F5521A3862575A30008D60D?OpenDocument
St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Not a sound escapes when the ignition is turned on. No carbon dioxide rolls from the exhaust -- ever. Yet the inside and outside are no different than other vehicles on the road. Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, such as General Motors Corp.'s retooled Equinox -- displayed at the St. Louis Science Center last weekend -- rely on a reaction between oxygen and stored hydrogen to create electricity. They are the future, automakers say. But when that future will arrive depends on whom ...

Mon, 27 Apr 09
Tanzania reefs hold climate change lessons -report
http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSLN206079
Reuters: A network of "super-reefs" off east Africa are unusually resilient to climate change and could provide important lessons for coral conservation in other parts of the world, researchers said on Friday. Experts say the planet has lost about a fifth of its corals and warn that many of the remaining reefs could die in the next 20 to 40 years, unless greenhouse gas emissions are reduced. A study coordinated by the Wildlife Conservation Society said the Indian Ocean reefs -- in a ...

Sun, 26 Apr 09
Scalise links Gore to Enron
http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/washington/index.ssf?/base/news-3/1240637496240290.xml&coll=1
Times-Picayune: Rep. Steve Scalise, R-Jefferson, took on former Vice President Al Gore Friday on the subject of global warming, suggesting that the cap-and-trade system Gore supports to reduce greenhouse gases was championed by companies like Enron and Wall Street firms responsible for "wrecking the U.S. economy." In unusually sharp questioning at a Capitol Hill hearing, Scalise asked Gore about a 1997 meeting he had with Enron CEO Ken Lay and about reports that Gore was connected to Goldman Sachs, ...

Sun, 26 Apr 09
Environmental campaign blocks palm oil project in Cote d' Ivoire wetland
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0425-cote_d_ivoire_palm_oil.html
Mongabay: Environmentalists have thwarted plans to establish an oil palm plantation in the Tanoe forest wetlands of southern Cote d' Ivoire (Ivory Coast), reports AFP. In announcement Friday, Palmci, the country's largest palm oil company, blamed environmental groups for scuttling the project. "Palmci has decided to abandon this project in the face of the refusal of certain NGOs to accept the coexistence of environmental preservation and the development of economic activity," the company ...

Sun, 26 Apr 09
Activists in Ivory Coast stop palm oil project
http://ghanabusinessnews.com/2009/04/24/activists-in-ivory-coast-stop-palm-oil-project/
Agence France-Presse: Ivory Coast`s main palm oil company, Palmci, on Friday announced it was abandoning a major plantation scheme in the south of the country after opposition by environmentalists to destruction of a forest. "Palmci has decided to abandon this project in the face of the refusal of certain NGOs to accept the coexistence of environmental preservation and the development of economic activity," the firm said in a statement. Scrapping the project would lead to the loss of a potential ...

Sun, 26 Apr 09
Is Biofuel Policy Harming European Biodiversity?
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/04/090424073907.htm
ScienceDaily: Current estimates state that transport is responsible for about 25% of the energy-related greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. While biofuels are seen as a possible means to reduce these emissions, they are under heavy discussion in terms of economic cost benefits and their environmental and social impacts. The EU promotes the production of biofuels and has set a target of 5.75% share of biofuels in the transport section for all EU Member States by 2010, and a target of 10% to be ...

Sun, 26 Apr 09
California's low-carbon fuel standard has oil companies anxious
http://www.sacbee.com/capitolandcalifornia/story/1808713.html
Sacramento Bee: In car-crazy California, a new fuel standard ordered by state officials to curb greenhouse gases could dramatically change how vehicles run. It also could have a huge effect on cost. The petroleum industry and some economists say the new standard adopted by the state Air Resources Board on Thursday will cost motorists billions, because blending gasoline will become considerably more complicated. But state officials and environmentalists say the "low-carbon fuel standard" ...

Sun, 26 Apr 09
Third group adds voice to chorus backing ethanol
http://www.hpj.com/archives/2009/apr09/apr27/Thirdgroupaddsvoicetochorus.cfm?title=Third%20group%20adds%20voice%20to%20chorus%20backing%20ethanol
Associated Press: A new ethanol advocacy group, Growth Energy, has been created to help educate people on how ethanol and agriculture can provide both fuel and feed, its supporters say. "All of agriculture is struggling to define ourselves in that positive light," said Tom Buis, chief executive officer of Growth Energy. "We can't let vested interests and well-financed critics define us." Buis served as an agricultural policy aide to former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle. Growth Energy ...

Sun, 26 Apr 09
Environment ministers set course on tackling climate change
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-04/25/content_11254931.htm
Xinhua: The Group of Eight (G8) environment ministers agreed on Friday to a series of measures on climate change, biodiversity, and the "green economy" at their final meeting in the Sicilian city of Siracusa, paving the way for approval by leaders at the annual G8 summit in July. Italian Environment Minister Stefania Prestigiacomo, who hosted the meeting, said she was "extremely satisfied" with the outcome of the three-day meeting from Wednesday to Friday. "We have defined in a clear ...

Sun, 26 Apr 09
Polar trek shows ice loss
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/04/090422-arctic-ice-survey-video-ap.html
National Geographic: Braving long walks across frigid Arctic terrain, a group of British explorers is gathering vital ground-based data about the extent of sea ice shrinkage.

Sun, 26 Apr 09
Ocean power surges forward
http://features.csmonitor.com/environment/2009/04/24/ocean-power-surges-forward/
Christian Science Monitor: Three miles off the craggy, wave-crashing coastline near Humboldt Bay, Calif., deep ocean swells roll through a swath of ocean that is soon to be the site of the nation`s first major wave-power project. Like other renewable energy technology, ocean power generated by waves, tidal currents, or steady offshore winds has been considered full of promise yet perennially years from reaching full-blown commercial development. That`s still true – commercial-scale deployment is at least ...

Sun, 26 Apr 09
Canada: California rule could hit oil sands producers
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20090425.RCOVERPANEL25ART1911//TPStory/Environment
Globe and Mail: Canadian oil companies face an effective U.S. tax on their greenhouse gas emissions if climate change regulations adopted by California this week are copied by other American jurisdictions. On Thursday night, the California Air Resources Board adopted the world's first low-carbon fuel standard, which sets a threshold for total carbon dioxide emitted in the production and consumption of all fuels sold in the state. Although Canadian oil is not currently exported to California, ...

Sun, 26 Apr 09
G8-led climate change talks debate 'raising ambitions'
http://www.terradaily.com/2007/090424102331.ddinhvcy.html
Agence France-Presse: Environment ministers from 16 leading economies have been arguing over how to "raise ambitions" for creating a green future, a top UN delegate to the talks said Friday. Describing the three days of Group of Eight-led talks as "among the most frank" involving the world's top polluters, UNEP chief Achim Steiner said "there's an impasse on how to move forward and raise the level of ambition." "Syracuse is a moment in time where the discussion has turned to the question, 'Is the ...

Sun, 26 Apr 09
California rule could end ethanol's honeymoon
http://www.reuters.com/article/ousiv/idUSTRE53N6U920090424
Reuters: California's newly adopted low-carbon fuel standard may mark the beginning of the end of ethanol's coveted status as the sole U.S. alternative motor fuel. The U.S. state with the most cars late on Thursday approved the world's first-ever regulations to slash emissions of planet-warming carbon dioxide from vehicle fuels. The ruling, which will be subject to further studies, will not kill the ethanol industry. But it sets the bar higher for cleaner development of corn ethanol, ...

Sun, 26 Apr 09
Climate change conference ends on disputed resolution
http://www.ktuu.com/Global/story.asp?S=10247272
KTUU: Two Native groups refused to sign a resolution drafted at this week's Indigenous Peoples' Global Summit on Climate Change, saying that the resolution is not strong enough. The resolution aimed to address concerns about expanding industries and exploitation of natural resources. More than 80 representatives of indigenous peoples from around the world have been meeting at the Dena'ina Civic and Convention Center this week to discuss how climate change has affected their ...

Sun, 26 Apr 09
Water wars
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090421.wcowater22/BNStory/Business/
Globe and Mail: Many conflicts are caused or inflamed by water scarcity. From Chad to Darfur, to Ethiopia's Ogaden Desert, to Somalia and its pirates, and across to Yemen, Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan, the conflicts lie in a great arc of arid lands where water scarcity is leading to failed crops, dying livestock, extreme poverty and desperation. Extremist groups such as the Taliban find ample recruitment possibilities in such impoverished communities. Governments lose their legitimacy when they ...

Sun, 26 Apr 09
Drilling drives a wedge at climate change summit
http://www.physorg.com/news159860957.html
Physorg: To drill or not drill for new oil and gas. That was the issue that drove a wedge Friday between young people and many of the older delegates at the United Nations-affiliated Indigenous Peoples' Global Summit on Climate Change. The five-day summit ended Friday with Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann, president of the United Nations General Assembly, describing it as "a rather successful gathering." After hours of debate, a consensus of sorts was reached on a declaration to be ...

Sun, 26 Apr 09
Namibia: Climate Change May Half Fish Landings
http://allafrica.com/stories/200904240725.html
Namibia Economist: Climate change may reduce the country's fishing industry landings by up to 50%, Minister of Tourism and Environment Netumbo Nandi Ndaitwah said. She said this week a study commissioned by the ministry concluded that over a period of twenty years, annual losses to the Namibian economy could be between 1% and 6% of GDP due to the impact of climate change on natural resources alone. "This means annual losses to the economy of between US$70 and US$200 million if no action to adapt ...

Sun, 26 Apr 09
Greenhouse Gases Continue To Climb Despite Economic Slump
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/04/090424195920.htm
ScienceDaily: Two of the most important climate change gases increased last year, according to a preliminary analysis for NOAA's annual greenhouse gas index, which tracks data from 60 sites around the world. Researchers measured an additional 16.2 billion tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) -- a byproduct of fossil fuel burning -- and 12.2 million tons of methane in the atmosphere at the end of December 2008. This increase is despite the global economic downturn, with its decrease in a wide range of ...

Sun, 26 Apr 09
Industry Group Excised Own Experts' Climate Findings From Report
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/24/AR2009042403331.html?wprss=rss_nation
Washington Post: A group funded by fossil-fuel-dependent companies that argued for years that human-generated greenhouse gases were not driving global warming was advised by its own scientists that this was the case, according to documents submitted as part of an ongoing lawsuit between auto manufacturers and states seeking to regulate vehicles' greenhouse gas emissions. The Global Climate Coalition, a group of representatives of the oil, auto and coal industries, spent years telling the public that ...

Sun, 26 Apr 09
New California fuel rule may violate NAFTA: lawyer
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE53O0NO20090425?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: California's new low-carbon fuel rules may be a violation of NAFTA and World Trade Organization provisions because they would unfairly limit exports of crude from Canada's oil sands to the state, a prominent Canadian trade lawyer said on Friday. California adopted a first-ever rule on Thursday requiring refineries, producers and importers of motor fuels sold in the state to reduce the "carbon intensity" of their products by 10 percent by 2020, with greater cuts thereafter. The ...

Sun, 26 Apr 09
United States: Ocean Race to Take Detour for Whales Near Boston
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=125675
New York Times: The Volvo Ocean Race fleet has raced for nearly 30,000 nautical miles, through garbage-strewn waters in the China Sea, around a pirate zone on the way to India and over 20-foot waves in the Southern Ocean. As the seven sleek yachts that remain in the race ride warm southerly winds past Cape Cod this weekend, they will have to make their way around yet another obstacle, a whale sanctuary, before gliding into Boston Harbor. In a first for such an event, organizers of the Volvo Ocean ...

Sun, 26 Apr 09
United Kingdom: Climate change research boosted
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/suffolk/8016365.stm
BBC: A Norfolk-based research centre has received £4.5m investment for further studies into climate change. The Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, based at the University of East Anglia (UEA), is a partnership between seven universities. The funding will help the centre carry out research into ways to counteract the effects of climate change. The money is a combination of funding between the UK Research Council and UEA, centre bosses say. Professor Trevor ...

Sun, 26 Apr 09
Gore: Partisan Row Over Climate Must End
http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1893835,00.html
Associated Press: Gore, who won a Nobel prize for his work on global warming, called the climate issue the most important ever before Congress. A Democratic bill limiting carbon dioxide and other pollution linked to a warming of the Earth will simultaneously solve the problems of the climate, economy and national security, he told a House panel. "We are, along with the rest of humanity, facing the dire and growing threat of the climate crisis," said Gore, who argued that Congress must act to "restore ...

Sun, 26 Apr 09
Climate heavy-hitters to address House panel
http://www.physorg.com/news159786344.html
Associated Press: Former Vice President Al Gore called a House bill that would curb the gases blamed for global warming the most important legislation ever in Congress. Gore, who won a Nobel Prize for his work on global warming, is scheduled to testify before a House panel Friday morning. In testimony prepared for delivery, Gore says the legislation will simultaneously solve the problems of the climate, economy and national security. The former vice president and one-time Tennessee senator ...

Sun, 26 Apr 09
Democrats Seek Free Carbon Credits for Utilities
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=afAHK.ngziiM
Bloomberg: A group of Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee want to give utilities free permits for all their existing carbon emissions, according to people familiar with a plan sent to the committee's chairman. Representative Rick Boucher of Virginia sent the four-page list of recommendations to Henry Waxman, the committee's chairman and the author of draft climate-change legislation that some of his fellow Democrats are seeking to temper, said the people, who declined to be ...

Sun, 26 Apr 09
Ethanol Makers Vow To Keep Fighting California Carbon Rules
http://news.ino.com/headlines/?newsid=20090424013234
Dow Jones: INO.com News - Ethanol Makers Vow To Keep Fighting California Carbon Rules INO.com | Charts | Quotes | News | Blog | MarketClub | INO TV | Trend AnalysisPortfolio | Free Tools | Help Headline News, Market Commentary, Extreme Futures, Extreme Stocks, Market ResourcesSaturday Apr 25, 7:59AM EDT Quote Search Sponsored By Futures PricesSearch Tips News Headlines Market news and breaking stories live from Dow Jones Newswires Market Commentary A technical analysis commentary ...

Sun, 26 Apr 09
Businesses see employment upside with carbon cap
http://www.sacbee.com/business/nation/story/1808206.html
Sacramento Bee: One question was on everyone's mind during hearings this week on a new U.S. energy policy: What would it do to the country's jobs and the American lifestyle? "It's about jobs," and whether the new policies would help or hurt the country's economy, said Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt. "It's not just political. It's a legitimate concern." Congress has just started debate over a 648-page draft of legislation addressing renewable fuels, energy efficiency and global warming, called the ...

Sun, 26 Apr 09
Climate Measure Would Stop Regional Trading in U.S., States Say
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601072&sid=a_bzSPsRrGRg
Bloomberg: A proposed law to cut U.S. greenhouse gas emissions would shut down the carbon trading program started this year in the Northeast, according to a group that represents state and local environmental regulators. The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative faces "dissolution" in 2012 under the draft climate legislation, Bill Becker, executive director of the National Association of Clean Air Agencies, told a congressional panel that today completed four days of hearings on climate-change ...

Sun, 26 Apr 09
United States: The right balance on climate change and clean energy
http://www.oregonlive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2009/04/the_right_balance_on_cap_and_t.html
Oregonian: After decades of debate and study, it's time for Oregon to get serious about a plan to address global warming and build a clean energy economy. As the leading proponents in the Oregon Senate for Senate Bill 80, we were pleased to see The Oregonian's editorial board offer support for many of the changes we've proposed to the governor's cap-and-trade approach. The revised bill strikes the right balance in charting a clear path for reducing our global-warming pollution in a safe, ...

Sun, 26 Apr 09
Ancient Greenland Methane Study Good News For Planet
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1676755/ancient_greenland_methane_study_good_news_for_planet/index.html?source=r_science
redOrbit: An analysis of ancient Greenland ice suggests a spike in the greenhouse gas methane about 11,600 years ago originated from wetlands rather than the ocean floor or from permafrost, a finding that is good news according to the University of Colorado at Boulder scientist who led the study. Methane bound up in ocean sediments and permafrost, called methane clathrate, has been a concern to scientists because of its huge volume, greenhouse gas potency and potential for release during ...

Sun, 26 Apr 09
United States: How Carbon Caps Could Help Detroit
http://www.forbes.com/2009/04/24/automobiles-carbon-emissions-business-energy-carbon-cars.html?feed=rss_business_energy
Forbes: Bankruptcy isn't the only challenge Detroit faces these days. Carmakers are also nervously watching as Washington writes new environmental regulations that could challenge the long-term financial health of whatever industry emerges from the current crisis. Last Friday, the Environmental Protection Agency ruled that carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas produced by automobiles, is a hazard to human health that it must regulate. As early as this summer, the EPA could act on its so-called ...

Sun, 26 Apr 09
EU targets windows and taps with eco-design rules
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE53N3RW20090424?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Showers, taps, windows and home insulation will have to conform to environmental standards in the European Union, after lawmakers voted to widen the scope of existing "eco-design" regulations on Friday. The move is aimed at weaning the 27-nation bloc off its heavy dependence on Russian gas and at cutting greenhouse gas emissions in the battle against climate change. Current standards are restricted to energy-using products such as boilers, computers and televisions, but the ...

Sun, 26 Apr 09
Beyond Fossil Fuels: John Melo on Renewable Fuels
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=energy-melo-amyris-biotechnologies
Scientific American: What technical obstacles currently most curtail the growth of biofuels? What are the prospects for overcoming them in the near future and the longer-term? Like any new industry, biofuels face their own share of challenges--from environmental to cost to infrastructure compatibility. Amyris, however, has chosen a unique path to overcome current challenges. We are perfecting a new technology that makes hydrocarbons--the same components found in petroleum fuels. Therefore, our fuels can ...

Sun, 26 Apr 09
Gore, Gingrich, face off on climate
http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20090424/pl_politico/21668
Politico: Former Vice President Al Gore pushed Congress to find the "moral courage' to create a cap-and-trade system, endorsing a sweeping climate change proposal as "one of the most important pieces of legislation ever introduced in the Congress.' "I believe this legislation has the moral significance equivalent to that of the civil rights legislation of the 1960s and the Marshall Plan of the late 1940s,' he said in testimony delivered to the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Friday ...

Sun, 26 Apr 09
United Kingdom: Gatwick bidders include second runway in airport plans
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/apr/24/gatwick-runway
Press Association: Three groups bidding to take over the running of the UK's Gatwick airport have all included plans for a second runway in their submissions, it emerged today. But the Conservative party, who also oppose a third runway at Heathrow, said they would not allow a second runway if they won the next general election. Local residents also vowed to oppose any expansion which, under an existing agreement, would not be able to take place before 2019. The deadline for bids for Gatwick, ...

Sun, 26 Apr 09
US delivers message of urgency on climate change
http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/provider/providerarticle.aspx?feed=AP&date=20090423&id=9833295
Associated Press: A top U.N. environment official said Friday that fundamental differences remain among countries negotiating a new agreement on carbon emissions, and that he is concerned over the possibility of bridging those gaps. Achim Steiner, executive director for the U.N. Environment Program, said that discussions at an environment meeting in Sicily were among the "most frank" he has seen and largely focused on sticking points "where fundamental differences remain to be ...

Sun, 26 Apr 09
Will carbon capture work?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/8015676.stm
BBC: The UK government has given a massive boost to world ambitions to develop clean-coal technology. It announced a decision that will herald a new generation of coal-fired power stations in the UK - but all of them will have to have their CO2 emissions partially captured by cutting-edge technology. Carbon capture and storage (CCS) has finally come of age. After years of skulking in the shadows of disbelief it is about to claim its place in the sun. CCS has been championed by ...

Sun, 26 Apr 09
United States: Alternate fuels focus of state's new rules
http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/apr/24/1n24fuel005932-alternate-fuels-focus-states-new-ru/?california&zIndex=87788
San Diego Union-Tribune: Hoping to loosen oil's grip on California, state air-quality regulators yesterday passed landmark rules to stimulate the market for alternative fuels and slash greenhouse-gas emissions at the same time. Once fully in place by 2020, the regulations are expected to drive both subtle and significant changes in the types of vehicles and fuels sold in California's vast market. "No longer will gasoline derived from petroleum be the only game in town," said Mary Nichols, chairwoman of ...

Sun, 26 Apr 09
Holdouts for humble bulb defy a government phase-out
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=125593
New York Times: On a quaint lane called Camden Street, the sidewalk easel stands out for its apocalyptic tone: "100-WATT BULBS IN STOCK. (FOR HOW LONG WE DO NOT KNOW)" "Let some government official come in and tell me I can't sell these," Jonathan Wright, who has owned Classic Lighting for 40 years, said defiantly as he surveyed his warren of upscale light fixtures and shelves filled with neatly stacked bulbs. "I'll find them wherever I can get them and sell them for whatever they cost. People are ...

Sun, 26 Apr 09
Poland: Mazury lakes region drying up
http://www.polskieradio.pl/thenews/news/artykul106922_mazury_lakes_region_drying_up.html
news.pl: World Wildlife Foundation Polska has announced that the Mazury lakes, northern Poland, lose an average of 0.05 percent of territory annually. A conference entitled 'Let's make a good climate: The influence of global warming on the Mazury Great Lakes District' started today in Ogonki, a village in the region organized by WWF Polska. The organization claims that the region's lakes have decreased in size by 44 percent over the past 100 years due to effects of global climate ...

Sun, 26 Apr 09
Ice study has good and bad news for planet: Scientist
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE53M5AG20090423?sp=true
Reuters: A study of Greenland's icesheet has revealed that a vast store of planet-warming methane appears to be more stable than thought, easing fears of a rapid rise in temperatures, a scientist said on Friday. Methane is about 25 times more powerful at trapping heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide (CO2) and vast amounts of the compound are trapped in permafrost in the far northern hemisphere or in seabed deposits called clathrates. Scientists have feared climate change could ...

Sun, 26 Apr 09
T. Boone Pickens offers energy answer
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/local/20090424_T__Boone_Pickens_offers_energy_answer.html
Philadelphia Inquirer: T. Boone Pickens has watched the millions come and go, sometimes in a single day. He's been high and low, anointed as a savior and lambasted as a vulture. At one point, his life had all the makings of a country-western song. He was ousted from his company while going through a protracted divorce and living in a hotel. Now, at 80, the legendary - yes, they call him stuff like that these days - and sometimes controversial Texas oilman isn't quitting yet. He has one more ...

Sun, 26 Apr 09
Utilities press House panel for free emission credits
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=125583
Greenwire: Power company executives amplified their call today for free emission credits to comply with a House climate bill, calling their proposal an "elegant solution" ensuring the public won't face skyrocketing electric bills. Representatives of the Edison Electric Institute, the American Public Power Association, the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association and the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners urged the House Energy and Commerce Committee to set aside 40 ...

Sun, 26 Apr 09
Green technologies win £1.4 billion in UK budget
http://www.nature.com/news/2009/090422/full/news.2009.392.html
Nature: The UK government today announced £1.4 billion (US$2 billion) in new cash for low-carbon businesses and technologies, as part of the nation's 2009–10 Budget to stimulate economic recovery. But some scientists have expressed concern that, amid moves to support business priorities, basic research may be being sidelined. Presenting the Budget to the House of Commons, Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling said science-led sectors such as low carbon, advanced manufacturing and ...

Sun, 26 Apr 09
UK, governments and utilities to step up carbon-capture research
http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20090423/BUSINESS/90423022/1003/UK%20%20governments%20and%20utilities%20to%20step%20up%20carbon-capture%20research
Courier-Journal: A University of Kentucky-led consortium of government agencies, electric utilities and their research organizations, fueled by at least $24 million over 10 years, will seek cost-effective ways for coal-fired power plants in the state to reduce and manage their carbon dioxide emissions. The research, to be formally announced on Monday, would be carried out through the UK's Center for Applied Energy Research. Up to $1 million annually will come from the Kentucky Department of Energy ...

Sat, 25 Apr 09
US Proposes "Variable Geometry"
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=46630
Inter Press Service: The United States will work on energy issues with the other countries of the Americas based on "a variable geometry," allowing governments to choose to cooperate in some areas but not others, said Jeremy Martin, head of the energy programme at the Institute of the Americas at the University of California San Diego. This "a la carte" approach would make it possible to work with Venezuela on the heavy crudes in its Orinoco Belt and with Brazil on ethanol, or with Mexico and Brazil on ...

Sat, 25 Apr 09
Canada: Alberta wary of California low-carbon fuel rule
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE53N6ZR20090424?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Canada's biggest energy-producing province, Alberta, is wary of the new California low-carbon fuel rule and its potential effects on exports of oil sands production, the province's energy minister said on Friday. Mel Knight, Alberta minister of energy, said the new rule -- and rules being considered by other states -- are a potential threat to exports of upgraded oil from Canada's oil sands, but Alberta will continue to try to participate in discussions to help shape such ...

Sat, 25 Apr 09
New momentum for global climate pact despite 'gaps'
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090424/wl_afp/g8climatewarming
Agence France-Presse: The world's top polluters have found new momentum towards a landmark deal to fight global warming at Group of Eight-led talks, but serious "gaps" remain to be overcome, delegates said Friday. "Realism has set in in discussions among key nations... the realisation that time is running out" ahead of key UN talks in Copenhagen in December, said Achim Steiner, the head of the UN Environment Programme, as the three-day talks wound up in Syracuse, Italy. "I do leave Syracuse very ...

Sat, 25 Apr 09
'Gaps' remain as G8-led climate talks move towards global pact
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jcRMiPNKA1dnhujbntIoSybUslaw
Agence France-Presse: The world's top polluters ended climate change talks Friday that created new momentum towards an overall deal to fight global warming but serious "gaps" remained to be overcome. "Realism has set in in discussions among key nations ... the realisation that time is running out" ahead of landmark UN talks in Copenhagen in December, said Achim Steiner, the head of the UN Environment Programme. "I do leave Syracuse very much concerned that there is no clear pathway to resolving the ...

Sat, 25 Apr 09
Gore pushes for U.S. climate law this year
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE53N5TT20090424?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Global warming activist Al Gore on Friday urged passage this year of a U.S. law to slash greenhouse emissions, saying failure to pass legislation could cause the collapse of world climate negotiations. Gore, the former U.S. vice president and star of the Oscar-winning documentary film "An Inconvenient Truth," told members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee that passing a climate law is a "moral imperative" that will affect U.S. standing in the world community. "Once we ...

Sat, 25 Apr 09
Gore pleads for unity on climate, despite divide
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_CLIMATE_HEARINGS?SITE=TXDAM&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Associated Press: Former Vice President Al Gore, the leading American voice on climate change, urged lawmakers Friday to overcome partisan differences and take action to reduce greenhouse gases, but Democrats and Republicans sparred even more vigorously over the cost of dealing with global warming. Gore, who won a Nobel prize for his work on climate change, told a congressional hearing that "the dire and growing threat" of a warmer earth requires the parties to unite to deal with the environmental ...

Sat, 25 Apr 09
California Adopts Low-Carbon Fuel Standard
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=california-adopts-low-car
Greenwire: California air regulators approved the world's first plan yesterday for reducing carbon emissions from transportation fuels after making concessions aimed at placating the biofuels industry and expressing concerns about the rule's impact on the state's battered economy. The Air Resources Board's 9-1 decision is aimed at achieving a 10 percent reduction in motor vehicles' emissions of greenhouse gases by 2020 and spurring commercial development of low-carbon fuels like hydrogen and ...

Sat, 25 Apr 09
Study links wildfires in Sierra to climate change
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/04/24/state/n142301D38.DTL&type=science
San Francisco Chronicle: A warming climate will fuel larger, more frequent wildfires in the Sierra Nevada and other parts of the West, and the fires will contribute to climate change, according to a new study. More than 20 international scientists, in the report published Friday in the journal Science, said fire is not only a consequence of climate change but an important cause. "Fire also influences the climate system. This is what we call a feedback," Jennifer Balch, a fire expert at the University ...

Sat, 25 Apr 09
Gore pleads for unity on climate, despite divide
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Gore-pleads-for-unity-on-apf-15030629.html?.v=16
Associated Press: Former Vice President Al Gore, the leading American voice on climate change, urged lawmakers Friday to overcome partisan differences and take action to reduce greenhouse gases. Democrats and Republicans sparred even more vigorously over the cost of dealing with global warming. Gore, who was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize for his work on climate change, told a congressional hearing that "the dire and growing threat" of a warmer earth requires the parties to unite to deal with the ...

Sat, 25 Apr 09
Threat to European biodiversity 'as serious as climate change'
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/apr/24/europe-biodiversity-loss
Guardian: The natural world across Europe is suffering a crisis as serious as the threat of climate change, Europe's environment chiefs are to warn this week. A report from the European Environment Agency (EEA) to be published next month sounds the alarm that most species and habitats across the continent are in poor condition and the risk of extinction continues to rise. New figures for the UK also show that even the most important and rare plants and animals are suffering: eight out of ...

Sat, 25 Apr 09
Drowning in plastic: The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is twice the size of France
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/5208645/Drowning-in-plastic-The-Great-Pacific-Garbage-Patch-is-twice-the-size-of-France.html
Telegraph: Way out in the Pacific Ocean, in an area once known as the doldrums, an enormous, accidental monument to modern society has formed. Invisible to satellites, poorly understood by scientists and perhaps twice the size of France, the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is not a solid mass, as is sometimes imagined, but a kind of marine soup whose main ingredient is floating plastic debris. It was discovered in 1997 by a Californian sailor, surfer, volunteer environmentalist and early-retired ...

Sat, 25 Apr 09
United States: 'Climate change' forces Eskimos to abandon village
http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/science/04/24/climate.change.eskimos/index.html?eref=rss_latest
CNN: The indigenous people of Alaska have stood firm against some of the most extreme weather conditions on Earth for thousands of years. But now, flooding blamed on climate change is forcing at least one Eskimo village to move to safer ground. Floodwaters rip through the village of Newtok, Alaska, destroying its infrastructure. The community of the tiny coastal village of Newtok voted to relocate its 340 residents to new homes 9 miles away, up the Ninglick River. The village, home ...

Sat, 25 Apr 09
Can Trees Save Us from Climate Change?
http://www.sciam.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=can-trees-save-us-from-climate-chan-09-04-24
Scientific American: Earth Day gets more press but the real environmental holiday this week is National Arbor Day, today! April 24th. Trees do a lot for us: provide wood, improve health, even clean up the air. And maybe get us out of a little problem we've created called climate change. That's because carbon dioxide--the main greenhouse gas driving climate change--is plant food. The leaves of trees suck in sunlight and then chemically convert CO2 to carbohydrates. This process called ...

Sat, 25 Apr 09
Warner: Climate change a national security issue
http://www.physorg.com/news159797027.html
Associated Press: Former Vice President Al Gore, a leading voice on climate change, urged lawmakers Friday to overcome partisan differences and pass legislation to curb greenhouse gases. Gore, who won a Nobel prize for his work on global warming, called the climate issue the most important ever before Congress. A Democratic bill limiting carbon dioxide and other pollution linked to a warming of the Earth will simultaneously solve the problems of the climate, economy and national security, he told a ...

Sat, 25 Apr 09
Energy waste should be seen as antisocial as driving without a seat belt
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/5214888/Energy-waste-should-be-seen-as-anti-social-as-driving-without-a-seat-belt.html
Telegraph: Professor Michael Kelly, a Cambridge University academic who is currently Chief Scientific Adviser to the Department for Communities and Local Government, said householders should be too afraid of public opinion be seen wasting electricity by leaving the windows open with the heating on or using air conditioning when it is not necessary. His comments come after Ed Miliband, the Climate Change Secretary, suggested opposing wind farms should be as unacceptable as failing to wear a seat ...

Sat, 25 Apr 09
Experts Probe Urban Growth, Climate Change Links in Africa
http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-04-24-voa28.cfm
Voice of America: A new project has united researchers exploring the connection between rapid urban growth in Africa and climate related emergencies, in an effort to safeguard vulnerable urban populations from the effects of climate change. Fishermen in Accra's Chorkor fishing community haul in a catch consisting mostly of garbage swept into the sea by rain (2008 file photo)The Climate Change and Adaptation in Africa program, or CCAA, aims to increase the capacity of African people and organizations to ...

Sat, 25 Apr 09
Former VP Gore backs US House global warming bill
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Former-VP-Gore-backs-US-House-apf-15026937.html?.v=12
Associated Press: Former Vice President Al Gore, the leading American voice on climate change, urged lawmakers Friday to overcome partisan differences and act to reduce greenhouse gases to solve the most important issue ever before Congress. Gore told a House of Representatives hearing that the Democratic bill that would limit carbon dioxide and other pollution linked to a warming of the Earth will solve simultaneously the problems of climate, economy and national security. "We are, along with ...

Sat, 25 Apr 09
Scientist Warns of Threats to Rock Glaciers
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=46619
Inter Press Service: A new government policy on glaciers adopted by Chile "is a step forward, but it doesn't resolve all of the problems," German geographer Alexander Brenning, who blames mining companies for threats to this South American country's rock glaciers, told IPS. An assistant professor of geography at the University of Waterloo in Canada, Brenning spoke with IPS after giving a lecture this week on the little-known rock glaciers to geology students at the University of Chile, who had specially ...

Sat, 25 Apr 09
Warner: Climate change a national security issue
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jDtgU7eRVxUAIAcRsShLOcgYfiywD97OTE002
Associated Press: Former Republican Sen. John Warner of Virginia says dealing with climate change is a national security issue that must be addressed. But Warner told a House panel there will be "a rough road ahead" if greenhouse gases are to be reduced. He cautioned against moving too quickly when technology to curtail heat-trapping emissions may not be available. Still, Warner said future generations will judge what lawmakers do -- or not do -- today to address global warming. He said ...

Sat, 25 Apr 09
Al Gore backs US climate change bill
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090424/ts_alt_afp/climateenvironmentusenergycongresspolitics
Agence France-Presse: Former US vice president Al Gore, a leading environmental advocate, said a bill that would curb greenhouse gases was "one of the most important pieces of legislation" ever in Congress. "Passage of this legislation will restore America's leadership of the world and begin, at long last, to solve the climate crisis," Gore, who won a Nobel Prize for his work to combat global warming, told the House Energy and Commerce Committee. "It is truly a moral imperative." Congress is ...

Sat, 25 Apr 09
'G8-Plus' adopts charter to protect biodiversity
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090424/sc_afp/g8climatewarmingbiodiversity
Agence France-Presse: Environment ministers of leading wealthy and emerging nations Friday adopted a "charter" on protecting biodiversity as they concluded climate change talks in Italy. The 25-point Syracuse Charter explicitly links safeguarding biodiversity to the fight against global warming, saying: "Biodiversity and ecosystem services are critical for regulating our climate." The charter also urges raised awareness that "ecosystems provide a steady flow of goods and services" -- by providing ...

Sat, 25 Apr 09
US gets leeway on UN climate deadline
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE53N46A20090424
Reuters: Countries such as the United States can come up with ideas for a U.N. climate pact beyond an April 24 deadline, the U.N. Climate Change Secretariat said on Friday. Among a few submissions this week, African nations said developing nations will need to get at least $267 billion a year by 2020 to help them fight climate change under a treaty due to be agreed in Copenhagen in December. Many other nations have laid out their views of the content of the deal to succeed the Kyoto ...

Sat, 25 Apr 09
Forest Fires Largely Overlooked by Climate-Change Modelers
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601081&sid=a.NtiwjUkMEU
Bloomberg: Forest fires worsen global warming and make it harder for societies to adapt to drought and higher temperatures, scientists said. Trees and brush set ablaze, by accident or through slash- and-burn farming in the tropics, fuel hotter weather, said Jennifer Balch, a researcher at the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis in Santa Barbara, California. That's because smoke adds more carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. "We don't think about fire correctly," Balch said. ...

Sat, 25 Apr 09
Gone: Mass Extinction and the Hazards of Earth's Vanishing
http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2007/05/gone
Mother Jones: WE AWAKE IN OUR TENTS in the moonlight to what sounds like a dance troupe in wooden clogs practicing on rock under stunted juniper trees. It's a half-dozen Carmen mountain white-tailed deer, scraping at the ground with bootlike hooves, bending gracile necks to chew on wet soil and lick it dry. They're harvesting the minerals and moisture from our urine soaked into the parched earth of the high desert, the herd toiling through the night and into the morning in a pursuit tenacious enough to ...

Sat, 25 Apr 09
Remembering the lost forests of America
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30376570/
LiveScience: Around the arrival of Columbus, "it's said that squirrels could travel from tree to tree from the Northeast to the Mississippi without ever having to touch the ground," said Chris Roddick, chief arborist at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden in New York. "In the old growth forests in the Northeast, you had hemlock that were six or seven feet in diameter, chestnut trees 200 feet tall." Although Native Americans used to burn forests to farm, such practices were nowhere close to damaging "as ...

Sat, 25 Apr 09
Time to come clean on coal
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/leading-articles/leading-article-time-to-come-clean-on-coal-1673374.html
Independent (UK): It is little wonder that ministers are so attracted by the promise of "clean coal". Carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology fitted to a new generation of coal-fired power stations in this country would answer three of their prayers at once. It would bring down our national greenhouse gas emissions. Clean coal would enhance Britain's energy security, reducing our reliance on gas and oil from abroad. Finally, it would create a strong source of domestic employment. Getting the coal ...

Sat, 25 Apr 09
Climate talks depend on US law - top envoy
http://in.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idINIndia-39219520090424
Reuters: U.S. flexibility in negotiating a global warming pact depends on passing a law to cut greenhouse gas emissions, which is not an insurmountable task, Washington's top climate envoy said on Thursday. "We are going to fundamentally be guided by what happens in our own legislative process," Todd Stern, the U.S. Special Envoy for Climate Change, told Reuters in an interview when asked whether there was room for maneuver in the U.S. stance at U.N. climate talks. President Barack ...

Sat, 25 Apr 09
Groups see added risks from change in climate
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=125592
New York Times: The effects of climate change, especially rising seas, threaten trillions of dollars' worth of coastal property, and flood-hazard maps, zoning laws, building codes and insurance rates in the United States do not accurately reflect the risk, an unusual coalition of groups reported Thursday. The coalition – organized by the Heinz Center, a research organization that focuses on environmental issues, and Ceres, an organization of environmentally conscious investor, insurance and other ...

Sat, 25 Apr 09
Australia: Electric car pumps energy back into grid
http://www.smh.com.au/environment/energy-smart/electric-car--pumps-energy-back-into-grid-20090424-ahgj.html
AAP: Australian engineers have developed a plug-in hybrid electric car that not only generates power but can pump it back into the grid, potentially reducing running costs. In coming years, car giants Toyota and General Motors will mass produce plug-in hybrid cars, but researchers at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) have gone one step better, developing what they call the vehicle-to-grid (V2G) prototype. Taking a standard 2006 Toyota Prius, engineers at UTS converted it to ...

Sat, 25 Apr 09
United States: State passes stringent rule on fuels
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/04/23/BABA1782HB.DTL&tsp=1
San Francisco Chronicle: California's Air Resources Board on Thursday approved a first-in-the-world regulation to minimize the amount of carbon in fuel, putting California on the cutting edge of promoting alternative fuels in a bid to combat global warming. The regulation will require fuel manufacturers to cut the so-called carbon intensity of fuels sold in the state 10 percent by 2020 - lowering the amount of greenhouse gases released for every unit of energy produced. If the regulation's goal is reached, it ...

Sat, 25 Apr 09
Fuels must clean up act
http://www.sacbee.com/378/story/1806115.html
Sacramento Bee: California became the first state in the nation Thursday to mandate carbon-based reductions in transportation fuels in an attempt to cut the state's overall greenhouse gas emissions. The California Air Resources Board approved a phased-in reduction starting in 2011, with a goal of shrinking carbon impacts 10 percent by 2020. Fuel producers can comply in different ways, such as providing a cleaner fuel portfolio, blending low-carbon ethanol with gasoline or purchasing credits from ...

Sat, 25 Apr 09
Some see EPA's climate proposal prodding Interior on ESA
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=125582
Greenwire: Environmental groups that have been trying through a series of lawsuits to force U.S. regulation of greenhouse gases to protect endangered species say they have been given a valuable legal weapon in a new U.S. EPA proposal that calls such emissions a threat to public health. The Center for Biological Diversity, the Natural Resources Defense Council and other groups tried using lawsuits citing global warming to force the Bush administration to protect the polar bear and several other ...

Sat, 25 Apr 09
United States: Park Service warns of solar projects' impacts to Mojave Desert
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=125581
New York Times: A National Park Service official has warned the Bureau of Land Management that approving dozens of solar power plants in southern Nevada could dramatically impact water supplies across the arid region. An estimated 63 large-scale solar projects are proposed for BLM lands in the region, and the plants are expected to use a large amount of groundwater to cool and wash solar panels, according to the Feb. 5 memorandum sent by Jon Jarvis, director of the Park Service's Pacific West Region, ...

Sat, 25 Apr 09
China plugs into electric car market
http://www.montrealgazette.com/Technology/China%20plugs%20into%20electric%20market/1526308/story.html
Canwest News Service: The car is a pretty ordinary looking sedan, which is not an altogether bad thing for an electric car. The weird, boxy "green-look" of so many of the pioneer models had limited appeal. But it's the battery in BYD Auto's new E6 fully electric car, not the design, that is currently causing the buzz in the decidedly dejected auto industry. Instead of being made with lithium ion, which is expensive, increasingly hard to come by, environmentally unfriendly and potentially dangerous ...

Sat, 25 Apr 09
No 'Burp' Accelerating Climate Change? Wetlands Likely Source Of Methane From Ancient Warming Event
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/04/090423142457.htm
ScienceDaily: An expansion of wetlands and not a large-scale melting of frozen methane deposits is the likely cause of a spike in atmospheric methane gas that took place some 11,600 years ago, according to an international research team led by Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego. The finding is expected to come as a relief to scientists and climate watchers concerned that huge accelerations of global warming might have been touched off by methane melts in the past and could happen ...

Sat, 25 Apr 09
Fire Influences Global Warming More Than Previously Thought
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/04/090423142332.htm
ScienceDaily: Fire's potent and pervasive effects on ecosystems and on many Earth processes, including climate change, have been underestimated, according to a new report. "We've estimated that deforestation due to burning by humans is contributing about one-fifth of the human-caused greenhouse effect -- and that percentage could become larger," said co-author Thomas W. Swetnam of The University of Arizona in Tucson. "It's very clear that fire is a primary catalyst of global climate change," ...

Sat, 25 Apr 09
Will California Shuck Corn Ethanol?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ibd/20090423/bs_ibd_ibd/20090423issues01
Investor's Business Daily: Energy Policy: California regulators are ready to conclude that corn ethanol cannot help the state fight global warming. It seems they've discovered putting food in our cars would destroy the earth in order to save it. California regulators have apparently discovered it ain't easy being green. The California Air Resources Board began two days of hearings in Sacramento on Thursday on a proposed Low Carbon Fuel Standard which considers the carbon intensity of fuels during a given fuel's ...

Sat, 25 Apr 09
United Kingdom: Clean coal is future for energy supplies
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/clean-coal-is-future-for-energy-supplies-1673412.html
Independent (UK): Any new coal-fired power stations built in Britain will have to be fitted with cutting-edge technology to capture their carbon emissions, the Government announced yesterday in a revolution in energy policy. The announcement, by the Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband, outlined the first practical programme in the world to deploy carbon capture and storage, or CCS -- the technological "fix" on which the world's chances of fighting climate change may come to ...

Sat, 25 Apr 09
Climate change politics gather steam in U.S
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE53M66720090424?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Democrats in Congress worked on Thursday to win over U.S. lawmakers skeptical of climate change legislation, while climate leader California took another major step with low-carbon rules on fuels that could be copied nationwide. The two moves signaled growing political momentum behind efforts to curb greenhouse gases, which President Barack Obama, a Democrat, has made a policy priority after years of slow going by his Republican predecessor, George W. Bush. U.S. Special Envoy ...

Sat, 25 Apr 09
California adopts landmark low-carbon fuel rule
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE53L71L20090424?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: California on Thursday adopted a first-ever rule to slash carbon emissions in automotive fuels, and spur the market for cleaner gasoline alternatives, after a last-ditch appeal to ethanol advocates who fought the plan. The low-carbon fuel standard approved by the state's influential air-quality regulators was hailed by backers as an historic initiative that the rest of the United States and other countries were likely to emulate. It marks the first attempt by government ...

Sat, 25 Apr 09
U.S. to take reins in global climate talks next week
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE53N12720090424?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: The United States hopes to take the reins of international efforts to battle global warming next week with a meeting of major economies aimed at facilitating a U.N. pact to cut greenhouse gas emissions. President Barack Obama, a Democrat who took office in January, called the meeting last month to relaunch a process that began under his Republican predecessor, George W. Bush, whose commitment to curbing climate change was viewed with skepticism by much of the world. The stakes ...

Sat, 25 Apr 09
Top polluters in final round of climate talks
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090424/sc_afp/g8climatewarming
Agence France-Presse: Environment ministers of the world's top polluters entered a final round of climate change talks Friday with agreement expected on stemming the loss of biodiversity. The three days of talks in Sicily, buoyed by a sea change in US environmental policy, have also found new momentum towards a landmark deal to fight global warming at the end of the year. US delegate Lisa Jackson said Thursday she brought a "message of hope" from US President Barack Obama, who already boasts having ...

Sat, 25 Apr 09
Water people of Andes face extinction
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/apr/24/andes-tribe-threat-bolivia-climate-change
Guardian: 'If there is no water, the Chipaya have no life' Link to this video Its members belong to what is thought to be the oldest surviving culture in the Andes, a tribe that has survived for 4,000 years on the barren plains of the Bolivian interior. But the Uru Chipaya, who outlasted the Inca empire and survived the Spanish conquest, are warning that they now face extinction through climate change. The tribal chief, 62-year-old Felix Quispe, 62, says the river that has sustained them ...

Sat, 25 Apr 09
United Kingdom: Momentum is building for the Great British Refurb
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/apr/24/great-british-refurb
Guardian: The world needs to reduce its carbon emissions by roughly half before 2050. But here's a fact: it's doing the exact opposite at the moment and increasing them. Our government, meanwhile, has stalwartly set this country the target of reducing its carbon emissions by 80% by the same date. But that figure isn't some distant, long-term objective. It's a point on a sliding scale of carbon-saving that we need to start now. By way of a kickstart, the government is launching its low-carbon ...

Sat, 25 Apr 09
California to limit greenhouse gas emissions of vehicle fuels
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-green-fuel24-2009apr24,0,1347527.story
LA Times: California took aim Thursday at the oil industry and its impact on global warming, adopting the world's first regulation to limit greenhouse gas emissions from the fuel that runs cars and trucks. The Air Resources Board voted 9 to 1 in favor of the complex new rule, which is expected to slash the state's gasoline consumption by a quarter in the next decade. It seeks to expand the market for electric and hydrogen-fueled vehicles and jump-start a host of futuristic biofuels to replace ...

Sat, 25 Apr 09
Plants Absorb More Carbon Dioxide Under Polluted Hazy Skies
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/04/090422132829.htm
ScienceDaily: Plants absorbed carbon dioxide more efficiently under the polluted skies of recent decades than they would have done in a cleaner atmosphere, according to new findings published this week in Nature. The results of the study have important implications for efforts to combat future climate change which are likely to take place alongside attempts to lower air pollution levels. The research team included scientists from the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, the Met Office Hadley ...

Sat, 25 Apr 09
Obama officials press Congress to act on climate
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE53L3OH20090422?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Key Obama administration officials on Wednesday called on Congress to pass comprehensive energy and climate change legislation to reduce U.S. oil imports and fight global warming. "On this Earth Day, we must state in no uncertain terms that we have a responsibility to our children and their children to curb the carbon emissions from fossil fuels that have begun to change our climate," U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu said at a hearing before the House Energy and Commerce ...

Fri, 24 Apr 09
Calif. expected to adopt low-carbon fuel rules
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090423/ap_on_re_us/low_carbon_fuel
Associated Press: California air regulators are considering first-in-the nation rules to require low-carbon fuels as part of the state's wider effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The California Air Resources Board on Thursday is expected to adopt standards that could serve as a template for a national policy. The proposal calls for reducing the carbon content of fuels sold in California by 10 percent by 2020 by counting the emissions required to deliver gasoline and diesel to California ...

Fri, 24 Apr 09
Fires make climate change worse - report
http://uk.reuters.com/article/oilRpt/idUKN2346226520090423
Reuters: In a vicious cycle made worse by humans, scientists now believe fires spur climate change, which in turn makes blazes bigger, more frequent and more damaging to the environment. Climate experts have known that a warmer world would spawn more fires, but in research published on Thursday in the journal Science, scientists reported that fires -- especially those set by humans to clear forests -- influence climate change. Smoke particles sent into the atmosphere by fires inhibit ...

Fri, 24 Apr 09
Climate control push gains steam in U.S
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE53M66720090423?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Democrats in Congress sought to stake out a compromise on climate control legislation on Thursday as environmentalists awaited California's decision on new limits on auto emissions. The two moves signaled growing political momentum behind efforts to curb greenhouse gases, which President Barack Obama, a Democrat, has made a policy priority after years of slow going by his Republican predecessor, George W. Bush. California regulators could announce as early as Friday a decision ...

Fri, 24 Apr 09
US brings "message of hope" to climate change talks
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LN259261.htm
Reuters: The top U.S. climate change official brought a "message of hope" to a summit of environment ministers from rich and poor nations on Wednesday, saying Washington was committed to curbing greenhouse gases. Lisa Jackson, head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), told the Group of Eight (G8) industrial countries and major developing nations that U.S. President Barack Obama was willing to work tirelessly toward a deal on global warming. "I bring from President Obama ...

Fri, 24 Apr 09
Antarctica's sea ice increasing due to ozone hole, but scientists predict global warming will catch-up
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0423-hance_antarcticice.html
Mongabay: Increasing ice in Antarctica is not a sign that the earth is actually cooling instead of warming as some climate change-skeptics have attested. A new study finds that the growth in Antarctic ice during the last 30 years is actually due to shifting weather patterns caused by the hole in the ozone layer. The researchers predict that eventually global warming will catch up to Antarctica leading to overall melting as it has in the Arctic. "Our results show the complexity of climate change ...

Fri, 24 Apr 09
United Kingdom: We can't rely on the markets alone to fight climate change
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/cif-green/2009/apr/23/bryony-worthington-carbon-capture-coal
Guardian: The government has finally come up with a clear policy about the sort of power stations it wants to see built: it wants coal and it wants it to be at least 20% cleaner than would be otherwise. This won't be enough for deep green environmentalists but it is nevertheless a significant step forward from where we are today. Before today the mantra had been "let the market decide" but today's announcement admits that we can't rely on markets alone to tackle climate change or to stop us ...

Fri, 24 Apr 09
G8, poor nations seek deal to stem biodiversity loss
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE53K66X20090423?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Environment ministers from major rich and developing nations put the final touches on Thursday to an agreement to slow the alarming rate of extinction of species around the world. Members of the Group of Eight (G8) industrial countries and major developing economies, meeting for a second day on the island of Sicily, discussed a "Syracuse Charter" aimed at extending a deal to slow biodiversity loss by 2010. "Defending biodiversity can play a key role in the battle against ...

Fri, 24 Apr 09
UK: Coal power stations to include carbon capture
http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2009/04/23/uk_coal_power_stations_to_include_carbon_capture/?rss_id=Boston.com+--+Latest+news
Associated Press: New coal-fired power stations will only be approved in Britain if they include plans to develop carbon capture and storage technology, Britain's Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband said on Thursday. Miliband said that, if carbon capture techniques are proven following trials, all coal-powered plants would need to install and use them, most likely by a deadline of 2025. Carbon-capture technology seeks to remove carbon dioxide from burning coal, convert it to a liquid ...

Fri, 24 Apr 09
German Environment Minister: 'We Must Discuss Climate Change's Devastating Consequences Openly'
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,620819,00.html#ref=rss
Spiegel: SPIEGEL: Mr. Gabriel, when you became Germany's environment minister in 2005, you were described as an "environmental black box." Is there any light in the box today? Gabriel: It was nonsense back then, because I began my career as an environmental politician in the state parliament in Lower Saxony, where I was dealing with the problems of heavy metal contamination in the part of the northern Harz Mountains where I come from, as well as in the Harz National Park. However, I have a low ...

Fri, 24 Apr 09
Clean coal push marks reversal of UK energy policy
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/apr/23/clean-coal-energy-policy
Guardian: No new coal-fired power stations will be built in Britain from now on unless they capture and bury at least 25% of greenhouse gases immediately and 100% by 2025, the climate change secretary, Ed Miliband, announced today. In a reversal of energy policy which represents a major victory for the new Department for Energy and Climate Change and green pressure groups, the government will direct the building of four energy "clusters", generating a total of 2.5GW of electricity, on the east ...

Fri, 24 Apr 09
Rich nation greenhouse gas emissions rise in 2007
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE53M41R20090423?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Greenhouse gas emissions from industrialized nations rose by nearly one percent in 2007, led by strong gains in the United States, official data showed. Carbon emissions from countries signed up to the Kyoto Protocol climate pact edged up by 0.1 percent in 2007, mainly due to rises in Japan and Canada. "The numbers are ... a bit depressing," said Knut Alfsen, research director at the Center for International Climate and Environmental Research in Oslo, saying they showed a ...

Fri, 24 Apr 09
China's Shrinking Forests Absorbing Less CO2
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1675783/chinas_shrinking_forests_absorbing_less_co2/index.html?source=r_science
redOrbit: In the latter half of the 20th century, the lush vegetation of China's forests and grasslands was absorbing roughly one third of its greenhouse gas emissions. According to a recent study, however, that rate is declining rapidly. Peking University researchers say that a combination of factors including high rainfall, government programs to replant forests, shifts in crop use and a higher concentration of bamboo biomass have all played a part in absorbing some 28 to 37 percent of ...

Fri, 24 Apr 09
United Kingdom: Go-ahead for carbon-capture power stations
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/goahead-for-carboncapture-power-stations-1673141.html
Press Association: The Government today signalled the go-ahead for a new generation of coal-fired power stations - but insisted they would be made to reduce their carbon emissions. Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said up to four new coal plants could be built before 2020, which he said was "important for our energy mix". But he said at least a portion of each new power station must be fitted with the technology to trap and store their carbon dioxide underground. His announcement to MPs ...

Fri, 24 Apr 09
Interior issues offshore wind rules
http://www.bradenton.com/politics/story/1385225.html
Associated Press: The Interior Department issued long-awaited regulations Wednesday governing offshore renewable energy projects that would tap wind, ocean currents and waves. The framework establishes how leases will be issued and sets in place revenue sharing with nearby coastal states that will receive 27.5 percent of the royalties that will be generated from the electricity production. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said in an interview with The Associated Press that applications are ...

Fri, 24 Apr 09
White House sets rules for offshore wind farms
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124042608720444433.html
Wall Street Journal: The Obama administration took a step toward boosting development of renewable energy Wednesday, announcing final rules for offshore wind-power development. The Department of the Interior announced a program to grant leases, easements and rights of way for the development of offshore wind farms. The program also puts in place methods for sharing revenue from offshore renewable energy projects with coastal states. "On this Earth Day, it is time for us to lay a new foundation for ...

Fri, 24 Apr 09
United States: President makes no mention of ethanol
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20090423/BUSINESS/904230385/1001
Des Moines Register: President Barack Obama's speech at Newton on Wednesday was especially noteworthy for its lack of reference to ethanol. It was one of the rare times in recent history that a president or national politician has spoken in Iowa and didn't mention the biofuel by name, especially as Iowa leads the nation in ethanol production. Iowa has 41 ethanol plants up and running or under construction, but ethanol producers have struggled of late with declining corn prices and drops in the price of ...

Fri, 24 Apr 09
United Kingdom: 'Clean' coal plants get go-ahead
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/8014295.stm
BBC: A new generation of coal-fired power stations equipped for carbon capture and storage has been signalled by Energy Secretary Ed Miliband. He told MPs up to four of the plants could be built by 2020 enabling the UK "to lead the world" in the technology. The aim was to keep coal, a cheap fuel, within the UK's energy mix without abandoning climate change commitments. The Conservatives said the government had dithered over the issue and yielded ground to other ...

Fri, 24 Apr 09
China to meet 2010 pollution targets: minister
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE53M0Q020090423?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: China is on track to meet its pollution targets by 2010 even though it is still struggling to deal with its coal-dependent energy sector, the country's environment minister has reported to parliament. By the end of 2010, China aims to cut the emissions of major pollutants by 10 percent compared with 2005 levels. In a report delivered to China's parliament on Wednesday, minister Zhou Shengxian said annual sulfur dioxide emissions are projected to hit 22 million tons by 2010, 10 ...

Fri, 24 Apr 09
Administration Stops Short of Endorsing Climate Bill
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=125447
New York Times: Obama administration officials said Wednesday that an ambitious energy and climate-change proposal sponsored by House Democrats could help create jobs and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but they stopped short of endorsing it. Steven Chu, the secretary of energy, and Lisa P. Jackson, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, told a House committee considering the measure that they believed it could help accomplish President Obama's goals of moderating climate change, ...

Fri, 24 Apr 09
Pollution in Chinese cities 'extremely severe'
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090423/wl_asia_afp/chinaenvironmentpollution
Agence France-Presse: Air pollution in China's cities remains very serious, state media on Thursday quoted a minister as saying, amid an ongoing battle to clean up the skies in the world's largest coal-consuming nation. "There is the potential for serious air pollution incidents to happen, and the air environment situation is extremely severe," environmental protection minister Zhou Shengxian told parliament, the official People's Daily said. "The difficulties in managing air pollution are ...

Fri, 24 Apr 09
Calif. considers low-carbon fuel standard for cars
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/04/21/financial/f134820D93.DTL&feed=rss.business
Associated Press: California air regulators are taking another step to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, considering first-in-the nation standards to require the use of so-called low-carbon fuels. The California Air Resources Board, which will debate the standards Thursday, considers the regulation a framework for a potential national policy advocated by President Barack Obama on the campaign trail last year. Democrats have included a goal for low-carbon fuels in the latest climate bill they have ...

Fri, 24 Apr 09
China's plants absorb a third of its carbon emissions
http://www.nature.com/news/2009/090422/full/news.2009.384.html?s=news_rss
Nature: Two studies published today reveal fresh details of how much carbon dioxide is being taken up by the planet's plant life. According to the first paper, published in Nature1, aerosol pollutants have increased photosynthesis globally in recent decades by diffusing light, which helps plants that can't compete in direct sunshine. In a separate study, also published in Nature2, scientists have issued the first estimate of how much carbon China's vegetation absorbs. The research on ...

Fri, 24 Apr 09
China's forests have role in soaking up CO2 -study
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LM246820.htm
Reuters: China's forests and other vegetation absorbed around a third of its greenhouse gases in the late 20th century, but the rate may now be falling because of a surge in industrial emissions, scientists said. A study by Peking University said that increased summer rains, efforts to plant forests, an expansion of shrubland, shifts in crop use and higher bamboo mass soaked up between 28 and 37 percent of industrial emissions in the 1980s and 1990s. The study gave the first estimate of ...

Fri, 24 Apr 09
Plants absorb more carbon under hazy skies
http://www.physorg.com/news159626551.html
Physorg: Plants absorbed carbon dioxide more efficiently under the polluted skies of recent decades than they would have done in a cleaner atmosphere, according to new findings published this week in Nature. The results of the study have important implications for efforts to combat future climate change which are likely to take place alongside attempts to lower air pollution levels. The research team included scientists from the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, the Met Office Hadley ...

Fri, 24 Apr 09
First fruits of cap-and-trade
http://wwwp.dailyclimate.org/tdc-newsroom/2009/04/first-fruits-of-cap-and-trade
Daily Climate: Scott Newman was laid off in February from his job repairing home oil heaters, a victim of the dismal economy. Today, he sits in a class with a new job, learning how to sleuth out wasted energy in homes. Newman is in the vanguard of a green-collar corps created by the nation's first carbon cap-and-trade program, operating in 10 northeastern states. Workers are being hired for a booming expansion of energy efficiency programs, financed by money raised from power companies paying for ...

Fri, 24 Apr 09
Dust storms escalate, prompting environmental fears
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/22/AR2009042203685.html
Washington Post: Nestled in the San Juan Mountains at 9,300 feet, and surrounded by 13,000-foot peaks, Silverton, Colo., seems an unlikely place for a dust storm, especially with two feet of snow on the ground. So Chris Landry was alarmed on the afternoon of April 3 when he spotted a brown haze on the horizon; an hour later, a howling wind had engulfed the town in a full-fledged dust storm, turning everything from the sky to the snow a rusty red. "It was almost surreal," recalled Landry, executive ...

Fri, 24 Apr 09
Global warming 'slowed by pollution'
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/climatechange/5202877/Global-warming-slowed-by-pollution.html
Telegraph: The first study found that the hole in the ozone layer, caused by the use of CFCs, has prevented the melting of Antarctica even as the rest of the world warms. A separate study found that plants absorb more carbon dioxide under polluted skies, therefore slowing global warming. Scientists said the findings made it even more important to cut carbon emissions in the future as pollution from CFCs and other sources is expected to decrease. The survey of Antarctica by the ...

Fri, 24 Apr 09
Obama climate chief: U.S. law vital to global deal
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE53L5MB20090422
Reuters: President Barack Obama's top climate negotiator warned on Wednesday that international efforts to tackle global warming are doomed unless the United States enacts laws to limit greenhouse gas emissions. "There will be no new global deal if the United States is not part of it and we won't be part of it unless we are on track in enacting our own domestic plan," Todd Stern told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Countries from around the world are scheduled to meet in ...

Fri, 24 Apr 09
U.N. calls at climate talks for G8 to do more
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE53K66X20090422
Reuters: The United States and other rich nations must do more to help clinch a landmark deal on climate change this year, a top U.N. official said at a meeting of global environment ministers. The three-day meeting of the Group of Eight industrial countries and major developing economies, which opened in Sicily on Wednesday, has been hailed as a stepping stone to a U.N. deal on climate change, due to be signed in December in Copenhagen. All eyes were on the U.S. delegation since ...

Fri, 24 Apr 09
Energy efficiency spend will barely reduce carbon emissions, say green groups
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/apr/22/budget-energy-efficiency
Guardian: Building firms and green groups welcomed the budget announcement to spend £375m on energy efficiency in buildings over the next two years, but said it was much too little to kickstart an ailing construction industry and would barely reduce carbon emissions. The chancellor Alistair Darling said that energy efficiency – stopping heat leaking out of buildings – was "the easiest and quickest" way to reduce carbon emissions and the benefits would be distributed between homes, offices and ...

Fri, 24 Apr 09
EPA: Greenhouse gas limits would lead to 'modest' electricity price increases
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/042309dnbusgreenhouse.fd9dc04c.html
Dallas Morning News: The Environmental Protection Agency said Wednesday that federal limits on greenhouse-gas emissions would lead to "quite modest" price increases for electricity consumers. At a hearing of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said households would pay an additional $98 and $140 per year for electricity. The committee began taking testimony Wednesday on draft legislation that would reduce carbon-dioxide emissions by 83 percent in 2050. The EPA ...

Fri, 24 Apr 09
Energy companies want carbon trades phased in with greenhouse gas rules
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus/stories/042309dnbusepa.38817b1.html
Dallas Morning News: For Texas, which boasts the highest proportion of energy-intensive industries of any state, the stakes are high. Utilities, petroleum refineries, cement plants and chemical plants would be forced to purchase credits to offset their carbon dioxide emissions, and energy prices would inevitably rise for consumers and businesses. At a hearing of the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Wednesday, several companies said they would oppose the legislation if forced to purchase all their ...

Fri, 24 Apr 09
Air pollution helps plants blunt climate change: study
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090422/sc_afp/scienceclimatewarmingpollutionplants
Agence France-Presse: Cleaning up skies choked with smog and soot would sharply curtail the capacity of plants to absorb carbon dioxide and blunt global warming, according to a study released on Wednesday. Plant life -- especially tropical forests -- soak up a quarter of all the CO2 humans spew into the atmosphere, and thus plays a critical role in keeping climate change in check. Through photosynthesis, vegetation transforms sunlight, CO2 and water into sugar nutrients. Common sense would ...

Fri, 24 Apr 09
G8 countries must take lead on global warming: Oxfam
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090422/sc_afp/g8climatewarmingoxfam
Agence France-Presse: The Group of Eight nations meeting in Italy must take the lead in the fight against global warming or endanger hundreds of millions of people worldwide, the British charity Oxfam said Wednesday. "We have reached a crossroads, and rich countries get to choose the route we all take," said Antonio Hill, a senior policy advisor for Oxfam. "One route leads us out of today?s economic and climate crises and towards a low carbon future; the other spells disaster for hundreds of ...

Fri, 24 Apr 09
River systems worldwide are losing water due to global warming
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0422-hance_rivers.html
Mongabay: Many rivers around the world are losing water due to global climate change, according to a new study from the American Meteorological Society's Journal of Climate. Large populations depend on some of the rivers for everything from agriculture to clean drinking resources, including the Yellow River, the Ganges, the Niger, and the Colorado, which have all shown significant declines. "The distribution of the world's fresh water, already an important topic will occupy front and center ...

Thu, 23 Apr 09
Native Peoples Sound Dire Warning
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=46594
Inter Press Service: Humanity's hot carbon breath is not just melting the planet's polar regions, it is disrupting natural systems and livelihoods around the world, indigenous people reported this week at a global meeting on climate change in Anchorage, Alaska. "We indigenous people are the prow of the ship of humanity in the oncoming waves of climate change," said Vanessa Marsh of the small Pacific island of Niue. Indigenous people are here to alert humanity and lead the way in healing Earth, ...

Thu, 23 Apr 09
Obama pushes renewable energy, climate change rules
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE53L66B20090422?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: President Barack Obama said on Wednesday the United States must lead the world on renewable energy and pressed Congress to set greenhouse gas limits deemed crucial for the success of global talks on climate change. Obama, who has kept energy reform high on his priority list since taking office in January, used Earth Day to tout the need for a U.S. shift to less-polluting fuels and a concerted effort to reduce the nation's dependence on foreign oil. "It is time for us to lay a ...

Thu, 23 Apr 09
NY wants offshore wind projects in Great Lakes
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090422/ap_on_bi_ge/us_great_lakes_wind
Associated Press: A New York state utility is exploring whether it is possible to put electricity-generating wind turbines in the Great Lakes, rather than inland or along the shoreline. The state-owned New York Power Authority on Wednesday began asking potential developers how they would go about constructing an offshore wind project in Lake Erie or Lake Ontario and what the environmental, technical and other hurdles might be. "The goal here is to develop within the next five years an offshore ...

Thu, 23 Apr 09
G8 looks to greener White House to lead on global warming
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090422/pl_afp/g8climatewarming
Agence France-Presse: The environment ministers of rich and emerging nations were looking Wednesday to Washington for new leadership at talks in Sicily on combatting global warming. "We are all encouraged by the new position of the United States," Italian host Stefania Prestigiacamo said as the three-day meeting kicked off. "It is an important signal on the issues of the environment and technology." The start of the talks coincided with Earth Day, an occasion US President Barack Obama used to launch ...

Thu, 23 Apr 09
California takes steps to assuage ethanol industry
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE53M09E20090423?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: California on Wednesday said it would take several measures to ensure corn ethanol can help transportation fuel suppliers reach a proposed low-carbon fuel standard that is expected to be passed by the state on Thursday. California's Air Resources Board "believes that corn ethanol will play an important role in helping California achieve the goals of the (low carbon fuel standard)," the state's top air quality regulator, Mary Nichols, said in a letter to General Wesley Clark, co-chair ...

Thu, 23 Apr 09
Obama launches push for green revolution
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090423/pl_afp/usclimateenvironmentobama_20090423014556
Agence France-Presse: President Barack Obama launched his push for a green energy revolution and to pass historic climate change legislation, making his pitch from a wind energy factory on Earth Day. Obama argued in Iowa, the state that set him on the road to the White House, that bloated US energy consumption was inflicting an unacceptable cost on the economy and the climate, as his top environmental officials lobbied Congress. "The American people are ready to be part of a mission," Obama said at ...

Thu, 23 Apr 09
California seeks ethanol support for fuel standard
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE53L71L20090423?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: California regulators preparing on Thursday to adopt landmark rules curbing carbon emissions from transport fuels made an eleventh-hour bid to woo critics who call the measures unfair to corn-based ethanol. Transport alone accounts for 40 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in California, which ranks as the leading automobile market in the United States. If adopted by the Air Resources Board as expected, the low-carbon fuel standard would become the first measure in the nation ...

Thu, 23 Apr 09
Climate change serious test for humankind: Obama
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gr0972-rA0Ml7ZbE-SMB3LnsmJ6Q
Agence France-Presse: President Barack Obama warned Wednesday that climate change was a serious test for humankind, and told Americans small changes in their daily lives could make a big difference to the environment. Obama, who was later due to tour a plant which makes towers for wind turbines in Iowa to mark Earth Day, vowed that the United States would lead a global drive to cut greenhouse gas emissions under his watch. "Climate change presents a serious test for humankind, but it also provides ...

Thu, 23 Apr 09
World's major rivers 'drying up'
http://www.scidev.net/en/agriculture-and-environment/world-s-major-rivers-drying-up-.html?utm_source=link&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=en_agricultureandenvironment
SciDev.Net: Bluish colours indicate where river flow has increased since 1948 and reddish colours where it has decreased. Some of the developing world's largest rivers are drying up because of climate change, threatening water supplies in some of the most populous places on Earth, say scientists. Researchers from the US-based National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) analysed data combined with computer models to assess flow in 925 rivers -- nearly three quarters of the world's ...

Thu, 23 Apr 09
United Kingdom: Renewables success requires electricity network upgrade, MPs told
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/apr/22/renewable-energy-electricity-grid
Guardian: The government is at risk of missing its climate change targets if it fails to make substantial investment in the country's electricity network, Britain's energy distributors warned MPs today. The Electricity Networks Strategy Group, headed by the Department for Energy and Climate Change, has estimated that £4.7bn would be needed to upgrade the network and accommodate a further 45GW of power into the system, adding approximately £5 to every household's annual electricity ...

Thu, 23 Apr 09
Darling promises 34% emissions cuts with world's first binding carbon budgets
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/apr/22/carbon-emissions-budget-20091
Guardian: If they can actually do it, the government's pledge to cut global warming emissions by one third in just over a decade should transform the way the UK economy works. However, critics warned that the cuts would still not be enough to avoid dangerous climate change, and warned that other spending pledges were not nearly enough to meet the target. Darling has now promised to cut greenhouse gases by 34% by 2020 through so-called carbon budgets, which fix binding limits on ...

Thu, 23 Apr 09
Tips to help the environment by saving money!
http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/04/22/environmental.tips/index.html?eref=rss_latest
CNN: While the world wallows in recession, climate change activists continue to raise alarm bells about the future of the world. So celebrate Earth Day with these 10 simple tips on how to help the environment and save money: 1. Sharing is caring! In the European Union, cars are said to be responsible for almost 15 percent of greenhouse gases blamed for global warming. So do your bit by joining a car pool, that will cut your travel bills and mean you can enjoy the company of other ...

Thu, 23 Apr 09
House Panel Begins Debate Over Climate Change Bill
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/22/AR2009042202006.html
Washington Post: The House Energy and Commerce Committee today kicked off debate over climate legislation in earnest, underscoring the partisan fissures that lawmakers face as they seek to set the nation's first-ever limit on greenhouse gas emissions. Observing that today marks Earth Day, when Americans traditionally hold events highlighting the importance of saving the planet, panel Democrats and three cabinet members described how a national cap on carbon-based emissions could transform the nation's ...

Thu, 23 Apr 09
UK carbon budgets could get tougher
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2240890/uk-carbon-budgets-tougher
Business Green: Pressure on businesses to curb carbon emissions over the next decade could intensify further after the Government confirmed it would aim to meet its new carbon budgets without resorting to the use of carbon offsets. It said it could set more demanding targets if an international climate change deal is reached later this year. Unveiling the world's first carbon budget alongside his fiscal budget, Chancellor Alistair Darling pledged that the UK would cut carbon emissions by 34 per cent ...

Thu, 23 Apr 09
Obama to talk up wind power on Earth Day in Iowa
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_OBAMA_EARTH_DAY?SITE=TXDAM&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Associated Press: President Barack Obama's return to Iowa gives him a chance to mark Earth Day with a pitch for his alternative energy plan and environmentally friendly jobs. The visit to the state that launched him on the road to the White House comes as Obama's energy legislation has slowed in Congress, with skeptical Republicans and some Democrats from coal-producing states fearing the plan will increase costs for consumers, send jobs overseas and hurt businesses. In financially struggling ...

Thu, 23 Apr 09
Unregulated Biofuel Crops Pose Invasive Pest Risk
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/04/090421205231.htm
ScienceDaily: Researchers with the University of Hawaii Pacific Cooperative Studies Unit have examined the impact of unregulated planting of biofuel crops for their potential invasiveness and raised concerns about their impacts on Hawaii's environment. Their findings conclude that biofuel crops proposed for use in the Hawaiian Islands are two to four times more likely to establish wild populations or be invasive in Hawaii and in other tropical areas when compared to a random sample of other ...

Thu, 23 Apr 09
Obama team urges climate change action in Congress
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iJlzvHzA7wZ-k6JSgzgWK8W8qmSw
Agence France-Presse: President Barack Obama's cabinet lieutenants pressed Wednesday for urgent action in Congress against global warming, but faced Republican barbs about crippling costs and faulty science. At an Earth Day hearing on climate change in the House of Representatives, Energy Secretary Steven Chu said the United States faced a "defining challenge" if it wanted to avert two looming dangers. "The first is that the world will fail to take action on climate change in time to prevent its ...

Thu, 23 Apr 09
United Kingdom: Budget: Green tinge or blue rinse?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8012185.stm
BBC: Alistair Darling's speech marks the first time that a Chancellor of the UK Treasury has set a budget for carbon, as well as for the myriad pots of money that a government commands. So now, the country has a "legally binding" target: to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 34% with respect to 1990 levels by 2020. Mr Darling's adoption of the figure proposed in December by the Committee on Climate Change, the government's advisory body, was expected - anything less would have been a ...

Thu, 23 Apr 09
United Kingdom: Chancellor promises to cut emissions by 34% by 2020 with carbon budgets
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/apr/22/carbon-emissions-budget-2009
Guardian: The chancellor today promised to cut greenhouse gases by 34% by 2020, and "aims" to do this without purchasing credits from projects which have reduced emissions abroad, although he took the precaution of reserving these "offsets" as a "fallback option". Alistair Darling has now committed the government to carbon budgets, which fix binding limits on greenhouse gas emissions over five-year periods. If they can actually do it, the government's pledge to cut global warming emissions by ...

Thu, 23 Apr 09
Obama officials press Congress to act on climate
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090422/pl_nm/us_usa_climate_legislation
Reuters: Key Obama administration officials on Wednesday called on Congress to pass comprehensive energy and climate change legislation to reduce U.S. oil imports and fight global warming. "On this Earth Day, we must state in no uncertain terms that we have a responsibility to our children and their children to curb the carbon emissions from fossil fuels that have begun to change our climate," U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu said at a hearing before the House Energy and Commerce ...

Thu, 23 Apr 09
Third of government's new investment fund to target clean tech
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2240867/third-government-investment
Business Green: A third of the government's new £750m strategic investment fund has been ear marked for low carbon businesses and technologies, such as low emission vehicles, nuclear power and renewable energy. The fund, which was announced in today's budget, will be distributed over the next two years with £400m made available during 2009/10 and a further £350m during 2010/11. A total of £250m will be earmarked for specific green technologies and business models, with a further £50m provided ...

Thu, 23 Apr 09
Damaged Barrier Reef coral makes 'spectacular' recovery
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/apr/22/coral-barrier-reef-australia
Guardian: Sections of coral reef in Australia's Great Barrier Reef have made a "spectacular" recovery from a devastating bleaching event three years ago, marine scientists say. In 2006, high sea temperatures caused severe coral bleaching in the Keppell Islands, in the southern part of the reef -- the largest coral reef system in the world. The damaged reefs were then covered by a single species of seaweed which threatened to suffocate the coral and cause further loss. A "lucky ...

Thu, 23 Apr 09
Rich, poor nations discuss green tech stimulus
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE53K66X20090422?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Environment ministers from rich and poor nations discussed a green technology stimulus on Wednesday to help tackle global warming and overcome the global economic crisis. The three-day meeting of the Group of Eight industrial countries and major developing economies opened in Sicily, with attention focused on how far the new U.S. administration would go in its environmental strategy. The meeting, taking place on Earth Day, marked the first ministerial-level talks this year in ...

Thu, 23 Apr 09
Warming could spur water crisis
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/2009/04/21/20090421climate-river0421.html?&wired
Arizona Republic: Colorado River water users will experience frequent shortages in the coming years as warmer, drier conditions squeeze an already overburdened resource, scientists said Monday. Even without the effects of climate change, the scientists warned that the river may not produce as much water from mountain snowmelt as it did when the flow was divided among seven states in the early 1900s, some of the wettest years in centuries. The result in either case would be tough choices among ...

Thu, 23 Apr 09
The Green Movement Turns Black and Brown
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=103358195&ft=1&f=1025
National Public Radio: In collaboration with the online magazine theRoot.com, Tell Me More speaks with a panel of writers and advocates. Environmental justice activist Majora Carter, along with Dayo Olopade and Kai Wright from theRoot.com tell us what they think about being both black and green.

Thu, 23 Apr 09
Van Jones Helps To Keep The White House 'Green'
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=103358189&ft=1&f=1025
National Public Radio: Today is Earth Day. Before taking office, President-elect Barack Obama vowed to create five million green jobs over the next decade. The president has since pledged $60 billion dollars to invest in clean energy and research for environmentally-friendly technologies. Van Jones is the White House special advisor for Green Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation. He explains the White House philosophy on going "green."

Thu, 23 Apr 09
Buoyed by Lower Cost Estimates, Committee Preps Climate Change Bill
http://news.yahoo.com/s/cq/20090422/pl_cq_politics/politics3099576
CQPolitics.com: As a House panel prepares to mark up global warming legislation, an early EPA analysis concluded that the cost could be less than expected -- partly because of the struggling economy. Edward J. Markey, D-Mass., chairman of the Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy and the Environment, is holding hearings this week -- coinciding with Earth Day on Wednesday -- on draft legislation that would establish a "cap and trade" system for greenhouse gases and promote the use of clean ...

Thu, 23 Apr 09
Antarctic ice cover 'increasing due to hole in ozone layer'
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/antarctica/5200229/Antarctic-ice-cover-increasing-due-to-hole-in-ozone-layer.html
Telegraph: In stark contrast to the loss of sea ice in the Arctic over the last 30 years, the frozen seas surrounding the South Pole have increased at the rate of 100,000 square kilometres a decade over the last 40 years. Scientists believe the growth is down to stronger surface winds over Antarctica and more frequent storms in the Southern Ocean -- both direct consequences of the ozone hole. But the team from British Antarctic Survey (BAS) and Nasa warned the ozone hole was only delaying ...

Thu, 23 Apr 09
Bulgarians rally against trans-Balkan oil pipeline
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE53L2LS20090422?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Dozens of people from a Bulgarian Black Sea town protested against the planned construction of a trans-Balkan oil pipeline on Wednesday, concerned about the environmental damage it may cause. About 100 people from Pomorie rallied in front of the construction ministry in Sofia to press the government to abandon the project, due to carry Russian oil to Greece, because they expect it to harm sea water, tourism and the local economy. Residents of the Black Sea port of Burgas have ...

Thu, 23 Apr 09
Philippines: $50B needed to deal with climate change
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/nation/view/20090422-200831/50B-needed-to-deal-with-climate-change
Philippine Daily Inquirer: An international organization said Wednesday that developing countries like the Philippines need $50 billion a year to mitigate the effects of climate change. According to the UK-based Oxfam, developed countries must extend this aid to developing countries and at the same time sign a global deal to reduce carbon emissions at a conference in Copenhagen at the end of the year. These recommendations were incorporated in a 148-page study by the organization which it released in ...

Thu, 23 Apr 09
Bangkok beats London in carbon pollution
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE53L1XK20090422?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Residents of the Thai capital produce as much carbon pollution as New Yorkers and more than Londoners, a U.N.-backed study released on Wednesday shows. The report, "Bangkok: Assessment Report on Climate Change 2009," underscores the city's carbon-intensive habits but also highlights the threat to Bangkok from rising seas caused by global warming. "In per-capita terms, Bangkok was responsible for producing 7.1 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) per annum in 2007," said the report by ...

Thu, 23 Apr 09
France: Picturesque Paris rooftops to sprout windmills
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE53L26Q20090422?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Paris city authorities are planning to build small wind turbines into one of the world's most famous skylines to take advantage of the strong winds which sometimes sweep high points such as Montmartre. "We are not talking of big models like those we see in the countryside. We are in Paris and we musn't disfigure the landscape," Denis Baupin, a deputy mayor in charge of sustainable development, told Le Parisien newspaper. No-one at the Paris townhall was immediately available to ...

Thu, 23 Apr 09
Indigenous people serve as guardians of forest carbon, must be involved in climate solutions
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0422-indigenous_people.html
Mongabay: Efforts to create an international climate framework -- including a carbon financing mechanism for forest conservation -- must involve forest people, said indigenous leaders attending the Indigenous Peoples Global Summit on Climate Change meeting this week in Anchorage, Alaska. Speaking at a press conference organized by The Nature Conservancy in connection with the Summit, Egberto Tabo, General Coordinator of the Coordinating Body of Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon Basin ...

Thu, 23 Apr 09
On Earth Day, Obama pushes ambitious climate agenda
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-climate-focusapr22,0,7071415.story?track=rss
Chicago Tribune: President Bill Clinton marked Earth Day in 1994 by promising to "green" the White House from its landscaping to its copy machines. But President Barack Obama and his supporters pledged themselves to a far more ambitious goal on Tuesday--combating climate change all over the world. On Capitol Hill, where Democrats command majorities in both houses of Congress, House Democrats began three full days of hearings on a massive energy and climate-change bill, inviting testimony from three ...

Thu, 23 Apr 09
The U.S. can't play chicken with global climate change
http://www.dailynews.com/opinions/ci_12194906
Los Angeles Daily News: ASK any 3-year-old and she will tell you: ducks float; chickens don't. For some of the world's poorest people, particularly in places highly prone to flooding like Bangladesh, raising ducks rather than chickens is a better choice against rising waters caused by an ever-warming planet. For the 1 billion people in the developing world who survive on a dollar a day or less, climate change adds to their long list of challenges. Families who live off the land and livestock face erratic ...

Thu, 23 Apr 09
Increasing Antarctic Sea Ice Extent Linked To Ozone Hole
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/04/090421101629.htm
ScienceDaily: Increased growth in Antarctic sea ice during the past 30 years is a result of changing weather patterns caused by the ozone hole, according to new research. Reporting in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, scientists from British Antarctic Survey (BAS) and NASA say that while there has been a dramatic loss of Arctic sea ice, Antarctic sea ice has increased by a small amount as a result of the ozone hole delaying the impact of greenhouse gas increases on the climate of the ...

Thu, 23 Apr 09
Is coal technology the key to climate regulations?
http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-10224647-54.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20
CNET: What do you get when you put the CEO of a coal-dependent utility on stage with two environmental advocates to discuss whether coal can be clean? A surprisingly civil discussion with more than just straight "pro" and "con" positions. The CEO of American Electric Power, Michael Morris, spoke on the same panel with Michael Brune, the executive director of the Rainforest Action Network, and David Hawkins, the director of climate programs at the Environmental Defense Council on Tuesday at ...

Thu, 23 Apr 09
Square Feet: Some of the Bright Lights of New York's Businesses Are Powered by Wind
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=125281
New York Times: The use of wind power by owners of commercial real estate in New York City is rising rapidly, but from a very low base, according to energy service companies, which supply the power to businesses. Wind power is expected to be a critical component of President Obama's plan to expand the production of renewal domestic energy, and there are signs that this is starting to happen in New York. ConEdison Solutions, one energy supplier, said its sales of wind power to commercial customers ...

Thu, 23 Apr 09
City Plans to Make Older Buildings Refit to Save Energy
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=125279
New York Times: Elected leaders in New York City will propose a suite of laws and other initiatives on Wednesday aimed at reducing energy consumption and related emissions of greenhouse gases by requiring owners of thousands of older buildings to upgrade everything from boilers to light bulbs. Planners asserted that the package, drafted by the offices of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and the City Council speaker, Christine C. Quinn, would result in $2.9 billion in private investment in building ...

Thu, 23 Apr 09
United Kingdom: Budget 2009: The future of cars is electric but not yet
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financetopics/budget/5187184/Budget-2009-The-future-of-cars-is-electric-but-not-yet.html
Telegraph: Mitsubishi, Smart, Telsa, Nissan, Renault,Toyota, GM and Ford are planning to unveil various plug-in hyrid and electric cars by 2011 when the incentives kick in. Not all electric cars are expected to be equal under the reported £250m scheme. Experts believe a sliding scale of incentives will be set on the basis of a car's CO2 emissions - from zero to low emission and a ceiling set on those that qualify. Green Clean Car, the website which offers a guide green motoring, reports ...

Thu, 23 Apr 09
Global warming ad campaigns heat up
http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20090422/pl_politico/21529
Politico: Environmental groups are storming the airwaves this week, taking out significant ad buys in key states to push climate change legislation and increased investment in renewable energy, even as the issues face a tough fight in the Senate. The ads come before any significant global warming legislation has been formally introduced in Congress. Environmental groups hope that their advocacy will push the climate change issue through Congress. Three weeks ago, House Energy and ...

Thu, 23 Apr 09
House climate hearings put Obama team on hot seat
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2009/04/22/house_climate_hearings_put_obama_team_on_hot_seat/?rss_id=Boston.com+--+Latest+news
Associated Press: Top members of President Barack Obama's energy and environmental team are weighing in on a bill that would curb the emissions blamed for global warming and transform how the nation produces and uses energy. Energy Secretary Steven Chu and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson, along with Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, were to spend part of their Earth Day before a House energy panel Wednesday. Their appearance comes less than a week after the Obama ...

Thu, 23 Apr 09
G8 ministers gather for global warming talks
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090422/sc_afp/g8climatewarming
Agence France-Presse: The environment ministers of leading industrialised and developing nations gathered in Sicily Wednesday for talks on combatting global warming amid growing momentum towards a historic international accord. The three-day talks, which bring together countries responsible for more than 40 percent of the world's carbon gas emissions, will shine the spotlight on the new US leadership ahead of a forum of 17 major economies in Washington next week. Kicking off on Earth Day, the talks ...

Thu, 23 Apr 09
Parched Southern California puts squeeze on water supplies
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2240800/parched-southern-california
Business Green: Southern California has imposed price increases on its water supply as it battles ongoing drought conditions in a move that will affect roughly 19m business and residential customers. The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California has also slashed the available water supply to water providers in the state for the first time since 1991. The price hike, which takes effect on July 1, will increase the cost of water by 8.8 per cent, well above the rate of inflation. ...

Thu, 23 Apr 09
One step forward, two steps back in addressing the food crisis
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/press/releases/1-step-forward-2-steps-back-220409
Greenpeace: Commenting on the declaration published today following the first G8 meeting dedicated to agriculture, Greenpeace said that the G8 Agriculture Ministers appear to be taking one step forward in putting agriculture and food security at the heart of the international agenda, but two steps back because they have failed to present proposals that will effectively tackle the global food crisis. The recognition of the importance of increasing public and private investment in sustainable ...

Thu, 23 Apr 09
Study warns global rivers are drying up
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2240816/study-warns-global-rivers
Business Green: Some of the world's largest rivers, including the Ganges, the Niger and the Colorado, are drying up as a result of climate change with potentially catastrophic consequences for many of the world's most populous regions and cities. That is the stark warning from a major new study undertaken by the US National Center for Atmospheric Research, which found that one third of the world's mightiest rivers have seen significant changes in flow levels over the past 50 years, largely as a ...

Thu, 23 Apr 09
Oregonians sending less to landfills in economic downturn
http://www.oregonlive.com/environment/index.ssf/2009/04/oregonians_sending_less_to_lan.html
Oregonian: A funny thing happened on the way to financial collapse: Oregon landfills started receiving less and less garbage. It's not because people are recycling feverishly or because new strict regulations have clamped down. It's because there's less garbage -- likely the result of slowdowns in consumer spending, consumption and manufacturing. As people worldwide celebrate Earth Day today, the curious green side of the economic downturn shows itself in strange ways. While a recession ...

Thu, 23 Apr 09
Rivers shrinking: Flow of many rivers in decline
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_SCI_SHRINKING_RIVERS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2009-04-21-17-21-46
Associated Press: The flow of water in the world's largest rivers has declined over the past half-century, with significant changes found in about a third of the big rivers. An analysis of 925 major rivers from 1948 to 2004 showed an overall decline in total discharge. The reduction in inflow to the Pacific Ocean alone was about equal to shutting off the Mississippi River, according to the new study appearing in the May 15 edition of the American Meteorological Society's Journal of Climate. The ...

Wed, 22 Apr 09
Global-warming legislation would have huge effect on Texas
http://www.star-telegram.com/business/story/1331098.html
Star-Telegram: Could the Texas tourist mecca of South Padre Island be wiped out 50 to 100 years from now as a result of rising sea levels caused by global warming? Could cotton farmers and cattle ranchers in the Texas Panhandle be devastated in coming decades by brutal droughts made more severe by climate change? Those are the types of nightmarish real-world scenarios that environmental groups and many scientists say could result if nothing is done to thwart global warming. As ...

Wed, 22 Apr 09
United States: A $100-million bet on making fuel from trash
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-biofuels22-2009apr22,0,3486052.story
LA Times: Arnold Klann has a green dream. It began 16 years ago in a sprawling laboratory in Anaheim. This year, he hopes, it will culminate at a Lancaster garbage dump. There, in the high desert of the Antelope Valley, Klann's company, BlueFire Ethanol Fuels, plans to build a $100-million plant to convert raw trash into an alcohol-based fuel that will help power the cars and trucks of the future. It's just the sort of improbable concoction that California is now demanding. On ...

Wed, 22 Apr 09
Earth Day 2009: Sowing seeds for a Green Generation in Asia
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/04/21/earthday.asia/
CNN: To celebrate Earth Day this year its organizers have returned to environmentalism's roots. Jenny Quinton runs environmetal education tours in Hong Kong. Now in its 39th year, Earth Day 2009 will be marked on April 22 with the launch of the "Green Generation" campaign. It's an ambitious two-year plan that Earth Day's organizers hope will motivate people across the world to reverse environmental decline through a renewed focus on grassroots actions. The day itself will be ...

Wed, 22 Apr 09
California EPA to rule against ethanol
http://worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=95745
WorldNetDaily: In a decision anticipated as a major setback for proponents of renewable biofuels, California regulators appear ready to conclude that corn ethanol cannot help the state reduce "global warming." In a hearing scheduled tomorrow in Sacramento, the California Environmental Protection Agency has evidently concluded that corn ethanol will not help the state implement Executive Order S-1-07, the Low Carbon Fuel Standard, signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger Jan. 18, 2007, mandating a 10 ...

Wed, 22 Apr 09
China to build 20 hydro dams on Yangtze River
http://ap.mysinchew.com/node/23495?tid=78
Associated Press: China plans to build more than 20 dams along the country's longest river by 2020 as part of a plan to further develop the Yangtze River's hydropower, an official said Tuesday. The river already has the world's largest hydroelectric project, the Three Gorges Dam. China is looking to hydropower as an important alternative to help it move away from coal, which provides more than 70 percent of the country's energy supply. Hu Siyi, the vice minister of water resources, announced the ...

Wed, 22 Apr 09
The Late Great Planet Girth
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ibd/20090421/bs_ibd_ibd/20090421issues01
Investor's Business Daily: We are now told that obesity causes global warming. Maybe that's why belief in human-caused climate change is at an all-time low. That and the fact that Antarctic ice is growing, not melting. Over the past decade, as the earth cooled, the sun grew quiet and snow fell in Malibu, the disconnect between the computer models of Al Gore and the warm-mongers grew more apparent than ever. So much so that they started talking about "climate change" instead of "global warming." That way, ...

Wed, 22 Apr 09
GOP grapples with climate confusion
http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20090422/pl_politico/21536
Politico: Ask 15 Republicans about climate change, and you'll get 20 different answers. In March, Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele told a national conservative radio program that the Earth is "cooling,' not warming. Last week, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin said global warming iss real and hurting her state, acknowledging that "many believe' an international effort to reduce greenhouse gases is necessary. And on Sunday, Republican leader John Boehner dismissed as ...

Wed, 22 Apr 09
Fear over higher costs looms over climate debate
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090422/ap_on_go_co/us_climate_hearings
Associated Press: As Congress begins to debate climate change in earnest, the science is taking a back seat to economics: How much will it cost to slow the Earth's warming because of man-made pollution -- and what's the cost of doing nothing? With a key House committee starting four days of hearings, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., vowed to get a climate bill approved this year. Noting that Earth Day will be celebrated on Wednesday, she told reporters by the next Earth Day "we want to celebrate what ...

Wed, 22 Apr 09
GOP still using disputed data
http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20090421/pl_politico/21528
Politico: GOP Conference Chairman Mike Pence is defending Republican use of a widely disputed cost estimate on a Democratic global warming proposal, even after an outcry from media, environmentalists, and climate change experts. "We are using the numbers that are in the public domain right now,' said Pence (R-Ind.) in a Tuesday briefing with reporters. "Democrats have released no numbers.' In speeches, interviews, and press releases, Republicans have repeatedly claimed that a cap and ...

Wed, 22 Apr 09
Texas Senate passes $500 million boost for solar power
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/chronicle/6385136.html
Houston Chronicle: AUSTIN -- Senate-passed bill that would invest half a billion dollars into the industry over the next five years. The investment would come through rebates for solar installations, from homeowners` rooftop panels to large-scale projects envisioned for West Texas. The bill, passed by a vote of 26 to 4, now goes to the House. Money for the rebates would be raised through monthly fees on electric bills. Homeowners would pay 20 cents, small businesses $2 and industries ...

Wed, 22 Apr 09
EPA proposes mercury cutbacks at cement plants
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090422/ap_on_bi_ge/us_cement_mercury
Associated Press: The Obama administration proposed sharp reductions Tuesday in airborne pollution from America's 99 cement plants, including first-ever limits on mercury from older kilns. The rules also would lead to steep cuts in emissions of other toxins, including hydrochloric acid, hydrocarbons, soot and sulfur dioxide, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. EPA proposed the regulations under court order after environmental groups and nine states sued, accusing the agency of ...

Wed, 22 Apr 09
Germany orders turbines for first Baltic Sea wind farm
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2240787/germany-orders-turbines-first
Business Green: Plans for Germany's first Baltic Sea wind farm moved a step forward this week, after energy company EnBW Energie Baden-Württemberg AG inked a deal for 21 turbines from engineering giant Siemens Energy. The company said that work on the 48.3MW Baltic 1 wind farm, which will be located 16km off Germany's Baltic coast and will cover seven square kilometres, would begin early next year with the aim of bringing the turbines online by the end of 2010. Dr. Hans-Josef Zimmer, ...

Wed, 22 Apr 09
Investors "disappointed" by energy sector's carbon reporting record
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2240786/investors-disappointed-energy
Business Green: It may arguably be the most important sector in the fight against climate change but, according to new figures to be released today, the majority of the world's largest electricity utilities have no emission reduction targets in place and many are not even providing investors with information on which fuels they are using to generate power. Based on data requests that were sent by the investor-backed Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) to the world's 249 energy utilities, the study found ...

Wed, 22 Apr 09
Congress sets marathon hearings on fixing global warming
http://news.yahoo.com/s/mcclatchy/20090421/sc_mcclatchy/3217142
McClatchy Newspapers: As Congress began work Tuesday on groundbreaking climate legislation, Washington lawmakers were unusually optimistic on Earth Day 2009 about getting at least some climate-change legislation passed this year. Lawmakers were talking Tuesday about finding common ground on energy efficiency measures. The tougher part will be putting mandatory curbs on the emissions from burning fossil fuels that scientists say are making the Earth's temperature rise. The big question -- and a key ...

Wed, 22 Apr 09
World's major rivers 'drying up'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8011497.stm
BBC: Water levels in some of the world's most important rivers have declined significantly over the past 50 years, US researchers say. They say the reduced flows are linked to climate change and will have a major impact as the human population grows. The only area with a significant increase in water flows was the Arctic due to a greater snow and ice melting. The study was published in the American Meteorological Society's (AMS) Journal of Climate. Rainfall patterns ...

Wed, 22 Apr 09
For the first time, EPA to limit mercury from cement plants
http://news.yahoo.com/s/mcclatchy/20090421/sc_mcclatchy/3217160
McClatchy Newspapers: The Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday called for the nation's first limits on mercury emissions from the more than 100 cement factories across the U.S. The proposed new rule would require cement kilns to add pollution controls that would reduce mercury emissions by 81 percent by 2013. The rule also would reduce emissions of soot, hydrocarbons, hydrochloric acid and sulfur dioxide from the production of cement. Mercury is contained in the raw material used in kilns and ...

Wed, 22 Apr 09
U.S. climate change legislation may cut energy costs - report
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0421-energy.html
Mongabay: The U.S. can dramatically cut greenhouse gas emissions while reducing energy spending at the same time, reports a new study by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS). "Climate 2030: A National Blueprint for a Clean Energy Economy" found that implementing new climate, energy and transportation policies would allow the United States to meet an emissions-reduction cap of 56 percent below 2005 levels by 2030. The plan would save consumers $335 billion and businesses $130 billion in that ...

Wed, 22 Apr 09
U.S. Congress begins drive for climate change bill
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE53K69P20090421?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: The U.S. Congress on Tuesday began work on a bill that would fundamentally change the way American factories and power plants use and supply energy as part of the Obama administration's drive to cut harmful greenhouse gas emissions. "The time for delay, denial and inaction has come to an end," declared Democratic Representative Edward Markey in opening the House Energy and Commerce Committee's effort to produce a climate bill by the end of May. President Barack Obama and his ...

Wed, 22 Apr 09
U.S. in spotlight at talks on global warming fight
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE53K66X20090421?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: A new U.S. commitment to tackle global warming as outlined by President Barack Obama will be the focus of attention on Wednesday at a meeting of international environment ministers. Obama has already pledged to cut U.S. greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020, and observers will be looking to see if U.S. delegates give new details of American plans for action. The three-day summit brings together industrialized and developing countries on the Italian island of Sicily. ...

Wed, 22 Apr 09
Climate change threatens Ganges, Niger and other mighty rivers
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/apr/22/drought-environment-waterways
Guardian: Some of the mightiest rivers on the planet, including the Ganges, the Niger, and the Yellow river in China, are drying up because of climate change, a study of global waterways warned yesterday. The study by the National Centre for Atmospheric Research in Colorado found that global warming has had a far more damaging impact on rivers than had been realised and that, overwhelmingly, those rivers in highly populated areas were the most severely affected. That could threaten food and ...

Wed, 22 Apr 09
10 Environmental Disasters to Remember on Earth Day
http://www.alternet.org/environment/137555/10_environmental_disasters_to_remember_on_earth_day/
AlterNet: Ten tragic lessons in our nation's environmental history that should never be forgotten. And one climate destabilization tragedy in the making that needs our urgent help. 1. Extinction: Three Species Per Hour According to a United Nations report released in 2007, our planet is at risk of losing three species per hour. Ahmed Djoghlaf, the head of the U.N. Convention on Biological Diversity, declared: "We are indeed experiencing the greatest wave of extinctions since the ...

Wed, 22 Apr 09
'Black Carbon' Is Responsible For 18 Percent Of The Planet's Warming, Says Indian Scientist
http://www.medindia.net/news/Black-Carbon-Is-Responsible-For-18-Percent-Of-The-Planets-Warming-Says-Indian-Scientist-50238-1.htm
Asian News International: According to a climate scientist Veerabhadran Ramanathan, soot from mud cooking stoves in tens of thousands of villages in India is emerging as a major source of global warming. Soot, also known as black carbon, is the second most hazardous gas, after carbon dioxide and is responsible for 18pct of the planet's warming. "It's hard to believe that this is what's melting the glaciers," the Scotsman quoted Ramanathan as saying. Ramanathan suggests that replacing primitive ...

Wed, 22 Apr 09
U.K. Budget Needs 'Fresh Program' to Cut CO2, Lawmaker Yeo Says
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601130&sid=ajFo0G_gS8Eo
Bloomberg: The U.K. budget should aim to cut Britain's carbon-dioxide emissions by including incentives to develop renewable energy, added taxes on fuel and measures to insulate buildings, a parliamentary lawmaker said. Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling needs to bring in a "fresh program" of measures to ensure the U.K. brings greenhouse gas emissions down to fight global warming, Tim Yeo, chairman of Parliament's Environmental Audit Committee, said today in a telephone ...

Wed, 22 Apr 09
Now the carbon choices begin
http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0421/p88s01-comv.html
Christian Science Monitor: People who have tried to reduce their carbon footprint can relate to the tough choices now facing Congress and the Environmental Protection Agency as they decide how to cut greenhouses gases for a whole nation. Hearings on climate-change bills open this week on Capitol Hill. And last week the EPA declared CO2 to be a health danger which, under the Clean Air Act, could require rigorous regulation of almost any source. Whether by law or regulation, will government be able to ...

Wed, 22 Apr 09
The Season of Ticks: Could Climate Change Worsen Lyme Disease?
http://www.dentalplans.com/articles/41506/the-season-of-ticks-could-climate-change-worsen-lyme-disease.html
Health News Digest: In a finding that suggests how global warming could impact infectious disease, scientists from Yale University, in collaboration with other institutions, have determined that climate impacts the severity of Lyme Disease by influencing the feeding patterns of deer ticks that carry and transmit it. The paper appears in the April issue of Applied and Environmental Microbiology. Deer ticks live for two years and have three stages of life - larval, nymphal and adult. They obtain one blood ...

Wed, 22 Apr 09
Republicans say climate bill not ready for debate
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2009/04/21/ap6317469.html
Associated Press: House Republicans say it is too early to debate a climate change bill because a major element of the legislation is missing. In a letter sent Tuesday to Democratic leaders of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, all 23 Republicans on the panel say that the draft bill is not ready to be discussed. They say it does not address how permits to release greenhouse gases will be distributed. The cost of the legislation to industry and consumers will depend on whether the ...

Wed, 22 Apr 09
Pelosi: Climate bill will pass in House
http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20090421/pl_politico/21521
Politico: Speaker Nancy Pelosi promised again Tuesday the House would pass a climate-change bill by the end of this year, despite the entrenched reservations of moderate Democrats. Even if the Pelosi muscles a bill through the House, few expect that legislation to go anywhere in the Senate, which will soon be bogged down in a major health care debate. Despite that hurdle, House Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.) reiterated his own promise on Tuesday to move major ...

Wed, 22 Apr 09
Climate bill to pass this year: Pelosi
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090421/pl_afp/usenvironmentenergyclimatepolitics
Agence France-Presse: Congress will pass legislation to stem global warming by year's end, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi vowed Tuesday, as hearings got underway on a bill to reduce US greenhouse gas emissions. "We will pass legislation this year," Pelosi told reporters. "On Earth Day next year, we will celebrate the progress we've made," the House leader declared. Her remarks came as Congress began examining a draft bill for clean energy development that aims to cut US carbon emissions by 20 ...

Wed, 22 Apr 09
House GOP says go slow on climate bill
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/apr/21/house-gop-says-go-slow-climate-bill/
Washington Times: The Republican members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee called on Chairman Henry Waxman and other committee Democrats not to ram through a major bill on climate change this week. The 23 Republican lawmakers said they were concerned that the bill's measure to curb U.S. carbon emissions will not be fully vetted and asked for a hearing dedicated to the Environmental Protection Agency's recent finding that carbon dioxide contributes to global warming. Mr. Waxman and Mr. ...

Wed, 22 Apr 09
No price hike on 2010 Prius; cheaper model to come
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090421/ap_on_bi_ge/us_toyota2010_prius
Associated Press: Toyota Motor Corp. said it won't change the price tag on its next-generation Prius when the hybrid hits U.S. showrooms in late May and will release an even cheaper version later this year, as the automaker aims to compete with the latest hybrid from rival Honda Motor Co. Toyota said Tuesday the 2010 Prius will start at $22,000 -- unchanged from the base price for the 2009 model. Toyota will release a more basic model later this year starting at $21,000, the Japanese automaker said, ...

Wed, 22 Apr 09
Climate change drying up big rivers, study finds
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090421/india_nm/india391665
Reuters: Rivers in some of the world's most populated regions are losing water, many because of climate change, researchers reported on Tuesday. Affected rivers include the Yellow River in northern China, the Ganges in India, the Niger in West Africa, and the Colorado in the southwestern United States. When added to the effects from damming, irrigation and other water use, these changes could add up to a threat to future supplies of food and water, the researchers reported in the ...

Wed, 22 Apr 09
New legislation in Brazil opens up road-paving across country, threatening Amazon
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0421-hance_roadmeasure.html
Mongabay: Brazil's Chamber of Deputies has approved a measure that would speed up paving roads across the country, including paving a road that environmentalists have long-fought, BR-319. Environmental groups across the nation have warned of widespread deforestation if the measure passes the Senate and is signed by the president. The measure was slipped into legislation meant to stimulate the economy by José Guimarães, a representative from the state of Ceará. Amending Brazil's National ...

Wed, 22 Apr 09
Lab finds new method to turn biomass into gasoline
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE53K4UU20090421?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: U.S. scientists have combined a discovery from a French garbage dump with breakthroughs in synthetic biology to come up with a novel method for turning plant waste into gasoline, without the need of any food sources. A synthetic biology lab at the University of California San Francisco identified a compound able to use biomass to produce a gas that can be converted into a gasoline chemically indistinguishable from fossil-fuel based petroleum. Their method allows for a variety ...

Wed, 22 Apr 09
High cost of addressing climate change challenged
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090421/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_climate_hearings_costs
Associated Press: An environmental group is challenging claims that major reductions in greenhouse gases would lead to soaring energy costs. The Union of Concerned Scientists says its analysis, using Energy Department computer models, show that higher electric and gasoline costs will be offset by improvements in energy and automobile efficiency. It says while energy costs would increase at the outset, efficiency improvements will offset those increases fairly quickly with additional savings each ...

Wed, 22 Apr 09
Climate Change to Shrink Agricultural Production by Half
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=46582
Inter Press Service: Environmental researchers predict Southern Africa will be hit heavily by climate change over the next 70 years. Agricultural production is projected to be halved - a development that will threaten the livelihoods of farmers in a region where 70 percent of the population are smallholder farmers. "We will be seriously affected by climate change in Southern Africa. Agriculture and biodiversity will experience a particularly negative impact," Dr Constansia Musvoto, researcher at South ...

Wed, 22 Apr 09
The ghosts of climate change yet to come
http://experts.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2009/04/21/what_climate_change_really_costs
Foreign Policy: Already, more than 250,000 people around the world are affected by climate-related disasters each year. A new Oxfam report released today forecasts that those droughts, floods, and storms are likely to become much more numerous and much worse over the next five years. We project that the number of people affected by climate-related humanitarian disasters will rise more than 50 percent by 2015, leaving agencies such as Oxfam scrambling to meet the resulting need. Given the scale of the ...

Wed, 22 Apr 09
New York touts climate plan to lock away CO2
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090421/sc_afp/usclimatecarbonchina
Agence France-Presse: Scientists in New York on Tuesday touted an experimental plan to lock carbon dioxide gasses underground and prevent big polluters like China and the United States from wrecking the world's climate. The idea, called carbon capture and sequestration, or CCS, is at the cutting edge of attempts to dramatically reduce CO2 spewed by industrial plants into the atmosphere. The technology exists, but is little tested and a group of energy companies, academics and state officials hope to ...

Wed, 22 Apr 09
Climate change: Colorado river shortfalls?
http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2009/04/21/Climate-change-Colorado-river-shortfalls/UPI-91061240349861/
United Press International: U.S. scientists say currently scheduled water deliveries from the Colorado River are unlikely to be met if human-caused climate change reduces runoff. The Colorado River system supplies water to tens of millions of people and millions of acres of farmland, and has never experienced a delivery shortage. But scientists at the Scripps Institution of Oceangraphy at the University of California-San Diego say if human-caused climate change continues to make the region drier, scheduled ...

Wed, 22 Apr 09
Fla. House panel OKs bill for drilling near shore
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090421/ap_on_bi_ge/us_xgr_offshore_drilling
Associated Press: Echoing last year's "Drill, baby, drill" Republican election slogan, a GOP-dominated House panel voted Tuesday to allow oil and natural gas exploration and production in Florida waters up to 10 miles into the Gulf of Mexico. In a mostly party-line vote -- only one Democrat voted for it -- the House Policy Council approved a bill being pushed by Associated Industries of Florida that would repeal the state's drilling ban. It would let the governor and Florida Cabinet lease submerged ...

Wed, 22 Apr 09
Mangroves 'protect coastal villages during cyclones'
http://www.scidev.net/en/agriculture-and-environment/mangroves-protect-coastal-villages-during-cyclones.html?utm_source=link&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=en_agricultureandenvironment
SciDev.Net: Mangrove forests, common along tropical coasts, can provide a protective shield against destructive cyclones and reduce deaths, a study has found. The finding follows a report published earlier this year (January) which said that mangroves were not effective against tsunamis (see Mangroves do not protect against tsunamis). It adds to a growing debate on using mangroves as bioshields in coastal areas. The new study, conducted by scientists at the University of Delhi, India, and ...

Wed, 22 Apr 09
Growing Antarctic sea ice linked to damaged ozone
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE53K3QP20090421?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: An expansion of sea ice around Antarctica is linked to a hole in the ozone layer high in the atmosphere, according to a study on Tuesday that helps clear up a mystery about global warming. The findings, by scientists at the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) and the U.S. space agency NASA, explain an apparent contradiction between a thaw of ice in the Arctic to record lows and an increase in ice around Antarctica over the past 30 years. "This new research helps us solve some of the ...

Wed, 22 Apr 09
United Kingdom: Five million at risk of flooding to benefit from early warning forecast centre
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/apr/21/flooding-forecasting
Guardian: Five million Britons living under the threat of flooding should get earlier and more accurate warning of high water following the creation of a new national flood forecasting centre The £10m centre, which opened today in London, will act as the nerve centre of flooding in the UK. Called the Flood Forecasting Centre, it will monitor river levels in England and Wales and match them with more detailed local weather forecasts to provide the emergency services, local authorities and water ...

Wed, 22 Apr 09
Earth's tribes unite against climate threats
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16994-earths-tribes-unite-against-climate-threats.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=climate-change
New Scientist: From Arctic Inuit to Pacific Islanders, indigenous peoples from 80 countries are meeting at a summit in Anchorage, Alaska (pdf), this week to forge a common position on climate change. They want an official voice alongside national governments in upcoming negotiations to agree a successor to the Kyoto protocol. The meeting is emphasising indigenous peoples' histories of adapting to change. But beneath it is the fear that they will be trampled by rich countries trying to cut greenhouse ...

Wed, 22 Apr 09
Plants Could Override Climate Change Effects On Wildfires
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/04/090421111701.htm
ScienceDaily: The increase in warmer and drier climates predicted to occur under climate change scenarios has led many scientists to also predict a global increase in the number of wildfires. But a new study in the May issue of Ecological Monographs shows that in some cases, changes in the types of plants growing in an area could override the effects of climate change on wildfire frequency. Philip Higuera of Montana State University and his colleagues show that although changing temperatures and ...

Wed, 22 Apr 09
Rivers Losing Water Due to Climate Change
http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20090421/sc_livescience/riverslosingwaterduetoclimatechange
LiveScience: The Colorado River, the Yellow River in northern China, the Ganges in India and the Niger in West Africa are losing water, in some cases because of the effects of climate change, a new study finds. The study examined stream flow in 925 of Earth's largest rivers, and found significant change in about one third of them over the past 50 years. These rivers, all key sources of water for the regions they flow through, were found to be funneling less water through their ...

Wed, 22 Apr 09
Land use emissions should not hurt ethanol: Clark
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE53K34820090421?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Greenhouse gas emissions created when land is converted to grow biofuels should not count against the ethanol business, said retired U.S. Army General Wesley Clark, the co-chairman of an ethanol industry group. This week California is slated to approve a Low Carbon Fuel Standard in which the state with the most cars will try to regulate carbon dioxide emissions, not just over the life cycle of making and burning ethanol and other biofuels, but also indirect emissions that arise when ...

Wed, 22 Apr 09
As World Warms, Water Levels Dropping In Major Rivers
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/04/090421101625.htm
ScienceDaily: Rivers in some of the world's most populous regions are losing water, according to a comprehensive study of global stream flows. The research, led by scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colo., suggests that the reduced flows in many cases are associated with climate change, and could potentially threaten future supplies of food and water. The results will be published May 15 in the American Meteorological Society's Journal of Climate. ...

Wed, 22 Apr 09
United Kingdom: Prince Charles to publish attack on big business in eco book and documentary
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/apr/21/prince-charles-harmony-book
Guardian: The Prince of Wales is to make a scathing attack on big business' environmental impact with the launch of a new book and documentary film. The book, called Harmony, is due to be published in 2010 by HarperCollins and the prince is reportedly waiving his author's fee, although royalties will go to his charitable foundation, The Prince's Trust. In an echo of Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth, which evolved from a slideshow presentation into a hit eco documentary, the prince's film is ...

Wed, 22 Apr 09
Climate victims will double
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5jdlHjXWUo8gi1l7DP2iDV4Etur7w
Press Association: The number of people hit by climate-related disasters around the world will increase by more than half in the next six years, aid agency Oxfam has warned. The charity predicted the number affected by events such as flooding, storms and drought would rise from 242 million people to hit 375 million a year by 2015. And with the humanitarian aid system already a "postcode lottery on a global scale", it is already barely able to cope with current levels of disasters and could be ...

Wed, 22 Apr 09
World's land slipping in quality
http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2009/04/20/degraded-land.html
Discovery: Nearly 25 percent of land around the world is in bad shape and getting worse, according to a new study, and human activities are to blame. It's the first study to directly measure the extent of human-induced global land degradation. The phenomenon describes a decline in the quality of soil and vegetation that the land can't recover from on its own. Land degradation can have severe economic and environmental consequences, said David Dent, a Netherlands-based environmental ...

Wed, 22 Apr 09
West is told to expect water shortfalls
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=125186
New York Times: The Colorado River is a critical source of water for seven Western states, each of which gets an annual allotment according to a system that has sparked conflict and controversy for decades. But in an era of climate change, even greater difficulties loom. The scope of those potential problems is detailed in a study being published in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Tim P. Barnett and David W. Pierce of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography report that under ...

Wed, 22 Apr 09
A chicken heating every pot?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/20/AR2009042003284.html
Washington Post: Do not try to tell Oren Heatwole that chicken poop smells. "Total myth," he said before a colleague, eager to prove the point, scooped up a mulchy handful and inhaled deeply. Heatwole, a former chicken farmer, might be biased. But he isn't the only fan of the stuff. Scientists at Virginia Tech are experimenting with technology that would convert what you might call an abundant resource here in the Shenandoah Valley into energy. The effort so jazzed Terry McAuliffe, a candidate ...

Wed, 22 Apr 09
Indonesia: Man-made floods plague Jakarta
http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-04-21-voa22.cfm
Voice of America: With a population of 24 million people, greater Jakarta ranks among the 10 largest cities in the world. As in other megacities of the developing world, traffic jams, messy urban planning and burgeoning squatter areas plague the Indonesian capital. One of its chief problems is the flooding that affects more than two million of its inhabitants, especially during the rainy season, and the floods are mainly a man-made phenomenon. When it rains in Jakarta, the entire city grinds to a ...

Wed, 22 Apr 09
Canada: How climate change is hurting Ontario's lakes
http://www.thestar.com/News/Ontario/article/621620
Toronto Star: The first report on Ontario's water quality shows climate change is significantly impacting northern lakes, lengthening the ice-free season and potentially disrupting their ecosystems. The report also finds the Don River is still highly polluted and Hamilton Harbour is a toxic hot spot. Released at the Ontario Science Centre yesterday, the Water Quality in Ontario 2008 Report examines the effect of phosphorus enrichment, toxic substances, acid deposition and climate change on ...

Wed, 22 Apr 09
Electric cars labelled 'overhype' at Shanghai Auto Show
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/5187270/Electric-cars-labelled-overhype-at-Shanghai-Auto-Show.html
Telegraph: Chinese companies, such as BYD, have been lauded for developing advanced batteries that could power a revolution in motoring. BYD, a former battery maker, was the first company in the world to start selling a heavily-electrified hybrid car last December, easily beating larger rivals such as Toyota to the market. As a result, Warren Buffett, the US investment manager who runs Berkshire Hathaway, bought 10pc of BYD last December for $230m (£158m). The Chinese government ...

Wed, 22 Apr 09
Climate change sparks skin cancer alert
http://www.smh.com.au/environment/global-warming/climate-change-sparks-skin-cancer-alert-20090421-adjq.html
AAP: Climate change is tipped to cause more cases of skin cancer in Australia. A company working on a melanoma vaccine says climate change will damage the ozone layer in some regions, boosting the risk of skin cancer. "Climate change affects ozone by heating the lower stratosphere where most of the ozone exists," said Ines Atmosukarto, chief scientist with the Canberra-based company, Lipotek. "Our ozone gets depleted." Dr Atmosukarto, a molecular biologist, warned ...

Wed, 22 Apr 09
Utah looks for niche in green economy
http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_12184591
Salt Lake Tribune: Though loosely defined and not without skeptics who question their staying power, "green-collar" jobs are growing. And the competition to lure them is heating up with Congress weighing more than $50 billion in energy-related incentives. So, how does Utah figure into this new economy? It doesn't, at least not in any big way. But there are efforts afoot to change that. "The title 'leader' in renewable energy is still up for grabs," said Jason Perry, executive director of ...

Wed, 22 Apr 09
As climate warms, species may need to migrate or perish
http://e360.yale.edu/content/feature.msp?id=2142
Environment 360: In the gentle hills outside York, England, a controversial experiment is quietly unfolding. It began in the summer of 2000 when Steven Willis, a biologist at the University of Durham, and his colleagues drove to a wildlife preserve called Wingate Quarry. In the back of their car was a cage full of butterflies called Marbled Whites. Willis and his colleagues removed the cage from the car, opened it, and let 500 butterflies flutter away across the scrubby meadows. Marbled Whites are ...

Wed, 22 Apr 09
Fewer showers to help prevent global warming?
http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/green/articles/2009/04/20/fewer_showers_to_help_prevent_global_warming/
Boston Globe: A social science experiment at the University of Rhode Island has had an unanticipated result: Students won't shorten the length of hot showers to help global warming - but they will shower less often. Officials at the Kingston campus set out to see if they could change student behavior around some of the most common and wasteful energy habits on campus: leaving computers on when not in use, keeping the heat and/or air conditioners on when they leave a room, and taking excessively ...

Wed, 22 Apr 09
Biomass energy could be carbon "sinner": UK study
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE53K2OP20090421?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Britain should only support energy production from burning wood and other biomass where proven carbon cuts result, said a report by the Environment Agency, a public body which advises government. Investors and energy companies plan to invest billions in developing British power plants running on wood chips, straw and other biomass, in response to UK climate change policies which add a premium for generation of low-carbon electricity. British finance minister Alistair Darling presents ...

Wed, 22 Apr 09
Study: shortages likely on Colorado River by 2050
http://cbs2.com/californiawire/22.0.html?type=local&state=CA&category=n&filename=UT--ColoradoRiver.xml
Associated Press: If the West continues to heat up and dry out, odds increase that the mighty Colorado River won't be able to deliver all the water that's been promised to millions who rely on it for their homes, farms and businesses, according to a new study. Less runoff the snow and rain that fortify the 1,400-mile river caused by human-induced climate change could mean that by 2050 the Colorado won't be able to provide all of its allocated water 60 percent to 90 percent of the time, according to two ...

Wed, 22 Apr 09
'Propaganda war' over coal escalates ahead of Hill climate debate
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=125162
Greenwire: Ads displayed at Washington subway stops and airing on national television call "clean coal" a myth. Tell that to President Obama, his Cabinet secretaries and members of Congress. Five months into an advertising war on coal, the phrase "clean coal" not only endures, it has become political shorthand. Everyone -- from Democratic Sen. Kent Conrad of North Dakota to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar -- refers to clean coal or clean coal technology. Environmentalists call the "clean coal" ...

Wed, 22 Apr 09
Canada: Learning to love the carbon tax
http://www.bclocalnews.com/opinion/43288147.html
Richmond Review: After road-testing the euphemism "carbon levy" on the first day of the campaign, Gordon Campbell now admits it's a "carbon tax" as he lists off the various tax cuts and credits that offset it. High-profile support from the environmental movement, combined with solid poll numbers going in, have apparently convinced the B.C. Liberal leader that this signature policy of his second term isn't quite the burden it was made out to be. In the early going it's NDP leader Carole James who's ...

Wed, 22 Apr 09
China ready to work with EU on CO2 reduction
http://www.euractiv.com/en/climate-change/china-ready-work-eu-co2-reduction/article-181402?Ref=RSS
EurActiv: A very important priority of China's relations with the EU is to vigorously promote co-operation in energy saving, emission reduction, environmental protection and new energy sources, writes Ambassador Song Zhe, head of the Mission of the People's Republic of China to the EU, in an essay published on the mission's webpage on 18 April. As the EU is in the world leader in the development of wind energy, nuclear energy, renewable energy and waste treatment, China is looking forward to ...

Wed, 22 Apr 09
The Next Big Thing: Better Biofuels
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=4852
Foreign Policy Magazine: The financial crisis is taking up most of the media oxygen these days, but the aftershocks of two other acute crises, in energy and food prices, are still reverberating. The combined result is that energy and agriculture are becoming inseparable issues. It sounds counterintuitive, because lower oil prices are making fuels from farm and forest land less competitive. This is true, but only in the short run. The crisis has boosted awareness that dependency on a limited set of resources, ...

Wed, 22 Apr 09
The problem with carbon tariffs: They aren't fair
http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0420/p09s01-coop.html
Christian Science Monitor: As the United States considers its own cap-and-trade system to reduce domestic emission levels, support is growing behind the idea of a "carbon tariff," a tax on imports from countries which are not undertaking similar environmental measures. Recently, Energy Secretary Steven Chu endorsed the idea of a carbon tariff as a means of defending the international competitiveness of American industries. His concern is that other states will have an "unfair" trade advantage over the United ...

Wed, 22 Apr 09
Climate change means shortfalls in Colorado River water deliveries
http://www.physorg.com/news159466841.html
Physorg: The Colorado River system supplies water to tens of millions of people and millions of acres of farmland, and has never experienced a delivery shortage. But if human-caused climate change continues to make the region drier, scheduled deliveries will be missed 60-90 percent of the time by the middle of this century, according to a pair of climate researchers at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego. "All water-use planning is based on the idea that the next 100 years will ...

Wed, 22 Apr 09
UK scientists get £8m for research into bee decline
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/apr/21/bees-decline-uk-scientist-funding
Guardian: Leading scientists are to receive a substantial cash injection to help them investigate the decline of the British honeybee. Up to £8m will be made available for research into bees by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), the Wellcome Trust and the Scottish government. The new funding is in addition to the £2m announced earlier this year by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) to ...

Wed, 22 Apr 09
South Korea lights the way on carbon emissions with its £23bn green deal
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/apr/21/south-korea-enviroment-carbon-emissions
Guardian: The secretary for future vision is considering how many South Koreans it takes to change a million lightbulbs. No joke. Kim Sang-hyo, the president's extravagantly titled right-hand man, is trying to create more than 940,000 green jobs and improve his country's energy efficiency at the same time. Switching every bulb in every public building in South Korea to light-emitting diodes by the end of this year is one, very small, element in the master plan of what has been described as the ...

Wed, 22 Apr 09
United Kingdom: Switch to renewable energy could save £13bn a year
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/apr/21/renewable-energy-savings
Guardian: Britain could save up to £12.6bn a year in imports of fossil fuels such as oil, gas and coal by 2020 if it embarks on a large- scale programme of energy efficiency and renewable technologies including wind power and biomass, a study showed yesterday. The report, carried out by Edinburgh-based consultants Delta EE for the Renewable Energy Association (REA), is the first attempt to quantify the economic benefits to Britain of a move to energy efficiency and sustainability, rather than ...

Wed, 22 Apr 09
United States: Miami to roll out over one million smart meters
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2240710/miami-rolls-smart-grid
Business Green: The City of Miami is to roll out a smart grid infrastructure using $200m in funds from President Obama's stimulus package. The two-year Energy Smart Miami initiative will see local utility Florida Power and Light (FPL) roll out over a million wireless smart meters to homes in the Miami-Dade County area, in a bid to regulate demand-side management. "It will make our electrical grid smarter, more like the internet than an electric network," said Miami Mayor Manny Diaz. "It will ...

Wed, 22 Apr 09
United Kingdom: Everyone in the UK consumes too much - not only the fat people
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/georgemonbiot/2009/apr/20/food-carbon-emissions
Guardian: Here's an intriguing story: a link between obesity and climate change. A paper in the International Journal of Epidemiology by Phil Edwards and Ian Roberts shows that heavier populations increase emissions for two reasons: they consume more food and they require more energy to transport. This became "Fatties cause global warming" on the front page of the Sun today. I'm sure it's true: the more we consume of anything, the greater the impact will be. But it's not clear ...

Wed, 22 Apr 09
United Kingdom: EV makers warn against incentive scheme delays
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2240716/ev-makers-warn-against
Business Green: The European Association for Battery Electric Vehicles (EABEV) has today issued an open letter to UK Transport Secretary warning that high-profile plans to introduce incentives of up to £5,000 for purchasers of electric cars from 2011 could have a detrimental effect on the emerging market for electric vehicles over the next two years. The letter warns that delaying the incentive until 2011 "distorts competition " in favour of those companies planning to introduce electric vehicles ...

Wed, 22 Apr 09
House hearings heat up debate over climate change
http://news.ino.com/headlines/?newsid=689777808469710
Associated Press: Debate on a massive bill to curb climate change heats up this week in the House. The House Energy and Commerce Committee on Tuesday begins four days of hearings on a draft bill that will limit for the first time the gases blamed for global warming and could revolutionize the way the country produces and uses energy. The marathon sessions will help shape final legislation that Democratic leaders hope the House will pass by the end of the summer. More than 60 witnesses are ...

Wed, 22 Apr 09
Study: Shortages likely on Colorado River by 2050
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/04/20/state/n145427D24.DTL&type=science
Associated Press: If the West continues to heat up and dry out, odds increase that the mighty Colorado River won't be able to deliver all the water that's been promised to millions who rely on it for their homes, farms and businesses, according to a new study. Less runoff -- the snow and rain that fortify the 1,400-mile river -- caused by human-induced climate change could mean that by 2050 the Colorado won't be able to provide all of its allocated water 60 percent to 90 percent of the time, according ...

Wed, 22 Apr 09
Environmentalists Plan Ad Campaign for Greenhouse Gas Regulation
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=greenhouse-gas-regulation-ads
Greenwire: With Congress preparing to debate climate legislation, environmentalists and their allies are spending millions on ad campaigns aimed at building public support for a cap-and-trade bill and scoring early political points. While campaign-style advertising on legislative issues is nothing new, the ad buys are coming weeks before either chamber is likely to move a comprehensive bill to the floor. Both proponents and critics of the climate measure say the early ad blitz indicates that ...

Wed, 22 Apr 09
How Fast Can Carbon Capture and Storage Fix Climate Change?
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=how-fast-can-carbon-capture-and-storage-fix-climate-change
Scientific American: Human activity results in the emission of some 30 billion metric tons of climate change--causing carbon dioxide (CO2) per year. About half of the greenhouse gas is absorbed by the world's oceans and plants, among other natural processes, but the rest lingers in the atmosphere for a century or more, driving up annual CO2 concentrations by around two parts per million (ppm). Those atmospheric concentrations have climbed from roughly 280 ppm in the 18th century before the widespread ...

Wed, 22 Apr 09
Avoided deforestation projects highed desirable for carbon offsets finds survey
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0420-avoided_deforestation.html
Mongabay: 91 percent of companies rated avoided deforestation as the most desirable forestry projects for carbon offsets, reports a survey by EcoSecurities, Conservation International, The Climate, Community & Biodiversity Alliance and ClimateBiz. The results suggest a healthy appetite for avoided deforestation credits among companies seeking to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. "It's tremendously encouraging to see that companies are starting to recognize the benefits from forestry ...

Wed, 22 Apr 09
Scientists weigh geoengineering in global warming battle
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/columnist/vergano/2009-04-19-geoengineering_N.htm
USA Today: Not every crazy idea, say dropping out of Harvard to start a software firm, is a bad one. But you don't have to be Bill Gates to place your bets that way. Consider atmospheric geoengineering -- pumping reflective particles into the stratosphere to reflect sunlight -- seen as a way to cut the effects of global warming. In 1991, the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo in the Philippines cooled the atmosphere's average temperature worldwide almost one degree Fahrenheit, a kind of "global dimming," ...

Wed, 22 Apr 09
Consumers start feeling higher costs of clean fuel
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/environment/2009-04-19-higher-cost-clean-energy_N.htm
USA Today: It isn't cheap. Consumers already are starting to feel at least a modest pinch in their electric bills. The impact is expected to grow in the next few years as utilities accelerate their investments to meet state quotas requiring a portion of clean energy in their generation mix. And bills in Congress would impose a similar national quota, an idea President Obama supports. The cost is one reason electric rates have been fairly stable as oil and natural gas prices have ...

Wed, 22 Apr 09
Energy Secretary offers dire global warming prediction
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/first100days/2009/04/19/energy-secretary-offers-dire-global-warming-prediction/
Fox: Caribbean nations face "very, very scary" rises in sea level and intensifying hurricanes, and Florida, Louisiana and even northern California could be overrun with rising water levels due to global warming triggered by carbon-based greenhouse gases, Energy Secretary Steven Chu said Saturday. Chu's comments followed meetings with environmental ministers attending the fifth Summit of the Americas. He did not shy away from the most perilous predictions about the potential effects of ...

Wed, 22 Apr 09
United States: EPA air-quality ruling a wake-up call for state
http://www.denverpost.com/headlines/ci_12179786
Denver Post: Climate change is a global problem, but its effects will be felt regionally -- with sea levels rising on the North Carolina coast and drought in Colorado, according to federal studies. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Friday issued a finding that classified greenhouse gases as pollutants that endanger public health and welfare and blamed them for changes to the climate, including increased temperatures and poor air quality. The gases -- primarily carbon dioxide from ...

Wed, 22 Apr 09
China to clean its coal habit
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/bizchina/2009-04/20/content_7694063.htm
China Daily: China is trying to clean up its coal habit in an effort to reduce some of its environmental problems. Coal accounts for over 70 percent of China's primary energy production and consumption. The country's use of it will likely reach 2.9 billion tons by 2020. Coal-firing-related emissions constitute 80 percent of China's annual sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions and 70 percent of its carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. The 11th Five Year Plan (2006-2010) for Coal Industry ...

Wed, 22 Apr 09
Waxman says climate measure can't compromise on 20% carbon cap share
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=ax4el7hnU.Cc
Bloomberg: Representative Henry Waxman said he won't budge from his proposed 20 percent reduction in greenhouse gases over the next decade even as some lawmakers say the economy could suffer. "I want to keep those caps in place," Waxman, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said in an interview on Bloomberg Television's "Political Capital with Al Hunt" airing this weekend. "It's what the scientists are telling us we must do" to avoid a global catastrophe, he said. Waxman, ...

Wed, 22 Apr 09
Africa says poor need $267 bln/yr in climate fight
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LK631928.htm
Reuters: Developing nations will need at least $267 billion a year by 2020 to fight climate change and adapt to droughts, heat waves and rising seas, according to African nations. The figure, part of a new African text for negotiations on a U.N. climate treaty, is more than double current development aid from recession-hit rich nations which totalled a record $120 billion in 2008. "Africa is one of the most vulnerable continents to climate change, with major development and poverty ...

Wed, 22 Apr 09
Ice cover 'increasing in east Antarctica'
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/04/20/2547067.htm?section=justin
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: New research has found that despite climate change concerns, the amount of ice may actually be increasing across much of Antarctica. Ian Allison, head of the Australian Antarctic Division's ice, ocean, atmosphere and climate program, says outside of western Antarctica, ice levels are remaining steady or possibly increasing. "Over most of Antarctica the surface temperatures are very well below the freezing point," he said. "So it requires more than a slight warming before ...

Wed, 22 Apr 09
China warned it may face priced carbon emissions
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124021811385234435.html
Wall Street Journal: The International Energy Agency warned that China must clean up its coal sector or face dire environmental consequences for itself and the world. The Paris-based body outlined steps to mitigate pollution in China, including tougher enforcement of regulations, more foreign investment in energy, and putting a price on carbon emissions. [China Coal photo] Reuters A miner works at a coal mine in Changzhi, Shanxi province. "Without strong action, CO2 emissions could rise ...

Wed, 22 Apr 09
Norway threatens action if EU bans seal products
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE53J3LI20090420?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Norway has threatened to challenge the European Union over plans to ban imports of furs and other products from seals. The executive European Commission last year proposed banning the import of pelts from seals that have endured excessive suffering while being killed. "In our view, the proposal cannot be justified under the WTO (World Trade Organization)," Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere wrote in a letter to EU trade Commissioner Catherine Ashton, a copy of which ...

Wed, 22 Apr 09
China and America's climate cold war starts to thaw
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16984-china-and-americas-climate-cold-war-starts-to-thaw.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=climate-change
New Scientist: Fears of a continuing "cold war" on climate between China and the US, the world's two largest emitters of greenhouse gases, were replaced this week by sunnier diplomacy. In Washington, the US government's Environmental Protection Agency has officially recognised carbon dioxide as a danger to human health. The ruling may not be carried out. Barack Obama's officials would prefer Congress to pass new climate laws so the government can auction emissions permits, which can then be ...

Wed, 22 Apr 09
Australia: Forgotten Victims of Bushfires' Fury
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=46560
Inter Press Service: The fires which swept across 400,000 hectares of bush in the south-eastern Australian state of Victoria in February left 173 people dead and ruined more than two thousand homes. But while they razed businesses, schools and kindergartens to the ground, wildlife and their habitats were also destroyed. There is a "need to look at the impact of fires, particularly these large, intense fires, on native wildlife and ecosystems, and of course that's in addition to the impacts on [human] life ...

Wed, 22 Apr 09
Indigenous groups hold Alaska climate change talks
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gC3MZwIHHdETR8Pa1R1HzTEmJ-nA
Agence France-Presse: Indigenous peoples, who have been hard hit by the ravages of global warming, were gathering in Alaska Monday for talks on the impact of climate change on native communities. "Indigenous peoples are on the front lines of this global problem, at a time when their cultures and livelihoods in traditional lands are already threatened," said Patricia Cochran, chairwoman of the Indigenous Peoples' Global Summit on Climate Change, one of the groups sponsoring the meeting. "The ...

Wed, 22 Apr 09
Why Antarctic ice is growing despite global warming
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16988-why-antarctic-ice-is-growing-despite-global-warming.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=climate-change
New Scientist: It's the southern ozone hole whatdunit. That's why Antarctic sea ice is growing while at the other pole, Arctic ice is shrinking at record rates. It seems CFCs and other ozone-depleting chemicals have given the South Pole respite from global warming. But only temporarily. According to John Turner of the British Antarctic Survey, the effect will last roughly another decade before Antarctic sea ice starts to decline as well. Arctic sea ice is decreasing dramatically and reached a ...

Wed, 22 Apr 09
Critical Turning Point Can Trigger Abrupt Climate Change
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/04/090420121335.htm
ScienceDaily: Ice ages are the greatest natural climate changes in recent geological times. Their rise and fall are caused by slight changes in the Earth's orbit around the Sun due to the influence of the other planets. But we do not know the exact relationship between the changes in the Earth's orbit and the changes in climate. New research from the Niels Bohr Institute indicates that there can be changes in the CO2 levels in the atmosphere that suddenly reach a critical turning point and with ...

Wed, 22 Apr 09
UK set to miss climate change targets
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/5189869/UK-set-to-miss-climate-change-targets.html
Telegraph: Cambridge Econometrics predicted carbon dioxide emissions will fall by around three per cent a year in 2009 and 2010 as a result of less economic activity and more use of gas instead of coal to produce electricity. However the continued reliance on coal and gas-fired power stations will mean emissions fall more slowly over the long term. By 2020, CO2 emissions are predicted to be 19 per cent below 1990 levels, meaning the Government would fail to meet the recommendation of its ...

Wed, 22 Apr 09
Republic of Congo to turn over 25 M acres of land to South African farmers
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0420-congo_farming.html
Mongabay: The government of Republic of Congo (Brazzaville) has offered 25 million acres (10 million hectares) of land to South African farmers in an effort to improve the central African nation's food security, reports Reuters. The area is nearly twice the amount of arable land in South Africa. The deal was revealed by Theo de Jager, deputy president of Agriculture South Africa (AgriSA), South Africa's lagrest farmers union, in an interview with Reuters last week at an agriculture conference ...

Wed, 22 Apr 09
Colorado River unlikely to meet current water demands in warmer, drier world
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0420-hance_coloradoriver.html
Mongabay: Feeding the water habits of such major cities as Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and Phoenix, in addition to providing irrigation waters for the entire Southwestern United States, has stretched the Colorado River thin. The river no longer consistently reaches the sea as it once did. Now a new study warns that the Colorado River system, which has proven dependable for human use throughout the 20th Century, may soon experience shortages due to global warming. Two climate researchers at Scripps ...

Tue, 21 Apr 09
Climate change will overload humanitarian system, warns Oxfam - guardian.co.uk
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/apr/21/climate-change-natural-disasters
Guardian: Emergency organisations could be overwhelmed within seven years by the rising number of people in poor countries affected by floods, droughts, heatwaves, wild fires, storms, landslides and other climate hazards. Analysis by Oxfam International of the 6,500 climate-related disasters recorded since 1980 show that the numbers of people affected by extreme weather events, many of which are linked to climate change, has doubled in just 30 years and is expected to increase a further 54% to ...

Tue, 21 Apr 09
Carbon Dioxide Snatched From The Air
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/04/090420121342.htm
ScienceDaily: It's the reason why chemists envy green plants: by using photosynthesis, plants can easily fix the carbon dioxide that is so plentiful in air to make biomass, or organic compounds. Chemists would also like to be able to simply produce carbon compounds out of CO2 from air. In contrast to the usual sources of carbon used today--fossil fuels and natural gas--carbon dioxide is a renewable resource and an environmentally friendly chemical reagent. Unfortunately, its carbon--oxygen bonds ...

Tue, 21 Apr 09
Cyclones Spurt Water Into Stratosphere, Feeding Global Warming
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/04/090420121421.htm
ScienceDaily: Scientists at Harvard University have found that tropical cyclones readily inject ice far into the stratosphere, possibly feeding global warming. The finding, published in Geophysical Research Letters, provides more evidence of the intertwining of severe weather and global warming by demonstrating a mechanism by which storms could drive climate change. Many scientists now believe that global warming, in turn, is likely to increase the severity of tropical cyclones. "Since water ...

Tue, 21 Apr 09
Oxfam predicts millions more victims of climate
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090420/sc_afp/britainaidclimateoxfam
Agence France-Presse: Hundreds of millions of people will become victims of climate change-related disasters over the next six years, Oxfam said Tuesday, urging governments to change the way they respond to such events. The British-based aid and development charity estimated the number of people affected by climatic disasters would rise by 54 percent to 375 million people a year on average by 2015, based on data on similar disasters since 1980. In a new report, it warned that humanitarian aid ...

Tue, 21 Apr 09
United Kingdom: Allies against democracy
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/apr/20/energy-police
Guardian: This isn't the first time that the Department for Business and the energy company E.ON have been caught conspiring against the public interest. In 2008, Greenpeace obtained an exchange of emails between the power company and Gary Mohammed, a civil servant at the Department for Business, concerning the department's policy on carbon capture and storage (CCS). The government had told the public that any new coal-burning power station at E.ON's Kingsnorth plant in Kent should be ...

Tue, 21 Apr 09
United Kingdom: Budget to include £500m spending on reducing carbon emissions
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/apr/20/budget-2009-renewable-energy-stimulus
Guardian: Alistair Darling will use this week's budget to announce an extra £500m of government spending on reducing carbon emissions, including a pledge of £40m to top up and keep open a grants programme for renewable energy technologies. The chancellor has been coming under increasing pressure from Britain's fledgling renewables industry not to allow a key part of the controversial Low Carbon Buildings Programme to come to an end this summer, nearly a year before a new support system known as ...

Tue, 21 Apr 09
London pollution: shock figures
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/apr/20/premature-deaths-london-pollution
Guardian: The government was today challenged on the number of premature deaths caused by poor air quality as new figures suggested it may be three times higher than previously claimed. The Campaign for Clean Air in London (CCAL) has written to the health secretary, Alan Johnson, to ask for clarification on the "full extent" of the health impact of poor air quality in Greater London. The group's query comes in the wake of a report by the European Environment Agency, published last month, ...

Tue, 21 Apr 09
Are China and the US closer to breaking climate talks deadlock?
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2240654/china-closer-breaking-climate
Business Green: Chinese officials have given the clearest signal yet that they could sign up to some form of carbon emissions targets as part of a successor agreement to the Kyoto agreement. The news, which comes as US legislators signalled they too could impose tough new carbon emissions targets on heavy polluters even if attempts to pass a climate change bill this year fail, will be welcomed as a sign the two biggest players in the on-going UN climate change negotiations could break the deadlock ...

Tue, 21 Apr 09
Byproducts Of Biofuels Could Be Economically Viable For Growers
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/04/090419202443.htm
ScienceDaily: Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists have found environmentally and economically sound uses for the byproducts of biofuel production. Animal scientist William Dozier, formerly with the ARS Poultry Research Unit in Mississippi State, Miss., has been working with colleagues at the ARS Swine Odor and Manure Management Research Unit in Ames, Iowa, and Iowa State University (ISU) to find ways to supplement animal diets with glycerin. Glycerin, a biofuel byproduct, contains ...

Tue, 21 Apr 09
Deforestation 'lynchpin' in global climate talks
http://www.euractiv.com/en/climate-change/deforestation-lynchpin-global-climate-talks/article-181369?Ref=RSS
EurActiv: With international climate negotiations tending to focus mainly on tackling industrial emissions blamed for global warming, NGOs have warned that the issue of deforestation, which is just as serious, could be overlooked. Background: The global community is in the midst of negotiating a new climate agreement to replace the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC ) conference in Bonn (29 March–8 April) launched the ...

Tue, 21 Apr 09
Israel: New solar farm adds hot water to cheap electricity
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE53J0H220090420?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: An energy company in Israel plans to launch a solar farm this month using new technology it says can produce cheap and efficient electricity while supplying hot water to homes. As with all solar energy systems, investors and consumers may be turned off by high initial costs and the need for strong sunlight. But if the commercial pilot works, Israeli start-up ZenithSolar plans to make small units for homes in two years. ZenithSolar CEO Roy Segev says its energy dish can ...

Tue, 21 Apr 09
China considers setting targets for carbon emissions
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/apr/19/china-environment-kyoto
Guardian: The Chinese government is for the first time considering setting targets for carbon emissions, a significant development that could help negotiations on a Kyoto successor treaty at Copenhagen later this year, the Guardian has learned. Su Wei, a leading figure in China's climate change negotiating team, said that officials were considering introducing a national target that would limit emissions relative to economic growth in the country's next five-year plan from 2011. "It is ...

Tue, 21 Apr 09
United States: Affordable solar purchasing plans gather pace
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2240633/affordable-solar-purchasing
Business Green: Municipalities are catching on to an innovative plan started by the City of San Diego to make solar panels more affordable to city residents, with a number of city governments expressing interest in the new financing scheme. The San Diego Clean Generation Program, announced in December, will be the first of its kind in any major US city, according to San Diego's Mayor, Jerry Sanders. Under the scheme, the city will pay for residential solar panels, which householders and businesses ...

Tue, 21 Apr 09
Carbon emissions fuelled by high rates of obesity
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/apr/20/obesity-climate-change
Guardian: High rates of obesity in richer countries cause up to 1bn extra tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions every year, compared with countries with leaner populations, according to a study that assesses the additional food and fuel requirements of the overweight. The finding is particularly worrying, scientists say, because obesity is on the rise in many rich nations. "Population fatness has an environmental impact," said Phil Edwards, from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. ...

Tue, 21 Apr 09
China nuclear safety chief warns of over-rapid growth
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE53J1T620090420?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: China will face safety issues and environmental hazards involving nuclear waste disposal if the nuclear power sector is expanded too fast, the country's nuclear safety chief said on Monday. China, the world's second-largest user of fuel and electricity after the United States, plans to quadruple its nuclear power capacity in the next decade to about 40 gigawatts, fast-tracking from an embryonic stage in the last three decades when a total of less than 10 GW was built. "At the ...

Tue, 21 Apr 09
EPA: carbon dioxide does pose health danger
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2240643/epa-carbon-dioxide-does-pose
Business Green: The US took a major step towards the introduction of wide reaching climate change regulations on Friday, after the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) formally declared that carbon dioxide emissions present a danger to public health. The landmark ruling gives the Obama administration the power to impose carbon regulations on carbon intensive industries even if its hopes for a nationwide emissions cap-and-trade are thwarted in Congress. The decision, which also covered five ...

Tue, 21 Apr 09
California takes on King Corn
http://wwwp.dailyclimate.org/tdc-newsroom/ethanol/california-takes-on-king-corn
Daily Climate: California regulators, trying to assess the true environmental cost of corn ethanol, are poised to declare that the biofuel cannot help the state reduce global warming. As they see it, corn is no better – and might be worse – than petroleum when total greenhouse gas emissions are considered. Such a declaration, to be considered later this week by the California Air Resources Board, would be a considerable blow to the corn-ethanol industry in the United States. If passed, ...

Tue, 21 Apr 09
Australia: Rudd ignores better options after pressure from industry
http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/rudd-ignores-better-options-after-pressure-from-industry-20090419-abem.html?page=-1
Age: IN CANBERRA last week, the gloves were off as Australia's leading climate scientists, representatives of heavy polluting industries and opposing senators squared off over the future direction of the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme. In one corner, industry representatives were claiming that their future and that of their workers was at stake unless the Federal Government added billions of dollars to the $9 billion (by 2012) already being offered to heavy polluting ...

Tue, 21 Apr 09
United Kingdom: 1970s lifestyle protects planet
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8004257.stm
BBC: Getting back to the relatively slim, trim days of the 1970s would help to tackle climate change, researchers say. The rising numbers of people who are overweight and obese in the UK means the nation uses 19% more food than 40 years ago, a study suggests. That could equate to an extra 60 mega tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions a year, the team calculated. Transport costs of a fatter population were also included in the International Journal of Epidemiology ...

Tue, 21 Apr 09
Australia: Time to scrap emission impossible
http://business.theage.com.au/business/time-to-scrap-emission-impossible-20090419-abg9.html?page=-1
Age: The Government may pay the ultimate price if it persists with a flawed carbon scheme. THE Rudd Government's proposed greenhouse gas emissions trading scheme is dying. It no longer even serves the dubious political function of providing a fig leaf to suggest the Government has superior environmental credentials to the Liberal Party. It should be put down and pronounced dead. Not only has Professor Ross Garnaut spat the dummy and suggested it is now "line ball' as to whether ...

Tue, 21 Apr 09
Cleaning up by perfecting carbon clean-up
http://business.theage.com.au/business/cleaning-up-by-perfecting-carbon-cleanup-20090419-abgb.html?page=1
Age: Our reliance on coal puts carbon capture into a different light. IT'S easy to be sceptical about efforts to clean up Australia's coal industry. Clean coal is an oxymoron; even its advocates shy away from the term. Capturing and storing greenhouse gases is eminently worse than forgoing the emissions in the first place. Safely trapped carbon dioxide is still pollution, and there's plenty of doubt about the safety part. Industry has hardly put its money where its mouth is. ...

Tue, 21 Apr 09
United Kingdom: Secret police intelligence was given to E.ON before planned demo
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/apr/20/police-intelligence-e-on-berr
Guardian: Government officials handed confidential police intelligence about environmental activists to the energy giant E.ON before a planned peaceful demonstration, according to private emails seen by the Guardian. Correspondence between civil servants and security officials at the company reveals how intelligence was shared about the peaceful direct action group Climate Camp in the run-up to the demonstration at Kingsnorth, the proposed site of a new coal-fired power station in north ...

Tue, 21 Apr 09
US powers up fuel cell funding
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2240627/powers-fuel-cell-funding
Business Green: The division of President Obama's $100bn clean tech stimulus package continued last week with the announcement that $41.9m has been earmarked for investment across 13 different fuel cell projects. An additional $72.4m of private sector funding will also be invested in the projects, which primarily focus on areas where fuel cells have already enjoyed some success, such as in providing back-up power for buildings, battery packs for consumer electronics devices, and fuel for fork-lift ...

Tue, 21 Apr 09
China: Climate risk for Yangtze river: Report
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2009-04/20/content_7693329.htm
China Daily: The Yangtze Conservation and Development Report 2009, compiled by the China Academy of Science (CAS), states the basin of China's longest waterway has been hit by a yearly reduction in rain since 2006, brought on by global warming. Annual rainfall dropped 10.3 and 6.9 percent respectively in 2006 and 2007, the report said, while severe droughts in 2007 and last year resulted in the shrinking of two of the nation's biggest freshwater lakes, Poyang and Dongting. The research also ...

Tue, 21 Apr 09
US urges food output boost to avert unrest
http://money.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=803542
Financial Times: The US agriculture secretary has warned that unless countries take immediate steps to sharply boost agricultural productivity and food output and reduce hunger, the world risks fresh social instability. In an interview with the Financial Times, Tom Vilsack indicated that food security and global stability were tied, in a sign that Washington's worries about the global food crisis go well beyond its humanitarian implications. "This is not just about food security, this is about ...

Mon, 20 Apr 09
Congress Inclined to Put Health Care Before Climate
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124018305586533037.html
Wall Street Journal: Shortly after Congress returns from recess Monday, lawmakers will have to choose which Obama promise to make a higher priority -- overhauling the health-care system or addressing climate change. A growing number of Democratic lawmakers prefer health care, saying that has a far greater chance of producing consensus than climate change, inside the party and across party lines. And they argue that it would be a more tangible accomplishment to present to financially stressed voters ...

Mon, 20 Apr 09
Indigenous groups hold climate summit in Alaska
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090419/ap_on_re_us/climate_change_conference
Associated Press: Indigenous people from around the world are gathering in Anchorage this week for a conference on climate change, a subject participants say disproportionately affects them though they share relatively little responsibility for it. Patricia Cochran, chairwoman of the Inuit Circumpolar Council, said the United Nations-affiliated conference intends to provide "a unified voice, to be able to have more influence over the political and other decisions that are being made that impact our ...

Mon, 20 Apr 09
United Kingdom: Credit crunch hits Prince of Wales' ecovillage
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/mandrake/5183420/Credit-crunch-hits-Prince-of-Wales-eco-village.html
Telegraph: The Tellesma Sustainable Real Estate Opportunity fund, which is also backed by Fleming Family and Partners, an investment company of the James Bond author Ian Fleming's estate, must continue to seek out alternative funds from the Middle East but for a considerably smaller sum than the original £500 million. The Prince's Charities, which includes the Prince's Trust, owns about a third of the business while Prince Charles's Foundation for the Built Environment was to act as an adviser. ...

Mon, 20 Apr 09
Britain to boost "green" spending
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE53I2IA20090419?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: British finance minister Alistair Darling is expected to boost spending on green measures by some 500 million pounds in Wednesday's budget, a government source told Reuters on Sunday. The source said the new money spent on green initiatives, a similar amount to that announced in the November pre-budget report, would help foster a green economic recovery as the low carbon sector will expand greatly over the next few years. The cash would be used to promote energy efficiency for ...

Mon, 20 Apr 09
Mysterious decline of small mammals in Bolivia may be linked to burning Amazon
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0419-hance_dew.html
Mongabay: During ten years surveying small mammal populations in Bolivia's cerrado, Dr. Louise Emmons with the Smithsonian Institute found that the mammals were suffering precipitous declines, even local extinctions. After ruling out the usual suspects--local fires, rainfall, and flooding--Emmons formed a novel hypothesis regarding the decline. Could a sudden lack of nighttime dew caused by the burning of the Amazon be the cause of the mammal decline? In the cerrado--a tropical region of ...

Mon, 20 Apr 09
Bolivia vows not to sign Americas summit document if biofuel clauses stay
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-04/19/content_11212171.htm
Xinhua: Bolivia's President Evo Morales said Saturday that he will not sign the final declaration of the 5th Summit of the Americas, if leaders do not agree to review clauses aimed at stimulating the development of biofuel. The meeting in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, which brought together leaders from 34 countries across the Americas, concludes on Sunday with the signing of the Declaration of Port of Spain. "If the issue of biofuel is not reviewed, the government of Bolivia ...

Mon, 20 Apr 09
United Kingdom: Arrest of climate change activists in London disturbing
http://southasia.oneworld.net/globalheadlines/arrest-of-climate-change-activists-in-london-disturbing
OneWorld South Asia: More than hundred climate change campaigners were put under pre-emptive detention and later released in London earlier this week when they were planning action against coal-based power stations and airports. Activists complained that the authorities are attempting to silence a peaceful awareness campaign on issues surrounding global warming. London: Police have raided dozens of homes across the country as they questioned climate change protesters planning action this summer against ...

Mon, 20 Apr 09
United States: Coal Country rocked by CO2 changes
http://www.bismarcktribune.com/articles/2009/04/18/news/local/182798.txt
Bismarck Tribune: The mayor of Beulah - the largest town in Coal Country - said he was slightly more worried going into a summit on carbon dioxide than going out. The Public Service Commission convened Friday's summit in Bismarck to clarify what effect a proposed cap and trade program to limit CO2 emitted into the atmosphere will have on the energy industry in the state. Beulah and other Coal Country communities enjoy the state's highest average incomes and have for decades had stable economies ...

Mon, 20 Apr 09
Energy secretary: Islands could disappear
http://www.physorg.com/news159344487.html
Associated Press: U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu is warning that if countries don't do something about climate change, "some island states will simply disappear." The energy secretary is traveling with President Barack Obama to the two-island nation of Trinidad and Tobago for a summit of the Western Hemisphere's democracies. Chu told reporters at the Summit of the Americas on Saturday that Obama pushed leaders to work to stem rising temperatures. Chu said that rising temperatures lead to more ...

Mon, 20 Apr 09
We need an eco-revolution
http://www.greenleft.org.au/2009/791/40741
Green Left Weekly: The April 2 G20 summit brought together the leaders of some of the world's most economically significant countries. They were intent on working out a rescue plan for the capitalist system, the very system that is killing the planet and condemning billions of people to poverty and oppression. Today's crisis is the most serious since the Great Depression. The situation calls for a clear break with business-as-usual. The G20 failed on all counts. The G20 declaration was long on ...

Mon, 20 Apr 09
Did lead cause global cooling?
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16976-did-lead-cause-global-cooling.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=climate-change
New Scientist: Previous generations unwittingly found a way to cool the Earth, but it's an approach we won't want to reprise. Research suggests that particles of lead from gasoline exhaust may have offset warming in the 20th century. It's well known that particles in the atmosphere such as mineral dust, pollen, heavy metals and even bacteria can act as seeds for the nucleation of ice crystals. These crystals form clouds that can affect the Earth's energy balance by reflecting the sun's rays back ...

Mon, 20 Apr 09
Congress to pass energy bill this year: White House
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE53I1OO20090419?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: U.S. lawmakers will pass major energy legislation, possibly including measures to address climate change, by the end of this year, a top White House official said on Sunday. "I do know this, at the end of this first year of Congress there will be an energy bill on the president's desk," White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel told ABC's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos." When asked whether the bill would include a controversial cap-and-trade system aimed at curbing ...

Mon, 20 Apr 09
Aborigine, Inuit tradition can fight climate change
http://uk.reuters.com/article/homepageCrisis/idUKN18282284._CH_.2420
Reuters: Alaskan Inuits, Australian aborigines and Pygmies from Cameroon have a message for a warming world: native traditions can be a potent weapon against climate change. At a summit starting Monday in Anchorage, Alaska, some 400 indigenous people from 80 nations are gathering to hone this message in the hope that it can be a key part of international climate negotiations. "We don't want to be seen just as the powerless victims of climate change," said Patricia Cochran, an Inupiat ...

Mon, 20 Apr 09
United States: San Rafael poised to adopt climate-change action plan
http://www.marinij.com/marinnews/ci_12176296
Marin Independent Journal: The San Rafael City Council on Monday is set to adopt a document dedicated to saving its piece of the planet. The city's climate-change action plan represents a year's worth of work by the 14-member Green Ribbon Committee, appointed to chart a course toward reducing the city's carbon footprint in its municipal buildings and operations and to set out plans to influence the residential and business communities to live green. The council also appointed four Green Teams, composed ...

Mon, 20 Apr 09
U.N. food agencies see "win-win" farmland deals
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE53I10D20090419?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Rich nations buying farmland in less developed countries to boost own food supplies should also contribute to improving agriculture overseas, heads of two United Nations' food agencies said. Food supply scare after last year's food riots has pushed several countries, such as China, Saudi Arabia and South Korea, to buy or lease farmland overseas to feed their own people. Quickly nicknamed "land-grabbing," this phenomenon has drawn sharp criticism for ignoring interests of local ...

Mon, 20 Apr 09
United Kingdom: Customers buy up traditional light bulbs before switch to low energy CFLs
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/scienceandtechnology/technology/technologynews/5179266/Customers-buy-up-traditional-light-bulbs-before-switch-to-low-energy-alternatives.html
Telegraph: Shopkeepers say customers are "panic-buying" armfuls of the 100 watt bulbs, which are becoming increasingly scarce since many supermarkets agreed to phase them out ahead of the end-of-August deadline. The ban on sales is supported by the government, which wants consumers to switch to low energy compact fluorescent lights (CFLs) to help meet its climate change targets. CFLs typically cost more than four times as much as a traditional incandescent bulb -- starting from £2 each ...

Mon, 20 Apr 09
United States: Expect more hearings, more permits, maybe a lawsuit, before new coal-fired power plant is built
http://www.mlive.com/news/bay-city/index.ssf/2009/04/expect_more_hearings_more_perm.html
Bay City Times: A proposed coal-fired power plant project at the Karn-Weadock complex in Hampton Township is the center of controversy. Emotions ran high in Bay County last week during three public hearings on an air permit for a new coal-fired power plant. But the battle for - and against - the new $2.3 billion, 800-megawatt Consumers Energy project is far from over. The regulatory process, with more opportunities for public comment, could go on for another two years or more before the ...

Mon, 20 Apr 09
Sole Technology skates toward a green future
http://www.latimes.com/features/lifestyle/la-ig-greensole19-2009apr19,0,3165423.story
LA Times: Pierre André Senizergues can make skateboards do anything. When he was in his 20s, he steered them from the Paris suburbs to Venice Beach and turned them into the key to an apartment he could afford when he started winning skate competitions. In his 30s, he used them as the foundation of a multimillion-dollar Orange County-based footwear, apparel and accessories empire. And in his 40s, he made them the literal building blocks for a line of museum-quality furniture and even a springboard to ...

Mon, 20 Apr 09
JEA challenged to fuel Florida's green efforts
http://www.jacksonville.com/news/metro/2009-04-19/story/jea_challenged_to_fuel_floridas_green_efforts
Jackson: It's been nearly two years since Gov. Charlie Crist told the state's utilities to burn less coal for energy. The announcement set the scene for legislative pressure and the evolution of a buzz term: "20 by 2020." That describes the potential mandate. In 11 years, 20 percent of the state's electricity would need to be produced by sources like solar panels and wind turbines. Environmentalists have cheered the idea. At JEA alone, environmental program director Jay Worley ...

Mon, 20 Apr 09
Eating local means figuring out your "food miles"
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/pacificnw/2009076639_pacificfootchoices19.html
Seattle Times: Your green car may get 40 miles per gallon, but how many miles per bite was your lunch? "Food miles" -- how far food travels from the producer to your home -- have become the latest preoccupation for folks concerned about their ecological footprint. Transportation of food requires copious amounts of fossil fuels and other resources that contribute to global warming and pollution, so the lower the food mileage we rack up, the better. Eating local also supports our regional ...

Mon, 20 Apr 09
Tankers to sail off with carbon waste
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/natural_resources/article6122254.ece
Times (UK): THE global fight against climate change could lead to the creation of a new market: carbon-dioxide shipping. The world's biggest cargo carriers, including Maersk and IM Skaugen, have begun talks with power companies in Britain and Europe that could see them build new fleets of tankers specially made to transport the greenhouse gas captured from clean-coal power stations. The news comes amid a big push by governments to clean up the world's dirtiest and most plentiful fuel. This ...

Mon, 20 Apr 09
Global warming, thirsty energy: 7 dimensional chess
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Weekend/story?id=7371405&page=1
Various: At first, they look like two completely separate problems from hell imposed on humanity by global warming: Problem One: Humanity is sliding into water bankruptcy in the American Southwest, China, India. As mountain glaciers vanish worldwide, many millions of drought refugees -- desperately looking for water and food -- are thought by experts to be quite possible in several regions of the planet even within the next 20 years. Problem Two: it's urgent all nations make an ...

Mon, 20 Apr 09
Chu: Climate change 'very, very scary'
http://www.timesoftheinternet.com/66333.html
United Press International: U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu said Saturday the prospect of more severe hurricanes and rising sea levels in the Caribbean is "very, very scary." Chu, who met with government officials from other Western hemisphere nations at the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago, said it is "a demonstrable fact" that the climate is changing and "very, very convincing evidence -- very high probability it was caused predominantly by greenhouse gas emissions." Referring to a report ...

Mon, 20 Apr 09
United Kingdom: New G20 video shows police hitting protesters
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/apr/19/g20-police-video-climatecamp-tomlinson
Guardian: The policing of the G20 protests in London has come under further scrutiny with the release of a video that appears to show at least two instances of unprovoked violence by riot officers against demonstrators. The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) said last night it was investigating a third instance of potential police misconduct during the demonstrations on 1-2 April after a complaint from a 23-year-old man who says he was assaulted at a police cordon near Cornhill in ...

Mon, 20 Apr 09
Australia: Greenhouse burial trial a success: scientists
http://www.theage.com.au/environment/greenhouse-burial-trial-a-success-scientists-20090419-abft.html
Age: VICTORIA'S potential role in developing divisive "clean coal" technology will be underlined this week when scientists announce 50,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas has been successfully stored underground in the Otway Basin. The news comes a year after Australia's first greenhouse burial trial began removing naturally occurring gas from a well, compressing it into a liquid and injecting it in a depleted gas field more than two kilometres beneath farmland. The revelation coincides ...

Mon, 20 Apr 09
G8 set to admit failure over hunger target
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/16bacc66-2cd1-11de-8710-00144feabdc0.html
Financial Times: The world is "very far from reaching" the United Nations' goal of halving the proportion of people facing chronic hunger by 2015, the Group of Eight leading nations will admit on Monday after it reviewed what it called "alarming data" on malnourishment. Although officials have in private suggested the target was unachievable the admission of this failure - which will come in a communiqué at the end of the G8's first ever agricultural meeting - is the first by the leading countries. It ...

Mon, 20 Apr 09
Credit drought taxes water firms
http://www.calgaryherald.com/business/fp/Credit+drought+taxes+water+firms/1512045/story.html
Calgary Herald: Water scarcity means big growth for companies that purify, transport and distribute the world's most essential resource, but a global recession that has halted new projects and put off price increases means water investors will have to wait for the boom years. Water, cheap and indispensable, has long been prized as a stable investment in both good and bad times. But as the population grows, urbanization tightens access to clean water and climate change promises more droughts, ...

Mon, 20 Apr 09
Nuclear energy officials look to grow past financial crisis
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE53I0VJ20090419?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: The global financial crisis is unlikely to deter growing long-term demand for new nuclear power plants, international atomic agency officials said on Sunday, ahead of a conference to discuss the future of atomic power. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) officials and national and international energy representatives are gathering in Beijing to discuss prospects for atomic power during a global slowdown, climate change and energy worries, and tensions over the nuclear programs ...

Mon, 20 Apr 09
Survey finds pastors split politically on global warming
http://www.ajc.com/services/content/printedition/2009/04/18/warming0418.html
Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Christian ministers are sharply divided over global warming along conservative and moderate to liberal lines just as they are in politics. A poll of more than 1,000 ministers conducted last October by Southern Baptist-connected LifeWay Research shows a significant difference, with 75 percent of mainline pastors, such as Presbyterians and Methodists, saying global warming is real and caused by man. Only 32 percent of pastors serving conservative churches believe that. Another ...

Mon, 20 Apr 09
United Kingdom: Slow start for charge of electric cars
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/engineering/article6122359.ece
Times (UK): Electric cars need a boost. Cheap to run but expensive to buy, they offer the prospect of low or zero carbon emissions, but manufacturers won't sell them unless motorists want to buy them -- and motorists won't buy unless the price is right and there are enough places to charge the batteries. Last week the government made a £250m move to square the circle. Some £20m will help establish a network of charging points in cities and other areas of dense traffic. Grants of between £2,000 ...

Mon, 20 Apr 09
United States: The working forest
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=124961
New York Times: Over the winter, David Foster wanted to cut down some trees. His neighbor didn't want him to. Foster is the director of the Harvard Forest, a 3,500-acre experimental forest in the middle of Massachusetts. When you are the director of an experimental forest, people aren't sure you should be cutting down trees. "We're cutting an acre of forest, nonnative conifers," he told me calmly on a day in February, while grabbing some snowshoes. A forest ecologist will tell you that if you cut down some ...

Mon, 20 Apr 09
Australia: Push for tax breaks on 'green' buildings
http://www.smh.com.au/environment/global-warming/push-for-tax-breaks-on-green-buildings-20090418-aat9.html
Sydney Morning Herald: THE former NSW premier Nick Greiner has lent support to a growing push for tax breaks for "greening" older buildings, saying they are one of the best ways to slash carbon emissions. Mr Greiner, the deputy chairman of the property giant Stockland, said allowing accelerated depreciation for making older shopping centres and office blocks energy-efficient was the best tax reform measure the Government could take to cut greenhouse gas emissions in the present economic ...

Mon, 20 Apr 09
United States: Let the sunshine in
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/orl-locpowerplayers19041909apr19,0,1970836.story
Orlando Sentinel: The future of energy as dreamed about by ardent environmentalists would bring a mini-electric plant to every garage or every rooftop. Such plants would be powered by hydrogen, the sun or the wind, and connected to potent batteries for rainy days and to neighboring homes for sharing watts when necessary. Local work forces would burgeon, installing and maintaining power systems that become regarded as household appliances. Ultimately, utilities would no longer monopolize ...

Mon, 20 Apr 09
Entrepreneurs aim to turn carbon into gasoline
http://www.newsweek.com/id/194705
Newsweek: Whatever the world's governments decide to do about climate change, one thing seems certain: the value of carbon is going to rise. Government and industry are beginning to invest in technologies to capture carbon from their smokestacks, and entrepreneurs are beginning to figure out ways to recycle it. One of them is Carbon Sciences, a Santa Barbara, California, firm that says it has found an efficient way of turning carbon dioxide and water into methanol, a type of fuel that racing cars now ...

Mon, 20 Apr 09
Yellow submarine to try again for Atlantic glide
http://www.cfnews13.com/News/Science/2009/4/18/yellow_submarine_to_try_again_for_atlantic_glide.html
Associated Press: A second try is about to get under way at sending a little yellow submarine gliding across the Atlantic Ocean to collect scientific data from beneath the waves. "The launching is tremendously exciting because there is just so much that we don't really know about what happens in the oceans," said Jane Lubchenco, head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. "The capacity to fly through the ocean, across the Atlantic, taking data about temperature, salinity and ...

Mon, 20 Apr 09
March 2009 Tenth Warmest On Record For Global Temperatures
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/04/090418090255.htm
ScienceDaily: The combined global land and ocean surface average temperature for March 2009 was the 10th warmest since records began in 1880, according to an analysis by NOAA's National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C. The analyses in NCDC's global reports are based on preliminary data, which are subject to revision. Additional quality control is applied to the data when late reports are received several weeks after the end of the month and as increased scientific methods improve NCDC's ...

Mon, 20 Apr 09
Solar power companies in plea to maintain green jobs
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/apr/19/solar-power-energy-jobs
Guardian: Staff are being laid off by British solar power companies weeks after the government promised to create thousands of jobs in the "green" economy. Companies from across the industry will this week accuse ministers and civil servants of damaging their business with funding cuts, "delay and disinterest". More than 20 companies and lobby groups will petition the prime minister just weeks after Gordon Brown launched a strategy that forecast 400,000 new jobs could be created in ...

Mon, 20 Apr 09
Lawmakers forge alternative to cap-and-trade proposal
http://news.yahoo.com/s/mcclatchy/20090419/sc_mcclatchy/3213792
McClatchy Newspapers: A growing number of lawmakers who are deeply involved in the effort to reduce greenhouse gases and global warming are beginning to question "cap-and-trade," the current hot-button solution to the problem. The chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee's energy subcommittee, Sen. Maria Cantwell , D- Wash. , says she isn't so sure the "cap-and-trade" approach favored by the White House , environmental groups and many of her Democratic colleagues is the way to reduce ...

Mon, 20 Apr 09
Africa Will Have to Feed EU's Artificial Biofuels Demand
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=46552
Inter Press Service: Earlier in the decade, biofuels were hailed as the energy panacea, the silver bullet to solve oil shortages and abide by environmental concerns. The European Union recently took the lead in imposing the use of these liquid or gaseous fuels made from plants. But the green credentials of biofuels have since been disputed. The total amount of energy needed to transform biomass into ''green'' fuels offsets most of the energy biofuels save when the entire process or life-cycle is ...

Sun, 19 Apr 09
Catastrophic sea levels distinct possibility this century - study
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20090418/world-news/catastrophic-sea-levels-distinct-possibility-this-century-study
Agence France-Presse: A breakthrough study of fluctuations in sea levels the last time Earth was between ice ages, as it is now, shows that oceans rose some three meters in only decades due to collapsing ice sheets. The findings suggest that such a scenario - which would redraw coastlines worldwide and unleash colossal human misery - is "now a distinct possibility within the next 100 years", said lead researcher Paul Blanchon, a geoscientist at Mexico's National University. The study was published ...

Sun, 19 Apr 09
United States: EPA greenhouse action paves way for coal plant limits
http://wvgazette.com/News/200904180196
Charleston Gazette: A new finding by the Obama administration that greenhouse gas emissions "endanger public health and welfare" is the first step toward the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency limiting carbon dioxide emissions from coal-fired power plants, experts say. Read more in Coal Tattoo The EPA action also puts more pressure on Congress to pass broader climate legislation, because the finding -- once finalized -- kicks in separate Clean Air Act language that requires the agency to force power ...

Sun, 19 Apr 09
Rising temps threaten national park system
http://www.suntimes.com/news/nation/1533000,CST-NWS-warming19.article
Chicago Sun-Times: Joshua trees can live hundreds of years in the desert. However, they may have met their match here in Joshua Tree National Park: global warming. One study estimates that there may be no Joshua trees left here within a century. Veteran park ranger Joe Zarki points to an invasive red brome grass, which has proliferated here in the last few years, and explains that the rise in temperatures has helped it thrive -- but when it dries out, the grass feeds fires, allowing the ...

Sun, 19 Apr 09
Panel: Climate action a must
http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090418/NEWS24/904180366/-1/NEWS04
Toledo Blade: Ohio needs to help establish the United States as the world's leader on climate change. More blather from environmentalists? Nope. This time it was the consensus of a roundtable of mostly businessmen, with U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D., Ohio) as chairman, yesterday at the Owens-Illinois Inc. world headquarters in Perrysburg. Nearly all 15 panelists, save for an environmental lawyer and a union representative, were business execs or industry representatives. The senator ...

Sun, 19 Apr 09
Antarctic cruise tourists lose out as soaring numbers alarm scientists
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/apr/19/antarctica-cruise-ship-visitors-ecosystem
Guardian: Tough new restrictions on the number of people visiting Antarctica are to be implemented as the volume of visitors to the White Continent continues to soar. Cruise ships carrying more than 500 passengers will be prohibited from landing anyone. Only 100 visitors are to be allowed on shore at any given time, in an attempt to prevent damage to the region's unique ecosystem. The limits, agreed by the 28 countries that have signed the Antarctic treaty, including the UK, are to be ...

Sun, 19 Apr 09
India: Chronicle of a disaster foretold
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090419/jsp/calcutta/story_10839458.jsp
Telegraph: In another 60 years, Calcutta will be the most vulnerable city in the world with respect to climate change, claimed a report released at a United Nations climate conference in Bali in 2007. It was followed by Mumbai and Dhaka. The prediction about Calcutta looks likely to come true. The initial findings from a World Bank-supported study on climate change impact on Calcutta, presented at a Bangkok conference recently by the state's chief environment officer, Debal Roy, identifies the ...

Sun, 19 Apr 09
Climate is right to fight warming
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/04/18/EDQF16HUP0.DTL
San Francisco Chronicle: At last, Washington is engaged in a serious effort to curb global warming. In the House, Reps. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Henry Waxman, D-Los Angeles, have put together legislation designed to reduce domestic greenhouse-gas emissions by 20 percent over the next decade. One of its key - and most controversial - strategies would be to establish a mandatory cap-and-trade system in which oil refineries, manufacturers and other major carbon emitters would buy and sell credits based on their ...

Sun, 19 Apr 09
Australia: Opposition has 'no climate policy': Wong
http://news.brisbanetimes.com.au/breaking-news-national/opposition-has-no-climate-policy-wong-20090419-ab3m.html
AAP: Reducing carbon emissions is like getting fit, it won't happen unless you have a plan to get there, Climate Change Minister Penny Wong says. The federal government's climate adviser criticised the proposed carbon reduction scheme this week, saying it might be best to dump it and "have another crack at it" later. During a Senate hearing last week, Professor Ross Garnaut questioned whether the scheme was worth pursuing in its current form and urged senators to make substantial ...

Sun, 19 Apr 09
United Kingdom: Sellafield: the most hazardous place in Europe
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/apr/19/sellafield-nuclear-plant-cumbria-hazards
Observer: Building B30 is a large, stained, concrete edifice that stands at the centre of Sellafield, Britain's sprawling nuclear processing plant in Cumbria. Surrounded by a three-metre-high fence that is topped with razor wire, encased in scaffolding and riddled with a maze of sagging pipes and cabling, it would never be a contender to win an architectural prize. Yet B30 has a powerful claim to fame, albeit a disturbing one. "It is the most hazardous industrial building in western Europe," ...

Sun, 19 Apr 09
United Kingdom: The crushing of eco-protest brings shame on our police
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/apr/19/police-powers-abuse-henry-porter
Guardian: It sounds like a slogan from the Obama campaign: "People working together can make governments take notice." In fact, it comes from the user-friendly Miliband brother, Ed, the energy and climate change secretary who was speaking after the screening of the film The Age of Stupid. On another occasion, he said: "The scale of the popular movement and the force with which activists and agitators deliver their arguments is the key to the success of any future international agreement to tackle ...

Sun, 19 Apr 09
Biomass Debate
http://www.cbs3springfield.com/news/local/43231432.html
CBS: It was a fitting day, with the beautiful weather and the Berkshires as a back drop to bring the issue over energy and the environment back into the forefront. Just as the Westfield River splits in many areas, so does the opinion over what to do about the proposed Russell biomass power plant. Some say the issue has caused a rift in the town with just about everyone taking sides. Those citizens who are strongly against the construction of this large-scale plant gathered on ...

Sun, 19 Apr 09
Lula says Brazil ready to share sugarcane biofuel technology
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-04/19/content_11212325.htm
Xinhua: Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva spoke here Saturday in favor of the use of sugarcane-based ethanol as an alternative to fossil-based fuel offering to share its know-how in the world's fight against global warming. "Brazil is ready to share the technologies it developed for more than 30 years and to expand and strengthen initiatives of cooperation," Lula told a plenary session of the Fifth Summit of the Americas dedicated to the topic of energy security. "The ...

Sun, 19 Apr 09
US says CO2 is a danger to human health
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d7284562-2bb1-11de-b806-00144feabdc0.html
Financial Times: Barack Obama's administration yesterday took its first concrete step towards regulating greenhouse gas emissions by declaring carbon dioxide a danger to human health and welfare. It clears the way for the US Environmental Protection Agency to regulate CO 2 emissions under existing air pollution laws, without the need for fresh legislation. It appeared designed to increase pressure on Congress to pass new laws to tackle global warming, amid resistance on Capitol Hill to measures ...

Sun, 19 Apr 09
Climate refugees flee from rising sea in Pacific
http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/apr/19/rising-sea-levels-in-pacific-create-wave-of-migran/
Washington Times: Rising sea levels blamed on climate change are taking a toll on island nations in the South Pacific, with the world's first climate refugees beginning a migration that is likely to continue for decades to come. Inhabitants of parts of New Guinea and Tuvalu have already been forced to moved from low-lying areas. New Zealand has agreed to accept migrants from Tuvalu, which experts think will be completely submerged by the middle of the century. Canada is funding the relocation of ...

Sun, 19 Apr 09
United Kingdom: Climate change threat to rare black grouse in Scotland
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/apr/19/black-grouse-climate-breeding
Guardian: Changing climate patterns threaten the rare black grouse, with numbers believed to have fallen by 40% in two years in the Pennines. Consecutive cold, wet summers, the worst conditions in almost two decades, have set back recovery, with the number of males dropping from 1,200 to 850. Dr Phil Warren, of the North Pennines Black Grouse Recovery Project, said it was a "huge blow". "We have had cold, wet weather in June when the chicks hatch. Breeding productivity was well below the 1.2 ...

Sun, 19 Apr 09
Energy secretary: Islands could disappear
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090419/ap_on_go_pr_wh/cb_obama_summit_energy
Associated Press: U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu is warning that if countries they don't do something about climate change, "some island states will simply disappear." The energy secretary is traveling with President Barack Obama to the two-island nation of Trinidad and Tobago for a summit of the Western Hemisphere's democracies. Chu told reporters at the Summit of the Americas on Saturday that Obama pushed leaders to work to stem rising temperatures. Chu says that rising temperatures lead to ...

Sun, 19 Apr 09
Slump Tilts Priorities of Industry in China
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=124930
New York Times: Less than a year ago, officials were pressing mines and factories along this limestone belt of northern China to shut down or move away to clear the air of dust and smog for the Beijing Olympics. Now, amid the global economic downturn, priorities have shifted. Cumbersome environmental reviews have been accelerated, state bank loans are flowing freely again and workers are welding the grinding mills of Sanhe Yongsheng Cement, one of the new cement plants under construction not ...

Sun, 19 Apr 09
Just £4bn will save a generation from starvation, says UN
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/just-1634bn-will-save-a-generation-from-starvation-says-un-1671059.html
Independent (UK): Agriculture ministers from the world's richest countries are holding an unprecedented meeting this weekend as the United Nations warns that hunger threatens to "spiral out of control" in the wake of the financial crisis. The three-day meeting, which opened in Italy yesterday, will address a growing food crisis as harvests threaten to slump at a time when record numbers of people are already hungry. Crops are being hit by a combination of bad weather, falling food prices and farmers' ...

Sun, 19 Apr 09
United Kingdom: The Great Green Con: Labour's climate measures mainly hot air
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/the-great-green-con-labours-climate-measures-mainly-hot-air-1671051.html
Independent (UK): Britain's economic stimulus measures, promoted by Gordon Brown as part of a "global green new deal", will accelerate global warming instead of curbing it, an investigation by The Independent on Sunday has established. The investigation also shows that most of the Prime Minister's vaunted green initiatives have not materialised and, in some cases, are likely to set back his professed strategy for "the creation of a low-carbon economy". It has found that, over the past four years, ...

Sun, 19 Apr 09
News Review interview: David Attenborough
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article6121737.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=3392178
Times (UK): Bending gingerly over a deep, green pond in the garden of his home in Richmond, southwest London, Sir David Attenborough and I are inspecting a great crested newt. "Triturus!' he says, pointing. "Look. Looook . . . ' -- the bosky voice creeps past gas mark 4 -- "he is waaafting his hormones at her. And in a minute . . . ' The animal (unfortunately I had been looking at a reed) flicks in the water. "She's off! Whuuuhnderful!' It is the first proper day of spring, and after a short ...

Sun, 19 Apr 09
United Kingdom: PM stokes row with 'clean' coal plan
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/natural_resources/article6122780.ece
Times (UK): GORDON BROWN is to risk a clash with the green movement by throwing the government's weight behind the construction of a new generation of coal-fired power stations. Ministers intend to give power companies permission to construct at least two new coal-fired stations, with more to follow. The move will anger climate change scientists and campaigners because coal produces more CO2 for each unit of energy generated than any other fuel. Brown and Ed Miliband, his energy ...

Sun, 19 Apr 09
EPA's CO2 Finding: Putting a Gun to Congress's Head
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1892368,00.html
Time Magazine: The Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) landmark decision Friday to set in motion the process of regulating greenhouse gases had a little bit of the sardonically threatening spirit of that magazine cover. Concluding a scientific review initially ordered by a two-year-old Supreme Court case, the EPA issued its long-awaited "endangerment finding," formally declaring that carbon dioxide and five other greenhouse gases are pollutants that threaten public health and welfare. Under the Clean ...

Sun, 19 Apr 09
United Kingdom: Environmental benefits of electric cars dismissed as 'fiction'
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/greenertransport/5176216/Environmental-benefits-of-electric-cars-dismissed-as-fiction.html
Telegraph: The amount of energy used by coal fired power stations to create the electricity to recharge electric vehicles makes them half as efficient as diesel cars, according to the research. Britain's carbon emissions could even go up if there is a sudden surge in demand for electric cars, the new research warned. It will call into question a £250 million government scheme announced last week offering consumers £5,000 subsidies to buy a new electric car. The research conducted ...

Sun, 19 Apr 09
At last, an acknowledgment of the threat of climate change
http://www.oregonlive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2009/04/at_last_an_acknowledgment_of_t.html
Oregonian: History will record that it wasn't until April 17, 2009, that the United States government formally acknowledged that carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases threaten public health and welfare, and should be regulated and reduced. It took too long, much too long, before the Environmental Protection Agency was allowed to make its clear statement Friday that the science supporting its endangerment finding was "compelling and overwhelming." Nearly every other advanced nation in the ...

Sun, 19 Apr 09
United Kingdom: Darling Said to Boost Carbon Capture Incentives in U.K. Budget
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601072&sid=atfaKLRh8rT8
Bloomberg: Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling will introduce incentives this coming week for U.K. businesses to fight global warming by capturing carbon dioxide and storing it underground, two people familiar with the plans said. The Treasury is trying to get companies to take the lead in developing so-called carbon capture technology, said one of the people, who can't be identified as he's not authorized to speak with the press. The government has already said it will fund one test ...

Sun, 19 Apr 09
United Kingdom: Ed Miliband plans clean coal scheme worth millions
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/apr/18/coal-carbon-capture-storage
Guardian: Ed Miliband, the climate change and energy secretary, is pushing an ambitious plan to spend billions of pounds on cleaning up pollution from dirty coal plants. He is said to have cabinet support for the proposal which could help to head off controversy about global warming pollution and the UK's future energy security. Ministers are still discussing how to fund the expensive and unproven carbon capture and storage technology, including a possible levy on customer ...

Sun, 19 Apr 09
UK team sets sail for first carbon-neutral Greenland crossing
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/apr/18/carbon-neutral-greenland-expedition
Guardian: A British team sets sail tomorrow from Plymouth to attempt the first ever carbon-neutral crossing of the Greenland ice cap. The physiotherapist Richard Spink, landscape gardener Raoul Surcouf and skipper Ben Stoddart hope to complete a three-week, 2,000-mile crossing of the north Atlantic to the port of Nuuk on the west coast of Greenland. As well as drawing attention to green travel by avoiding planes, they plan to take air temperature, wind speed and snow depth measurements for the ...

Sun, 19 Apr 09
EPA's stance on greenhouse gases praised in Maine
http://www.boston.com/news/local/maine/articles/2009/04/18/epas_stance_on_greenhouse_gases_praised_in_maine/?rss_id=Boston.com+--+Latest+news
Associated Press: The Environmental Protection Agency's declaration that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are a public health danger is expected to have both short- and long-term effects on Maine, which already has begun regulating the gases on its own. The action marks the first step toward requiring power plants, cars and trucks to reduce their release of pollution, especially carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels. "It's a very important, historic decision for EPA," said ...

Sun, 19 Apr 09
Japan utilities set 2020/21 CO2 emissions target
http://ph.news.yahoo.com/rtrs/20090417/tbs-climate-japan-9a48464.html
Reuters: Japan's electric power sector aims to improve carbon dioxide emissions per unit of electricity generated to around 73 percent of the 2008/09 level by the business year 2020/21, an industry association said on Friday. Hurt by the extended shutdown of a quake-hit major nuclear plant, the power sector's CO2 emissions per kilowatt-hour were estimated to be around 0.45 kg in the 2008/09 business year that ended last month, roughly in line with the previous year's 0.453 kg, the Federation of Power ...

Sun, 19 Apr 09
When Britain's taps run dry
http://u.tv/News/When-Britains-taps-run-dry/442b2b6d-ec70-4399-b7ff-1e5180289804
Guardian: They could soon be packing up and shipping out of Adelaide. Three years of intense drought on the River Murray, which fills the city's taps, mean the capital of South Australia could run out of water within two years. But we all share in the death of the Murray River. Not emotionally, unless you pine for its dried up billabongs and are stuck on its gum trees. But at the supermarket checkout. For as the Murray and dozens of others rivers run dry across the planet, water is becoming the ...

Sun, 19 Apr 09
The unrecognized link between water and energy
http://www.grist.org/article/2009-04-10-the-unrecognized-link-between/
Grist: Our nation is in the midst of some serious energy and water problems, but what many may not realize is that these two issues are very closely linked (see the recent Wall Street Journal article on this topic). The truth is that energy and water are related in just about every way you can imagine and in ways that affect our lives everyday--down to the lights and water in our homes that we too often take for granted. The water supply sector utilizes large amounts of energy to transport, treat, ...

Sun, 19 Apr 09
Polar bears in Russian Far East threatened by extinction - WWF
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20090417/121186595.html
RIA Novosti: The population of polar bears in Russia's Far Eastern republic of Chukotka has dwindled to the point of being vulnerable to extinction, according to research carried out by World Wildlife Fund experts. Polar bears, a species in steady decline throughout the Arctic, are most vulnerable in early spring as they leave their lairs and move to the north. The WWF's Polar Bear Patrol launched a campaign in April on monitoring the bears in coastal areas. A coordinator of the project, ...

Sun, 19 Apr 09
Excerpts from EPA's greenhouse gas document
http://www.reuters.com/article/internal_ReutersNewsRoom_BehindTheScenes_MOLT/idUSTRE53G4NX20090417
Reuters: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said on Friday six emissions of greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide, are a danger to public health and welfare. Here are excerpts from the EPA's so-called endangerment finding, which opens the way for possible regulation of climate-warming pollution. * "The scientific evidence clearly indicates that atmospheric levels of the six greenhouse gases are at unprecedented elevated levels due to human activities, and that most of the observed ...

Sun, 19 Apr 09
Increasing CO2 in oceans will make it harder for deep-sea animals to 'breathe'
http://www.newkerala.com/nkfullnews-1-23443.html
Asian News International: A new study has suggested that increasing carbon dioxide (CO2) and decreasing oxygen in the oceans will make it harder for deep-sea animals to 'breathe'. The study, by marine chemists at Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI), US, suggests that low-oxygen "dead zones" in the ocean could expand significantly over the next century. These predictions are based on the fact that, as more and more carbon dioxide dissolves from the atmosphere into the ocean, marine animals ...

Sun, 19 Apr 09
U.N. leader: 'We need a new vision'
http://www.nj.com/news/times/regional/index.ssf?/base/news-16/1240053942119310.xml&coll=5
New Jersey On-line: The world landscape has been shattered by the global economic crisis, military conflicts and escalating human needs, and chaos could ensue if leaders do not unite and take action, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told Princeton University students and scholars yesterday. "The images have become frighteningly familiar," he said. "Starving women and children, people on the move in search of food, safety, and work, long unemployment lines, violent uprisings. ... Absent ...

Sun, 19 Apr 09
United States: Swimmers feel sting as jellyfish thrive
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/04/18/MNQR174C09.DTL&feed=rss.news
San Francisco Chronicle: Schools of creepy brownish jellyfish known for their painful stings are lurking in San Francisco Bay waving their long, poisonous tentacles like they own the place. Dozens, if not hundreds, of sea creatures known as Pacific sea nettles have been spotted in the bay feeding on small fish and plankton when they aren't stinging swimmers. One touch from a nettle's long, brown tentacles will result in a powerful, numbing jolt that can hurt for hours and sometimes days. The ...

Sun, 19 Apr 09
A Danger to Public Health and Welfare
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=124900
New York Times: In what could be a historic moment in the struggle against climate change, the Environmental Protection Agency on Friday confirmed what most people have long suspected but had never been declared as a matter of federal law: carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases constitute a danger to public health and welfare. The formal "endangerment finding" names carbon dioxide and five other heat-trapping gases as pollutants subject to regulation under the federal Clean Air Act. This in turn ...

Sun, 19 Apr 09
Taiwan: A Microcosm for Climate Change
http://www.theglobalist.com/StoryId.aspx?StoryId=7676
Globalist: Taiwan is at the crosscurrents of climate change. As a tropical island nation, it is vulnerable to rising seas and temperatures -- and as a heavily industrialized economy, it is producing the greenhouse gases that are driving climate change. So why has it been so hard for Taiwan to make an impact on global climate change policies? Lila Buckley explains. aiwan's climate change story begins much like that of other tropical island nations. Scientists project higher intensity of typhoons ...

Sun, 19 Apr 09
Worst Environmental Problem? Overpopulation, Experts Say
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/04/090418075752.htm
ScienceDaily: Overpopulation is the world's top environmental issue, followed closely by climate change and the need to develop renewable energy resources to replace fossil fuels, according to a survey of the faculty at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF). Just in time for Earth Day (April 22) the faculty at the college, at which environmental issues are the sole focus, was asked to help prioritize the planet's most pressing environmental problems. Overpopulation ...

Sun, 19 Apr 09
Kyoto Treaty Is 'Failing The World's Poor', Say Scientists
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/04/090418083952.htm
ScienceDaily: Initiatives aimed at cutting emissions while encouraging economic development are failing the world's poorest countries, leading scientists from Oxford University are warning. They say that payments from rich countries to fund development schemes in poor nations are unequally distributed because investors choose stronger, more stable states like China, India and Brazil instead of much poorer nations such as Chad, Nigeria and Sudan. In their new paper published in the first ...

Sun, 19 Apr 09
Revealed: Antarctic ice growing, not shrinking
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25349683-11949,00.html
Australian: ICE is expanding in much of Antarctica, contrary to the widespread public belief that global warming is melting the continental ice cap. The results of ice-core drilling and sea ice monitoring indicate there is no large-scale melting of ice over most of Antarctica, although experts are concerned at ice losses on the continent's western coast. Antarctica has 90 per cent of the Earth's ice and 80 per cent of its fresh water. Extensive melting of Antarctic ice sheets would be ...

Sun, 19 Apr 09
Change is a cold certainty
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25347937-11949,00.html
Australian: RUSSIAN sea captain Dimitri Zinchenko has been steering ships through the pack ice of Antarctica for three decades and is waiting to see evidence of the global warming about which he has heard so much. Zinchenko's vessel, the Spirit of Enderby, was commissioned in January last year to retrace the steps of the great Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton, marking the century of his Nimrod expedition of 1907-09. Spirit of Enderby was blocked by a wall of pack ice at the entrance to ...

Sun, 19 Apr 09
Solar finds it hard to squeeze water from desert
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=124893
Associated Press: A westward dash to power electricity-hungry cities by cashing in on the desert's most abundant resource -- sunshine -- is clashing with efforts to protect the tiny pupfish and desert tortoise and stinginess over the region's rarest resource: water. Water is the cooling agent for what traditionally has been the most cost-efficient type of large-scale solar plants. To some solar companies answering Washington's push for renewable energy on vast government lands, it's also an ...

Sun, 19 Apr 09
Why isn't the brain green?
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=124892
New York Times: Two days after Barack Obama was sworn in as president of the United States, the Pew Research Center released a poll ranking the issues that Americans said were the most important priorities for this year. At the top of the list were several concerns – jobs and the economy – related to the current recession. Farther down, well after terrorism, deficit reduction and energy (and even something the pollsters characterized as "moral decline") was climate change. It was priority No. 20. That was ...

Sun, 19 Apr 09
Coral fossils reveal sea levels rising fast
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1891605,00.html?xid=rss-health
Time Magazine: While the geologic record shows the earth has experienced rapid sea-level rise in the past, during the sharp warm-ups that follow the end of ice ages, those big melts have occurred when the world had much less ice than it does now. Scientists are unsure of how quickly rising temperatures from global warming could destabilize and melt our existing sheets -- the working assumption has been that such major melting and subsequent sea-level rise would take centuries, if not longer, even in a ...

Sun, 19 Apr 09
United States: EPA ruling may affect planned coal plant
http://www.thestate.com/local/story/754100.html
State: A federal declaration Friday that carbon dioxide endangers public health foreshadows potentially tougher regulation of coal-fired power plants across the country -- including one proposed by Santee Cooper for Florence County. Santee Cooper, which plans to spend more than $2 billion on the plant along the Great Pee Dee River, has received a key state air pollution permit to operate the facility. The state permit does not include limits on carbon dioxide pollution, which is ...

Sun, 19 Apr 09
Can China catch a cool breeze?
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090504/parenti
The Nation: On the ridgeline above this stands the other vision: four tall wind turbines face the South China Sea, receiving the steady ocean breeze. The turbines of the Da Mei Sha wind farm are part of the country's rapidly rising renewable energy sector. This small wind farm represents an alternate future: that of China as a green technology giant. The People's Republic of China faces two problems that could be addressed with one solution. The global economic crisis has hit China hard. ...

Sun, 19 Apr 09
Lack of permanent Arctic ice surprises explorers
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE53G3GP20090417?sp=true
Reuters: The head of a British team walking to the North Pole on a mission to gauge how fast Arctic ice sheets are melting said on Friday he was surprised by how little permanent ice he had found so far. Pen Hadow and two other adventurers set off in early March on a 1,000-km (620-mile) trek from Canada's Arctic to the North Pole. The team was set down in an area where scientists had been sure there would be permanent multiyear ice. But so far, the average depth of the ice has been just ...

Sun, 19 Apr 09
State insurance regulators clash on national plan for catastrophes
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=124885
ClimateWire: Divided insurance regulators abandoned plans yesterday to vote on an embattled document outlining methods of federally backing up insurance companies during calamitous storms associated with climate change. The move came after a dozen state regulators, from diverse areas of the country, clashed over a white paper that seems to endorse the controversial idea that the federal government should accept the riskiest elements posed by more powerful hurricanes, frequent tornadoes and ...

Sun, 19 Apr 09
Global warming could worsen Africa's droughts
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-sci-megadroughts18-2009apr18,0,5630575.story
LA Times: Megadroughts lasting centuries are part of the normal weather pattern in sub-Saharan Africa, researchers reported Friday, a finding they say bodes ill for what could happen if the effects of global warming are added in. Scientists have said they fear that climate change could lead to severe droughts that would further destabilize struggling African countries, but researchers from the universities of Texas and Arizona say droughts even more severe than those predicted are relatively ...

Sun, 19 Apr 09
Q A: How great is the threat from melting ice sheets?
http://uk.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUKTRE53G3H820090417
Reuters: The U.N. Climate Panel says seas could rise by 18-59 cms (7-24 inches) by 2100, without taking account the possible acceleration of a melt of ice sheets in Antarctica or Greenland. Even a small thaw of Antarctica and Greenland would affect sea levels since together they lock up enough ice to raise sea levels by about 65 meters (215 feet) if they all melted. Following are responses to questions from Reuters by a leading glaciologist as part of an ad-hoc global series of top ...

Sun, 19 Apr 09
Studies suggest Northwest smog could ease as warming worsens
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2009078930_airpollute18m.html
Seattle Times: A warming planet may worsen air quality, although, it turns out, perhaps not everywhere. In the Pacific Northwest, levels of some pollutants might improve with climate change. Or get marginally worse. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released early results Friday from several studies on how climate change might alter concentrations of ground-level ozone, the chief pollutant in smog. Smog could worsen in some places because the release of gases from plants and ...

Sun, 19 Apr 09
How carbon dioxide became a 'pollutant.'
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124001537515830975.html
Wall Street Journal: The Environmental Protection Agency's decision to classify rising carbon-dioxide emissions as a hazard to human health is the latest twist in a debate that has raged for decades among politicians, scientists and industry: whether a natural component of the earth's atmosphere should be considered a pollutant. The EPA's finding doesn't say carbon dioxide, or CO2, is by itself a pollutant -- it is, after all, a gas that humans exhale and plants inhale. Rather, it is the increasing ...

Sun, 19 Apr 09
United Kingdom: Forth Ports warned of climate change flood threat to docks
http://news.scotsman.com/scotland/Forth-Ports-warned-of-climate.5183385.jp
Scotsman: FORTH Ports has been warned to boost its flood defences amid fears its multi-million pound revamp of Leith Docks could end up being swamped by the sea. City planners are currently assessing the port owner's plans for the first two of nine "urban villages" featuring new homes, hotels and visitor centres. But the city's transport and engineering department has raised concerns about flooding and the impact that rising sea levels, caused by climate change, will have on the £700 ...

Sun, 19 Apr 09
Don't take that last bite -- you are destroying the world
http://news.scotsman.com/environment/Don39t-take-that-last-bite.5182718.jp
Scotsman: TUCKING into a delicious burger may be one of life's luxuries, however, now we should be watching what we eat not just for the sake of our waists but also for the sake of the planet, according to scientists. Experts have calculated that if everyone in Scotland sheds half a stone, it could save the equivalent amount of greenhouse gas emissions as taking 1.2 million cars off the roads each year. The study, by scientists at the London School of Hygiene aADVERTISEMENTnd Tropical ...

Sun, 19 Apr 09
Australia: Whoever figures out how to safely trap carbon will make a fortune
http://business.smh.com.au/business/whoever-figures-out-how-to-safely-trap-carbon-will-make-a-fortune-20090417-aa6j.html
Sydney Morning Herald: IT'S easy to be sceptical - deeply - about efforts to clean up Australia's coal industry. "Clean coal" is an oxymoron and even advocates shy away from the term. Capturing and storing greenhouse gases is eminently worse than avoiding the emissions in the first place. Safely trapped carbon dioxide is still pollution - and there's plenty of doubt about the safety part. Industry has hardly put its money where its mouth is. By one estimate business has invested only about $10 ...

Sun, 19 Apr 09
Erratic impacts of climate change found in cultivation in Nepal
http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/015200904181340.htm
Xinhua: Scientists and agronomists have pointed out erratic impacts of climate change in cultivation in Nepal, local newspaper The Himalayan Times reported on Saturday. "Now, there is an urgent need to assess the crop zone shifting standards," said Dr. Anand Kumar Gautam, chief scientist at the National Agricultural Research Council (NARC) of Nepal, adding "or else, it will result into dire consequences, leading to food crisis if not addressed on time." The crop zone, mostly, lies in the ...

Sun, 19 Apr 09
Africa hit by mega-drought pattern: Study
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jS8_7ic0cBLEtSZ1b2P62xt9zqwA
Agence France-Presse: Reeling from consecutive lengthy droughts for 3,000 years, sub-Saharan Africa faces an inevitable repetition of mega-droughts, according to a study published Friday. A team of US geoscientists and climate scientists found that severe doughts lasting several decades and sometimes even centuries have been the norm in west Africa for the past three centuries. The most recent such drought lasted from 1400 to 1750, according to the researchers, whose study was published in the ...

Sun, 19 Apr 09
EPA says global warming might benefit certain crops
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20090418/BUSINESS01/904180327/1029/BUSINESS
Des Moines Register: In moving toward regulation of greenhouse gases, the Environmental Protection Agency argued that agricultural production could be harmed by a warmer climate but acknowledged that there could be some benefits to crops. Citing scientific reports, the agency allowed that some crops will initially benefit from rising temperatures and carbon dioxide levels. But the agency said yields of corn and other commodities could fall as the climate continues to warm and some areas experience more ...

Sun, 19 Apr 09
Congress weighs far-reaching global warming bill
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2009/04/18/congress_weighs_far_reaching_global_warming_bill/?rss_id=Boston.com+--+Latest+news
Associated Press: The last time Congress passed major environmental laws, acid rain was destroying lakes and forests, polluted rivers were on fire and smog was choking people in some cities. The fallout from global warming, while subtle now, could eventually be even more dire. That prospect has Democrats pushing legislation that rivals in scope the nation's landmark anti-pollution laws. Lawmakers this coming week begin hearings on an energy and global warming bill that could revolutionize how ...

Sun, 19 Apr 09
Peru: Water Isn't for Everyone
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=46549
Inter Press Service: The melting of glaciers resulting from climate change and the lack of adequate water management policies seem to be the main causes behind the water shortages that are fuelling conflicts in Peru. This warning is being sounded from a variety of sectors. Nearly 50 percent of the 218 social conflicts recorded by the national ombudsman's office as of February 2009 were triggered by socio-environmental problems, many of them related to water management issues, states the report ...

Sun, 19 Apr 09
Damage To Forests From Climate Change Could Cost The Planet Its Major Keeper Of Greenhouse Gases, St..
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/04/090417084128.htm
ScienceDaily: The critical role of forests as massive "sinks" for absorbing greenhouse gases is "at risk of being lost entirely" to climate change-induced environmental stresses that threaten to damage and even decimate forests worldwide, according to a new report released April 17. The report will be formally presented at the next session of the United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF) taking place 20 April-1 May 2009 at the UN Headquarters in New York City. "Adaptation of Forests and People to ...

Sun, 19 Apr 09
Gambia: Adaptation to Climate Change, Coastal Project Launched
http://allafrica.com/stories/200904170474.html
Daily Observer: A sub-regional project involving five countries, including The Gambia, was yesterday launched at the Corinthia Atlantic Hotel in Banjul. Acquired and implemented by the National Environment Agency (NEA) on behalf of the Government of The Gambia, the adaptation to Climate Change and Coastal (ACCC) project is funded through the Global Environment Facility (GEF) with counter funding from participating governments - The Gambia, Cape Verde, Guinea Bissau, Mauritania and Senegal. The goal ...

Sun, 19 Apr 09
Greenhouse gases pose health hazard, EPA says
http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/science/04/17/greenhouse.gas.hazard.epa/index.html#cnnSTCText
CNN: Six heat-trapping gases that contribute to air pollution pose potential health hazards, the Environmental Protection Agency said Friday in a landmark announcement that could lead to regulation of the gases. "This finding confirms that greenhouse gas pollution is a serious problem," EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said. The gases -- carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons and sulfur hexafluoride -- have been the subject of intensive analysis ...

Sun, 19 Apr 09
The Greenhouse Effect And Health
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=103224924&ft=1&f=1025
National Public Radio: The EPA announced Friday that pollution from global warming is a public health hazard. What are the connections between climate change and health?

Sun, 19 Apr 09
EPA Targets Greenhouse Gases
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=103224919&ft=1&f=1025
National Public Radio: The Environmental Protection Agency suggested Friday that greenhouse gas emissions -- including carbon dioxide -- endanger human health and welfare. The proposed finding opens the door to new regulations on myriad activities.

Sun, 19 Apr 09
United Kingdom: Emissions targets to be part of the Budget
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/emissions-targets-to-be-part-of-the-budget-1670465.html
Independent (UK): The Government will next week announce a groundbreaking, legally-binding target to cut Britain's carbon emissions by at least 34 per cent by 2020 to combat climate change. Ed Miliband, the Energy and Climate Change Secretary, told The Independent yesterday that the Government would not achieve the target by buying large amounts of "offsetting" credits -- effectively paying poor countries to cut carbon on Britain's behalf. Instead, it will cap the proportion of the target that can be ...

Sun, 19 Apr 09
EPA alarm may lead to new greenhouse gas limits
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/chronicle/6379636.html
Houston Chronicle: The Environmental Protection Agency`s declaration Friday that greenhouse gases endanger the public paves the way for new federal regulation of cars, power plants and factories that spew pollutants blamed for climate change. The agency`s proposed finding, set to be finalized after a 60-day review period, also intensifies pressure on Congress to pass legislation with new limits on the emissions of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases. Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., the head of ...

Sun, 19 Apr 09
EPA report warns of greenhouse gas risk
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1672825/epa_report_warns_of_greenhouse_gas_risk/index.html?source=r_science
United Press International: A U.S. Environmental Protection Agency report says greenhouse gases contribute to air pollution and could pose a public health threat. The proposed finding, which now moves to a public comment period, came out of a scientific review ordered by the U.S. Supreme Court. "In both magnitude and probability, climate change is an enormous problem," the EPA report said. "The greenhouse gases that are responsible for it endanger public health and welfare within the meaning of the Clean ...

Sun, 19 Apr 09
New limits to Antarctic tourism
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8005467.stm
BBC: Countries with ties to Antarctica have adopted US proposals to limit tourism in the region, in a bid to protect the fragile ecosystem of the continent. Parties to the Antarctic Treaty agreed to limit the size of cruise ships and the number of tourists taken ashore at a meeting in the US city of Baltimore. Limiting tourism has taken on urgency due to a surge in visits and a number of cruise ship accidents. Antarctic visits have risen from 6,700 in 1992-93 to over 45,000 ...

Sun, 19 Apr 09
In Shift, EPA Says Greenhouse Gas Emissions Are Threat To Public
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/17/AR2009041701453.html?wprss=rss_nation
Washington Post: The Environmental Protection Agency yesterday officially adopted the position that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions pose a danger to the public's health and welfare, a move that could trigger a series of federal regulations affecting polluters from vehicles to coal-fired power plants. The EPA's action marks a major shift in the federal government's approach to global warming. The Bush administration opposed putting mandatory limits on carbon dioxide and other ...

Sun, 19 Apr 09
Greenhouse Gases Pose Threat To Public Health, EPA Finds
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/04/090417183528.htm
ScienceDaily: After a thorough scientific review ordered in 2007 by the U.S. Supreme Court, the Environmental Protection Agency issued a proposed finding on April 17 that greenhouse gases contribute to air pollution that may endanger public health or welfare. The proposed finding, which now moves to a public comment period, identified six greenhouse gases that pose a potential threat. "This finding confirms that greenhouse gas pollution is a serious problem now and for future generations. ...

Sun, 19 Apr 09
Ocean Dead Zones Likely To Expand: Increasing Carbon Dioxide And Decreasing Oxygen Make It Harder For Deep-sea Animals T
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/04/090417161506.htm
ScienceDaily: New calculations made by marine chemists from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) suggest that low-oxygen "dead zones" in the ocean could expand significantly over the next century. These predictions are based on the fact that, as more and more carbon dioxide dissolves from the atmosphere into the ocean, marine animals will need more oxygen to survive. Concentrations of carbon dioxide are increasing rapidly in the Earth's atmosphere, primarily because of human ...

Sun, 19 Apr 09
United States: Court Cancels Offshore Drilling Plan
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=124851
New York Times: A federal appeals court ruled that the Bush administration did not properly study the environmental impact of expanding oil and gas drilling off the Alaska coast and canceled a program to find new reserves. A three-judge panel found that the Bush-era Interior Department failed to consider the effect on the environment and marine life before it began the process in 2005 to expand an oil and gas leasing program in the Beaufort, Bering and Chukchi Seas. It was not clear whether the decision ...

Sun, 19 Apr 09
A Plan for U.S. Emissions to Be Buried Under Sea
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=124850
New York Times: In an ambitious proposal to counter global warming, an upstart power developer wants to build a coal-fired electric plant on the outskirts of New York City that would capture its emissions of carbon dioxide and pump the pollutant 70 miles offshore. The gas would be injected into sandstone a mile beneath the ocean floor in the hope that it would stay there for eons. Experts have thought for years that capturing the emissions from power plants will be a crucial technology for limiting ...

Sun, 19 Apr 09
Climate change a great concern for bird population
http://morningsentinel.mainetoday.com/sports/stories/6200893.html
Morning Sentinel: Wednesday is Earth Day. In today's column, I will review a couple of major studies that have examined the impact of humans on bird populations. Both of these studies are based on citizen-science projects. Many of you will have contributed to the databases. National Audubon scientists recently released the results of their study of the past 40 years of Audubon's Christmas Bird Counts. The scientists analyzed the population changes of 305 bird species that occur widely in the winter in ...

Sun, 19 Apr 09
Forests as carbon sinks 'at risk'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8004517.stm
BBC: Forests' role as massive carbon sinks is "at risk of being lost entirely", top forestry scientists have warned. The International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO) says forests are under increasing degrees of stress as a result of climate change. Forests could release vast amounts of carbon if temperatures rise 2.5C (4.5F) above pre-industrial levels, it adds. The findings will be presented at the UN Forum on Forests, which begins on Monday in New ...

Sun, 19 Apr 09
EPA declares fossil fuel emissions a health threat
http://news.yahoo.com/s/mcclatchy/20090417/sc_mcclatchy/3214788
McClatchy: Capping years of work by U.S. government scientists, the Environmental Protection Agency on Friday declared that the heating of Earth's climate from fossil fuel use threatens human health and the environment. The decision paves the way for the EPA to order the nation's first mandatory reductions of global warming emissions. Congress is working on legislation that also would require emissions reductions. President Barack Obama and EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said they'd ...

Sun, 19 Apr 09
EPA Finds Six Greenhouse Gases Endanger Human Health
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=epa-greenhouse-gasses-endanger
Greenwire: U.S. EPA released a proposed finding today that greenhouse gases threaten public health and welfare, a move that is expected ultimately to trigger broad regulation of those heat-trapping industrial emissions. EPA released the 133-page proposed "endangerment finding" [pdf] in response to a 2007 Supreme Court decision that ordered the agency to reconsider whether greenhouse gases are pollutants subject to regulation under the Clean Air Act. "This finding confirms that greenhouse ...

Sun, 19 Apr 09
Salmon may disappear from England's rivers
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/5165786/Salmon-may-disappear-from-Englands-rivers.html
Telegraph: The loss of the fish in world famous salmon rivers like the Test and Itchen in Hampshire or the Frome in the West country will not only affect biodiversity but devastate the local economy. The UK Government are so worried about the problem they are currently funding a study using the same technology that was used to study life on Mars and dinosaur remains to look at how climate change is affecting the fish. Salmon populations in the UK have plummeted 70 per cent in the last 30 ...

Sun, 19 Apr 09
Australia: Robot brings home climate change data
http://www.smh.com.au/environment/global-warming/robot-brings-home-climate-change-data-20090416-a8hx.html
AAP: A robot that mimics the porpoising movements of a dolphin and is guided by GPS could play a key role in further determining the extent of climate change. The $200,000 remote-controlled ocean glider was launched off the Tasman Peninsula in February to monitor the East Australian Current and has since been retrieved after a 1500-kilometre voyage around and under the Tasman Sea. A second glider is set to be deployed from Portland, Victoria, next week to collect data on the Leeuwin ...

Sun, 19 Apr 09
For the electric grid, renewable goals pose daunting task
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=124820
ClimateWire: The vast expansion of wind and solar power planned by the Obama administration and congressional leaders is fraught with challenges for the nation's aged electricity network, grid monitors with the North American Electric Reliability Corp. say. But a NERC report released today does not call for a slowdown in deployment of renewable energy. Officials expressed confidence that technology solutions will arrive in time. "I am extremely confident we will be successful," said Mark ...

Sun, 19 Apr 09
The stimulus bill and energy
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=103183502
National Public Radio: The stimulus bill set aside $43 billion for energy, and the Department of Energy has doled out $2.4 billion so far. The money is working its way through the system, paying for things ranging from home weatherization to green power.

Sun, 19 Apr 09
Cheap and noisy chips could improve climate predictions
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16968-cheap-and-noisy-chips-could-improve-climate-predictions.html
New Scientist: As scientists start to fill out the picture of a future globe dramatically changed by catastrophic global warming, the use of climate models is increasingly important when forecasting the risks faced by various regions. Tim Palmer and researchers at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts say that running simulations on cheap computer chips that produce results tainted with random noise could improve those models. Many climate processes "" such as cloud formation ...

Sun, 19 Apr 09
Obama: Better trains foster energy independence
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5i6vd11tQjgDt_UiV1emaKY_RciWgD97JNBJG4
Associated Press: President Barack Obama called Thursday for the country to move swiftly to a system of high-speed rail travel, saying it will relieve congestion, help clean the air and save on energy. Appearing with Vice President Joe Biden and Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, Obama said the country cannot afford not to invest in a major upgrade to rail travel. He said he understands it necessarily will be "a long-term project" but said the time to start is now. The president allocated $8 ...

Sun, 19 Apr 09
United States: As bears die, hunters and climate change blamed
http://www.abc4.com/content/news/state/story/As-bears-die-hunters-and-climate-change-blamed/jNHn266__E-vJy9B9kCIeA.cspx
Associated Press: Hunters are killing grizzly bears in record numbers around Yellowstone National Park, threatening to halt the species' decades-long recovery just two years after it was removed from the endangered species list. Driving the bloodshed, researchers say, is the bear's continued expansion across the 15,000-square-mile Yellowstone region of Montana, Idaho and Wyoming. Bears are being seen - and killed - in places where they were absent for decades. And with climate change suspected ...

Sun, 19 Apr 09
Australia: New carbon capture body rejects criticism from green groups
http://www.abc.net.au/rural/news/content/200904/s2545586.htm
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: The Global Carbon Capture and Storage Institute has defended its focus on burying greenhouse gas emissions from burning fossil fuels. The institute, which was launched yesterday, aims to fast track the development of so called 'clean coal' technology. It's come under fire from conservation groups, which say we should be developing renewable energy instead. Founding member Shell Petroleum says the institute's plan is in line with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate ...

Sat, 18 Apr 09
Greens Hail Obama's OK to Regulate Greenhouse Emissions
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=46546
Inter Press Service: U.S. green groups hailed Friday's formal finding by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that carbon dioxide and several other greenhouse gases "endanger" public health and welfare as a landmark – if long overdue – step toward slowing global warming. They said the finding, which gives the EPA the authority to regulate emissions under the Clean Air Act, should add to pressure on Congress to enact its own legislation establishing national standards and reduction targets as early as ...

Sat, 18 Apr 09
New pollution limits seen for cars, big plants
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090417/ap_on_bi_ge/epa_climate
Associated Press: Cars, power plants and factories could all soon face much tougher pollution limits after a government declaration Friday setting the stage for the first federal regulation of gases blamed for global warming. The Environmental Protection Agency took a big step in that direction, concluding that carbon dioxide and five other greenhouse gases are a major hazard to Americans' health. That was a reversal from the Bush administration, which resisted such a conclusion and said it would be ...

Sat, 18 Apr 09
Forest Carbon Sinks Threatened By Global Warming
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1672692/forest_carbon_sinks_threatened_by_global_warming/index.html?source=r_science
redOrbit: The Earth's forests serve as crucial carbon sinks due to their ability to absorb greenhouse gases, but that ability is "at risk of being lost entirely", according to a new United Nations report. Currently, the Earth's forests soak up about 25 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, but that capability could be reversed if the Earth heats up 2.5 degrees Celsius (4.5 degrees F) more. A rise in temperature could cause severe droughts and heat waves that would kill off many of the ...

Sat, 18 Apr 09
Obama administration breaks with the years of 'climate denial'
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/apr/17/obama-administration-emissions-warning
Guardian: The Obama administration took a bold first step towards limiting the gases that cause global warming yesterday after formally declaring that such emissions are a danger to public health. The official finding by the Environmental Protection Agency that carbon dioxide and five other gases threaten public welfare sets the stage for regulation of emissions from power plants, and forcing US car manufacturers to make cleaner and more fuel efficient vehicles. Environmentalists celebrated the ...

Sat, 18 Apr 09
E.P.A. Clears the Way for Regulation of Warming Gases
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=124836
New York Times: The Environmental Protection Agency on Friday formally declared carbon dioxide and five other heat-trapping gases to be pollutants that threaten public health and welfare, setting in motion a process that for the first time in the United States will regulate the gases blamed for global warming. The E.P.A. said the science supporting its so-called endangerment finding was "compelling and overwhelming." The ruling triggers a 60-day comment period before any proposed regulations ...

Sat, 18 Apr 09
EPA finds CO2 a danger to public health
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0417-epa.html
Mongabay: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Friday ruled that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases "may endanger public health or welfare", a finding that opens to door to future regulation of such emissions under the the Clean Air Act. The agency said its proposed endangerment finding "is based on rigorous, peer-reviewed scientific analysis of six gases – carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons and sulfur hexafluoride – that have been the ...

Sat, 18 Apr 09
US declares greenhouse gases are threat to public health
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/climatechange/5173549/US-declares-greenhouse-gases-are-threat-to-public-health.html
Telegraph: The statement issued by the US Environmental Protection Agency is expected to pave the way for new regulations of cars, power plants, building sites and factories by identifying carbon dioxide and five other gases as pollutants. Environmental groups applauded it as a landmark decision that would allow Barack Obama to meet his call for a low carbon economy but industry groups warned that the so-called "endangerment finding" could cripple the struggling US economy. America is the ...

Sat, 18 Apr 09
U.S. says greenhouse emissions endanger human health
http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSN1732459820090417
Reuters: The Obama administration opened the way for regulating U.S. greenhouse gas emissions on Friday by declaring climate-warming pollution a danger to human health and welfare. Environmental activists and their supporters in Congress were jubilant and industry groups were wary at the news of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's move. The White House said President Barack Obama would prefer legislation rather than administrative action to curb greenhouse emissions. Congress is ...

Sat, 18 Apr 09
Dying trees may exacerbate climate change
http://www.nature.com/news/2009/090416/full/news.2009.369.html
Nature: Forestry experts have again warned that climate change could transform forests from sinks to sources of carbon. The carbon storing capacity of global forests could be lost entirely if the earth heats up 2.5° Celsius above pre-industrial levels, according to a new report1. The analysis by the International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO) is a synthesis of existing information. "This is the first time it has been put together on a global scale," says Alexander Buck, IUFRO ...

Sat, 18 Apr 09
Californians voice concerns to Obama administration over offshore drilling
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-offshore-drilling17-2009apr17,0,3537911.story
LA Times: Reporting from San Francisco -- For all his green talk en route to the White House, President Barack Obama remains a cipher on one of the most critical environmental and economic issues facing California: whether to expand drilling for oil and gas off the coast for the first time in a generation. In four crowded meetings from Atlantic City to Anchorage, the administration has elicited heated comment from all sides on the future of the outer continental shelf, wrapping up a two-week ...

Sat, 18 Apr 09
The biofuel bubble
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/09_17/b4128038014860.htm
BusinessWeek: It's a bold vision: Replace billions of gallons of gasoline not with ethanol from corn or other food crops but with biofuels made from plants, such as prairie grass in Tennessee pastures or algae percolating in Florida. Such a move would slash dependence on oil, create thousands of jobs, and reduce emissions that contribute to global warming. In the U.S., the idea has powerful political support. Congress has decreed that the country must be using 21 billion gallons of "advanced" biofuels a ...

Sat, 18 Apr 09
Severe droughts in West Africa can last a century, research shows
http://www.boston.com/news/world/africa/articles/2009/04/17/severe_droughts_in_west_africa_can_last_a_century_research_shows/
Associated Press: West Africa is already living on the edge, and new research indicates that worse droughts are possible than the one that devastated the region in the late 20th century. As many as 100,000 people died in the multi-decade Sahel drought that began in the 1960s, and a detailed look at lake sediments in Ghana indicates that such dry periods have occurred periodically, punctuated by occasional century-long droughts. Changing climate could cause more such disastrous droughts, ...

Sat, 18 Apr 09
EPA considers higher ethanol mix
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123993106781727761.html
Wall Street Journal: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has opened the door to allowing higher mixes of ethanol in gasoline, a potential boon to farmers and the struggling ethanol industry, but opposed by auto makers whose consumer warranties typically are tied to the current EPA standard. The agency Thursday said it is seeking comment on whether to allow ordinary gasoline to consist of as much as 15% ethanol, an additive that has been heavily promoted by farm states. For decades, the EPA has ...

Sat, 18 Apr 09
EPA Moves Toward Regulating Greenhouse Gases
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=103208627&ft=1&f=1025
National Public Radio: The Environmental Protection Agency may begin regulating carbon dioxide and five other greenhouse gases, it announced Friday after concluding the gases are a danger to public health and welfare. "This finding confirms that greenhouse gas pollution is a serious problem now and for future generations," EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said in a statement. If the EPA begins regulating gases that contribute to climate change, it could affect everything from the cars people drive to ...

Sat, 18 Apr 09
United Kingdom: Tories make the right noises about the environment but are lacking in detail
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/georgemonbiot/2009/apr/17/george-monbiot-conservative-energy-plans
Guardian: That muffled crunching noise is the sound of me eating my hat. A couple of years ago I wrote to Zac Goldsmith to complain that the Conservative party's policy on renewable energy was a bad joke. It concentrated on the least efficient and most expensive ways of cutting carbon pollution – rooftop wind turbines and solar panels and domestic combined heat and power – while neglecting much better options. The proposals were uncosted and unquantified. No comparisons were made with other ...

Sat, 18 Apr 09
EPA takes first step toward climate change regs
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jbtRZWd2aArVab_f4DS-ok4bnaxQD97KA0G00
Associated Press: The Environmental Protection Agency has concluded that carbon dioxide and five other greenhouse gases are a danger to public health and welfare, taking the first step to regulating pollution linked to climate change, The Associated Press has learned. Such regulation would have widespread economic and social impact, from requiring more fuel efficient automobiles to limiting carbon dioxide emissions from power plants and industrial sources, changing the way the nation produces ...

Sat, 18 Apr 09
EPA takes first step toward climate change regs
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EPA_CLIMATE?SITE=TXDAM&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Associated Press: Cars, power plants and factories could all soon face much tougher pollution limits. The government took a major step in that direction Friday, concluding that carbon dioxide and five other greenhouse gases "endanger public health and welfare" under federal clean air laws, that they help cause climate change, or global warming and pose an enormous threat "in both magnitude and probability." It is the first time that the federal government has said it is ready to use the Clean Air Act ...

Sat, 18 Apr 09
Arctic ice is thinner than ever according to new evidence from explorers
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/climatechange/5172098/Arctic-ice-is-thinner-than-ever-according-to-new-evidence-from-explorers.html
Telegraph: In the first half of a 620 mile journey to the Pole, the Catlin Arctic Survey led by Pen Hadow has reported that ice formed within the past year had an average thickness of 1.77m. A lack of thicker ice suggests that ice formed more than a year ago has either moved to a different part of the ocean or melted away meaning the ice cover will be even further reduced this summer. The findings come as Nasa warned that sea ice cover over the Arctic reached its lowest volume since ...

Sat, 18 Apr 09
EPA: Global warming a health hazard
http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20090417/pl_politico/21370
Politico: The Environmental Protection Agency declared global warming a danger to public health and welfare on Friday, a ruling that all but ensures widespread regulation of carbon emissions in the United States. "This finding confirms that greenhouse gas pollution is a serious problem now and for future generations,' EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said in a statement. "This pollution problem has a solution -- one that will create millions of green jobs and end our country's dependence on ...

Sat, 18 Apr 09
US environment agency deems CO2 a health risk
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090417/pl_afp/climateusenvironmentwarming
Agence France-Presse: The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) shifted course Friday by deeming carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases a health risk, in a landmark turnaround that could impact climate change regulation. "After a thorough scientific review ordered in 2007 by the US Supreme Court, the Environmental Protection Agency issued a proposed finding ... that greenhouse gases contribute to air pollution that may endanger public health or welfare," said an EPA statement posted on the agency ...

Sat, 18 Apr 09
Obama to regulate 'pollutant' CO2
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8004975.stm
BBC: The US government is to regulate carbon dioxide emissions, having decided that it and five other greenhouse gases may endanger human health and well-being. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the move following a review of the scientific evidence. The decision marks a major change from the Bush presidency, when the EPA argued it could not regulate CO2 because the gas was not a pollutant. Developing countries have asked for the US to show leadership on ...

Sat, 18 Apr 09
EU greenhouse emissions fall - because it's warmer
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE53G3Z620090417?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: European Union emissions of greenhouse gases blamed for stoking global warming fell by 1.2 percent in 2007, paradoxically aided by a mild winter that cut heating demand, EU data showed on Friday. Emissions by the 27-nation bloc in 2007, before the current global economic downturn, dipped to 9.2 percent below a 1990 benchmark year under the U.N.'s Kyoto Protocol for fighting climate change. EU governments have promised to cut emissions by 20 percent below 1990 levels by 2020 to ...

Sat, 18 Apr 09
EPA finds greenhouse gases pose a danger to health
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090417/ap_on_go_ot/epa_climate
Associated Press: The EPA on Friday declared that carbon dioxide and five other greenhouse gases sent off by cars and many industrial plants "endanger public health and welfare," setting the stage for regulating them under federal clean air laws. The action by the Environmental Protection Agency marks the first step toward requiring power plants, cars and trucks to curtail their release of climate-changing pollution, especially carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels. EPA Administrator ...

Sat, 18 Apr 09
Asia may see more conflicts over water
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSN1733355820090417?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Asia may see more conflicts over scarce water resources in the coming years as climate change and population growth threaten access to the most basic natural resource, a report warned on Friday. Water problems in Asia are already severe, with one in five people, or 700 million, not having access to safe drinking water and half the region's population lacking access to basic sanitation, according to the report produced by the Asia Society, a New York-based think tank. Population ...

Sat, 18 Apr 09
US moves toward climate change rules
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-moves-toward-climate-change-rules-1670321.html
Associated Press: The US Environmental Protection Agency concluded today that greenhouse gases linked to climate change "endanger public health and welfare," setting the stage for regulating them under federal clean air laws. The EPA action marks the first step toward imposing limits on pollution linked to climate change, which would mean tighter rules for cars and power plants. Agency officials cautioned such regulations are expected to be part of a lengthy process and not issued anytime ...

Sat, 18 Apr 09
United Kingdom: London's Smoky Outskirts Probed for Moving CO2 to Sea
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601102&sid=aXoaiY5yw6EU
Bloomberg: National Grid Plc is investigating piping greenhouse gases released by power plants and refineries near London to undersea storage sites so they won't add to global warming. The manager of Britain's natural gas-delivery network found the Thames Estuary may be suitable for laying pipelines to move carbon-dioxide gas toward depleted offshore wells, Director of Network Operations Chris Train said in an interview. In the north, the Teesside industrial hub also is being ...

Sat, 18 Apr 09
Global Warming Might Mean Fewer Warm-weather Clouds
http://www.environmentalleader.com/2009/04/16/global-warming-might-mean-fewer-warm-weather-clouds/
Environmental Leader: Meteorologists in the Netherlands are using a virtual cloud laboratory to study cloud behavior and the interrelationship with climate change. Researchers are investing theories that warmer temperatures may lead to fewer low-altitude 'fair-weather` clouds such as cumulus, which reflect sunlight away from the earth and thus have a cooling effect, according to Reuters.

Sat, 18 Apr 09
Polar 'bugs' may explain how life survived snowball Earth
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16965-polar-bugs-may-explain-how-life-survived-snowball-earth.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=climate-change
New Scientist: A bacterial lost world trapped beneath Antarctic ice may help explain how life persisted during the "snowball Earth" period when almost all of the globe's surface was frozen over. Isolated for at least 1.5 million years from close relatives that live in the ocean, the Antarctic microbes live in a super-salty lake sealed with a 400-metre slab of ice, called Taylor Glacier. But each summer, the temperature warms enough for a trickle of extremely cold water to flow to the ...

Sat, 18 Apr 09
Canada: Make industries, consumers pay for pollution: Panel
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/Business/Consumers+face+cost+cover+greenhouse+measures+Panel/1503012/story.html
Canwest News Service: The federal government should act quickly to introduce a system that will make industrial facilities and consumers pay for the greenhouse gas pollution they cause in order to position the economy to grow in the future, an advisory panel says in a new report released Thursday. The report by the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy, a panel of business leaders and environmentalists, said the plan should be a part of the government's strategy to tackle the economic ...

Sat, 18 Apr 09
US moves mean Canada needs carbon pricing: panel
http://uk.reuters.com/article/behindTheScenes/idUKTRE53F6H520090416
Reuters: U.S. efforts to curb emissions of greenhouse gases mean Canada will have to put a price on carbon and set up a national cap-and-trade system, an official panel said on Thursday. Canada's Conservative government wants to fight global warming by reducing the intensity of emissions rather than capping them. But the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy said this was not a realistic approach, given what was happening in the United States. President Barack Obama ...

Sat, 18 Apr 09
Canada: Ottawa, provinces urged to cap carbon emissions
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Environment/2009/04/16/9134731-cp.html
Canadian Press: Canada has no choice but to implement a national cap-and-trade system on carbon that would set uniform standards for all industries and provinces, says a government advisory panel. The report, by the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy, has been a year in the making and gives a detailed road map for meeting Ottawa's greenhouse gas targets in a manner it says is the most efficient and least costly. The report says so-called intensity targets, which the Harper ...

Sat, 18 Apr 09
Brazil: Amazon Soya Moratorium
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/press/releases/amazon-soya-moratorium
Greenpeace: Greenpeace today welcomed a renewed commitment by Brazilian soya traders to boycott soya grown in newly deforested areas as part of an on-going soya moratorium(1). The announcement came in response to evidence presented by the GTS, the Brazilian coalition tackling Amazon deforestation for soya(2) that some farmers have been breaching the moratorium. The Brazilian soya traders' associations ABIOVE and ANEC make funding available to farmers to help them grow soya. At the conference they ...

Sat, 18 Apr 09
Carbon Dioxide Transformed Into Methanol
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/04/090416102247.htm
ScienceDaily: Scientists at Singapore's Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (IBN) have succeeded in unlocking the potential of carbon dioxide -- a common greenhouse gas -- by converting it into a more useful product. In the international chemistry journal Angewandte Chemie, the IBN researchers report that by using organocatalysts, they activated carbon dioxide in a mild and non-toxic process to produce methanol, a widely used industrial feedstock and clean-burning ...

Sat, 18 Apr 09
Book Industry Group Wants to Cut Emissions 20 Percent by 2020, 80 Percent by 2050
http://www.climatebiz.com/news/2009/04/16/book-group-wants-emissions-cut
ClimateBiz: The Book Industry Environmental Council said today that it has set goals of cutting the U.S. book industry's greenhouse gas emissions 20 percent by 2020 -- and slashing them 80 percent by 2050. In announcing the ambitious targets, the council pointed to a research report last year that found the industry in the U.S. has a climate impact equivalent to 12.4 million metric tons of carbon. By achieving a 20 percent reduction, the council said, the book industry could knock that ...

Sat, 18 Apr 09
Mega-droughts In Sub-Saharan Africa Normal For Region: Droughts Likely To Worsen With Climate Change
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/04/090416144520.htm
ScienceDaily: A new study of lake sediments in Ghana suggests that severe droughts lasting several decades, even centuries, were the norm in West Africa over the past 3,000 years. The earlier dry spells dwarfed the well-documented drought that plagued West Africa in the late-20th century, and as the planet warms, the study's authors believe the region's rainfall patterns will have an even greater impact. The team of geoscientists and climate scientists, led by Jonathan Overpeck of the ...

Sat, 18 Apr 09
Newly Discovered Iron-breathing Species Have Lived In Cold Isolation For Millions Of Years
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/04/090416144512.htm
ScienceDaily: A reservoir of briny liquid buried deep beneath an Antarctic glacier supports hardy microbes that have lived in isolation for millions of years, researchers report April 17 in the journal Science. The discovery of life in a place where cold, darkness, and lack of oxygen would previously have led scientists to believe nothing could survive comes from a team led by researchers at Harvard University and Dartmouth College. Their work was funded by the National Science Foundation, NASA, ...

Sat, 18 Apr 09
Bacteria thriving beneath Antarctic glacier
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090417/sc_afp/usenvironmentbiology
Agence France-Presse: Scientists have uncovered an ancient ecosystem below an Antarctic glacier that survived millions of years in cold brine without light or oxygen, a study said. Because the ecosystem was isolated for so long in extreme conditions, it could shed light on possible extraterrestrial life and how systems can survive under ice, said longtime Antarctic researcher and Montana State University professor John Priscu, a co-author of the study. A thick ice crust has formed on Mars and ...

Sat, 18 Apr 09
World's largest nuke plant to restart in Japan
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090417/lf_afp/japanquakenuclearenergy
Agence France-Presse: A strong earthquake shut down the world's largest nuclear power plant here almost two years ago. The clock is now ticking for it to restart -- but fears about a nearby seafloor faultline and a string of fires inside the dormant facility have deepened distrust in local communities. National, regional and local authorities have in recent weeks approved the resumption of the 8,200-megawatt Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant which sprawls across more than four square kilometres (1.6 square ...

Sat, 18 Apr 09
The bacteria that time forgot: Ancient ecosystem found under glacier
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2009/apr/16/extremophiles-ecosystem-antarctica-taylor-glacier
Guardian: An ancient ecosystem that has thrived in isolation for millions of years has been discovered in a pool of dark, salty water beneath half a kilometre of ice in Antarctica. Microorganisms in the pool evolved to live without light or oxygen after being covered by the Taylor glacier on the East Antarctic ice sheet up to two million years ago. Scientists estimate the pool's temperature to be around -10C, but the water does not freeze because it contains so much salt – around four times as ...

Sat, 18 Apr 09
We must protect communities who face climate change displacement
http://www.guardian.co.uk/global/2009/apr/17/alaska-migration-climate-change
Guardian: In Alaska, climate change is creating an unforeseen humanitarian crisis. Arctic sea ice – which had protected communities from coastal erosion and flooding – is rapidly disappearing and signalling a radical transformation of this northern ecosystem. Scientific observations during the summer of 2007 documented a new record low. In 2006, the US government completed a $2.5m (£1.7m) seawall to protect the native village of Kivalina, located on an island in the Chukchi Sea. But on the day ...

Sat, 18 Apr 09
United Kingdom: Hoon urged to spend congestion charge fund on public transport
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/apr/17/transport-congestion-charge-geoff-hoon
Guardian: The government should abandon its much criticised road-pricing policy and invest its £1bn congestion charge fund in bus, tram and cycling projects instead, a report said today. The Centre for Cities thinktank is calling on the government to drop its insistence that any local authority bidding for the £1bn transport innovation fund (TIF) must attach a road-pricing scheme to its proposals. Local politicians have condemned the terms as tantamount to blackmail. The approach ...

Sat, 18 Apr 09
Has 'local' become as meaningless as 'natural'?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2009/apr/17/local-food-industry-supermarkets
Guardian: For a couple of years now we've been told that local is the new organic, the next fad for the ethically-minded food shopper. And, hey, it's true! How do I know? Because the supermarkets have got hold of the idea. Sales of "local" foods and drinks are up 30% at Tesco, 41% at Asda. "Local" is as big as fish now, says Asda. The store is "very proud" to be stocking 6,500 "local" lines. "Local" badly needs those inverted commas. It is yet another of those homely epithets - like "natural", ...

Sat, 18 Apr 09
Climate change could mean a walk in the Arctic woods
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090417.wforest17art2237/BNStory/National/?page=rss&id=RTGAM.20090417.wforest17art2237
Globe and Mail: Baffin Island is covered with an austere, Arctic tundra now, but some time later this century it will be capable of sprouting something unusual: a verdant coniferous forest. The idea that trees might some day spread to many parts of Canada's Far North may seem unlikely, but it is being touted as a realistic possibility in one of the most extensive looks at how the world's forests will cope with further global warming. Call it a climate-change paradox: While the overall ...

Sat, 18 Apr 09
Report warns EU carbon market will be long through to 2012
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2240529/recession-leads-supply-credits
Business Green: Falling industrial output means the EU emissions trading scheme will face an oversupply of emissions allowances (EUAs) during the current phase of the market, which runs from 2008 to 2012, according to new research from Barclays Capital. The price of EUAs has rallied to about EUR14 (£12) a tonne following the release of emissions data from the EU last week that appeared to be slightly better than some players in the market expected. But according to Bar Cap, close analysis of ...

Sat, 18 Apr 09
Barack Obama annouces high-speed rail plan for 10 busiest US routes
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2240533/barack-obama-annouces-speed
Guardian: Barack Obama today called on Americans to climb aboard with his ambitious vision of building high speed rail corridors along 10 of the country's busiest routes. In a high-profile announcement before leaving for a trip to Mexico yesterday, Obama said America could not let itself be shunted to the side while other countries invested in modern transportation systems. Obama said the funds would help ease traffic on roads and in airports that added up to $80 billion in lost ...

Sat, 18 Apr 09
United Kingdom: Firms failing to link water and carbon
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2240541/firms-failing-link-water-carbon
Business Green: More than 40 per cent of UK firms are unaware that water use contributes to their carbon footprint, according to a new survey from the Environment Agency. An estimated one per cent of the electricity purchased in the UK is used to treat and provide water, resulting in carbon emissions of about four million tonnes. But according to the poll of 500 UK businesses, many remain unaware of the link and as a result are failing to prioritise efforts to curb water use. The research also ...

Sat, 18 Apr 09
US green tariff sales soar 20 per cent
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2240546/green-tariff-sales-climb-per
Business Green: Despite the onset of recession, 2008 proved to be a bumper year for green energy tariffs in the US as utilities saw sales to businesses and consumers climb about 20 per cent. According to new figures from the Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), more than 850 US energy companies now offer green tariffs to more than 600,000 customers. Together they sold five billion kilowatt-hours through green power programs last year, an increase of about 20 per cent on ...

Sat, 18 Apr 09
Europe could become strategic biofuel market for Russia
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20090417/121178037.html
RIA Novosti: Europe may become a strategic market for biofuels for Russia, with an expected total volume of about 40 million tons annually, the CEO of the Biotechnology Corporation said Friday. Pyotr Kanygin said that after Russian timber has been processed, up to 36 million tons of waste could be used to produce about 7 million tons of biofuels. "We could transport liquid biofuels, in particular, butanol, via already existing pipelines designed, for example, to pump gasoline, and there ...

Sat, 18 Apr 09
EPA edges closer to carbon endangerment finding
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2240548/epa-edges-closer-carbon
Business Green: The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is inching closer to an endangerment finding that will enable it to regulate carbon emissions in the US, after the Office of Management and Budget this week approved a proposal from the Agency that would allow it to regulate carbon emissions as a pollutant under the Clean Air Act. According to reports, the endangerment finding -- which would revolutionise the way greenhouse gases are regulated in the US and could open the door for many ...

Sat, 18 Apr 09
How do environmentalists spot a mole?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/apr/17/environment-protest-mole
Guardian: It was a beautiful, crisp, sunny morning in April 2005. At 6.30am the environmental group was just minutes away from its target – a Land Rover factory in the Midlands. The meticulously planned action involved people bursting through the perimeter gate, past drowsy guards and occupying the factory line. Little did they know that almost 50 policemen were already there, drinking cups of tea and waiting for them. Fortunately for the activists, an advance guard spotted the helmets and the ...

Sat, 18 Apr 09
United Kingdom: Tories step up pressure on Darling to deliver "green budget"
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2240553/tories-call-government-announce
Business Green: The Conservatives today called on the government to introduce a green " Budget for the future" next week, outlining a number of policies they say would help the country simultaneously emerge from the recession and move to a low-carbon economy. The wide-ranging proposals include the award of a £6,500 energy efficient entitlement for every home in Britain, with the cost being repaid through savings on fuel bills, and the construction of three carbon capture and storage plants funded by ...

Sat, 18 Apr 09
Water fight
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1891640,00.html
Time Magazine: The Songhua incident is a reminder that in Asia, a region of the world where water is often scarce and often polluted, managing that indispensable resource is vital. Asia is already the world's driest inhabited continent per capita, and as its population, urbanization and dirty industrialization grow -- and global warming dries out the region -- clean water will only become more precious. As a just-released report by the Asia Society argues, water will become the key to regional security in ...

Fri, 17 Apr 09
New study warns damage to forests from climate change could cost the planet its major keeper of greenhouse gases
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-04/bc-nrw041409.php
EurekAlert: The critical role of forests as massive "sinks" for absorbing greenhouse gases is "at risk of being lost entirely" to climate change-induced environmental stresses that threaten to damage and even decimate forests worldwide, according to a new report released today. The report will be formally presented at the next session of the United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF) taking place 20 April-1 May 2009 at the UN Headquarters in New York City. "Adaptation of Forests and People to Climate ...

Fri, 17 Apr 09
EU nations must plan for climate change's impact
http://www.edie.net/news/news_story.asp?id=16292&channel=0&title=EU+nations+must+plan+for+climate+change%27s+impact
Edie: Early planning will reduce climate change's potential impact on people's everyday lives, according to the European Commission. The latest research suggests climate change will strike harder and faster than previously predicted, with weather-related disasters becoming more common. Developing countries are most likely to be the hardest hit but Europe will not escape unscathed and as a result the commission is proposing that EU member countries start to think now about how to ...

Fri, 17 Apr 09
Forests could flip from sink to source of CO2: study
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hyKVZGsZ_H48OTtzo30s6ItsHdZQ
Agence France-Presse: Forests that today soak up a quarter of carbon pollution spewed into the atmosphere could soon become a net source of CO2 if Earth's surface warms by another two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), cautions a report to be presented Friday at the UN. Plants both absorb and exhale carbon dioxide, but healthy forests -- especially those in the tropics -- take up far more of the greenhouse gas than they give off. When they are damaged, get sick or die, that stored carbon is ...

Fri, 17 Apr 09
Water crisis: A glaring problem
http://www.merinews.com/catFull.jsp?articleID=15765583
Merinews: "WATER, WATER everywhere and not a drop to drink....' Though the line is not written in the context of lack of drinking water in general, but the sense conveyed would become a reality if the depletion of fresh water supplies continues at the current pace. War experts believe that the next world war would not be for land, nor for oil, but for water. Water crisis is now a day's one of the most glaring problems that has been staring at us and is becoming more and more piercing day by day. ...

Fri, 17 Apr 09
Lawyers ask judge to split sweeping grazing suit
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/04/16/state/n111206D81.DTL&type=business
Associated Press: The federal government is asking a judge to break apart a sweeping lawsuit that accuses federal land mangers of putting grazing and energy interests ahead of preserving sage grouse across millions of acres of public land across the West. The lawsuit, filed last year in U.S. District Court here, challenges 16 separate land use plans developed by the Bureau of Land Management in recent years to manage about 25 million acres in Montana, Idaho, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming and northern ...

Fri, 17 Apr 09
How global warming can shrink glaciers and alter frontiers
http://www.economist.com/world/europe/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13496212
Economist: ONCE frontiers were changed by armies. Now the job is done by global warming. Italy and Switzerland are preparing to make--or rather to recognise--alterations to the border that runs through the Monte Rosa massif of the Alps. Despite what romantically minded locals may say, the name of the massif has nothing to with the pink blush its peaks acquire at sunset. It comes from a dialect word meaning glacier. The massif has nine glaciers. In several places the line between the two ...

Fri, 17 Apr 09
Forests could become source of warming - report
http://in.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idINIndia-39090220090417
Reuters: The world's forests are at risk of becoming a source of planet-warming emissions instead of soaking them up like a sponge unless greenhouse gases are controlled, scientists said. Deforestation emits 20 percent of the world's carbon dioxide when people cut and burn trees, but standing forests soak up 25 percent of the emissions. If the Earth heats up 2.5 degrees Celsius (4.5 degrees F) or more, evaporation from the additional heat would lead to severe droughts and heat waves ...

Fri, 17 Apr 09
U.S. Chamber of Commerce ads target energy permitting, 'green tape'
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=124735
Greenwire: You've heard of the NIMBYs, but their next-door neighbors, the BANANAs, are the new bane of the business community. Government "green" tape and lawsuits by environmentalists are blocking everything from new coal power plants to offshore wind farms, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce charges on its new "Project No Project" Web site. In the coming weeks, the nation's largest business group will rally its 3 million members to put pressure on Congress to streamline permitting for energy ...

Fri, 17 Apr 09
Global warming could turn forests from sink to source of carbon emissions
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0416-forests.html
Mongabay: Rising temperatures could reverse the role forests play in mitigating climate change, turning them into net sources of greenhouse gases, reports a new assessment by the International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO). The report, titled "Adaptation of Forests and People to Climate Change – A Global Assessment" and authored by 35 forestry scientists, examined the potential impacts of climate change across the world's major forest types as well as the capacity of forest ...

Fri, 17 Apr 09
Californians say "baby, baby, no more drilling"
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE53G03Q20090417?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar confronted a host of sea creatures and polar bears on Thursday as costumed Californians told the new administration 'no' to offshore oil drilling. Salazar did not hint at the contents of President Barack Obama's energy policy, but said it would address climate change and include oil and gas. "We're not going to turn off the oil and gas requirements we have for this country overnight or even in a decade. We're going to see oil and gas ...

Fri, 17 Apr 09
United States: Could space solar power beam its way to Earth by 2016?
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2240519/space-solar-power-bee-six
Business Green: It might sound like the start of a 1950s B movie, but US energy giant PG&E has this week thrown its considerable weight behind a US startup that plans to begin transmitting usable power from orbiting solar satellites within the next seven years. The utility has requested approval from regulators in its home state of California for a power purchase deal that from 2016 would see PG&E agree to buy 200MW of renewable power over a 15-year period from space solar technology startup ...

Fri, 17 Apr 09
United Kingdom: Government to boost demand for CDM Gold Standard offsets
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2240517/government-boost-demand-cdm
Business Green: The government yesterday announced it was to tighten further the already controversial criteria it uses to buy carbon offset credits in a move designed to ensure it only uses the most robust offsets on the global market. Following Tony Blair's pledge in 2005 to ensure that all the government's air travel was offset, Whitehall departments have only bought carbon offset credits that adhere to its code of conduct and meet standards set out by the UN's Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) ...

Fri, 17 Apr 09
Mexico: Fossil Corals Show Catastrophic Sea-Level Rise?
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/04/090415-sea-levels-catastrophic.html?source=rss
National Geographic: Fossil coral reefs at a Mexican theme park "confirm" that sea levels rose rapidly about 121,000 years ago, according to a controversial new study. Previous research on fossil reefs had shown that sea levels surged by 13 to 19 feet (4 to 6 meters) near the end of the last time period between ice ages, known as an interglacial period. But researchers have been unsure whether this sea-level rise happened quickly or gradually. By mapping the ages and locations of ancient corals at ...

Fri, 17 Apr 09
Greenpeace activists urge Mexican, U.S. presidents to "save climate"
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-04/16/content_11194112.htm
Xinhua: A group of activists from Greenpeace Mexico set on Wednesday a billboard addressed to Mexican President Felipe Calderon and U.S. President Barack Obama, urging them to take measures against the climate change. The billboard read "Save the climate, act now," with pictures of Calderon and Obama. It was placed in front of the Monument to the Revolution in Mexico City. Obama will arrive in the city on Thursday for a two-day visit in Mexico, before attending the 5th Summit of the ...

Fri, 17 Apr 09
Extremophiles discovered below Antarctic glacier are remnants of marine life
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0416-hance_extremophiles.html
Mongabay: Living in isolation for millions of years, cut off from sunlight and oxygen, surviving by breathing iron beneath an Antarctic glacier--such are the conditions of newly-discovered microbes living under Taylor Glacier in Antarctica's desert-waste, the McMurdo Dry Valleys. "Among the big questions here are 'how does an ecosystem function below glaciers?', 'How are they able to persist below hundreds of meters of ice and live in permanently cold and dark conditions for extended periods of ...

Fri, 17 Apr 09
West Africa faces 'megadroughts'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8003060.stm
BBC: Severe droughts lasting centuries have happened often in West Africa's recent history, and another one is almost inevitable, researchers say. Analysis of sediments in a Ghanaian lake shows the last of these "megadroughts" ended 250 years ago. Writing in the journal Science, the researchers suggest man-made climate change may make the situation worse. But, they say, the droughts are going to happen again anyway, and societies should begin planning for them. "It's ...

Fri, 17 Apr 09
Africa trapped in mega-drought cycle
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16967-africa-trapped-in-megadrought-cycle.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=climate-change
New Scientist: The infamous 1970s drought of the African Sahel region, which lasted several decades and killed more than 100,000 people, was actually a "minor" event, say researchers who have uncovered evidence that such droughts occur cyclically in the region and can be much more severe. Timothy Shanahan and colleagues at the University of Texas, Austin, analysed the first rainfall dataset that spans several millennia. "What's disconcerting about this record is that it suggests the most recent ...

Fri, 17 Apr 09
Climate change could worsen African "megadroughts"
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090416/sc_nm/us_climate_drought_africa
Reuters: The recent decades-long drought that killed 100,000 people in Africa's Sahel may be a small foretaste of monstrous "megadroughts" that could grip the region as global climate change worsens, scientists reported on Thursday. Droughts, some lasting for centuries, are part of the normal pattern in sub-Saharan Africa. But the added stress of a warming world will make these dry periods more severe and more difficult for the people who live there, the scientists said. "Clearly, much ...

Fri, 17 Apr 09
Australia: Garnaut's climate change agonising
http://www.smh.com.au/national/garnauts-climate-change-agonising-20090416-a8wr.html
Sydney Morning Herald: THE Government climate change adviser Ross Garnaut says judging whether it would be better to pass the emissions trading system as it stands or start again would be a line-ball call. In front of a Senate inquiry yesterday, Professor Garnaut urged senators to make significant changes to the system. He had previously voiced displeasure at the extent of largesse directed towards industries exposed to a carbon trading system, but yesterday went further and said he had been ...

Fri, 17 Apr 09
Canadian panel touts carbon pricing
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090416/sc_afp/climatewarmingenvironmentcanadaus
Agence France-Presse: An environmental panel urged the Canadian government on Thursday to quickly implement a national carbon pricing policy if it is to meet its targets for cuts in greenhouse gas emissions. In a report, the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy said the cost of carbon would have to top 100 Canadian dollars (83 US) per ton by 2020, and rise to a maximum of 200 dollars. Eventually, the government must tie in its trading system with other nations' cap and trade ...

Fri, 17 Apr 09
Study Finds a Pattern of Severe Droughts in Africa
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=124722
New York Times: For at least 3,000 years, a drumbeat of potent droughts, far longer and more severe than any experienced recently, have seared a belt of sub-Saharan Africa that is now home to tens of millions of the world's poorest people, climate researchers report in a new study. The last such drought, persisting more than three centuries, ended around 1750, the research team writes in the April 17 issue of the journal Science. The scientists warned that more such mega-droughts are ...

Fri, 17 Apr 09
Critics of offshore drilling pack Calif. hearing)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090416/ap_on_re_us/offshore_drilling
Associated Press: Environmentalists dressed as polar bears, sea turtles and jellyfish were among dozens of people who packed a public hearing Thursday to press Interior Secretary Ken Salazar not to open new areas of the West Coast to oil drilling. The public forum, the last of four such meetings around the country with Salazar, also drew state and federal lawmakers concerned about the effects any expansion of offshore drilling could have on the region's economy and natural beauty. "Our state is ...

Fri, 17 Apr 09
Slide Show: 10 Things You Should Know About Toyota's New Prius Hybrid
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=toyota-prius-hybrid-upgrade
Scientific American: I say "hybrid car"; you say "Prius." Toyota's fuel-sipping sedan has become iconic for gasoline--electric hybrid technology, so much so that the model seems to cast a green aura over the world's largest car company. Owners can burn less gas when they drive, and so release fewer carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. During the past decade, Toyota has controlled around three quarters of the U.S. hybrid market, with worldwide sales of the Prius and luxury Lexus hybrids nearing two million ...

Fri, 17 Apr 09
US, Mexico agree new partnership on climate change
http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSN16269132
Reuters: The United States and Mexico agreed on Thursday on a new partnership to fight climate change and promote environmentally-friendly forms of energy production, they said in a joint statement. U.S. President Barack Obama and Mexican President Felipe Calderon, meeting in Mexico City, agreed to broaden political and technical cooperation on those issues by forming a "US-Mexico Bilateral Framework on Clean Energy and Climate Change," the statement released by the White House ...

Fri, 17 Apr 09
Obama annouces high-speed rail plan for America
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/apr/16/barack-obama-high-speed-rail
Guardian: Barack Obama today called on Americans to climb aboard with his ambitious vision of building high speed rail corridors along 10 of the country's busiest routes. In a high-profile announcement before leaving for a trip to Mexico today, Obama said America could not let itself be shunted to the side while other countries invested in modern transportation systems. Obama said the funds would help ease traffic on roads and in airports that added up to $80 billion in lost ...

Fri, 17 Apr 09
United States: Wetlands restoration touted at panel discussion on climate change
http://www.nola.com/business/index.ssf/2009/04/wetlands_restoration_touted_at.html
Times-Picayune: Wetlands restoration was touted as a lucrative way to enter the burgeoning carbon credit market Wednesday evening at a panel discussion on climate change. Going beyond the direct environmental benefits and job-creation opportunities posed by multi-million dollar wetland restoration projects currently in the works, panelist and wetlands expert Sarah Mack said the immense carbon-saving value of restoring Louisiana's coastline can make the state a powerful player in the European and, ...

Fri, 17 Apr 09
United Kingdom: Electric dream machines: Are they really the future of motoring?
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/electric-dream-machines-are-they-really-the-future-of-motoring-1669963.html
Independent (UK): Motorists are to be given up to £5,000 to buy less polluting electric cars in a long-awaited official drive to a low-carbon future. Under the £250m incentive scheme, drivers will receive Government subsidies to buy a new generation of cars that can be charged up by normal power sockets in homes and garages. Ministers promised that the funding -- first announced as a concession for approving Heathrow's third runway in January -- would make green cars practicable for everyday ...

Fri, 17 Apr 09
United Kingdom: Plan to increase popularity of electric cars stalls over subsidy snag
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/driving/article6108636.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=3392178
Times (UK): No electric car that is available now, or for at least the next two years, will qualify for government grants of up to £5,000 announced yesterday. Even the handful of concept cars currently being tested may be ineligible because ministers insist that they will only subsidise cars with "mass market appeal', in terms of range and speed. The RAC Foundation questioned the effectiveness of the grants and said there could be greater environmental benefits from encouraging more ...

Fri, 17 Apr 09
Countries funded to plan forest protection
http://www.scidev.net/en/agriculture-and-environment/countries-funded-to-plan-forest-protection.html?utm_source=link&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=en_agricultureandenvironment
SciDev.Net: Five developing countries have received US$18 million in funding to plan how to implement a proposed scheme to reward countries that protect forests and reduce deforestation. The Democratic Republic of Congo, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Tanzania and Vietnam will share the funds, which will enable them to prepare national action plans to take part in the proposed Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD) mechanism -- likely to be agreed upon at climate talks ...

Fri, 17 Apr 09
What's hot, green and Mexican?
http://www.economist.com/world/americas/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13496067
Economist: ASK anyone who has read a newspaper in the past few months what is the greatest threat faced by Mexico, and the answer will inevitably be the drug gangs whose violence resulted in over 6,000 deaths last year and is the main reason Barack Obama came to visit this week. Yet even though Felipe Calderón, the country's president, has staked his job on his crackdown against the traffickers, he has a different answer to this question: global warming. "Climate change is the most important challenge ...

Fri, 17 Apr 09
Engineers set to convert carbon dioxide into solid rock
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/apr/16/carbon-dioxide-storage-rock
Guardian: Engineers in Iceland are set to convert carbon dioxide to solid rock as a way to tackle global warming. The experts want to exploit the country's volcanic origins to dispose of up to 30,000 tonnes of the greenhouse gas each year. They expect the gas to react with layers of volcanic rocks deep beneath the surface to form minerals that will lock the carbon pollution away for millions of years. "This is a well-known natural process," said Holmfridur Sigurdardottir, project ...

Fri, 17 Apr 09
We must get past 'urgency denial' on climate change
http://www.carrborocitizen.com/main/2009/04/16/we-must-get-past-%E2%80%98urgency-denial%E2%80%99-on-climate-change/
Carrboro Citizen: Chances are, you're concerned about climate change. Unfortunately, it's probably much worse than you realize. Severe climate changes are occurring at an accelerating rate. Our planet is in crisis, according to the world's top scientists, and corrective measures that are proven and economically beneficial need to be implemented now. In North Carolina, that means ramping up energy efficiency via NC SAVE$ ENERGY and stopping construction of Duke Energy's Cliffside coal-fired power plant. ...

Fri, 17 Apr 09
Our Moral Obligation
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lise-van-susteren/our-moral-obligation_b_187751.html
Huffington Post: I am a doctor. A psychiatrist. Over the years I have heard many troubling stories about the human condition. I have worked with individuals who were "on the ledge" emotionally. I have worked with people who fantasize about killing people, and some who have. I have listened to people recount being tortured, abused. I have evaluated the psychological states of foreign leaders who threaten world security. I have heard the details about children who have died at the hands of people who were out ...

Fri, 17 Apr 09
Kenya signs its first REDD deal to conserve forests
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0416-kenya_redd.html
Mongabay: Kenya has signed its first carbon deal to reduce emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD). Yesterday San Francisco-based Wildlife Works Carbon and Kenya Forest Service (KFS) announced a plan to protect the 80,000-acre Rukinga forest reserve in southeastern Kenya. The project will be funded by sales of carbon credits in the voluntary carbon market. The credits will be certified under the Voluntary Carbon Standard (VCS). Wildlife Works Carbon says the project will ...

Fri, 17 Apr 09
Australia's largest river nearly dry
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/apr/16/australia-river-murray-drought
Guardian: Australia's biggest river is running so low that Adelaide, the country's fifth-largest city, could run out of water in the next two years. The Murray river is part of a network of waterways that irrigates the south-eastern corner of Australia, but after six years of severe drought, the worst dry spell ever, its slow moving waters are now almost stagnant. Water levels in the Murray in the first three months of this year were the lowest on record and the government agency that ...

Fri, 17 Apr 09
Budget will be last chance to move to low-carbon economy, Tories warn
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/apr/16/budget-tories-green-economy
Guardian: Next week's budget will be the last chance for the government to kick-start the investment needed to meet the UK's targets for carbon emission cuts and to establish a sustainable low-carbon economy, the Conservatives claimed today . In a speech to launch their party's green budget, shadow chancellor George Osborne and shadow energy secretary Greg Clark called on the government to invest in 10 ideas that they said would help cut carbon emissions and create thousands of new "green" ...

Fri, 17 Apr 09
Waving the REDD flag
http://www.scidev.net/en/agriculture-and-environment/waving-the-redd-flag.html?utm_source=link&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=en_agricultureandenvironment
SciDev.Net: Reduced emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD) can help conserve forests, combat climate change and eradicate poverty -- so it should be a top priority for upcoming climate negotiations, says Virgilio M. Viana. Forests have historically been excluded from development strategies but they are valuable assets to individuals, families, businesses and governments, argues Viana. He adds that policymakers should be guided by a simple message: forests are worth more standing than ...

Fri, 17 Apr 09
Chinese experts urge Australia for effective climate change response
http://www.domain-b.com/environment/20090416_chinese_climate.html
domain-B: Chinese climate experts have urged rich countries to cut back on their wasteful and luxurious lifestyle, pointing out that Australia's carbon reduction targets were insufficient to reverse damaging climate change. The say that the lead for tackling climate change should come from developed countries. The experts were speaking at a Australia-China climate conference held in Canberra. They said that a global solution needed a per capita emissions approach. China leads the world ...

Fri, 17 Apr 09
Battle lines drawn over climate mitigation registry
http://www.scidev.net/en/climate-change-and-energy/battle-lines-drawn-over-climate-mitigation-registr.html?utm_source=link&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=en_climatechangeandenergy
SciDev.Net: The issue of whether developing countries should be obliged to sign up to a proposed registry of efforts to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions divided delegations at the latest climate change meeting. Some developing countries, such as Brazil and India, said that participating in any kind of mitigation registry should be voluntary for developing nations. But Japan and Norway -- among other developed countries -- said that national mitigation actions should be "measured, ...

Fri, 17 Apr 09
US power company to tap solar energy in space
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/apr/16/solar-energy-farms-space
Guardian: A leading American power company is hoping to turn science fiction into reality by supporting a project to set up solar panels in outer space and beam the electricity generated back to Earth. Pacific Gas and Electric Company, which serves San Francisco and northern California, has agreed to buy electricity from a startup company claiming to have found a way to unlock the potential power supply in space. The firm, Solaren Corp, says it will launch solar panels into orbit and ...

Fri, 17 Apr 09
United Kingdom: We must assess the full impact of biomass before it gets green light
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/cif-green/2009/apr/16/biomass-environment-agency1
Guardian: Despite all the media attention on wind, solar and even wave power as key sources of renewable energy, the UK's largest green energy provider is biomass – using wood, annual crops or waste materials as fuel for heat and electricity. It now generates over 2% of our total electricity, enough to power more than 2m homes. In addition, it produces about 1% of heat for our homes and industry. And it has the potential to deliver even more in the future, helping the UK to meet its target of ...

Fri, 17 Apr 09
Coral fossils suggest that sea level can rise rapidly
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=124696
New York Times: Evidence from fossil coral reefs in Mexico underlines the potential for a sudden jump in sea levels because of global warming, scientists report in a new study. The study, being published Thursday in the journal Nature, suggests that a sudden rise of 6.5 feet to 10 feet occurred within a span of 50 to 100 years about 121,000 years ago, at the end of the last warm interval between ice ages. "The potential for sustained rapid ice loss and catastrophic sea-level rise in the near ...

Fri, 17 Apr 09
Study shows longer summers are killing coral
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1891653,00.html
Time Magazine: The climatological finding isn't new. For years now, scientists around the world have recognized that global warming affects the seasons, triggering springtime events like the flowering of plants as much as six weeks earlier than normal, and pushing the arrival of fall ever further back in the calendar. Lengthening summers have translated not just to more days of warm temperatures but more drought and wildfires as well. (See pictures of the effects of climate change on Europe.) What's ...

Fri, 17 Apr 09
The Warbler's long winter journey gets longer
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1891579,00.html
Time Magazine: But that transcontinental migration is about to get even longer, thanks to global warming. In a new study in the Journal of Biogeography, scientists at Durham University and Cambridge University found that migration flights undertaken by warblers in Europe and Asia could be extended by as much as 250 miles by the end of the century. That's because as temperatures rise, the habitats of birds like the whitethroat, which breed in Europe, will need to shift farther north to more hospitable ...

Fri, 17 Apr 09
"Catastrophic" sea-level rise possible, reef reveals
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/sciencemedicine/story/BD94A719CC203FB28625759A0009DD18?OpenDocument
Bloomberg: Fossilized coral reefs formed the last time the Earth was warmer than today show sea levels could rise rapidly by the end of the century if global warming triggers a collapse of ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica. A "catastrophic" rise in the ocean of 13 feet to 19.6 feet is possible, said Paul Blanchon, a scientist at the National University of Marine Sciences in Cancun, Mexico, whose team studied the fossilized reefs. The death and re-emergence on higher elevation of reefs ...

Fri, 17 Apr 09
Australia: Climate scientists living in Pollyanna world, says senator
http://www.smh.com.au/environment/global-warming/climate-scientists-living-in-pollyanna-world-senator-20090415-a7ju.html
Sydney Morning Herald: National Party senator Ron Boswell repeatedly clashed with some of Australia's leading climate scientists yesterday, accusing them of living in "a Pollyanna world" and putting jobs in jeopardy by calling for deep cuts to the country's greenhouse gas emissions. "Jobs are on the line," Senator Boswell said. "You've got to be practical". But Professor David Karoly, who worked with the UN's peak scientific body on climate change, replied that dangerous climate change in Australia ...

Fri, 17 Apr 09
UK charges up for electric car future
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/apr/15/geoff-hoon-electric-cars
Guardian: The government will tomorrow finally put flesh on the bones of its long-awaited £250m electric car strategy. The transport secretary, Geoff Hoon, has announced incentives of up to £5,000 for consumers to buy electric cars and plans for cities to become testing grounds for how drivers will use and charge their vehicles. But the electric car has had numerous false dawns in the past. Motor manufacturers have had electric vehicles on their drawing boards since the 19th century - the first ...

Fri, 17 Apr 09
Catastrophic sea levels 'distinct possibility'
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5izYXjJJR6wVILDsX6JWDP02C6bmQ
Agence France-Presse: A breakthrough study of fluctuations in sea levels the last time Earth was between ice ages, as it is now, shows that oceans rose some three meters in only decades due to collapsing ice sheets. The findings suggest that such an scenario -- which would redraw coastlines worldwide and unleash colossal human misery -- is "now a distinct possibility within the next 100 years," said lead researcher Paul Blanchon, a geoscientist at Mexico's National University. The study, published ...

Fri, 17 Apr 09
Australia: We're off target on climate, inquiry told
http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news/national/national/general/were-off-target-on-climate-inquiry-told/1487859.aspx
Canberra Times: Australia is clearing native vegetation at a rate that amounts to a $2.4 billion annual loss of stored carbon, a Senate climate change inquiry heard yesterday. ''We are still logging native vegetation at a rate of something like 60million tonnes of carbon a year,'' CSIRO climate scientist Michael Raupach told the inquiry. Global climate change had reached a critical point where ''it feeds on itself'' due to less carbon being absorbed by oceans and forests, Dr Raupach said. ...

Fri, 17 Apr 09
Scientists track effects of rapid climate change in Antarctica
http://www.canada.com/Technology/ANTARCTICA%20MELTING/1499562/story.html
Montreal Gazette: With the looming collapse of the 14,500-square-kilometre Wilkins Ice Shelf, attention is being focused on the Antarctic Peninsula -- the region experiencing the most rapid climate change in the world. Over the past 50 years, the average annual temperature there has risen a staggering 2.5 degrees C and the peninsula's many ice shelves and glaciers are calving more icebergs than ever. To get a better look at this threatened wilderness, 15 crew and 40 sail trainees recently joined ...

Fri, 17 Apr 09
Climate change may cause Australias potential weeds to move south by 1000 kms
http://www.newspostonline.com/sci-tech/climate-change-may-cause-australias-potential-weeds-to-move-south-by-1000-kms-2009041650458
Asian News International: A report by scientists at CSIROs Climate Adaptation Flagship has predicted that climate change will cause some of Australias potential weeds to move south by up to 1000 kilometers. Weeds cost Australia more than 4 billion dollars a year either in control or lost production and cause serious damage to the environment. According to CSIRO researcher, Dr John Scott, those cost estimates were only based on the damage caused by weeds known to be active in Australia. Out there, ...

Fri, 17 Apr 09
United Kingdom: The genial prophet of climate doom
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/sciencetoday/2009/0416/1224244802236.html
Irish Times: James Lovelock is perhaps the world`s leading thinker on environmental issues -- and his prognosis for the future of humanity is grim. In Ireland to speak at UCD this week, he tells RONAN McGREEVY why he thinks climate change is irreversible and why Ireland may become 'a lifeboat for humanity` IT IS DIFFICULT to have a sense of perspective on future events when the present seems so dire. These are hard times, but they may be viewed by future generations as a golden era of plenty, ...

Fri, 17 Apr 09
Tricky course lies ahead for Browner on the environment
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123984208049523297.html
Wall Street Journal: President Barack Obama's effort to remake federal energy and environmental policy will undergo some rigorous tests in the coming weeks -- and so will his environmental-policy czar, Carol Browner. When Mr. Obama picked Ms. Browner to be his top White House aide on climate and energy issues, his opponents and many business groups braced for the worst. Ms. Browner is "a proud liberal who has long advocated an environmentalist agenda that would drive up energy costs on families and put ...

Fri, 17 Apr 09
Singapore scientists say can turn CO2 into biofuel
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE53F2S820090416?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Scientists in Singapore say they have found a way to turn planet-warming carbon dioxide into clean-burning methanol using a process that uses less energy than previous attempts. The scientists at the state-backed Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology said on Thursday they used non-toxic organocatalysts to make ethanol, a biofuel that is also used as an industrial feedstock. In a statement, the institute said the team, led by Yugen Zhang, used N-heterocyclic carbenes ...

Fri, 17 Apr 09
Stopping climate change and starvation
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/environment/story/1002545.html
Miami Herald: Few foods are more associated with home and hearth than bread. For centuries farmers have labored to master the elements and produce the crops that literally would put bread - whether in the form of corn tortillas, wheat chapattis or a loaf of rye - on the table for their families. The struggle against nature's extremes has never been easy, but global warming seems poised to make things even harder for many farmers. Indeed, according to a new study, global warming-induced changes in ...

Fri, 17 Apr 09
United Kingdom: £5,000 incentive to buy electric cars
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/pound5000-incentive-to-buy-electric-cars-1669528.html
Belfast Telegraph: Consumers could receive incentives of between £2,000 and £5,000 to buy an electric car from 2011, the Government announced today. Transport Secretary Geoff Hoon said the initiative -- part of the Government's low-carbon transport plan -- would mean an electric car was "a real option for motorists'. He announced the five-year initiative with Business Secretary Lord Mandelson. The Department for Transport is beginning discussions with the motor industry and financiers to ...

Fri, 17 Apr 09
Best practice biomass could cut emissions to almost zero
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2240472/best-practice-biomass-cut
Business Green: The best biomass power plants have the potential to cut carbon emissions by up to 98 per cent compared to using coal, but poorly designed facilities could lead to a net increase in greenhouse gases. That is the conclusion of a major new report from the Environment Agency this week, which is calling on the government to introduce new regulations and incentives to ensure that only "sustainable biomass" that delivers deep carbon savings is used in new biomass power plants. The ...

Fri, 17 Apr 09
United Kingdom: Plan to boost electric car sales
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8001254.stm
BBC: But the government hopes to target drivers of a new generation of all electric or plug-in petrol-electric cars, which are expected to go on sale in two years time. Speaking at a racing circuit in Dunfermline, Geoff Hoon said the plan was about "encouraging the idea that electric vehicles will become part of everyday life, that people will take them for granted and they will look and feel the same as any other car". Jay Nagley, an analyst at Spyder Automotive, said the ...

Fri, 17 Apr 09
Global carbon market to hit $669bn by 2013
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2240481/global-carbon-market-hit-669bn
Business Green: Investors are being urged to take advantage of the "exceptional opportunity" presented by the low price of carbon credits after a new report predicted the global carbon market is poised to enter a five year long period of rapid growth as the world's economy recovers. The report from US-based research firm SBI predicts that while the global carbon market will contract 29 per cent this year to just $84bn it will recover quickly over the next four years, growing at an average of 68 per ...

Fri, 17 Apr 09
United Kingdom: Energy timebomb
http://www.theherald.co.uk/features/editorial/display.var.2502244.0.Energy_timebomb.php
Herald: How to ensure a reliable, long-term energy supply while simultaneously reducing carbon output is one of the most urgent political and technical challenges of our age. It is encapsulated in the clash over the role of nuclear power. The argument in its favour is that investment in new-generation nuclear now will provide the energy Britain needs in an acceptably low-carbon way. The argument against is that the attraction of apparently clean energy is balanced by the problem of the ...

Fri, 17 Apr 09
New warning over 'catastrophic' sea level rise, scientists claim
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/climatechange/5159086/New-warning-over-catastrophic-sea-level-rise-scientists-claim.html
Telegraph: The melting of the vast ice sheets in Antarctica and Greenland caused water to pour into the world's oceans at an alarming rate at the end of the last period of global warming, the study shows. Analysis of fossilised coral reefs off the Gulf of Mexico found many died during this time -- known to climatologists as an "interglacial" -- and were replaced by new reefs on higher ground. This happened over a long-term ecological timescale and was caused by a rapid jump in sea level ...

Fri, 17 Apr 09
Uganda: Develop strategy to manage climate
http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/459/678041
New Vision: Since 1992, international climate diplomacy has resolved to reduce green house gases which cause global warming. While these emissions fell by 5% between 1990 and 2006, they have risen by 2.3% in the past two years according to a recent report, UN framework convention on climate change. The main reason for the rise in emissons is the fast growth in emerging markets and depletion of primary forests mostly by the industrialised nations. In the struggle, the industrialised have ...

Fri, 17 Apr 09
United Kingdom: Electric cars: the expert's view of government transport policy
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/apr/16/electric-cars-decarbonisation
Guardian: Today's strategy makes one thing abundantly clear: government ministers have identified transport as an important part of the drive towards a low-carbon economy and have developed some high aspirations in the role the UK is going to play. Their strategic approach should be applauded in what will be an international shift in the way we travel. The problem is that the 16-page document doesn't really tell you how they're going to do most of it. There is a distinct lack of detail. Missing ...

Fri, 17 Apr 09
Electric dreams, clunky reality
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/apr/16/cash-for-clunkers-car-industry
Guardian: The car was the 20th century's symbol of prosperity. When the Germans wanted a catch-all term for America's roaring 20s, they often plumped for Fordismus. America's most recent bubble even had its own dedicated auto, the sports utility vehicle. Even now, the surest sign that a developing country has started making money is the length of its traffic jams. The flip side is that when the good times end, the car industry hits the buffers. That was true in the 70s and it certainly holds now. ...

Fri, 17 Apr 09
The world's cleanest countries
http://www.forbes.com/2009/04/15/worlds-cleanest-countries-business-energy-clean-countries.html
Forbes: The declining health of Mother Earth has drawn growing attention over the last two decades, with countries coming together to fight a range of environmental threats, from declining fishing stocks to global warming. Witness the Kyoto Protocol, the first widely adopted set of environmental protection guidelines, which emerged during the 1990s and took effect in 2005. Kyoto led to the development of the first large-scale emissions trading market, Europe's Greenhouse Gas Emission Trading ...

Fri, 17 Apr 09
Attention shoppers: beware of false eco-claims
http://www.cbc.ca/consumer/story/2009/04/15/greenwashing.html
CBC: More consumer products are claiming to be environmentally responsible, but nearly all of them make at least one claim that is unverifiable, according to a study released Wednesday. TerraChoice, an environmental marketing agency with offices in Ottawa and Philadelphia, says more than 98 per cent of the products it surveyed committed at least one of the "seven sins of greenwashing." "The good news is that the growing availability of green products shows that consumers are ...

Fri, 17 Apr 09
Sapping America's energy
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123980462156321035.html
Wall Street Journal: If Americans don't start paying attention to what Congress is up to, our nation's energy policy may seriously change for the worse. A bill styled the American Clean Energy and Security Act, sponsored by Democrats Henry Waxman of California and Edward Markey of Massachusetts, soon goes before the House. The enactment of laws to combat global warming is an established priority of the new administration and Congress, and their impact on the lives and opportunities of America's people would be ...

Fri, 17 Apr 09
Renewable Energy's Environmental Paradox
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/15/AR2009041503622.html?wprss=rss_nation
Washington Post: The SunZia transmission line that would link sun and wind power from central New Mexico with cities in Arizona is just the sort of energy project an environmentalist could love -- or hate. And it is just the sort of line the Interior Department has been tasked with promoting -- or guarding against. If built, the 460-mile line would carry about 3,000 megawatts of power, enough to avoid the need for a handful of coal-fired plants and to help utilities meet mandated targets for use of ...

Fri, 17 Apr 09
Brazil's auto industry markets ethanol as green
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE53F0HR20090416?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: The big four auto makers in Brazil joined forces with the Sugar Cane Industry Association (Unica) on Wednesday in a campaign aimed at expanding the use of cane-based ethanol in flex-fuel vehicles. Local subsidiaries of U.S.-based General Motors Corp and Ford Motor Co, Italy's Fiat SpA and Germany's Volkswagen AG will together distribute 2 million free booklets explaining the benefits of ethanol for consumers who buy their flex-fuel cars in Brazil. "Brazil's interest in ethanol ...

Fri, 17 Apr 09
Third-World Stove Soot Is Target in Climate Fight
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=124655
New York Times: "It's hard to believe that this is what's melting the glaciers," said Dr. Veerabhadran Ramanathan, one of the world's leading climate scientists, as he weaved through a warren of mud brick huts, each containing a mud cookstove pouring soot into the atmosphere. As women in ragged saris of a thousand hues bake bread and stew lentils in the early evening over fires fueled by twigs and dung, children cough from the dense smoke that fills their homes. Black grime coats the undersides of ...

Fri, 17 Apr 09
United Kingdom: Governments fall out over nuclear
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/8001526.stm
BBC: Battlelines have been drawn between the UK and Scottish governments over nuclear power. Prime Minister Gordon Brown and his ministers have gathered in Glasgow for the cabinet's first meeting in Scotland for almost 90 years. Energy secretary Ed Miliband told BBC Radio Scotland the Scottish Government's opposition to new nuclear power stations in Scotland was wrong. But First Minister Alex Salmond said renewable energy was the way forward. Mr Miliband said: "I ...

Fri, 17 Apr 09
Russia greenhouse gas emissions up 0.3 percent in 2007
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE53F1HR20090416?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Russia's greenhouse gas emissions rose by a tiny 0.3 percent in 2007 to the highest since the 1990s economic downturn caused by the break-up of the Soviet Union, according to data submitted to the United Nations. Emissions edged up to 2.192 billion tons of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2007 from 2.185 billion in 2006, according to official figures filed to the U.N. Climate Change Secretariat in Bonn. The level was the highest since 1994.

Fri, 17 Apr 09
Up, up, and away
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/apr/16/birdwatching-conservation-swift-campaign-endangered
Guardian: They are the quintessential masters of the air, able to feed, sleep and even mate on the wing. Every year they travel on a round trip of more than 20,000km to and from southern Africa without once touching the ground. And they have long been the subject of myths and folklore, including the belief that their piercing screams are the cries of lost souls. They are the birds that signal the coming of summer to our towns and cities: swifts. But if the predictions of a recent report prove ...

Fri, 17 Apr 09
A123 lands fresh battery funding, eyes expansion
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2240442/a123-lands-fresh-battery
Business Green: US-based A123 Systems has landed a further $169m (£113m) in funding to help bolster its nanotechnology based battery manufacturing capacity in the wake of recent supply deals with a number of high-profile electric car firms. The firm secured a $69m investment from General Electric (GE), and also announced $100m in tax credits from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation. This is the seventh time that GE has invested in A123, and the former now owns a 10 per cent stake in ...

Fri, 17 Apr 09
Government to offer £5,000 incentives to jump start electric car market
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2240458/government-offer-sweetener
Business Green: Motorists and businesses are to be offered grants of up to £5,000 when they buy electric cars or plug-in hybrids, under wide-reaching plans unveiled today by the government that will also result in the rollout of electric car charging networks and electric car demonstration cities. The £250m strategy is to be unveiled today by transport secretary Geoff Hoon and business secretary Lord Mandelson and is expected to centre on grants of between £2,000 and £5,000 being offered to consumers ...

Fri, 17 Apr 09
United Kingdom: Exclusive: Kingspan builds up solar ambitions
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2240428/kingspan-builds-solar-ambitions
Business Green: A new generation of construction materials could soon allow buildings to generate energy using their walls and roofs, according to one of the world's largest providers of building materials and insulation. Kingspan has revealed that its panels division, which specialises in highly insulated metal panels for buildings, is working on a variety of new products designed to integrate renewable energy technologies such as solar cells and heat pumps directly into building ...

Fri, 17 Apr 09
EPA Reports Rise In US Greenhouse Emissions
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1671529/epa_reports_rise_in_us_greenhouse_emissions/index.html?source=r_science
redOrbit: Emissions of greenhouse gases in the United States rose 1.4 percent in 2007 compared with 2006, according to a report released Wednesday by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Total emissions of six main greenhouse gases in 2007 were equivalent to 7,150 million metric tons of carbon dioxide, the report said. These gases include methane, carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons and sulfur hexafluoride. According to the report, U.S. ...

Fri, 17 Apr 09
Ancient Corals May Provide Record of Rapid Sea Level Rise
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=ancient-corals-provide-record-of-rapid-sea-level-rise
Scientific American: With Greenland's glaciers melting and on the move while vast ice sheets in Antarctica continue to shatter, the proportion of water in the seas continues to grow. And with the climate at the poles expected to continue to warm rapidly in coming decades, many researchers are trying to determine how much and how quickly sea levels might rise. Now newly excavated reefs in Mexico may have provided an answer: high and fast. Geoscientist Paul Blanchon of the National Autonomous University of ...

Fri, 17 Apr 09
The landscape of a nuclear Britain: but is it the best option?
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/the-landscape-of-a-nuclear-britain-but-is-it-the-best-option-1669290.html
Independent (UK): The shape of a future nuclear-powered Britain became apparent yesterday when the Government published a list of potential sites for new atomic power stations. The 11 locations listed in England and Wales, from Sellafield in Cumbria to Dungeness in Kent, are all sites of current or decommissioned nuclear stations, or very close to such. This means that in practice there is likely to be little opposition from local people, who are used to big nuclear facilities on their doorsteps and ...

Fri, 17 Apr 09
Climate change research: Weather hampers Arctic mission - guardian.co.uk
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/apr/16/weather-arctic-climate-change
Guardian: Extreme weather is hampering attempts by a team of three British explorers to examine the effects of climate change on Arctic sea ice around the north pole. The Catlin Arctic Survey mission, led by Pen Hadow, is travelling about 600 miles on foot to the pole, and set off on 2 March. Despite rigorous testing before the expedition, a pioneering radar system designed to establish ice thickness without drilling and an onboard sledge computer kit have both been disabled by brutally cold ...

Fri, 17 Apr 09
Will Biochar Save The Polar Bears?
http://newmatilda.com/2009/04/15/will-biochar-save-polar-bears
New Matilda: With the recent dramatic collapse of the ice bridge to the Wilkins Ice Shelf in Antarctica, climate change is back in the headlines. But Malcolm Turnbull and Coalition environment spokesman Greg Hunt think they have an answer: biochar. Many of the world's top climate scientists, including James Hansen, agree with them. So what exactly is biochar? Will it work, and can it save us? Essentially, biochar is charcoal -- the burnt remains of organic material. The CSIRO has ...

Fri, 17 Apr 09
Time to act on carbon markets
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8000156.stm
BBC: Despite a volatile beginning, carbon markets promise to be a key player in the fight against climate change , says Professor Michael Grubb. However, he warns that governments must not "snatch defeat from the jaws of victory" by failing to take the necessary steps to ensure their longevity. Barack Obama wants one; Gordon Brown wants one; the planet desperately needs it, but still an effective carbon market remains stubbornly elusive. Prices in the EU's version, the Emissions ...

Thu, 16 Apr 09
Brazil could triple agricultural output without touching the Amazon rainforest
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0415-brazil.html
Mongabay: Brazil could triple its agricultural without the needing to clear additional rainforest in the Amazon Basin, Roberto Mangabeira Unger, Brazil's Minister of Strategic Affairs, told Bloomberg in an interview. "For every acre under cultivation in Brazil, there are more than four acres given over to low-intensity ranching and much of that has become degraded pasture land," Unger was quoted as saying. "If we could recover even a small part of that territory, we could double the area under ...

Thu, 16 Apr 09
Environmentalists Adopt New Weapon: Seed Balls
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=103129515&ft=1&f=1025
National Public Radio: Neighborhood organizations across the U.S. that want to improve the environment are using a surprising weapon: seed balls. It's a technique for planting in abandoned places and often inhospitable land that was developed in Japan by Masanobu Fukuoka, a pioneer in "natural farming." The technique has worked its way to Brooklyn, N.Y. In the Greenpoint neighborhood on a recent Sunday afternoon, a small group of activists walked the streets carrying paper bags filed with little ...

Thu, 16 Apr 09
Climate change can boost sea level suddenly, fossil record shows
http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2009/04/15/tech-090415-coral-sea-level-climate-change.html
CBC: The last time the Earth grew warmer than it is today, melting ice caused the oceans to rise very suddenly, a new study of fossil corals has found. The evidence backs up predictions that such dramatic sea level changes could soon happen again. The rapid sea-level change in the study took place about 125,000 years ago at the end of the last ice age, said Paul Blanchon, one of the researchers who conducted the study published in Thursday's issue of Nature. "Sea level must have ...

Thu, 16 Apr 09
Cutting Greenhouse Gas Emissions to Protect Clean Water
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=greenhouse-gas-emissions-clean-water
Greenwire: U.S. EPA is weighing a revision of standards aimed at preventing the acidification of marine waters. The effort marks the first time EPA has invoked the Clean Water Act to address ocean acidification, and comes in response to a 2007 petition from the Center for Biological Diversity. The center noted that EPA has failed to update the pH standard since 1976 and has ignored research published since then. Concerns about ocean acidification have risen lately, as research shows a ...

Thu, 16 Apr 09
Changing Climate Could Lead To Devastating Loss Of Phosphorus From Soil
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1671335/changing_climate_could_lead_to_devastating_loss_of_phosphorus_from/index.html?source=r_science
redOrbit: Crop growth, drinking water and recreational water sports could all be adversely affected if predicted changes in rainfall patterns over the coming years prove true, according to research published this month in Biology and Fertility of Soils. Scientists from Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC)-funded North Wyke Research have found for the first time that the rate at which a dried soil is rewetted impacts on the amount of phosphorus lost from the soil into ...

Thu, 16 Apr 09
Organizers call regional emissions plan a success
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090415/ap_on_bi_ge/nj_nj_greenhouse_gases
Associated Press: Organizers and participants in the nation's only working cap-and-trade program for carbon emissions called the fledgling attempt to reduce greenhouse gas emissions a success Wednesday. Jeanne Fox, the head of New Jersey's Board of Public Utilities, said she hopes the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative will soon fall victim to its own success. The original idea was to serve as a national model for reducing the greenhouse gas emissions many scientists blame for global warming, ...

Thu, 16 Apr 09
Most green products make some false claims: report
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE53E6RS20090415?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Just 2 percent of the growing number of self-proclaimed green products on store shelves make completely legitimate claims on their labels, a report by consulting firm TerraChoice Environmental Marketing said on Wednesday. The remainder commit "greenwashing" sins, that is they mislead consumers about the environmental benefits of a product or the practices of a company, said TerraChoice, which runs the Canadian government's eco-labeling program and counts companies as diverse as Canon ...

Thu, 16 Apr 09
Calif. Commission Proposes TV Energy Standards
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=103119149
Naitonal Public Radio: Officials in California are considering tougher energy efficiency standards for new, big-screen television sets. Big screen and high definition TV's draw much more electricity than the old, smaller screen, analog sets.

Thu, 16 Apr 09
Obama wants climate bill mindful of WTO rules: Kirk
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090415/pl_nm/us_usa_trade_climate
Reuters: The Obama administration wants to ensure that legislation being crafted by Congress to fight global climate change does not violate international trade rules and backfire on U.S. exports, the top U.S. trade official said in a letter to a Republican lawmaker. The letter from U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk, released late on Tuesday, was in response to questions Rep. Joe Barton raised about Energy Secretary Stephen Chu's recent suggestion that the United States may need to impose a ...

Thu, 16 Apr 09
Across the United States, Waters in Crisis
http://news.yahoo.com/s/oneworld/20090415/wl_oneworld/world3618471239813577
OneWorld US: Over the last years, up to 60 percent of lakes, rivers, streams, and drinking water sources across the United States have lost crucial environmental protections at the hands of polluters, developers, and the U.S. Supreme Court. "Without immediate action in Congress, a generation of progress in cleaning up our nation's waters may be lost," says a new report by seven U.S.-based environmental advocacy groups. "When Congress passed the Clean Water Act in 1972, our [U.S.] waters ...

Thu, 16 Apr 09
70 percent emissions cuts needed to avert worst of climate change
http://www.thetechherald.com/article.php/200916/3452/70-percent-emissions-cuts-needed-to-avert-worst-of-climate-change
Tech Herald: A recent report has said it is possible to avoid some of the worst effects of global climate change; so long as massive cuts in carbon emissions are made. Scientists at the National Centre for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colorado, have concluded that cuts in CO2 of at least 70 percent in this century are necessary to avert the dramatic consequences of a warming planet. NCAR researchers have said that, if such a reduction in greenhouse gases were possible, symptoms ...

Thu, 16 Apr 09
EU calls on US to help lead climate change fight
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gEv8KInj72J-KL3fj9IusFNuVG8g
Agence France-Presse: European Union environment ministers called on the United States Wednesday to help the bloc lead and finance the battle against climate change. "The EU has been the leader of the international debate. We want to keep on and to offer a co-leadership to the US," said Czech minister Martin Bursik, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency. "We need to build a coalition. It cannot be done unilaterally on the EU side," he told reporters after a meeting of EU environment ...

Thu, 16 Apr 09
Study: Emissions Cuts Could Lessen Climate Change
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=124621
ClimateWire: Escaping the most severe effects of global warming will require quick, steep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, a new government-funded study finds. Cutting emissions by 70 percent by the end of the century would cause the Earth to warm by an average of about 2 degrees Celsius, versus 4 degrees if emissions continue growing at their current rate, according to computer simulations run by researchers at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo. And that would ...

Thu, 16 Apr 09
Australia: Climate Change May Wake Up 'Sleeper' Weeds
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/04/090415102123.htm
ScienceDaily: Weeds cost Australia more than A$4 billion a year either in control or lost production and cause serious damage to the environment. In an address given April 15 in Perth to the Greenhouse 09 conference on climate change, CSIRO researcher, Dr John Scott, said, however, that those cost estimates were only based on the damage caused by weeds known to be active in Australia. "Out there, throughout the nation, are many weed species lying low but with the potential to take off and ...

Thu, 16 Apr 09
India: Mangroves save lives by softening cyclone's blow
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0415-hance_orissacyclone.html
Mongabay: In 1999 a super cyclone struck the eastern coast of India, leaving 10,000 people dead. At the time, the Orissa cyclone, named after the Indian state which it battered, was the deadliest storm in India in over a quarter century. However, according to a new study published in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences the death toll would have been significantly higher if the mangrove forests buffeting the Indian villagers from the sea had not softened the cyclone's ...

Thu, 16 Apr 09
United Kingdom: £2000 off your new car: How a 'scrappage' scheme would work
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/5159529/2000-off-your-new-car-How-a-scrappage-scheme-would-work.html
Telegraph: The idea is that buyers will be entitled to a discount on a new car if they scrap their old one. The scheme, which is billed as an environmental measure because new cars are more fuel-efficient, is intended to throw a lifeline to Britain's ailing motor industry. Whatever the reason, consumers stand to benefit from lower prices on new cars. We can get a an idea from the experience of other countries, many of which have introduced "scrappage" schemes as Britain and Poland are the ...

Thu, 16 Apr 09
U.S. greenhouse emissions rose 1.4 percent in 2007: EPA
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE53E4TL20090415?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: U.S. greenhouse gas emissions rose 1.4 percent in 2007, compared to the previous year, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reported on Wednesday. The report also indicates that U.S. emissions of climate-warming gases such as carbon dioxide and methane rose 17.2 percent from 1990 to 2007. The increase in 2007 was mainly due to a rise in carbon dioxide emissions related to fuel and energy consumption, the environmental agency said in a statement. There was more demand ...

Thu, 16 Apr 09
Midwestern Ethanol Plants Use Much Less Water Than Western Plants
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1671132/midwestern_ethanol_plants_use_much_less_water_than_western_plants/index.html?source=r_science
redOrbit: Ethanol production in Minnesota and Iowa uses far less water overall than similar processes in states where water is less plentiful, a new University of Minnesota study shows. The study, which will be published in the April 15 edition of the journal Environmental Science and Technology, is the first to compare water use in corn-ethanol production on a state-by-state basis. The authors used agricultural and geologic data from 2006-2008 to develop a ratio showing how much irrigated ...

Thu, 16 Apr 09
Carbon trading won't stop climate change
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20227046.200-carbon-trading-wont-stop-climate-change.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=climate-change
New Scientist: ONE day renewable energy looks like a sunrise industry, the next, tumbleweeds are blowing around a setting solar panel. What has changed? The price of emitting carbon dioxide. In 2005 the European Union created the world's first proper carbon market, the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), which compels highly polluting industries to buy permits to emit CO2. The number of permits is limited, so the idea is that supply and demand set a price that encourages the development of a ...

Thu, 16 Apr 09
Can oil from tar sands be cleaned up?
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20227043.900-can-oil-from-tar-sands-be-cleaned-up.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=climate-change
New Scientist: IN THE Canadian province of Alberta the ground is skinned and gutted. Rising oil prices and dwindling reserves have pushed oil companies to exploit what was once considered unexploitable: tar sands, the dirtiest oil on Earth and the most expensive to extract. This strip-mined landscape is bad enough, but another method of extracting the oil is on the rise, and it is even more damaging to the environment. Yet new technologies offer hope that tar sands could one day be transformed into ...

Thu, 16 Apr 09
White House and Congress dither over climate
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20227043.700-white-house-and-congress-dither-over-climate.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=climate-change
New Scientist: THE White House and US Congress are playing a game of hot potato with emissions regulation. Congress will debate a draft energy and climate bill put forward by congressmen Edward Markey and Henry Waxman next week. If passed, it will require companies to buy and trade pollution permits. But green groups fear Congress may drag its feet if the White House does not make moves to instruct the Environmental Protection Agency to limit emissions. "I think Congress is going to need a ...

Thu, 16 Apr 09
Arctic food is poisoned as ice melts
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20227043.100-arctic-food-is-poisoned-as-ice-melts.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=climate-change
New Scientist: FOR Arctic peoples, global warming is not just transforming their land, it is also poisoning their food. Mercury levels in seals and beluga whales eaten by Inuit in northern Canada have reached levels that would be considered unsafe in fish. Now, Gary Stern of Canada's Department of Fisheries and Oceans in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and colleagues have found that seal meat contains more mercury in low-ice years, suggesting the problem will only get worse. The team sampled ringed seals caught ...

Thu, 16 Apr 09
Bird migrations lengthen due to global warming, threatening species
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0415-hance_birdmigrations.html
Mongabay: Global warming is likely to increase the length of bird migrations, some of which already extend thousands of miles. The increased distance could imperil certain species, as it would require more energy reserves than may be available. The new study, published in the Journal of Biogeography, studied the migration patterns of European Sylvia warblers from Africa to breeding grounds in Europe every spring. They discovered that climate change would likely push the breeding ranges of birds ...

Thu, 16 Apr 09
Valley Fever Blowing on a Hotter Wind
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=valley-fever-hotter-wind
Scientific American: It's high noon, and the 112–degree summer heat – up from a decade ago – stalks Arizona's Sonoran Desert. By late afternoon, dark clouds threaten, and monsoon winds beat the earth into a mass of swirling sand. Thick walls of surface soil blind drivers on the Interstate. Some health experts believe new weather conditions – hotter temperatures and more intense dust storms fueled by global warming – are creating a perfect storm for the transmission of coccidioidomycosis, also known as ...

Thu, 16 Apr 09
UK nuclear new build site idea worries wind farmers
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE53E5BI20090415?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: One of Britain's next nuclear power stations may be on top of a windfarm, sandwiched between a National Park, the Irish Sea and a prison, according to documents published by the government on Wednesday. Ten of the 11 sites proposed by some of Europe's biggest utilities for building new nuclear power plants are next to existing atomic installations where many local residents work. But future guests of Her Majesty's Prison Haverigg, Lake District visitors and the operators of a ...

Thu, 16 Apr 09
Future-proof homes for a warmer world
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16952-futureproof-homes-for-a-warmer-world.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=climate-change
New Scientist: Global warming will change how we live. Models forecast that tropical storms are likely to become stronger and more frequent, drought will bring more forest fires, and shrinking ice caps will raise sea levels worldwide. Some architects are now preparing for these challenges by attempting to design "future-proof" homes. See a gallery of some future-proof designs - and see how they fared in the face of recent hurricanes In the US, do-it-yourself dome homes are growing in ...

Thu, 16 Apr 09
Rainforest soy moratorium shows success in the Brazilian Amazon
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0415-amazon_soy.html
Mongabay: An industry-led moratorium on soy plantings on recently deforested rainforest land continues to show success in the Brazilian Amazon, reports a study released Tuesday by environmental groups and Abiove, the soy industry group that formed the initiative and represents about 90 percent of Brazil's soy crush. The satellite-based study showed that only 12 of 630 sample areas (1,389 of 157,896 hectares) deforested since July 2006 -- the date the moratorium took effect -- were planted with ...

Thu, 16 Apr 09
Norway: Oslo sets limit on Arctic seabed, short of North Pole
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE53E3X420090415?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Norway became on Wednesday the first Arctic state to agree limits to its northern seabed, stopping short of the North Pole in a regional territorial scramble driven partly by hopes of finding oil and gas. Norway's newly defined continental shelf covers 235,000 sq kms (90,740 sq miles), or three-quarters the size of mainland Norway, Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere said. To the north, the shelf ends in deep water 550 kms (341.8 miles) from the Pole that is claimed by both ...

Thu, 16 Apr 09
Climate change 'tops Australians' security fears'
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090415/sc_afp/australiamilitaryreport
Agence France-Presse: Australians believe climate change is the biggest security challenge facing their country and are largely relaxed about the rise of China, a government report released Wednesday showed. The report, which canvassed community attitudes as part of a review of the country's defence forces, also found that Australians were interested in friendly relations with Indonesia. The findings are in sharp contrast to a similar study conducted in the late 1990s, when Australians ranked ...

Thu, 16 Apr 09
Afganistan: Smog Adds to Kabul's Hazards
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=46509
Inter Press Service: On any given day, a pall of smog and dust hangs over Kabul's streets. It clings to the face, burns the eyes, and stains the hands. It bathes the cars, often stuck bumper-to-bumper in traffic, and occludes the view of the distant mountains. "My friends and I prefer to stay indoors whenever we meet," says Kabul resident Habib Zahori, "because we can't stand the air outside." The biggest killer in Kabul may not be the Taliban, but air pollution. Experts consider Kabul to be one of ...

Thu, 16 Apr 09
Spam epidemic results in giant carbon footprint
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2240413/spam-epidemic-results-giant
Business Green: Anyone with an email account knows that spam is a nuisance, but as well as wasting time unsolicited emails are also guilty of wasting huge quantities of energy, according to new research released today. The study from environmental research firm ICF was commissioned by security software firm McAfee and found that the 63 trillion spam email messages sent each year waste 33 terawatt hours of energy, or enough to power 2.4m homes. The research also assessed the carbon footprint ...

Thu, 16 Apr 09
Global warming 'might hinder coconut production'
http://www.scidev.net/en/agriculture-and-environment/global-warming-might-hinder-coconut-production-.html?utm_source=link&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=en_agricultureandenvironment
SciDev.Net: Global warming could adversely affect the production of coconuts -- a staple fruit on which millions of tropical country inhabitants depend -- scientists report. Sri Lankan and US scientists analysed data on monthly rainfall from 1932 to 2003 in seven coconut-growing regions in Sri Lanka, and annual coconut production from 1971 to 2004. They found that coconut production was inhibited during drought years. Using this data they developed a model to predict annual coconut ...

Thu, 16 Apr 09
First Solar to build Nevada photovoltaic plant
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090415/ap_on_bi_ge/solar_power_plant
Associated Press: Solar manufacturer First Solar Inc. said Wednesday it will build the largest photovoltaic power plant in the U.S. near an existing facility in Nevada. Tempe, Ariz.-based First Solar said the 48-megawatt plant will produce power for roughly 30,000 homes. It will be added to the existing 10-megawatt El Dorado plant run by Sempra Generation in Boulder City, Nev., about 40 miles southeast of Las Vegas. John Carrington, First Solar's executive vice president for marketing and ...

Thu, 16 Apr 09
The emissions reductions gospel is failing - we need something more
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/cif-green/2009/apr/15/geoengineering-emissions-reduction
Guardian: Interviewed last week, John Holdren, President Obama's chief scientific adviser, said that drastic measures should not be "off the table" in discussions on how best to tackle climate change and that geo-engineering could not be ruled out. Making clear these were his personal views, he said: "It's got to be looked at. We don't have the luxury of taking any approach off the table." He's right. We don't have that luxury – not only because the Kyoto protocol's first phase, running to ...

Thu, 16 Apr 09
Australia: Dam water levels dwindling to historic low
http://www.theage.com.au/environment/dam-water-levels-dwindling-to-historic-low-20090414-a697.html
Age: MELBOURNE'S dwindling water storages are on the verge of a historic low, a quarter of a century after the Thomson Dam was promised to drought-proof the city. The nine major dams are expected to fall to 28.4 per cent of capacity today, matching the record low set in June 2007. Despite rain being forecast for today, a new record is expected to be set within days, depending on consumption rates. The grim statistics mean Melbourne's dams are holding enough water to supply ...

Thu, 16 Apr 09
China gears up for green cars push
http://www.shanghaidaily.com/article/?id=397697&type=Business
Shanghai Daily: CHINESE auto makers have accelerated efforts to develop electric cars and take a leadership role in the next generation of vehicle technology after last year's record high oil prices and concerns about climate change fueled a global push toward green cars. Still, analysts don't expect a rapid transformation in the world's second-largest auto-making market in the next 10 years because battery technology, supplier chain and infrastructure need upgrading. "The Chinese government ...

Thu, 16 Apr 09
Offshore resources go beyond oil wells
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/04/14/MNFH172CDO.DTL
San Francisco Chronicle: Oil isn't the only energy source to be found along America's coast. While politicians and environmentalists fight over offshore drilling, engineers are exploring ways to generate electricity from the waves and winds at sea. Offshore windmills and wave-energy farms one day could power America's growing coastal cities and states, perhaps supplying more than 20 percent of the electricity they need, government researchers say. Federal officials want to encourage renewable energy ...

Thu, 16 Apr 09
United States: Boxer tries for support for omnibus energy bill
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/04/14/BUGG1727CD.DTL
San Francisco Chronicle: California Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer told more than 50 Silicon Valley CEOs Tuesday that they need to go to Washington if they want to help improve Americans' health and end the country's dependence on foreign oil. Around 40 executives have signed up for the trip in early May through the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, a trade group in San Jose that hosted Boxer's talk, so they can lobby for the omnibus energy bill, which includes a cap-and-trade plan for greenhouse gas emissions. ...

Thu, 16 Apr 09
Marine power not ready for prime time, experts say
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=124585
New York Times: Technology for tapping ocean waves, tides and rivers for electricity is far from commercial viability and lagging well behind wind, solar and other fledgling power sectors, a panel of experts said last week during a forum here on climate change and marine ecosystems. While the potential for marine energy is great, ocean wave and tidal energy projects are still winding their way through an early research and development phase, these experts said. "It's basically not commercially ...

Thu, 16 Apr 09
Climate endangerment finding clears White House review
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=124584
New York Times: U.S. EPA's proposed endangerment finding cleared the White House review process yesterday, paving the way for an official announcement detailing the threats posed by global warming to both public health and welfare. President Obama's EPA inherited the global warming review following an April 2007 Supreme Court decision that ordered the Bush administration to reconsider whether greenhouse gas emissions are pollutants subject to regulation under the Clean Air Act. EPA sent its ...

Thu, 16 Apr 09
United States: Trees may dry up with global warming
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=103081498
National Public Radio: Warming global temperatures could cause massive tree die-offs. That's the gloomy conclusion of a new study by scientists at the University of Arizona. The study addressed a fairly basic question: Do warmer temperatures make trees more susceptible to drought? It might seem surprising that scientists don't already know the answer to that question. But biologist David Breshears of the University of Arizona says there's a lot that scientists don't know about trees. "Like, what does ...

Thu, 16 Apr 09
United States: Palin sees gas drilling as step to curb global warming
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-palin15-2009apr15,0,3824210.story
LA Times: Reporting from Anchorage -- Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin acknowledged Tuesday that global warming was harming her state but said stepped-up natural-gas production could mitigate its effects. Speaking at a hearing before Interior Secretary Ken Salazar -- the third of several he is holding across the country to consider renewed oil and gas leasing on the outer continental shelf -- Palin said that relatively clean-burning natural gas could supplant dirtier fuels and slow the discharge of ...

Thu, 16 Apr 09
Oakland Zoo working on project to save the western pond turtle
http://www.insidebayarea.com/oaklandtribune/localnews/ci_12142566
Oakland Tribune: When it comes to determining the sex of the western pond turtle, warmer temperatures produce females, while the cooler temperatures turn out the males. "Hot females, cold males," said Nick Geist, a biology professor at Sonoma State who has been studying the turtles since last summer and recently spent a day at the Oakland Zoo determining the sex of at least 16 of the 22 turtles there through a surgical procedure. The result: 10 females and six males, zoo officials ...

Thu, 16 Apr 09
Who's going to get the carbon pollution credits?
http://features.csmonitor.com/environment/2009/04/14/whos-going-to-get-the-carbon-pollution-credits/
Christian Science Monitor: One of the newest parlor games in Washington is figuring out who will get a slice of more than a hundred billion dollars` worth of carbon credits contained in energy and climate-change legislation emerging in Congress. That game sloshed into Boston Monday afternoon with Obama energy czar Carol Browner, presidential science adviser John Holdren, and US Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., coauthor of new energy-climate legislation, telling a packed auditorium of MIT students, faculty, and business ...

Thu, 16 Apr 09
Birds may have to fly an extra 250 miles because of climate change
http://news.scotsman.com/scitech/Birds-may-have-to-fly.5169896.jp
Scotsman: TINY birds that already face epic annual migrations could have to fly up to 250 miles further because of climate change, experts have warned. The scientists behind the research have said that the extra distance added to already-marathon journeys could be the "difference between life and death" for some birds. Those likely to be affected include the whitethroat, a warbler about the size of a great tit commonly seen in Scotland during the summer. It could be forced to ...

Thu, 16 Apr 09
Aussies see climate change as a threat
http://news.brisbanetimes.com.au/breaking-news-national/aussies-see-climate-change-as-a-threat-20090415-a78z.html
AAP: Ten years ago, Australians consulted about the 2000 Defence White Paper cited a belligerent Indonesia and border protection as their principal security concerns. But no longer. Australians consulted for the upcoming 2009 Defence White Paper see Indonesia as a friend, border security under control and climate change as the greatest challenge. And despite perceptions among some analysts, Australians see China as a trading partner and market and not as a rising ...

Thu, 16 Apr 09
Green energy plan could drive GE jobs
http://www.greenvilleonline.com/article/20090415/NEWS01/904150328/1001/NEWS01
Greenville News: A federal proposal to require electric utilities to generate a certain percentage of their power without burning fossil fuels could re-ignite the U.S. wind energy industry and be a boon to wind turbine production at General Electric's Greenville plant, a high-ranking GE executive said Tuesday. John Krenicki, one of four vice chairmen at GE, said the wind energy industry was enjoying double-digit growth until the financial crisis. Tax credits and loan guarantees for wind farms ...

Thu, 16 Apr 09
Government powers up battery regulations
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2240396/government-powers-battery
Business Green: Firms should find it easier to safely dispose of old batteries from next year after new regulations governing battery recycling were presented before parliament yesterday. The wide ranging rules provide the legislative framework for the EU's batteries directive and are scheduled to pass into UK law this summer before taking full effect early next year. Modelled on the waste electronic and electrical equipment directive (WEEE), the new Waste Batteries and Accumulators ...

Thu, 16 Apr 09
Japan: Toshiba batteries promise 90-second recharges
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2240353/toshiba-recharges-battery
Business Green: Japanese technology company Toshiba has reportedly improved its so-called Super Charge Ion Battery (SCiB) technology to make it even more efficient. According to reports from Japanese financial daily Nikkei, Toshiba has improved the performance of its lithium-titanate-based SCiB by up to four times. The battery can now be charged in around 90 seconds making it suitable for applications requiring very high energy densities or very short charging delays. According to Nikkei, ...

Thu, 16 Apr 09
United Kingdom: New nuclear site options unveiled
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7999471.stm
BBC: The government has released a list of 11 sites in England and Wales where new nuclear power stations could be built. The locations were nominated by companies interested in building the stations, and the government has given its initial approval to the sites. Nine of the locations have previously had nuclear reactors, and the other two are close to Sellafield in Cumbria. A month-long public consultation period now commences. The government wants the first reactors ...

Thu, 16 Apr 09
Insurers go green to beat climate change
http://news.brisbanetimes.com.au/breaking-news-business/insurers-go-green-to-beat-climate-change-20090415-a7c8.html
AAP: Global insurers are scrambling to roll out green product innovations in a bid to limit climate change caused losses tipped to reach $US400 billion ($A291.44 billion) a year this decade. Catastrophic losses to the global economy brought about by climate change exceeded $US200 billion ($A277.99 billion) in 2008 - the third highest annual level recorded. This has prompted the global insurance industry to develop a host of innovations to curb its exposure to climate change, a ...

Thu, 16 Apr 09
Potential sites for UK nuclear power stations revealed
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/apr/15/nuclear-sites-revealed
Press Association: A list of potential sites for new nuclear power stations was unveiled by the government today. Nine of the locations have previously been home to nuclear reactors – including Dungeness in Kent and Sizewell in Suffolk – while two others are close to the former Sellafield reactor site in Cumbria. The sites have been nominated by companies interested in building the stations and have been initially approved by the government. The list of potential locations is: Dungeness in ...

Thu, 16 Apr 09
Spam 'uses as much power as 2.1m homes'
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/apr/15/spam-mcafee-symantec-emails-environment
Guardian: Internet users have long known that spam emails - offering everything from cheap medicines and sex aids to get-rich-quick schemes - are an unwanted annoyance, but new research suggests that they are also hugely damaging to the environment. More than 80% of the world's email traffic is now spam and the transmission and receipt of unwanted email gobbles up 33bn kilowatt-hours of electricity a year, according to anti-virus software specialist McAfee. That is the equivalent of the ...

Thu, 16 Apr 09
Birds face longer migration due to climate change, experts warn
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/apr/15/migrating-birds-climate-change
Guardian: Migrating birds such as the garden warbler and whitethroat will face longer journeys because of climate change, experts warned today. A team of scientists led by Durham University has demonstrated that while the birds' breeding ranges are likely to shift northwards, their wintering areas will not, thus increasing the length of their journeys by up to 250 miles. The study, published in the Journal of Biogeography, has serious implications for many of the birds returning this month to ...

Thu, 16 Apr 09
Copenhagen climate signs positive: Australia, China
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE53E1WK20090415?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: There are positive signs a climate summit in December will forge a broader pact between rich and poorer nations to fight global warming, a top Australian official and an influential Chinese expert said on Wednesday. But the "wasteful and luxurious" lifestyles of rich nations could yet alienate poorer nations, with developed countries like the United States and Australia needing to curb energy use and first set an example, China climate expert Pan Jiahua said. Australia's ...

Thu, 16 Apr 09
Battle Over Offshore Drilling In Arctic Dwarfs ANWR
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=103119177&ft=1&f=1025
National Public Radio: Melting ice in the Arctic may not be good for species that live there, but it does mean those icy waters are much more accessible and cost-effective places to drill for oil and gas. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar was in Alaska this week as part of an "information gathering" tour to help craft a new Outer Continental Shelf drilling policy. After two days of public testimony from those for and against offshore drilling, Salazar pronounced Alaskans passionate and divided. Just ...

Thu, 16 Apr 09
Australia: Govt's climate change policies, 'inadequate': Scientists tell Senate inquiry
http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2008/s2543811.htm
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: LISA MILLAR: A group of climate scientists has told a parliamentary inquiry that the Government's planned climate change policies aren't sufficient enough to stop dangerous warming. The group says a cut of 30 per cent by 2020 and not 5 to 15 as the Federal Government is planning is the "bare minimum required" to avoid dangerous climate change. Yet two other scientists have told the inquiry there is no evidence to suggest that global warming is caused by human activity and that ...

Thu, 16 Apr 09
UK biofuels target creating more emissions, environmentalists claim
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/apr/15/biofuels-carbon-emissions
Guardian: The government's scheme to introduce biofuels as a way to cut carbon emissions from road transport has led to extra emissions equivalent to putting 500,000 more cars on UK roads, according to environmentalists. A new study shows that producing the amount of biofuels required to meet the government's targets in the past year could have inadvertently doubled the overall emissions of CO2 compared with the standard fossil fuels they have replaced. The extra emissions come from forest ...

Thu, 16 Apr 09
Report warns biofuels could produce twice as much carbon as fossil fuels
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2240370/report-warns-biofuels-produce
Business Green: Friends of the Earth has today called on the government to suspend targets for the use of biofuel after new research revealed that the carbon footprint of biofuels used in the UK could be double that of conventional transport fuels. The study by consultancy Scott Wilson Group was commissioned by Friends of the Earth to assess the impact of the UK's Renewables Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO) targets on land use. Based on "a conservative assumption", it found that 10 per cent ...

Thu, 16 Apr 09
To breed or not to breed
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/apr/15/zoe-williams-population-growth
Guardian: David Attenborough has assumed his position as a patron of the Optimum Population Trust with some strict remarks about population growth. "There are three times as many people in the world as when I started making television programmes only a mere 56 years ago," he said. "It is frightening. We can't go on as we have been. We are seeing the consequences in terms of ecology, atmospheric pollution and in terms of the space and food production." Like so many areas of green debate, this is ...

Thu, 16 Apr 09
United Kingdom: Possibility of new nuclear power plants in Lake District sparks eco concerns
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/apr/15/nuclear-power
Guardian: Two sites close to the Lake District National Park have been listed as potential locations for a new generation of nuclear power plants by the government today. Braystones and Kirkstanton in Cumbria have already attracted strong local opposition to being nominated by German company RWE Power but have been included alongside existing atomic sites such as Sizewell in Suffolk and Wylfa in Anglesey. The proposals form part of government plans to replace ageing nuclear power ...

Thu, 16 Apr 09
United Kingdom: Government publishes list of new nuclear sites
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2240378/government-publishes-list
Business Green: The government's plans to build a new fleet of nuclear reactors took a major step forward today with the publication of a list of 11 potential sites. EDF Energy, which last year acquired UK nuclear energy developer British Energy in a £12.5bn deal, led the way nominating five new sites for development at Hartlepool, Heysham, Dungeness, Hinkley Poin and Sizewell. Meanwhile, RWE nominated sites at Kirksanton and Braystones, as well as at Wylfa Peninsular, which it nominated alongside ...

Thu, 16 Apr 09
Spam tramples environment with huge carbon footprint
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16951-spam-tramples-environment-with-huge-carbon-footprint.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=climate-change
New Scientist: The 62 trillion spam emails sent in 2008 created carbon emissions equivalent to that of 2 billion gallons of petrol burnt in a car engine