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Sat, 30 May 09
Conservation Group, Universities Unveil Climate Change Web Tool
http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7015322871
All Headline News: A web tool for projecting past and future temperature of specific areas of the world was unveiled Friday for use by climate experts and the general public. The tool called ClimateWizard uses computer programming methods, geographic information systems (GIS) and cutting-edge Internet technologies to analyze large databases of climate models located remotely on computer servers, according to the University of Washington (UW), one of the partners that developed the online program. Aside ...

Sat, 30 May 09
The Arctic's oil reserves mapped
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8073363.stm
BBC: An estimated 30% of the world's undiscovered gas and 13% of its undiscovered oil may be in the Arctic, according to a map published on Friday. The map is the culmination of an assessment carried out by the US Geological Survey (USGS). Writing in the journal Science, its authors say the findings are "important to the interests of Arctic countries". But, they add, they are unlikely to substantially shift the geographic pattern of world oil production. According to ...

Sat, 30 May 09
Climate Envoy Stern Says China Must Be 'in the Game
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/search/%22climate+change%22+or+%22global+warming%22+or+%22renewable+energy%22/SIG=1242pkrj1/*http%3A//www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601124&sid=aM_HlraCcDLQ
Bloomberg: China is at the forefront of major developing nations that must help reduce greenhouse-gas emissions in a new treaty to stem global warming, U.S. climate envoy Todd Stern said. The Asian nation, the world's biggest producer of heat- trapping gases, will need to make commitments in the worldwide agreement planned under United Nations leadership this year, the top U.S. treaty official said, without naming specific actions. The U.S. and China together produce more than 40 percent ...

Sat, 30 May 09
EU Reports Decrease In Overall Emissions In 2007
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1697060/eu_reports_decrease_in_overall_emissions_in_2007/index.html?source=r_science
redOrbit: Greenhouse gas emissions dropped in Europe for the third consecutive year as the European Union announced on Friday that it is on track to meet its long-term climate goal. Emissions of six greenhouse gases from the EU's 27 nations dropped by 1.2 percent in 2007. That percentage translates into 59 million tons of carbon dioxide over figures from 2006. Compared to 1990 levels, emissions in the EU were down 9.3 percent. Of the 15 EU nations that have agreed to the Kyoto ...

Sat, 30 May 09
Carbon capture technology tested
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/edinburgh_and_east/8072583.stm
BBC: ScottishPower chief executive Nick Horler said: "This is the first time that CCS technology has been switched on and working at an operational coal-fired power station in the UK. "It's a major step forward in delivering the reality of carbon-free fossil fuel electricity generation." ScottishPower's parent company Iberdrola said the UK would be its global centre of excellence for CCS development, bringing together academics, industry experts and engineers. A professorship ...

Sat, 30 May 09
Refugees Join List of Climate-Change Issues
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=128786
New York Times: With their boundless vistas of turquoise water framed by swaying coconut palms, the Carteret Islands northeast of the Papua New Guinea mainland might seem the idyllic spot to be a castaway. But sea levels have risen so much that during the annual king tide season, November to March, the roiling ocean blocks the view from one island to the next, and residents stash their possessions in fishing nets strung between the palm trees. "It gives you the scary feeling that you don't ...

Sat, 30 May 09
Government halts forest road-building for 1 year
http://www.gazettetimes.com/articles/2009/05/29/news/community/3loc12_govhaltforestroads.txt
Associated Press: The Obama administration is calling for a one-year moratorium on road-building and other development on about 50 million acres of remote national forests. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack issued a directive Thursday reinstating for one year most of a Clinton-era ban against new road construction and development in national forests. The 2001 rule banned road building and logging in more than 58 million acres of remote national forests, mostly in the West. Conflicting court ...

Sat, 30 May 09
Canada hedges on 2010 start for emissions rules
http://ca.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idCATRE54R6XB20090528
Reuters: Canada's rules for cutting greenhouse gas emissions may not come into effect by 2010 as had been planned, Environment Minister Jim Prentice said on Thursday. The rules may be ready by next year but the implementation timing will depend on discussions with other countries -- including the United States, Canada's largest trading partner-- for economic competitiveness reasons, Prentice said. Prentice, speaking to reporters from London, cited a major climate change proposal now ...

Sat, 30 May 09
Global Warming already costing $125bn a year in economic losses
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2243197/global-warming-already-costing
Business Green: Global Warming is already responsible for 300,000 deaths a year and results in annual economic losses of $125bn, according to a major new study on the human impact of climate change. The report was released today by the Global Humanitarian Forum, a think tank run by former UN secretary general Kofi Annan, and is being touted as the first comprehensive assessment of the human impacts of climate change. It calculates that climate change is already having adverse effects on 325m ...

Sat, 30 May 09
Brazil: 100,000 Hectares of Atlantic Forest Lost in Three Years
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47030
Inter Press Service: Stretched out along the coastal zones of 17 of Brazil's 26 states, an area marked by a high level of agricultural and industrial development, the Mata Atlântica or Atlantic Forest lost more than 100,000 hectares in the last three years, mainly due to urban expansion and economic growth. The "Atlas of Mata Atlântica Remnants", released May 26 by the Fundação SOS Mata Atlãntica and the National Institute for Space Research (INPE), studied the vulnerable ecosystem in 10 ...

Sat, 30 May 09
Japanese may balk at cost of 25 pct carbon cut: PM
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE54S41420090529?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: The high costs Japan would incur if Tokyo promises to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent from 1990 levels by 2020 would be hard for the public to accept during the recession, Prime Minister Taro Aso said on Friday. His comments showed there was still no consensus within the government after Environment Minister Tetsuo Saito said earlier this week that setting a mid-term target for cuts in a range of 15 to 25 percent was one option. Aso has said he would announce Japan's ...

Sat, 30 May 09
Copenhagen must create more buyers for carbon markets
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/may/29/copenhagen-carbon-market-buyer
Guardian: As I've been reminded at this week's Carbon Expo in Barcelona, carbon markets need more buyers. I've met a large number of people who are eager to get their climate-busting solution funded by selling permits on the carbon trading market. Some want to build windfarms and other renewables, others wish to prevent forests being cut down, others want to bury charcoal – fertilising soils and trapping carbon – still others want to seed the oceans with micro-nutrients to bring the oceans' ailing ...

Sat, 30 May 09
Nobel laureates compare climate crisis to threat from nuclear weapons
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/may/29/prince-charles-nobel-laureates
Guardian: Twenty Nobel prizewinners, including US energy secretary Steven Chu, Nigerian writer Wole Soyinka, and Kenyan environmentalist Wangari Maathai, have compared the threat of climate change to that posed to civilisation by nuclear weapons. Borrowing a phrase from US civil rights leader Martin Luther King, they said at the end of a three-day climate change symposium hosted by Prince Charles in London: "We must recognise the fierce urgency of now. The evidence is compelling for the range ...

Sat, 30 May 09
Climate change huge challenge for Africa-minister
http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSLT1022584
Reuters: The challenges facing Africa to fight climate change are enormous and costs are huge though hard to quantify, South Africa's environment minister said on Friday. Minister Buyelwa Sonjica said her peers from more than 30 African countries, meeting in Nairobi, had agreed a joint position on climate change, to be presented at negotiations in Copenhagen this December. "Increased support to Africa should be based on priorities which include adaptation, capacity building, financing ...

Sat, 30 May 09
Climate change could kill 500,000 a year by 2030
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17218-climate-change-could-kill-500000-a-year-by-2030.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=climate-change
New Scientist: It's been a busy week for climate change campaigners. First, a gathering of Nobel laureates at St James's Palace, London, declared world governments must take bold and quick action to avert catastrophic climate change. Then, on Friday, Kofi Annan piled on the pressure, throwing his weight behind the first report investigating the impact of climate change on humans. The 20 Nobel prize-winning scientists, economists and writers signed a memorandum (pdf format) calling for an agreement ...

Sat, 30 May 09
U.S. says rich nations likely to miss carbon targets
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE54S4TT20090529?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Rich nations as a group are unlikely to reach the deep 2020 cuts in greenhouse gas emissions urged by developing nations as part of a new U.N. climate treaty, the top U.S. climate envoy said on Friday. China, India and other developing nations say the rich must do most to fight global warming to encourage developing countries to sign up for more action as part of a new U.N. climate pact due to be agreed in Copenhagen in December. "We...have been engaged in conversations with ...

Sat, 30 May 09
US "very optimistic" following latest China climate talks
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2243154/optimistic-following-latest
Business Green: The chances of an international climate change agreement being brokered before the end of the year received a major boost yesterday, after senior US and Chinese officials expressed optimism that both sides were willing to compromise in pursuit of a deal. Speaking at a press conference to mark the end of five days of bilateral talks in Beijing, John Kerry, former presidential candidate and chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said he was "very optimistic" that rapid ...

Sat, 30 May 09
Australia: Climate change to kill coastal tourist attractions
http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,27574,25549911-3102,00.html
Courier-Mail: SUPER cyclones. Heatwaves. Catastrophic coastal flooding in north Queensland. Ski slopes with no snow. This is the grim scenario being laid out as a warning to Australian tourism leaders as they plan strategies for the industry's survival over the next 40 years. Some Australian and international scientists believe tourism will be critically affected by climate change from as early as 2030. But they say there has been little scientific debate on the issue in Australia and ...

Fri, 29 May 09
Carbon trading and cash values on forests cannot curb carbon emissions
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/cif-green/2009/may/28/carbon-trading
Guardian: When Sir Crispin Tickell had the temerity to suggest that "the business community needs to re-examine the fundamentals of economics" at the recent World Business Summit on Climate Change in Copenhagen, his discordant tone was drowned out by a chorus of more than 800 delegates singing the praises of unfettered markets as a means to tackle climate change. The commitment to carry on with business as usual took an almost surreal form at times. Indra Nooyi, the chief executive officer of ...

Fri, 29 May 09
Russia loses billions from decision delays in carbon trading
http://en.rian.ru/business/20090528/155113290.html
Ria Novosti: Russia has lost out on billions of dollars in investment and carbon trading payments due to government delays in considering environmental project applications, the head of an environmental investment group said. Under the rules of the Kyoto Protocol, Russia is able to sell unused carbon emission allowances to other countries. "Thirty-eight projects that were considered by Economics Ministry commissions but were not approved would have allowed us to cut emissions by 100 million ...

Fri, 29 May 09
Climate health costs: bug-borne ills, killer heat
http://www.reuters.com/article/americasCrisis/idUSN14495466
Reuters: Tree-munching beetles, malaria-carrying mosquitoes and deer ticks that spread Lyme disease are three living signs that climate change is likely to exact a heavy toll on human health. These pests and others are expanding their ranges in a warming world, which means people who never had to worry about them will have to start. And they are hardly the only health threats from global warming. The Lancet medical journal declared in a May 16 commentary: "Climate change is the biggest ...

Fri, 29 May 09
Enviro groups like what they see in Obama's justice pick
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=128707
Greenwire: Even though environmental issues have not been a major cog in Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor's legal career, environmentalists have joined the chorus of left-leaning advocacy groups that have thrown their support behind President Obama's pick for the high court. "Judge Sotomayor is well-qualified in light of her personal, academic, legal and judicial experience," said Glenn Sugameli, senior legislative counsel and head of Earthjustice's judicial nominations project. "Her ...

Thu, 28 May 09
Global emissions to leap 39 percent by 2030: US
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090527/sc_afp/environmentusenergyclimateoutlook
Agence France-Presse: Global carbon dioxide emissions are set to rise 39 percent by 2030 as energy consumption surges in the developing world, notably in Asian giants China and India, the United States warned on Wednesday. The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) said global energy demand would leap 44 percent between 2006 and 2030, fueled by a 73-percent rise in demand from non-developed countries. The giants of the developing world, China and India, will fuel much of the growth as their ...

Thu, 28 May 09
Greenland ice could fuel severe U.S. sea level rise
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE54Q4SY20090527?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: New York, Boston and other cities on North America's northeast coast could face a rise in sea level this century that would exceed forecasts for the rest of the planet if Greenland's ice sheet keeps melting as fast as it is now, researchers said on Wednesday. Sea levels off the northeast coast of North America could rise by 12 to 20 inches more than other coastal areas if the Greenland glacier-melt continues to accelerate at its present pace, the researchers reported. This is ...

Thu, 28 May 09
In China, Pelosi Calls for Cooperation on Climate
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=128686
New York Times: Nancy Pelosi, the House speaker, met China's two top leaders on Wednesday to discuss cooperation on energy and environmental problems, and Prime Minister Wen Jiabao said that Beijing would join Washington to "push for positive results" at the next global warming summit this fall in Copenhagen. Mr. Wen's public statements, reported by the state's Xinhua news agency, offered no specifics, however, and some experts here noted that the two nations' official positions on reducing ...

Thu, 28 May 09
Big oil meetings draw activists, some protest votes
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090527/us_nm/us_oilcompanies
Reuters: Chevron Corp shareholders rejected a call for an environmental protection report on its operations, disappointing activists and funds worried by a $27 billion damages claim against it in Ecuador. The closely watched proposal at its annual meeting on Wednesday, for a report on protection of people and the environment in countries where it operates, had 7 percent support from shareholders, the oil company said, citing preliminary results. About five or six dozen protesters ...

Thu, 28 May 09
Permafrost melt poses long-term threat, says study
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090527/sc_afp/climatewarmingpermafrost
Agence France-Presse: Melting permafrost could eventually disgorge a billion tonnes a year of greenhouse gas into the atmosphere, accelerating the threat from climate change, scientists said Wednesday. Their probe sought to shed light on a fiercely-debated but poorly-understood concern: the future of organic matter that today is locked up in the frozen soil of Alaska, Canada, northern Europe and Siberia. The fear is that, as the land thaws, this material will be converted by microbes into carbon ...

Thu, 28 May 09
Alcohol makes autos more climate-friendly
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20227105.500-alcohol-makes-autos-more-climatefriendly.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=climate-change
New Scientist: DRIVING and alcohol don't usually mix, but giving a petrol engine an occasional slug of the hard stuff could make it as fuel-efficient as a petrol-electric hybrid. So says the Ford Motor Company, which on 19 May revealed test results on a novel ethanol-assisted engine. Called a direct-injection ethanol engine, the unit runs primarily on petrol. When it needs to deliver maximum power - to climb a hill or overtake, for example - the engine management computer adds a little ethanol to ...

Thu, 28 May 09
Permafrost Meltdown May Bog Down Global Warming--For Awhile
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=permafrost-meltdown-bogs-global-warming
Scientific American: When permafrost thaws, microbes convert ancient organic matter in the frozen soil into climate-warming gases, like carbon dioxide and methane, potentially triggering a positive feedback loop that further melts the Arctic. But the once-barren soil also spouts new--and larger--shrubs that can act as a carbon sink, and scientists have wondered what the net effect of permafrost thawing would be on atmospheric carbon balance. A new study published this week in Nature suggests that changing ...

Thu, 28 May 09
Business leaders call for climate policies that are long, loud and legal
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/cif-green/2009/may/27/climate-change-business
Guardian: The mood at the World Business Summit on Climate Change in Copenhagen was framed by Ban Ki-moon's bold opening address. The UN secretary general said that the smart money was backing a low-carbon economy and described the world's high-carbon infrastructure a "toxic asset that threatens the entire portfolio of global goods". In December, Copenhagen will host arguably the most important meeting of our time – the negotiation of a post-Kyoto deal on climate change. If successful, this ...

Thu, 28 May 09
Canada: Ontario set to launch cap and trade plan: reports
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090527/wl_canada_nm/canada_us_environment
Reuters: The Canadian province of Ontario plans to introduce a cap and trade program to lower industrial emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, media reports said on Wednesday. According to an article on the Canadian Broadcasting Corp website, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty said the province cannot wait any longer for Ottawa and Washington to come up with a plan to curb greenhouse gas emissions, blamed for climate change. Legislation could be introduced as early as ...

Thu, 28 May 09
Scandinavian royals in Greenland for climate change visit
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090527/sc_afp/denmarknorwayswedengreenlandroyalsenvironment
Agence France-Presse: The heirs to Scandinavia's thrones arrived in the Danish territory of Greenland Wednesday for a visit to draw attention to the effects of climate change in the Arctic region, a spokeswoman said. Prince Haakon of Norway, Princess Victoria of Sweden and Prince Frederik of Denmark, all heirs to the thrones in their countries, will take part in a research expedition to Greenland until June 1 during the official visit. "The three of them have gone to Greenland for five days to study ...

Thu, 28 May 09
Forecast for climate change bill: cloudy
http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0527/p90s01-comv.html
Christian Science Monitor: A climate change bill that escaped from a House committee last Thursday – and which Congress will confront again next month – has already seen some mighty wriggling from lawmakers forced to take a stand. Yet most realize that capping greenhouse-gas emissions is a subject they can no longer tiptoe around. Without "rapid and massive action" from governments, Earth's climate is likely to heat up twice as much by 2100 as thought just six years ago, says a new MIT study – about 9 degrees ...

Thu, 28 May 09
Greenpeace to IT Industry: You're Slackers On Fighting Climate Change
http://www.reuters.com/article/earth2Tech/idUS378522885220090527
Earth2Tech: Greenpeace has been a fly in the ointment of the consumer electronics industry with its Greener Electronics Guide, which has delivered some harsh scores to gadget-makers over the years. Now, the group is tackling the IT industry: Greenpeace says the IT industry has shown "inadequate leadership in tackling climate change," and it has launched the "Greenpeace Cool IT Challenge," which ranks IT firms like Sun, IBM, Cisco and Microsoft according to their climate change fighting ...

Thu, 28 May 09
China ready to cooperate with US on climate change: report
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090527/sc_afp/chinausclimatewarmingdiplomacy
Agence France-Presse: China is ready to strengthen its cooperation with the United States to combat climate change, Premier Wen Jiabao told US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday, state media reported. "China will cement policy dialogue with the United States, take the joint tackling of climate change as an important aspect of cooperation and push for positive results in the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference," Xinhua news agency quoted Wen as saying. China, the third-largest economy in the ...

Thu, 28 May 09
Are Humans Genetically Programmed To Care About Long-term Future And Climate Change?
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/05/090527105711.htm
ScienceDaily: Humans may be programmed by evolution to care about the future of the environment, suggests new research. Dr Peter Sozou suggests that individuals may have an innate tendency to care about the long-term future of their communities, over timescales much longer than an individual's lifespan. This in turn may help to explain people's wish to take action over long-term environmental problems. The findings are published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, in a paper entitled ...

Thu, 28 May 09
NYC, Boston Could See Higher Sea Level Rise
http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20090527/sc_livescience/nycbostoncouldseehighersealevelrise
LiveScience: New York, Boston, Halifax and other cities in the northeastern United States and Canada could come under greater threat from sea level rise due to melting of the Greenland ice sheet this century, a new study suggests. Greenland is the world's largest island, covering an area more than three times the size of Texas. Some 81 percent of it has been permanently capped by ice, with many glaciers that slowly move ice out sea. The new study, detailed in the May 29 issue of the journal ...

Thu, 28 May 09
Study: Maine greenhouse emissions top many nations
http://www.boston.com/news/local/maine/articles/2009/05/27/study_maine_greenhouse_emissions_top_many_nations/?rss_id=Boston.com+--+Latest+news
Associated Press: Greenpeace says Maine produced more greenhouse gas emissions from 1960 to 2005 than 114 of the 184 countries for which comprehensive data is available. Greenpeace says Maine ranks 30th for global warming pollution among U.S. states but Maine's per capita emissions exceed most of the rest of the world. David Pomerantz, Greenpeace field organizer in Maine, says the report underscores the disproportionate role the U.S. has played in contributing to global warming. He chided ...

Thu, 28 May 09
Exxon shareholders consider environmental issues
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090527/ap_on_bi_ge/us_exxon_shareholders
Associated Press: Activists criticized Exxon Mobil Corp. on environmental and executive-pay issues Wednesday, but the oil giant's CEO defended the company's record on climate change that many scientists blame on burning oil and other fuels. Chairman and Chief Executive Rex W. Tillerson said oil and gas will continue to be the world's dominant fuels until at least 2030, meeting nearly two-thirds of world demand. Tillerson said the company was investing in research by its own scientists and others ...

Thu, 28 May 09
Prince Charles: delay on rainforests will have catastrophic consequences
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/may/27/prince-charles-nobel
Guardian: Catastrophic climate change cannot be avoided unless the world's tropical forests are saved, Prince Charles told 20 Nobel prizewinners, including US energy secretary Steven Chu today. In a passionate speech to the physics, chemistry, peace and literature laureates, Charles appealed to decision-makers to put a monetary value on forests and to act fast. "The longer we all argue about minutiae and statistics, the more rainforest disappears. Solving climate change is the ...

Thu, 28 May 09
Supertower offers glimmer of hope in polluted Chinese city
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/may/27/china-green-supertower
Guardian: You can see the carbon emissions rising by the day over the skyline of Guangzhou, where armies of construction workers are busy throwing up skyscrapers that will soon surpass anything in New York in terms of height and energy consumption. It is the same story all over China where, despite the economic crisis, engineers are completing four more tower blocks every day – almost all fitted with air conditioning, heating, lighting and lifts that will run on coal-powered ...

Thu, 28 May 09
Govt set on June vote for climate change plan
http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news/national/national/general/govt-set-on-june-vote-for-climate-change-plan/1523972.aspx
Canberra Times: The Federal Government will push on with plans for its emissions trading scheme despite it being declared ''dead in the water'' yesterday, effectively paving the way for an early election. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd wanted Parliament to pass the legislation by June but Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull vowed to thwart that plan. In its party room meeting yesterday, the Opposition decided to vote against the legislation and wanted the debate deferred until next year, after ...

Thu, 28 May 09
Research reveals Pacific Ocean threats and solutions
http://www.scidev.net/en/agriculture-and-environment/research-reveals-pacific-ocean-threats-and-solutio.html?utm_source=link&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=en_agricultureandenvironment
SciDev.Net: The Pacific Ocean, occupying a third of the planet's area, faces threats that will render some coastal areas uninhabitable. Pollution such as sewage, runoff from land and toxic waste; habitat destruction; over-fishing; and climate change leading to sea level rise, ocean acidification and warming will all interact to damage the ocean's ecology and coastal economies. These are among the findings of 'Pacific Ocean Synthesis', a report by the US-based Center for Ocean Solutions ...

Thu, 28 May 09
GE says it has reduced greenhouse emissions
http://www.boston.com/news/local/connecticut/articles/2009/05/27/ge_says_it_has_reduced_greenhouse_emissions/?rss_id=Boston.com+--+Latest+news
Associated Press: Industrial conglomerate General Electric Co. says it has reduced its greenhouse gas emissions and is making a growing amount of money from its environmentally conscious business plan launched in 2005. In the annual report of GE's "ecomagination" program, GE said its emissions of greenhouse gases from company operations were 13 percent lower than in 2005, reductions that came from initiatives like using alternative energy sources. The Fairfield, Conn.-based company, one of the ...

Thu, 28 May 09
World CO2 up 39 percent by 2030 without new policy: EIA
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE54Q3BY20090527?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Global emissions of the main greenhouse gas carbon dioxide will jump more than 39 percent by 2030 without new policies and binding pacts to cut global warming pollution, the top U.S. energy forecast agency said on Wednesday. Nearly 200 nations are set to meet late this year in Copenhagen to hash out a new agreement to control greenhouse gases as the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012. U.S. President Barack Obama and leaders in both the House and Senate hope to regulate the gases ...

Thu, 28 May 09
Faceoff Over 'Fracking': Water Battle Brews On Hill
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=104565793&ft=1&f=1025
National Public Radio: Environmentalists and the natural gas industry are getting ready for a battle in Congress over something known as "hydraulic fracturing." "Fracking," as the industry calls it, involves injecting a million gallons or more of water and chemicals deep underground to pry out gas that's locked away in tight spaces. Environmentalists want the federal government to regulate the practice because, in some cases, fracking may be harming nearby water wells. The industry says regulation ...

Thu, 28 May 09
Federal report: Carbon pollution to grow by 40%
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2009-05-27-carbon-pollution-report_N.htm?csp=34
Associated Press: The amount of heat-trapping carbon dioxide seeping into the atmosphere will increase by nearly 40% worldwide by 2030 if ways are not found to require mandatory emission reductions, a U.S. government report said Wednesday. The Energy Information Administration said world energy consumption is expected to grow by 44% over the next two decades as the global economy recovers and continues to expand. The biggest increases in energy use will come from economically developing countries such ...

Thu, 28 May 09
Swarms of giant African butterflies invade England
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/wildlife/5391717/Swarms-of-giant-African-butterflies-invade-England.html
Telegraph: Unusually high numbers of the three-inch wingspan Painted Lady butterflies have been counted by wildlife experts - with more than 3,000 spotted in one area alone in less than one hour. Wildlife expert Kerry King said that not since the 1980s had there been such a surge of numbers of the insects. He said: "In a space of about 45 minutes, we counted nearly 3,000 of these butterflies which is quite incredible. "The Painted Lady is not a British butterfly. It migrates to ...

Thu, 28 May 09
China puts its faith in solar power with huge renewable energy investment
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/may/26/china-invests-solar-power-renewable-energy-environment
Guardian: China is to throw its economic might behind a national solar power plan that could result in it becoming one of the world's biggest harvesters of the sun's energy. The government body responsible for overseeing energy policy has finalised a proposal for billions of pounds of incentives for solar farms and rooftop panels, which will come from the government's £400bn economic stimulus fund. Once approved by the state council, it is expected to give a boost to the domestic ...

Thu, 28 May 09
Nigeria: 14 years after Ken Saro-Wiwa's death, family points finger at Shell in court
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/may/27/ken-saro-wiwa-shell-oil
Guardian: Ken Saro-Wiwa. Photograph: Times Newspapers Ltd/Rex Features In 1995, at a trial that resulted in his conviction and execution, the Nigerian writer and environmental activist Ken Saro-Wiwa vowed that the oil giant Shell would one day be brought to justice. That day is looming large as a New York court prepares for a trial in which the oil giant Shell stands accused of crimes against humanity over its activities in the oil-rich Niger Delta of southern Nigeria. Today, a ...

Thu, 28 May 09
U.N.'s Ban says climate change pace "alarming"
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE54Q1OO20090527?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: The impact of climate change is accelerating at an "alarming" pace and urgent action must be taken, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Wednesday. "What is frightening is that the scientists are now reviewing their predictions, recognizing that climate change impact is accelerating at a much faster pace," Ban said, referring to the ongoing fifth assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. "This is very serious and alarming. That is why I have been ...

Thu, 28 May 09
Is the Water Supply for 8 Million People in New York City at Risk?
http://www.alternet.org/environment/140232/is_the_water_supply_for_8_million_people_in_new_york_city_at_risk/
Truthdig: In the musical "Urinetown,' a severe drought leaves the dwindling supplies of clean water in the hands of a corporation called Urine Good Company. Urine Good Company makes a fortune selling the precious commodity and running public toilets. It pays off politicians to ward off regulation and inspection. It uses the mechanisms of state control to repress an increasingly desperate and impoverished population. The musical satire may turn out to be a prescient vision of the future. ...

Thu, 28 May 09
Saudis warn of huge rise in oil prices
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/may/25/saudi-oil-price-warning
Guardian: Saudi Arabia warned today that the world could be facing another oil shock, with prices back above the record highs of almost $150 a barrel within two to three years. The comments from the Saudi oil minister at an energy summit in Rome were echoed by the IMF, both blaming lower prices and the global recession for hampering investment in new capacity. Prices have fallen back from the peak they reached last year, largely because of the fall in demand in the downturn, and are ...

Thu, 28 May 09
Possible outcomes for Australian carbon trade laws
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/SYD224867.htm
Reuters: The Australian government's timetable for carbon trading was thrown into doubt on Tuesday when the main opposition Liberal and National parties voted to try to delay a parliamentary decision on the plan. The leftist government has introduced nine carbon trading bills into parliament and wants the laws passed by the upper house Senate by July this year. But it is seven votes short of a Senate majority. Here are some of the possible options for the government and outcomes for ...

Thu, 28 May 09
Adaptation Emerges As Key Part Of Any Climate Change Plan
http://e360.yale.edu/content/feature.msp?id=2156
Environment 360: Adaptation. For many in the climate change community, the word has had a traitorous ring, implying that its proponents were giving up on the notion that the world might mitigate the threat of global warming by significantly reducing emissions of greenhouse gases. Adaptation was for quitters. Not anymore. With nations in the industrialized and developing worlds continuing to pump record levels of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, hopes are fading that over the next ...

Thu, 28 May 09
U.S. says climate policies among world's toughest
http://in.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idINTRE54O2E720090526
Reuters: Washington defended its plans to cut its greenhouse gas emissions as among the most ambitious in the world Tuesday as major economies meeting in Paris rallied around a Mexican plan to raise cash to fight climate change. "The United States is proposing to make a seismic change" in toughening policy, U.S. Special Envoy for Climate Change Todd Stern said after two-day talks among 17 major emitters including China, the European Union, India and Russia. "If you look at what the U.S. ...

Thu, 28 May 09
Why Obama Should Take Notes from Cuba on a Green Energy Revolution
http://www.alternet.org/environment/140162/why_obama_should_take_notes_from_cuba_on_a_green_energy_revolution/
AlterNet: Barack Obama has proposed to invest $150 billion in renewable energy and energy efficiency over the next ten years. He need look no further than La Havana for inspiration. Cuba has successfully greened its energy sector over the last few years, and is now exporting its energy revolution. Will we soon benefit from Cuban expertise in cleaning up the US energy sector? Just a few years ago, Cuba was plagued by frequent power blackouts -- the result of inefficient generation in outdated ...

Thu, 28 May 09
Spring agricultural fires have large impact on melting Arctic
http://www.physorg.com/news162565042.html
Physorg: Scientists from around the world will convene at the University of New Hampshire June 2-5, 2009, to discuss key findings from the most ambitious effort ever undertaken to measure "short-lived" airborne pollutants in the Arctic and determine how they contribute in the near term to the dramatic changes underway in the vast, climate-sensitive region. The two-year international field campaign known as POLARCAT was conducted most intensively during two three-week periods last spring and ...

Thu, 28 May 09
Russia makes major shift in climate policy
http://www.nature.com/news/2009/090526/full/news.2009.506.html?s=news_rss
Nature: Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has called for a Russian climate-action plan that includes measures to improve energy efficiency. Russia's government has quietly made a drastic change to its policy on climate change, accepting that anthropogenic global warming poses severe risks and requires immediate action to limit carbon emissions. Policy analysts believe that the new climate 'doctrine', adopted in late April, marks a historic turning point. Principally a position statement, ...

Thu, 28 May 09
Nigeria: The Video Shell Oil Desperately Doesn't Want You to See
http://www.alternet.org/environment/140260/the_video_shell_oil_desperately_doesn't_want_you_to_see/
AlterNet: For over thirteen years, multinational oil giant Royal Dutch Shell has done everything in its power to stop a trial from taking place at which the company must answer to charges that it colluded with the Nigerian military to commit serious human rights abuses to quell peaceful resistance to its operations in the Niger Delta region called Ogoni, including conspiring to bring about the conviction and execution of Ogoni leader Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight of his colleagues. On Tuesday, there ...

Thu, 28 May 09
Shellfish face an uncertain future in a high CO2 world
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-05/plos-sfa052609.php
EurekAlert: Overfishing and disease have decimated shellfish populations in many of the world's temperate estuarine and coastal ecosystems. Smithsonian scientists, led by Whitman Miller, ecologist at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center in Edgewater, Md., have discovered another serious threat to these valuable filter feeders--rising levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide that contribute to the acidification of open ocean, coastal and estuarine waters. Their findings are being published in the ...

Thu, 28 May 09
United Kingdom: Biggest green home myths
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/may/27/dick-strawbridge-green-homes
Guardian: 1) Environmentally friendly installation is expensive All insulation is environmentally friendly. Some installation has better environmental credentials, but what matters is the energy it saves. There is something nice about insulating the loft with reused sheep fleece, or recycled bottles, but if the cost of the insulation is putting you off doing it don't think twice: buy the cheapest. Some stores have sold insulation as cheap as £1 a roll in the past. All insulation takes energy to ...

Thu, 28 May 09
United Kingdom: Prince urges action over climate
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8070131.stm
BBC: Hesitation over tackling climate change could be catastrophic, Prince Charles has told global warming experts. Speaking at St James' Palace, in London, the prince said: "It seems to me that in many ways we already have some of the answers to hand. "We know about energy efficiency, renewable energy, and how to reduce deforestation... but we seem strangely reluctant to apply them," he went on. He said he hoped the scientists could influence a conference in ...

Thu, 28 May 09
Global carbon market doubled in 2008, cut less CO2
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE54Q17A20090527?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: The global market for carbon emissions trading doubled in value last year, but actual realised emissions cuts fell as the global economic slowdown dented clean energy financing, the World Bank said on Wednesday. The market grew to $126 billion last year, up from $63 billion in 2007 and nearly 12 times the value in 2005, the World Bank said in a report at the Carbon Expo conference in Barcelona. A total 4.8 billion tons of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas blamed for ...

Thu, 28 May 09
UN chief says he's alarmed by climate change
http://www.etaiwannews.com/etn/news_content.php?id=960645&lang=eng_news
Associated Press: U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says he is very concerned about the accelerating pace of climate change. Ban told aid agencies in Finland on Wednesday that the world must take "urgent action" to deal with global warming because it's happening faster than many scientists had predicted. The U.N. chief described the situation as "very serious and alarming." Ban was wrapping up a three-day visit to Finland, where he discussed climate change and the global economic crisis ...

Thu, 28 May 09
Sharp set to launch solar powered mobile phones
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2243011/sharp-set-launch-solar-powered
Business Green: Japanese electronics giant Sharp is poised to launch its first solar-powered mobile phones in its home market this summer, according to local press reports. Mobile phone operator KDDI Corp confirmed yesterday that it is to start offering Sharp's "Solar Phone SH002" from next month, which features a polycrystalline silicon solar cell module on the back of the handset. Makoto Takahashi, general manager of the consumer service and product sector at KDDI, told the Tech-On news ...

Thu, 28 May 09
Big Oil warms to ethanol
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=128606
New York Times: For decades, the big oil companies and the farm lobby have been fighting about ethanol, with the farmers pushing to produce more of it and the refiners arguing it was a boondoggle that would do little to solve the country's energy problems. So why are technicians for BP, the giant oil company, now working at an experimental ethanol plant in this old Louisiana oil town, helping to make it more efficient? The erstwhile enemies, it turns out, are gradually learning to get along, ...

Thu, 28 May 09
Canada: Polluters to face cap-trade system
http://www.torontosun.com/news/canada/2009/05/27/9581831-sun.html
Toronto Sun: The Dalton McGuinty government is introducing legislation today to create a carbon cap-and-trade emissions system that it says will force polluters to curb their excesses -- or pay big. "The bill will give the government the broad legislative framework to enable it to move ahead with a cap-and-trade system," a government source said. "But I don't think there's going to be specific emissions levels, or anything like that, in the legislation." Ontario is expected to share ...

Thu, 28 May 09
Solar power should replace wind energy, says Jack Steinberger
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article6368156.ece
Times (UK): Europe should scrap its support for wind energy as soon as possible to focus on far more efficient emerging forms of clean power generation including solar thermal energy, one of the world's most distinguished scientists said yesterday. Professor Jack Steinberger, a Nobel prize-winning director of the CERN particle physics laboratory in Geneva, said that wind represented an illusory technology -- a cul-de-sac that would prove uneconomic and a waste of resources in the battle against ...

Thu, 28 May 09
Indonesia: RI could get $20 billion from protecting forests: Greenpeace
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2009/05/27/ri-could-get-20-billion-protecting-forests-greenpeace.html
Jakarta Post: With the third largest area of forests in the world, Indonesia could rake in billions of dollars every year from a future carbon market by curbing the rate of deforestation, a climate expert from Greenpeace said. Paul Winn, a forest and climate campaigner from Greenpeace Australia-Pacific, said developed nations were waiting for Indonesia to impose a moratorium on logging before shelling out the money. "Indonesia could generate roughly US$20 billion annually from market-linked ...

Thu, 28 May 09
Rare animals 'to be moved from native habitats because of climate change'
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/wildlife/5383976/Rare-animals-to-be-moved-from-native-habitats-because-of-climate-change.html
Telegraph: Conservationists fear that rapid climate change could see animals and plants "trapped" in homes that become too hot or dry for them, raising the possibility of extinction. But now for the first time experts have been evaluating ways to help species adapt to rapid climate change. They are considering a controversial strategy called "managed relocation". The project, partly funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), involves humans stepping in to move species into ...

Thu, 28 May 09
Duke Energy building last two coal plants: CEO
http://www.reuters.com/article/GCA-GreenBusiness/idUSTRE54P1LG20090526
Reuters: U.S. firm Duke Energy may be building its last two coal plants to bet instead on nuclear power, chief executive James Rogers said on Tuesday. Rogers described his company as the third largest U.S. generator of electricity from coal and the third largest from nuclear. If Duke Energy had to choose between one technology or the other Rogers said: "I'm betting on nuclear." "And I would go a step further and probably say that these two coal plants we build might well be the last two ...

Thu, 28 May 09
Don't burn the crops
http://www.motherjones.com/blue-marble/2009/05/dont-burn-crops
Mother Jones: Want a quick recipe for reducing Arctic ice melt fast? Stop burning northern hemisphere farmlands and pasturelands. New research finds that large-scale agricultural burning in Russia, Kazakhstan, China, the US, Canada, and the Ukraine is melting Arctic ice. The big contributor: Spring burning, when farmers torch crop residues and brush to clear new land for crops and livestock. The black carbon soot produced by these fires flows north, warms the surrounding air, and absorbs ...

Thu, 28 May 09
China's new faith in solar energy projects is hailed by environmentalists as a milestone
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/may/26/china-invests-solar-energy
Guardian: Deep in the deserts of Gansu province, in an area declared off-limits by Chinese state security, is a clean, hi-tech vision of the country's energy future. Set among the pale yellow dunes are seven banks of dark blue photovoltaic panels that stretch the length of a running track. Together they comprise the biggest desert solar power plant in China and the largest test case of a technology that is about to get a massive boost from the central government. The national ...

Thu, 28 May 09
Chu says U.S. may accept climate target before China
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aO5MeXOTuRdU
Bloomberg: The U.S. may accept targets for reducing its greenhouse gases in an international treaty even if China doesn't, Energy Secretary Steven Chu said. Initiative by the U.S. may be necessary because the two countries need to move beyond their "standoff," Chu told reporters today in London when asked whether the U.S. will push for China to adopt binding emissions targets in a global deal. China and the U.S., the largest emitters of climate-warming gases, have been at loggerheads over ...

Thu, 28 May 09
The nuclear-power lobby: Subsidies, protests, lawsuits, and a billionaire's bond election
http://sacurrent.com/news/story.asp?id=70184
San Antonio Current: U.S. Congressman Charlie Gonzalez wanted two things out of the Waxman-Markey climate bill: assistance for the nuclear industry, and free pollution credits for utilities like our City-owned CPS Energy. He nailed free pollution days before the legislation was voted out of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce last week by requiring most carbon credits to be given away to industry rather than auctioned off. This industry-friendly change, among others, outraged the environmental ...

Thu, 28 May 09
Taiwan: Minister opposes coal-fired thermal power plant
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20090526p2a00m0na007000c.html
Mainichi Daily News: Environment Minister Tetsuo Saito has declared his opposition to the Onahama thermal power plant that is being planned in Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture, stating that the project's measures against carbon dioxide emissions are inadequate. Saito conveyed his opposition in a written opinion on the plant, in response to an environmental assessment of the project. It is the first time for an environment minister to oppose a project on the grounds of insufficient global warming ...

Thu, 28 May 09
Biden announces $500 million in green jobs training
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_12453837
Denver Post: Vice President Joe Biden promised in Denver today to put the poorest and recently unemployed to work in the renewable energy sector, the latest stop on a cross-country tour focused on improving the middle class. Biden announced plans to dedicate $500 million from the federal stimulus to train residents of housing projects to weatherize homes and perform other green jobs. Of that, $50 million will be focused on areas hit hardest by the automobile industry crisis. "These are real ...

Thu, 28 May 09
Australia Faces Further Carbon-Scheme Delay
http://planetark.org/enviro-news/item/53094
Reuters: Plans for the world's most comprehensive carbon-trading scheme face defeat or parliamentary delay after Australia's opposition said on Tuesday it will try to postpone a vote on the laws this year. The decision by the Liberal-National coalition during a party meeting adds uncertainty over the final shape and start date of the scheme. It also adds to the confusion on investment decisions for some big polluters trying to figure out future carbon costs. Emissions trading is central ...

Thu, 28 May 09
US unveils $4bn plan to upgrade public housing as part of green jobs project
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/may/26/obama-green-jobs-housing
Guardian: The Obama administration unveiled a $4bn (£2.5bn) plan to upgrade public housing for low-income Americans today, as part of an ambitious green job-creation project. Obama sent the vice-president, Joe Biden, and other senior officials to Denver for a formal announcement of the renovation scheme, which will replace windows, insulation and even light bulbs in ageing and neglected housing stock. The labour secretary, Hilda Solis, was also expected to announce $500m to train up ...

Thu, 28 May 09
China flexible on rich nations' greenhouse gas cuts
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE54P4ON20090526?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Global negotiations late this year need not specify greenhouse gas cuts for the United States and other rich countries, as long as they set the right note for later talks, a Chinese climate policy official said on Tuesday. Gao Guangsheng, a leading official in China's National Coordination Committee for Climate Change, told Reuters the negotiators in Copenhagen in December may not be able to agree on a full-fledged climate change pact, and may instead open the way for more specific ...

Thu, 28 May 09
Wind farm opponents want European moratorium
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE54P53Q20090526?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Europe should halt the construction of any more wind farms until it has further examined their impact on wildlife, landscapes and the value of nearby houses, a new anti-wind farm group said on Tuesday. "Wind farms represent the worst-case scenario," the European Platform Against Windfarms (EPAW) said in a letter to European Union commissioners and parliamentarians, in which it called for a moratorium on all wind projects. "EPAW considers it unacceptable that European ...

Thu, 28 May 09
Too much emphasis on emission targets: Chu
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE54P55M20090526?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Energy Secretary Stephen Chu said on Tuesday that setting exact targets for carbon dioxide emissions had led to an "over-obsession" with numbers, as the United States moved closer to overhauling its energy policy. The comment came less than a week after a congressional panel approved President Barack Obama's landmark draft bill on climate change, bringing it closer to debate in Congress. "There was a great deal of discussion on the Kyoto targets, and I'm not really sure which ...

Thu, 28 May 09
Progress Made in Paris Climate Talks
http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-05-26-voa48.cfm
Voice of America: France said Tuesday that the world's top energy consumers have made important strides in finding a mechanism for poor countries to fight global warming following two days of talks in Paris. France's Minister of Ecology, Energy and Sustainable Dev. Jean-Louis Borloo adjusts his tie to pose for group photo at the G8 meeting in Rome, 24 May 2009France's environment minister Jean-Louis Borloo hailed progress in key areas during climate talks gathering representatives from 17 of the ...

Thu, 28 May 09
Climate change: Progress seen on funding problem
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090526/sc_afp/climatewarmingmef
Agence France-Presse: The world's biggest carbon polluters made headway in talks here Tuesday on how to beef up funding to help poor countries in the firing line of climate change, senior officials said. The so-called Major Economies Forum (MEF) advanced on one of the key issues troubling negotiations for a new global treaty due to be crafted in Copenhagen in December, they said. "We made progress on a major subject, which is finance and financial architecture. It's not final, but one feels that ...

Thu, 28 May 09
US wants to paint the world white to save energy
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090526/pl_afp/climatewarmingusbritainchu
Agence France-Presse: US Energy Secretary Steven Chu said Tuesday the Obama administration wanted to paint roofs an energy-reflecting white, as he took part in a climate change symposium in London. The Nobel laureate in physics called for a "new revolution" in energy generation to cut greenhouse gas emissions. But he warned there was no silver bullet for tackling climate change, and said a range of measures should be introduced, including painting flat roofs white. Making roads and roofs a ...

Thu, 28 May 09
Global CEOs back greenhouse gas cuts, carbon caps
http://www.usatoday.com/weather/climate/globalwarming/2009-05-26-greenhouse-gas-cuts_N.htm?csp=34
Associated Press: Global business leaders added momentum to prospects for a new U.N. climate treaty by agreeing Tuesday that the world must cut greenhouse gas emissions in half by mid-century by setting specific limits on carbon. Government officials reported little progress in setting such limits, however, showing how distant a new treaty remains. Some 500 CEOs and other top business experts said at the conclusion of the three-day World Business Summit on Climate Change in Denmark that ...

Thu, 28 May 09
Why the Right to Emit Carbon Dioxide Is Given Away in U.S. Climate Change Bill
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=right-to-emit-free-carbon-dioxide-climate-bill
Scientific America: A massive climate bill has taken its first step forward in the House, its path paved by the giveaway of allowances -- free greenhouse gas emission permits designed to mute the economic impact of a carbon cap-and-trade program. Free allowances -- each conveying the right to pump a ton of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere -- were the glue that held the sprawling bill together for Reps. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and fellow Democrats on the Energy and Commerce ...

Thu, 28 May 09
Climate Change Threatens Endangered Honeycreeper Birds of Hawaii
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/05/090526140840.htm
ScienceDaily: As climate change causes temperatures to increase in Hawaii's mountains, deadly non-native bird diseases will likely also creep up the mountains, invading most of the last disease-free refuges for honeycreepers -- a group of endangered and remarkable birds. A just-published U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) review discusses the likelihood of a forthcoming "disease invasion' by examining the present altitudinal range of avian malaria and pox, honeycreeper distribution, and the future ...

Thu, 28 May 09
Taking pollution to market: America looks to make real climate change progress
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/analysis-and-features/taking-pollution-to-market-america-looks-to-make-real-climate-change-progress-1691246.html
Independent (UK): The country -- a Kyoto Treaty refusenik whose previous president, George Bush, declined to sign up to the emissions reductions in that international agreement -- looks set to have some real progress to boast of when diplomats assemble to draft a new climate change treaty in Copenhagen at the end of this year. Some optimists from the environmental lobby are whispering that Barack Obama might by then even have authorised a cap and trade law that commits the US to cut carbon emissions by ...

Thu, 28 May 09
Obama's climate guru: Paint your roof white!
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/obamas-climate-guru-paint-your-roof-white-1691209.html
Independent (UK): Some people believe that nuclear power is the answer to climate change, others have proposed green technologies such as wind or solar power, but Barack Obama's top man on global warming has suggested something far simpler -- painting your roof white. Steven Chu, the US Secretary of Energy and a Nobel prize-winning scientist, said yesterday that making roofs and pavements white or light-coloured would help to reduce global warming by both conserving energy and reflecting sunlight back ...

Thu, 28 May 09
Peru army call for Amazon protest
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8054043.stm
BBC: Peru's military have been authorised to give support to the police for 30 days in an escalating dispute over Amazon resources with indigenous groups. The armed forces will intervene to ensure the operation of roads, airports and other essential services, Peru's ministry of defence said. A day before the protesters said they would begin an insurgency to defend their rights, a threat later withdrawn. Some 30,000 people have held a month-long protest in Peru's Amazon ...

Thu, 28 May 09
Professor Steven Chu: paint the world white to fight global warming
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article6366639.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=3392178
Times (UK): As a weapon against global warming, it sounds so simple and low-tech that it could not possibly work. But the idea of using millions of buckets of whitewash to avert climate catastrophe has won the backing of one of the world's most influential scientists. Steven Chu, the Nobel prize-winning physicist appointed by President Obama as Energy Secretary, wants to paint the world white. A global initiative to change the colour of roofs, roads and pavements so that they reflect more ...

Thu, 28 May 09
Concentrated solar could generate '25% of world's energy'
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/may/26/solarpower-renewableenergy
Guardian: Solar power stations that concentrate sunlight could generate up to one-quarter of the world's electricity needs by 2050, according to a study by environmental and solar industry groups. The technology, best suited to the desert regions of the world, could also create hundreds of thousands of new jobs and save millions of tonnes of CO2 from entering the atmosphere. Concentrating solar power (CSP) uses mirrors to focus sunlight onto water. This produces steam that can then turn ...

Thu, 28 May 09
White roofs and 'cool' cars - Obama's US energy secretary gives Prince Charles tips on tackling climate
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/may/26/chu-us-climate-change
Guardian: People should paint their roofs white and drive "cool" cars on pale-coloured roads to avoid devastating climate change, US energy secretary and Nobel prize-winning physicist Steven Chu has advised Prince Charles and a group of 19 other laureates meeting in London today. The measures, which would reflect sunlight and enable buildings and automobiles to stay cooler and use less energy in summer, are some of dozens that Chu and the US energy department are considering for the ...

Thu, 28 May 09
Manila says renewable energy investments may reach $10 billions
http://www.reuters.com/article/GCA-GreenBusiness/idUSTRE54O23U20090525
Reuters: The Philippines hopes to attract $9-10 billion in investments in renewable energy projects over the next 10 years as a law giving investors fiscal incentives takes effect next month, a top official said on Monday. "Our objective is to double the power being generated from renewable energy sources, from 4,500 MW to 9,000 MW in 10 years," Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes told a news briefing. Around 15 local and foreign-linked companies have submitted letters of interest to develop ...

Thu, 28 May 09
Allegheny County to conduct energy audit
http://www.observer-reporter.com/OR/Story/05-26-Allegheny-County-Energy
Associated Press: Allegheny County plans to conduct an energy audit of its cars and buildings in hopes of saving money and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. County Executive Dan Onorato said he is committed to operating an efficient and sustainable government. Recently, the county replaced hundreds of incandescent lights at its jail with energy-efficient LED lights. The International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives-Local Governments For Sustainability will conduct the audit next ...

Thu, 28 May 09
Rising sea levels: Survival tips from 5000 BC
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20227096.600-rising-sea-levels-survival-tips-from-5000-bc.html
New Scientist: WITH rising seas lapping at coastal cities and threatening to engulf entire islands in the not-too-distant future, it's easy to assume our only option will be to abandon them and head for the hills. There may be another way, however. Archaeological sites in the Caribbean, dating back to 5000 BC, show that some ancient civilisations had it just as bad as anything we are expecting. Yet not only did they survive a changing coastline and more storm surges and hurricanes: they stayed put and ...

Thu, 28 May 09
Florida's plan for renewables was a lot of wasted energy
http://www.miamiherald.com/business/v-fullstory/story/1065330.html
Miami Herald: For a year, while the green movement was at its height, Florida environmentalists, new solar companies, utility lobbyists and state regulators spent thousands of hours trying to determine how much of the state's power supply should come from renewable energy sources like solar and wind. They did it because the Legislature in 2008 ordered them to do it. After sifting through thousands of pages of documents and sitting in lengthy workshops, the Public Service Commission sent its ...

Thu, 28 May 09
Commission faces revolt over 'carbon leakage' plans
http://www.euractiv.com/en/climate-change/commission-faces-revolt-carbon-leakage-plans/article-182634
EurActiv: European big business and environmental NGOs have disputed the data used by the European Commission to assess whether polluting industries are likely to suffer from foreign competition as a result of Europe's climate change legislation. Background: On 23 January 2008, the European Commission proposed to revise the EU emissions trading scheme (EU ETS; see EurActiv LinksDossier) for the period 2013-2020, setting out the EU's main instrument to meet its objective of reducing ...

Thu, 28 May 09
Company looks to bring air-powered cars to US
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iI4nkolxylb21-aYitBvrUsGf5TgD98DE2M82
Various: Most car companies are racing to bring electric vehicles to the market. But one startup is skipping the high-tech electronics, making cars whose energy source is pulled literally out of thin air. Zero Pollution Motors is trying to bring a car to U.S. roads by early 2011 that's powered by a combination of compressed air and a small conventional engine. ZPM Chief Executive Shiva Vencat said the ultimate goal is a price tag between $18,000 and $20,000, fuel economy equivalent to ...

Thu, 28 May 09
Study doubts bill's effect on coal use
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/biz/6440887.html
Houston Chronicle: The climate change bill that passed through a House committee last week wouldn`t create windfall profits for all coal-fired power plants as some critics claim, but it could undermine efforts to encourage power producers to use other fuels, according to an analysis of the legislation by an international consulting firm. The sweeping bill voted out of the House Energy and Commerce Committee would create a cap-and-trade system that aims to lower greenhouse gas emissions by setting ...

Thu, 28 May 09
Obama administration sparks battery gold rush
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124329271803452475.html
Wall Street Journal: The Obama administration has set off a gold rush to power new environmentally friendly cars. In one of the government's biggest efforts at shaping industrial policy, the Energy Department has been soliciting applications for $2.4 billion in funding aimed at turning the U.S. into a battery-manufacturing powerhouse. At the deadline last week, the department said it had received 165 applications. Companies vying for the federal money include General Motors Corp., Dow Chemical Co., ...

Wed, 27 May 09
Funding for climate change initiative axed
http://www.smh.com.au/environment/funding-for-climate-change-initiative-axed-20090526-bm7u.html
Sydney Morning Herald: A CLIMATE change program that has helped hundreds of local councils reduce their greenhouse gas emissions has been axed by the Federal Government. The Cities for Climate Protection program will wind up on June 30, saving the Government the relatively tiny amount of about $4 million a year. The program had offered a big bang for its buck, helping to stop the release of the equivalent of 4.7 million tonnes of carbon dioxide last year, by running a non-profit group of experts who ...

Wed, 27 May 09
World business leaders urge ambitious, global actions on climate change
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-05/26/content_11439978.htm
Xinhua: Global business leaders in Denmark for a summit on climate change jointly issued the expected "Copenhagen Call," urging ambitious, global actions on climate change, news reaching here from Copenhagen said Tuesday. The Copenhagen Call, coming at the close of the three-day World Business Summit on Climate Change, was a powerful and concise statement that sets out the elements that are believed to need for a new effective global climate treaty. A new global climate treaty should ...

Wed, 27 May 09
Green industry demands low-carbon dollars
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090526/india_nm/india398941
Reuters: Top executives from companies likely to win from climate change policies demanded on Tuesday that governments turn away from fossil fuels when they sign a new climate pact, expected in December. Seven months before the world meets to try and thrash out a new global treaty to replace the Kyoto Protocol, executives and investors called for tough targets to slash carbon emissions at a green business conference in Copenhagen. Denmark's Prime Minister welcomed a statement drawn up ...

Wed, 27 May 09
Climate change a 'game changer' in US-China relations
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5g3dBXIsFGrRRmtkCLO7qjn05EyAQ
Agence France-Presse: US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi said Tuesday that the fight against climate change was a "game changer" in China-US relations, as she visited Beijing on a trip focused on energy. Pelosi, a tough critic of China's human rights record and a vocal advocate of environmental protection, is leading a delegation from the US Congress to China on a working visit devoted to energy and climate change. "I think that this climate change crisis is a game changer in US-China ...

Wed, 27 May 09
Greenpeace: Time to concentrate on solar future
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2242922/greenpeace-concentrate-solar
Business Green: After wind and traditional photovoltaic technology, concentrating solar power (CSP) is now the third multibillion-dollar clean power sector, according to a study from industry players and environmental group Greenpeace. Launched this week, the Global CSP Outlook 2009 study sets out an ambitious case for the potential of the technology, which its backers claim could meet up to seven per cent of the world's projected power needs by 2030 and potentially 25 per cent by 2050. "We ...

Wed, 27 May 09
In Ecuador, an unusual carbon-credit plan to leave oil untapped
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/25/AR2009052502402.html?hpid=sec-world
Washington Post: Beneath the tropical jungles of northeastern Ecuador lies a vast pool of oil, representing one-fifth of the small Andean country's petroleum reserves and potentially billions of dollars in revenue. Directly above that pool, the Yasuni National Park is home to a diversity of wildlife that is among the richest on the planet, Ecuadoran and U.S. biologists say. Faced with these two treasures, Ecuador is pursuing an unusual plan to reap the oil profits without actually drilling for ...

Wed, 27 May 09
Caps, trades and offsets: Can climate plan work?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/25/AR2009052502264.html
Washington Post: It sounds like alchemy, an act of bureaucratic magic. Under the climate-change bill just approved by a House committee, the U.S. government would literally make a commodity -- as tradable as a Pontiac or a pork belly -- out of thin air. The bill would require polluters to obtain "allowances" -- permits allowing them to emit a given amount of a greenhouse gas such as carbon dioxide or methane. Today, these gases are invisible, free and floating all around us. This bill would put a ...

Wed, 27 May 09
Coalition gives ETS ultimatum
http://www.theage.com.au/national/coalition-gives-ets-ultimatum-20090525-bktf.html
Various: THE Opposition will push the Government to defer its emissions trading legislation until the Copenhagen climate conference has been held. But it will vote the scheme down if a delay is rejected. The shadow cabinet agreed last night to recommend to today's Coalition parties' meeting a bipartisan approach on the targets Australia takes to the conference. But it wants to refuse to let the legislation through next month. All the indications are that the legislation will not be ...

Wed, 27 May 09
Trading system seen as a key to cutting carbon emissions
http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/energy/article1004355.ece
St. Petersburg Times: A decade ago environmental attorney Marco Monroy approached food giant Nestle with a novel proposal. If the company converted boilers at its ice cream factory in Chile from coal to natural gas, it could cut emissions of carbon dioxide by up to 50 percent. It wasn't an easy sell. The conversion would cost $100,000, and on top of that natural gas was more expensive. But Monroy had a surprising pitch. He explained that the reduced carbon emissions could be sold on the world market ...

Wed, 27 May 09
World population to top nine billion by 2050
http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/homes_property/article02/indexn2_html?pdate=250509&ptitle=World%20population%20to%20top%20nine%20billion%20by%202050
Guardian: WORLD population is projected to reach seven billion early in 2012, up from the current 6.8 billion, and surpass nine billion people by 2050, reveals the 2008 Revision of the official United Nations population estimates and projections. In July 2009, the world population will reach 6.8 billion, 313 million more than in 2005 or a gain of 78 million persons yearly. Assuming that fertility levels continue to decline, the world population is expected to reach 9.1 billion in 2050 and to be ...

Wed, 27 May 09
Where humans go, animals vanish -- and here we go again
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-tc-nw-mass-extinction-0524-0may25,0,621065.story
Chicago Tribune: It seems to be a law of nature that when people come, animals go. It happened in the past, and it's happening again now. About 11,000 years ago, more than 130 species, including most large mammals such as the woolly mammoth, saber-tooth cat and a 5-ton ground sloth, vanished from North America. Scientists are still debating the reasons, but two leading suspects are excessive hunting by humans who had newly arrived from the Old World and devastating human-borne ...

Wed, 27 May 09
Wash state won't make target for biofuels
http://www.seattlepi.com/local/6420ap_wa_biofuels.html?source=mypi
Associated Press: Washington state won't reach its goal next month of having biofuels make up at least 20 percent of its fuel use in state vehicles and ferries. The state had set a June 1 target for alternative fuels to make up a fifth of its fuel use. But as of the end of last year, such fuel accounted for just 2.1 percent - still, the best showing since the target was written into law three years ago. Gov. Chris Gregoire said members of her staff will meet with department leaders next month to ...

Wed, 27 May 09
Oil investment fears rise as Saudi predicts new spike
http://www.reuters.com/article/reutersComService_3_MOLT/idUSTRE54N0PR20090525
Reuters: Saudi Arabia warned oil prices could spike to beyond the near $150 record high of 2008 within three years as it joined other energy leaders on Monday to call for more investment to boost production over the long term. Energy ministers and officials at the Group of Eight energy summit wrapped up the two-day meeting by urging the industry to pump money into projects to expand capacity despite the credit crisis, which has put the brakes on investment. The meeting came as oil ...

Wed, 27 May 09
Bill omits forest waste for cellulosic ethanol
http://www.mitchellrepublic.com/event/apArticle/id/D98DD5T80/
Associated Press: As of now, legislation in the U.S. House on energy and greenhouse gas emissions does not include using wood from mature federal forests as renewable biomass for clean power. And that's not sitting well with Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin, D-S.D., and Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., who both have introduced legislation to allow the production of cellulosic ethanol out of woody biomass, such as downed trees, trimmings and brush from federal lands. The bills are aimed at changing ...

Wed, 27 May 09
ExxonMobil firm launches $7.1 bln oil sands project
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jPs86Mm4_KXlXE4RrJKEkbchhWrg
Agence France-Presse: Imperial Oil, the Canadian subsidiary of US oil giant ExxonMobil, said Monday it is going ahead with a 7.1-billion-US-dollar first phase of its Alberta oil sands mining project. The company's Kearl oil sands project -- a surface mining operation northeast of Fort McMurray, Alberta -- is to be developed in three phases and could ultimately produce more than 300,000 barrels of bitumen per day. The first phase of the project would produce an average of 110,000 barrels per day ...

Wed, 27 May 09
Japan: Government to embrace 'Green New Deal'
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20090526a3.html
Kyodo News: The government will promote "Green New Deal" policies to expand the nation's markets related to environmental conservation and build a society where environmental policies will not hamper economic growth, according to a draft of the 2009 white paper on the environment. The annual report on the environment, recycling society and biodiversity, penned by the Environment Ministry, will call for such policies as the promotion of environmentally friendly consumer appliances for replacement ...

Tue, 26 May 09
France, Germany push for more flexible climate pact
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,4279557,00.html?maca=en-en_nr-1893-xml-atom
Deutsche Welle: Any new climate deal must be flexible, France and Germany say Rich nations should collectively sign up to carbon emission cuts of up to 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2020, Germany and France told ministers from nations accounting for around 80 percent of global carbon emissions. French Environment Minister Jean-Louis Borloo told the gathering of 17 top greenhouse gas emitters including China, the US, Russia and India that developed nations should aim for cuts of between 25 and 40 ...

Tue, 26 May 09
Big business says needs cash to cut CO2 emissions
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE54N0GZ20090525?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Industry needs financial backing to reduce carbon emissions and fight climate change, business leaders told a climate conference on Monday, drawing criticism that they put profits before the environment. The May 24-26 meeting of more than 500 business leaders will issue a call for governments to set clear long-term climate policies when they meet in Copenhagen in December to try to reach a new global climate pact to replace the Kyoto Protocol. "The big constraint is funding," ...

Tue, 26 May 09
Climate Chief Says US Won't Speed Up Emission Cuts
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1694332/climate_chief_says_us_wont_speed_up_emission_cuts/index.html?source=r_science
redOrbit: The world's top emitters of greenhouse gases met on Monday to discuss possible cuts in the months leading up to the new UN climate treaty in Copenhagen. Representatives of 17 nations met in Paris on Monday to kick off the first of two days of Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate (MEF) talks being led by the US in order to discuss the feasibility of proposed cuts in carbon dioxide emissions. "We are jumping as high as the political system will tolerate," said Todd Stern, ...

Tue, 26 May 09
Climate change: World's destiny at stake
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090525/sc_afp/climatewarmingtalksmef
Agence France-Presse: Ministers from economies accounting for 80 percent of the globe's greenhouse gases met Monday to warnings that "the world's destiny" may lie in the outcome of a mooted pact on climate change. The so-called Major Economies Forum (MEF) met in Paris ahead of a new round of UN talks aimed at culminating in a sweeping global treaty in Copenhagen in December. "The world's destiny will probably be at stake in Copenhagen," French Ecology Minister Jean-Louis Borloo said as he opened the ...

Tue, 26 May 09
United Arab Emirates: Price rises for water and power urged
http://www.thenational.ae/article/20090525/BUSINESS/705259938/1005
National: Abu Dhabi could save itself the cost of two power stations and a water desalination plant if it steps up measures to promote energy efficiency, a government study has found. Low prices, a lack of efficiency standards and consumers' wasteful habits have combined to push up power and water consumption far beyond the real requirements of the emirate, the study commissioned by the Executive Affairs Authority said. A concerted effort to reduce electricity demand, including an ...

Tue, 26 May 09
Scientists continue battle for fate of polar bears
http://www.canada.com/Technology/Scientists+continue+battle+fate+polar+bears/1628291/story.html
Canwest News Service: A top Canadian researcher at the centre of a scientific battle over the fate of polar bears in the melting Arctic says the latest war of words -- a published "rebuttal" of a 2008 U.S.-led study that argued climate change may not seriously threaten the iconic species after all -- has significant implications in this country. "For Canada, this rebuttal paper has resonance because there has similarly been a certain amount of nonsense questioning whether climate warming is going to be bad ...

Tue, 26 May 09
Philippines Plans To Double Its Renewable Energy Capacity In 10 Years
http://www.energy-business-review.com/news/philippines_plans_to_double_its_renewable_energy_capacity_in_10_years_090525
Energy Business Review: The Philippines is planning to double its renewable energy capacity in 10 years after the government approved rules, which are covering the implementation of the Renewable Energy Act (Republic Act 9513). The country is expected to generate around 4,531 MW from geothermal energy; 13,097 MW from hydropower, 5.1 kilowatt hours per square meter a day from solar, 76,600 MW from wind, and 170,000 MW from oceanic waves. U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Angelo T. Reyes said that in a ...

Tue, 26 May 09
Big impact of climate change on India's farm yields: World Bank
http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/006200905251931.htm
Indo-Asian News Service: Dryland farmers in Andhra Pradesh may see their incomes decline by 20 percent, the sugarcane yield in Maharashtra may go down 30 percent, and there may be much more flooding in the Orissa coast, says a new World Bank report. Pointing out that this will have a serious impact in a country where 57 percent of the people are directly dependent on agriculture, the report, Climate Change Impacts in Drought-and Flood-Affected Areas: Case Studies in India, says the country can improve its ...

Tue, 26 May 09
India One of the Least Carbon Intensive Countries in the World
http://www.reuters.com/article/mnCarbonEmissions/idUS135258453720090525
Ecoworldly: India's stand that the current climate change negotiations under the auspices of UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) are being skewed in favor of of the industrialized nations got another shot in the arm this week. Purported pre-release of a McKinsey report projects that India will continue to be one of the Least Carbon Intensive countries in the world despite an economic growth rate of 7.5%. This second endorsement follows the recent report by the World Bank saying that ...

Tue, 26 May 09
Protecting oceans vital in warming fight
http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2009/05/24/Protecting-oceans-vital-in-warming-fight/UPI-13901243208593/
United Press International: Governments seeking to stop global warming must give a higher priority to protecting marine ecosystems, scientists said Sunday in Washington. Meeting at the International Marine Conservation Congress, the scientists stressed that because the oceans act as a vital carbon sink absorbing much of the ever-increasing supply of carbon emissions, maintaining their health is a prerequisite for battling climate change, the International Union for Conservation of Nature, a Swiss environmental ...

Tue, 26 May 09
Top greenhouse emitters meet, U.S. defends cuts
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE54O2E720090525?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Top emitters of greenhouse gases tried on Monday to break a deadlock about sharing the burden of cuts in a U.N. climate pact, and Washington rejected charges that it was lagging Europe in fighting global warming. Environment ministers from 17 nations including the United States, China, Russia, Japan, Germany and France met for the first of two days of U.S.-led talks in Paris hoping to ease splits on emissions cuts, aid to the poor and new technologies. France told the meeting ...

Tue, 26 May 09
Australia: Cost of water tipped to rise by 100 percent
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25532503-30417,00.html
Australian: THE cost of water is likely to rise 50-100 per cent in five years, as governments invest more than $30 billion for new supplies. Water Services Association executive director Ross Young said yesterday that higher water prices "reflect that we have really had to rethink our whole water systems in the face of the impacts of climate change". "The new sources of water, whether they be desalination or recycled water schemes, are a lot more expensive than the traditional sources ...

Tue, 26 May 09
Australia: Cleaner recycled water increases climate risk
http://www.theage.com.au/environment/cleaner-recycled-water-increases-climate-risk-20090524-bjie.html
Age: IMPROVING the standard of recycled water threatens to push up Australia's greenhouse emissions, and governments must consider if better quality waste water can be justified under a low carbon future, water companies have warned. In a report released today, the Water Services Association of Australia (WSAA) -- a national body representing water retailers -- has highlighted the environmental catch-22 of recycled water, saying recent improvements to treatment standards "didn't adequately ...

Tue, 26 May 09
U.N.'s Ban urges business to back climate policies
http://www.reuters.com/article/GCA-GreenBusiness/idUSTRE54N0GZ20090525?sp=true
Reuters: Industry should play its part in the fight against climate change by persuading governments to aid carbon cuts rather than lobbying against them, the U.N. Secretary-General told a business conference on Sunday. Business leaders met in Denmark to try to unite behind a common call for long-term climate policies, ahead of a U.N. conference in December meant to forge a new climate treaty to replace the Kyoto Protocol. "For those who are directly or implicitly lobbying against ...

Tue, 26 May 09
China's Huaneng pushes carbon capture but costs bite
http://www.reuters.com/article/GCA-BusinessofGreen/idUSTRE54O15Y20090525
Reuters: Chinese power giant Huaneng will launch its second pilot carbon capture project in Shanghai at the end of this year, but high costs are holding back further progress, an executive with the company said. "It is very, very expensive," said Jiang Minhua, director general of Huaneng's science and technology department. China's coal-dominated power generation capacity has been soaring by 70 gigawatts a year and its CO2 emissions are now thought to be the highest in the world. ...

Tue, 26 May 09
Australia: Nationals, Greens vow to block ETS
http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/nationals-greens-vow-to-block-ets-20090525-bjsc.html
AAP: The Australian Greens want the federal government's emission trading scheme (ETS) legislation put to a vote as soon as possible - so they can defeat it once and for all. The minor Senate party says Climate Change Minister Penny Wong has "browned down" the government's original carbon pollution reduction scheme to make it more palatable to the coalition and big business. Labor wants parliament to approve its draft laws, which seek to have the scheme operating by July 2011, by ...

Tue, 26 May 09
Kenya ill-equipped to fight climate change, UN body says
http://africasciencenews.org/asns/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1291&Itemid=2
Africa Science News service: As preparations for the World Environment Day gets underway, United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) has warned that Kenya is ill-equipped to mitigate the effects of climate change. UNEP's Climate Change Adaptation Unit says despite the fact that the effects of climate change such as floods, droughts and diseases are evident in Kenya, the country lacks the capacity to address the environmental disasters. A Programme Officer at the Unit Dr Musonda Mumba blames the country ...

Tue, 26 May 09
Senator pushes for nuclear power
http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2009/may/25/senator-pushes-for-nuclear-power/
Knoxville News: U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander will call this week on the federal government to allow construction of 100 nuclear power plants over the next 20 years in what will be a preview of the Republican game plan for developing a national energy policy. Congress has been working for weeks on climate change legislation, but Senate Republicans argue that congressional Democrats and President Barack Obama are putting too much emphasis on renewable energy, such as wind and solar, and giving short ...

Tue, 26 May 09
United States: Global demand will force U.S. to look at all energy options
http://www.gjsentinel.com/hp/content/news/stories/2009/05/24/052509_1a_natural_resource.html
Daily Sentinel: State Geologist Vince Matthews can think of more than a billion reasons to expect increasing pressure to develop Colorado's natural resources, and they all live in China. A ravenous appetite for resources by the Chinese and another billion-plus residents of India holds serious implications for the United States in general and Colorado in particular, says Matthews, director of the Colorado Geological Survey. Thanks to the increased global demand, American consumers can expect ...

Tue, 26 May 09
China: $30b set aside for green stimulus to double alternative fuel use
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/bizchina/2009-05/25/content_7937667.htm
China Daily: China is emerging as fertile ground for green investment, with the government supporting the growth of a green economy. As part of the country's 4 trillion ($586 billion) stimulus package, the National Development and Reform Commission will put $30 billion into green projects. Now China is planning to draft another stimulus package to double the nation's 2007 output of alternative energy by 2020, according to Liang Zhipeng, director of Renewable Energy Department, National Energy ...

Tue, 26 May 09
United States: Baltimore biofuel plant heats up
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/baltimore_city/bal-md.biofuel25may25,0,1024788.story
Baltimore Sun: The thick, milky white liquid looks like Elmer's glue, though it's greasy to the touch. It has a sweet, alcohol smell. It's not your father's heating oil, to be sure. But it will do the same job, says Cary J. Claiborne, and a lot more cleanly. Claiborne is president and chief executive officer of New Generation Biofuels, a Florida-based startup that's producing fuel from vegetable and soybean oil at a small production plant it set up this year in southern Baltimore. "It's very ...

Tue, 26 May 09
Hydro risks make China's Three Gorges look to wind
http://planetark.org/enviro-news/item/53038
Reuters: The state-owned company behind China's Three Gorges Dam is looking to expand its wind power portfolio as the risks associated with hydroelectric projects grow, a senior executive said on Saturday. "Previously we focused mainly on hydropower but recently we have been restructuring and are moving towards wind and nuclear," said Bi Yaxiong, the vice-general manager of the China Three Gorges Project Corporation (CTGPC). Tougher environmental safeguards and higher rates of ...

Tue, 26 May 09
Agriculture poses rough road for climate bill
http://planetark.org/enviro-news/item/53034
Reuters: President Barack Obama is carrying through on campaign promises to fight global warming, challenging the car companies and energy industry to get on the carbon-cutting bandwagon. But one of his toughest opponents may end up coming from his own US Midwestern back yard: Agriculture. Obama on Tuesday forged ahead with landmark moves to remake the US auto industry, forging a coalition of unions and auto executives in an atmosphere of unprecedented financial crisis to retool ...

Tue, 26 May 09
Democrats' climate change efforts a far cry from Europe's
http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20090524/OPINION/905229826/1042?Title=ECONOMIST-Democrats-climate-change-efforts-a-far-cry-from-Europe-s
Economists: For those who believe that climate change is a serious problem, the decisions that the U.S. makes now are of momentous importance. In Copenhagen, Denmark, in December, the world will decide whether to reinvigorate or abandon its effort to avert serious climate change, and what the U.S. does between now and then will in large part determine the outcome. So the fact that President Barack Obama clearly intends to turn the U.S. from being a laggard into a leader in this task is therefore ...

Tue, 26 May 09
Nobel Laureates and big business unite against climate change
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/climatechange/5378857/Nobel-Laureates-and-big-business-unite-against-climate-change.html
Telegraph: In a meeting in London hosted by the Prince of Wales, the world's greatest minds will discuss the "urgency" of doing more to curb global warming. At the same time a summit in Copenhagen attended by some of the most powerful corporations in the world will also debate the need to cut carbon emissions Both groups are set to urge world leaders to replace the Kyoto Protocol with a comprehensive new agreement at the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen at the end of this ...

Tue, 26 May 09
Surmounting climate change in the Himalayas
http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/science/05/25/eco.everest/
CNN: Dawa Steven Sherpa is leader of Eco Everest Expeditions, aiming to educate climbers about their impact on the Himalayas and highlight the affects of climate change on the region. On May 21, his fellow climber Apa Sherpa broke the world record for successful summits of Mount Everest, standing on the top of the world's highest mountain for the 19th time. "I want people to see that our mountains are really fragile and vulnerable to what we do as humans," Dawa Steven told ...

Tue, 26 May 09
China plans 440-bln dlr stimulus for green energy
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090525/bs_afp/chinaenergyinveststimulus
Agence France-Presse: China is planning a stimulus package worth 440 billion dollars to expand its renewable energy use, state media said, as the country aims to rely more on cleaner ways to power its growth. The three trillion yuan (439.7 billion dollars) investment will see part of the focus on wind power, the Beijing Morning Post said, citing Liang Zhipeng, a State Energy Administration official. The government has collected opinions from local economic planning agencies and relevant companies ...

Tue, 26 May 09
Nepal: Renown climber warns Everest facing climate damage
http://www.boston.com/news/world/asia/articles/2009/05/25/renown_climber_warns_everest_facing_climate_damage/?rss_id=Boston.com+--+Latest+news
Associated Press: A Sherpa from Nepal who holds the world's record for scaling Mount Everest said Monday the planet's highest peak was littered with trash and warned that its glaciers were melting because of global warming. Appa, who like most Sherpas goes by only one name, scaled the peak last week not to draw attention to his own amazing feat -- he has now climbed Everest a record 19 times -- but to the impact that global warming is having on the majestic site. Glaciers are melting at an ...

Tue, 26 May 09
Australian Greens want quick vote on carbon trade
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE54O0Y320090525?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Australia's Greens called for a quick parliamentary vote to defeat government plans for carbon trading on Monday, a move that could make the issue a trigger for an early general election. The carbon-trade plan is one of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's key reforms and a central plank of Australia's efforts to fight global warming, but the government is struggling to find the seven extra votes it needs in parliament's upper house Senate. "We want to see this 'agreement to fail' ...

Tue, 26 May 09
Climate-change action picks up on three fronts
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/editorialsopinion/2009259641_edita25green.html
Seattle Times: THE climate-change debate has never lacked for passion and energy, but it has remained, despite various fits and starts, a debate. Until now. A confluence of events, however coincidental in timing, point toward forward movement -- real momentum -- on reducing greenhouse gases and making it part of our daily lives. Last Thursday was an extraordinary moment in the country's journey dealing with climate-changing emissions, and Washington residents had a front-row seat. The ...

Tue, 26 May 09
Study says businesses can create clean energy jobs
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090525/ap_on_re_eu/eu_denmark_climate_conference
Associated Press: Hoping to create a global carbon market, the organizers of a world business summit on climate change said Monday that 2 million new jobs would be created in the U.S. alone if it increased its reliance on cleaner sources of energy. The Copenhagen Climate Council study said the U.S. would gain that many jobs if its electricity use grew by just half of 1 percent a year and a quarter of its electricity came from wind energy and other renewable sources. EU Commission President Jose ...

Tue, 26 May 09
Solar power could surge by 2050 in deserts: study
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE54O16R20090525?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Solar power plants in deserts using mirrors to concentrate the sun's rays have the potential to generate up to a quarter of the world's electricity by 2050, a report by pro-solar groups said on Monday. The study, by environmental group Greenpeace, the European Solar Thermal Electricity Association (ESTELA) and the International Energy Agency's (IEA) SolarPACES group, said huge investments would also create jobs and fight climate change. "Solar power plants are the next big ...

Tue, 26 May 09
Climate link to mockingbird songs
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8062420.stm
BBC: The tropical mockingbird's elaborate tune puts the brown trembler mockingbird to shame Unpredictable weather seems to stimulate chatter among birds - as well as humans - according to researchers. A team of US scientists has found that mockingbirds living in variable climates sing more elaborate songs. Complex tunes, sung by males to impress females, are likely to signal the birds' intelligence. Published in Current Biology, the findings suggest that females seek ...

Tue, 26 May 09
Climate change making Everest ascent harder - sherpa
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090525/india_nm/india398645
Reuters: A Nepali sherpa who holds the world record for climbing Mount Everest said on Monday rising temperatures were melting snow and turning the slopes barren, making it even harder to scale the world's tallest peak. Apa Sherpa, back from his 19th successful ascent of Everest last week, said a snow trail along the route to the peak was now just a stretch of bare rocks, as climate change pushed up snowlines and shrank glaciers. "This makes climbing the mountain difficult because ...

Tue, 26 May 09
Speaker Pelosi dodges human rights on China visit
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090525/ap_on_re_as/as_china_pelosi
Associated Press: U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, long a fierce critic of Beijing, toured China's financial capital on Monday on a visit focused on environmental issues rather than human rights, though her presence emboldened protesters. Pelosi took a low-key approach as she prepared for meetings in Beijing just days ahead of the 20th anniversary of the 1989 crackdown on the Tiananmen Square democracy protests. The apparent shift approach dovetails with President Barack Obama's new emphasis on ...

Tue, 26 May 09
Climate change 'means more disasters' for Mozambique
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5imjzud1MkvDU4Cwh0EivCxMQhCKA
Agence France-Presse: Floods, droughts, cyclones and epidemics will increasingly plague Mozambique in the coming years as climate change raises temperatures, the national disaster centre said in a study Monday. Mozambique is already disaster-prone, with long stretches of low-lying coast that make it one of Africa's most vulnerable countries to climate change. As temperatures have risen over the past three decades, natural disasters and epidemic disease have increased -- a trend that is likely to ...

Tue, 26 May 09
Climate change amplifying animal disease
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5juSZWAzuXVVSJDgWOtwbrlbJWalw
Agence France-Presse: Climate change is widening viral disease among farm animals, expanding the spread of some microbes that are also a known risk to humans, the world's top agency for animal health said on Monday. The World Animal Health Organisation -- known as OIE, an acronym of its name in French -- said a survey of 126 of its member-states found 71 percent were "extremely concerned" about the expected impact of climate change on animal disease. Fifty-eight percent said they had already ...

Tue, 26 May 09
Testing the resolve of Obama on energy
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=128400
New York Times: The pursuit of independence from imported oil has thwarted every president since Richard M. Nixon. But making that push while also seeking steep reductions in emissions of the heat-trapping gases that cause global warming significantly compounds the degree of difficulty. In the six months before world leaders gather in this city to seek a deal on climate change, President Obama will face a true test of presidential grit as he tries to deliver on his call for transformational policies ...

Tue, 26 May 09
With billions at stake, trying to expand the meaning of 'renewable energy'
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=128399
New York Times: The definition of renewable energy seems clear cut: The sun continues to shine, so solar energy is renewable. The wind continues to blow, so wind turbines churn out renewable power. But industries are now pushing to have a growing number of other technologies categorized as renewable – or at least as environmentally advantageous. They include nuclear power plants and the burning of garbage and even the waste from coal mines. The lure of the renewable label is understandable. ...

Tue, 26 May 09
Amazon hit by climate chaos of floods, drought
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/americas/AP/story/1064350.html
Associated Press: Across the Amazon basin, river dwellers are adding new floors to their stilt houses, trying to stay above rising floodwaters that have killed 44 people and left 376,000 homeless. Flooding is common in the world's largest remaining tropical wilderness, but this year the waters rose higher and stayed longer than they have in decades, leaving fruit trees entirely submerged. Only four years ago, the same communities suffered an unprecedented drought that ruined crops and left mounds of ...

Tue, 26 May 09
United Kingdom: Bottletop technology could slash aviation emissions by a fifth
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2242830/bottletop-technology-slash
Business Green: A team of British researchers reckon they have hit on a way of cutting airline fuel bills by up to a fifth by harnessing the same principle that applies when you blow across the top of a bottle to make a sound. Speaking to BusinessGreen.com, Dr Duncan Lockerby, from the University of Warwick, who is leading the project, explained that placing tens or even hundreds of thousands of tiny holes in the surface of a plane's wing should dramatically reduce mid-flight drag, cutting fuel bills ...

Tue, 26 May 09
United Kingdom: Doctors neglecting their duty over climate change, says Sir Muir Gray
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article6354980.ece
Times (UK): Doctors are neglecting their duty by staying silent on the issue of climate change and its implications for public health, a leading doctor warns. Professor Sir Muir Gray, the screening pioneer and former chief knowledge officer of the NHS, writes in The Times today that climate change should be compared to cholera in terms of the need for a public health revolution. Sir Muir observes that, with a few notable exceptions, "doctors are effectively silent on the health threat that ...

Tue, 26 May 09
United States: Group says coal protesters unable to make bail
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090524/ap_on_bi_ge/us_massey_protest_arrests
Associated Press: Environmental group Mountain Justice says six people arrested on trespassing charges during a coal mining protest are still jailed. The group said Sunday the six have been unable to raise $2,000 cash apiece to make bail. All six were arrested a day earlier at Richmond, Va.-based Massey Energy Co.'s Marfork Coal mining complex in Pettus. Mountain Justice says they were protesting Massey's plan to blast at the mine. Mountain Justice and a group called Climate Ground Zero ...

Tue, 26 May 09
UK 'worst electrical recycler'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8063115.stm
BBC: A study on recycling suggests Britons are the worst in Europe when it comes to recycling electrical equipment. Computer manufacturer Dell found that fewer than half of UK residents regularly recycled old hardware, compared with more than 80% of Germans. Within the UK, the Welsh are the worst when it comes to recycling technology; almost 20% have never done so. It is thought the UK creates enough electrical waste each year to fill Wembley Stadium six times ...

Mon, 25 May 09
Pelosi to China kicking off recess Codels
http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/pelosi-to-china-kicking-off-recess-codels-2009-05-24.html
The Hill: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is leading a group of lawmakers on a trip to China this week to press for global cooperation on efforts to stem climate change. Pelosi said before her trip that decisions need to be made now to help prevent global warming. "The urgency of the global climate crisis requires that critical choices be made now that are bold and based on the clearest understanding of how to achieve our goals of preserving the planet and protecting the health of ...

Mon, 25 May 09
Farmers the missing link in climate change talks
http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/news/-/2558/602552/-/r32mdxz/-/
East African: Despite its contribution to climate change, agriculture has been relegated to the backseat in global warming negotiations, and farmers are not considered an important link in the fight against effects of greenhouse gas emissions. US-based International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), a global farm policy think-tank, says that unless this thinking changes, the war against greenhouse gas emissions is unlikely to be won. Currently, countries are preparing for the ...

Mon, 25 May 09
Act now on climate change, Gore tells global leaders
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090524/sc_afp/unclimatetalksdenmark
Agence France-Presse: Former US vice president turned climate campaigner Al Gore warned business and political leaders Sunday that the world was running out of time to reach a deal on how to fight global warming. "It's time to act now... We have to do it this year, not next year," Gore told the World Business Summit on Climate Change in Copenhagen. "The clock is ticking because Mother Nature does not do bailouts," he said. "To save the future, we have everything we need except the political ...

Mon, 25 May 09
High hopes for high speed
http://features.csmonitor.com/innovation/2009/05/18/high-hopes-for-high-speed/
Christian Science Monitor: Would the high-speed rail network proposed by President Obama boost the nation's economy, cool the climate, and bring US transportation into the 21st century? Or is it a boondoggle waiting to happen? Kyle Spolski has few doubts. Preparing to board the gleaming steel Acela, the nation's only high-speed train service, the business executive calculates his Boston-to-New York travel costs. Time: about 3-1/2 hours. Cost: $124. Taxi fare: $0. Airport hassle: none. "I used to ...

Mon, 25 May 09
Cars won't all shrink under Obama's fuel plan, automakers say
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/content/business/epaper/2009/05/24/sunbiz_obamaautomakers_0524.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=6
Palm Beach Post: Automakers say they won't have to overhaul their technology or flood the U.S. with tiny cars buyers may not want under President Barack Obama's standards for fuel economy and greenhouse-gas emissions. Even as they face more than $21 billion in annual costs to meet the new standards by 2016, General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. will benefit from a single national system, rather than a patchwork of state rules, and an approach that allows them to tweak the fuel efficiency for each ...

Mon, 25 May 09
Australia: Carbon budget blowout
http://www.greenleft.org.au/2009/796/40971
Green Left Weekly: Two protesters abseiled from the front of parliament house on May 13 in a dramatic protest against the federal government's policies on climate change. The two activists unfurled a banner reading "Carbon budget blowout" across the parliament house facade. A further nine protesters were ejected from the parliament house foyer. Two of the protesters interrupted Treasurer Wayne Swan's post budget speech to denounce the government's failure to deliver a climate-friendly budget. The ...

Mon, 25 May 09
UN chief urges business to back climate change deal
http://www.spacedaily.com/2006/090524121717.vi49ptvq.html
Agence France-Presse: UN chief Ban Ki-moon on Sunday made an impassioned plea for a "cleaner, greener" world economy as he urged business leaders meeting in Copenhagen to back a new, global warming pact. "Today, I want to challenge you. I want to see you in the vanguard of an unprecedented effort to retool the global economy into one that is cleaner, greener and more sustainable," the UN secretary general said in opening remarks to hundreds of business leaders in the Danish capital. "With your ...

Mon, 25 May 09
Gore, others urge CEOs to back climate change deal
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090524/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_denmark_climate_conference
Associated Press: Climate-change heavyweights U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon and Nobel prize winner Al Gore urged more than 500 business leaders on Sunday to lend their corporate muscle to reaching a global deal on reducing greenhouse gases. The CEOs of PepsiCo, Nestle, BP and other of the world's major businesses began meeting in Copenhagen, where politicians will gather in December to negotiate a new U.N.-brokered climate treaty. Despite the global financial crisis, both Ban and Gore said there was no ...

Mon, 25 May 09
US House Speaker Pelosi in China for climate talks
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090524/pl_afp/chinausclimaterightscongresslead
Agence France-Presse: US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a longtime critic of Beijing's rule over Tibet and its rights record, arrived in China on Sunday for a trip focused on energy and climate change. US embassy spokeswoman Susan Stevenson confirmed Pelosi had arrived in Shanghai but could not say who the top US official was going to meet in the country's financial hub. Pelosi is scheduled to attend a clean energy forum in Beijing on Tuesday along with Senator John Kerry, the ...

Mon, 25 May 09
Chile faces climate change challenge
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8058080.stm
BBC: Chile has enjoyed one of the most dynamic economies in Latin America in recent years, largely based on a booming export sector. But new studies by Chilean scientists suggest climate change could pose huge challenges for the country. The scientists say their models show projected temperature increases of at least 1C to 1.5C and a drop in rainfall of at least 10 to 15% in the next 40 years. These changes could have a particular impact on agriculture in Chile's central ...

Mon, 25 May 09
US House Speaker Pelosi due in China
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090524/pl_afp/chinausclimaterightscongress
Agence France-Presse: US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a longtime critic of China's rule over Tibet and its rights record, was to arrive in Shanghai Sunday for a trip focused on energy and climate change. Pelosi was expected in the Chinese financial hub mid-afternoon, Susan Stevenson, a spokeswoman at the US embassy in Beijing, told AFP, but she was unaware of who the top US official was going to meet. Pelosi was also scheduled to attend a clean energy forum in Beijing Tuesday along ...

Mon, 25 May 09
Business leaders meet on climate change
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090524/bs_afp/unclimatemeetdenmark
Agence France-Presse: Business leaders, academics and politicians are set to meet in the Danish capital Copenhagen Sunday to explore how industry can help fight against global warming. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso and former US vice-president turned climate campaigner Al Gore will be among the delegates attending the World Business Summit on Climate Change. Gore is scheduled to deliver the keynote speech at the conference at 1200 ...

Mon, 25 May 09
United Kingdom: Burping of the lambs blows roast off menu
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article6350237.ece
Times (UK): GIVE up lamb roasts and save the planet. Government advisers are developing menus to combat climate change by cutting out "high carbon' food such as meat from sheep, whose burping poses a serious threat to the environment. Out will go kebabs, greenhouse tomatoes and alcohol. Instead, diners will be encouraged to consume more potatoes and seasonal vegetables, as well as pork and chicken, which generate fewer carbon emissions. "Changing our lifestyles, including our diets, is ...

Mon, 25 May 09
Green pioneers brigade: Shai Agassi
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article6349906.ece
Times (UK): SHAI AGASSI travelled halfway round the world to change a battery last week. He flew from his home in San Francisco to watch a platform scuttle along a set of metal rails, stop at an electric car, remove the vehicle's old battery and replace it with a new one. As the metallic ballet played out, Agassi beamed. It seemed a long way to travel for so little, but what happened in Yokohama was the culmination of a five-year ambition that might change the way we think about our cars and much ...

Mon, 25 May 09
US expected to lead efforts on climate change
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20090524/environment/us-expected-to-lead-efforts-on-climate-change
Times of Malta: US President Barack Obama should draw inspiration from Europe and make stronger commitments to combat global warming, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said last week. Sarkozy called for more US action as lawmakers in Washington began debating legislation aimed at reducing carbon dioxide emissions and other pollutants. "It's a great opportunity for us to have President Obama and we must help him succeed because the United States is the world's top economy," Sarkozy ...

Mon, 25 May 09
United Kingdom: Eco-group slashes the tyres on 100 'Chelsea tractors'
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/5370392/Eco-group-slashes-the-tyres-on-100-Chelsea-tractors.html
Telegraph: A note was left on the windscreens of each of the "gas-guzzling" vehicles, accusing the owners of contributing to global warming and "increasing the chances of road deaths". The large four-wheel drive vehicles, which consume considerably more fuel than regular cars, were originally intended for use by farmers on rough terrain in the countryside. But they have become popular with middle-class families living in cities and are used for school runs and shopping trips. Tyres ...

Mon, 25 May 09
Forecast improves for solar power in Missouri
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/business/stories.nsf/0/925465C8FBFEB55E862575BF0003452C?OpenDocument
St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Even amid the economic storm clouds, Eric Swillinger sees rays of sunlight. Swillinger is a partner in Missouri Solar Living LLC, a St. Louis-area solar installer he co-founded in 2006. The company, run from his Olivette home, generates about $500,000 of revenue a year. But Swillinger thinks sales could triple in 2010 as interest in renewable energy grows and new policies put solar technology within reach of more people. "We're setting our goals high because of the incentives ...

Mon, 25 May 09
Obama's push toward green has some Texans seeing red
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus/stories/DN-obamaenergy_24bus.ART.State.Edition2.50cd1e1.html
Dallas Morning News: The Obama administration's push to shift the country toward renewable energy and away from fossil fuels puts the Texas economy in the crosshairs. Hopeful Texas Democrats and entrepreneurs say the change would open opportunities for the state's energy industry, while cutting the greenhouse gas emissions that are heating the planet. But even as Texas installs more wind power than any other state and boosts incentives for solar energy, fossil fuels reign. "If the construct is to ...

Mon, 25 May 09
Evolving U.S. climate policy not seen as a threat to Canada
http://www.calgaryherald.com/Business/Evolving%20climate%20policy%20seen%20threat%20Canada/1623742/story.html
Calgary Herald: Prime Minister Stephen Harper says he's"comfortable" with the new U.S. position on climate change, while stressing it's important that the massive oilsands resource in northern Alberta be developed. On Thursday, a key U. S. congressional panel embraced President Barack Obama's plan to create a new, market-driven system for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The bill aims to cut American emissions of heat-trapping gases by 17 per cent below 2005 levels by 2020 and 83 per cent by ...

Mon, 25 May 09
United States: Tree-saving plan has credibility questions
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/stories/2009/05/24/tree_saving_plan.html
Atlanta Journal-Constitution: This March, Gov. Sonny Perdue traveled to a tree farm near Macon to endorse a new environmental program in the state. Called Keeping Forests in Forests, the program plans to offer 700,000 Georgia electric co-op members -- about half of them in metro Atlanta -- a chance to offset their "carbon footprints" for an extra $5 to $25 on their power bills each month. THE PLAYERS * Power4Georgians is a coalition of electric co-ops planning a new coal-fired power plant in Middle ...

Mon, 25 May 09
Obama's mining approach leaves industry wondering
http://wvgazette.com/News/200905230166
Associated Press: No one's particularly pleased with the Obama administration's early approach to regulating the U.S. coal industry. The industry and big coal-producing states are worried about stricter reviews of Appalachian surface mining permits by the Environmental Protection Agency. They say those reviews have contributed to a lengthy backlog. They're also apprehensive about efforts to eliminate a pro-mining rule adopted by the Bush administration. That's atop broader concerns about ...

Mon, 25 May 09
Chase for wind power turns to Oregon's public lands
http://www.oregonlive.com/environment/index.ssf/2009/05/chase_for_wind_power_turns_to.html
Oregonian: Houston-based Horizon Wind Energy has placed two wind-testing towers in the expansive Pueblo Mountains of Harney County, part of the vanguard of wind power development on Oregon's public lands. FIELDS -- Anchored among clumps of sage and purplish lupine, the guy wires of a solitary weather tower thrum with wind heading in a hurry toward Idaho and Nevada. "They say that in the summer it shouts, but in the winter it screams," Elon Hasson said of the wind on southeast Oregon's Pueblo ...

Mon, 25 May 09
Power-hungry gadgets must learn to diet
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20227095.800-powerhungry-gadgets-must-learn-to-diet.html
New Scientist: COME 2030, electronic gadgets will gobble three times as much electricity as they do today, requiring 280 gigawatts of new generating capacity, unless we do something about it. A new study by the International Energy Agency (IEA) reports that devices from cellphones to personal computers consume 15 per cent of all household power, and that figure is climbing rapidly. Energy consumption could, however, be reined in using existing technologies. "If we were to use the most ...

Mon, 25 May 09
Earth's 'hum' may reveal stormier climate
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17177-earths-hum-may-reveal-stormier-climate.html
New Scientist: The world is abuzz with climate change "" in more ways than one. Swelling waves and rising sea levels can be detected in the way the planet "hums", says an oceanographer. Peter Bromirski, of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, says that seismic listening stations provide a long-term record of how the amount of energy reaching the world's shores is changing with climate change. Most geologists who study seismology try to eliminate ...

Mon, 25 May 09
Dust storms speed snowmelt in Colorado
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-pink-snow24-2009may24,0,1077488.story
LA Times: A series of unusual spring dust storms has left the snowcapped mountains of western Colorado stained brown and red, even a bit pink. The dust is speeding up the runoff to rivers that supply millions of people with water and raising fears of an increasingly arid West. Twelve dust storms barreled into the southern Rockies from the deserts of Arizona, Utah and New Mexico so far this year. In contrast, four storms hit the mountains all year long in 2003. Eight occurred in each of the last ...

Mon, 25 May 09
United States: Droughts drain northern lakes
http://www.jsonline.com/news/wisconsin/45924602.html
Journal-Sentinel: Scientists and property owners say they are worried about the long-term effects of a prolonged drought on fishing and water quality in northern Wisconsin as they've watched some lakes drop to their lowest point in 70 years. As people flock to the north this weekend, drought conditions also are evident in tinder-dry forests that experienced a surge in fires last week. Many lakefront property owners are being forced to push out docks and motor around new shallows as water levels ...

Mon, 25 May 09
United Kingdom: Gadget boom sends electric bills soaring
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/may/24/gadgets-appliances-climate-change-emissions-targets
Guardian: Britain's addiction to power-hungry gadgets could raise electricity bills by £100 per year for every household and hamper progress in meeting the country's greenhouse gas emissions targets, according to experts. The proliferation of plasma televisions, high-end PCs and mobile phones is causing energy consumption to soar. These devices currently account for 25% of the electricity used by UK households and projections by the Energy Savings Trust (EST) show this will rise to around 45% ...

Mon, 25 May 09
United States: Pressure on coal mines to reduce greenhouse gases
http://cbs4denver.com/local/Coal.Mines.Reduce.2.1017763.html
CBS: WildEarth Guardian Environmental groups and agencies are pushing for Colorado coal mines to reduce greenhouse gases by capturing the methane released during mining. Environmental officials are proposing that the mines capture methane released during coal mining so that it's burned off or used as fuel. Federal data project that mines in western Colorado will release as much greenhouse gas into the atmosphere every year as 1 1/2 coal-burning power plants. "We are looking ...

Mon, 25 May 09
America's new green guru sparks anger over climate change U-turns
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/may/24/steven-chu-environmentalist-anger
Guardian: US energy secretary Steven Chu will fly to Europe this week to begin talks that will be crucial in the global battle against climate change. The 61-year-old physicist will hold key discussions with energy ministers from the G8 nations in Rome before travelling to London to take part in a debate with Nobel prize winners on global warming. The arrival of Chu, himself a physics Nobel laureate, comes as the scientist-turned-politician finds himself attacked by environmentalists over ...

Mon, 25 May 09
How Boeing Fights Climate Change
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124303177241948493.html
Wall Street Journal: Addressing climate change is a particularly difficult challenge for commercial aviation. While technologies like batteries work for cars, they don't work for airplanes that require powerful propulsion systems. The good news is that there are things we can do to significantly reduce the carbon footprint of commercial planes -- and we're well on our way. At Boeing, we're tackling carbon emissions on three fronts. First, we are working to make each new generation of airplane ...

Mon, 25 May 09
United States: Coal plant to put power of CO2 to test
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/printedition/2009/05/22/carbon0522.html
Associated Press:

Sun, 24 May 09
Pelosi in delegation heading to China
http://www.seattlepi.com/local/6420ap_ak_pelosi_china.html?source=mypi
Associated Press: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was heading to China Saturday after a quick stop in Alaska that included a discussion with Native representatives over the effects of global warming. Pelosi, D-Calif., was traveling to China with a congressional delegation of four Democrats and one Republican, all members of the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming. Pelosi staffers said the intent of the trip is to "focus on opportunities that will help create clean, ...

Sun, 24 May 09
Australia: ETS vote may wait for global talks
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25524934-11949,00.html
Australia: KEVIN Rudd's bid to get his emissions trading scheme through parliament this year could be frustrated after the Greens and the Senate independents said they would consider a Coalition option to delay a vote on the laws until after crucial global talks in Copenhagen in December. The Coalition, which could finalise its position at a partyroom meeting on Tuesday, is considering agreeing with the Government on the emission reduction targets Australia could sign up to under a new ...

Sun, 24 May 09
Australia's east coast a disaster zone after severe floods
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/australiaandthepacific/australia/5372689/Australias-east-coast-a-disaster-zone-after-severe-floods.html
Telegraph: Emergency services estimated that 21,500 people were isolated by the flooding, which has caused widespread evacuations from the Gold Coast in Queensland to the northern rivers region of New South Wales (NSW). One man, aged 70, died when his car was swamped by raging torrents that swept through the NSW town of Coffs Harbour, 340 miles north of Sydney, overnight. The discovery of his body in the floodwaters brought the death toll from the storms, which were the worst to hit ...

Sun, 24 May 09
Nine companies submit plans for renewable energy projects in Central New York
http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf?/base/news-0/1243069138219630.xml&coll=1
Post-Standard: Nine companies want to build renewable energy projects in Syracuse and Onondaga County that would be powered by wind, solar, biomass, fuel cells and even sewage sludge. The companies submitted their proposals to a joint city-county team that is looking into sources of cheap, alternative energy that could power government offices, schools, libraries and other municipal buildings. Syracuse Mayor Matt Driscoll - visiting Washington, D.C., this week for a climate leadership summit ...

Sun, 24 May 09
United States: For some, prominent power lines dim enthusiasm for green power
http://www.sacbee.com/702/story/1873629.html
Sacramento Bee: In the summer heat, Rockney Compton's spring-fed koi pond doubles as a swimming hole for his three kids, and in the spring it is a water bowl for his dogs. The pond is a centerpiece for an almost postcard-worthy vista of green, tree-lined hills near Round Mountain, a quiet stretch of Northern California's Shasta County. What keeps this landscape shy of perfect are the high-voltage power lines that cut through Compton's property, built in the 1960s to funnel electricity from ...

Sun, 24 May 09
Hypermilers squeeze the most out of a gallon of gas
http://www.kentucky.com/181/story/805488.html
Lexington Herald-Tribune: Robert Wyler was tooling along the interstate near Lexington on Thursday afternoon in his '86 Honda Civic with manual transmission, his speedometer pointing to 60, doing his part to lessen the nation's dependence on foreign oil. The windows were rolled up for aerodynamics. The air conditioner didn't work, but Wyler wouldn't have been running it if it did. Approaching Newtown Pike, he turned the ignition switch off (which you shouldn't try with an automatic). Without touching ...

Sun, 24 May 09
Interest in diesel vehicles quietly growing
http://greatlakesecho.org/2009/05/20/interest-in-diesel-vehicles-quietly-growing/
Great Lakes Echo: Although hybrids may be the most talked-about vehicle technology, good old-fashioned diesel is quietly making its own resurgence, according to a new study by a multinational marketing research firm based in Michigan. "The hybrid electric vehicles continue to get the most attention. They're the ones consumers are most familiar with, and they're already on the road," said Bryan Krulikowski, vice president of Farmington Hills-based Morpace Inc. But personal vehicles with diesel ...

Sun, 24 May 09
Sweeping climate-energy bill clears first big hurdle in Congress
http://features.csmonitor.com/politics/2009/05/22/sweeping-climate-energy-bill-clears-first-big-hurdle-in-congress/
Christian Science Monitor: New climate-energy legislation approved by a key congressional committee marks what some are calling the most significant tipping point in US energy policy in 30 years, thrusting the economy toward renewable energy and away from fossil fuels. The American Climate and Energy Act of 2009 (ACES) bill, approved by the House Energy and Commerce Committee Thursday evening, is the second major step this week by US political leaders to boost energy efficiency and curb global climate ...

Sun, 24 May 09
Washington governor orders cutbacks in emissions
http://www.latimes.com/news/science/environment/la-na-global-warming22-2009may22,0,6413414.story?track=rss
Los Angeles Times: Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire sidestepped her Legislature's refusal to adopt a cap-and-trade program to limit greenhouse gases, signing an executive order Thursday to achieve similar reductions by ratcheting back coal-fired electricity and automobile emissions. "I wanted cap-and-trade. I didn't get it," said Gregoire, a Democrat, whose order directs government agencies to expand public transit and other programs to meet auto emissions goals, and to reach agreement with the state's ...

Sun, 24 May 09
Now, you can hear global warming
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Global-Warming/Now-you-can-hear-global-warming-/articleshow/4565858.cms
Asian News International: A new study has determined that it's now possible to hear the rise of global warming, in the form of more larger and more intense storms, which are signs of climate change. For decades, seismologists have been filtering out the sounds of massive, storm-driven ocean waves crashing into coastlines. The pesky noise was getting in the way of earthquake detection. According to a report in National Geographic News, but now, some experts are electronically filtering out the quakes, ...

Sun, 24 May 09
Clean Energy Bill Survives: Political Realists Rejoice, Climate Science Realists Demand More
http://www.alternet.org/environment/140197/clean_energy_bill_survives:_political_realists_rejoice,_climate_science_realists_demand_more/
AlterNet: NOTE: Unexpectedly, Rep. Bono Mack (R-CA) voted "yes" -- and the bill passed 33-25! She later said, ""While I still have significant concerns about this bill, particularly with regard to its cost and its failure to recognize innovative technologies like advanced nuclear energy, I believe this is the right direction for our district, for our nation and for our future.' UPDATE: Al Gore's statement is at the end. The New York Times labels Waxman-Markey "the most ambitious energy and ...

Sun, 24 May 09
US wants OPEC to stabilize oil price
http://www.reuters.com/article/reutersComService_3_MOLT/idUSTRE54L61620090522
Reuters: U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu said on Friday he wants OPEC to carry out an oil production policy that will help keep oil and gasoline prices stable "as much as possible." When Chu travels to Rome this weekend to meet with energy ministers from the Group of Eight (G8) industrialized countries, he will have an opportunity to speak with energy representatives from Saudi Arabia who will also attend the G8 summit ahead of OPEC's May 28 meeting in Vienna. "Sudden drops and sudden ...

Sun, 24 May 09
Duke Energy, Alcoa, GE Win in Climate Legislation by Signing On
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601130&sid=atMB.vwThfvM
Bloomberg: Environmental group members and representatives of the world's biggest greenhouse-gas emitters were on edge when they first sat down at the same table, John Mimikakis says. "There were definitely a number of tense moments," said Mimikakis, a senior policy manager for the Environmental Defense Fund, based in New York. "We were eyeing each other suspiciously." The alliance that grew out of those first meetings three years ago, the U.S. Climate Action Partnership, shaped the ...

Sun, 24 May 09
Traders See $10 a Ton CO2 Price Floor in Climate Bill
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601072&sid=aRkJfzL.ET5E
Bloomberg: The climate-change legislation that cleared a committee of the U.S. House yesterday would set an effective price floor for carbon-dioxide permits of $10 each, according to an emissions trading group. The legislation that passed the House Energy and Commerce Committee would establish a "cap-and-trade" program in which the federal government would sell 15 percent of the permits at auction. In 2012, the first year of the program, the reserve price would be $10 a permit. This would ...

Sun, 24 May 09
In China, Pelosi Hopes for Allies in Combatting Climate Change
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/23/AR2009052301089.html
Washington Post: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who unfurled a banner in Tiananmen Square in 1991 in support of pro-democracy protesters, has never been shy about speaking her mind about human rights in China. But on Sunday, she arrived here to talk about a less sensitive topic: climate change. At a briefing in Washington just before leaving for her week-long trip, Pelosi declined to say whether she planned to discuss human rights with her hosts. Instead, she said the focus of her visit would be ...

Sun, 24 May 09
Recycling revolution begins in blood and guts
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article6349944.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=3392178
Times (UK): Darren Renshall can't help himself. As he approaches a spigot amid the din coming from a maze of pipes, he smiles, pulls the lever and out slops a pile of foul-smelling black sludge. The odour is revolting. But the engineer doesn't seem to care. He is clearly excited about the muck, which is piling up like a mound of mashed potato on the floor. It is what makes this power station, in Widnes on the Mersey, like no other. Instead of using coal or gas to generate electricity, this plant ...

Sun, 24 May 09
Climate History Of Arctic Illuminated By Study Of 3.6-Million-Year-Old Meteorite Impact Crater In Siberia
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/05/090522081425.htm
ScienceDaily: Christian Koeberl, head of the Department of Lithospheric Studies at the University of Vienna (Austria), has recently returned from an expedition to Arctic Siberia. He is one of the principal investigators of a drilling project at the El'gygytgyn meteorite impact crater that is coordinated by the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP) and that was recently concluded. The main goals of the project are to obtain, from analyses of the drill cores, new information ...

Sun, 24 May 09
Seeing Beyond The Invisible: Uncovering Our Planet's Past To Help Predict Its Future
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/05/090522081349.htm
ScienceDaily: Studies of climate evolution and the ecology of past-times are often hampered by lost information -- lost variables needed to complete the picture have been long thought untraceable but scientists have created a formula which will fill in the gaps of our knowledge and will help predict the future. A novel method of reconstructing missing data will shed new light on how and why our climate moved us on from ice ages to warmer periods as researchers will be able to calculate lost ...

Sun, 24 May 09
China raises pressure on climate change
http://www.euractiv.com/en/climate-change/china-raises-pressure-climate-change/article-182582?Ref=RSS
EurActiv: China upped pressure on industrialised nations to cut emissions 40% below their 1990 levels by 2020 and dedicate part of their GDP to help developing as part of a new global climate pact to be agreed in Copenhagen later this year. Background: Next December in Copenhagen, the global community must decide upon a new international climate agreement to replace the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012 (see EurActiv LinksDossier on 'Global options for tackling climate ...

Sun, 24 May 09
In Search of the Perfect Biofuel -- and Financing to Bring It to Market
http://www.climatebiz.com/blog/2009/05/22/in-search-perfect-biofuel-and-financing
ClimateBiz: Funny thing about the biofuels business. Roughly 200 companies are pursuing the perfect biofuel -- as cheap as fossil fuels, adaptable to today's infrastructure, low-carbon, sustainable and no threat to the food supply or to tropical forests. But even cutting-edge startups that say they have the puzzle just about solved can't raise the money they need to get into commercial production. "Everyone wants to be the first to finance the second plant," says Arnold Klann, the CEO of biofuels ...

Sun, 24 May 09
Japan pledges $528m climate aid to Pacific Islands
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090523/sc_afp/pacificjapansummitdiplomacyclimate
Agence France-Presse: Japan on Saturday pledged 50 billion yen (528 million dollars) in aid to small Pacific islands over the next three years to help them with clean energy projects and to cope with climate change. Japan Prime Minister Taro Aso announced the financial assistance, an increase of more than 10 percent from its pledge announced three years ago, at the closing of the fifth Pacific Leaders Meeting in northern Japan. "Pacific leaders are worried about rising sea levels," Aso told a news ...

Sun, 24 May 09
United States: A long goodbye for old-school cool
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=128311
New York Times: ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY rules that take effect on Jan. 1, 2010, are part of a gradual shift to a new class of refrigerants for window units, central air-conditioning systems, heat pumps and the chillers used to cool large residential and office buildings. Some heating and cooling companies are suggesting replacing old equipment now to accommodate the new refrigerants, and some utilities are offering rebates. But there is nothing in the regulations to compel getting rid of an ...

Sun, 24 May 09
Kansas governor signs renewable energy legislation
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2009/05/22/ap6458290.html
Associated Press: Gov. Mark Parkinson signed a renewable energy bill Friday that he had demanded from legislators as part of an agreement allowing a new coal-fired power plant in southwest Kansas. The new law says wind farms and other renewable sources must provide 20 percent of public utilities' electricity by 2020. It also has provisions to encourage conservation and consumers' use of small wind or solar generators for their household power needs. The changes take effect Thursday. Parkinson ...

Sun, 24 May 09
US House Speaker Pelosi to visit China
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gjpO11lVtu7sOjV-sO-uk3MNEH3w
Agence France-Presse: US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Friday she will visit China next week but declined to say if she will press Beijing on human rights ahead of the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown. Pelosi, who will be the most senior US official to travel to China since President Barack Obama took office, has taken a hard line on Beijing's rights record in years past but ignored shouted questions on the subject. "The purpose of the trip is to follow up on meetings we've had ...

Sat, 23 May 09
United Kingdom: Heathrow third runway 'a mistake'
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/may/22/lord-stern-heathrow-third-runway
Guardian: The decision to allow a third runway at Heathrow was a mistake, according to one of the government's most senior advisers on the economics of climate change. Lord Stern said if the decision had been properly considered in light of the UK's climate targets, he thought it would not have been granted. Speaking at the Guardian Hay festival , Stern said: "You cannot have a carbon policy which is quite tough and ambitious and then take a decision like that [Heathrow] which could be ...

Sat, 23 May 09
Will Canada's Tar Sands Destroy the Global Climate?
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=canada-tar-sands-oil-global-climate
Greenwire: Further development of Alberta's famous oil sands will be neither the climate disaster that activists fear nor the energy security panacea that proponents suggest it is, the Council on Foreign Relations concludes in a new report. The reality of the oil sands in the international energy and climate picture suggests both the United States and Canada would be wise to develop climate policy in tandem, or at least link whatever independent cap-and-trade programs for greenhouse gases each ...

Sat, 23 May 09
Ethanol Industry Reps Concerned By Land-Use Provisions
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1693932/ethanol_industry_reps_concerned_by_landuse_provisions/index.html?source=r_science
redOrbit: The US biofuel industry is voicing opposition against a provision developed by environmental regulators that would hold it responsible for greenhouse gas emissions from crops overseas. The EPA has proposed a plan to compare the levels of greenhouse gas emissions from biofuels to those generated from petroleum. The proposal would include the effects of land clearing required to cultivate crops for alternative fuels in its comparison. The provision would be damaging to the ...

Sat, 23 May 09
Epic cycle ride to search for solutions to climate change throughout the Americas
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/5370596/Epic-cycle-ride-to-search-for-solutions-to-climate-change-throughout-the-Americas.html
Telegraph: One pair of cyclists will travel through North America, the land of the gas guzzler, while another team of two will cycle down South America, where virgin rainforest have been cleared for cattle ranches. The aim is to show how different areas of the world are contributing to greenhouse emissions in an ongoing video blog and 13-part documentary television series called Going South. But the ground-breaking expedition is also in search for solutions to climate change. Twenty-six ...

Sat, 23 May 09
U.S. aims to mend rich-poor climate split
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE54L3DX20090522?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: The United States will try to persuade rich and poor countries to share the burden of fighting climate change next week, with a big U.S. pledge to cut greenhouse gas emissions likely to help mend ties. Washington will hold talks among major economies, including China, the European Union, Russia, India and Japan, in Paris on May 25 and 26 to search for common ground on issues such as how to cut fossil fuel use and promote clean technologies. "The United States (wants) tough ...

Sat, 23 May 09
Climate change warning: Emissions trading scheme to 'cost 24,000 jobs'
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25520171-11949,00.html
Australian: THE Rudd Government's emissions trading scheme will cost 23,510 mining jobs over the next decade - almost half of them in Queensland - according to new modelling released as parliament prepares to decide the fate of the controversial climate change legislation. Treasury modelling for the Government found the ETS would have only a small net effect on total employment over a decade, but did not identify winners and losers in the economic upheaval as jobs were shed in some industries and ...

Sat, 23 May 09
Climate change report paints grim picture for region
http://www.standard.net.au/news/local/news/general/climate-change-report-paints-grim-picture-for-region/1519823.aspx
Standard: WATER flows across the south-west could plummet in coming years, drying up rivers and lakes and robbing the region of some of its popular fishing spots. While the region is renowned for its reliable rainfall, a State Government water research committee has revealed a grim future unless major action is undertaken. The group released a draft report which predicts how the south-west's water ways will cope under different climate change scenarios. The Lake Corangamite basin ...

Sat, 23 May 09
U.S. climate talks may skirt firm emission goals
http://www.reuters.com/article/GCA-GreenBusiness/idUSTRE54K5RE20090521?sp=true
Reuters: U.S.-run talks on strategies for major nations to fight climate change may stop short of setting firm new targets and dates, such as 2050 goals for greenhouse gas emissions, Washington's top climate envoy said on Thursday. Todd Stern said Washington wanted major economies including China, the European Union and Russia to seek more common ground on issues such as green technology, finance and emissions cuts at talks in Paris on May 25-26. The talks are the second among major ...

Sat, 23 May 09
China: Daishin eyes climate change commodity plays
http://www.reuters.com/article/GCA-GreenBusiness/idUSTRE54K30820090521
Reuters: Daishin Investment Trust Management, which runs a climate change fund that invests in companies engaged in disaster relief, plans a new commodities fund this year to capitalize on the effects of global warming. Yong-Jin Kim, who manages Daishin's $20 million Global Climate Change fund, likes makers of fire trucks, rescue gadgets and satellite systems as governments tighten disaster relief procedures amid a changing global climate. He cited Smit International, which provides ...

Sat, 23 May 09
Democrats may make trouble for climate bill
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0509/22836.html
Politico: California Rep. Henry Waxman has spent most of the year catering to the concerns of other Democrats on his Energy and Commerce Committee. Now it's everyone else's turn. Waxman won a long-sought legislative victory Thursday night with committee approval of his sweeping climate-change bill. But the nimble chairman still has to get over some rocky terrain before the bill -- or one like it -- ever becomes law. In the House, Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel is ...

Sat, 23 May 09
House Dem chairmen preview a summer of maneuvering on climate bill
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=128287
ClimateWire: Three key House Democratic committee chairmen signaled yesterday that they too want to take a swing at the sweeping global warming package that Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) is trying to pass out of committee this week. Offering perhaps the biggest road block to a floor debate, Ways and Means Chairman Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) told reporters that he plans to put President Obama's health care reform agenda ahead of Waxman's global warming bill. "We have to deal ...

Sat, 23 May 09
United States: Global warming is making allergies worse
http://www.ktuu.com/Global/story.asp?S=10407599
KTUU: Increasing global temperatures are causing pollen and some insects to be more prevalent in Alaska, according to a new study. Dr. Jeffrey Demain noticed an increase in the number of patients he treated for insect stings and bites. He looked into it with a team of doctors and in conjunction with Fairbanks Memorial Hospital and the Allergy, Asthma and Immunology Center of Alaska. "When you start seeing changes in those patterns the question is why," Demain said. "It seems that ...

Sat, 23 May 09
Historic green victory at Idaho Power annual meeting could mean higher electric bills
http://www.idahostatesman.com/localnews/story/777839.html
Idaho Statesman: Even supporters of a resolution urging Idaho Power to reduce greenhouse gases were surprised when shareholders approved it with a 52 percent majority Thursday at the company's annual meeting. The resolution asked Idaho Power to adopt specific goals -- by Sept. 30 -- for reducing the gases that scientists say contribute to climate change. No matter how the company responds, electric rates are expected to rise. The shareholder advocacy group As you Sow and the green ...

Sat, 23 May 09
China energy expert sees coal power slowing from 2011
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/feedarticle/8520665
Reuters: China's boom of coal-fired power plants is likely to slow after next year as excess capacity and then expanding renewable and nuclear energy sources kick in, a senior energy policy analyst said in an interview. Jiang Kejun, of China's state-run Energy Research Institute, told Reuters the forecast slowing also reflected longer-term shifts in the country's energy use, as industrial growth slows while transport and household energy consumption expand. "After 2010, the coal [power] ...

Sat, 23 May 09
Alberta a 'leader' on climate change
http://www.edmontonjournal.com/Technology/Alberta%20leader%20climate%20change/1618564/story.html
Edmonton Journal: A system of carbon dioxide offsets pioneered in Alberta for farmers may soon be a key part of the rapidly emerging cap-and-trade business. That business aims to reduce overall emissions and will have a major impact on the coal-fired electrical power plants and oil industry in the province. With the start of new global climate talks in December in Copenhagen to replace the Kyoto Protocol by 2012, the rush is on. The United States expects to have a cap-and-trade law in ...

Sat, 23 May 09
Carbon plan promises bonanza for Australia forestry
http://in.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idINTRE54L1D820090522?sp=true
Reuters: Australia's forestry firms are poised for major growth from emissions trading plans that could give the sector a multi-million dollar boost when it becomes the first to kick off a nationwide scheme to cut carbon pollution. Big polluters such as power generators and smelters are keen to hedge future emissions liabilities, and forestry firms, as one of their best options, are already pulling investment ahead of the sector's inclusion in emissions trading from July 1, ...

Sat, 23 May 09
U.S. climate plan threatens EU goal for global accord
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601085&sid=aACte9HS5us8&refer=europe
Bloomberg: The European Union may have to scale back its goals to reduce global-warming emissions after a less- ambitious plan won initial approval in U.S. Congress. The 27-nation bloc has asked all industrialized countries to reduce greenhouse gases an average 30 percent over 30 years. The first U.S. legislation ever to cap emissions, which passed a committee vote yesterday, calls for a 5 percent cut by American industry in the period. The gap poses a potential conflict when global talks on a ...

Sat, 23 May 09
New worries on Arctic permafrost thaw
http://www.reuters.com/article/scienceNews/idUSTRE54L34W20090522
Reuters: A rise in concentrations of a powerful greenhouse gas over the Arctic after a decade of stability is stirring worries about a possible thaw of vast stores trapped in permafrost, experts said. Levels of methane in the atmosphere rose 0.6 percent in 2008, according to preliminary data from the Zeppelin station on a remote island in the Norwegian Arctic, after a similar 0.6 percent gain in 2007, Norwegian officials said. The 2007 rise outpaced a global rise in methane of 0.34 ...

Sat, 23 May 09
New Study: Global Temperatures to Rise 9 Degrees by 2100
http://www.reuters.com/article/mnCarbonEmissions/idUS148975034620090522
Ecoworldly: A new study, which researchers have called "the most exhaustive end-to-end analysis of climate change impacts yet performed", predicts that global warming could be twice as bad as previous estimates had suggested. Published this month in the Journal of Climate, the MIT-based research found a 90% probability that worldwide surface temperatures will rise at least 9 degrees by 2100. Pulling from a variety of data sources back in 2007, the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate ...

Sat, 23 May 09
Corals upgrade algae to beat the heat
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17182-corals-upgrade-algae-to-beat-the-heat.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=climate-change
New Scientist: In oceans around the world, heat-resistant algae are offering the prospect of a colourful future for corals. The reef-forming animals are upgrading their symbiotic algae so that they can survive the bleaching that occurs in waters warming under climate change. "The most exciting thing was discovering live, healthy corals on reefs already as hot as the ocean is likely to get 100 years from now," says Stephen Palumbi of Stanford University. Corals have a symbiotic relationship ...

Sat, 23 May 09
US House of Representatives Committee Approves Climate Change Legislation
http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-05-22-voa17.cfm
Voice of America: US Capitol, Washington DCA key U.S. congressional panel has approved a landmark bill aimed at combating climate change, days after Democratic lawmakers reached a compromise on the measure. The House Energy and Commerce Committee approved the bill Thursday by a 33-25 vote, split largely along party lines, with Democrats supporting and Republicans opposing. A key part of the bill calls for a so-called cap-and-trade system that would allow businesses to buy permits to emit ...

Sat, 23 May 09
Landmark Climate Change Bill Heads For House
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=104436991&ft=1&f=1025
National Public Radio: Thursday night, a committee in the House of Representatives passed an ambitious climate bill -- a big step toward having a law that controls greenhouse gases. At the heart of the bill is a mechanism called cap-and-trade. It's a careful mix of government mandate and free-market economy. How successful it will be is a matter of some debate. Cap-and-trade is one of those wonky terms that have permeated the world of Washington, D.C. Part of its mystique is that a lot of people don't know ...

Sat, 23 May 09
United Kingdom: Wales plans for energy self-sufficiency with renewables in 20 years
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/may/22/wales-energy-efficient-plans
Guardian: Wales today laid out radical plans to make it one of the most energy- and resource-efficient countries in the world within a generation. The government development plans, which are legally binding, are far in advance of anything planned for England or Scotland and would see it become energy self-sufficient in using renewable electricity within 20 years and reduce waste to zero by 2050. The proposals would make Wales one of only three countries in the world legally bound to ...

Sat, 23 May 09
United States: Yosemite's giant trees disappear
http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8063000/8063392.stm
BBC: The oldest and largest trees within California's world famous Yosemite National Park are disappearing. Climate change appears to be a major cause of the loss. The revelation comes from an analysis of data collected over 60 years by forest ecologists. They say one worrying aspect of the decline is that it is happening within one of most protected forests within the US, suggesting that even more large trees may be dying off elsewhere. James Lutz and Jerry Franklin ...

Sat, 23 May 09
WHO urges hospitals to join climate change battle
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE54L47G20090522?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Hospitals and their emergency vehicles, which are major polluters, must join the fight against climate change, the World Health Organization said on Friday. "The health sector can contribute a lot to reduce the carbon footprint because the health sector in many countries is the second most important user and energy consumption is very high," Maria Neira, director of the WHO's department of public health and environment, told a news briefing. The amount of energy produced by ...

Sat, 23 May 09
Japan woos Pacific island leaders
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090522/wl_asia_afp/pacificjapansummitdiplomacyclimate
Agence France-Presse: Japanese Premier Taro Aso welcomed the leaders of a clutch of small Pacific islands Friday for a meeting expected to generate fresh aid for clean energy and coping with climate change. Aso was also expected to provide details of increased aid for "human security" projects in the region, including the provision of water-related assistance, at the fifth Pacific Leaders Meeting in northern Japan. "As a partner with Pacific island countries and sharing the Pacific Ocean we will do ...

Sat, 23 May 09
Pelosi heads to China for climate talks
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE54L4KZ20090522?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: A delegation of U.S. lawmakers led by House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi will visit China in coming days to discuss international efforts aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Pelosi, a Democrat, said Friday that a bipartisan group of House members will be on the trip. However she did not provide details. "It is the purpose of the trip to follow up on meetings that we have had here with representatives of China's government on the subjects of climate change and ...

Sat, 23 May 09
China plastic bag ban 'saved 1.6m tonnes of oil'
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/may/22/china-plastic-bags-ban-success
Guardian: Banning flimsy plastic bags has been dismissed as a drop in the ocean when it comes to dealing with the world's environment problems, but multiplied on a China scale, it appears to have made a big difference. A new report suggests restrictions on bag usage in the world's most populous nation have saved the equivalent of 1.6 million tonnes of oil, in the year since it was introduced. Just ahead of the first anniversary of the ban, the China Chain Store and Franchise Association ...

Sat, 23 May 09
United States: Climate Change Hearing Draws Hundreds to Seattle
http://kuow.org/program.php?id=17610
KUOW: A federal hearing on climate change wrapped up last night (Thursday) in downtown Seattle. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) collected comments from more than 150 people on its proposal to regulate greenhouse gasses. The effort could lead to federal regulation of carbon dioxide and other climate--warming gasses. Washington Governor Chris Gregoire kicked off a long day of public testimony. Next, a parade of environmentalists, business leaders, public officials, farmers and ...

Sat, 23 May 09
Will Food Shortages Reshape The World Again?
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=104447721&ft=1&f=1025
National Public Radio: Food shortages have doomed civilizations for millennia. Lester Brown, founder and president of the Earth Policy Institute, argues that environmental degradation could lead to devastating food shortages today, despite advanced farm technology and genetically engineered crops.

Sat, 23 May 09
Concrete And Global Warming: A Mixed Bag
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=104447705&ft=1&f=1025
National Public Radio: Concrete may be responsible for as much as five percent of the global carbon footprint, taking into account the energy required to make it and the CO2 emitted by the kilning process. But a new study by engineer Liv Haselbach finds that concrete may also be an important CO2 sink.

Sat, 23 May 09
Business leaders to meet at Denmark climate change summit
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090522/sc_afp/denmarkeuunclimateenvironmentbusiness
Agence France-Presse: Business leaders, scientists and politicians will meet in Copenhagen on Sunday to explore how industry can play a key role in fighting global warming. The World Business Summit on Climate Change aims to find a way to strike an agreement to reduce greenhouse gases as the world is faces its deepest economic crisis for decades. "The importance of businesses' contributions to a climate agreement makes this a supremely important opportunity, said Danish Climate and Energy Minister ...

Sat, 23 May 09
House panel approves climate change bill
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2009/05/22/house_panel_approves_climate_change_bill/?rss_id=Boston.com+--+Latest+news
Reuters: President Barack Obama's fight against global warming got a huge boost on Thursday when a key congressional panel embraced his plan to create a new, market-driven system for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee, with a mostly partisan vote of 33-25, embraced Obama's "cap and trade" climate change initiative -- one of the president's top legislative priorities this year along with healthcare reform. Representative Henry ...

Sat, 23 May 09
World Bank: 'Offsets will play a role post-Kyoto'
http://www.euractiv.com/en/climate-change/world-bank-offsets-play-role-post-kyoto/article-182486?Ref=RSS
EurActiv: Emissions offsets will play an important role in any future global climate deal, but it will be necessary to scale up the climate efforts and move from projects to programmes, Joëlle Chassard , who manages the World Bank's carbon finance unit, told EurActiv in an interview. What role do you think emissions offsets in developing countries will play in the new climate agreement, set to be negotiated in Copenhagen in December? We expect that international offsets will continue to ...

Sat, 23 May 09
Global Warming Bill With Cap-and-Trade Plan Gains Committee Nod
http://news.yahoo.com/s/bloomberg/20090522/pl_bloomberg/ag7k5jw6enw
Bloomberg: A House committee passed a climate- change measure that would create a cap-and-trade system to control greenhouse-gas emissions, the most comprehensive effort yet by the U.S. to tackle global warming. The House Energy and Commerce Committee yesterday approved the bill 33-25, with one Republican joining all but four Democrats in support. It now faces review in as many as eight House committees. During this week's committee debate on the bill, Democrats largely stuck together ...

Sat, 23 May 09
China: rich nations must cut emissions by 40 pct
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090522/ap_on_re_as/as_china_climate_change
Associated Press: Wealthy nations, as history's biggest polluters, should cut greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent from 1990 levels by 2020, China says in a policy document on climate change. The government also rolled out fresh help for solar power and other "green energy." The reductions China is calling for are based on the principles of "historical responsibility and fairness," the position paper says, and set a hard line ahead of international negotiations on addressing global warming. A ...

Sat, 23 May 09
'Why don't we stop hurting the planet?'
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/may/22/climate-change-children-education-books
Guardian: 'A four-year-old child could understand this! Run out and find me a four-year-old child." For the past year or so, this Groucho Marx line from the 1933 classic Duck Soup might well have been tattooed on the inside of my eyelids. This is what happens when you undertake the challenge of writing a book for children about a subject as complex and, at times, depressing as climate change. With every turn of phrase, I've had to remind myself that we must never underestimate a child's intelligence, ...

Sat, 23 May 09
China: Shanghai to offer hybrid subsidies
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2242736/shanghai-offer-hybrid-subsidies
Business Green: Motorists in Shanghai are set to get a one-time subsidy of up to 20 per cent of the retail price on eco-friendly cars under a scheme launched by officials in the Chinese city. The incentives, to be offered in 2010 and 2011, will offer a maximum subsidy of $2,923 for the purchase of a hybrid, all-electric or fuel cell passenger vehicle. Drivers of fuel-efficient cars will also be offered incentives, including a break on some road taxes and access to more streamlined auto registration ...

Sat, 23 May 09
Renewable power mandate overcomes hurdle in Senate
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE54K4NV20090522?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: A measure requiring utilities to generate a certain amount of electricity from renewable sources, such as wind and solar, overcame a legislative hurdle in the U.S. Senate on Thursday. The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee voted down an amendment offered by Republican Senator Jeff Sessions that would have removed the renewable electricity standard from the energy package the panel is currently debating. The proposed committee bill would mandate that power plants meet ...

Sat, 23 May 09
Obama climate change bill defies Republicans to pass key committee
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/may/22/climate-change-bill-representatives
Guardian: New laws to impose the first limits on US greenhouse gas emissions took a significant step forwards late on Thursday, clearing a key House of Representatives committee in the face of strong Republican opposition. The Energy and Commerce Committee approved the sweeping climate change bill 33-25 after repeatedly turning back Republican attempts to kill or weaken the measures during four days of debate. After the vote on the legislation, President Barack Obama said: "We are now ...

Sat, 23 May 09
Ambitious energy and climate bill clears a House hurdle, but others remain
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=128228
New York Times: The House Energy and Commerce Committee, splitting largely along party lines, approved on Thursday the most ambitious energy and global warming legislation ever debated in Congress. The bill's passage, on a 33-to-25 vote, served as a bookend to a week that began with President Obama's announcing a deal with auto manufacturers to impose tough new mileage and emissions standards for all cars and trucks sold in the United States starting in 2012. With progress on this legislation ...

Sat, 23 May 09
Geothermal, the 'undervalued' renewable resource, sees surging interest
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=128227
Greenwire: Nearly 200 million acres of public lands, mostly in the West, could become prime generators of emissions-free electricity by extracting steam heat from the earth's core to drive electric turbines. Yet despite a $400 million stimulus bill allocation to spur geothermal energy production in the United States, industry groups and other experts say the technology remains a distant third behind wind and solar with respect to combined public and private investment in renewable ...

Sat, 23 May 09
US CO2 goals 'to be compromised'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8061929.stm
BBC: US Energy Secretary Steven Chu says the US will not be able to cut greenhouse emissions as much as it should due to domestic political opposition. Prof Chu told BBC News he feared the world might be heading towards a tipping point on climate change. This meant the US had to cut emissions urgently - even if compromises were needed to get new laws approved. Environmentalists said Prof Chu, a Nobel physicist, should be guided by science not politics. The American ...

Fri, 22 May 09
Natural Gas Falls 9.2% as Demand Is Missing
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124295885392745979.html
Wall Street Journal: Natural-gas futures continued their wild ride as a report on gas storage sparked new worries that demand isn't recovering as quickly as some traders predicted. On Thursday, prices dropped 9.2% -- the biggest percentage decline since August 2007 -- as rising inventories in a weekly storage report from the Energy Information Administration spooked traders. Gas settled at $3.603 per million British thermal units at the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gas stockpiles rose by 103 ...

Fri, 22 May 09
Big US offshore wind farm wins crucial permit
http://www.reuters.com/article/GCA-GreenBusiness/idUSTRE54K6EK20090521
Reuters: A $1 billion proposal to build the first big U.S. offshore wind-power farm passed a key hurdle on Thursday by winning permit requirements in Massachusetts, where it faces opposition from some influential residents. Cape Wind Associates LLC, a privately funded Boston-based energy company, has proposed constructing 130 wind turbines over 24 square miles (62 sq km) in Nantucket Sound, within view of the wealthy Cape Cod resort region of Massachusetts. The project, designed to ...

Fri, 22 May 09
Climate-Change Bill Hits Some of the Right Notes but Botches the Refrain
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/21/AR2009052104402.html
Washington Post: Something very important has been happening this week -- more important, if you can believe it, than what Nancy Pelosi knew about waterboarding or why Kris Allen scored his upset victory on "American Idol." I refer to the marathon committee markup on Capitol Hill of a monster piece of legislation that promises to reduce by 83 percent over the next 40 years the amount of carbon emitted into the atmosphere from American cars, power plants and factories. There remains a robust ...

Fri, 22 May 09
House Panel Passes Limit on Greenhouse-Gas Emissions
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/21/AR2009052104251.html
Washington Post: A bill to create the first national limit on greenhouse-gas emissions was approved by a House committee yesterday after a week of late-night debates that cemented the shift of climate change from rhetorical jousting to a subject of serious, if messy, Washington policymaking. The legislation would create a cap-and-trade system: Over the next decades, power plants, oil refineries and manufacturers would be required to obtain allowances for the pollution they emit. Those who need more or ...

Fri, 22 May 09
Australia deflects carbon trading scheme job fears
http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSSYD472846
Reuters: Australia's government defended its scheme to cut carbon emissions on Friday, amid mining industry warnings that its carbon trading plan would cost 23,000 resource sector jobs as the country battles recession. The powerful Minerals Council of Australia, representing miners, said carbon emissions trading would see 23,510 mining jobs cut after its 2011 start and almost triple that number by 2030, mostly in Queensland state's major coal industry. "We undertook ... the largest ...

Fri, 22 May 09
Climate bill clears House committee
http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20090522/pl_politico/22852
Politico: A controversial climate-change bill cleared a key hurdle on Thursday night, passing the House Energy and Commerce Committee by a 33-25 vote. The 932-page bill imposes dramatic cuts on greenhouse-gas emissions and creates a cap-and-trade system requiring power plants, manufacturers and other polluters to buy emissions allowances. Only four Democrats voted against the bill, an indication of the series of compromises made by the sponsors of the legislation, Energy and Commerce ...

Fri, 22 May 09
Energy bill to combat climate change takes a leap forward
http://www.mercurynews.com/politics/ci_12423920?source=rss
San Jose Mercury News: A historic, comprehensive energy bill -- the first to tackle climate change by reducing carbon emissions -- won approval from a major House committee Thursday, setting the stage for a national debate on a plan to gradually wean the U.S. economy from fossil fuels. The centerpiece of the plan is a cap-and-trade system that caps greenhouse gas emissions from every source, with tighter limits each year. The bill establishes a carbon market, with polluters buying and selling emissions ...

Fri, 22 May 09
In Brazil, extreme weather stokes climate worries
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE54L02J20090522?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: No one could say they hadn't seen it coming. The sand dunes had been advancing for decades before, two years ago, they finally swallowed the houses of Raimundo do Nascimento and 12 other families in Ilha Grande, an island in the Parnaiba river delta in northeastern Brazil. Standing on the 14-meter (46-feet)-high dune that now completely covers his old home, the 53-year-old Do Nascimento describes the landscape of his childhood -- cashew trees as far as he could see. Not a dune ...

Fri, 22 May 09
House panel approves climate change bill
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090522/pl_nm/us_climate_usa_congress_vote
Reuters: A key U.S. House of Representatives committee on Thursday approved legislation to tackle climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, one of President Barack Obama's chief policy goals. The House Energy and Commerce committee voted mostly along party lines to approve the measure that was written by Democrats, clearing it for review by other committees that also are expected to pass it. Democratic leaders hope to get the bill passed by the full House by August. The ...

Fri, 22 May 09
Waste to biofuel plant gets go ahead in Canada
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2242727/waste-biofuel-plant-ahead
Business Green: Canada-based biofuel and biochemical producer Enerkem said today it received environmental approval to build a commercial facility to turn municipal waste into biofuels. The C$70m (£39m) plant will be a joint effort with Toronto-based GreenField Ethanol, Canada's leading ethanol producer, and is the first of its type in North America.. "This unprecedented project is set to change the dynamics of the waste and fuel industries by making waste that would otherwise be landfilled a ...

Fri, 22 May 09
House panel advances global warming bill
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2009/05/21/house_panel_nears_global_warming_vote/?rss_id=Boston.com+--+Latest+news
Associated Press: Legislation imposing the first nationwide limits on the pollution blamed for global warming advanced in the House late Thursday, clearing a key committee despite strong Republican opposition. The Energy and Commerce Committee approved the sweeping climate bill 33-25 after repeatedly turning back GOP attempts to kill or weaken the measure during four days of debate. The panel's action increases the likelihood that the full House for the first time will address broad legislation ...

Fri, 22 May 09
Obama team walks a tightrope on climate change
http://in.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idINIndia-39800020090521
Reuters: U.S. President Barack Obama is walking a tightrope on climate change -- and so far appears to be achieving a delicate balance. At Obama's urging, Congress is working on a bill to curb greenhouse gas emissions with a cap-and-trade system. The developed world is again looking to the United States to lead on the climate issue after eight years of Washington sitting on the sidelines. The president is balancing those moves with efforts to address concerns of U.S. business and win ...

Fri, 22 May 09
Ban Ki-moon calls for "green deal"
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE54K6JV20090521?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for a "green new deal" on climate change on Thursday and urged for a final push in negotiations ahead of a key summit to be held in Copenhagen in December. "We absolutely must reach an agreement to reduce greenhouse gases and help millions of families adapt to climate change -- before our time runs out," Ban told an audience at Johns Hopkins University in Washington, according to a transcript made available at the United Nations. Ban ...

Fri, 22 May 09
House Committee Close to Finishing Climate Bill
http://news.yahoo.com/s/bloomberg/20090521/pl_bloomberg/akmrhqyp1cxu
Bloomberg: A House committee will vote today on climate-change legislation to reduce greenhouse gases and boost solar and wind power after Democrats and Republicans agreed to hold another hearing on the plan next month. Representative Joe Barton of Texas, the senior Republican on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said members of his party would clear the way for a vote later today. Since the hearings opened May 18, the committee has considered about 40 of a possible 400 amendments to the ...

Fri, 22 May 09
U.S. to rely more on scientists for air rules: EPA
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE54K5I120090521?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: The U.S. government will reverse a Bush administration policy and increase the role of scientists in setting air standards for criteria pollutants harmful to human health, Lisa Jackson, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, said on Thursday. Jackson said the EPA will reinstate the role of a policy document called a "staff paper" written by agency scientists that contains analyses of options for the administrator to consider when setting air standards. The ...

Fri, 22 May 09
Ecuador: Chevron faces shareholder rebuke on claims by Amazon rainforest Indians
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0521-chevron.html
Mongabay: Calpers, the country's largest public pension fund with $170 billion in assets, announced Thursday it will support a resolution calling on Chevron to examine whether it complies with environmental regulations in Ecuador. The move comes as the oil giant faces a potential $27 billion dollar liability for environmental damage caused by Texaco, a company Chevron (NYSE:CVX) acquired in 2001. In court filings Texaco has admitted to dumping and spilling billions of gallons of toxic waste and oil in ...

Fri, 22 May 09
House panel nears global warming vote
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090521/ap_on_go_co/us_climate_bill
Associated Press: Democrats were close Thursday to pushing through a sharply divided House committee a sweeping global warming bill that would impose the first nationwide limits on greenhouse gases. The House Energy and Commerce Committee was expected to take a final vote on the legislation later Thursday after considering dozens of changes over the past three days. Republicans repeatedly sought to either kill or weaken the bill, but were rebuffed time and again in mostly party-line ...

Fri, 22 May 09
Global warming might be worse than thought
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1693184/global_warming_might_be_worse_than_thought/index.html?source=r_science
United Press International: A Massachusetts Institute of Technology analysis suggests the impact of global warming could be much worse than thought, at least double previous estimates. In what is called the most comprehensive modeling yet concerning how much hotter the Earth's climate will get this century, MIT researchers discovered that without rapid and massive action, the problem will be about twice as severe as estimated six years ago -- and could be even worse. The study involved 400 runs of the MIT ...

Fri, 22 May 09
Peru's Garcia tussles with tribes over land rights
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE54K5TG20090521?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Peruvian President Alan Garcia's push to lure foreign investors to the Amazon basin has run into homegrown opposition, with indigenous leaders saying he has disregarded a U.N. declaration that protects their rights to control land and natural resources. Thousands of indigenous people have protested in Peru's Amazon for much of the past 40 days, hoping to pressure Garcia to modify or strike down a series of laws he passed last year that encourage oil, mining and agricultural companies ...

Fri, 22 May 09
U.S. CO2 emissions fall 2.8% in 2008
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0521-us_carbon_dioxide_emissions.html
Mongabay: Carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel use in the United States fell 2.8 percent in 2008, the largest annual drop in more than 20 years, reports the Energy Information Administration. A slowing economy and high gasoline prices contributed to the decline. Emissions fell for all major fossil fuels: emissions from petroleum fell 6 percent, natural gas dipped 1 percent, and coal retreated 1.1 percent. Emissions also fell across most end-use sectors including electricity ...

Fri, 22 May 09
Did Malaysia cancel plans for palm oil development in the Amazon?
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0521-felda.html
Mongabay: The Malaysian government's federal land agency (FELDA) is now denying its well-documented plan to develop oil palm plantations in the Amazon rainforest, reports Ecological Internet, a forest advocacy group that carried out a campaign against the project. "In a positive yet puzzling development, a spokesperson for the Malaysian government's federal land agency (FELDA) now denies plan for Malaysian government controlled oil palm development in the heart of the Amazon ever existed," Glen ...

Fri, 22 May 09
New data confirms US and EU carbon emissions fell last year
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2242704/eu-emissions-slide-during-2008
Business Green: New figures have revealed that carbon emissions across the EU and US fell last year as a combination of high energy prices and the onset of global recession combined to drive down demand for energy. According to new preliminary estimates from the US government's Energy Information Administration (EIA), energy-related carbon emissions fell by 2.8 per cent last year to 5,802 million tonnes, while emissions from petroleum fell six per cent. Carbon emissions from natural gas were also ...

Fri, 22 May 09
Voluntary carbon market doubles in 2008
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2242708/voluntary-carbon-market-doubles
Business Green: The voluntary carbon market is maturing fast and more than doubled in size last year, according to a new study from research firms Ecosystem Marketplace and New Carbon Finance. The report assessed the so-called voluntary market for carbon credits, which operates outside formal UN and EU-backed carbon trading schemes such as the Clean Development Mechanism and Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS). It found that the value of the market -- which consists of carbon credits from offset ...

Fri, 22 May 09
Mali: Drought threatens rare desert elephants
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0521-hance_desertelephants.html
Mongabay: The worst drought in 26 years is threatening a rare herd of desert elephants in the West African country of Mail, warns the conservation organization Save the Elephants. The herd of 350-450 desert elephants live in the Gourma district of Mali, which lies in the Sahel belt that separates the Saharan desert from the Sudan. The elephants have been observed trekking farther than usual to find sources of water. Save the Elephants warns that juvenile elephants are most in danger, since more ...

Fri, 22 May 09
Sainsbury's purchase of fish fingers isn't enough to sustain certified palm oil
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/may/21/palm-oil-greenwash
Guardian: Palm oil is slippery stuff. It's in biscuits and shampoo, biodiesel and margarine, soap and, well, roughly a third of everything you buy at the supermarket. And most of it is grown on land previously covered by rainforest in Malaysia and Indonesia. So the creation of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), where growers and food manufacturers, retailers and commodity traders can work out how to do things better should have been a good idea. Especially when the likes of British ...

Fri, 22 May 09
U.S. lawmakers reject nuclear in renewable power goal
http://www.reuters.com/article/GCA-GreenBusiness/idUSTRE54J62N20090520
Reuters: U.S. lawmakers pushing to include greater recognition for existing nuclear power in a national renewable energy standard failed to win new breaks for the industry when a U.S. congressional panel on Wednesday voted down an amendment to a controversial climate change bill. The sweeping bill, which seeks to cap greenhouse gas emissions, includes a renewable energy mandate that would require utilities to generate 15 percent of electricity from renewable sources such as wind and solar by ...

Fri, 22 May 09
Cement makers eye big cuts to greenhouse gases
http://www.reuters.com/article/GCA-GreenBusiness/idUSTRE54J5L420090520?sp=true
Reuters: Nearly a third of the world's cement industry has united on a strategy to cut global warming gases in a way that will not slow a construction boom in poor countries, backers of the initiative said on Wednesday. The cement sector contributes about 5 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions -- well ahead of other manufacturers except steel and refineries -- and is expected to double its capacity by 2030 amid rapid urbanization in developing nations. The Cement Sustainability ...

Fri, 22 May 09
Green activists protest at Australia power plant
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE54J7VP20090520
Reuters: Environmental activists have shut down a coal digger at an Australian power station that provides 8 percent of the country's coal-reliant electricity market, to protest against government climate policies. Greenpeace said the dawn protest on Thursday by around 14 activists at the Hazelwood Power Station in Victoria state was the latest part of an ongoing campaign to reduce Australia's carbon emissions. "Australia is digging itself into a hole. By phasing out coal and investing ...

Fri, 22 May 09
Lots of advice, little cash for urban climate change
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE54J1NE20090520?sp=true
Reuters: The mayors of some of the world's richest cities have a message on climate change for the ever-growing urban areas of the developing world: "Don't repeat our mistakes." That means keeping the growth of gasoline-powered vehicles in check and developing land use strategies that cut down on urban sprawl and allow for efficient transport, city leaders said on the sidelines of a climate change meeting this week in Seoul. But advice is about all these cities can offer because their ...

Fri, 22 May 09
Danish minister ticks greenhouse target
http://www.theage.com.au/environment/global-warming/danish-minister-ticks-greenhouse-target-20090520-bfph.html
Age: The host of the Copenhagen international climate change summit has backed the Federal Government's goal of passing carbon trading laws this year, describing it as crucial to progress towards a new deal to limit greenhouse emissions. The call from Danish Climate and Energy Minister Connie Hedegaard comes as the Opposition considers offering bipartisan support on the greenhouse targets that Australia will take to the December climate conference - but not on the emissions trading ...

Fri, 22 May 09
United Kingdom: Internet could tackle climate change Prince of Wales tells Google
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/theroyalfamily/5350546/Internet-could-tackle-climate-change-Prince-of-Wales-tells-Google.html
Telegraph: The Prince had told delegates, who included leaders from the worlds of business, technology, publishing and the media that, in order to have a stable and secure planet, the world would have to change the way it operated and that what was now needed was "an extensive programme to inform and challenge the thinking of everyone on the planet, expressed clearly and simply, with no room for misunderstanding". He added: "The power of the internet is growing exponentially. While the problems ...

Fri, 22 May 09
Global warming of 7C 'could kill billions this century'
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/5357725/Global-warming-of-7C-could-kill-billions-this-century.html
Telegraph: The study, carried out in unprecedented detail, projected that without "rapid and massive action" temperatures worldwide will increase by as much as 7.4C (13.3F) by 2100, from levels seen in 2000. Previous estimates have concluded that the likely increase this century would probably be 2.4C (4.3F). However the new study by scientists at the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology included projected economic growth in developing countries and new information on the ...

Fri, 22 May 09
Emissions deal an example of Obama compromises
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/05/20/MN4517ND91.DTL
Associated Press: The White House-forged auto emissions deal among long-warring states, carmakers and environmentalists is the most dramatic evidence yet of what President Obama is hoping to brand - and eventually sell to voters - as his signature governing style. "In the past, an agreement such as this would have been considered impossible," Obama said Tuesday in announcing the deal, the usually poker-faced president reveling in his own achievement. "It represents not only a change in policy in ...

Fri, 22 May 09
Energy companies, enviro groups unite on forest offsets
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=128139
Greenwire: American Electric Power Co. Inc. and Duke Energy Corp. joined other businesses and environmental groups today in announcing their unified support for provisions for protecting tropical forests in cap-and-trade legislation. The coalition reached an agreement (pdf) with two major facets. The groups support using 5 percent of valuable greenhouse gas emission allowances under the bill's cap-and-trade system to prevent tropical deforestation and reduce international forest emissions. They ...

Fri, 22 May 09
Sea ice: what it is and why it is important
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/may/20/sea-ice
Guardian: What is sea ice? Frozen sea water. Unlike the mighty ice sheets and glaciers that rest on the bedrock of Greenland and Antarctica, sea ice forms and melts on the surface of the ocean. The amount of sea ice waxes and wanes with the seasons. It forms in the winter and melts in the summer. Where is it found? In the deep south and the far north. Only the freezing conditions of a polar winter are harsh enough to freeze seawater on a large scale. Sea ice in the Arctic gets ...

Fri, 22 May 09
Mayors adopt Seoul Declaration to fight climate change
http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/NEWKHSITE/data/html_dir/2009/05/22/200905220015.asp
Korea Herald: Mayors of major cities around the world yesterday adopted the "Seoul Declaration," reaffirming their commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and making collective efforts to combat climate change. The declaration, which was announced at the end of the C40 Large Cities Climate Summit in Seoul, calls on major cities to transform themselves into "low-carbon cities." "The declaration states members' consensus as to the seriousness of climate change, cities' responsibility ...

Fri, 22 May 09
Coastal populations at risk as climate changes
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=84464
IRIN: Several large African cities are at risk from rising sea levels and intense storms, experts warn. Poor neighbourhoods and slums in Bugama and Okrika in Nigeria, Freetown in Sierra Leone, Bathurst in the Gambia and Tanga in Tanzania, are especially vulnerable. In such low-income urban centres, infrastructure is often non-existent or ill-maintained, according to a World Bank report, Sea level Rise and Storm Surges, while storm-water drainage infrastructure is often outdated and ...

Fri, 22 May 09
Industries are grappling with new bill on climate
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124286407955141345.html
Wall Street Journal: The "American Clean Energy and Security Act" is one of the most ambitious efforts to re-engineer American social and economic behavior in decades, presenting risks and opportunities for a wide array of businesses from Silicon Valley to the coal fields of the Appalachians. The legislation, better known as the Waxman-Markey bill, isn't yet law and has big hurdles to clear. A critical vote looms this week in the House Energy and Commerce Committee. But even with its chances of passage ...

Fri, 22 May 09
China says rich nations must cut emissions by 40%
http://news.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne%2BNews/World/Story/A1Story20090521-142996.html
Agence France-Presse: China confirmed Thursday that it will demand rich nations cut greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent from 1990 levels by 2020 in upcoming global climate change negotiations. In a position paper published for negotiations to be held in Copenhagen in December, China - one of the world's largest emitters of greenhouse gases that cause global warming - did not commit to any legally binding reductions. "Developed countries shall undertake to reduce their GHG (greenhouse gas) ...

Fri, 22 May 09
Heat-tolerant Coral Reefs Discovered: May Survive Global Warming
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/05/090520100515.htm
ScienceDaily: Experts say that more than half of the world's coral reefs could disappear in the next 50 years, in large part because of higher ocean temperatures caused by climate change. But now Stanford University scientists have found evidence that some coral reefs are adapting and may actually survive global warming. "Corals are certainly threatened by environmental change, but this research has really sparked the notion that corals may be tougher than we thought," said Stephen Palumbi, a ...

Fri, 22 May 09
Green groups, corporations call for forest conservation to counter global warming
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0520-forest_carbon.html
Mongabay: A group of leading U.S. businesses and environmental groups today formed a coalition calling for the inclusion of forest conservation in domestic cap-and-trade legislation. The pact -- signed by American Electric Power, Conservation International, Duke Energy, Environmental Defense Fund, El Paso Corporation, National Wildlife Federation, Marriott International, Mercy Corps, Natural Resources Defense Council, PG&E Corporation, Sierra Club, The Nature Conservancy, Union of Concerned ...

Fri, 22 May 09
House Panel Continues Debate on Climate-Change Bill
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/20/AR2009052003305.html?hpid=topnews
Washington Post: The House Energy and Commerce Committee has just reconvened for another long evening, having spent the day debating changes to mammoth climate-change legislation, still without reaching the bill's halfway point. On its third day of debate on the bill, the committee had voted on 17 amendments by 6 p.m. They approved a provision to get annual reporting on China and India's efforts to curb emissions, and set a national goal for increasing energy efficiency by 2012. And the ...

Fri, 22 May 09
China tells rich nations to cut emissions by 40 percent
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE54K0X320090521?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Rich nations should cut their greenhouse gas emissions by at least 40 percent by 2020 from 1990 levels as part of a new global climate change pact, China said on Thursday, spelling out its stance ahead of negotiations. The pact must ensure wealthy nations "take on quantified targets to drastically reduce emissions," said the statement, issued by the National Development and Reform Commission (www.ndrc.gov.cn), which steers Chinese climate change policy. Developed countries ...

Fri, 22 May 09
U.S. lawmakers ok expanding natgas market oversight
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE54J62N20090521?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: U.S. lawmakers approved late on Wednesday an amendment to a controversial climate change bill that would give federal regulators greater authority to combat manipulation in natural gas and carbon markets. The measure would allow the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to issue cease and desist orders to stop manipulation schemes as they happen, instead of waiting for court action. FERC's new power would extend not only to carbon pollution permit markets created by the pending ...

Fri, 22 May 09
City chiefs seek bigger say in UN climate summit
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iXQNBWHqG-kc3eOxkYQOoNjr89uQ
Agence France-Presse: Leaders of the world's biggest cities called for a bigger say in upcoming UN climate change talks as they wrapped up a three-day summit on ways to combat global warming. "The fight against greenhouse gas emissions will be won or lost in cities," said Toronto Mayor David Miller, chair of the C40 Large Cities Climate Summit in the South Korean capital. The leaders in a summit declaration stressed that half the world's population lives in cities, which account for 75 percent of ...

Fri, 22 May 09
House Committee Close to Finishing Work on Global Warming Bill
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601130&sid=aKMRhqyP1cXU
Bloomberg: A House committee may vote today on climate-change legislation after Democrats defeated a Republican amendment intended to keep the plan's trading system for carbon dioxide permits from being manipulated by speculators. The plan already would "very severely" limit trading in futures contracts and other derivatives based on "cap-and- trade" permits, House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, a California Democrat, said yesterday. He said he aims for a vote later today ...

Fri, 22 May 09
African Ministers Discuss Climate Change Today
http://allafrica.com/stories/200905210207.html
New Times: Rwanda banned the use of polythene bags, and it's now a leading role model of environmental management in the region African Finance and Environment Ministers are meeting today at the Serena Kigali Hotel for the 3rd Pan-African conference to discuss climate change and challenges. The conference under the theme 'Climate Change; Financing opportunities and challenges to achieve the Millennium Development Goals' will be held at the Kigali Serena Hotel from the 21st to 22nd of May ...

Fri, 22 May 09
Post-Kyoto climate deal takes shape
http://www.euractiv.com/en/climate-change/post-kyoto-climate-deal-takes-shape/article-182558?Ref=RSS
EurActiv: Ahead of the next round of talks on a post-Kyoto climate agreement, the United Nations has released the first draft of a negotiating text stuffed with options for rich and poor countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, which scientists blame for warming the planet. Background: Next December in Copenhagen, the global community must decide upon a new international climate agreement to replace the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012 (see EurActiv LinksDossier on 'Global ...

Fri, 22 May 09
From 'Alarmed' to 'Dismissive': The Six Ways Americans View Global Warming
http://www.physorg.com/news161967659.html
Physorg: Americans fall into six distinct groups regarding their climate change beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors, according to a new report, "Global Warming's Six Americas," by researchers at Yale and George Mason universities. The researchers, who surveyed 2,129 adult Americans in the fall of 2008, found that these "six Americas" include: * The Alarmed, (18 percent of the population) are most convinced that global warming is happening, caused by humans, and a serious and urgent ...

Fri, 22 May 09
U.S. carbon emissions fall by most since '82
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/20/AR2009052003655.html?hpid=sec-business
Washington Post: U.S. emissions of carbon dioxide related to energy use fell 2.8 percent last year, according to an estimate by the Energy Information Administration, driven down by high oil prices and the sagging economy. The drop in carbon dioxide emissions was the steepest since 1982. The amount of carbon dioxide produced for every dollar of economic output also declined by 3.8 percent, the federal agency said, as industry and motorists became more efficient and frugal and as renewable energy ...

Fri, 22 May 09
Global warming may be twice as bad as previously expected
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/environment/2009-05-20-global-warming_N.htm
USA Today: Global warming will be twice as severe as previous estimates indicate, according to a new study published this month in the Journal of Climate, a publication of the American Meteorological Society. The research, conducted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), predicts a 90% probability that worldwide surface temperatures will rise more than 9 degrees (F) by 2100, compared to a previous 2003 MIT study that forecast a rise of just over 4 degrees. The ...

Fri, 22 May 09
Climate bill packed with protections for coal industry
http://sundaygazettemail.com/News/200905200789
Sunday Gazette Mail: A climate change bill working its way through Congress this week has been packed with amendments aimed at giving the coal industry a chance to survive if technology to capture carbon dioxide emissions is eventually perfected and deployed. Lawmakers have put off the most major pollution reductions until after 2020, have weakened carbon dioxide limits that would apply to specific coal-fired power plants, and are giving tens of billions of dollars in free pollution permits to coal-fired ...

Fri, 22 May 09
China: Drain rice fields to cut methane, say scientists
http://www.scidev.net/en/agriculture-and-environment/drain-rice-fields-to-cut-methane-say-scientists.html?utm_source=link&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=en_agricultureandenvironment
SciDev.Net: Global methane emissions from rice paddies could be cut by 30 per cent if fields are drained at least once during the growing season and rice crop waste is applied off-season, according to a study. Methane is a significant contributor to global warming and is produced by certain types of bacteria in oxygen-deprived environments – such as those feeding on the organic waste in water-covered rice paddies. "Draining allows organic material to decompose aerobically as it is not ...

Fri, 22 May 09
EU Commission chief says China will join in seeking global climate change pact this year
http://www.latimes.com/business/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-eu-eu-china-summit,0,2901339.story
LA Times: EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso says China will join in seeking a global climate change pact this year to curb greenhouse gas emissions. Barroso says both Europe and China also saw "mutual interest to address imbalances" in China's massive trade surplus with the 27-nation bloc. Both see gains in striking a worldwide deal to open up trade further, he says. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao met EU officials in Prague for talks, five months after China snubbed a summit ...

Fri, 22 May 09
Study refutes criticism of polar bear listing under the Endangered Species Act
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0520-hance_polarbear.html
Mongabay: In May 2008 the Bush Administration listed the polar bear under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The listing immediately received allegations of being politically biased and not based on sound science. However, a new paper addresses the allegations point by point and concludes that the decision to add the polar bear under the ESA was not only scientifically sound, but right. "The decision to list the polar bear as threatened was politically charged, and the scientific research on ...

Thu, 21 May 09
African penguin numbers in sharp decline: scientists
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090520/sc_afp/safricaenvironmentpenguins
Agence France-Presse: African penguins are disappearing at an alarming rate, as commercial fishing decimates food stocks and global warming affects breeding patterns, experts said Wednesday. "Last year there were only about 26,000 pairs of African Penguins left in southern Africa (this represents their global population) -- a decline of about 121,000 breeding pairs since 1956," read a statement issued after an international African penguin conference in Cape Town. Research presented at the ...

Thu, 21 May 09
House panel to approve climate change bill: Reuters poll
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE54J52S20090520?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee have enough votes to approve historic legislation to cap and reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, according to a Reuters survey of specific lawmakers on the panel. The legislation, which Democratic leaders plan to have the committee vote on this week, would slash greenhouse gases that cause global warming by 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020. The heart of the legislation is a "cap and trade" system that would gradually ...

Thu, 21 May 09
Will Tropical Forests Play a Role in Cutting U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions?
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=tropical-forests-cut-greenhouse-emissions
Scientific American: American Electric Power Co. Inc. and Duke Energy Corp. joined other businesses and environmental groups today in announcing their unified support for provisions for protecting tropical forest in cap-and-trade legislation. The coalition reached an agreement [pdf] with two major facets. The groups support using 5 percent of valuable greenhouse gas emission allowances under the bill's cap-and-trade system to prevent tropical deforestation and reduce international forest emissions. They ...

Thu, 21 May 09
UN hopeful about climate change
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8060336.stm
BBC: The head of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change says he has seen "encouraging developments" in recent climate change negotiations. His comments come as the first "negotiating text" for the UN's December climate change conference is published on the UNFCCC website. Yvo de Boer said this document marked "an important point on our road". The text collates discussion proposals from all of the nations that will take part in the December talks. Mr de Boer said ...

Thu, 21 May 09
Barack Obama reveals dramatic new emissions standards for US cars
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article6322844.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=3392178
Times (UK): President Obama put Americans on notice yesterday that their love affair with gas-guzzling cars must end, by announcing dramatic new standards on emissions and fuel efficiency. Mr Obama set out the first nationwide rules for exhaust emissions and fuel efficiency that together amounted to a bold move to wean America off foreign oil and the biggest step the US Government has yet taken to cut greenhouse gas emissions. Mr Obama announced a plan that will compel the automobile ...

Thu, 21 May 09
CO2 output from energy down 2.8 percent in 2008
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE54J6AU20090520?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: U.S. emissions of the main greenhouse gas -- carbon dioxide -- from energy sources, such as gasoline, diesel and coal, fell a record 2.8 percent last year as the recession hit consumer demand for fuel, the government said on Wednesday. Energy-related emissions of carbon dioxide in 2008 fell 165 million tons from the previous year to 5,802 million tons, said the Energy Information Administration, the statistics branch of the Department of Energy. Total U.S. energy consumption dropped ...

Thu, 21 May 09
Ecuador: Chevron: lawyers behind environment report proposal
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE54J6S920090520?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Chevron Corp criticized a shareholder proposal for an environmental protection report as part of a "trial lawyer"-led campaign to force the company to settle a long-running case over oil pollution in the Ecuadorean jungle. Chevron is fighting a $27 billion claim in court in Ecuador, with a ruling expected this year. That case is among a few cited in the proposal, which is also backed by U.S. state and municipal funds and will face a vote at the company's shareholder meeting next ...

Thu, 21 May 09
Carbon dioxide emissions drop in 2008
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090520/ap_on_go_ot/climate_change
Associated Press: The government is reporting that energy-related carbon dioxide emissions declined by 2.8 percent last year, the largest drop since it began keeping records of greenhouse gas pollution. The Energy Information Administration attributed the decline to a 2.2 percent drop in energy demand in 2008. That was largely because of high gasoline and diesel prices last summer, and a sharp economic decline in the last half of the year. The agency said about 5.8 billion metric tons of carbon ...

Thu, 21 May 09
Lobbyist Ranks Swell with Advent of Climate Bill
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=46925
Inter Press Service: Nearly 140 new businesses and interest groups have joined in the intense lobbying in Washington on climate change, according to the Centre for Public Integrity (CPI). A new analysis of lobbying disclosure forms filed with the U.S. Senate, 'The Climate Lobby's Nonstop Growth,' shows that a total of 880 companies and interest groups reported that they lobbied on climate change in the first quarter of 2009, a 14 percent increase from the same period last year. CPI started looking ...

Thu, 21 May 09
200 Days to Copenhagen
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=46924
Inter Press Service: With exactly 200 days to go before December's crucial climate talks in Copenhagen, progress is steadily, though slowly, being made. Some issues, however - namely financing and the relative roles of industrial and developing countries - are likely to remain on the table until the end of the year. "There is a constructive atmosphere in the negotiations and I'm very encouraged," said Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC), in a press ...

Thu, 21 May 09
Green Berets: Military Brass Urge American Energy Revolution
http://blogs.wsj.com/environmentalcapital/2009/05/20/green-berets-military-brass-urge-american-energy-revolution/
Wall Street Journal: Retired military officers are urging the U.S. to get serious about changing the country's approach to energy use. In a new report from Alexandria, Va.-based Center for Naval Analyses, a bevy of high-ranking former Army and Navy officials stress that the country's reliance on oil poses a threat to national security and undermines the country's ability to wage war. That's because the hegemony of oil empowers plenty of dodgy nations, and because it imposes huge (and expensive) logistics ...

Thu, 21 May 09
France set to shine with 1.5bn solar programme
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2242596/france-set-shine-5bn-solar
Business Green: The French government has announced plans for a major EUR1.5bn solar energy building programme that will see over 200MW of new capacity added over the next two years. According to Associated Press reports, Ecology Minister Jean-Louis Borloo said the government wants to see solar farms built in every region, not just the south of the country where most of the country's solar industry is currently concentrated. He added that the government was aiming to have 300MW of capacity ...

Thu, 21 May 09
Obama Announces First Nationwide Regulation of Greenhouse Gases
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/19/AR2009051901683.html?wprss=rss_business/government
Washington Post: The cars of the near future will be lighter, more expensive and maybe smaller. Big engines will shrink. And more and more cars will be hybrids or diesel-powered vehicles like those common in Europe. Those aren't qualities that American consumers have rushed to embrace in the past. But the new fuel-efficiency and tailpipe-emissions standards unveiled yesterday at the White House will push automakers and motorists in a direction aimed at reducing U.S. oil dependence and the emissions of ...

Thu, 21 May 09
China says developing long-term climate change plan
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/PEK308250.htm
Reuters: China is drafting a long-term plan for climate change that will focus on raising energy efficiency, developing clean-coal technology and expanding carbon-absorbing forests, a top climate policy official said. Xie Zhenhua, a deputy chief of the National Development and Reform Commission who steers climate change policy, said the plan would strengthen China's "capacity to enforce international covenants". "The goal of the national plan is to strive for a double-win of both ...

Thu, 21 May 09
Climate change, trade top agenda at EU-China summit
http://www.euractiv.com/en/foreign-affairs/climate-change-trade-top-agenda-eu-china-summit/article-182507
EurActiv: A vigorous debate on carbon emissions is expected as European and Chinese leaders meet for a high-level summit in Prague today (20 May). Protectionism and the EU's yawning trade deficit with China are also expected to feature high on the agenda. Background: Today's (20 May) EU-China summit in Prague is the first since a summit scheduled for 1 December 2008 was abruptly cancelled amid controversy over French President Nicolas Sarkozy's meeting with the Dalai Lama in Gdansk, ...

Thu, 21 May 09
Democrats Reject Pollution-Control Conditions in Climate Plan
http://news.yahoo.com/s/bloomberg/20090520/pl_bloomberg/aes7firmnqi
Bloomberg: The House Energy and Commerce Committee, working to craft climate-change legislation, rejected Republican attempts to force abandonment of pollution limits if unemployment or prices get too high. During a 14-hour meeting yesterday, Republicans offered a half-dozen price and economic triggers that would require the U.S. to drop the measure's cap-and-trade controls. Democrats blocked amendments that would lift the pollution limits if unemployment rose higher than 15 percent, gasoline ...

Thu, 21 May 09
Climate change lobbying dominated by 10 firms
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0509/22723.html
Politico: Lobbyists are cramming into a Rayburn House Office Building hearing room this week for the Energy and Commerce Committee's markup of landmark legislation to curb global warming through a complex cap-and-trade system. But some of those lobbyists will carry a bit more weight -- or at least a heftier client list -- than others. A new analysis of Senate disclosure records by The Center for Public Integrity found that 10 lobbying firms -- all with deep ties to Capitol Hill -- have ...

Thu, 21 May 09
Environmnetalists say Obama's Auto Plan Is A Start
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=104334336&ft=1&f=1025
National Public Radio: President Obama's tougher new fuel efficiency standards bring industry, environmentalists and states together to start cutting greenhouse gas emissions from cars. But the reductions would represent only a drop in the bucket of what's needed to address global warming. White House officials say the proposal would cut greenhouse gas emissions by about 900 million metric tons. That's the total reduction of pollution from the five model years of cars and trucks covered by the ...

Thu, 21 May 09
United Kingdom: Largest wind farm to be expanded
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/glasgow_and_west/8057198.stm
BBC: Each turbine at Whitelee, which started producing electricity in January 2008, stands 110m high. Mr Salmond said the Scottish Government's approval of the extension would give the wind farm a total power capacity of 452 MW. He added: "Whitelee in its current form is already flying the flag for onshore wind power in Europe. "The planned extension, which I am delighted to announce today, will enable the wind farm to harness its comparative and competitive advantage in wind ...

Thu, 21 May 09
CO2 absorption of Europe's forests in jeopardy
http://www.radionetherlands.nl/currentaffairs/region/europe/090518-europe-forests-co2
Radio Netherlands: Europe's forests are an important factor in the CO2 cycle. Woodland accounts for no less than 35 percent of Europe's surface area and absorbs 10 percent of total CO2 emissions. But the economic crisis could disturb the balance by threatening the wood industry, which is the motor behind sustainable forestry. The United Nations conference which led to the Kyoto Protocol described the forests as the 'stopgap'. When the negotiations threatened to grind to a halt, there were, luckily, ...

Thu, 21 May 09
Chu Calls U.S. House Climate Legislation a 'Good Compromise'
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601072&sid=avX.fQ6Th_AM
Bloomberg: Energy Secretary Steven Chu said that legislation being debated in the House Energy and Commerce Committee to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases is a "good compromise." The measure would initially give most emission allowances away to industry while gradually reducing the permissible amount of carbon dioxide that can be released. Factories would eventually have to purchase allowances, and Chu said that U.S. innovation will hold down the costs of the program.

Thu, 21 May 09
Oil sands output to rise dramatically: US report
http://www.financialpost.com/story.html?id=1606811
Financial Post: Output from Canada's oil sands could rise to as much as 6.3-million barrels a day by 2035, a nearly five-fold increase above current levels, according to a landmark U.S. report released Monday. It was one of the findings by energy consultancy IHS Cambridge Energy Research Associates (CERA) in a study called Growth in the Canadian Oil Sands: Finding a New Balance. The study, which took eight months to research and was produced in consultation with many different stakeholders, looks at ...

Thu, 21 May 09
Skeptics of Global Warming Have Their Say on Capitol Hill
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/18/AR2009051803022.html?wprss=rss_nation/science
Washington Post: Scientists around the globe have rejected their main arguments -- that the climate isn't clearly warming, that humans aren't responsible for it, or that the whole thing doesn't amount to a problem. Public opinion has also shifted and even Exxon Mobil talks about greenhouse gases. But this spring, it's been obvious: Doubt is not dead. In fact, as Congress considers placing a national limit on emissions, Washington's climate skeptics have been louder than usual -- and they've ...

Thu, 21 May 09
Republicans plan to offer hundreds of amendments to slow climate bill
http://www.grist.org/article/2009-05-18-waxman-markey-republicans/
Grist: The House Energy and Commerce Committee kicked off debate of the Waxman-Markey climate bill on Monday, beginning what will likely be a grueling week of work to get the bill through the key panel before Memorial Day. "I think members ought to be prepared to work late every single night," Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) said after opening statements wrapped up Monday afternoon. Waxman and co-author Ed Markey (D-Mass.) released the latest draft of the bill (PDF) late Monday ...

Thu, 21 May 09
The Earth's tipping point
http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=801538&category=OPINION
Albany Times Union: All around the world, governments are trying to hammer out their global warming policies, preparing for the United Nations' climate change conclave in Copenhagen, Denmark, at the end of 2009. And in too many places, the effort seems to be going nowhere. Physics and chemistry aren't adjusting their schedule to fit our political and economic convenience. As politics gets slower, global warming speeds up. The problem isn't feckless officials. President Barack Obama has a dream team of ...

Thu, 21 May 09
Europe's largest onshore wind farm open and ready to expand
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/may/20/wind-farm-opens-scotland
Guardian: Europe's largest onshore wind farm, which is already powerful enough to meet Glasgow's electricity needs, is to expand by more than a third as part of a major green energy initiative by Scottish ministers. The first minister Alex Salmond announced that the 322MW Whitelee wind farm south of Glasgow had been given permission to increase its capacity to 452MW, as he officially switched on the wind farm this morning. The disclosure came as plans for an even larger scheme, to build ...

Thu, 21 May 09
Price of doing nothing costs the earth
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/georgemonbiot/2009/may/20/climate-change-denier-mit
Guardian: What happens if we do nothing? If, in other words, we do as Vaclav Klaus and many other suggest, and let climate change take its course? Six years ago the climate modellers at MIT suggested that the median probability was a global temperature rise of 2.4C by 2100. Since then they've refined the model. Now the median estimate is 5.2C by 2100. This is another way of saying the end of life as we know it. What has changed? Unlike other models, MIT's Integrated Global Systems Model ...

Thu, 21 May 09
World "not standing still" on climate pact: U.N
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE54J2KR20090520?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: The United Nations issued a range of rival ideas for fighting climate change from rich and poor nations on Wednesday and said the world was "not standing still" in work on a new U.N. treaty. The 53-page text included suggestions that rich nations set aside up to 2 percent of their gross national product to help the poor cope with global warming, while rich countries called for developing nations to do more to limit greenhouse gas emissions. "This document marks an important ...

Thu, 21 May 09
In U.S., steps toward industrial policy in autos
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=128001
New York Times: President Obama has cast himself as a reluctant interventionist in two of the nation's major industries, Wall Street and Detroit. The federal aid, he says, is a financial bridge to a postcrisis future and the hand-holding will be temporary. Even so, the scale of the government investment and control – especially by the auto task force now vetting plans at Chrysler and General Motors – points to an approach that has been shunned by the United States more than other developed ...

Thu, 21 May 09
Sea-level rise overstated, but things still grim
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1898668,00.html
Time Magazine: That's the kind of pick-your-perspective choice offered by a new paper published in the journal Science about the catastrophic rise in sea levels we could expect if the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) continues to melt away as a result of global warming. According to a study by a team of researchers from the U.K. and the Netherlands, the much feared collapse of the WAIS could cause a 9-ft. rise in the planet's seas and oceans, laying waste to coastal lands and immersing some nations ...

Thu, 21 May 09
US House panel rejects greenhouse gas emission parity with India, China
http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/business/us-house-panel-rejects-greenhouse-gas-emission-parity-with-india-china_100194853.html
Indo-Asian News Service: A US House panel debating climate change legislation has rejected by a 36-23 party-line vote a Republican attempt to delay a cap on US greenhouse gas emission levels until India and China adopt similar standards. Republican member Mike Rogers` proposal in the House Energy and Commerce Committee Tuesday, would have allowed limits in the US only if those two countries adopt greenhouse gas emission standards that are "at least as stringent". Fred Upton, another Republican ...

Thu, 21 May 09
Green gold rush seen in new U.S. auto standards
http://www.reuters.com/article/GCA-GreenBusiness/idUSTRE54I71D20090519?sp=true
Reuters: The tough U.S. fuel economy standards announced by President Barack Obama on Tuesday represents a bonanza for companies that supply hybrid technology and other gas-conserving components needed to meet the new benchmarks. Potential winners range from established suppliers such as BorgWarner Inc, Honeywell International Inc and Johnson Controls Inc to battery makers such as start-up A123 Systems, Continental AG and LG Chem Ltd, analysts say. To improve fuel efficiency by as much ...

Thu, 21 May 09
Obama vehicle plan another pothole for ethanol
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE54I6YV20090519?sp=true
Reuters: President Barack Obama's tough fuel economy program for vehicles could put another damper on the struggling ethanol business, because the alternative fuel packs a lower energy content than gasoline. Obama on Tuesday introduced the most aggressive proposal yet to boost U.S. auto fuel economy standards -- a bid to reduce vehicle emissions of climate-warming gases. [ID:nN19424837]. The proposal would require passenger vehicles to average 35.5 miles per gallon by 2016. "It's going ...

Thu, 21 May 09
Auto officials worry about profits under new rules
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=104315961
National Public Radio: President Obama unveiled tougher fuel-efficiency standards for vehicles Tuesday that he said would provide certainty to car companies as they design a new fleet for the 21st century. Auto executives welcomed a national standard that encourages more environmentally friendly cars, but they worry whether enough consumers will actually want to buy them. Auto officials say the new standard -- which calls for an average of about 35 miles to the gallon -- creates big challenges to ...

Thu, 21 May 09
Auto emissions deal: behind the scenes
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-emissions20-2009may20,0,7406918.story
LA Times: Reporting from Washington -- It had taken weeks of hardball negotiations, but on Sunday afternoon, White House officials thought everything was falling into place. In less than 48 hours they would unveil a landmark deal with U.S. automakers to impose sharply higher fuel-efficiency standards on new cars and trucks. A senior Ford executive said the company had run the numbers again and concluded it might not survive if it accepted the deal. If Ford pulled out, it would mean a major ...

Thu, 21 May 09
Scientists demand global action to preserve water
http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/008200905201551.htm
Press Trust of India: Scientists from major countries including India have come out with a declaration demanding a region-by-region response to increased water scarcity and heightened hazards. An international group of scientists from the US, India, China and Britain, in a declaration, have said that melting glaciers, weakening monsoon rains, less mountain snowpack and other effects of a warmer climate will lead to significant disruptions in the supply of water to highly populated regions of the ...

Thu, 21 May 09
'We have taken every measure we can think of to stop the desert moving closer and submerging our crops and villages'
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/may/18/china-ecorefugees-farming
Guardian: Link to this video When the desert winds tear up the sands outside his front door, Huang Cuikun, pictured below in a dried- up riverbed near his home, says he is choked by dust, visibility falls to a few metres and the crops are ruined. Dust storms hit his village in Gansu province more often than in the past. The water table is falling. Temperatures rise year by year. Yet Huang says this is an improvement. Three years ago the government relocated him from an area where the ...

Thu, 21 May 09
US energy chief vows to pursue 'clean coal'
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hXgc3WANaSTquN-3WiGvKpL41iFg
Agence France-Presse: US Energy Secretary Steven Chu pledged Tuesday the administration would pursue "clean coal" technology, even as it focuses research on alternatives such as wind and solar. The US coal industry and lawmakers from coal-mining states have mounted an aggressive campaign to promote investment in cleaner coal as President Barack Obama's administration takes tougher action on the environment. But many environmentalists say that clean coal methods -- such as capturing and storing ...

Thu, 21 May 09
Oilsands at critical juncture: report
http://www.calgaryherald.com/business/fp/Oilsands%20critical%20juncture%20report/1608049/story.html
Calgary Herald: Alberta's oilsands have taken centre stage in the future of world energy supply, but expansion of the vast resource could be dramatically stunted, a new study has found. The landmark study released Monday by U. S. energy consultancy IHS Cambridge Energy Research Associates says oilsands output could rise to 6.3 million barrels a day by 2035,a nearly fivefold increase above the current level of about 1.8 million. But the report, titled Growth in the Canadian Oil Sands: Finding a ...

Thu, 21 May 09
Climate change: GOP turns on business
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0509/22734.html
Politico: Senate Republicans have come up with a novel way to fight the climate change bill working its way through the House: Tee off on Big Business, and tie it around the neck of the Democrats. In a strategy memo obtained by POLITICO, Republican staffers for the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works say Republicans should argue that Democrats are embracing "Wall Street traders,' "polluters' and "others in corporate America' who are "guilty of manipulating national climate policy ...

Thu, 21 May 09
Obama opens new front in climate change battle
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/obama-opens-new-front-in-climate-change-battle-1687788.html
Independent (UK): The United States served notice yesterday that it finally intends to take firm action to combat the planet's climate crisis, announcing unprecedented plans to regulate vehicle emissions from 2012 with exhaust standards that match those sought for years by California and a handful of other states. Unveiling the new plan, surrounded by car executives from the US, Japan and Europe, President Barack Obama left no one in doubt that he means to make good on his campaign promises to drag his ...

Thu, 21 May 09
Indonesia: APP, Sinar Mas plan to log habitat of critically endangered orangutans
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0519-sinar_mas_app.html
Mongabay: Asia Pulp & Paper and Sinar Mas Group have acquired a license to clear hundreds of hectares of unprotected rainforest near Bukit Tigapuluh National Park on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, report environmental groups who say the activity threatens a population of critically endangered orangutans that have been re-introduced into the wild. "It took scientists decades to discover how to successfully reintroduce critically endangered orangutans from captivity into the wild. It could ...

Thu, 21 May 09
Continuing Current U.S. Energy Policy Called 'Perilous'
http://www.reuters.com/article/gwmCarbonEmissions/idUS365178242120090518
GreenBiz: As the political wrangling continues this week over the details of the Waxman-Markey climate change bill, a new report from a dozen retired U.S. military leaders warns maintaining the country's current energy stance poses significant risks to its national security. Dependence on fossil fuels and the vulnerable energy grid threaten the country and its military, according to "Powering America's Defense: Energy and the Risks to National Security," from the Military Advisory Board (MAB) ...

Thu, 21 May 09
Congo biochar initiative will reduce poverty, protect forests, slow climate change
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0519-biochar.html
Mongabay: Congo biochar initiative wins critical funding to support poverty alleviation, climate change mitigation An initiative using soil carbon enrichment techniques to boost agricultural yields, alleviate poverty, and protect endangered forests in Central Africa was today selected as one of six projects to win funding under the Congo Basin Forest Fund (CBFF). The scientific committee of the CBFF awarded Belgium's Biochar Fund and its Congolese partner ADAPEL EUR300,000 to implement ...

Thu, 21 May 09
UN: Population growth rates fall to 1.1 percent in Asia-Pacific
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0519-hance_populationasia.html
Mongabay: The population growth rate in the Asia-Pacific region has dropped to 1.1 percent, according to the Statistical Yearbook for Asia and the Pacific 2008, compiled by the UN's Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP). The 1.1 percent growth rate is the lowest in the developing world. The study found a 0.5 percent drop in the number of children born per woman in the region during a ten year period. During 1995-2000, each woman had an average of 2.9 children in the ...

Thu, 21 May 09
Climate Change Odds Much Worse Than Thought
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/05/090519134843.htm
ScienceDaily: The most comprehensive modeling yet carried out on the likelihood of how much hotter the Earth's climate will get in this century shows that without rapid and massive action, the problem will be about twice as severe as previously estimated six years ago - and could be even worse than that. The study uses the MIT Integrated Global Systems Model, a detailed computer simulation of global economic activity and climate processes that has been developed and refined by the Joint Program on ...

Thu, 21 May 09
Path in Congress not clear for climate change bill
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6430315.html
Houston Chronicle: WASHINGTON -- Congressional Democrats on Monday kicked off what promised to be a heated weeklong debate over far-reaching climate change legislation that would put new limits on greenhouse gas emissions blamed for the Earth`s rising temperature. Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., hopes to steer the measure through his 59-member Energy and Commerce Committee before Memorial Day, sending it to the full House for a floor vote later this year. To boost his odds, Waxman has made ...

Thu, 21 May 09
U.S. to Issue Tougher Fuel Standards for Automobiles
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=127882
New York Times: President Obama will announce tough new nationwide rules for automobile emissions and mileage standards on Tuesday, embracing standards that California has sought to enact for years over the objections of the auto industry and the Bush administration. The rules, which will begin to take effect in 2012, will put in place a federal standard for fuel efficiency that is as tough as the California program, while imposing the first-ever limits on climate-altering gases from cars and ...

Thu, 21 May 09
US House panel to begin debating climate change bill
http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSN18377535
Reuters: U.S. lawmakers were set on Tuesday to begin wrangling over a climate change bill aimed at reducing carbon dioxide and other pollutants with Republicans objecting that the legislation would burden the economy with higher energy costs. The House Energy and Commerce Committee was digging in for several days of arduous debate over the Democrats' 932-page bill. Chairman Henry Waxman has predicted his panel will have enough Democratic support for approval this week. But first, ...

Wed, 20 May 09
Obama takes aim at climate-warming car emissions
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSN1943318920090520?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: President Barack Obama took aim at climate-warming greenhouse gases on Tuesday and ordered the struggling auto industry to make more fuel-efficient cars under tough new national standards to cut emissions and increase gas mileage. Obama said the standards, announced at a White House ceremony attended by auto industry and union leaders, would reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil and give five years of cost certainty to an industry battling to survive. "The status quo is no ...

Wed, 20 May 09
Indonesian Orangutan habitat wiped out: activists
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090518/sc_afp/indonesiaenvironmentforestsspeciesorangutan_20090518072907
Agence France-Presse: Part of a national park on Borneo island home to hundreds of endangered orangutans has been turned into a development zone complete with an airport and brothels, Indonesian activists said. Almost 600 of the long-haired apes have disappeared from Kutai National Park, East Kalimantan province, over the past seven years of unchecked construction, the Centre for Orangutan Protection (COP) said in a statement. "The number of orangutans in the area, which was 600 individuals in 2004, ...

Wed, 20 May 09
Global warming could be twice as bad as forecast
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE54I6PF20090519?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Global warming's effects this century could be twice as extreme as estimated just six years ago, scientists reported on Tuesday. Earth's median surface temperature could rise 9.3 degrees F (5.2 degrees C) by 2100, the scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology found, compared to a 2003 study that projected a median temperature increase of 4.3 degrees F (2.4 degrees C). The new study, published in the American Meteorological Society's Journal of Climate, said the ...

Wed, 20 May 09
Ethanol formula, climate bill collide in House
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE54I79X20090519?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Democratic leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives must change existing biofuel rules if they want to pass a bill to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, the House Agriculture Committee chairman said on Tuesday. Rep. Collin Peterson, chairman of the panel, along with nearly four dozen other farm-state lawmakers, has sponsored a bill to amend the 2007 Energy law so indirect land use change will not factor into calculating greenhouse gas emissions from production of advanced ...

Wed, 20 May 09
Study: Climate change affects polar bears
http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2009/05/19/Study-Climate-change-affects-polar-bears/UPI-41061242759113/
United Press International: A U.S. study refutes a publicized criticism of the negative effects of climate change on polar bears, supporting the listing of them as a threatened species. The study -- conducted by scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, the Universities of Alaska and Maryland, the Canadian Wildlife Service and the U.S. Forest Service -- refutes point-by-point the criticism of negative polar bear population predictions. The new study is said to ...

Wed, 20 May 09
Canada details fund for carbon capture, clean energy
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090519/wl_canada_nm/canada_us_cleanenergy
Reuters: The Canadian government announced details on Tuesday of the C$1 billion ($860 million) clean energy fund it promised in February, with the lion's share of the cash going to support the development of carbon capture and storage projects. Natural Resources Minister Lisa Raitt said in a statement C$650 million has been earmarked to help pay for large-scale carbon capture and storage demonstration projects as the government looks to follow through on agreements made during U.S. President ...

Wed, 20 May 09
Obama adviser unsure of car plan's ethanol impact
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE54I63R20090519?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: President Barack Obama's assistant on energy and climate change said on Tuesday she did not know how a tough White House plan to raise the fuel economy of the U.S. car fleet would affect the ethanol industry. "I don't know the answer to that," Carol Browner told reporters in a teleconference about the plan. She said modelers had looked at the issue, but she did not know the answer offhand. Obama obliged the struggling auto industry to make more fuel efficient cars on ...

Wed, 20 May 09
Obama sets strict limits on US car exhaust emissions
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/may/19/obama-carbon-emissions-auto-industry
Guardian: America's gas guzzling automobile was heading towards extinction today as Barack Obama set strict limits on car exhaust emissions, and directed producers to make a more fuel-efficient vehicle fleet. The new policy requires US automakers to produce cars and trucks that get an average 35.5mpg by 2016, and will reduce America's carbon dioxide emissions by 30%. It marks the end of the line for the SUVs and luxury cars that were best sellers in a country where consumers see low ...

Wed, 20 May 09
US House panel tackles climate change bill
http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSN19427337
Reuters: U.S. lawmakers on Tuesday began wrangling over a climate change bill aimed at reducing carbon dioxide and other pollutants, with Republicans objecting that the legislation would burden the economy with higher energy costs. The House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee was digging in for several days of arduous debate over the Democrats' 932-page bill. Chairman Henry Waxman has predicted his panel will have enough Democratic support for approval this week before lawmakers ...

Wed, 20 May 09
Green Groups Hail Plan to Slash Transport Emissions
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=46906
Inter Press Service: Environmental groups are applauding President Barack Obama's new nationwide rules for car emissions and mileage standards, announced Tuesday. The rules, which will begin to take effect in 2012, will put in place a tough federal standard for fuel efficiency, and impose the first-ever limit on climate-altering gases from cars and trucks. "In addition to dramatically reducing the global warming emissions from our vehicles, this move will slash our dependence on oil and make us ...

Wed, 20 May 09
United Kingdom: Government 'greatly concerned' by palm oil production
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/government-greatly-concerned-by-palm-oil-production-1687560.html
Independent (UK): The Government has joined calls for Britain's best-selling household groceries to use sustainable palm oil. The Environment Secretary Hilary Benn said the Government was "greatly concerned' by the impact of palm oil production in South-east Asia, where it causes extensive deforestation and threatens the survival of the orangutan and other rare animals. Producers chop down forests in Sumatra and Borneo to plant high-yielding oil palms whose oil is poured into food, soaps and ...

Wed, 20 May 09
U.S. to boost auto efficiency, regulate emissions
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE54I40R20090519?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: President Barack Obama on Tuesday will announce the most aggressive proposal for increasing auto fuel economy standards ever and the first plan for regulating emissions, the White House said. The proposal would require the U.S. passenger vehicle fleet to average 35.5 miles per gallon (6.62 litres/100km) by 2016, saving 1.8 billion barrels of oil. It would also instruct the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate tailpipe emissions. Obama is expected to unveil the proposal ...

Wed, 20 May 09
Norway's greenhouse gases down 2.2 percent in 2008
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE54I2OV20090519?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Norway's greenhouse gas emissions fell by 2.2 percent in 2008, led by a decline in manufacturing industry, but were still far above goals under the U.N.'s Kyoto Protocol, Statistics Norway said on Tuesday. Emissions fell to the equivalent of 53.8 million metric tons of carbon dioxide from 55.1 million in 2007, it said. Overall gross domestic product growth slowed in 2008 to 2.1 percent from 3.1 percent the year before. The drop in emissions was a consequence of reduced ...

Wed, 20 May 09
Promoting renewable energy is focus of new agency
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=127924
New York Times: In Sharm el Sheik, Egypt, delegates from 79 countries will meet next month to choose a home, a director and a preliminary work program for the International Renewable Energy Agency, which was set up this year to lead a global drive to accelerate and expand the development of renewable energy resources. The agency grew out of a conference in Bonn on Jan. 26, which was sponsored by the German government, with support from Denmark and Spain. Of the 192 United Nations member states ...

Wed, 20 May 09
Energy and Commerce panel's Dems seek united front to pass climate bill
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=127919
ClimateWire: The House Energy and Commerce Committee is expected to pass legislation this week that would overhaul U.S. energy and global warming policy, assuming Democrats can stay united in the face of hundreds of GOP amendments. Unveiled Friday, H.R. 2454 (pdf) includes items long sought by environmentalists, including a cap-and-trade program to curb greenhouse gas emissions and a nationwide renewable electricity standard. The 932-page bill, also comes with the support of President Obama, who ...

Wed, 20 May 09
Plan to secure Australia's long-term water supply
http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,25503444-2682,00.html
Advertiser: WATER Minister Penny Wong plans to have the ailing Murray-Darling system nursed back to health within 10 years. Senator Wong yesterday revealed this vision for the region once the Federal Government's Water for the Future plan has been implemented. The $12.9 billion plan aims to secure the long-term water supply of the nation as climate change threatens to reduce rainfall in south-eastern Australia. The continuing drought has already led to many River Murray wetlands drying out ...

Wed, 20 May 09
GM, Chrysler hail Obama auto emissions initiative
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jeHeynBmODlWSBEYl8rL9izwOeEw
Agence France-Presse: US government-supported auto giants General Motors and Chrysler have reacted positively to news President Barack Obama aims to improve vehicle fuel economy and lower greenhouse gas emissions with dramatic new standards. "Energy security and climate change are national priorities that require federal leadership and the president's direction makes sense for the country and the industry," said new GM CEO Fritz Henderson on Monday. He stressed that harmonizing the various ...

Wed, 20 May 09
House panel begins action on climate bill
http://www.fresnobee.com/news/national-politics/story/1412400.html
Associated Press: Several key Democrats from industrial and oil states threw their support behind a draft climate bill Monday as a House committee began work on massive legislation that would impose the first nationwide limits on greenhouse gases. While Democratic sponsors of the 948-page bill called it essential to shift the nation away from fossil fuels to cleaner energy sources and deal with global warming, Republicans argued it would send energy prices soaring and threaten economic ...

Wed, 20 May 09
Obama's 35.5-m.p.g. deal may be a game-changer
http://www.freep.com/article/20090518/NEWS15/90518058/1002/BUSINESS/Obama%20to%20propose%2030%20%20cut%20in%20auto%20emissions
Detroit Free Press: President Barack Obama will announce Tuesday a breakthrough compromise to set tough standards of 35.5 miles per gallon by 2016 for new cars and trucks in return for California backing off its push for more stringent rules on automakers. The rules could radically reshape the U.S. automotive industry by forcing automakers to push higher levels of technology such as hybrid-electric drives into vehicles faster than once planned. The deal fulfills Obama's campaign promise to push Detroit ...

Wed, 20 May 09
Cap and confusion
http://www.environmentreport.org/transcript.php3?story_id=4487
Environment Report: Congress is debating a cap-and- trade plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. But a recent poll determined most people don't know what cap-and-trade means. Lester Graham reports: A poll by Rasmussen found 76% of Americans don't know what cap-and-trade is. Person 1: "Putting a price cap on something?" Person 2: "Cap and trade? I have no idea." Person 3: "Captain Trade? I never heard of him." Here's the simple version: cap greenhouse gases. The government ...

Wed, 20 May 09
Sarkozy urges Obama to do more on climate change
http://www.spacedaily.com/2006/090519140630.thympobv.html
Agence France-Presse: US President Barack Obama should draw inspiration from Europe and make stronger commitments to combat global warming, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Tuesday. Sarkozy called for more US action as lawmakers in Washington began debating legislation aimed at reducing carbon dioxide emissions and other pollutants. "It's a great opportunity for us to have President Obama and we must help him succeed because the United States is the world's top economy," Sarkozy said during a ...

Wed, 20 May 09
House panel to begin debating climate change bill
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2009/05/19/house_panel_to_begin_debating_climate_change_bill/?rss_id=Boston.com+--+Latest+news
Reuters:

Wed, 20 May 09
World city chiefs told to act fast to save planet
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090519/ts_afp/skoreaclimatewarming
Agence France-Presse: Former US President Bill Clinton urged leaders of the world's cities, which produce over two-thirds of greenhouse gas emissions, to act swiftly to save the planet for their grandchildren. Executives from the 40 largest cities plus 17 affiliate municipalities attended the C40 Large Cities Climate Summit which opened in Seoul, the third such event since 2005. The former US leader, whose Clinton Climate Initiative develops programmes to help cities cut the emissions blamed for ...

Wed, 20 May 09
Lakes face 'complex' challenges
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/cumbria/8056860.stm
BBC: Urgent measures are needed to protect lakes in England and Wales from pollution and climate change, according to the Environment Agency. The call for action comes as experts gather at Windermere in Cumbria to discuss ways to safeguard England's largest lake. Windermere faces threats including invasive species and farming pollution. The Agency said it planned to assess about 730 lakes to ensure they meet new European water standards. The EU's Water Framework ...

Wed, 20 May 09
EPA sued over acid oceans
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2242470/epa-sued-acid-oceans
Business Green: Mounting scientific concerns over the acidification of the ocean and its impact on marine life and fishing stocks could soon be voiced in court after non-profit environmental group the Center for Biological Diversity announced it is to sue the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over ocean water quality levels. The lawsuit, brought under the Clean Water Act, accuses the EPA of failing to include increasingly acidic oceans off Washington state on its list of impaired ...

Wed, 20 May 09
Obama to curb vehicle emissions
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8056908.stm
BBC: President Barack Obama is to announce strict limits on vehicle pollution that will set national standards across the US for the first time. The plan will save 1.8 billion barrels of oil by 2016 and be the equivalent of taking 177 million cars off the road, White House officials said. The rules would aim to cut emissions by 30% and set fuel efficiency at 35.5 miles per gallon (15km per litre). The cost of new vehicles is expected to rise by at least $1,300 (£842) by ...

Wed, 20 May 09
Obama to overhaul car industry with stringent exhaust targets
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/may/19/obama-car-fuel-targets
Guardian: Barack Obama is to compel US car makers to give up on gas guzzlers and step up production of a more fuel-efficient vehicle fleet. In a ceremony today at the White House, Obama will establish the first national limits on car exhaust and dramatically raise fuel efficiency standards. The new exhaust target – an average 35.5mpg by 2016 – will force US manufacturers to produce cars and trucks that are nearly 40% more efficient. Environmentalists said the new standards will do more ...

Wed, 20 May 09
Automakers, Obama announce mileage, pollution plan
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090519/ap_on_bi_ge/us_obama_autos
Associated Press: President Barack Obama wants drivers to go farther on a gallon of gas and cause less damage to the environment -- and be willing to pick up the tab. Obama on Tuesday planned to announce the first-ever national emissions limits for cars and trucks, as well as require a 35.5 miles per gallon standard. Consumers should expect to pay an extra $1,300 per vehicle by the time the plan is complete in 2016. Carol Browner, the White House energy and climate director, publicly confirmed ...

Wed, 20 May 09
Glaciers go, leaving drought, conflict and tension in Andes
http://wwwp.dailyclimate.org/tdc-newsroom/2009/05/glaciers-go-leaving-drought-conflict-and-tension
Daily Climate: Two decades ago, the strip of sand between the Pacific Ocean and the Andean foothills was empty except for the occasional fig or carob tree. But the northern end of perhaps the world's driest desert – a harsh and unforgiving clime -- is now the center of Peru's export agriculture industry. Rising demand for irrigation and drinking water is draining the aquifer faster than it can recharge, and a scheme to channel more water from the Andean highlands, which receive seasonal rainfall, is ...

Wed, 20 May 09
U.S. following California's lead to limit auto emissions
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-emissions19-2009may19,0,5567325.story
LA Times: The agreement that the Obama administration will announce today forcing dramatic reductions in vehicle greenhouse gas emissions and improvements in auto mileage marks a potentially pivotal shift in the battle over global warming -- and a vindication of California's long battle to toughen standards. After decades of political sparring, legal challenges and scientific arguments over climate change, three of the central players -- the federal government, major U.S. automakers and ...

Wed, 20 May 09
Retired US generals call for low carbon revolution
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2242454/retired-generals-call-low
Business Green: The US needs to diversify its energy mix to incorporate more renewables, reduce its reliance on both foreign and domestic oil, improve the resilience of its energy grid, better prepare for the impact of climate change risks, and make wider use of federal procurement to drive the development of low carbon technologies. Not the latest wish list from Greenpeace or the WWF, but a hard-hitting new report from an influential panel of retired US admirals and generals, which argues that the ...

Wed, 20 May 09
China's mega water project hopes to quench the parched north
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2009/may/19/china-yellow-river
Guardian

Wed, 20 May 09
Spanish wind parks disconnected due to economic crisis
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090518/sc_afp/spainenergyalternativewindenvironment
Agence France-Presse: Wind parks in Spain, a world leader in the renewable energy source, are increasingly being disconnected due to a fall in power demand caused by the economic slowdown, a report said Monday. "Due to the fall in demand, it has become necessary to disconnect the wind parks which already produce more electricity than the system can absorb," business daily Expansion reported without citing sources. The wind parks are usually disconnected at night when demand for power falls, it ...

Wed, 20 May 09
Group group warns of risks from oil dependence
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090518/ap_on_go_ot/us_military_energy
Associated Press: An advisory group of retired admirals and generals says reducing America's reliance on oil and addressing climate change is critical for future national security. The group's report Monday says over-reliance on oil -- not just foreign oil -- undermines U.S. foreign policy and leaves the country vulnerable to unstable and hostile regimes. It says future oil markets will be marked by limited supplies and increasing demand, posing a national security risk. The report, presented to ...

Wed, 20 May 09
Toyota rolls out new Prius to fend off rivals
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090518/sc_afp/japanautocompanytoyota
Agence France-Presse: Toyota Motor on Monday rolled out a cheaper, revamped Prius, seeking to boost its flagging sales and maintain its lead in fuel-sipping hybrids in the face of growing competition from rival Honda. Toyota hopes to sell 10,000 of the third-generation Prius cars a month in Japan, where it has a price tag starting from 2.05 million yen (21,580 dollars), about 12 percent less than the current cheapest model. The Japanese giant, the world's largest automaker, has sold more than 1.25 ...

Wed, 20 May 09
Obama Poised To Release Auto Pollution Standards
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=104259435&ft=1&f=1025
Associated Press: President Obama will issue new vehicle emission standards and pair them with a broader goal of reducing pollution, marking the first time that limits on greenhouse gases will be linked to federal standards for cars and trucks. Officials familiar with the administration's discussions say Obama will unveil the new standards on Tuesday. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the official announcement had not been made. California, 13 other states and the District of ...

Wed, 20 May 09
Two groups oppose increasing U.S. ethanol blend rate
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE54H4LW20090518?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Blending more than 10 percent ethanol into U.S. gasoline will result in more air pollution and more damage to engines, said an environmental group and a boating industry trade group on Monday. The Environmental Working Group (EWG) and the National Marine Manufacturers Association (NMMA) said evidence weighed against allowing a blend of up to 15 percent ethanol in gasoline. The groups will forward their findings to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which is accepting ...

Wed, 20 May 09
United Kingdom: London bids to be world's greenest city
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090518/wl_uk_afp/skoreabritainlondonclimatewarmingoly2012
Agence France-Presse: Mayor Boris Johnson outlined plans to make London "the cleanest, greenest city on earth" by the 2012 Olympics and called for commitments from other world cities at a climate change conference. Leaders of the world's 40 largest cities, plus 17 affiliate municipalities, are meeting in Seoul this week for a summit on combating global warming -- the third to be held since 2005. "What we should do in Seoul is agree that we will stop the endless addiction of mankind to the internal ...

Wed, 20 May 09
Asia coral protection pact seen as important step
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE54H19W20090518?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: A commitment by six Asia-Pacific nations to protect a huge swathe of ecologically rich coral reef is an important step, although the pact is non-binding and key details still need to thrashed out, conservationists said. Indonesia, Malaysia, East Timor, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands border a stretch of reef known as the Coral Triangle, which contains 76 percent of all known coral species and is a vital tuna spawning ground. The pact signed during the ...

Wed, 20 May 09
UN, World Bank pledge SE Asia disaster cooperation
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gYycIX2nyidUc1gfvDAJcxnmViOA
Agence France-Presse: The United Nations and the World Bank pledged closer coordination with Southeast Asia in tackling the rising threat of natural disasters in the heavily-populated region. The World Bank and the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction signed the agreement for technical assistance to help the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) implement a joint strategy to deal with disasters and the effects of climate change, a statement said. "With 570 million ...

Wed, 20 May 09
EU urges Australia to make deeper carbon cuts
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE54H1EM20090518?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: The European Union urged Australia on Monday to make deeper cuts to greenhouse gas emissions than it has committed to so far, saying the success of climate change talks this year depended on tougher action from rich nations. Australia has committed to a 5 percent cut in carbon emissions by 2020, from 2000 levels, with an "aspirational" goal of cutting by 25 percent if other developed nations agree to similar reductions at the talks in Copenhagen in December. Greens have ...

Wed, 20 May 09
Can vegetarians save the world?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/may/16/ghent-belgium-vegetarian-town-environment
Guardian: For decades, environmental arguments against eating meat have been largely the preserve of vegetarian websites and magazines. Just two years ago it seemed inconceivable that significant numbers of western Europeans would be ready to down their steak knives and graze on vegetation for the sake of the planet. The rapidity with which this situation has changed is astonishing. The breakthrough came in 2006 when the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) published a study, Livestock's ...

Wed, 20 May 09
Thinktanks seek funds to back green technologies in poor countries
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/may/17/climate-change-energy
Guardian: New financial mechanisms to ensure the transfer of low-carbon technology to emerging economies will help achieve a meaningful breakthrough at the Copenhagen climate change conference in December, according to a report by an alliance of some of the world's leading thinktanks. The recently formed Global Climate Network, which includes the UK's Institute for Public Policy Research, the Center for American Progress led by John Podesta, head of Barack Obama's presidential transition team, ...

Wed, 20 May 09
Toyota cranks up heat on Honda with new Prius
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE54H16120090518?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Toyota Motor Corp said on Monday its new Prius had received pre-sale orders for 80,000 vehicles in Japan, kicking off what promises to be a fierce battle against hybrid rival Honda Motor Co. Toyota, which has dominated the market for gasoline-electric cars so far, is looking to take back the crown after Honda's new Insight became the first hybrid ever to top the best-sellers' list in Japan last month. "The hybrid market is going to be one of the fastest-growing segments in the ...

Wed, 20 May 09
Draft transmission bill to bolster US grid efficiency
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2242386/draft-transmission-bill-bolster
Business Green: Draft legislation is being introduced that aims to tighten up transmission efficiency in the US electrical grid, even as lawmakers criticise the whole system for being insecure. The proposed legislation calls for increased support for renewables, reduced grid congestion and line losses, and diversification of risk, which would presumably mitigate the threat of blackouts, such as the one that took place on the US eastern seaboard in 2003. It would require the Federal Energy Regulatory ...

Wed, 20 May 09
Shell faces investor fury over pay, pollution and human rights
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2242387/shell-faces-investor-fury-pay
Business Green: Shell will come under fire from shareholders and environmentalists tomorrow over executive pay, polluting gas flaring and alleged human rights abuses in Nigeria. The annual general meeting in London will see a rebellion from investors angry that the board has used its discretion to award bonuses despite the company's failure to meet pre-set targets. The Association of British Insurers has issued an "amber top" alert to its members about its concerns while one of the top 10 ...

Wed, 20 May 09
Calif. Water In Short Supply, Restrictions In Place
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=104237267&ft=1&f=1025
National Public Radio: California has been fighting about water for generations. But in the midst of a severe drought there are signs that the warring factions may be reaching some common ground. It comes as the state is imposing some of the tightest water restrictions Californians have seen in decades.

Tue, 19 May 09
Climate Change Poses Threat to Synchrony of Shrimp and Its Food
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=127855
New York Times: One concern about climate change is its potential for disrupting the delicate timing that exists within ecosystems. If warmer temperatures cause a bird to migrate earlier in the spring, for example, it might arrive before there are enough insects for food. Using data from ocean surveys and remote-sensing satellites, Peter Koeller of the Bedford Institute of Oceanography in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, and colleagues have revealed a similar potential for disruption in a marine ecosystem ...

Tue, 19 May 09
Obama to link auto emissions and mileage standards
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_OBAMA_AUTOS?SITE=TXDAM&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Associated Press: President Barack Obama, seeking to end a stand-off between states and the auto industry, plans to issue new national emission limits and mileage requirements for cars and trucks. Obama plans to announce on Tuesday that he will couple pollution reduction from vehicle tailpipes with increased efficiency on the road. It would be the first time that limits on greenhouse gases were linked with federal standards for passenger cars and light trucks. New vehicles would be 30 percent cleaner ...

Tue, 19 May 09
Group warns of risks from oil dependence
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090518/ap_on_go_co/us_military_energy
Associated Press: An advisory group of retired generals and admirals said in a report issued Monday that reducing America's reliance on oil and addressing climate change are critical for future national security. The report, presented to members of Congress and the Pentagon, said that energy security and efforts to reduce the risks of climate change should be included in the nation's national security and military planning. The retired, high-ranking military officers concluded that overreliance ...

Tue, 19 May 09
Canada oil sands emit more CO2 than average: report
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE54H6C220090518?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Canada's oil sands emit more carbon dioxide than average crude so developers need a clearer picture of where greenhouse gas regulations are headed to find the best way to tap the giant resource, experts said. "The future regulation of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States and Canada will influence the pace of development," of the oil sands, said James Burkhard, an analyst at the energy consultants Cambridge Energy Research Associates, Inc. "Clarity on carbon regulation ...

Tue, 19 May 09
China and US held secret talks on climate change deal
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/may/18/secret-us-china-emissions-talks
Guardian: A high-powered group of senior Republicans and Democrats led two missions to China in the final months of the Bush administration for secret backchannel negotiations aimed at securing a deal on joint US-Chinese action on climate change, the Guardian has learned. The initiative, involving John Holdren, now the White House science adviser, and others who went on to positions in Barack Obama's administration, produced a draft agreement in March, barely two months after the Democrat ...

Tue, 19 May 09
New Fuel-Efficiency Standards On Horizon
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=104267998&ft=1&f=1025
National Public Radio: The Obama administration is poised to issue new fuel efficiency standards as part of a broader goal of limiting pollution and greenhouse gases. The new rules are expected to be announced Tuesday.

Tue, 19 May 09
US lawmakers open tough climate bill debate
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090518/pl_afp/usclimateenergypoliticscongress
Agence France-Presse: US lawmakers on Monday kicked off formal debate on legislation creating a "cap and trade" system for curbing pollution blamed for global warming amid stiff Republican opposition. US President Barack Obama's Democratic allies, who control the Senate and House of Representatives, have said they want to have a bill ready to lend momentum to December global climate change talks in Copenhagen. The House Energy and Commerce Committee opened what could be a tough week of debate on the ...

Tue, 19 May 09
US House panel begins debate of climate change bill
http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSN18365069
Reuters: A key committee in the U.S. Congress on Monday kicked off what promises to be a rollicking, week-long climate change debate as Democrats aimed to advance a bill to slow global warming and Republicans maneuvered to kill a central part of a plan they say will hurt the U.S. economy. With copies of the 932-page proposal sitting at the desks of the 59 members of the House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee, the debate started in the same partisan tone that has dominated the ...

Tue, 19 May 09
Obama to increase fuel economy standard to 35 mpg by 2016
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0518-fuel_economy.html
Mongabay: The Obama administration will direct the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Transportation to raise fuel economy standards of automobiles to 35 miles per gallon by 2016, four years earlier than required under current federal law, reports the Wall Street Journal. The move is part of the administration's effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Transportation accounts for nearly one third of U.S. carbon dioxide emissions. According to the report, the fuel ...

Tue, 19 May 09
Carbon Capture and Storage May Be Key to Climate Bill
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=carbon-capture-climate-bill
Scientific American:

Tue, 19 May 09
House panel begins action on climate bill
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090518/ap_on_go_co/us_climate_bill
Associated Press: A key House committee has begun consideration of a Democratic bill to address global warming. Rep. Henry Waxman of California, chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, said the nation is at a crossroad and can either continue reliance on fossil fuels, or shift to cleaner energy sources and reduce the risks of climate change. A draft bill, hammered out in closed-door negotiations among Democrats and brought before the full panel Monday, would limit carbon dioxide and other ...

Tue, 19 May 09
U.S. to unveil new policy on auto fuel standards
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE54H4PB20090518?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: The Obama administration was poised to unveil on Tuesday a new auto fuel efficiency policy that would resolve a major dispute between California and the U.S. government over emissions, industry and other sources said. The proposal to run from 2012-16 would maintain a single national standard for fuel economy and give automakers flexibility for meeting it, people with knowledge of the plan said. The plan would harmonize California's drive to curb greenhouse gasses by reducing ...

Tue, 19 May 09
United Kingdom: G20 police are not above the law
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/libertycentral/2009/may/18/climate-camp-g20-police
Guardian: The Climate Camp went to the European Climate Exchange in Bishopsgate on 1 April to highlight the failure of carbon trading as a solution to climate change. We were met by the same kind of heavy-handed policing as at previous Climate Camps – but for once, the outrageous behaviour of the police has been reported widely in the mainstream media. This gives us a welcome opportunity to challenge and debate the way protest is now being policed in the UK. After the Kingsnorth Climate Camp, ...

Tue, 19 May 09
Pay farmers to halt irrigation to ease water crisis, China told
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/may/18/water-china-farmers
Guardian: China should pay farmers to halt irrigation in the environmentally degraded far west despite long-standing concerns about food security, a senior government adviser has told the Guardian. After more than 50 years of converting desert to farmland, the expert says the water problems in Xinjiang are so acute that the vast region – bigger than two-thirds of the world's nations – cannot develop further unless it pulls people off the fields and into cities. Ideas for a pilot project ...

Tue, 19 May 09
China's appetite for UK recycling returns
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2242434/china-appetite-uk-recycling
Business Green: The high profile crisis that gripped the UK recycling sector late last year appears to have been fully laid to rest, after a new survey from the Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP) revealed that demand for UK waste material from Chinese recyclers has largely recovered. Demand for recyclable paper and plastic material from Chinese firms collapsed last autumn amidst fears that demand for their end products would drop off as a result of the recession. As a result, the ...

Tue, 19 May 09
Carbon cap opponents up to old tricks
http://www.columbiatribune.com/news/2009/may/17/carbon-cap-opponents-old-tricks/
Columbia Daily Tribune: Thanks to documents recently uncovered by a lawsuit, we now know a major industry trade group was told by its science advisers in 1995 that it was spreading false information about climate change. But that didn't matter to the Global Climate Coalition, which included the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers and a number of oil and auto companies. The coalition, which disbanded in 2002, simply continued to deny the consensus of the world's climate ...

Tue, 19 May 09
The freedom lobby
http://energybulletin.net/node/48940
Energy Bulletin: There is nothing so intoxicating as freedom. That's partly because the word is so abstract that people can define it in any way that they want. And, naturally they define it in ways that they believe will give them the maximum purchase on wealth, power, pleasure and security. So, it should come as no surprise that the word "freedom" is frequently deployed like a cluster bomb in order to discredit opponents in a public debate. Who, after all, wants to be classified among "the enemies ...

Tue, 19 May 09
First direct observations of biological particles in high-altitude ice clouds
http://www.physorg.com/news161787442.html
Physorg: A team of UC San Diego-led atmospheric chemistry researchers moved closer to what is considered the "holy grail" of climate change science when it made the first-ever direct detection of biological particles within ice clouds. The team, led by Kerri Pratt, a Ph.D. student of atmospheric chemistry Professor Kim Prather, who also holds appointments at Scripps Institution of Oceanography as well as the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at UCSD, sampled water droplet and ice ...

Tue, 19 May 09
Kremlin sees energy as new security battleground
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/may/13/russia-security-strategy-energy-warning
Guardian: The growing struggle for the world's energy reserves could spill over into military clashes, according to a new Kremlin security strategy published today. The paper also identified US missile defence programmes as one of the main challenges facing the country, and named the Arctic as a new area for potential conflict, together with the Middle East, Central Asia and the Caspian Sea. "In a competition for resources, it can't be ruled out that military force could be used for resolving ...

Tue, 19 May 09
United States: Drought is the cause of economic suffering
http://sacbee.com/1190/story/1866219.html
Sacramento Bee: Central Valley farmworkers – a large share of whom are Latino – have worked with farmers and business people for decades to make California the world's major producer of fruits, vegetables, nuts and other commodities. The agriculture industry is a major producer of California jobs as well as food. History and firsthand experience tell us that when there is water there also are jobs and prosperity. However, this year we face devastating drought conditions and hyper-unemployment, ...

Tue, 19 May 09
Drought worsening across NSW: data
http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/latest/5575129/drought-worsening-across-nsw-data/
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: New figures show the big dry is getting worse across New South Wales - with 60 per cent of the state being classified as in drought. This includes the western district, which takes in Broken Hill and Wilcannia, while Wanaaring in the Darling district is classified as being in marginal drought. Primary Industries Minister Ian MacDonald says the figures are a worry. "This is a disturbing situation given that a large part of the state is in drought and we're just about to ...

Tue, 19 May 09
Canada: How a B.C. carbon tax rose from Dion's ashes
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20090518.COCARBON18ART1330/TPStory/TPComment/?page=rss&id=GAM.20090518.COCARBON18ART1330
Globe and Mail: Unlike the Vancouver Canucks, B.C.'s carbon tax managed to stave off elimination last week. Although widely regarded - by both environmentalists and economists - as an essential tool in growing green jobs and combatting climate change, many Canadian politicians perceived carbon taxes as toxic after Stéphane Dion's defeat. The results of this week's B.C. election should help put that notion to rest. Canada has now had two elections in the past seven months - one federal, one provincial ...

Tue, 19 May 09
Report weighs fallout of Canada's oil sands
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=127790
New York Times: In the tense debate between energy security and environmental sustainability, Canada's vast oil sand reserves hold a special place. Canada has the second-largest petroleum deposits after Saudi Arabia and the biggest in the Western hemisphere. Its oil sands produce 1.3 million barrels of oil a day, up from 600,000 a day in 2000. As a result, Canada has become the biggest foreign oil supplier to the United States, accounting for 19 percent of imports in 2008. But the development ...

Tue, 19 May 09
United States: Bogus BLM bid case: Feds worry jury might buy 'monkey-wrencher' theme
http://www.sltrib.com/utahpolitics/ci_12380866
Salt Lake Tribune: Prosecutors want to bar Tim DeChristopher from arguing in his upcoming criminal trial that he placed bogus bids on oil and gas leases to combat the climate crisis. The reason, legal experts say, is the fear the some jurors may buy his argument. In a 27-page motion filed this week in Salt Lake City's federal court, U.S. Attorney for Utah Brett Tolman offers several examples of previous rulings against such a defense in civil-disobedience and political-protest trials. "The ...

Tue, 19 May 09
Foreign firms cry foul over China wind power rules
http://planetark.org/enviro-news/item/52926
Reuters: China's drive into wind power has been a boon to the young industry, but foreign turbine makers say China has stacked the odds so firmly against them that its own clean energy goals could be in jeopardy. China's wind power generation has doubled in the last year and is expected to surpass nuclear within a decade as China seeks to wean itself off cheap but dirty coal. But Beijing is making it impossible for foreigners to compete for "national-level concession projects" aimed at ...

Tue, 19 May 09
House, EPA to tackle climate policy alternatives
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090518/ap_on_go_co/us_epa_climate
Associated Press: The Environmental Protection Agency should not wait for Congress before taking steps to control the gases blamed for global warming, supporters of federal greenhouse-gas regulation said Monday. The EPA hearing is the first of two public forums on the agency's April finding that concentrations of carbon dioxide and five other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere pose dangers to human health and welfare -- and that emissions from new motor vehicles and engines are contributing to the ...

Tue, 19 May 09
The Age of Entitlement lies rotting. Its polluted patrons can lead us no more
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/may/17/expenses-mps-bankers-climate-change
Guardian: In the MPs' expenses controversy there is plenty to entertain and horrify, but the question that nags away unanswered is a very simple one: how did they feel entitled to make all these claims on the public purse? For a group of politicians who have been meticulously exacting in their calculations of benefit levels or pensions, how on earth did they feel they could extend such largesse to themselves? Entitlement is the word that persists through the parallel story of the role in the ...

Tue, 19 May 09
Report: Shipping would profit from 20 per cent emission reduction
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2242397/report-shipping-profit-per-cent
Business Green: The global shipping sector could slash its greenhouse gas emissions by at least a fifth at no net cost to the industry, according to a new report from the International Maritime Organisation (IMO). The study -- which is to be presented at a meeting in July of the IMO's Maritime Environment Protection Committee intended to finalise the sector's position ahead of the UN's climate talks in Copenhagen -- argues that the wider roll out of various fuel saving measures can help the industry ...

Tue, 19 May 09
Toyota rolls out new Prius amid hybrid price war
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090518/ap_on_bi_ge/as_japan_toyota_prius
Associated Press: Toyota rolled out the revamped Prius on Monday, and said it already had 80,000 advance orders in Japan for the remodeled hybrid amid intensifying competition with Honda's rival offering, the Insight. The world's largest automaker said it aims to sell up to 400,000 units globally a year of the car. "We are resting the future of cars in this model," said incoming president Akio Toyoda, the grandson of the company's founder, who drove the new model onto a stage at a packed Tokyo ...

Tue, 19 May 09
Floods, fires to test EU climate response: report
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE54H2EA20090518?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Flash floods, wildfires and heatwaves brought on by climate change could test Europe's ability to insure against and respond to natural disasters, a new report warns. Flooding of the Nile Delta and further desertification of north Africa could also unleash a wave of migrants from Europe's southern neighbors, said delegates at the launch of the European Union-backed ADAM report. The European Union last year agreed to curb greenhouse gas emissions by roughly a fifth by 2020 and ...

Tue, 19 May 09
Japan must set ambitious emission target: Denmark
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090518/sc_afp/unclimatewarmingdenmarkjapandiplomacy
Agence France-Presse: Japan must set an ambitious mid-term target for cutting greenhouse gas emissions to help global talks on drafting a new climate treaty, the Danish minister for climate and energy said Monday. Copenhagen will host a December meeting to hammer out a new climate treaty to replace the Kyoto Protocol when it expires in 2012. The European Union has said it would slash emissions by 20 percent by 2020 and raise the target to 30 percent if others set similarly ambitious ...

Tue, 19 May 09
Canada: Norway's ruling parties delay oil sands vote
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE54E5GW20090518?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Norway's center-left government effectively delayed a parliamentary vote on Monday on whether majority state-owned oil and gas producer StatoilHydro should withdraw from a $2 billion Canadian oil sands venture. The oil sands issue has put the government in a bind four months before a general election, with political opponents saying state support for the oil sands project was hypocritical given the cabinet's self-professed environmental ambitions. Affluent Norway -- the world's ...

Tue, 19 May 09
As Alaska glaciers melt, it's land that's rising
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=127735
New York Times: Global warming conjures images of rising seas that threaten coastal areas. But in Juneau, as almost nowhere else in the world, climate change is having the opposite effect: As the glaciers here melt, the land is rising, causing the sea to retreat. Morgan DeBoer, a property owner, opened a nine-hole golf course at the mouth of Glacier Bay in 1998, on land that was underwater when his family first settled here 50 years ago. "The highest tides of the year would come into what is ...

Tue, 19 May 09
Industry leaders join Obama on emissions limits
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-climate18-2009may18,0,3340196.story
LA Times: Reporting from Washington -- Sprawling across about 9,000 acres of rolling farmland in southwestern Indiana is one of the world's biggest aluminum smelters, operated by Alcoa Inc. The maze of rectangular buildings and giant smokestacks consumes enough electricity to supply a city of 200,000 -- power generated by burning more than 2 million tons of coal a year. So it may be surprising that company executives are pushing Congress to pass a version of President Obama's plan for combating ...

Tue, 19 May 09
United Kingdom: Economy and the environment: growing pains
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/may/17/economic-growth-green-agenda
Guardian: The next few days will bring yet more grim economic news. Figures are likely to show that Japan is in even deeper recession; that the UK's public finances continue to deteriorate; more companies will go bust and more workers will lose their jobs. Against that backdrop, the question that follows may seem so obtuse and ill-timed that to raise it at all may appear bone-headed. Still, here goes: should we – governments, economists, businesses and voters – stop worrying so much about economic ...

Mon, 18 May 09
Solutions to the Draft Waxman Bill Expose Design Flaw in US ETS
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/karla-bell/solutions-to-the-draft-wa_b_204437.html
Huffington Post: The Waxman and Markey Climate Change bill has to be finalized by 25th of May on Memorial Day 2009. The House is considering climate change legislation authored by a key subcommittee chairman, Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA). President Obama has said this is, "a rare opportunity to rise above parochial concerns to enact a bill with a profound national impact". The Waxman-Markey Discussion Draft provides for an economy wide cap & trade program: The cap reduces greenhouse gas emissions to 20 ...

Mon, 18 May 09
China: Empire of Carbon
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=127727
New York Times: I have seen the future, and it won't work. These should be hopeful times for environmentalists. Junk science no longer rules in Washington. President Obama has spoken forcefully about the need to take action on climate change; the people I talk to are increasingly optimistic that Congress will soon establish a cap-and-trade system that limits emissions of greenhouse gases, with the limits growing steadily tighter over time. And once America acts, we can expect much of the world to ...

Mon, 18 May 09
Indonesia: Logging moratorium `a must' to save Riau forests
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2009/05/16/logging-moratorium-a-must039-save-riau-forests.html
Jakarta Post: The NGO Riau Forest Rescue Working Network (Jikalahari) is urging the central government to reform forestry policies and end land disputes to slow the pace of deforestation in the province. "Deforestation in Riau is due to the paper industry and oil palm plantations' conversion activities," Susanto Kurniawan, the organization's coordinator, said Thursday at a seminar on the logging moratorium to help save the Semenanjung Kampar area. "The most jaw-dropping fact is that *the ...

Mon, 18 May 09
Constellation supports House climate change bill
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090517/ap_on_bi_ge/us_climate_bill_constellation
Associated Press: Constellation Energy says it supports the climate change bill introduced Friday by the House Energy Committee. Constellation Energy Group Inc. Chairman, President and Chief Executive Mayo Shattuck said in a statement Sunday that the bill outlines needed steps to cut greenhouse gas emissions, improve energy security, and usher in new low-emission power generation. Shattuck noted that renewable, nuclear and efficiency technologies that can cut emissions already exist. A national ...

Mon, 18 May 09
Cloud ice crystals carry biological matter: research
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE54G1ZW20090517?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Ice crystals plucked from clouds and quickly analyzed in flight show bits of biological material -- bacteria, spores and plants -- play a role in the formation of clouds, U.S. researchers said on Sunday. The finding, reported in the journal Nature Geoscience, offers the first direct evidence of airborne bacteria in clouds, they said. Climate scientists typically rely on computer models to predict climate change, but until now it has been difficult to directly measure the ...

Mon, 18 May 09
Short-Term Air Pollution Exposure May Damage DNA
http://news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20090517/hl_hsn/shorttermairpollutionexposuremaydamagedna
HealthDay: Breathing polluted air for even a short period of time can cause some genes to undergo reprogramming, which may affect a person's risk of developing cancer and other diseases, say Italian researchers. Comparisons of blood DNA samples from healthy workers who were exposed to high levels of airborne particulates at a foundry near Milan revealed that after only three days of exposure, changes occurred in four genes that have been linked to tumor suppression, according to research ...

Mon, 18 May 09
United Kingdom: Green the new black for car buyers
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/ireland/article6301879.ece
Times (UK): Henry Ford famously sold them in black but Irish car buyers are going for green. More than four out of five cars bought in the past nine months are ranked as among the least polluting in the country. Under changes introduced in July last year, the amount that car owners pay in vehicle registration tax (VRT) and road tax now depends on CO2 ratings instead of engine size. New statistics show that buyers are voting with their wallets and avoiding cars that do not perform well in ...

Mon, 18 May 09
Congress faces battle in latest energy fight
http://www.staugustine.com/stories/051709/nation_051709_053.shtml
MarketWatch: WASHINGTON Congressional Democrats and Republicans are girding for battle this week over how to shape the nation's future energy and environmental policies, as both parties put the final touches on their proposals on climate-change and energy production. The Democrats' energy bill is scheduled to begin to be debated by the House Energy Committee on Monday, with the Republicans offering counterproposals. Democrats, led by Chairman Henry Waxman of California, are seeking to slash ...

Mon, 18 May 09
U.N. natural disaster risk assessment
http://www.reuters.com/article/GCA-GreenBusiness/idUSTRE54G00820090517
Reuters: The United Nations published a landmark report on Sunday about how natural disasters threaten lives and livelihoods around the world. Following are the main findings of that report: DAMAGE FROM LARGE AND SMALL DISASTERS * Since 1975, 23 mega-disasters have killed 1.7 million people, mainly in poor countries. Some 80 percent of disaster-related deaths resulted from just 0.26 percent of recorded events. * Low-intensity damage to housing, local infrastructure, crops ...

Mon, 18 May 09
South Americans hit by dengue fever epidemic
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/americas/story/1052212.html
Miami Herald: While the world continues to be on alert for a potential swine flu pandemic, South Americans have been suffering for months from one of the worst viral epidemics on record. Hundreds of thousands of people have been sickened by dengue fever this year; more than 70 have died. ''This is the largest epidemic in many years,'' said Dr. Eddy Martinez, the director of epidemiology for Bolivia's Ministry of Health in the capital city of La Paz. By mid-April, he said, there had ...

Mon, 18 May 09
UN chief urges action on rising climate change risk
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iDab5DW7MeOuX4sKvoo7AtWG05xw
Agence France-Presse: UN chief Ban Ki-moon called for decisive action to reduce the growing impact of climate change as he launched on Sunday a global assessment of ways to minimise the risks from natural disasters. "Gulf countries have so far been less exposed to disasters but rising sea levels threaten Bahrain, Egypt and Djibouti. Many other Arab countries are stricken by earthquakes and drought," he said at the study's launch in Bahrain. "As a result of global climate change, weather-related ...

Mon, 18 May 09
UN: Growth of slums boosting natural disaster risk
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/world/6427948.html
Associated Press: The rampant growth of urban slums around the world and weather extremes linked to climate change have sharply increased the risks from "megadisasters" such as devastating floods and cyclones, a U.N. report said Sunday. The study -- which examines natural disaster trends and strategies to reduce potential catastrophes -- also noted that millions of people in rural areas are at higher risk from disasters such as landslides where forests have been stripped away or crippling droughts ...

Mon, 18 May 09
Carbon tax plan could increase power bills
http://content.usatoday.net/dist/custom/gci/InsidePage.aspx?cId=courier-journal&sParam=30768995.story
Associated Press: Power costs in Kentucky and Illinois would shoot up under federal carbon tax legislation targeting states heavily dependent on coal-fired electricity. The nation's third-leading coal producer, Kentucky would be the hardest-hit state for dollar increases for cooperative customers. Power companies would incur billions of dollars in added costs and pass those along to consumers. Average monthly bills could go up $27 to $68, based on a projected tax of $20 to $50 per metric ton of ...

Mon, 18 May 09
United States: Lawmakers Consider Statewide Tax on Disposable Shopping Bags
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=127684
New York Times: BANNING plastic bags has become a popular idea in several cities across the country, but some Connecticut lawmakers say their plan to impose a 5-cent tax on all disposable shopping bags not only would help the environment but would also pull in some cash for a state in deep fiscal trouble. Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg of New York has called for a 6-cent "bag tax," following the lead of many European countries that already charge taxes on plastic bags. A similar plan has been proposed in ...

Mon, 18 May 09
2 Studies Tie Disaster Risk to Urban Growth
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=127683
New York Times: A pair of new studies say that more people than ever lie in harm's way from earthquakes, droughts, floods and other disasters, largely because of a surge in urban populations in developing countries. Smaller or poorer countries can be devastated by disasters that are relatively inconsequential in places shielded by size or wealth, said one of the reports, a United Nations study that is being released Sunday in Bahrain. That study, the Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk ...

Mon, 18 May 09
Australia to build world's largest solar energy plant: PM
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE54G0C820090517?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Australia plans to build the world's largest solar power station with an output of 1000 megawatts in a A$1.4 billion (US$1.05 billion) investment, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said on Sunday. The plant would have three times the generating capacity of the current biggest solar-powered electricity plant, which is in California, Rudd said during a tour of a power station. Tender details will be announced later in the year, and successful bidders will be named in the first half of ...

Mon, 18 May 09
Brazil moves closer to legitimizing illegal land-grab in the Amazon
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0517-amazon.html
Mongabay: Brazil moved a step closer to approving a controversial law that would grant land title to 300,000 properties illegally established across some 600,000 square kilometers (230,000 square miles) of protected Amazon forest, reports AFP. The move may improve governance in otherwise lawless areas, but could carry a steep environmental cost without safeguards. Under the bill, which passed Brazil's Chamber of Deputies Thursday and is now headed to the Senate, a claimant could gain title for ...

Mon, 18 May 09
United States: Good news, bad news for biofuels
http://www.iowafarmer.com/articles/2009/05/14/top_stories/biofuels.txt
Iowa Farmer: This past week`s news from the Obama administration to the biofuels industry was, in the words of one expert, a mixed bag. The good news was the administration announced on May 5 the formation of a new Biofuels Interagency Working Group headed by USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack. Vilsack said he would speed investment to the industry. The bad news was the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) also filed a notice of proposed rulemaking regarding the Renewable Fuels Standard ...

Mon, 18 May 09
Water Wars Strike Ahead of Predictions
http://ecoworldly.com/2009/05/16/water-wars-strike-ahead-of-predictions/
EcoWordly: Rainfall patterns altered by climate change and worsened only by inequity in the water distribution system has led to a water crisis in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. This has further led to a spurt in water related violence and in conflicts so shocking, we thought were predicted to take place only in the next 50 years. The local incident mentioned in the news report above was one among many where a mob of about six people killed a family for illegally drawing water from the ...

Mon, 18 May 09
Environmentalists Attack House Global Warming Deal
http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1898896,00.html
Time Magazine: With the greenest lawmakers in charge and the President cheering them on, the prospects of sweeping controls on greenhouse gases seemed rosy. After a month of fighting among themselves, however, House Democrats announced an agreement Thursday that reflects more about the legislative process than the need to stop the planet from heating up. (See pictures of the effects of climate change.) The announcement indicates that sponsors have enough Democratic votes to push a bill past its ...

Mon, 18 May 09
United States: San Francisco Moves Ahead with Plans to Build 5MW Solar Farm
http://www.reuters.com/article/gwmEnergy/idUS422320355420090516
GreenBiz: San Francisco took a major step today toward building California's largest solar photovoltaic system -- a plan that would more than triple the city's solar energy output by carpeting the rooftop of its biggest reservoir with almost 25,000 panels. Recurrent Energy, a San Francisco firm, will install and operate the 5 megawatt array atop the reservoir, an area roughly the size of 12 football fields. Standing atop the Sunset Reservoir -- so named because it lies in the city's ...

Mon, 18 May 09
Asia's valuable coral reefs will be gone forever by the end of this century
http://www.asiantribune.com/?q=node/17619
Asian Tribune: The International Environment Organization states that by the end of this century the valuable coral reefs in Asia will be gone forever. The world has already lost over 40 per cent of the famous coral reefs around the Komodo islands of Indonesia. More than 75 per cent of all the coral reefs in the world exist around Indonesia. The main reason for the dwindling and extinction of coral reefs is due to climatic changes and due to man's destructive actions. Coral reefs are the most ...

Mon, 18 May 09
United Kingdom: Caroline Lucas: There's light at the end of the tunne
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/caroline-lucas-theres-light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel-1686291.html
Independent: To find Dr Caroline Lucas, the first-ever official leader of the Green Party, you catch an environmentally friendly train or Tube to London Bridge station, and then take a carbon-neutral walk for the couple of hundred yards to the old Hop Exchange on Southwark Street. Close up, from the pavement, the listed building seems past its best. But stepping through its iron gates reveals a breathtaking atrium of white walls, curved windows and green iron galleries, with a glass roof above the ...

Mon, 18 May 09
United Kingdom: Which ministry is least green? The one that runs climate change
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/may/17/energy-efficiency-government-buildings-carbon
Guardian: One in three government buildings has the lowest possible rating for energy efficiency, according to official figures seen by the Observer, which show the Department for Energy and Climate Change is one of the worst offenders. The dire state of the public estate, which includes government offices, laboratories and museums, will make uncomfortable reading for the department's secretary of state Ed Miliband. He recently announced ambitious plans to cut the energy use of UK buildings as ...

Mon, 18 May 09
Report says climate change threatens millions who live off sea
http://www.princegeorgecitizen.com/20090516191694/wire/world-news/report-says-climate-change-threatens-millions-who-live-off-sea.html
Associated Press: Around 100 million people risk losing their homes and livelihoods unless drastic steps are taken to protect Southeast Asia's coral reefs, which could be wiped out in coming decades because of climate change, a report said Wednesday. The Coral Triangle - which spans Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and East Timor - accounts for a third of the world's coral reefs and 35 per cent of coral reef fish species. If carbon emissions are not cut ...

Mon, 18 May 09
United Kingdom: Government's biomass cash bonanza brings in waste from around the world
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/related_reports/best_green_companies/article6300783.ece
Times (UK): THE government's crusade against climate change could turn Britain into the biggest dump for environmental flotsam in Europe. Last month the energy department imposed a new regime that awards generous subsidies to companies that produce power using biomass -- plant and organic waste -- instead of coal or gas, leading to a rush of proposed new biomass plants across the country. Every megawatt produced at a biomass station will get 1.5 renewable obligation certificates (ROCs), which can ...

Mon, 18 May 09
British explorers cut short trek to North Pole
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/8511330
Associated Press: British explorers in northern Canada to measure the thickness of floating Arctic sea ice ended their expedition short of reaching the North Pole due to an early summer ice melt, the team said Thursday. Explorers Pen Hadow, Ann Daniel and photographer Martin Hartley had planned a three-month journey to the North Pole, but ended their arduous trek Wednesday, approximately 304 miles (490 kilometers) from their destination, said Hadow. The trio stopped after 73 days, during which ...

Mon, 18 May 09
Is wind the next ethanol?
http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/may/17/is-wind-the-next-ethanol/
Washington Times: Repeating past mistakes has long been a part of Washington's energy policy, but Congress used to wait a while before making the same blunder again. Not anymore. New legislation requiring wind energy closely resembles the ethanol mandate that sparked a backlash just last year. For many years, wind has benefited from generous tax credits and subsidies, but it still provides less than 2 percent of the nation's electricity. By comparison, coal supplies around 50 percent (and with ...

Mon, 18 May 09
Disaster risk increasing, says UN
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8054041.stm
BBC: The risk of disaster worldwide is increasing, says a new UN report. Climate change, environmental degradation and badly planned urban development more likely to affect populations around the world. The report warns that millions of lives are in jeopardy because proper risk assessment is rarely carried out, particularly in developing countries. The UN says money spent on risk reduction is a cost-effective way to reduce deaths and injuries. The Asian tsunami of ...

Sun, 17 May 09
Emerging economies face acute disaster risks - UN
http://www.reuters.com/article/americasCrisis/idUSLD310640
Reuters: Natural disasters threaten to trigger widespread damage and distress in emerging economies, many of which are already on the brink because of the global recession, a United Nations body said on Sunday. There are 1 billion people living in hazard-prone slums and shantytowns in developing countries, many of which overlooked safety standards in recent years of red-hot growth, according to the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction. Crammed settlements with poor drainage ...

Sun, 17 May 09
Malaysia: Threat posed to economy by climate change
http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Sunday/National/2558884/Article/index_html
Bernama: Climate change will shrink the global economy by 20 per cent, according to the Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers (FMM). Taking action to mitigate and adapt to its effects was at an estimated staggering cost of about one per cent of global gross domestic product (GDP), FMM said in a statement yesterday. FMM said the role that business should play in addressing climate change needed to be discussed as the private sector was seen as the critical provider of cost-effective ...

Sun, 17 May 09
Australia joins renewable energy agency
http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/australia-joins-renewable-energy-agency-20090517-b73n.html
AAP: Australia has joined a new organisation that aims to speed up the global renewable industry. More than 80 countries have already joined the International Renewable Energy Agency, established in January this year. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said participating in the agency will strengthen Australia's role as a global leader in tackling climate change. "This underlines Australia's commitment to tackling climate change by taking a global leadership role in reducing carbon ...

Sun, 17 May 09
Young activist tackles old guard on climate change
http://www.jsonline.com/business/45192267.html
Diana Marrero: Jessy Tolkan has squared off against Pat Buchanan on MSNBC's "Hardball with Chris Matthews." She counts the oil and coal industries among her fiercest adversaries. But she never imagined that she would one day take on her father in her battle against climate change. The 28-year-old daughter of a Milwaukee auto dealer has emerged over the past few years as one of the leading young voices in the country on clean energy issues. Tolkan, who grew up in Glendale, is part of a growing ...

Sun, 17 May 09
United Kingdom: Got any rubbish? Price of recyclable waste recovers
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/got-any-rubbish-price-of-recyclable-waste-recovers-1686272.html
Independent (UK): As an investment tip it is unlikely to inspire a rush: put your money in rubbish. Nevertheless, new figures reveal that the price of recyclable waste has doubled in the past six months. The news will provide a boost to Britain's flagging recycling movement, and go some way towards reversing the gloom over mountains of glass bottles and newspapers piling up across Britain after the drop last year in the value of recyclables. It will also be a welcome change for UK waste ...

Sun, 17 May 09
Explorer Hadow returns after months on thin ice
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/explorer-hadow-returns-after-months-on-thin-ice-1686160.html
Independent (UK): Pen Hadow is used, figuratively, to living on thin ice. The explorer -- the first person ever to trek alone and unaided to the North Pole -- habitually pushes himself far beyond the limits of normal human endurance. But for the past two and a half months he has been on it literally as well. He and two colleagues -- Ann Daniels and Martin Hartley -- have been out on the Arctic ice cap in temperatures down to minus 90C, measuring its thickness and finding far less of it beneath their ...

Sun, 17 May 09
Obama's Climate Plans Spark Lobbying Boom by Shell, Boeing, 3M
http://news.yahoo.com/s/bloomberg/20090516/pl_bloomberg/a8d891g0hrk
Bloomberg: President Barack Obama's push for a climate-change law this year has set off a lobbying boom on Capitol Hill, where companies are registering to weigh in at a rate of about one every business day. Representative Henry Waxman, the California Democrat crafting legislation in the House, and other lawmakers said they haven't seen this much intensity since 1993, when the pharmaceutical companies and insurers lined up to combat President Bill Clinton's proposal, championed by his wife, ...

Sun, 17 May 09
From a Theory to a Consensus on Emissions
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=127652
New York Times: As Congress weighs imposing a mandatory limit on climate-altering gases – an outcome still far from certain – it is likely to turn to a system that sets a government ceiling on total emissions and allows polluting industries to buy and sell permits to meet it. That approach, known as cap and trade, has been embraced by President Obama, Democratic leaders in Congress, mainstream environmental groups and a growing number of business interests, including energy-consuming industries like ...

Sun, 17 May 09
Japan: Public divided over choices for 2020 emissions target
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20090516TDY03105.htm
Yomiuri Shimbun: Government efforts to canvas public opinion on the appropriate midterm target for the nation's efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 have revealed deep divisions on how to tackle the problem, it has been learned. As of Thursday, the government had collected about 6,000 opinions from members of the public on how to tackle global warming. The government has presented six options for the target, ranging from a 4 percent increase to a 25 percent decrease compared with ...

Sun, 17 May 09
Japan power firms pay $1 billion for CO2 credits in 08/09
http://planetark.org/enviro-news/item/52898
Reuters: Japan's power firms paid a combined 100.1 billion yen, or $1 billion, for carbon credits in the year that ended on March 31, their annual earnings reports showed, giving investors a rare glimpse into how much utilities are spending to offset their own carbon emissions. The sector is one of the biggest buyers of carbon credits from abroad and is expected to buy more as it struggles to meet its voluntarily set targets, which were based on a model in which its carbon-free nuclear plants ...

Sun, 17 May 09
Dire stats on climate don't quell Gore's hope
http://www.wbir.com/news/green/story.aspx?storyid=87714&catid=137
Tennessean: Emissions from fossil fuels are rising faster than projected, former Vice President Al Gore told hundreds gathered Thursday night for The Climate Project's North American Summit in Nashville. "Temperatures are rising more rapidly," he said. "The ice is melting more rapidly." Still, he said at the kickoff event of the three-day gathering, hope looms large. A bill in Congress, expected to come out of committee soon, would be effective in reducing emissions in this country, ...

Sun, 17 May 09
Most voters support the fight against global warming
http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/energy/2009/05/15/most-voters-support-the-fight-against-global-warming.html
U.S. News and World Report: As House Democratic leaders try to cobble together a coalition on climate change legislation, a poll released this week suggests that most voters support their general efforts. The poll, conducted by the Mellman Group, a Democratic firm, and released by the Pew Environmental Group, finds that 77 percent of voters favor action "to reduce global warming emissions" and that only 22 percent of voters say they would view members of Congress less favorably "if they support a comprehensive ...

Sun, 17 May 09
Indonesia: Sea increasingly hostile to Marunda fishermen
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2009/05/16/sea-increasingly-hostile-marunda-fishermen.html
Jakarta Post: Fishermen in the Marunda coastal area of North Jakarta are struggling to make ends meet as they have to cope with the impact of toxic waste and climate change. The fishermen bemoan their decreasing income as they can only catch fish several times a week. "We used to catch tens of kilograms of fish and sometimes up to one hundred kilograms at once, which was enough to sustain our needs and earn a decent income. But now, we can no longer catch this amount of fish," said Tiarom, a ...

Sun, 17 May 09
Illegal fishing, climate change real threats
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2009/05/16/illegal-fishing-climate-change-real-threats.html
Jakarta Post: Heads of states of the six coral triangle countries expressed concern Friday over depleting marine and coastal resources caused by overfishing and illegal fishing, coupled with pollution and human-induced climate change. Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said "unfriendly" fishing and shaky coastal management had depleted coastal and pelagic fish stocks in parts of the coral triangle area. "It has caused massive losses of mangrove forests and vast degradation of ...

Sun, 17 May 09
Norway stalls Kaarstoe CO2 capture project
http://www.reuters.com/article/GCA-GreenBusiness/idUSTRE54E3UV20090515
Reuters: Norway stalled a project to build a carbon capture facility in Kaarstoe on Friday because of uncertainty over electricity production levels and CO2 emissions at the accompanying power plant, developer Gassnova said. The 425 MW Kaarstoe plant, Norway's first commercial power station fueled by natural gas, has been idle for much of the past year due to an unfavorable relationship between the price of gas and electricity. "There is a big debate about building a CCS (carbon capture ...

Sun, 17 May 09
Renewables push a gold mine for demand-response middlemen
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=127640
Greenwire: On a February night in 2008, the wind died in the usually blustery Texas Panhandle, and a forest of wind turbines there stopped whirring. Power plunged, going from 1,700 megawatts to 300 megawatts in minutes, threatening a statewide blackout. Alarmed, grid operators rushed to protect the electricity delivery system. Within minutes, electricity going to some major industrial customers was reduced dramatically. Plant lights were dimmed, air-handling systems and refrigerators shut down, ...

Sun, 17 May 09
Australia: Coal down under
http://www.loe.org/shows/segments.htm?programID=09-P13-00020&segmentID=3
Living on Earth: YOUNG: Just ahead, finding the right hook for anglers-- with country music. Keep listening to Living on Earth. YOUNG: It's Living on Earth, I'm Jeff Young. CURWOOD: And I'm Steve Curwood. Some of Australia's most prominent climate scientists have written a letter to the country's coal industry with a simple message: get out of the coal business. Professor David Karoly of Melbourne University helped write the open letter and he's on the line. Professor ...

Sun, 17 May 09
United States: Judge blocks Wal-Mart's supercenter proposal for Yucca Valley
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-wal-mart16-2009may16,0,7646985.story
LA Times: A San Bernardino County Superior Court judge has rebuffed Wal-Mart's plan for a supercenter in the desert town of Yucca Valley, partly on the grounds that the giant retailer failed to take measures to reduce its impact on global warming. Environmentalists had been pressuring Wal-Mart to install solar panels to provide electricity for its proposed 184,000-square-foot store. But the retailer contended that the estimated 7,000 metric tons per year of planet-heating greenhouse gases that ...

Sun, 17 May 09
Department of Energy narrows list of projects for nuclear loan help
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jPKRdG1M4Dbw2iuD7_4Io9zEE5oQD9870SH80
Associated Press: The Energy Department has narrowed its list of the most likely recipients of $18.5 billion in government loan guarantees for building the first new nuclear power plants. The department recently informed four companies planning new reactors in Maryland, Georgia, South Carolina and Texas that their applications have been elevated for closer scrutiny, department and industry officials said Friday. Energy Department spokeswoman Stephanie Mueller said the applications were singled ...

Sun, 17 May 09
New study halves the rise in sea level due to global warming
http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1256302
Press Trust of India: A new study has halved longstanding projections that estimated a raise of 20 feet in sea levels if Antarctica's massive western ice sheets fully disintegrates as a result of global warming. The flow of ice into the sea would probably raise sea levels about 10 feet rather than 20 feet, the New York Times reported quoting an analysis published in the Journal Science. Scientists also predicted that seas would rise unevenly, with an additional 1.5-foot increase in levels along the ...

Sun, 17 May 09
Why green-power premiums may fade
http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0515/p30s01-wmgn.html
Christian Science Monitor: For the past decade, power customers eager to wean the United States off fossil fuels could do something about it: Pay a few extra dollars to bring energy from wind, cow dung, and other renewable sources to the grid. Now these pioneers are at risk of getting swallowed up by a stampede of government green-energy programs. At least 29 states have mandated standards requiring utilities to bring more renewable energy on line. Congress is considering federal standards, too. So utilities ...

Sun, 17 May 09
Refiners would get a break in climate change bill
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/energy/6426484.html
Houston Chronicle: Climate change legislation moving through Congress would give refiners free permits to emit greenhouse gases under a compromise engineered by a Texas Democrat whose Houston district includes many petrochemical plants. Rep. Gene Green led the push for refiners along with Democratic Rep. Charlie Gonzalez, who represents San Antonio -- home to the corporate headquarters of refiners Valero Energy and Tesoro Corp. The two lawmakers got the deal added to a climate change bill agreed ...

Sun, 17 May 09
Poor nations to suffer severe disease strains
http://www.africanews.com/site/Poor_nations_to_suffer_severe_disease_strains/list_messages/24837
Africa News: The world's poorest nations are unprepared for the strain climate change will put on their public health systems, according to studies by the International Institute for Environment and Development and partners. This come ahead of a major summit of health ministers from Commonwealth nations in Geneva.The findings show that in the most vulnerable countries very little has been done to assess or address the threats climate change poses to health. Saleemul Huq, senior fellow in IIED`s ...

Sun, 17 May 09
Environmental campaigners to cycle around the world
http://www.edie.net/news/news_story.asp?id=16447
Edie: Three environmental campaigners have set off on a round-the-world bicycle trip to show the potential of solar power in the fight against climate change. Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, saw them off from outside City Hall on Friday (15 May) as they set off towards the coast on the first leg of a nine month journey. The three Susie Wheeldon, Jamie Vining and Iain Henderson will be equipped on their expedition with a set of custom built thin-film PV solar panels on their ...

Sun, 17 May 09
Waxman-Markey Climate Change Bill Advances
http://www.climatebiz.com/news/2009/05/15/waxman-markey-climate-change-bill-advances
ClimateBiz: WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Reps. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and Edward Markey (D-Mass.) formally introduced the latest version of the American Clean Energy and Security Act (PDF) today, paving the way for the bill to move toward the markup stage Monday. The congressmen hope to have the bill ready for a full House vote by the end of next week. The bill aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020 and would give away up to 85 percent of the pollution permits in ...

Sun, 17 May 09
Climate Change is a Challenge And an Opportunity
http://allafrica.com/stories/200905150428.html
New Times: Climate change is here, it is real and it has to be urgently dealt with. African and European institutions should work together to take advantage of the existing and emerging opportunities to counter the threat posed by this global public danger. There is a fundamental unfairness implicit in climate change. The poorest and most vulnerable countries, groups and people, who are the least to blame for the steep increase in emissions of green house gases, are at the same time the most ...

Sun, 17 May 09
U.S. reauthorizes funding for rainforest conservation
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0517-tfca.html
Mongabay: The Senate Foreign Relations Committee last week unanimously passed the Tropical Forest and Coral Conservation Reauthorization Act of 2009 (S. 345) introduced by Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry (D-MA) and Ranking Member Senator Dick Lugar (R-IN). The bill would provide up to $115 million in debt relief to tropical countries in exchange for commitments to conserve forests and coral reefs. "Deforestation is a significant driver of global climate change, and we ...

Sun, 17 May 09
Land clearances turned up the heat on Australian climate
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20227084.700-land-clearances-turned-up-the-heat-on-australian-climate.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=climate-change
New Scientist: DEFORESTATION by European settlers may be to blame for making Australia's drought longer, hotter and dryer than it would be otherwise. The "big dry", Australia's 11-year drought, has been blamed on greenhouse gases and natural variability. To see if deforestation played a part, Clive McAlpine of the University of Queensland in Brisbane and colleagues used a climate model to simulate Australian conditions from the 1950s to 2003. They then compared the impact of today's fragmented ...

Sun, 17 May 09
House climate bill aims to minimize price rise
http://www.reuters.com/article/GCA-GreenBusiness/idUSTRE54E44X20090515
Reuters: Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives have negotiated a climate change bill that would give industries most of the pollution emission permits they would need, according to documents obtained on Friday. President Barack Obama has made passage of a bill a top priority and wants demonstrable progress by December, in time for a U.N. climate change meeting at which nearly 200 countries plan to form a pact to succeed the Kyoto Protocol. In an attempt to ensure enough ...

Sun, 17 May 09
Can China go green?
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/09_21/b4132040805185.htm
Business Week: China's unprecedented growth in recent years has come at a terrible price. Two-thirds of its rivers and lakes are too polluted for industrial use, let alone agriculture or drinking. Just 1 in 100 of China's nearly 600 million city dwellers breathes air that would be considered safe in Europe. At a time when arable land is in short supply, poisoned floodwaters have ruined many productive fields. And last year, ahead of most forecasts, China passed the U.S. to become the world's largest source ...

Sun, 17 May 09
450: GOP aims to lard climate bill
http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20090515/pl_politico/22583
Politico: Republicans in the House Energy and Commerce committee are considering introducing about 450 amendments during the mark-up of climate change legislation next week, according to a working list obtained by POLITICO. Many of the potential amendments would lower the environmental standards set forth in the bill, or could make it more difficult for Democrats to vote to support it. The committee is scheduled to spend all next week marking-up the climate and energy bill sponsored by Reps. ...

Sun, 17 May 09
Peru protests over Amazon developments intensify
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE54E6AK20090515?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Protesters angry over oil and natural gas developments in Peru's resource-rich Amazon vowed on Friday to defy the government and step up demonstrations that have disrupted operations at energy companies. A private-sector source told Reuters that as many as 41 vessels serving energy companies are stuck along jungle rivers, unable to move because of the protests. Dozens of local and foreign energy companies operate in Peru's Amazon rain forest region, including Argentina's ...

Sat, 16 May 09
Democratic Climate Plan Initially Gives Away Most CO2 Permits
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aTIPwGtad1Kc&refer=home
Bloomberg: House Democrats writing a bill to cut U.S. greenhouse gases unveiled their formula for handing out the carbon dioxide permits created by a "cap-and-trade" program, with some sectors of the economy receiving many more than others. All told, 85 percent of the cap-and-trade permits would be given away in the early years of a proposed climate-change program that House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, a California Democrat, wants his panel to pass next week. The ...

Sat, 16 May 09
Collision course: China as the world's empire of carbon
http://www.sltrib.com/opinion/ci_12380691
Salt Lake Tribune: These should be hopeful times for environmentalists. Junk science no longer rules in Washington. President Barack Obama has spoken forcefully about the need to take action on climate change; the people I talk to are increasingly optimistic that Congress will soon establish a cap-and-trade system that limits emissions of greenhouse gases, with the limits growing steadily tighter over time. And once America acts we can expect much of the world to follow our lead. But that still leaves ...

Sat, 16 May 09
Warming Climate Is Affecting Cascades Snowpack In Pacific Northwest
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/05/090512153335.htm
ScienceDaily: There has been sharp disagreement in recent years about how much, or even whether, winter snowpack has declined in the Cascade Mountains of Washington and Oregon during the last half-century. But new research leaves little doubt that a warmer climate has a significant effect on the snowpack, as measured by water content on April 1, even if other factors keep year-to-year measurements close to normal for a period of years. Water content can vary greatly depending on temperature ...

Sat, 16 May 09
Dems' climate bill shy on tax credit help
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5h5iS14YOIUrpdmPuNylwKcVpSnmAD9870PM00
Associated Press: The House Democrats' bill to limit gases blamed for global warming would generate a fraction of the money President Barack Obama wanted to get from it to pay for a middle-class tax credit. Leaders of the House Energy Committee officially introduced the 932-page legislation on Friday, revealing critical details in advance of the panel taking a vote on the measure by the end of next week. The bill -- the American Clean Energy and Security Act -- would for the first time mandate ...

Sat, 16 May 09
United States: Calif. biologists must reconsider protecting pika
http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_12381592
Associated Press: A San Francisco Superior Court judge says state biologists must reconsider whether the mountain-dwelling American pika should be protected under the California Endangered Species Act. Researchers have found shrinking populations of pika, a relative of the rabbit, in the Sierra Nevada range, as well as in Nevada and Utah. They say global warming is the main cause. Judge Peter Busch says the California Fish and Game Commission used the wrong legal standard when they rejected the ...

Sat, 16 May 09
Australia: Climate rally blocks Sydney CBD traffic
http://news.brisbanetimes.com.au/breaking-news-national/climate-rally-blocks-sydney-cbd-traffic-20090516-b6hv.html
AAP: Some 200 climate change activists have rallied in central Sydney to protest against the government's emissions trading scheme (ETS), blocking traffic as they marched through CBD streets calling for tougher action. Traffic was blocked as the protesters marched down George and Liverpool streets before rallying outside the Labor Party headquarters on Sussex Street on Saturday morning. The federal government has delayed the introduction of the scheme for 12 months until mid-2011, ...

Sat, 16 May 09
Climate Bill Seeks a Broad Coalition
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/15/AR2009051503367.html?hpid=topnews
Washington Post: The congressional trek toward climate legislation inched forward yesterday as the House Energy and Commerce Committee released a 932-page bill chock-full of allowances and provisions designed to bring together a coalition of lawmakers, industries and environmental groups behind the regulation of greenhouse gases. The bill was hailed by a diverse group including some of the country's biggest utilities and industries, a huge chunk of the environmental movement and leading Democrats, who ...

Sat, 16 May 09
US cap and trade plans risk European mistakes
http://www.forexpros.com/news/commodities---futures-news/analysis-u.s.-cap-and-trade-plans-risk-european-mistakes-55083
Reuters: Plans by the United States to tackle climate change through a cap and trade scheme must learn from the mistakes of Europe if they are to avoid giving away multi-billion-dollar windfalls to industry. American lawmakers are at the first stage of drafting a cap and trade scheme, in a larger climate bill which could transform how the United States produces its energy and boost the chances of agreeing a new ambitious global pact to fight climate change. Fierce lobbying by industries ...

Sat, 16 May 09
United States: San Francisco mayor signs deal for huge municipal solar project
http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_12379817
San Jose Mercury New: Amid a fog-shrouded Sunset District this morning, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom signed an ordinance for the state's largest municipal solar project atop the city's largest reservoir. The ambitious five-megawatt photovoltaic installation on the roof of the Sunset Reservoir, a partnership with San Francisco-based Recurrent Energy, was not without its critics, including some supervisors who said they favored entirely public power and worried the city wasn't getting a good enough ...

Sat, 16 May 09
House bill seeks to regulate climate change trading
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE54E5NA20090515
Reuters: The U.S. regulator that oversees futures markets, such as the New York Mercantile Exchange, would also have jurisdiction over the trading of new derivative contracts based on carbon emissions, under a new bill introduced in the House of Representatives. The bill, sponsored by Representative Bart Stupak, comes as the House Energy and Commerce Committee aims to pass next week separate legislation that would cut U.S. carbon emissions linked to global warming and require companies to have ...

Sat, 16 May 09
US lawmakers formally unveil climate change bill
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090515/pl_afp/usclimateenergypoliticscongress
Agence France-Presse: Democrats in the US House of Representatives on Friday formally unveiled sweeping legislation to fight climate change and said the 932-page bill enjoyed broad national support. The House Energy and Commerce Committee will take up the measure on Monday and have legislation ready for a full House vote by the end of next week, the panel's chairman, Democratic Representative Henry Waxman, said in a statement. "The American Clean Energy and Security Act" is expected to run headlong ...

Sat, 16 May 09
Waxman Bill Climate Change Legislation Fails to Impose Necessary Reductions
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/press/releases/waxman-bill-climate-change-leg
Greenpeace: In response to the climate and energy legislation released today by the Energy and Commerce Committee, Greenpeace USA Executive Director Phil Radford issued the following statement: "Despite the best efforts of Chairman Waxman, this bill has been seriously undermined by the lobbying of industries more concerned with profits than the plight of our planet. "While science clearly tells us that only dramatic action can prevent global warming and its catastrophic impacts, this bill has ...

Sat, 16 May 09
Norway group tables parliament vote on oil sands
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE54E5GW20090515?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters:

Sat, 16 May 09
NY wants to install 100 MW of solar power
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE54E5I920090515?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: New York wants to install up to 100 megawatts of solar photovoltaic power at public and private facilities to help meet the state's aggressive renewable mandate, the governor said in a release Friday. Specifically, the state-owned power generating company, the New York Power Authority (NYPA), will seek parties interested in entering into public-private partnerships with the state to install the solar arrays. The solar power generated by the arrays would power about 15,000 ...

Sat, 16 May 09
Biofuels Battle: House, Senate Bills Push Back Against New Ethanol Rules
http://blogs.wsj.com/environmentalcapital/2009/05/15/biofuels-battle-house-senate-bills-push-back-against-new-ethanol-rules/
Wall Street Journal: Biofuel defenders are howling about the Obama administration's new environmental standards, announced earlier this month and which are meant to take into account the "indirect" environmental effects of growing more crops for fuel. This week, as Tom Philpott at Grist notes, legislation was introduced in the House to roll back the Environmental Protection Agency's new remit to hold ethanol (and all biofuels) responsible for all their greenhouse-gas emissions. The thing is, ...

Sat, 16 May 09
ExxonMobil Faces Growing Dissent in the Ranks
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=46872
Inter Press Service: After years of boycotts and protests, the pressure on the world's largest oil company to change its practices might soon be coming from the mutual funds that invest in it, some shareholders hope. ExxonMobil shareholders will have the opportunity to collectively pressure their mutual funds to vote for resolutions in favour of an independent board chair and a greater emphasis on renewable energy and climate issues within the company. It is part of a broader movement where ...

Sat, 16 May 09
Dialogue yields no easy answers on climate change legislation
http://www.charlestonbusiness.com/news/27710-dialogue-yields-no-easy-answers-on-climate-change-legislation
Charleston Regional Business: While congressional leaders were working out a compromise on climate change legislation Thursday in Washington, D.C., debate was tempered during a half-day mini conference in downtown Charleston on the same topic. Environmental and citizens groups made statements, asked questions and challenged some assertions made by climate researchers during the four-hour forum; but, in the end, no one seemed to have any solid answers on how the pending legislation would actually affect the ...

Sat, 16 May 09
Climate change may be century's greatest health threat
http://www.scidev.net/en/climate-change-and-energy/climate-change-may-be-century-s-greatest-health-th.html?utm_source=link&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=en_climatechangeandenergy
SciDev.Net: Countries in the developing world lack essential information about their vulnerability to climate change and must develop their own strategies to tackle the consequences of a warmer world, health researchers have urged. Their conclusions form part of a collaborative report on the effects of climate change on health from The Lancet medical journal and the UK-based University College London, published this week (14 May). The report outlines the main threats to health from climate ...

Sat, 16 May 09
Draft U.N. climate texts mark step towards treaty
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE54E3NJ20090515?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: The United Nations took a step toward a new climate treaty on Friday by publishing the first draft negotiating texts outlining widely varying options for rich nations to cut greenhouse gas emissions. Two documents totaling 68 pages also laid out choices on controversial issues such as nuclear power, emissions trading, forests, shipping or aviation in a new U.N. global warming pact due to be agreed in Copenhagen in December. "Key U.N. negotiating texts, which will form the basis ...

Sat, 16 May 09
China to focus on energy efficiency post-Kyoto: state media
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090515/wl_asia_afp/chinaenergyclimatewarming
Agence France-Presse: China may pledge to improve its energy efficiency by a wide margin in the post-Kyoto years rather than commit to direct cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, state media said Friday. This will be the energy-guzzling Asian giant's main contribution to world efforts to curb greenhouse gases from 2013 to 2020 under a new pact currently being negotiated to replace the Kyoto Protocol, the China Daily reported. "China will probably promise to achieve the same energy-saving target as it ...

Sat, 16 May 09
DOE chief announces billions for clean coal
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090515/ap_on_bi_ge/us_chu_coal
Associated Press: Energy Secretary Steven Chu says he will provide $2.4 billion from the economic recovery package to speed up development of technology to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from power plants and factories that burn coal. Chu told a meeting of the National Coal Council on Friday that it's essential that ways are found to capture carbon dioxide from coal-burning power plants and industrial sources. Carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels is the leading greenhouse gas blamed for global ...

Sat, 16 May 09
U.S. Chamber of Commerce sharpens critique of House climate bill
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=127585
Greenwire: Major climate and energy legislation moving through the House Energy and Commerce Committee would create an expensive, complicated, regulation-heavy system that would not spur developing nations to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce charges in a letter to lawmakers. Even so, the nation's largest business association regards the cap-and-trade plan sponsored by Reps. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and Edward Markey (D-Mass.) as the lesser of two evils. U.S. EPA ...

Sat, 16 May 09
Deep CO2 Cuts May Be Last Hope for Acid Oceans
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=46869
Inter Press Service: Ocean acidification offers the clearest evidence of dangers of climate change. And yet the indisputable fact that burning fossil fuels is slowly turning the oceans into an acid bath has been largely ignored by industrialised countries and their climate treaty negotiators, concluded delegates from 76 countries at the World Oceans Conference in Manado, Indonesia. Oceans and coastal areas must be on the agenda at the crucial climate talks in Copenhagen in December, they wrote in a ...

Sat, 16 May 09
United States: PG&E agrees 1.3GW solar deal
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2242358/utility-agrees-31gw-solar-deal
Business Green: US energy giant Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) has this week signed a new deal with solar firm BrightSource Energy to buy 1.31 GW of solar thermal power. As part of the contract, BrightSource will build and operate seven solar power plants in the California desert that will produce 3,666 gigawatt-hours of power each year, equal to the annual consumption of about 530,000 average homes. California-based PG&E has emerged as one of the leading purchasers of solar energy in ...

Sat, 16 May 09
'Cash For Clunkers' Would Help Car Buyers, Climate
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=104177421&ft=1&f=1025
National Public Radio: Lawmakers on the House Energy Committee are putting the finishing touches on a climate change bill that is exposing rifts among Democrats. But one idea in the bill has support from all sides. "Cash for clunkers" is a voucher plan that helps car owners trade in their old rides for more fuel efficient models.

Sat, 16 May 09
Al Gore: US climate change bill a 'good start'
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5h_91y1_uwRxrAQ0U9YWWvHf1V1ag
Agence France-Presse: A bill to fight climate change currently before the US Congress "is a good start," Nobel laureate and environment champion Al Gore said Friday. With the House Energy and Commerce Committee due to start its formal debate on the bill come Monday, hoping to approve it by week's end and send it to the full House, Gore said the legislation "has now reached the stage that a lot of people thought it never would." Democrats in the House of Representatives, who enjoy a broad majority, ...

Sat, 16 May 09
Climate change: The century's biggest health threat?
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090515.wlclimate15art1631/BNStory/lifeMain/?page=rss&id=RTGAM.20090515.wlclimate15art1631
Globe and Mail: Climate change is usually considered mainly an environmental calamity, with humans largely immune to its devastating effects. But a new report warns that people won't escape unscathed from global warming, which will likely turn out to be the biggest threat to human health this century, causing the spread of diseases, increased malnutrition and other severe medical problems. The assertion that global warming has the potential to become a major health disaster is being made ...

Sat, 16 May 09
Crisis making EU environment accord harder: Sweden
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE54E2WF20090515?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: The financial crisis has made it harder for the EU to agree on an internal target for cutting greenhouse gas emissions as part of a global climate change deal, Sweden's environment minister said on Friday. The Nordic country will take the helm of the European Union in the run-up to December's international climate conference in Copenhagen, which aims to unite the world behind drastic cuts in greenhouse gas emissions to prevent environmental catastrophe. "There is a growing ...

Sat, 16 May 09
Bush team still haunts environmentals
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0509/22545.html
Politico: Environmentalists who see this year as their best hope for a major global warming bill can't seem to escape a familiar foe: former Bush administration officials they fought year after year on energy and climate issues. As the House Energy and Commerce Committee debates its ambitious cap-and-trade bill, environmentalists will find James Connaughton, President George W. Bush's top environmental adviser, advocating for Constellation Energy. Karen Harbert, a top Bush Energy Department ...

Sat, 16 May 09
Key Dem backs Waxman climate bill
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0509/22529.html
Various: The first meeting between Democratic Reps. Ed Markey, Henry Waxman and Rick Boucher lasted five hours, well beyond the two hours the lawmakers scheduled to work on a landmark climate and energy bill. But Waxman and Markey eventually got what they wanted: an emphatic yes from Boucher, a coal country Virginian whose backing is critical for the ambitious global warming measure. The meeting was the culmination of several months of tough negotiations, where Boucher -- who became the ...

Sat, 16 May 09
United States: Senate passes measure to boost development of solar energy plants
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/region/legislature/stories/05/13/0513solar.html
Austin Statesman: A high-profile bill that would expand goals for renewable energy by encouraging the development of solar energy plants to generate electricity was passed Tuesday by the Texas Senate. Approval of the bill came as the Texas Public Utility Commission made public a report that concludes that unless the state moves away from carbon-based power generation, federal greenhouse gas regulations could increase electricity prices by as much as $10 billion a year, or $27 a month for the average ...

Sat, 16 May 09
Sea-level rise half as much as predicted
http://www.smh.com.au/environment/global-warming/sealevel-rise-half-as-much-as-predicted-20090515-b588.html
Sydney Morning Herald: A RAPID collapse of the ice sheet in West Antarctica would raise sea levels by an average of about three metres, half as much as previously thought, a study shows. The effect, however, would still be catastrophic, with a rise of just one metre causing devastation in coastal areas around the globe, scientists said. The West Antarctic ice sheet is considered the most unstable ice sheet in a warming world because much of the bedrock it sits on is below sea level. Loss of ...

Sat, 16 May 09
Global warming bill's coal provisions unclear
http://wvgazette.com/News/200905140811
Charleston Gazette: Members of a key congressional committee are nearing completion of the latest bill to address global warming, but the legislation's impact on the coal industry remains unclear. Supporters of the bill picked up a key vote Thursday, when Rep. Rick Boucher, whose Virginia District includes the state's southwestern coalfields, announced his support. The legislation still contains fairly aggressive requirements for near-term carbon dioxide emissions reductions, and it is not ...

Sat, 16 May 09
Forecast for global sea level rise from Antarctic ice collapse scaled back
http://www.latimes.com/news/science/wire/sns-ap-us-sci-sea-level-rise,1,4597105.story
Associated Press: The global sea level will only rise about 10 feet if the West Antarctic ice sheet collapses. While that may not sound so great to residents of coastal cities like New York or Los Angeles, it's only about half the previously predicted rise. Researchers led by Jonathan L. Bamber of the University of Bristol in Britain report their recalculation of the hazard in Friday's edition of the journal Science. However, they add, the maximum increase is expected along the East and ...

Sat, 16 May 09
Sea rise from Antarctic ice melt overestimated: Study
http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-world/sea-rise-from-antarctic-ice-melt-overestimated-study-20090515-b4zi.html
Agence France-Presse: While a collapse of the West Antarctic ice sheet will have devastating impacts on global sea levels, a study published Thursday found the anticipated impact has been seriously overestimated. Using new measures of the ice sheet's geometry, British and Dutch researchers predict its collapse would cause sea levels to rise by 3.2 meters (11 feet) rather than previous estimates of five to seven meters. However, the study published in the journal Science found that even a one meter ...

Sat, 16 May 09
Australia: Govt mute over boost for coal companies
http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/govt-mute-over-boost-for-coal-companies-20090515-b5es.html
Sydney Morning Herald: The federal government says it has had "constructive" discussions with the coal industry, but won't reveal if it has offered companies more cash to cope with the introduction of emissions trading. Parliamentary Secretary for Climate Change Greg Combet met with the industry's leaders in Canberra on Friday. "It was a very constructive discussion," Mr Combet told AAP. "Most importantly we spent a lot of time on the practical way in which the CPRS (carbon pollution reduction ...

Sat, 16 May 09
Scotland's renewable plans threatened by grid charge
http://news.scotsman.com/scotland/Scotland39s--renewable-plans-threatened.5270487.jp
Scotsman: SCOTLAND'S future as a world leader in renewable energy and clean power is being "seriously imperilled" by plans for a new grid charging regime, experts have warned. The proposals could mean power firms in Scotland paying an extra £100 million a year to transmit electricity through the grid, energy groups say. They say the charges will put off power companies from investing north of the Border, hampering renADVERTISEMENTewables development and jeopardising Scotland's ability to ...

Sat, 16 May 09
Less sea rise expected from possible Antarctic melt
http://features.csmonitor.com/environment/2009/05/14/new-study-less-sea-rise-expected-from-possible-antarctic-melt/
Christian Science Monitor: The ice sheet sitting atop Antarctica is so vast, up to 3 miles (5 km) thick in some places, that it pushes earth's crust thousands of feet down. If all that ice melted, it would raise sea levels globally by an estimated 230 feet (70 meters). No one thinks that Antarctica will thaw completely anytime soon, of course, but scientists are increasingly worried by changes observed in just one area: the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS). Until recently, scientists estimated that if the ...

Sat, 16 May 09
Well project tests storage of carbon dioxide
http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20090515/GREEN01/905150389/It%20s%20a%20test%20for%20carbon%20dioxide%20storage&referrer=FRONTPAGECAROUSEL
Courier-Journal: Drillers have bored nearly 4,000 feet below the green pastures of a Hancock County farm as part of a project that could hold a key to the future of coal in Kentucky. They're about halfway to their goal of 8,300 feet, aiming for rock that's 550 million years old. Next, researchers will inject small amounts of carbon dioxide to test the ability of underground layers to hold the greenhouse gas that many scientists say has become a serious global threat. "We don't have a choice," ...

Sat, 16 May 09
Calif. gov. wants to revive oil drilling project
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090515/ap_on_bi_ge/us_calif_offshore_drilling
Associated Press: Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is pushing legislation that he believes would raise $1.8 billion for cash-strapped California by allowing the first new oil drilling project off the state's coast in 40 years. The governor's proposal would revive a project for the Santa Barbara coast that was rejected by the State Lands Commission in January. This latest fundraising suggestion comes on the heels of other money-making ideas that included selling state-owned properties such as San Quentin ...

Sat, 16 May 09
New Insight Into Decline Of Arctic Sea Ice Cover
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/05/090514083753.htm
ScienceDaily: The mechanical behavior of the Arctic sea ice cover appears to favor its rapid decline. Scientists from INSU-CNRS, Université J. Fourier and Université de Savoie have analyzed the trajectories of drifting buoys anchored in the ice and found that the mean drift rate and deformation rate of Arctic sea ice has strongly increased over the last three decades. These effects, related to the mechanical properties of the cover, contribute to the faster-than-expected decline of Arctic sea ...

Sat, 16 May 09
EU carbon market seizes on signs of economic recovery
http://www.euractiv.com/en/climate-change/eu-carbon-market-seizes-signs-economic-recovery/article-182377?Ref=RSS
EurActiv: The European carbon market, like its peers across energy and commodities, appears to be pinning its hopes on a big-picture economic recovery and ignoring a weak demand outlook closer to home. Background: Since 2005, some 10,000 large industrial plants in the EU have been required to buy and sell permits to release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. This so-called 'emissions trading scheme' (EU ETS; see EurActiv LinksDossier) enables companies that exceed individual CO2 ...

Sat, 16 May 09
In California, Desalination of Seawater as a Test Case
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=127538
New York Times: The vast $320 million desalination plant approved this week by San Diego's regional water authorities is likely to serve as a test case for whether such a large project can meet its goals while safeguarding its Pacific environment. The plant, to be built near Carlsbad, north of San Diego, will be the first large-scale desalination operation on the West Coast and the largest in the hemisphere. "If they build it well and it operates well and the price is right, we will see more," said ...

Sat, 16 May 09
Melting Threat From West Antarctic Ice Sheet May Be Less Than Expected; But U.S. Coastal Cities At Risk
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/05/090514153032.htm
ScienceDaily: While a total or partial collapse of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet as a result of warming would not raise global sea levels as high as some predict, levels on the U.S. seaboards would rise 25 percent more than the global average and threaten cities like New York, Washington, D.C., and San Francisco, according to a new study. Long thought of as the sleeping giant with respect to sea level rise, Antarctica holds about nine times the volume of ice of Greenland. Its western ice sheet, ...

Sat, 16 May 09
World's oceans need protection from climate change
http://www.gmanews.tv/story/161384/Worlds-oceans-need-protection-from-climate-change
Associated Press: Governments discussing the fate of the world's oceans promised Friday to reduce pollution, curb overfishing and protect vulnerable coastal communities from the effects of climate change. The lofty vows were set out in a declaration adopted by government officials from more than 80 countries who gathered this week in Indonesia's northeastern city of Manado. But there were no specifics measures to achieve those goals. Participants at the World Ocean Conference talked about the ...

Sat, 16 May 09
Climate-change measure earmarks $200m for Mass.
http://www.boston.com/news/science/articles/2009/05/15/climate_change_measure_earmarks_200m_for_mass/
Boston Globe: Massachusetts is poised to receive about $200 million in federal money for energy research and efficiency programs under a sweeping climate change bill to be unveiled today, according to one of the measure's chief negotiators. About half of the money would be directed at local energy savings programs now subsidized by the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a 10-state program the Bay State helped form. The new federal cash would effectively replace the $100 million Massachusetts ...

Sat, 16 May 09
Google Ocean shows effects of climate change
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/google-ocean-shows-effects-of-climate-change-1685347.html
Associated Press: The same satellite technology that allows more than 500 million users to view everything from the Grand Canyon to a neighbour's backyard is now helping them glide through the depths of the ocean, track a whale or compare reviews of their favourite dive locations. The developers of Google Ocean - built using visual satellite images, sonar waves bounced off ships and data pooled from scientists and individuals - say it could also help highlight the effects of climate change on the ...

Sat, 16 May 09
Barack Obama's US climate bill seen as a step forward
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/may/14/barack-obama-climate-change-bill
Guardian: The first concrete steps by Congress to fulfil Barack Obama's promise to green America's economy were seen around the world today as a significant step forward, though they remain far short of what scientists say is needed to solve global warming. Democratic leaders in Congress said today they had defied conventional wisdom that they would be unable to persuade representatives from oil and coal, rust belt and southern states to support a bill. The slightly weakened draft now calls ...

Sat, 16 May 09
Canada: Norway stands by as StatoilHydro pushes on with tar sands move
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2242331/norway-stands-statoilhydro
Business Green: The Norwegian government may have secured environmental plaudits for its pledge to become one of the world's first carbon-neutral countries. But that has not stopped it angering green groups this week, after it refused to condemn a Canadian tar sands investment by Norwegian oil firm StatoilHydro, in spite of pleas for it to intervene and use its two-thirds ownership of the firm to block the move. Deputy petroleum and energy minister Robin Kaass told Reuters journalists that it would ...

Sat, 16 May 09
'Make your own ethanol' refineries hit US market
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2242332/own-ethanol-refineries-hit
Business Green: As the debate over ethanol heats up with creation of a federal biofuels working group and a new Renewable Fuel Standard, a Texas company has made it easier for businesses, farms and municipalities to produce their own. The systems could benefit companies who want to use alternative fuels in their fleets, potentially save money and simplify their supply chains, but face challenges with the limited availability of the fuel. Dallas-based Allard Research and Development LLC ...

Sat, 16 May 09
Flat-screen light bulbs switch on
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8048480.stm
BBC: Researchers have demonstrated white, organic light-emitting diode (OLED) sources with the same efficiency as fluorescent light bulbs. The result brings closer the prospect that OLEDs will be the flat-screen light sources of choice in the future. The limited lifetime of the blue-emitting part of the devices means they survive for just hours, but new blue-emitting materials are on the horizon. The results are published in the journal Nature. There has been ...

Sat, 16 May 09
Organic farming needed to fight global heating, advocates say
http://www.gmanews.tv/story/161254/Organic-farming-needed-to-fight-global-heating-advocates-say
GMA News: Shifting to organic farming now would help fight global warming and cushion the impact of climate change by going organic, which substantially will reduce the country's carbon footprint or greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere. Isagani Serrano, acting president of the Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement (PRRM) and convenor of Go Organic! Philippines, said by using less chemical fertilizers in their farms, farmers would actually help reduce greenhouse gas emission, which ...

Sat, 16 May 09
Will BC Premier's win bring the carbon tax back to life?
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20090514.BCELECTIONCLIMATE14ART22282/TPStory/Environment
Globe and Mail: The idea that a carbon tax could be palatable to voters seemed to die with Stéphane Dion's federal campaign last fall, but another Liberal Leader has brought it back to life. Climate-change experts say Gordon Campbell's victory in British Columbia's election Tuesday, which saw his party not only hold ground but also gain a few seats, is a signal voters are so concerned about global warming that they are ready to embrace a carbon tax. Even if it pumps up the price of gas by seven cents ...

Sat, 16 May 09
Climate change and Nigeria's forests
http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/editorial_opinion/article03/indexn2_html?pdate=140509&ptitle=Climate%20change%20and%20Nigeria's%20forests
Guardian: LET me start by setting the scene. 2009 is a crossroads, this year we, as a global community, must decide how we respond to the largest threat currently facing our, and our children's livelihoods. At the end of this year world leaders, including Nigeria, will meet to discuss how the world will tackle this challenge: will the world look at the financial events unfolding, the complexity of the issue, the challenge of financing, and say it's too hard to act and act quickly? Or will we resolve ...

Sat, 16 May 09
Charge your iPod, kill a polar bear?
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Environment/2009/05/14/9455716-ap.html
Associated Press: In a recent report, the Paris-based International Energy Agency estimates new electronic gadgets will triple their energy consumption by 2030 to 1,700 terawatt hours, the equivalent of today's home electricity consumption of the United States and Japan combined. (AP/Joseph Napaaqtuq Sage) PARIS (AP) -- The choice might not be quite that stark, but an energy watchdog is alarmed about the threat to the environment from the soaring electricity needs of gadgets like MP3 players, mobile ...

Sat, 16 May 09
Against the grain of industrial agriculture, truly local bread stages a comeback
http://www.grist.org/article/2009-05-14-local-bread-comeback/
Grist: On a recent vacation to Asheville, North Carolina, I headed to the market to get a loaf of bread. Asheville is home to a large a number of small-scale bakeries, many of which sell primarily at tailgate markets and wholesale to nearby specialty food shops. I found the market shelves stocked with lovely loaves of ciabatta, baguette, marble rye, and challah, but I was most intrigued by a few loaves that I knew at first glance were special. Packaged in brown paper bags with a hand-stamped ...

Sat, 16 May 09
What Does Climate Change Do to Our Heads?
http://www.culturechange.org/cms/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=423&Itemid=63
Culture Change: A small yet growing body of evidence suggests that how people think and feel is being influenced strongly by ecosystem transformation related to climate change and industry-related displacement from the land. These powerful stressors are occurring more frequently around the world. A case in point: When researchers from the Centre for Rural and Remote Mental Health at the University of Newcastle in Australia conducted interviews in drought-affected communities in New South Wales in ...

Sat, 16 May 09
Benchmarking tool to throw light on corporate carbon data
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2242347/benchmarking-tool-throw-light
Business Green: Carbon research firm CO2Benchmark will next week launch a new online carbon benchmarking tool, designed to help businesses and green consultants easily compare the environmental performance of those companies that publicly release carbon data. The tool, which is currently in beta and will be officially launched at the Sustainabilitylive! Show in Birmingham next week, is based on emissions data from 2,500 organisations from 20 countries and allows users to search the data and compare ...

Sat, 16 May 09
Democratic Climate Plan Would Trim CO2 Emissions 17%
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601070&sid=aRHR0WvjOxcE
Bloomberg: Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee agreed on a compromise measure to cut U.S. greenhouse-gas emissions 17 percent by 2020, Chairman Henry Waxman said. The accord, reached yesterday, exceeds the target sought by President Barack Obama. Waxman, a California Democrat who leads the Congressional effort to craft legislation addressing climate change, in March proposed a 20 percent reduction in emissions from 2005 levels. He called the agreed-upon figure "smack in ...

Sat, 16 May 09
Australia Tables Carbon Law, Needs Non-Labor Senators' Support
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601081&sid=aogGEOc69iJ8&refer=australia
Bloomberg: Australia's government introduced into parliament its 600-page draft carbon pollution reduction scheme, needing support from Senators outside the ruling Labor Party to get the legislation passed. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's "government accepts the science on the issue of climate change -- increasing concentrations of carbon pollution in our atmosphere are causing global warming," Parliamentary Secretary for Climate Change Greg Combet told lawmakers in Canberra today. The ...

Sat, 16 May 09
Democrats Reach Deal on Most Climate Plan Provisions
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601070&sid=aVmL0H_bpM6Y
Bloomberg: Democrats on a U.S. House panel said they reached an agreement that will let legislation to limit greenhouse-gas emissions win committee backing next week. Democrats control the House Energy and Commerce Committee by 36-23, so an agreement among party members would allow them to approve the measure over Republican opposition. President Barack Obama has backed a market-based cap, while business groups such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said such a plan would raise energy costs ...

Sat, 16 May 09
Enviros sue EPA over ocean acidification
http://www.seattlepi.com/local/6420ap_wa_impaired_ocean.html?source=mypi
Associated Press: An environmental group is suing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, seeking to have Washington coastal waters listed as impaired because carbon dioxide is making the ocean more acidic. The Center for Biological Diversity said the EPA has failed to consider how ocean acidification is adversely affecting water quality and marine animals. The complaint filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Seattle alleges the EPA violated the federal Clean Water Act by not listing ...

Sat, 16 May 09
Melting ice could cause gravity shift
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/melting-ice-could-cause-gravity-shift-1685201.html
Independent (UK): The melting of one of the world's largest ice sheets would alter the Earth's field of gravity and even its rotation in space so much that it would cause sea levels along some coasts to rise faster than the global average, scientists said yesterday. The rise in sea levels would be highest on the west and east coasts of North America where increases of 25 per cent more than the global average would cause catastrophic flooding in cities such as New York, Washington DC and San ...

Sat, 16 May 09
Ads Target Key Votes on Climate-Change Bill
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124233900613221129.html
Wall Street Journal: Business and environmental groups are flooding the airwaves with advertisements targeting a dozen or so Democrats whose votes are seen as crucial on a controversial climate bill. The outreach is intensifying as House Democratic leaders are gaining confidence that they have the votes needed to move the bill through the House Energy and Commerce Committee as early as next week. On Thursday, a key swing vote on the panel, Rep. Rick Boucher (D., Va.), announced he would support the ...

Sat, 16 May 09
United Kingdom: Government earmarks £29m for green travel city
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2242319/government-earmarks-29m-green
Business Green: The government has this week announced plans to invest up to £29m in England's first "Sustainable Travel City". The money will help to fund improvements to public transport, cycling networks and services for commuters. The move follows the successful completion of three pilot projects in Darlington, Peterborough and Worcester which the government said had helped cut car use by almost 10 per cent over the past five years. Transport minister Paul Clark said the Sustainable Travel ...

Sat, 16 May 09
United Kingdom: Cameron promises to dig deep for geothermal power incentives
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2242318/cameron-promises-dig-deep
Business Green: David Cameron yesterday vowed that a Conservative government would increase financial incentives for geothermal energy projects in the UK, promising to accelerate the rollout of feed-in tariffs for ground source heat pumps and introduce new support for larger-scale deep geothermal plants. Speaking at an event in Cornwall, a region that scientists believe could be suitable for geothermal power plants, Cameron accused the government of failing to provide sufficient support to a sector ...

Sat, 16 May 09
Ice sheet melt threat reassessed
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8050094.stm
BBC: The collapse of a major polar ice sheet will not raise global sea levels as much as previous projections suggest, a team of scientists has calculated. Writing in Science, the researchers said that the demise of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) would result in a sea level rise of 3.3m (10 ft). Previous estimates had forecast a rise in the region of five to six metres. However, they added, the rise would still pose a serious threat to major coastal cities, such as New ...

Sat, 16 May 09
NSF Releases Comprehensive Report on Global Impacts of Climate Change
http://www.usnews.com/articles/science/2009/05/14/nsf-releases-comprehensive-report-on-global-impacts-of-climate-change.html
U.S. News and World Report: The National Science Foundation (NSF) has released a report on global climate change, entitled "Solving the Puzzle: Researching the Impacts of Climate Change around the World," that describes how, over nearly 60 years, NSF-funded researchers have found signs of a changing climate in nearly every corner of the globe, from the icy expanses of Earth's polar regions to its equatorial ecosystems. Climate change research and education has been identified as a Presidential priority area for ...

Fri, 15 May 09
Congress Begins Haggling Over Climate Bill
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=104155967&ft=1&f=1025
National Public Radio: Next Monday members of Congress are scheduled to begin haggling in earnest over a massive piece of climate legislation that would change the way Americans make and use energy. The American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 ran well over 600 pages when it was first offered up by Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) earlier this spring. Waxman chairs the House Energy and Commerce Committee, where the bill has been getting a going-over for weeks. It's headed for a markup Monday where Republicans ...

Fri, 15 May 09
Declaration: Oceans Should Be Included In Kyoto Successor
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1689221/declaration_oceans_should_be_included_in_kyoto_successor/index.html?source=r_science
redOrbit: Representatives from over 70 nations at the World Ocean Conference in Indonesia are asking for oceans to be included on the agenda of global climate change talks aimed at finding a successor to the Kyoto Protocol, The American Free Press reported. Delegates want the issue to be included in crucial climate talks in Copenhagen in December, as an effort to reverse the impact of global warming on the oceans. Cuts in ocean pollution, funding for sustainable development in poor ...

Fri, 15 May 09
Poorest need funds to combat climate change: report
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE54D68020090514?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Poor countries already suffering from the impact of climate change urgently need up to $2 billion to help adjust and cope, a new report submitted to the United Nations said on Thursday. The funds are needed to help the most vulnerable countries, mostly in Africa and small island states, the Stockholm-based Commission on Climate Change and Development (CCCD) said. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told a meeting in New York on the CCCD report that effects such as droughts, ...

Fri, 15 May 09
Desalination plant clears final California hurdle
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE54D6M420090514?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: The biggest seawater desalination plant in the Western Hemisphere, north of San Diego, can begin construction by year's end after a six-year effort to win regulators' approval, the developer said on Thursday. The San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board voted unanimously on Wednesday to approve permit revisions for the $300 million facility, which will produce 50 million gallons of drinking water daily, enough for 110,000 households. That volume represents about 10 ...

Fri, 15 May 09
Donors urged to help poor countries adapt to climate change
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090514/sc_afp/unclimatewarmingdevelopment
Agence France-Presse: Donor countries should raise up to two billion dollars to help vulnerable, poor countries adapt to climate change, according to a report submitted to the United Nations Thursday. "As a first step, we urge donors countries to mobilize one to two billion dollars to assist the vulnerable, low-income countries, which are already suffering from climate impacts," particularly in Africa and small island states, said the final study by the Stockholm-based Commission on Climate Change and ...

Fri, 15 May 09
Ethanol Ruling a Test for Obama Administration
http://news.yahoo.com/s/usnews/20090514/ts_usnews/ethanolrulingatestforobamaadministration
U.S. News and World Report: In his inaugural address, President Obama promised "to restore science to its rightful place." Last week, in arguably one of the toughest tests of that pledge yet, the Environmental Protection Agency proposed new rules for calculating greenhouse gas emissions from ethanol. [Read more about Obama's commitment to science] The underlying question: Does ethanol help or hurt the environment? In 2007, when Congress passed the law that lit up the U.S. biofuel industry by mandating the ...

Fri, 15 May 09
Brazil: Vigil Against Farming Offensive in Amazon
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=46850
Inter Press Service: Celebrities and environmental organisations held a vigil at the Brazilian Congress in an effort to block passage of a bill that they say could cause an even greater "environmental disaster" in the Amazon jungle. The vigil, which began Wednesday and ended Thursday morning, was held inside the Senate chamber in Brasilia, the capital. Organised by the Movimento Amazônia Para Sempre (Amazonia Forever Movement), it was led by actress Christiane Torloni and other actors like Victor Fasano ...

Fri, 15 May 09
Climate change, water shortages conspire to create 21st century Dust Bowl
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=127490
Greenwire: Dust storms accelerated by a warming climate have covered the Rocky Mountains with dirt whose heat-trapping properties have caused snowpacks to melt weeks earlier than normal, worrying officials in Colorado about drastic water shortages by late summer. Snowpacks from the San Juan Mountains to the Front Range have either completely melted or will be gone within the next two weeks, said Tom Painter, director of the Snow Optics Laboratory at the University of Utah and a leading expert on ...

Fri, 15 May 09
Churches to probe impacts of Canadian oil sands
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE54D5E720090514?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: A coalition of church leaders will fan out across northern Alberta next week for a fact-finding mission that will help formulate an official stance on the environmental impact of oil sands development. Officials with Kairos, a multidenominational social justice group, joined by some aboriginal leaders, will talk with oil sands developers, labor organizations, local authorities and congregations about the impact of the massive energy projects, an issue garnering global ...

Fri, 15 May 09
Gore, volunteers target Congress
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090514/ap_on_re_us/us_gore_climate_bill
Associated Press: Al Gore and a band of environmental volunteers are taking the congressional fight over climate change legislation to the home districts of undecided lawmakers. The mission to spur congressional action marks a new phase for The Climate Project, Gore said in an interview with The Associated Press on Thursday. "We have to seize this moment, because it may not ever come around again," Gore said. "This is the time when the world is making up its mind." The nonprofit group ...

Fri, 15 May 09
Water Rise From Antarctic Melt Less Than Predicted
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=104133389&ft=1&f=1025
National Public Radio: Scientists have been worried about the West Antarctic Ice Sheet for decades. A new study finds that if it were to collapse, global sea level would rise drastically, though not as much as predicted 30 years ago. Much of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet is vulnerable because it rests on ground below sea level. If warm ocean water gets under it, the ice could start flowing off the continent and into the sea. That ice, and ultimately water, would increase sea levels by a substantial amount. A ...

Fri, 15 May 09
160 in China hospital over possible factory pollution: report
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090514/hl_afp/chinaenvironmentairpollution
Agence France-Presse: More than 160 people have been hospitalised and hundreds of others have been sickened in northeastern China in a suspected case of pollution caused by a chemical plant, local media said Thursday. Staff at a plant operated by the Jilin Chemical Fibre Group in Jilin city, as well as residents living nearby, started complaining of headache, nausea, vomiting and general fatigue in late April, the Beijing Times reported. About 1,000 people reported suffering from the symptoms and ...

Fri, 15 May 09
Flood risk from Antarctic ice 'overestimated'
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17134-flood-risk-from-antarctic-ice-overestimated.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=climate-change
New Scientist: The precariously moored West Antarctic ice sheet probably won't collapse into the ocean all in one go as the climate warms. But the bad news, says a researcher, is that the sections most likely to be released into the ocean would raise sea levels globally by 3.3 metres -- and rather more on the shores of North America. The West Antarctic ice sheet, the smaller of the icy continent's two giant slabs of ancient ice, is moored to an archipelago of islands, many of them below sea level. ...

Fri, 15 May 09
West Antarctic ice threat revised; still dire
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE54D4T520090514?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: A meltdown of West Antarctica's ice sheet would raise sea levels by half as much as previously expected, but the impact would still be catastrophic, especially for U.S. coastal cities, a study showed. A collapse of the ice sheet, viewed by scientists as more vulnerable than Greenland or East Antarctica because of global warming, would push up world sea levels by 3.3 meters (11 ft) over hundreds of years rather than 5-6 as long estimated. "The long-term impact of West Antarctica ...

Fri, 15 May 09
Brazilian lawmakers OK landholdings in protected Amazon
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090514/sc_afp/brazilenvironmentamazonnative
Agence France-Presse: Brazilian lawmakers on Thursday approved a controversial law giving land titles to properties carved out of the protected Amazon rain forest by squatters before December 2004. The move, which still has to go before the senate, was cautiously backed by Environment Minister Carlos Minc, who told AFP: "When there are 300,000 people occupying land irregularly, there is no one to fine and make responsible if they don't respect environmental legislation." But he warned that if ...

Fri, 15 May 09
Study Halves Prediction of Rising Seas
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=127475
New York Times: A new analysis halves longstanding projections of how much sea levels could rise if Antarctica's massive western ice sheets fully disintegrated as a result of global warming. The flow of ice into the sea would probably raise sea levels about 10 feet rather than 20 feet, according to the analysis, published in the May 15 issue of the journal Science. The scientists also predicted that seas would rise unevenly, with an additional 1.5-foot increase in levels along the east and ...

Fri, 15 May 09
United States: A Biodiesel Maker's Tale of Woe
http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/14/a-biodiesel-makers-tale-of-woe/
New York Times: When Imperium Renewables opened a plant in Washington state in 2007, it claimed to have built the largest biodiesel facility in the country. Now, like so many others in the biodiesel industry, Imerium`s plant sits idle. Its big tanks are leased out as a storage facility for biodiesel made elsewhere. I spoke earlier this week with John Plaza, Imperium's founder. He has been through it all. Last year Imperium had to pull out of an initial public offering, and it lost a ...

Fri, 15 May 09
Renewable Energy Penalties to Be Cut by Waxman, Lawmaker Says
http://news.yahoo.com/s/bloomberg/20090514/pl_bloomberg/am_y8zqk2eo4
Bloomberg: Representative Henry Waxman, the architect of climate-change legislation, agreed to cut by half penalties utilities would pay for failing to meet requirements for production of renewable electricity, according to a lawmaker who sought the more lenient standard. The fine for failing to achieve the renewable mandate would be 2.5 cents for each kilowatt-hour that a utility falls short of meeting the standard, down from 5 cents, said Representative G. K. Butterfield, a North Carolina ...

Fri, 15 May 09
Nations demand oceans be included in climate talks
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090514/wl_asia_afp/environmentoceansclimateindonesia
Agence France-Presse: Ministers and officials from more than 70 nations called Thursday for oceans to be included on the agenda of global climate change talks aimed at finding a successor to the Kyoto Protocol. Delegates at the World Ocean Conference in Indonesia urged joint action to reverse the impact of climate change on the oceans and for the issue to be included in crucial climate talks in Copenhagen in December. The Manado Ocean Declaration calls for cuts to ocean pollution, funding for ...

Fri, 15 May 09
Obama's key climate change bill is weakened, but still intact
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/may/14/us-climate-change-bill
Guardian: Barack Obama's plans to move America towards a cleaner energy economy have survived – but not unscathed. Democratic leaders in Congress said late yesterday they were confident of getting enough support from about a dozen Democratic hold-outs – conservatives, and members from oil and coal producing states – to move forward on a climate change bill. But the ambitious global warming and energy agenda introduced to Congress six weeks ago, has been weakened in a number of key areas ...

Fri, 15 May 09
Climate change: biggest health risk of 21st century
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2242266/climate-change-biggest-health
Business Green: Climate change will increase health threats for billions of people globally over the course of this century, resulting in catastrophic humanitarian and economic impacts, as food and water shortages, extreme weather events and disease migration patterns become more severe. That is the stark warning from a major new report by University College London and The Lancet, dubbed the " Stern Report for health", which argues that the health risks associated with rising global temperatures have ...

Fri, 15 May 09
Climate conference urges world to protect oceans
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090514/ap_on_re_as/as_world_ocean_conference
Associated Press: Rising sea levels, warming waters and spiraling acidity caused by global warming are threatening the world's oceans and the communities they support, governments warned Thursday, as they sought to include protection for the seas in a new U.N. climate treaty. Not only marine ecosystems, but the lives of tens of millions of people could be affected as they are forced to leave inundated coastal communities and find new jobs, they said. "We must come to the rescue of the oceans," ...

Fri, 15 May 09
Soaring electricity use by new electronic devices imperils climate change efforts
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=127458
ClimateWire: Efforts by countries worldwide to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase energy security are in trouble if nothing is done to check the energy gobbled by both information and communication technologies and consumer electronics. This warning came in a report published yesterday in Paris by the International Energy Agency. The study warns that energy used by computers and consumer electronics will not only double by 2022, but increase threefold by 2030. IEA Executive ...

Fri, 15 May 09
'Rebound effects' of energy efficiency could halve carbon savings, says study
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/may/14/rebound-effects-energy-efficiency
Guardian: Using energy more efficiently might not be as effective at tackling climate change as people think, according to a new study. A team of economists has shown that so-called "rebound effects", where efficiency improvements are offset by behaviour changes, such as increasing demands for cheaper energy, could potentially slash future carbon and energy savings by half. The rebound effect was first proposed in the 19th century but, until now, there has been very little research on how ...

Fri, 15 May 09
House panel nears agreement on energy and climate bill
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=127455
New York Times: With a series of compromises on the stickiest issues behind them, the House Energy and Commerce Committee is poised to approve far-reaching legislation on energy and global warming by the end of next week. Where it goes from there remains highly uncertain. President Obama on Wednesday praised the committee's "extraordinary progress" toward writing a bill that can survive among the panel's fractious Democrats. After a White House meeting with House leaders, Mr. Obama said that the bill ...

Fri, 15 May 09
Russia warns of war within a decade over Arctic oil and gas riches
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article6283130.ece
Times (UK): Graphic: the very cold war Russia raised the prospect of war in the Arctic yesterday as nations struggle for control of the world's dwindling energy reserves. The country's new national security strategy identified the intensifying battle for ownership of vast untapped oil and gas fields around its borders as a source of potential military conflict within a decade. "The presence and potential escalation of armed conflicts near Russia's national borders, pending border ...

Fri, 15 May 09
GOP plans climate bill stall in committee
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0509/22495.html
Politico: Republicans know they can't stop Henry Waxman's ambitious climate change bill from clearing the Energy and Commerce Committee, but they're promising to make the ride as bumpy as possible. They plan to nitpick the Waxman bill into legislative oblivion by introducing more than 100 amendments during the committee debate. Some of those, they hope, will lure Democrats worried about the impact of energy proposals on hometown industries. "This is not going to be one of gentlemanly, ...

Fri, 15 May 09
Canada: Victorious Campbell touts carbon tax
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/634073
Toronto Star: British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell said leaders of other provinces should adopt his carbon tax plan, after he handily defeated the NDP, which had vowed to dismantle the surcharge, in Tuesday's provincial election. "It doesn't mean the end of your political mandate," Campbell told a news conference yesterday, when asked what other premiers could learn from the tax. Campbell's Liberal government established the surcharge, the first in North America, last year. "We ...

Fri, 15 May 09
ADM sees U.S. ethanol blend rising by 2010
http://www.reuters.com/article/GCA-GreenBusiness/idUSTRE54C6JR20090513
Reuters: U.S. agricultural processor Archer Daniels Midland Co said on Wednesday it was "cautiously optimistic" about the struggling ethanol industry because U.S. law still mandates its use. The ethanol industry had been worried that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency would scale back requirements for ethanol use in a new draft Renewable Fuels Standard this month, but it left its annual blend targets intact. "We do know that the RFS fuel standard will increase to 12 billion ...

Fri, 15 May 09
Indian scientists learn from failed attempt to fertilise ocean
http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/008200905140931.htm
Indo-Asian News Service: Indian scientists recently carried out a controversial experiment in the ocean near Antarctica to get carbon dioxide captured from the air and stored in the sea. The experiment, meant to combat climate change, was a failure, but the scientists now say they learnt some valuable lessons. The 75-day Indo-German experiment carried out amidst opposition from environmental groups has shown that dumping iron in the Southern Ocean does not help in capturing carbon dioxide (CO2) that is ...

Fri, 15 May 09
United States: PG&E expands solar power plans
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/05/13/BU7V17K1KO.DTL
San Francisco Chronicle: California's big plans for solar power keep getting bigger. Pacific Gas and Electric Co. and a young Oakland company on Wednesday signed what may be the world's largest solar deal, one that will create a string of seven solar power plants generating enough electricity for 530,000 homes. Myanmar opposition leader to go on trial again 05.14.09 Jobless claims jump to 637K; producer prices rise 05.14.09 Free Lipitor, Viagra, other drugs for jobless 05.14.09 Rambus says FTC has ...

Fri, 15 May 09
Dying oceans 'life and death issue'
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iN60tLCSUhtDzhoexbE8_yD9XqCw
Agence France-Presse: The destruction of the world's oceans due to climate change and overuse is a "life and death issue" for humanity, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said Thursday. "We must come to the rescue of the oceans. We must save them from the ravages of abuse and over-exploitation by humankind, from the havoc due to pollution and dire effects of climate change," Yudhoyono said at a global conference on oceans. "This is a life and death issue for the community of nations, ...

Fri, 15 May 09
Chairman criticizes climate change bill
http://www.environmentreport.org/transcript.php3?story_id=4477
Environment Report: A dispute about bio-fuels could put passage of a climate change bill at risk. Lester Graham reports corn ethanol is at the center of a dispute among some Democrats: Conventional wisdom in Washington these days is: it's not a good idea to use food for fuel, so corn ethanol should be replaced by cellulosic ethanol - made from crops such as switchgrass. The chairman of the Ag Committee, Democrat Collin Peterson, believes the Obama administration and Democratic leaders in Congress ...

Fri, 15 May 09
Call to save 'dying oceans'
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia-pacific/2009/05/20095147479845969.html
Aljazeera: Indonesia's president has called for a concerted move to save the world's oceans from being destroyed by the effects of climate change, but made no mention of his own country's failings in nature conservation. In an address to the World Ocean Conference in the Indonesia city of Manado on Thursday, Susilo Bambang Yudhyono called for a global effort to "rescue the oceans" describing it as "a life and death issue for the community of nations". He said the world's oceans faced a ...

Fri, 15 May 09
Climate Change Raises Threat of Global Starvation
http://www.usnews.com/blogs/erbe/2009/05/13/climate-change-raises-threat-of-global-starvation.html
U.S. News and World Report: America's Greatest Generation, coming of age before and during World War II, was admonished to leave no spinach behind by parents who warned, "Children are starving in Europe." Boomers, postwar babies, were similarly taunted to eat food young children normally take a scunner to with the phrase, "Children are starving in India and China." I'm not sure to which region of the world parents of generation X & Y children turned to convince kids that empty dinner plates were a ...

Fri, 15 May 09
Cold Water Ocean Circulation Doesn't Work As Expected
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/05/090513130942.htm
ScienceDaily: The familiar model of Atlantic ocean currents that shows a discrete "conveyor belt" of deep, cold water flowing southward from the Labrador Sea is probably all wet. New research led by Duke University and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution relied on an armada of sophisticated floats to show that much of this water, originating in the sea between Newfoundland and Greenland, is diverted generally eastward by the time it flows as far south as Massachusetts. From there it disburses ...

Fri, 15 May 09
Global warming pushes mammals north in Michigan
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0513-hance_michigan.html
Mongabay: A new study shows that mammals in the state of Michigan are moving north because of climate change, pushing out other species on the way. Researchers studied the distribution and population of nine small mammals from live-trapping data over 30 years and notes from research museums covering the past hundred years. They utilized over 14,000 records covering the nine species. "We're talking about the commonest mammals there, mammals that have considerable ecological impact," said ...

Fri, 15 May 09
Rising Calls to Regulate California Groundwater
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=127425
New York Times: For the third year in a row, Mark Watte plans to rely on the aquifer beneath his family farm for three-quarters of the water he needs to keep his cotton, corn and alfalfa growing, his young pistachio trees healthy and his 900 dairy cows cool. That is 50 percent more than he used to take, because the water that once flowed to the farm from snow in the Sierra Nevada has been reduced by a long dry spell and diversions to benefit endangered fish. Since 2006 the surface of the ...

Fri, 15 May 09
Climate change biggest threat to health, doctors say
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/may/13/climate-change-health-impact
Guardian: Senior doctors today published a report warning that climate change is the biggest threat to global health of the 21st century. Rising global temperatures would have a catastrophic effect on human health, the doctors said, and patterns of infection would change, with insect-borne diseases such as malaria and dengue fever spreading more easily. Heatwaves such as occurred in Europe in 2003, which caused up to 70,000 "excess" deaths, will become more common, as will hurricanes, ...

Fri, 15 May 09
The public deserves the full picture on climate change
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/cif-green/2009/may/14/nasa-scientist-climate-change
Guardian: Like many of the important issues facing society, climate change involves a complex intersection of science, culture and politics, and a huge array of consequences impinging on a wide range of vulnerabilities. Yet on all sides, people are bombarded with simplistic slogans, misleading headlines and soundbites shorn of the caveats that make them valid. The media is the main conduit for people to learn more, but the disconnect between the need for education and the journalistic mission ...

Fri, 15 May 09
Climate 'biggest health threat'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8049061.stm
BBC: Climate change is "the biggest global health threat of the 21st Century", according to a leading medical journal. The Lancet, together with University College London researchers, has published a report outlining how public health services will need to adapt. It also highlights the consequences of climate-related mass migrations. The authors aim to add their voice to the call for carbon mitigation and will focus on making clear the ways in which climate change will affect ...

Fri, 15 May 09
Indonesia launches Southeast Asia's biggest marine park
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE54D1T820090514?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Indonesia has opened Southeast Asia's largest marine park in the Savu Sea, a migration route for almost half the world's whale species and home to vast tracts of rare coral, the country's fisheries minister said. Environmental groups, The Nature Conservancy and WWF will help set up the reserve, where efforts will be made to stamp out illegal practices such as dynamite and cyanide fishing. Tourism activities and subsistence fishing by locals will be allowed but restricted to certain ...

Fri, 15 May 09
Highly destructive climate impacts loom for a small number of cities and countries
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=127413
ClimateWire: Fiercer storm surges brought on by climate change will claim the most land in Latin America, uproot the most people in the Middle East and wreak the greatest economic destruction in East Asia, new research finds. Economists with the World Bank's energy and environment research team say worsening weather threatens 52 million people, more than 29,000 square kilometers of agricultural land, and 9 percent of coastal nations' gross domestic product (GDP) across the globe. If they ...

Fri, 15 May 09
China's climate change policy
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE54C0N520090513
Reuters: China Wednesday urged rich countries to agree to cut their CO2 emissions by 25-40 percent by 2020 as part of a new global climate change pact that negotiators hope to seal by the end of the year. Here are some facts about China's role in climate change policy: * China is the world's biggest emitter of carbon dioxide (CO2), the main greenhouse gas from human activity, outstripping the United States. The U.S. Oak Ridge National Laboratory has estimated China emitted 1.8 billion ...

Fri, 15 May 09
Republican lawmakers back carbon tax (yes, that's right)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/mcclatchy/20090513/pl_mcclatchy/3232806_1
McClatchy: Reps. Bob Inglis of South Carolina and Jeff Flake of Arizona on Wednesday became the first Republican lawmakers to introduce legislation imposing a carbon tax on producers and distributors of fossil fuels. The bill, co-sponsored by Democratic Rep. Dan Lipinski of Illinois , would set a tax of $15 a ton of carbon dioxide produced in its first year in effect, with the tax rising to $100 a ton over three decades. "The first axiom of economics is if you want less of something, you ...

Fri, 15 May 09
Republicans push changes to U.S. climate bill
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090513/pl_nm/us_climate_usa_congress
Reuters: Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday vowed to push for major changes to a climate change bill that could move through a key committee next week, including a proposal to count nuclear power as a clean energy alternative. The House Energy and Commerce Committee will try by the end of next week to put its finishing touches on one of the most significant environmental initiatives in decades. If the Democratic-controlled committee can meet that self-imposed ...

Fri, 15 May 09
US climate bill targets 15% renewables by 2020
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090513/sc_afp/uscongressenergyclimatewarming
Agence France-Presse: House of Representatives Democrats crafting legislation to fight climate change said late Wednesday that they would seek to get 15 percent of US energy from renewable sources by 2020. The House Energy and Commerce Committee is due to start its formal debate on the "American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009" come Monday, hoping to approve it by week's end and send it to the full House. Democratic Representative Henry Waxman, the panel's chairman, and Democratic ...

Fri, 15 May 09
Global Warming Biggest Health Threat of 21st Century, Experts Say
http://news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20090513/hl_hsn/globalwarmingbiggesthealththreatof21stcenturyexpertssay
HealthDay: The warming of planet Earth is "the biggest global health threat of the 21st century," a varied group of experts warned Wednesday. Their report is one of the latest to expound on the deepening environmental crisis, and one of the first to focus on the potential role of health-care professionals in ameliorating the problem. "This is a bad diagnosis not just for children in different lands. It's for our children and grandchildren," Anthony Costello, a professor of international ...

Fri, 15 May 09
China calls for deeper CO2 cuts by rich nations
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE54C0ZA20090513?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: China urged rich nations on Wednesday to sign up to tougher 2020 targets to cut carbon emissions, as U.N.-led negotiations intensify on a broader climate pact meant to rein in the pace of global warming. An official with China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said rich nations must commit to cutting emissions by 25-40 percent by 2020 as well as ramp up funding for developing countries. The comments come as Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives neared ...

Fri, 15 May 09
Coral climate crunch could displace millions
http://www.panda.org/what_we_do/footprint/climate_deal/news/?uNewsID=164062
WWF: But effective global action on climate change and regional attention to problems of over-fishing and pollution would prevent catastrophe, according to a WWF-commissioned environmental, economic and social study of possible scenarios outlined to the World Oceans Conference here today. The Coral Triangle and Climate Change: Ecosystems, People and Societies at Risk considers over 300 published scientific studies and includes the work of over 20 experts in fields such as biology, ...

Fri, 15 May 09
Obama's key climate bill hit by $45m PR campaign
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/may/12/us-climate-bill-oil-gas
Guardian: America's oil, gas and coal industry has increased its lobbying budget by 50%, with key players spending $44.5m in the first three months of this year in an intense effort to cut off support for Barack Obama's plan to build a clean energy economy. The spoiler campaign runs to hundreds of millions of dollars and involves industry front groups, lobbying firms, television, print and radio advertising, and donations to pivotal members of Congress. Its intention is to water down or kill ...

Fri, 15 May 09
Solar firms plan US production boost
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2242143/solar-firms-plan-solar
Business Green: Two of the world's largest solar manufacturers have announced plans to set up shop in the US, as the rollout of large-scale solar projects across the country continues to accelerate. Suntech Power has this week confirmed it is seeking a base for solar production in the country, while solar module manufacturer Schott Solar has just opened a $100m (£65m), 200,000 square-foot facility in New Mexico. China-based Suntech, which is the largest solar panel manufacturer in the world, ...

Fri, 15 May 09
EU urged to keep strong climate change goals
http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2009/05/13/eu_urged_to_keep_strong_climate_change_goals/?rss_id=Boston.com+--+Latest+news
Associated Press: Two environmental experts urged the European Union on Wednesday not to let the global recession lessen its climate change leadership role but use the situation to encourage funding for green technologies. The idea that public spending on low-carbon initiatives and other green projects should be cut now "is simply confused and wrong," said Lord Nicholas Stern, a British expert on the economics of climate change. "If we delay action in risky circumstances, the risks just become ...

Thu, 14 May 09
Major report warns of climate change risk to world health
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/major-report-warns-of-climate-change-risk-to-world-health-1684367.html
Independent (UK): A major report on managing the health effects of climate change, launched jointly by The Lancet and UCL (University College London) today, says that climate change is the biggest global health threat of the 21st Century. Furthermore, lead author Professor Anthony Costello's major report says that failure to act will result in an intergenerational injustice, with our children and grandchildren scorning our generation for ignoring the climate change threat--with similar moral outrage to how we ...

Thu, 14 May 09
Bill Clinton urges US to pass 'strong' climate bill: FT
http://www.spacedaily.com/2006/090514003105.zf5992f4.html
Agence France-Presse: Former US president Bill Clinton said Thursday that Congress must pass a "strong" climate change bill if it hopes to persuade China and India to sign up to a new deal on tackling global warming. In an interview with the Financial Times in London, Clinton said legislation must be passed before a global summit in Copenhagen in December to agree on a successor to the Kyoto treaty on cutting greenhouse gas emissions. "First of all, if we don't adopt a workable but a strong bill ...

Thu, 14 May 09
Doctors' health warning on climate change
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090514/sc_afp/healthclimate
Agence France-Presse: Climate change will present the greatest threat to health this century, amplifying the risk of disease, malnutrition and homelessness through floods, drought and rising sea levels, a medical panel said on Thursday. "Even the most conservative estimates are profoundly disturbing and demand action," said the report, compiled over a year by The Lancet medical journal and experts from the Institute for Global Health at University College London. "Climate change is the biggest ...

Thu, 14 May 09
U.S. power utilities hail carbon bill compromises
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE54C6L720090513?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: U.S. electricity generators support compromises being reached by Democrats in the House of Representatives on proposed climate legislation, saying the changes would soften the impact on power bills. "It makes (the proposed bill) more reasonable and we've always said we would be willing to support a more reasonable cap-and-trade bill," said Melissa McHenry, spokeswoman for American Electric Power, the country's largest burner of coal for generating electricity. Democrats on the ...

Thu, 14 May 09
Forecaster may cut Atlantic storm outlook
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE54C5HS20090513?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Colorado State University hurricane forecaster Bill Gray said on Wednesday he may reduce his next Atlantic season forecast because sea temperatures are cooling and a weak El Nino may appear by late summer. "Things are looking better and better for fewer storms," Gray told Reuters in an interview at the Florida Governor's Hurricane Conference in Fort Lauderdale. "Off the west African coast there's colder water. There's increasing high pressure in the Azores Islands that ...

Thu, 14 May 09
New warning over Arctic ice-cap
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8047862.stm
BBC: The Arctic ice-cap, a permanent feature for at least 100,000 years, could vanish in summertime far sooner than predicted, a leading scientist says. Professor Peter Wadhams, from the University of Cambridge, told BBC News he has brought forward his estimates of the ice-cap's demise. He believes the ice is now so thin that almost all of it will disappear in about a decade. He says it will become seasonal, forming only during the winter. He told the BBC: "By 2013 we ...

Thu, 14 May 09
Climate change threatens millions who live off sea
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jGPz4tCECfYX-zCj52qE49DH2KlQD985CC380
Associated Press: Around 100 million people risk losing their homes and livelihoods unless drastic steps are taken to protect Southeast Asia's coral reefs, which could be wiped out in coming decades because of climate change, a report said Wednesday. The Coral Triangle -- which spans Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and East Timor -- accounts for a third of the world's coral reefs and 35 percent of coral reef fish species. If carbon emissions are not ...

Thu, 14 May 09
World Bank helps Bangladesh control air pollution
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE54C39L20090513?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: The World Bank approved on Wednesday a $62.2 million credit to help Bangladesh to control urban air pollution through cutting emissions in key polluting sectors such as transport and brick-making. The level of air pollutants in the capital Dhaka and other major cities has steadily increased in recent years, with an annual average well exceeding World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines. "This project will not only help cut pollution and its health impacts and costs but also ...

Thu, 14 May 09
Document is critical of E.P.A. on Clean Air
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=127357
New York Times: An internal government memorandum that came to light on Tuesday challenged the scientific and economic basis of a proposed Environmental Protection Agency finding that climate-altering gases are a threat to human health and welfare. The undated and unsigned government document, marked "Deliberative – Attorney Client Privilege," was compiled by the White House Office of Management and Budget from comments offered by various agencies. A White House official said that many of the ...

Thu, 14 May 09
Not enough money for adapting to climate change
http://www.topnews.in/ocean-conference-not-enough-money-adapting-climate-change-2166265
Deutsche Presse-Agentur: Efforts to battle the effects of climate change are short billions of dollars in needed funds, experts at an international conference focusing on the effects of climate change on the world's oceans said Wednesday. Up to 1 trillion dollars are needed for mitigation and adaptation, said Al Duda, a water expert with the Global Environment Facility, at the World Ocean Conference held in Indonesia this week. Only a fraction of the money was available, Duda said, suggesting a tax on ...

Thu, 14 May 09
Climate change may drive refugees to Australia
http://www.thewest.com.au/default.aspx?MenuID=29&ContentID=141411
New Zealand Press Association: An Australian scientist warns climate change may drive a wave of economic refugees from south-east Asia and the Pacific to Australia. Damage done by climate change in the "coral triangle" -- an ocean region north of Australia which supports millions of people in coastal communities -- may trigger the flood of refugees, according to Queensland University researchers. More than 150 million poor people live on the shores of the coral triangle, relying on it for food. As ...

Thu, 14 May 09
All dry on the western front
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25468050-30417,00.html
Australian: IT has been labelled the cousin of El Nino, the Indian Ocean's equivalent of the climatic engine in the Pacific that drives the cycle of droughts and floods in Australia's southeast. But when CSIRO scientist Wenju Cai factored the Indian Ocean Dipole into his climate model, he found that this little cousin could contribute to droughts. It could depress spring rainfall by up to 30 per cent in Australia's southeast, a region encompassing the nation's food bowl, the southern ...

Thu, 14 May 09
Obama energy options may be long wait
http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/may/13/obama-energy-options-may-be-long-wait/
Washington Times: President Obama's plan to move quickly to replace fossil fuels with renewable energy sources relies on technology that analysts agree is neither affordable nor available on a commercial scale and won't be for many years to come. Expensive, small-scale pilot projects are under way that convert vegetation into fuel for cars and capture carbon dioxide before it is released into the air from coal-burning power plants. But these prototypes have not been proved at levels that would make ...

Thu, 14 May 09
Carbon chiefs defend trading to UK policymakers
http://uk.reuters.com/article/behindTheScenes/idUKTRE54B5I320090512
Reuters: Carbon markets are vital in the fight against climate change, and "inherent" volatility and spikes in permit prices are drivers of innovation rather than signs of manipulation, traders told UK policymakers on Tuesday. In an Environmental Audit Committee meeting on "the role of carbon markets in preventing dangerous climate change," three emissions trading executives defended their business and the $120 billion global market to members of parliament. "Price spikes (in carbon ...

Thu, 14 May 09
New Zealand: Scientists warn on ocean acidification
http://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/2406762/Scientists-warn-on-ocean-acidification
New Zealand Press Association: Bluff's oyster fisheries in Foveaux Strait may be at the top of a hit list of species vulnerable to increasing acidity levels in the oceans, New Zealand scientists say. But the global phenomenon of ocean acidification may pose a threat not only to New Zealand's fisheries and aquaculture industries, but to marine ecosystems around the world, according to the national science academy, the Royal Society. "Concerns exist over acidification and its potential, within decades, to ...

Thu, 14 May 09
Southeast Asian reefs could be wiped out
http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Tech%2Band%2BScience/Story/STIStory_376063.html
Agence France-Presse: CLIMATE change could wipe out the reefs of Southeast Asia's Coral Triangle by the end of the century if nations do not dramatically curb emissions, environmental group WWF said Wednesday. Rising water temperatures, sea levels and acidity in the vast region threaten to destroy ecosystems in a region half the size of the United States that is believed to be the oceans' most biodiverse, the WWF report said. The collapse of the reefs would send food production in the region, which ...

Thu, 14 May 09
Fears of collapse as coral reefs feel the heat
http://www.smh.com.au/environment/global-warming/fears-of-collapse-as-coral-reefs-feel-the-heat-20090512-b1u3.html
Sydney Morning Herald: THE most spectacular stretch of coral reefs on the planet is in danger of collapse from climate change, overfishing and pollution, according to a report being presented today at the World Oceans Conference in Indonesia. Scientists consider the region known as the "coral triangle" to be the centre of marine life on Earth, teeming with fish and almost one-third of the world's coral reefs. Covering 1 per cent of the planet from South-East Asia to the Pacific, the area also supports about ...

Thu, 14 May 09
Climate change cutting Washington's Cascade snowpack
http://www.seattlepi.com/local/6420ap_wa_snowpack_climate.html
Associated Press: Climate change appears to be cutting the winter snowpack in Washington's Cascade Range by at least 20 percent, according to a researcher at the University of Washington. Rising temperatures mean more of the snow falls with a high water content, and melts and washes away long before it is needed by users in spring and summer months, the research found. "All things being equal, if you make it one degree Celsius warmer, then 20 percent of the snowpack goes away for the central ...

Thu, 14 May 09
Climate debuts in India polls, but little policy impact
http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSDEL213079
Reuters: India's main parties are offering environment plans in their manifestos for the first time, but the chances of climate policies to limit emissions after the election are slim because of low public awareness. There is little voter pressure on environmental and climate policy because for the vast majority of Indians living in villages and who influence election results, the overriding concerns are more immediate: jobs, housing and health. The lack of awareness contrasts sharply ...

Thu, 14 May 09
Canada scolded over greenhouse gas estimates
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE54B7BG20090512
Reuters: Canada has overstated how effective its efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions will be, the country's top environmental watchdog said on Tuesday. The government has also not set up systems for accurately monitoring reductions in greenhouse gases or where the emissions are coming from, according to Commissioner of the Environment Scott Vaughan. Ottawa is required to make annual reports on emission reductions, but Vaughan said the government's reports for the past two years lack ...

Thu, 14 May 09
Consumers show no interest in eco-certified palm oil; WWF threatens naming and shaming campaign
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0513-palm_oil_wwf_rspo.html
Mongabay: Lack of interest in eco-certified palm oil among buyers threatens to undermine efforts to improve the environmental performance of the industry, reports the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). Analysis by the environmental group shows that only 1 percent of the palm oil certified by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) has been purchased since it became available in November 2008. Certified palm oil carries a 8-15 percent premium over conventional palm oil. "So far, around 1.3 ...

Thu, 14 May 09
Near-record flooding in the Amazon
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0513-amazon.html
Mongabay: Near-record flooding has displaced thousands of people in the Brazilian Amazon, reports the Associated Press. Water levels at a measuring station on the Rio Negro in Manaus, the Amazon's largest city, stood just 74 centimeters (29 inches) below a record set in 1953. The flooding comes just five years after a severe drought that stranded river boats, isolated communities, and contributed to massive forest fires. Drought is currently affecting southern Brazil, reducing hydroelectric ...

Thu, 14 May 09
US government memo reignites EPA carbon regulation row
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2242173/government-memo-reignites-epa
Business Green: The row surrounding the US Environmental Protection Agency's recent ruling that it could regulate carbon emissions through the Clean Air Act reignited yesterday with the release of US government memo expressing reservations over the decision that greenhouse gases represent a threat to human health. The White House immediately moved to down play the document, insisting that the administration fully supported last month's "endangerment finding" from the EPA. Officials said that the bulk ...

Thu, 14 May 09
EU targets transport, power for next climate action
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE54C1QU20090513?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Eradicating greenhouse gases from power stations and cars, trucks and aviation must be Europe's next policy move to tackle climate change, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said on Wednesday. The statement gives the first glimpse of what the 27-country bloc might do next as it moves toward a greener economy. The European Union last year agreed to cut emissions of the main global warming gas, carbon dioxide, to a fifth below 1990 levels by 2020 -- the world's ...

Thu, 14 May 09
Coral Triangle could die by century's end: WWF
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090513/ts_afp/environmentoceansclimateindonesia
Agence France-Presse: Climate change could wipe out the world's richest ocean wilderness by the end of the century without drastic cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, environmental group WWF said Wednesday. Rising water temperatures, sea levels and acidity are threatening to destroy the vast region of Southeast Asia known as the Coral Triangle, labelled the ocean's answer to the Amazon rainforest, the WWF said in a new report. Collapse of the reefs would send food production in the region plummeting ...

Thu, 14 May 09
US efforts on climate insufficient: experts
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090513/sc_afp/euusenvironmentclimateenergyeconomy
Agence France-Presse: US plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions fall short of what is needed, climate change experts said after talks with the European Commission in Brussels. "The US objectives are not strong enough, they have to make their commitments stronger," said Nicholas Stern, a British former world bank chief economist whose 2006 Stern Review put the economic case for green policies. Lord Stern voiced optimism that the entry onto the world stage of US President Barack Obama could only ...

Thu, 14 May 09
Peru gets $120m to protect 212,000 sq mi of Amazon rainforest
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0513-peru.html
Mongabay: The Japanese government will loan Peru $120 million to protect 55 million hectares (212,000 square miles) of Amazon rainforest over the next ten years, reports El Comercio. The loan, to be distributed in three phases starting year next, has an interest rate of 0.10 percent payable over 40 years. Antonio Brack, Peru's Minister of the Environment, said the loan will be used to establish permanent forest reserves, including indigenous territories. Brack estimated the ...

Thu, 14 May 09
Obama keeps polar bear rules
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8040913.stm
BBC: The US government has opted to retain a Bush-era rule that limits protection for polar bears from the effects of global warming. Environmental groups had been calling for the rule to be lifted, and the US Congress had given Interior Secretary Ken Salazar the power to do so. Mr Salazar said lifting the rule would create "uncertainty and confusion". The rule means the government will act only against threats to polar bears that arise in their Arctic ...

Thu, 14 May 09
Australian Government Provides A$15 Billion To Cut Carbon Emissions
http://www.nasdaq.com/aspx/stock-market-news-story.aspx?storyid=200905120549dowjonesdjonline000211&title=australian-government-provides-a15-billion-to-cut-carbon-emissions
Dow Jones: The Australian Government has earmarked more than A$15 billion for what Climate Change and Water Minister Penny Wong Tuesday said is a comprehensive and integrated suite of policies and programs aimed to cut carbon dioxide emissions and tackle climate change. More than A$2.3 billion was provided in the 2008-09 budget, more than A$8 billion in additional funding has been allocated since that budget and a further A$4.8 billion is included in the fiscal 2009-10 budget starting July 1, ...

Thu, 14 May 09
Stress-Testing Biofuels: How the Game Was Rigged
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1897549,00.html
Time Magazine: The draft conclusions announced by Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator Lisa Jackson were that cellulosic ethanol and other next-generation renewables will dramatically reduce greenhouse-gas emissions over their entire life cycle, but that in some scenarios, corn ethanol (as well as lesser-used soy biodiesel) can produce even more emissions than gasoline. Some environmentalists and journalists have portrayed this as a courageous rebuke to the powerful agro-fuels lobby, while ...

Thu, 14 May 09
Could Food Shortages Bring Down Civilization?
http://www.alternet.org/environment/139970/could_food_shortages_bring_down_civilization/
AlterNet: We desperately need a new way of thinking, a new mind-set. The thinking that got us into this bind will not get us out. When Elizabeth Kolbert, a writer for the New Yorker, asked energy guru Amory Lovins about thinking outside the box, Lovins responded: "There is no box." There is no box. That is the mind-set we need if civilization is to survive. It's not news that Lester Brown is warning about our unsustainable approach to feeding the planet. But it is news that Scientific ...

Thu, 14 May 09
Dozen wavering Democrats hold key to fate of crucial climate change bill
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/may/12/us-climate-change-bill-democrats
Guardian: It is one of the few visible growth industries of the recession: the lobbying and PR offensive aimed at influencing how, when and even whether Barack Obama moves America towards a new low carbon economy. The battle for control over that generational shift is being waged as fiercely in the committee rooms of Congress – where the crucial climate change and energy law will be written – as in the heartland states where the changes will be felt the most. Turn on the radio in a ...

Thu, 14 May 09
EPA's greenhouse gas ruling draws criticism
http://www.latimes.com/news/science/environment/la-na-epa-warming13-2009may13,0,4463510.story?track=rss
LA Times: Reporting from Washington -- In ruling last month that greenhouse gases posed health and safety risks, the Environmental Protection Agency brushed aside warnings from Bush administration holdovers who said the move was "likely to have serious economic consequences" for small businesses and the economy overall, according to documents obtained Tuesday. Obama administration officials said the warnings, contained in memos from the Small Business Administration's Office of Advocacy, didn't ...

Thu, 14 May 09
Scientists Urge Global Action to Preserve Water Supplies for Billions Worldwide
http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/552346/?sc=rssn
Newswise: Melting glaciers, weakening monsoon rains, less mountain snowpack and other effects of a warmer climate will lead to significant disruptions in the supply of water to highly populated regions of the world, especially near the Himalayas in Asia and the Sierra Nevada Mountains of the western United States, according to an international group of scientists who met for three days at the University of California, San Diego. More than two dozen international water experts participating in ...

Thu, 14 May 09
House Democrats near climate bill agreement
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090513/pl_afp/uscongressenergyclimatewarming
Agence France-Presse: Democrats in the US House of Representatives are nearing a compromise on an energy and climate change bill, according to Democratic sources. The sources said Democratic lawmakers, who enjoy majorities in both houses of Congress, reached an agreement late Tuesday on a goal to reduce greenhouse gases by 17 percent from their 2005 levels by 2020. The figure was lower than an initial goal of 20 percent reductions by 2020 included in the first draft of the bill unveiled in late ...

Thu, 14 May 09
United Kingdom: Green movement 'hijacked' by politics
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/may/13/green-movement-hijacked-politics
Guardian: Parts of the green movement have become hijacked by a political agenda and now operate like multinational corporations, according to two senior scientists and members of the House of Lords. The peers, who were speaking at an event in parliament on science policy, said they felt that in some areas green campaign groups were a hindrance to environmental causes. "Much of the green movement isn't a green movement at all, it's a political movement," said Lord May, who is a former ...

Thu, 14 May 09
EPA chief says CO2 finding may not 'mean regulation.'
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124214922088511421.html
Wall Street Journal: The head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Tuesday a finding that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are a public health danger won't necessarily lead to government regulation of emissions, an apparent about-face for the Obama administration. The comments follow revelations of an administration document warning the EPA of potential economically harmful consequences from an agency finding last month that proposes declaring greenhouse gases a danger to the public. ...

Thu, 14 May 09
'Distributed power' to save Earth
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8043397.stm
BBC: Economist Jeremy Rifkin galvanised the Research Connections 2009 conference in Prague with a roadmap to simultaneously solve the economic and energy crises. He proposed a pan-European strategy of small-scale energy generation and smart energy grids that make everyone a partner in energy. What is more, he said, the plan would create millions of jobs and foster investment that would see the end of the current economic crisis. Mr Rifkin leads a roundtable of 100 top CEOs ...

Thu, 14 May 09
Think gets green light for EU-wide electric car sales
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2242101/think-gets-green-light-eu-wide
Business Green: Norwegian electric car firm Think Global is poised to accelerate the rollout of its TH!NK City electric car across Europe, after yesterday becoming the first electric car manufacturer to have its car certified as highway safe across the whole of the EU. The company was awarded a so-called homologation certificate from Dutch certification authority RDW at a ceremony in The Hague, where the Dutch government is working on plans to roll out 500 of the Th!NK City car from this ...

Wed, 13 May 09
Worst drought in decade deepens Somalia crisis: U.N
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE54B6GF20090512?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Somalia's worst drought in a decade is pushing growing numbers of children into near-famine conditions and deepening the humanitarian crisis caused by political violence, the United Nations warned Tuesday. Some 3.2 million Somalis are among an estimated 19 million people in the Horn of Africa in urgent need of life-saving food assistance, top U.N. aid officials said. Drought and high local food prices have also left 12 million people in Ethiopia and another 3.5 million in Kenya ...

Wed, 13 May 09
Canadian greenhouse gas cuts not being measured: audit
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090512/wl_canada_afp/canadaclimateenvironmentkyoto
Agence France-Presse: The Canadian government is failing to measure whether or not individual programs to reduce the nation's greenhouse gas emissions are succeeding, as required by law, an audit revealed Tuesday. "We found that the government will be unable to determine actual emission reductions achieved for each of the measures in its plans," Environment Commissioner Scott Vaughan told a press conference. He also said Environment Canada has "overstated the expected reductions in greenhouse gas ...

Wed, 13 May 09
Carbon chiefs defend trading to UK policymakers
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE54B5I320090512?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Carbon markets are vital in the fight against climate change, and "inherent" volatility and spikes in permit prices are drivers of innovation rather than signs of manipulation, traders told UK policymakers on Tuesday. In a House of Commons (parliament) Environmental Audit Committee meeting on the role of carbon markets in preventing climate change, three emissions trading executives defended their business and the $120 billion emissions market as the most cost-effective way to achieve ...

Wed, 13 May 09
White House memo challenges EPA finding on warming
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090512/ap_on_go_ot/us_epa_climate
Associated Press: An Environmental Protection Agency proposal that could lead to regulating the gases blamed for global warming will prove costly for factories, small businesses and other institutions, according to a White House document. The nine-page memo, released Tuesday by Republican senators, is a compilation of opinions made by numerous federal agencies prior to the EPA determining in April that greenhouse gases pose dangers to public health and welfare. That finding set in motion the ...

Wed, 13 May 09
United Kingdom: Charcoal Grilling Worse On Climate Than Propane
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1687302/charcoal_grilling_worse_on_climate_than_propane/index.html?source=r_science
redOrbit: Do biofuels always create smaller carbon footprints than their fossil-fuel competitors? Not necessarily, finds a paper published today in Elsevier's Environmental Impact Assessment Review. The article, "Charcoal versus LPG grilling: a carbon-footprint comparison," reports that in the UK, the carbon footprint for charcoal grilling is almost three times as large as that for LPG grilling. (Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), often referred to as propane, is a mixture of mostly propane and ...

Wed, 13 May 09
Cost of solar energy will match fossil fuels by 2013, claims Solarcentury
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/may/12/solar-energy-price-fall
Guardian: Solar energy will fall in price to match the cost of conventional fossil fuel electricity far sooner than previously expected, the UK's largest solar company has claimed in a new report. Solarcentury said British homeowners will see solar achieve "grid parity" – the point where solar electricity rivals or becomes cheaper than conventional nonrenewable electricity – by 2013. Most predictions suggest that technological innovation will not bring the price down far enough until 2020 or ...

Wed, 13 May 09
U.S. to burn 2.3 percent less coal for power in '09: EIA
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE54B51O20090512?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: U.S. power plants will burn about 2.3 percent less coal in 2009 than they did last year as the recession trims electricity demand, the government's top energy forecaster said on Tuesday. Power plants will burn about 1,017.49 million short tons of coal in 2009, down from 1,041.6 million tons burned in 2008, the Energy Information Administration said in its monthly short-term outlook. This month's EIA forecast called for the burning of a bit more coal in 2009 than last month's ...

Wed, 13 May 09
Scientists Discuss Climate Change at World Ocean Conference
http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-05-12-voa12.cfm
Voice of America: Scientists and politicians have gathered in the Indonesian city of Manado for the World Ocean Conference. They are discussing the role of oceans in mitigating climate change and how climate change affects the world's seas, but their efforts are hampered by a lack of knowledge about the oceans. Diver swims near coral reefs teeming with fishes in the water off Komodo island, Indonesia, 30 May 2009The Manado conference is a first of its kind, and Jacqueline Adler, from the United Nations ...

Wed, 13 May 09
U.S. Interior seeks to clarify court drilling ruling
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE54B3Q820090512?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: The U.S. Interior Department asked the Justice Department late on Monday to confirm that a recent court decision striking down a Bush administration five-year offshore oil and natural gas development plan does not nullify leases already sold under the policy. Last month the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington ordered Interior to rewrite the 2007-2012 leasing plan because it had not undergone proper environmental review. The Interior Department also wants to clarify that it can ...

Wed, 13 May 09
United Kingdom: Wind consortium gives London Array go-ahead
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2242111/wind-consortium-gives-london
Business Green: After months of speculation that it could ditch plans to build the world's largest offshore wind farm, the consortium behind London Array has today confirmed they are to begin work on the first phase of the project. E.ON, Dong Energy and Masdar announced this afternoon that they are to invest EUR2.2bn in building the first 630MW phase of the offshore wind farm in the Thames Estuary. The coalition had launched a review of the high-profile projects' financial viability after the ...

Wed, 13 May 09
Big questions linger around major source of carbon emissions
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=127222
ClimateWire: As environmentalists and politicians rally around the inclusion of avoided deforestation projects in an international climate change agreement, some big questions about forest and land ownership loom unanswered. A new report (pdf) released yesterday by the London-based International Institute for Environment and Development aims to address some of those questions by promoting debate among reduced deforestation stakeholders about current land rights and institutions in countries with ...

Wed, 13 May 09
Canada: Province unveils climate change plan
http://www.thestarphoenix.com/Technology/Province%20unveils%20climate%20change%20plan/1585580/story.html
Star Phoenix: Provincial Crown corporation SaskPower will be the big beneficiary of the Saskatchewan Party government's significant scaling back of greenhouse gas reduction targets, according to the government's long-awaited climate change plan released Monday. When the Saskatchewan Party recently acknowledged that it broke a campaign promise by cutting its 2020 reduction targets cut from 32 per cent below 2004 levels to the federal goals of 20 per cent below 2006 levels, it cited the overall ...

Wed, 13 May 09
Canada: Bigger penalties key to tackling 'dirty oil.'
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20090512.ROILSANDS12ART1921//TPStory/Environment
Globe and Mail: Governments will have to dramatically increase the penalties for emitting greenhouse gases before Canada's oil sands producers have a financial incentive to invest in carbon capture and storage, says a new study by the Canadian Energy Research Institute. In a report released yesterday, the Calgary-based institute's research director David McColl offered "plausible" scenarios under which projects now known for producing "dirty oil" would yield "green bitumen," with less greenhouse gas ...

Wed, 13 May 09
County lands targeted for carbon credits
http://www.sunnewspapers.net/articles/pnnews.aspx?NewsID=437228&a=newsarchive2/051209/ch1.htm&pnpg=0
Charlotte Sun: Should the lands that Florida and Charlotte County have purchased in recent years to conserve the environment be used to justify allowing industries to spew more pollution someplace else? That question lies at the heart of the carbon cap-and-trade strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions -- and it may be coming before both state legislators and local commissioners in the near future. The Charlotte County Environmentally Sensitive Lands Advisory Committee already received a ...

Wed, 13 May 09
United States: Consensus elusive on proposed desert solar projects
http://www.pe.com/localnews/sbcounty/stories/PE_News_Local_S_solar12.3889b12.html
Press-Enterprise: Members of Congress who came to this desert community Monday to build consensus on solar energy development found they had a ways to go. Utility representatives at the hearing sought a breakup of what they see as a bureaucratic logjam that's holding up decisions on as many 66 applications for solar projects on public land in the California desert. "There must be a clear process and timeframe for decisions," Katherine Gensler, of the Solar Energy Industries Association, told ...

Wed, 13 May 09
Downturn takes a heavy toll on investments in clean tech
http://www.livemint.com/2009/05/11215744/Downturn-takes-a-heavy-toll-on.html?h=B
Wall Street Journal: The economic downturn has hit investment in clean energy projects, increasing the gap between expectations and commitments to save the planet. New investment in clean energy has plummeted to $13.3 billion in the first quarter 2009, a decline of 44% over the previous quarter and of 53% compared to the first quarter of 2008, says a new report by New Energy Finance, a UK-based organization that provides industry information and analysis to investors, corporations and governments on clean ...

Wed, 13 May 09
United States: We Energies' carbon-capture test 'encouraging.'
http://www.jsonline.com/business/44752122.html
Journal Sentinel: Test results have been released from a carbon dioxide "catch-and-release" experiment at the Pleasant Prairie power plant, and the results so far are encouraging, the company doing the testing says. Alstom Power said its project captured 88% to 90% of the carbon dioxide emissions. "The preliminary results from the We Energies demonstration project and other projects we're undertaking are encouraging," said Amy Ericson, of Alstom, during an industry conference on carbon-capture ...

Wed, 13 May 09
Disaster looms with rising sea levels: islands
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5ivR-fccYWyuZDMt8TyEaiWXp8IyQ
Agence France-Presse: Rising sea levels that could wipe whole nations off the map and displace scores of millions of people are being overlooked in global climate change talks, island countries said Tuesday. Major emitters are pushing for greenhouse gas emissions cuts that are too low to prevent devastating sea rises, representatives said at the World Ocean Conference in Indonesia's Manado city. "Dealing with environmental refugees will have a much more serious impact on the global economy and ...

Wed, 13 May 09
Antarctic voyage
http://features.csmonitor.com/environment/2009/05/11/antarctic-voyage/
Christian Science Monitor: "Our square sails are braced right now for the changing wind that we expect ahead as we cross Drake Passage, between Cape Horn and Antarctica," says Mike Stewart, the boatswain of the Dutch tall ship Europa. Surging along the crests of 20-foot, slate-gray waves, the Europa is taking 15 crew members and 40 sail trainees to the Antarctic Peninsula. The wind moans in the rigging, setting every brass hook and teak panel clanking, rattling, shivering, and heaving. Regularly thrown off ...

Wed, 13 May 09
China: Zero emission vehicles enter "decisive battle"
http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90778/90858/90864/6653755.html
People's Daily: Ten years ago when Opel, a subsidiary of US-based General Motors, and the German Mercedes-Benz and BMW Group, were interviewed, the conclusion arrived at was that "zero emission" vehicles (including electric vehicles and fuel cell vehicles) were a direction for the global automobile industry to develop in the future, with bulk production not due to commence until between 2025 and 2030. However, current expectations from the US, Germany, Japan and China indicate that all the major ...

Wed, 13 May 09
UK homes to have smart energy meters by 2020
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/utilities/article6269196.ece
Times (UK): Every home in Britain will have a new "smart meter' installed by 2020 under plans unveiled by the Government, which hopes to reduce the country's carbon emissions by more than a third. In potentially the biggest shake-up of Britain's energy industry since the introduction of North Sea gas in the 1970s, it is hoped that the new meters, which will be installed in all 26 million UK households, will boost energy efficiency by allowing consumers to track exactly how much gas and ...

Wed, 13 May 09
Neste Oil's plans for global leadership in palm oil diesel will drive massive rainforest destruction and climate change
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/press/releases/neste-pal-oil-drives-climate-change
Greenpeace: This morning, 32 Greenpeace activists from Finland and Sweden are demonstrating in a palm oil diesel refinery of Neste Oil in Porvoo, Finland, where they hung a banner with the text 'Neste Oil - destroying the rainforests'. Neste Oil, an oil refining company largely owned by the Finnish government(1), is set - over the next three years - to become the world's largest consumer of palm oil. This expansion will lead to massive deforestation and contribute to global warming. Palm ...

Wed, 13 May 09
Obama upholds controversial polar bear rule
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2242056/obama-upholds-controversial
Business Green: The Obama administration has shocked environmental groups by retaining a controversial Bush-era ruling that limited protection for polar bears under the Endangered Species Act. Secretary of the interior Ken Salazar announced late last week that the Department of the Interior will retain a special rule issued by the Bush administration last year when it placed the polar bear on the endangered species list. The rule, known as 4(d), was issued under section 4(d) of the Endangered ...

Wed, 13 May 09
Climate change sparks electricity change
http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/climate-change-sparks-electricity-change-20090512-b1sq.html
AAP: Australia is to change the way it makes electricity, with huge new solar power plants and cleaner coal facilities to be built. The federal government will spend billions "greening up" electricity and says it wants to lead the world in the field. Emissions trading has been delayed so the government is forging ahead with other ways to cut greenhouse gas emissions. The climate change budget has been beefed up, despite tough economic times, to $15 billion over nine ...

Wed, 13 May 09
House Democrats to Huddle Over Climate Bill
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=127180
ClimateWire: Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) is expected to outline details of a major global warming and energy bill later today during a closed-door meeting with his fellow Democrats on the Energy and Commerce Committee. Waxman, the panel chairman, wants to get members up to speed ahead of votes next week on a comprehensive bill that includes a cap-and-trade program to curb greenhouse gases and a nationwide renewable electricity standard. But sources on and off Capitol Hill yesterday said they do ...

Wed, 13 May 09
United Kingdom: London Array offshore wind project to go ahead
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE54B2HP20090512?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: E.ON UK said on Tuesday it and its partners had agreed to go ahead with the London Array offshore wind project, after the financial crisis had endangered the world's biggest wind project. Frank Mastiaux, chief executive of E.ON Climate and Renewables, told reporters the consortium would invest 2.2 billion euros ($3 billion) for the first phase of the project. The consortium includes Denmark's Dong Energy A/S and Abu Dhabi's state-owned green energy firm Masdar. He also ...

Wed, 13 May 09
Britain's farmers still restricted by Chernobyl nuclear fallout
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/may/12/farmers-restricted-chernobyl-disaster
Guardian: Nearly 370 farms in Britain are still restricted in the way they use land and rear sheep because of radioactive fallout from the Chernobyl nuclear power station accident 23 years ago, the government has admitted. Environmentalists have seized on the figures as proof of the enormous dangers posed by nuclear power as the UK moves towards building a new generation of plants around the country. Dawn Primarolo, minister for health, revealed 369 farms and 190,000 sheep were affected, ...

Wed, 13 May 09
Cleaner air from reduced emissions could save millions of lives, says report
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/may/12/emissions-pollution-premature-deaths
Guardian: Tackling climate change by cutting greenhouse gas emissions could save millions of lives because of the cleaner air that would result, according to a recent study. Researchers predict that, by 2050, about 100 million premature deaths caused by respiratory health problems linked to air pollution could be avoided through measures such as low emission cars . The economic benefits of saving those lives in developing countries such as China and India could also strengthen the negotiating ...

Wed, 13 May 09
Efforts to save salmon may be undone by climate change
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/environment/story/1044060.html
Miami Herald: The Pacific Northwest has spent two decades retooling dams, rebuilding damaged watersheds and restoring stream flows to keep salmon from disappearing. The United States has invested billions in the effort - $350 million in 2004 alone - by far the most money spent on any endangered species. But a new threat is more devastating than the gill nets that sent dozens of salmon runs into extinction. It is more deadly than the hydroelectric turbines that still kill millions of ...

Wed, 13 May 09
Global warming policies make it harder on soybean farmers
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/politics/story/9F3D95EA78CB0901862575B3008358D1?OpenDocument
St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Soybean growers are worried that the Obama administration's latest effort to control global warming could threaten the Midwest's biodiesel industry. The Environmental Protection Agency has proposed new rules that would factor in damage that American soybean production can inflict in faraway lands like Brazil, Malaysia and Indonesia. The rules, proposed last week, mark another step to combat global warming, a problem made worse when carbon-filled forests go up in smoke in order ...

Wed, 13 May 09
Climate-Bill Breaks Bode Ill for Deficit
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124204820923806673.html
Wall Street Journal: The Obama administration said Monday that it expected even wider deficits this year and next than previously forecast, and Congress could undermine the administration's push to narrow the gap by slashing the revenue generated by the president's plan to curb greenhouse gases. On Monday, White House budget director Peter Orszag revised the fiscal 2009 deficit upward by $89 billion to $1.84 trillion, 12.9% of the economy. That is a level not seen since 1945. Next year's deficit forecast ...

Wed, 13 May 09
Reliable tides should rival UK wind power
http://uk.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUKTRE54A4EO20090511
Reuters: Turbines should be commercially available in 7-8 years to provide regular-as-clockwork tidal power, more reliable than wind or wave energy, a pioneer of the technology told Reuters on Monday. Cost were falling and catching up with those for offshore wind, Martin Wright, head of Marine Current Turbines Ltd (MCT) said. "Tidal energy has one huge advantage -- that's its predictability," Wright said. "We will produce renewable energy to a timetable." MCT, which last July put ...

Wed, 13 May 09
China mulls 3 trln yuan spending for renewable energy
http://news.alibaba.com/article/detail/energy/100100518-1-china-mulls-3-trln-yuan.html
Alibaba: China is considering investing a more than 3 trillion yuan ($440 billion) in the renewable energy sector by 2020, an official with the National Energy Administration said on Tuesday. The administration is drafting a stimulus plan for the industry that will noticeably raise the development targets for wind and solar power, Liang Zhipeng, an official with the New Energy and Renewable Energy Department under the administration, told an industry conference.

Wed, 13 May 09
40 Dead, 300000 Homeless in Brazil Flooding
http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-05-11-voa50.cfm
Voice of America: Aerial view of flooded town of Boa Vista do Gurupi, Maranhao state, Brazil, 11 May 2009Officials in northeastern Brazil say 40 people are dead and some 300,000 others are now homeless following the area's worst flooding in recent memory. One aid group there says that although water levels have begun to recede in some areas, they are still rising in places such as the jungle state of Amazonas. Forecasters say the unusually heavy rain has been falling for more than two months ...

Wed, 13 May 09
Brazil boosts flood aid for 308K left homeless
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ilY_qkKl2-BGIiWlR2wcN2DCykcAD984C8N80
Associated Press: Brazil intensified efforts to get food and other aid to people isolated by severe flooding as waters kept rising in some areas Monday, including a jungle river nearing its highest level in more than 50 years. At least 40 people have died in the worst flooding in northern Brazil in at least two decades, and the number of homeless is now above 308,000. Communities remained inundated despite some easing of rain and two deaths were reported in a previously unaffected state. While ...

Wed, 13 May 09
Palm oil buyers face green scorecard: WWF
http://uk.reuters.com/article/behindTheScenes/idUKTRE54B02T20090512
Reuters: Major palm oil buyers face being graded for their green credentials after figures showing they have bought only a fraction of the sustainable palm oil available, environmental group WWF said on Tuesday. About 1.3 million tonnes of certified sustainable palm oil has been available since November last year, but only about 15,000 tonnes have been bought, WWF said. Palm oil is used as a vegetable oil for cooking, in chocolate bars and margarine, as well as in soaps and cosmetics ...

Tue, 12 May 09
Oceans stem climate change?
http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Tech%2Band%2BScience/Story/STIStory_375663.html
Associated Press: PARTICIPANTS in a major conference in Indonesia this week have a rare opportunity to seek political commitment to utilizing the world's oceans in the fight against climate change, a top official from the host country said. The World Ocean Conference that opened on Monday in the northern city of Manado will shape the scientific debate ahead of final negotiations to replace the UN treaty on global warming in Copenhagen, Denmark, in December. The Kyoto Protocol, the most important ...

Tue, 12 May 09
Mekong Delta braces for storm season swayed by climate change
http://www.thanhniennews.com/society/?catid=3&newsid=48685
Thanh Nien Daily: Weather experts are worried that Mekong Delta residents remain indifferent to or unaware of the threat posed by climate change to the upcoming storm season. Bui Minh Tang, director of the Central Hydrometeorology Forecast Center, told a seminar in Can Tho City Monday that the delta would face bigger storms than usual because of climate change. He said it was dangerous that residents are not taking the threat seriously enough. Nguyen Huu Loi, vice chairman of the Can Tho ...

Tue, 12 May 09
Climate change could sting allergy, asthma sufferers
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2009-05-11-climate-allergies_N.htm
USA Today: Global warming is making pollen seasons last longer, creating more ozone in the air, and even expanding the areas where insects flourish, putting more people with bee allergies at greater risk, experts say. 10 STEPS: Minimize impact of spring allergies on you ON THE WEB: Track pollen levels near you with National Allergy Bureau "Climate change will cause impacts in every area. Wet areas will get wetter, and drier climates are getting drier," said Dr. Jeffrey Demain, director of ...

Tue, 12 May 09
How to save energy: plug in a new gadget
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/how-to-save-energy-plug-in-a-new-gadget-1683126.html
Independent (UK): Smart meters, which show electricity and gas consumption at a glance, are to be installed in every home in Britain by 2020 in an attempt by the Government to cut energy use. A massive rollout programme, beginning in 2012, will see all the country's 26 million households fitted with 48 million new meters -- 26 million for electricity and 22 million for gas -- at a total cost of between £7bn and £9bn. Several million businesses will also receive the new devices. The move, which ...

Tue, 12 May 09
Changes In The Sun Are Not Causing Global Warming, New Study Shows
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/05/090511122425.htm
ScienceDaily: With the U.S. Congress beginning to consider regulations on greenhouse gases, a troubling hypothesis about how the sun may impact global warming is finally laid to rest. Carnegie Mellon University's Peter Adams along with Jeff Pierce from Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada, have developed a model to test a controversial hypothesis that says changes in the sun are causing global warming. The hypothesis they tested was that increased solar activity reduces cloudiness by ...

Tue, 12 May 09
Retailers still shun sustainable palm oil
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2242047/retailers-buying-sustianable
Business Green: Despite a number of high-profile commitments to increase the use of sustainable palm oil, only one per cent of the sustainably certified palm oil available on the market today has been bought, according to figures released today by the WWF. Certified Sustainable Palm Oil (CSPO) has been available since November 2008 and provides assurance that tropical forests have not been cleared during its production. But many retailers are shunning palm oil from sustainably certified plantations ...

Tue, 12 May 09
Europe Imagines Its Suburbs Without the Car
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=127157
New York Times: Residents of this upscale community are suburban pioneers, going where few soccer moms or commuting executives have ever gone before: they have given up their cars. Street parking, driveways and home garages are generally forbidden in this experimental new district on the outskirts of Freiburg, near the Swiss border. Vauban's streets are completely "car-free" – except the main thoroughfare, where the tram to downtown Freiburg runs, and a few streets on one edge of the community. Car ...

Tue, 12 May 09
Nations Prepare Proposals For New UN Climate Plan
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1686649/nations_prepare_proposals_for_new_un_climate_plan/index.html?source=r_science
redOrbit: Most nations have submitted less-than-ambitious proposals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the months leading up to the UN convention on climate change in Copenhagen in December. Australia on Monday announced plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 while postponing its carbon emissions trading plans by a year to mid-2011. The country cited the ongoing economic recession in its decision. According to Reuters calculations, international plans amount to average ...

Tue, 12 May 09
Boxing clever: every UK household may get smart meter for gas and electricity
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/may/11/smart-meters-gas-electricity
Guardian: Every home in the UK must be fitted with a "smart meter" by 2020 to reduce energy use and pave the way for a low-carbon "smart grid" under plans unveiled by the government today. The new meters will send information on real-time electricity and gas use in households and small businesses direct to utility companies, eliminating the need for customers to stay at home for meter readings or receive overestimated bills. However, consumers are likely to pick up some of the costs of the ...

Tue, 12 May 09
Floods in Brazil point to climate change: Lula
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gWjfSjp-KK1gekMdfU_YqoENCJqg
Agence France-Presse: Flooding that has left 44 dead in northern Brazil and the worst drought in eight decades in the south of the country are signs of climate change, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said Monday. "Brazil is feeling climate changes that are happening in the world, when there is a deep drought in a place where there's never been one, when it rains in places where it never rains," he said in his weekly radio program. He was speaking as northern Brazil struggled with ...

Tue, 12 May 09
House Dems edge closer to consensus on climate and energy bill
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=127150
ClimateWire: House Democrats are within sight of an agreement on key pieces of a major energy and climate change bill as the Memorial Day deadline for an Energy and Commerce Committee markup draws near. Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) is trying to produce a draft of the legislation this week, and Democratic aides said Friday that the first of several consensus points may be unveiled as early as today. But they also urged caution considering several false alarms late last week when similar deals ...

Tue, 12 May 09
Agro-forestry study may open carbon market to poor
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE54A3MH20090511?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: International researchers launched a $12 million study on Monday intended to help many of the world's poorest farmers benefit from multi-billion dollar schemes to limit emissions of greenhouse gases. The 18-month Carbon Benefits Project will examine rural sites in Kenya, Niger, Nigeria and China to see how much carbon is stored in trees and soil when land is managed sustainably. It is led by the U.N. Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the ...

Tue, 12 May 09
United Kingdom: Energy firms seek opt-out on 2025 deadline
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/may/11/energy-carbon-capture-ccs-miliband
Guardian: Energy companies will lobby the government for a get-out clause from the deadline to fully fit carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology to new coal plants by 2025 because they are worried it might not work in time. Companies, including German-owned groups E.ON and RWE npower, want guarantees that they will not be forced to close their coal-fired plants in 2025 if the technology has not been proven by then. They will call on energy and climate change secretary, Ed Miliband, ...

Tue, 12 May 09
Firms exact climate price
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090511/ap_on_go_co/us_climate_lobbying
Associated Press: Utilities, steelmakers and oil industry lobbyists have tried to ease the pain of President Barack Obama's push to curb global warming, and they've gotten an early return on the millions of dollars they've spent influencing Congress. Lawmakers determined to get a deal on climate change are going along with valuable concessions to polluters. It's part of the political trading necessary when powerful industries are involved. The firms, many of which depend on coal -- the biggest ...

Tue, 12 May 09
United States: EPA to oversee cleanup of TVA coal ash spill
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090511/ap_on_re_us/us_coal_ash_spill
Associated Press: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will oversee the cleanup of a massive coal ash spill in Tennessee that brought national attention to the environmental risks of storing the power plant byproduct. New EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said Monday the federal agency is taking charge and "bringing to bear its resources and expertise" under the federal Superfund law. So far, the EPA has been assisting state regulators with the cleanup of 5.4 million cubic yards of coal ash ...

Tue, 12 May 09
Canada: Global warming critics appointed to science boards
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090511.wscience11/BNStory/politics/?page=rss&id=RTGAM.20090511.wscience11
Globe and Mail: Top Canadian scientists are accusing the Harper government of politicizing science funding and jeopardizing climate research by naming global warming critics to key boards that fund science. The government's actions are "dreadful," said Garry Clarke, a leading international glaciologist at the University of British Columbia, and undercut public pledges to tackle climate change. "Their mouths are doing one thing and their hands are doing something different," Prof. Clarke ...

Tue, 12 May 09
United Kingdom: Energos secures approval for flagship waste-to-energy plant
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2242023/energos-secures-approval
Business Green: UK waste-to-energy specialist Energos is seeking fresh investment after the company last week secured planning approval for a new £40m advanced gasification plant at Knowsley on Merseyside. Speaking to BusinessGreen.com, managing director Nick Dawber said the company was looking to get financing in place for the new facility, alongside contracts to sell the energy produced by the plant, and ensure it has access to secure waste streams. He said that work on the plant was ...

Tue, 12 May 09
Shifting their energies
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=127129
New York Times: In 2003, when Foundation Capital, a venture capital firm, started looking for new investors for Silver Spring Networks, one of its portfolio of companies, it was rejected by every firm it called. Investors in clean technology were just not excited about Silver Spring, because it makes hardware and software that utilities use to connect electric meters in a digital grid. They were more interested in companies that envisioned making energy from the sun's rays, algae or tropical ...

Tue, 12 May 09
Energy secretary Chu announces biofuel investment
http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/energy/2009/05/05/energy-secretary-chu-announces-biofuel-investment.html
U.S. News and World Report: Energy Secretary Steven Chu this morning announced that the Department of Energy is investing nearly $800 million of stimulus funds in advanced biofuel research, development, and test projects. Of that spending, about $480 million will be directed at demonstration-scale biorefineries to help test new ethanol technologies and attract private investment. "If you look at the great resources in the U.S., our agriculture resources are one of them," Chu said. "We have an incredible capacity ...

Tue, 12 May 09
Northwest Passage traverse to document climate change
http://www.thestarphoenix.com/Business/Northwest%20Passage%20traverse%20document%20climate%20change/1582879/story.html
Winnipeg Free Press: A reporter who grew up on a turkey farm in Manitoba's Interlake region has quit his job and invested his life savings in a journey through the Northwest Passage to draw attention to climate change. On June 6, Cameron Dueck and his four-member crew will set sail from Victoria, B.C. for the 7,000-nautical-mile expedition to Halifax through Canada's warming North, documenting the changes of the lives of the people whose homes are along the way. "I put all my life savings into it ...

Tue, 12 May 09
Canada: Noise protesters howling about windfarms
http://www.thestar.com/Business/article/632161
Toronto Star: High-school teacher Sandy MacLeod is near tears as she reaches into her coat pocket and pulls out a plastic bag filled with a dozen or so orange earplugs. "I wear these every single night," she says, though occasionally she'll "switch to headphones" to muffle the sound of the wind turbine near her home. "But it doesn't matter. The noise still gets into your ears." And, she insists, it's making her sick. Standing at the entrance of the Ontario Legislature, enduring rain ...

Tue, 12 May 09
Coal-plant decision fires up critics
http://www.kansascity.com/news/politics/story/1189377.html
Kansas City Star: After only six days in office, Kansas Gov. Mark Parkinson did last week what state legislators couldn`t do in two years: resolve the rancorous row over Western Kansas coal plants. But the Democrat also succeeded in angering some in his own party and environmental groups that had viewed Parkinson as their champion. After all, they`d repeatedly fought off the coal plant project, then saw Parkinson give in for environmental concessions they view as inconsequential. The Parkinson ...

Tue, 12 May 09
Paradise lost: Islanders prepare for the flood
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20227071.200-paradise-lost-islanders-prepare-for-the-flood.html
New Scientist: TWO years ago, the Maldives became the first nation in the world to open an embassy on a virtual island in Second Life. What started as a gimmick could become a tragic reality in coming decades, as sea level rise reduces the entire country to a virtual state. Global greenhouse gas emissions have already committed the residents of the Maldives to a watery future: ocean expansion due to warming has raised sea levels enough to regularly deluge the islands, and melting glaciers will only make ...

Tue, 12 May 09
VC spending for alternative energy tumbles 63 pct
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090511/ap_on_bi_ge/us_venture_capital_energy
Associated Press: Venture capitalists reined in spending on renewable energy to begin the year, with funding for research and startup projects falling 63 percent through March, according to an industry report released Monday. It is the latest indicator of just how badly the global economic downturn has dampened the rush toward alternatives to fossil fuels. Oil and gas companies have also been hurt as overall demand for energy has fallen in the recession. From January to March, venture ...

Tue, 12 May 09
Ocean deserve more attention in fighting climate change, experts say
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,4242932,00.html?maca=en-en_nr-1893-xml-atom
Deutsche Welle: The first World Ocean Conference in the Indonesian city of Manado is hoped to draw attention to what many experts say has been a much-overlooked aspect of the global response to climate change. "Basically if you didn't have oceans you wouldn't have a climate... that sort of link and understanding isn't being talked about in climate change discussions," Jacqueline Alder, head of the marine unit of the United Nations Environment Program told news agency AFP. The conference, which ...

Tue, 12 May 09
United Kingdom: Smart meter revolution will cut energy cost
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/smart-meter-revolution-will-cut-energy-cost-1682843.html
Reuters: Every household in Britain should by 2020 be able to cut its energy bills and carbon footprint using "smart meters" and handheld devices to control energy use closely, the government said today. Britain plans to replace all existing electricity and gas meters -- often clunky objects hidden away amid domestic clutter in dark understairs cupboards - with easily viewed devices that show consumers exactly how much energy they are using, including by individual appliances. The hope ...

Tue, 12 May 09
Canada: Ottawa to push ethanol, despite concerns
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090511.wrethanol11art1927/BNStory/energy/?page=rss&id=RTGAM.20090511.wrethanol11art1927
Globe and Mail: Ottawa is set to push ahead with a plan to dramatically increase the use of grain-based ethanol, despite growing controversy over the greenhouse gas emissions that result from agricultural practices used to grow the feedstock grains. Environment Minister Jim Prentice has won cabinet approval to proceed with regulations requiring refiners to include at least 5 per cent ethanol in their gasoline by September, 2010, sources say. A spokesman for Mr. Prentice's office said the Minister had ...

Tue, 12 May 09
Global ocean talks underway in Indonesia
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5inwDVzZ7tZR_fVNXKjyd1SiUZzGg
Agence France-Presse: A key global conference on oceans opened Monday in Indonesia with a warning that climate change will accelerate the destruction of already precious marine resources. Officials and ministers from more than 70 countries are meeting over five days in the port of Manado in a bid to influence crucial climate change talks in Denmark in December. It is being touted as the first time they have got together to consider how rising temperatures could impact sea levels and dwindling fish ...

Tue, 12 May 09
The Andes' triple bottom line
http://wwwp.dailyclimate.org/tdc-newsroom/2009/05/the-andes-triple-bottom-line
Daily Climate: Seventeen years ago, Liliana Salvador Ibáñez's year-old son came down with a high fever, then broke out with bleeding lesions on his legs. Four years later, his brother came down with the same illness, and a few years later a young niece died. All had bartonellosis, also known as Carrion's disease, which is caused by a bacterium transmitted by a sand fly. In this Andean mountain valley in central Peru, mothers observed that there was an outbreak every four years or so. The cycle ...

Tue, 12 May 09
In schools, a cautionary video about America's 'stuff'
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=127086
New York Times: The thick-lined drawings of the Earth, a factory and a house, meant to convey the cycle of human consumption, are straightforward and child-friendly. So are the pictures of dark puffs of factory smoke and an outlined skull and crossbones, representing polluting chemicals floating in the air. Which is one reason "The Story of Stuff," a 20-minute video about the effects of human consumption, has become a sleeper hit in classrooms across the nation. The video is a cheerful but ...

Tue, 12 May 09
Drought, politics trouble farmers in California
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=103950335
National Public Radio: California is in its third year of drought, and many farmers in the state's crop-rich Central Valley are looking at dusty fields, or worse, are cutting down their orchards before the trees die. Hardest hit is Westlands, the biggest irrigated region in the country, where much of the nation's fruit, nuts and produce come from. This year, farmers have been told they are getting only a small fraction of the water they need. And so a few weeks ago, Ty and Janet Lompa were doing the ...

Tue, 12 May 09
Obama Budget Sticks To Auctioning All CO2 Permits
http://planetark.org/enviro-news/item/52796
Reuters: President Barack Obama's $3.55 trillion budget, released on Thursday, retains his plan to cut climate-warming carbon dioxide emissions by auctioning off 100 percent of emission permits to industries. That is at odds with some in Congress, including members of Obama's own Democratic Party, who are pushing for 50 percent or more of those emissions to be given away in the early stages of the plan to ease the transition to a lower-carbon economy. Opponents fear that charging ...

Tue, 12 May 09
Researchers Eye Better Use For Biomass Than Ethanol
http://planetark.org/enviro-news/item/52798
Reuters: Using switchgrass and other biomass to power electric cars is three times more efficient and more environmentally friendly than using ethanol to power traditional gasoline cars, US scientists have found. Electric vehicles using biomass converted into electricity travelled 81 percent farther per acre of cropland than vehicles with internal combustion engines running on cellulosic ethanol, researchers in California found. A small sport utility vehicle could do 9,000 highway miles ...

Tue, 12 May 09
Spain Plans Changes To Renewable Energy Aid Rules
http://planetark.org/enviro-news/item/52799
Reuters: Spain plans to change rules on state aid for renewable energy generators, an industry ministry spokesman said on Friday, arousing fears in the sector that its lucrative subsidies may shrink. Under a new regulatory framework that has not yet been finally decided, the government could also change its targets for installed wind capacity, which are now at 20 gigawatts by 2012, rising to 40 GW in 2020, the spokesman said. "In theory, new targets would be set on an annual basis," he ...

Mon, 11 May 09
Environmentalists call for Coral Sea protection
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/05/11/2566076.htm?site=northqld
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: Environmentalists have renewed calls for the Coral Sea to be declared a protected area, claiming it could improve the health of the Great Barrier Reef. The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) says new research shows coral larvae can travel from the Coral Sea to the neighbouring Great Barrier Reef. WWF spokeswoman Lydia Gibson says the larvae can then repopulate parts of the reef under pressure from climate change and freshwater run-off. "This proves that the Coral Sea has a ...

Mon, 11 May 09
Hybrids Battle for Green
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124199018707904593.html
Wall Street Journal: With sales of hybrid vehicles sinking, a green-advertising battle is erupting between Toyota Motor's new Prius and Honda Motor's new Insight. Beginning today, Toyota, the world's largest auto maker, is rolling out a major U.S. ad push for its 2010 Prius, the third generation of the world's top-selling hybrid vehicle. The car hits dealerships in the coming weeks. The Prius television ads -- heavy on the special effects -- feature a utopian landscape made entirely of people; the ...

Mon, 11 May 09
Tidal Energy preps 1.2MW sea bed generator
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2241976/tidal-energy-preps-2mw-sea-bed
Business Green: UK startup Tidal Energy Limited is on track to begin construction of a full-scale prototype of its underwater turbine technology within the next two months, according to the company's recently appointed managing director. Speaking to BusinessGreen.com, Martin Murphy said that the company was close to finalising £8m in funding from renewable energy investment firm Eco2 and the Welsh government, which it plans to use to begin manufacture of its Delta Stream tidal stream ...

Mon, 11 May 09
China Emerges as a Leader in Clean Coal Technology
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=127075
New York Times: China`s frenetic construction of coal-fired power plants has raised worries around the world about the effect on climate change. China now uses more coal than the United States, Europe and Japan combined, making it the world`s largest emitter of gases that are warming the planet. But largely missing in the hand-wringing is this: China has emerged in the past two years as the world`s leading builder of so-called clean coal power plants, mastering the technology and driving down the ...

Mon, 11 May 09
United Kingdom: Conservationists bid to find out if corncrake's range is growing
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/5303100/Conservationists-bid-to-find-out-if-corncrakes-range-is-growing.html
Telegraph: The corncrake, a migratory bird which over-winters in Africa, was once common across the UK, but was hit by changes in agriculture in the 19th and 20th century, the RSPB said. Mechanised mowing allowed hay-making to be completed more rapidly, destroying the tall grass and meadow habitats the bird used for nesting and leading to a collapse in the population. Corncrakes became restricted to Hebridean islands on the west coast of Scotland, with good numbers on Lewis, North and ...

Mon, 11 May 09
United Kingdom: 'Green' power plants may burn palm oil
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/green-power-plants-may-burn-palm-oil-1682650.html
Independent (UK): The operators of Britain's first "biofuel" power plants are considering burning palm oil, which is blamed for causing rainforest destruction in south-east Asia. At least four new power stations are being planned around the UK to burn vegetable oils with the assurance that they will generate less pollution than burning climate-change-causing fossil fuels. Two that would power more than 50,000 homes, at Portland in Dorset and Newport in South Wales, are considering using palm ...

Mon, 11 May 09
Australia: Climate change 'cultural genocide' for Aborigines
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2009%5C05%5C11%5Cstory_11-5-2009_pg14_5
Agence France-Presse: Climate change would force Australia's Aborigines off their traditional lands, resulting in "cultural genocide" and environmental degradation, a human rights watchdog has warned. Australia's original inhabitants, whose cultures stretch back many thousands of years, Aborigines would be deeply affected by the impact of global warming, the government-funded Human Rights Commission said. Rising sea levels and soaring temperatures would make their homelands uninhabitable, severing ...

Mon, 11 May 09
EPA's New Biofuel Regs Could Curtail Industry
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=103893530&ft=1&f=1025
National Public Radio: Getting fuel from green plants seems like a great idea. But scientific research over the last few years shows that biofuels aren't necessarily helpful in combating global warming. Based on this data, the EPA has drafted new, tighter regulations that could make it harder for the biofuels industry to grow. In theory, biofuels themselves don't add any extra carbon to the atmosphere. Green plants take carbon dioxide out of the air, so when you burn them, the carbon dioxide just goes back ...

Mon, 11 May 09
Loss of glaciers
http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/sci-tech/16-loss-of-glaciers-hs-04
Dawn: It is up to the developed countries and emerging powers to arrest the slide before it is too late. -- White Star The initial deluge will be followed by drought and extreme privation, and possibly even war. As writer and social activist Arundhati Roy pointed out in Karachi on Friday, glacial melt in the Himalayas should be cause for serious concern in both India and Pakistan. The impact, when it comes, will be widespread and inflict massive suffering on other countries and ...

Mon, 11 May 09
Warming or warning signs?
http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/sci-tech/16-warming-or-warning-signs-hs-11
Dawn: During end of February 2009, ministers from industrialised countries visited Antarctica to examine the status of the ice clad continent. This move emanated from the growing concern related to global warming, and among the potential targets are the coastal mega cities located in the Asia Pacific region. During a workshop at Bangkok on the topic of 'Cities at Risk' during the same time period, experts and researchers from across the globe deliberated on the issues of climate change and ...

Mon, 11 May 09
United States: Firm banks on ethanol from wood, grass
http://www.concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090510/NEWS01/905100325
Concord Monitor: Mascoma Corp. in Lebanon says it has moved ahead of the pack in creating a commercially viable way of making ethanol, announcing a