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Climate war could kill nearly all of us, leaving survivors in the Stone Age
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jun/29/climate-war-lovelock
Guardian: In a small way, the plight of the British in 1940 resembles the state of the civilized world now. At that time we had had nearly a decade of the well-intentioned but quite wrong belief that peace was all that mattered. The followers of the peace lobbies of the 1930s resembled the environmentalist movements now; their intentions were more than good but wholly inappropriate for the war that was about to start. It is time to wake up and realize that Gaia, the Earth system, is no cozy ...
Tue, 30 Jun 09
Rising seas to submerge New Orleans coastline by 2100
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jun/29/rising-sea-level-new-orleans
Guardian: A vast swath of the coastal lands around New Orleans will be underwater by the dawn of the next century because the rate of sediment deposit in the Mississippi delta can not keep up with rising sea levels, according to a study published today. Between 10,000 and 13,500 square kilometres of coastal lands will drown due to rising sea levels and subsidence by 2100, a far greater loss than previous estimates. For New Orleans, and other low-lying areas of Louisiana whose ...
Tue, 30 Jun 09
China recruits algae to combat climate change
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jun/28/china-algae-carbon-capture-plan
Guardian: The garish gunk coursing through a greenhouse filled with transparent pipes appears to belong on the set of a particularly slimy episode of Star Trek. Multiplying rapidly as it flows through tubes, stacked 14 high in four long rows, the organism thickens and darkens like the bioweapon of a deranged scientist. But this is not a science fiction horror story, it is one of humankind's most ambitious attempts to recruit algae in the fight against climate change. Developed by ...
Tue, 30 Jun 09
Climate Change Hits Hard On Food Production
http://allafrica.com/stories/200906290280.html
New Times: Developing countries like Rwanda need to conserve as much water as it can sustain so as to counteract the problems of global warming and maintain its agriculture at a level commensurate to the needs of the whole population. Rwanda being a hilly, makes it possible to collect water from the steep landscape, conserve it and used for agriculture and domestic purposes. However, during wet periods, we tend to neglect running water. There is now need to think beyond traditional level ...
Tue, 30 Jun 09
Week-long heatwave to send temperatures soaring in the UK
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8122969.stm
BBC: A heatwave warning has been issued for England and Wales, with temperatures in some areas potentially rising as high as 32C (90F) in the coming days. The Met Office says London, the east and south-east of England will be the hottest areas, both by day and night. Warm and humid weather is also forecast throughout the rest of the UK, with a risk of thundery showers. The Department of Health has asked people to check on elderly friends and family who may suffer in the ...
Tue, 30 Jun 09
Losing Louisiana
http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/45059/description/_Losing_Louisiana
ScienceNews: Residents of Louisiana, take note: If engineers don't divert sediment-rich waters from the Mississippi River to help replenish a sinking river delta, about 10 percent of your state will slip beneath the waves by the end of this century. However, even if the engineers do try to abate the subsidence, the Mississippi doesn't carry enough sediment to offset more than a small fraction of that loss, a new analysis suggests. Over the past few centuries, about a quarter of the wetlands in the ...
Tue, 30 Jun 09
South Australia most vulnerable to climate change
http://www.abc.net.au/rural/news/content/200906/s2611054.htm
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: South Australia is one of the most vulnerable regions in the world when it comes to climate change. This has come from leading climate change expert, Professor Tim Flannery, who will be speaking in the state this week. Professor Flannery says there are several reasons why South Australians need to be alert to climate change. "Severe water problems in the region, you're at the bottom of a catchment that's been very seriously impacted by climate change and of course you're ...
Tue, 30 Jun 09
Obama Warns Against Trade Penalties in Energy Bill
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=131428
New York Times: President Obama on Sunday praised the energy bill passed by the House late last week as an "extraordinary first step," but he spoke out against a provision that would impose trade penalties on countries that do not accept limits on global warming pollution. "At a time when the economy worldwide is still deep in recession and we've seen a significant drop in global trade," Mr. Obama said, "I think we have to be very careful about sending any protectionist signals out there." He ...
Tue, 30 Jun 09
United Kingdom: Batteries included: Are eco-friendly cars any good?
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/motoring/features/batteries-included-are-ecofriendly-cars-any-good-1722687.html
Independent (UK): The first shot of the electrical car revolution was fired on 10 January 1985. Rather than change the world, it hit a wall of media criticism, ricocheted against several bricks of public abuse and pinged back to strike its originator between the eyes. It was the winter morning when Sir Clive Sinclair, the eccentric, beady-eyed, ginge-bearded inventor of pocket calculators and microcomputers, introduced the Sinclair C5, the world's first electric car. It was an odd-looking thing, ...
Tue, 30 Jun 09
United Kingdom: Energy bills 'too low' to save climate
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jun/29/energy-bills-green-technology
Guardian: Consumers will need to pay more for energy if the UK is to have any chance of developing the technologies needed to tackle climate change, according to a group of leading scientists and engineers. In a Royal Society study to be published today, the experts said that the government must put research into alternatives to fossil fuel much higher among its priorities, and argued that current policy in the area was "half-hearted". "We have adapted to an energy price which is ...
Mon, 29 Jun 09
United Kingdom: The index that measures companies' shades of green
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article6590902.ece
Times (UK): COMPANIES in energy, chemicals, manufacturing and engineering have emerged as Britain's unlikely low-carbon leaders, according to a set of new environmental investment indexes launched by FTSE Group this month. The market-information specialist has created 18 new green indexes. The main international index, the FTSE Environmental Opportunities index comprises 472 companies from around the world, 30 of which are listed in Britain. Among them are Oxford Instruments, the technology ...
Mon, 29 Jun 09
President Barack Obama clears major global warming hurdle
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/5664258/Obama-clears-climate-change-hurdle.html
Telegraph: It is the first major action by the US to address climate change. The legislation, approved by the House of Representatives, would force American industries to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and other greenhouse gases, but the plans have drawn the ire of critics. Republicans argue that they would destroy jobs. The Senate must now approve the legislation, and the president used his weekly radio and internet address yesterday to urge it to do so. The President ...
Mon, 29 Jun 09
United States: State leads the way in climate-change rules
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/06/27/MNMI18EHU9.DTL
San Francisco Chronicle: When California passed sweeping laws to fight global warming nearly three years ago, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and other state politicians hoped the move would force a reluctant federal government to act. They got their wish. The landmark climate-change bill approved Friday by the House of Representatives copies whole chapters from California's global warming playbook. Its limits on greenhouse gas emissions are similar to those in the state. So is the method for cutting ...
Mon, 29 Jun 09
Fiat retrofits Chrysler engine, shelves 'dinosaurs' to save gas
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/business/s_631378.html
Bloomberg: Rinaldo Rinolfi may have the key to making Fiat SpA's partnership with Chrysler Group LLC work. The 62-year-old engineer, who designed the Fiat diesel engine in the 1990s that became an industry standard and powers some of Europe's most energy-efficient cars, has a new invention he says will cut fuel consumption by at least 10 percent. His work is at the heart of the Fiat technology that Chrysler said was worth $10 billion when they formed the alliance. "We needed to do ...
Mon, 29 Jun 09
United States: Obama aide's husband lobbied for oil drilling
http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20090628/ARTICLE/906281026/-1/NEWSSITEMAP
Herald Tribune: Florida looked to have the ultimate ace in the hole on oil drilling. CAROL M. BROWNER Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate Change Age: 53 Hometown: Miami Family: Married since 2007 to Thomas Downey, former U.S. representative from New York (1975-93). Past positions 2007 - Chair of the Audobon Society 2000 - Worked for the Albright Group, a consulting firm in Washington, D.C. 1993 - Named head of the Environmental Protection ...
Mon, 29 Jun 09
Axelrod expects Senate to tackle health care first
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090628/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_axelrod_climate_bill
Associated Press: A top presidential adviser says it probably will be the fall before the Senate deals with a major climate change bill that just passed the House. White House aide David Axelrod says he thinks health care overhaul will be the first thing on senators' agenda. He says both the House and Senate are well down the road on an overhaul plan. Axelrod says Obama wants both issues addressed because they will help build a stronger foundation for the U.S. economy over the long ...
Mon, 29 Jun 09
Climate change bill may be election-year issue
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=131405
New York Times: As Democrats strained to win over crucial holdouts on the way to narrow, party-line approval of global warming legislation, they were dogged by a critical question: Has the political climate changed since 1993? Veteran members of both parties vividly remember when many House Democrats, in the early months of the Clinton administration, reluctantly backed a proposed B.T.U. tax – a new levy on each unit of energy consumed – only to see it ignored by the Senate and seized as a campaign ...
Mon, 29 Jun 09
Beetles add new dynamic to forest fire control efforts
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=131404
New York Times: Summer fire seasons in the great forests of the West have always hinged on elements of chance: a heat wave in August, a random lightning strike, a passing storm front that whips a small fire into an inferno or dampens it with cooling rain. But tiny bark beetles, munching and killing pine trees by the millions from Colorado to Canada, are now increasingly adding their own new dynamic. As the height of summer fire season approaches, more than seven million acres of forest in the United ...
Mon, 29 Jun 09
United States: Legislature must act to keep solar glowing
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/06/27/ED2416TQUI.DTL
San Francisco Chronicle: One of the keys to the expansion of solar power has been the opportunity for homeowners and businesses to receive credits for the amount of excess electricity they send back to the grid. This incentive - known as a "net metering" requirement - was broadened under the 2006 California Solar Initiative, which was designed to put the state in the forefront of alternative energy generation. That law required investor-owned utilities, such as the Pacific Gas & Electric Co., to provide such ...
Mon, 29 Jun 09
TERI chief says Indian Army's biggest enemy is climate change
http://sify.com/news/fullstory.php?a=jg2nu5ibcgh
Asian News International: Dr. R.K. Pachauri, Director General of The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) and Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), has warned the Indian Army that climate change could prove to be their biggest enemy, as melting snow could open a new passage for terrorists. "Climate change poses new threats to India. Melting snows in the north open up passages for terrorists, just as melting glaciers affect water supply in the subcontinent's northern part, ...
Mon, 29 Jun 09
Air Pollution From Freeway Extends One And A Half Miles Away
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090618172409.htm
ScienceDaily: Environmental health researchers from UCLA, the University of Southern California and the California Air Resources Board have found that during the hours before sunrise, freeway air pollution extends much further than previously thought. Air pollutants from Interstate 10 in Santa Monica extend as far as 2,500 meters -- more than 1.5 miles -- downwind, based on recent measurements from a research team headed by Dr. Arthur Winer, a professor of environmental health sciences at the UCLA ...
Mon, 29 Jun 09
Australian PM hails U.S. greenhouse bill passage
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE55R0AE20090628?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on Sunday hailed as an example to Australia the U.S. House of Representatives passage of a bill to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the United States. Rudd's Labor government is struggling to get its own emissions trading scheme approved by parliament, and the deadlock is being watched around the world ahead of climate change talks in Copenhagen in December. Commenting on the U.S. bill's passage on Friday in Washington, Rudd urged ...
Mon, 29 Jun 09
Germany at a More Real Climate Crossroads
http://www.culturechange.org/cms/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=469&Itemid=65
Culture Change: More vital news from Germany: besides the creation of a car free city (Vauban), Chancellor Merkel is holding Obama's feet to the fire to do more to halt greenhouse-gas emissions -- even as she faces domestic protest regarding sacrosanct coal power. Germany's entire society enjoys a better quality of life than the U.S. thanks to generous vacations while using half the energy per capita used by U.S. citizens. But all is not well in Germany due to economic and demographic stress combined ...
Sun, 28 Jun 09
Obama, Germany's Merkel Find Much to Discuss
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/26/AR2009062604348.html?wprss=rss_nation
Washington Post: President Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel discussed the chaotic situation in Iran, climate change, the world economic crisis and the war in Afghanistan during an Oval Office meeting and lunch, the two told reporters yesterday. The president intensified his criticism of Iran's crackdown on protesters challenging the June 12 election in which President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was declared the landslide victor. Obama brushed aside Ahmadinejad's demand that he apologize for ...
Sun, 28 Jun 09
The oil intensity of food
http://www.grist.org/article/the-oil-intensity-of-food/
Grist: Today we are an oil-based civilization, one that is totally dependent on a resource whose production will soon be falling. Since 1981, the quantity of oil extracted has exceeded new discoveries by an ever-widening margin. In 2008, the world pumped 31 billion barrels of oil but discovered fewer than 9 billion barrels of new oil. World reserves of conventional oil are in a free fall, dropping every year. As I note in my latest book Plan B 3.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization, ...
Sun, 28 Jun 09
China welcomes US climate change bill: official
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-06/27/content_11609008.htm
Xinhua: China welcomes a U.S. climate change bill and hopes it would take stronger measures to cut carbon emissions, Xie Zhenhua, deputy chief of the National Development and Reform Commission, said Friday. "We think we should give a positive evaluation to the bill," Xie said during a group interview. "But in the area of tackling climate change, especially on the issue of cutting emissions, if the U.S. could take some more positive and stronger measures, it would give a bigger impetus to the ...
Sun, 28 Jun 09
US House supports emissions bill
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8121528.stm
BBC: The legislation will put curbs on pollution and apply market principles to attempts to tackle global warming. It was passed by a narrow margin of 219 votes to 212. President Barack Obama said the vote represented "enormous progress". But the bill still has to be passed by the US Senate before it can become law, and it faces another tough fight. "Today the House of Representatives took historic action with the passage of the American Clean Energy and Security Act," Mr ...
Sun, 28 Jun 09
Obama's US climate change bill passes key Congress vote
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jun/27/barack-obama-climate-change-bill
Guardian: America has taken historic action against climate change, with the US Congress voting to reduce the carbon emissions that cause global warming. The house of representatives has voted 219 to 212 to bind the US to cutting carbon emissions by 17% from 2005 levels in 2020 and 83% in 2050. It will also set up a national cap and trade system. Democrats claimed the bill – the first such measure ever to win a vote in Congress – as an important victory. "The house has passed the ...
Sun, 28 Jun 09
Democrats in final push on landmark energy bill
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/democrats-in-final-push-on-landmark-energy-bill-1721555.html
Independent (UK): The United States was preparing to step out of the foot-dragging column in the global climate change debate as members of Congress appeared poised late last night to push through a landmark energy bill to impose strict limits for the first time on greenhouse emissions from all polluting industries. Democratic leaders were optimistic that after weeks of fence-sitters in the party having their arms twisted by President Barack Obama among others, they had enough votes to ensure passage ...
Sun, 28 Jun 09
In Close Vote, House Passes Climate Bill
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/26/AR2009062600444.html?wprss=rss_nation
Washington Post: The House narrowly passed an ambitious climate bill yesterday that would establish national limits on greenhouse gases, create a complex trading system for emission permits and provide incentives to alter how individuals and corporations use energy. The bill passed 219 to 212 after a furious lobbying push by the White House and party leaders won over farm-state Democrats who had complained that it was too costly, and liberals who wondered if it was too watered down to work. Even after ...
Sun, 28 Jun 09
Key Provisions of the Climate Change Bill
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/26/AR2009062602746.html?wprss=rss_nation
Washington Post: The House yesterday passed a massive bill designed to cap U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. Among its provisions: -- Emissions from a large sector of the U.S. economy, including power plants, factories and auto tailpipes, would be required to be cut 17 percent below their 2005 levels by 2020, and 83 percent below those levels by 2050. -- These reductions would be managed by requiring emitters to amass buyable, sellable "credits" equal to their pollution. -- About 85 percent ...
Sat, 27 Jun 09
China lauds US climate bill but more action needed
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/international/asia_pacific/view/20090626china_lauds_us_climate_bill_but_more_action_needed/srvc=home
Associated Press: China's chief climate change official said today a major U.S. bill calling for nationwide limits on greenhouse gases is a key step forward but much more action will be needed to reach an agreement during talks on global warming at the end of the year. The U.S. House of Representatives will vote Friday on the landmark bill, which introduces sweeping legislation that would impose the first mandatory cap on U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. It would still have to pass the U.S. Senate before ...
Sat, 27 Jun 09
House Begins Climate-Change Debate Amid Lobbying
http://news.yahoo.com/s/bloomberg/20090626/pl_bloomberg/abt3wg_2gt8g
Bloomberg: The U.S. House began debating legislation to limit greenhouse-gas emissions as lawmakers remained divided and Democratic leaders tried to rally support. "We're not there yet," House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn of South Carolina said before the debate began. Several lawmakers reported receiving numerous phone calls yesterday and today, urging them to vote for or against the plan. "The need to act is clear and urgent," Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman said in ...
Sat, 27 Jun 09
Obama touts climate change bill in meet with Merkel
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090626/sc_afp/climateusgermanypoliticsobama
Agence France-Presse: US President Barack Obama, joined by visiting German Chancellor Angela Merkel, touted a climate change bill being debated by Congress Friday as representing "enormous progress" but said more needed to be done. "I'm the first one to acknowledge that the United States over the last several years has not been where we need to be," Obama said at a White House news conference after meeting with Merkel. But he said the bill before the House of Representatives that would create a "cap ...
Sat, 27 Jun 09
US House faces historic climate change vote
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090626/pl_afp/climateusenergypoliticscongress4th
Agence France-Presse: US lawmakers on Friday took up historic legislation to fight climate change as President Barack Obama's allies forecast a victory that would restore shaky US leadership on the global issue. The House of Representatives was expected to vote on the "cap and trade" bill, a cherished plank of Obama's domestic platform, late in the day amid Republican warnings that it would send energy prices soaring and kill US jobs. The popular president, who stopped short of guaranteeing passage, ...
Sat, 27 Jun 09
The Sky Is The Limit For Renewable Energy
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1712239/the_sky_is_the_limit_for_renewable_energy/index.html?source=r_science
redOrbit: Swiss adventurer, Bertrand Piccard, revealed on Friday the prototype of a solar powered plane that he plans to use as he embarks on an around the world flight demonstrating the possibilities of alternative energy. The prototype, HB-SIA, has the wingspan of a jumbo jet but only weighs as much as a mid-sized family car. The plane is powered by four electric motors and is designed to fly both day and night by storing extra energy from its 24,000 solar cells in high-performance ...
Sat, 27 Jun 09
China now taking climate change seriously: Barroso
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gqZa5a---VZZ5ZB-zDQ8RU120J_Q
Agence France-Presse: China, deemed vital to the fight against global warming, is now taking the issue of climate change "extremely seriously," EU Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso said Friday. Meanwhile US President Barack Obama had effected a "sea-change" on environmental policy there, he said. China had become "fully and constructively engaged in the international negotiations, while domestically it was pursuing very ambitious targets to reduce energy intensity by 20 percent under its current ...
Sat, 27 Jun 09
Growth of global carbon emissions halved in 2008, say Dutch researchers
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2244939/growth-global-carbon-emissions
Guardian: The growth of global carbon dioxide emissions fell by half in 2008, according to data released today. The global recession and high oil prices played a major role in reducing the rate of emissions. But measures to tackle global warming by cutting emissions such as renewable energy were only partly responsible. The data from the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (NEAA) also show that, for the first time, CO2 emissions from the developing world account for more than half of the ...
Sat, 27 Jun 09
With Outcome Uncertain, House Takes Up Climate Change Bill
http://news.yahoo.com/s/cq/20090626/pl_cq_politics/politics3154783
CQPolitics: Democratic leaders lobbied furiously to round up support Friday for one of their key legislative priorities as the House debated a comprehensive energy bill. With the outcome still in doubt, leaders sought out undecided members to win their votes in favor of the bill (HR 2454). The final tally is likely to be close -- only a handful of Republicans were expected to support the bill, and vulnerable Democrats were still weighing their options. President Obama was lobbying for ...
Sat, 27 Jun 09
Democrats hunting for enough climate bill votes
http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2009/06/26/climate_bill_debate_begins_in_us_house/?rss_id=Boston.com+--+Latest+news
Associated Press: The Democratic majority in the House of Representatives narrowly won a crucial test vote Friday and pushed for passage of sweeping legislation designed to combat global warming and usher in a new era of cleaner energy. Republicans said the bill included the largest tax increase in American history. President Barack Obama has made the measure a top priority of his first year in office, and aides lobbied for passage as debate unfolded on the House floor. At a White House meeting with ...
Sat, 27 Jun 09
Climate bill debate begins in U.S. House
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2009-06-26-climate-house_N.htm?csp=34
Associated Press: The House of Representatives has begun debating a historic and hotly contested lobal warming bill. Democratic leaders say it will usher in an era of cleaner energy in the United States. But Republican opponents called it "the largest tax increase in American history." Hours before the planned vote Friday, it was unclear whether the leader of the House, Speaker <kwd ...
Sat, 27 Jun 09
Japan to Take Leadership Role Toward Copenhagen
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47382
Inter Press Service: Environment Minister Tetsuo Saito talked to IPS about Japan giving technical and financial support to developing countries and its goal of cutting its greenhouse emissions by 15 percent below 2005 levels by 2020. Japan is the world's fifth- largest greenhouse gas emitter. The government is also busy preparing for a major U.N. climate change conference that will take place in Copenhagen in December to craft a framework to succeed the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which expires in ...
Sat, 27 Jun 09
Ukraine: Biofuels could clean up Chernobyl 'badlands'
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20227144.500
New Scientist: CONTAMINATED lands, blighted by fallout from the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, could be cleaned up in a clever way: by growing biofuels. Belarus, the country affected by much of the fallout, is planning to use the crops to suck up the radioactive strontium and caesium and make the soil fit to grow food again within decades rather than hundreds of years. A 40,000 square kilometre area of south-east Belarus is so stuffed with radioactive isotopes that rained down from the nearby Chernobyl ...
Sat, 27 Jun 09
British PM urges 100-billion-dollar global green fund
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090626/sc_afp/britainenvironmentpolitics
Agence France-Presse: British Prime Minister Gordon Brown Friday called for a global fund worth 100 billion dollars a year to tackle climate change in the developing world, ahead of crunch talks later this year. Brown warned that "the earth itself will be at risk" unless a conference in Copenhagen in December -- which aims to strike a new agreement on rolling back global warming -- reaches a strong accord. "If we are to achieve an agreement in Copenhagen, I believe we must move the debate from a ...
Sat, 27 Jun 09
The price of climate change
http://u.tv/News/The-price-of-climate-change/788735aa-3381-4368-9e81-69fe0be0f38f
UTV: The American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009, better known as the Waxman-Markey bill, is likely to come up for a vote today in the House of Representatives. Most environmentalists, who earlier this year were worried that Barack Obama had too much on his plate to tackle climate change, are heartened to see the bill moving forward. The bill includes renewable electricity standards, emissions reductions, a system for trading emissions permits and carbon offsets, investments in ...
Sat, 27 Jun 09
Obama: US lags behind Europe on climate change
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5h7y1xqc7SmR099HU1Aj9TTg4LrowD992FJ901
Associated Press: President Barack Obama says European nations have moved faster than the United States on global warming and that he'd like to see America play a greater leadership role. Obama told reporters at the White House Friday that he has been "very frank and blunt" with Chancellor Angela Merkel in explaining the obstacles that have gotten in the way of climate change efforts at home. Merkel said developed countries like the United States have an obligation to show leadership on climate ...
Sat, 27 Jun 09
A fight for the Amazon that should inspire the world
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-hari/johann-hari-a-fight-for-the-amazon-that-should-inspire-the-world-1715927.html
Independent: While the world nervously watches the uprising in Iran, an even more important uprising has been passing unnoticed -- yet its outcome will shape your fate, and mine. In the depths of the Amazon rainforest, the poorest people in the world have taken on the richest people in the world to defend a part of the ecosystem none of us can live without. They had nothing but wooden spears and moral force to defeat the oil companies -- and, for today, they have won. Here's the story of ...
Sat, 27 Jun 09
EU: we want US climate bill to succeed
http://www.philly.com/philly/wires/ap/news/nation_world/20090626_ap_euwewantusclimatebilltosucceed.html
Associated Press: The Europe Union wants a U.S. climate change bill to succeed so the United States can move swiftly to curb greenhouse gas emissions, EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said Friday. Barroso said Europe was closely watching U.S. lawmakers as they discuss the Waxman-Markey bill that would set up a cap-and-trade program to limit how much carbon dioxide power plants and other major polluters could release. "We want the U.S. to go as far and as fast as they can on climate ...
Sat, 27 Jun 09
A rough term in Supreme Court for environmentalists draws to a close
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=131147
Greenwire: Environmental interests were trounced in the 2009 Supreme Court term that ends Monday. In five high-profile cases, the justices overturned decisions that favored environmentalists. They ruled in favor of the Navy in a case pitting national security concerns against the welfare of marine mammals; limited the scope of liability for a Superfund cleanup; and reversed a decision that held no cost-benefit test could be used to determine the best technology for withdrawing water from rivers ...
Sat, 27 Jun 09
Surprise: Fish in acidic waters grow bigger ears
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/8577528
Associated Press: RANDOLPH E. SCHMID AP Science Writer= WASHINGTON (AP) â?? Listen up! Carbon dioxide being absorbed by the oceans is having a puzzling effect on fish â?? their ears get bigger. Now, that doesn't mean you're going to reel in the Mr. Spock of the sea. Fish ears are inside their bodies. But, as in humans, their ears perform a major role in sensing movement and whether the animal is upright â?? abilities that are important for survival. "It was a surprise," biological ...
Fri, 26 Jun 09
House Dems close to climate agreement
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2009/06/25/house_dems_close_to_climate_agreement/?rss_id=Boston.com+--+Latest+news
Associated Press: The nuclear industry, ethanol producers and rural electric cooperatives are among those who stand to benefit from eleventh-hour deals made by House Democrats in search of enough votes to pass a sweeping climate bill. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has made passage of the legislation, which would for the first time set limits on carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, one of her top priorities. The California Democrat said progress so far has been "a wonderful collaboration" ...
Fri, 26 Jun 09
Renault Samsung plans giant South Korean solar rooftop
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2244790/renault-samsung-motors-building
Business Green: Renault Samsung Motors has announced it is working on a 1.4MW rooftop solar station at its new logistics center in South Korea. The automaker -- a subsidiary of France's Renault -- said the installation would generate 1,387 MW of electricity a year upon its completion in September, supplying electricity to the company's logistics facility in the county of Haman, in South Gyeongsang province. Renault Samsung, South Korea's fourth largest auto maker, estimates the giant rooftop ...
Fri, 26 Jun 09
Sears Tower to undergo green makeover
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jun/25/sears-towers-chicago-green-renovation
Guardian: Wind turbines, roof gardens and solar panels will join the pair of antennas atop the Sears Tower's staggered rooftops in Chicago, said building officials who announced on Wednesday that the skyscraper would undergo a $350m green renovation. The five-year project would reduce the tower's electricity use by 80% and save 24 million gallons of water a year, building owners and architects said. Separately, a 50-storey, 500-room privately funded luxury hotel with its own green ...
Fri, 26 Jun 09
Offshore wind 'could power 19m homes'
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jun/25/offshore-wind-uk-homes
Press Association: The UK's seas could provide enough extra wind energy to power the equivalent of 19m homes, according to an assessment by the government. The government's strategic environmental assessment (Sea) confirmed projections that an extra 25GW of electricity generation capacity could be accommodated in UK waters. This would be in addition to the 8GW of wind power already built or planned offshore, bringing the potential total electricity capacity of offshore wind to 33GW – enough to ...
Fri, 26 Jun 09
United States: New jet biofuel hope in butanol
http://www.carbonpositive.net/viewarticle.aspx?articleID=1588
Reuters: An old pulp and paper mill in the US north-east is being turned to the production of much-vaunted second-generation biofuel, its owners hoping to become a pioneer in the production of green jet fuel. A venture capitalist along with researchers from the University of Maine are hoping to be the first to produce commercial viable quantities of bio-butanol from the state's forestry industry wood waste. The big hopes for biofuels lie in so called second generation techniques, where ...
Fri, 26 Jun 09
China will review planned dam that threatens fish
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090625/ap_on_re_as/as_china_dam
Associated Press: China's environment ministry said Thursday that it has ordered an ecological assessment for a proposed Yangtze River dam that conservationists fear could threaten hundreds of fish species and drive the giant Chinese sturgeon into extinction. Chinese environmentalists and scientists are trying to halt the Xiaonanhai dam, upstream from Chongqing city in mountainous western China, saying that it and two other dams would flood most of the last remaining fish reserve on the Yangtze, ...
Fri, 26 Jun 09
United Kingdom: Scotland passes world's "most ambitious" climate bill
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2244814/scotland-passes-world-ambitious
Business Green: Businesses in Scotland can expect to face significantly more demanding carbon emissions targets than their counterparts in the rest of the UK, after the Scottish Parliament passed a climate bill that is far more stringent than that adopted by Westminster. As with the UK bill the Scottish legislation sets a target of cutting emissions 80 per cent by 2050, but that target includes emissions from international shipping and aviation, while the UK will not formally decide whether ...
Fri, 26 Jun 09
United Kingdom: Friends of the Earth calls on councils to create 70,000 green jobs
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2244780/friends-earth-calls-councils
Business Green: Just a day after the government announced that the UK's offshore wind energy industry could support up to 70,000 jobs, new research from Friends of the Earth will argue that further 70,000 jobs could be created through council programmes to insulate homes and businesses. The research was undertaken by green consultancy Carbon Descent and is based on a detailed study of 65 local authority assessing the rate of deployment of cavity wall insulation, loft insulation and combined heat and ...
Fri, 26 Jun 09
Escaping the clean tech lock down
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/comment/2244779/escaping-clean-tech-lock
Business Green: In the build up to the G20 conference at the start of April, fear was spreading that, as the economic downturn hit home, countries would retreat into protectionism and inward dialogue, leaving world trade to sputter and economic growth to stall. As the G8 conference in L'Aquila, Italy, approaches, it seems that protectionism has largely been kept at bay, but it is sure to be an agenda topping item for the world's most powerful leaders. Alarmingly, there have been suggestions that ...
Thu, 25 Jun 09
United States: Pelosi pushes to pass climate-change bill this week
http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_12682220
Mercury News: With last-minute deals and some old-fashioned political muscle, Speaker Nancy Pelosi is pushing hard to get a comprehensive energy and climate change bill through the House by the end of the week. To get the bill passed, Pelosi and Rep. Henry Waxman have made concessions to agriculture, the biofuel industry and even oil refineries on emissions controls and rules. That has angered some environmentalists, who say the compromises weaken the bill and it won't do enough to reduce ...
Thu, 25 Jun 09
Researchers say increased biofuel production could harm water resources
http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-06-23-voa62.cfm
Voice of America: A new study by researchers at Rice University in Houston, Texas warns that expanded production of crops to produce biofuels could damage water resources. The researchers suggest policy makers take into account what they call the "water footprint" when encouraging biofuel development. The study is titled The Water Footprint of Biofuels: A Drink or Drive Issue? The suggestion is that by using too much water to produce fuel, humankind might leave itself with not enough water to drink or ...
Thu, 25 Jun 09
United States: Climate change threatens state's irrigation industry
http://www.theindependent.com/articles/2009/06/24/news/local/10137022.txt
Grand Island Independent: Irrigation is the lifeblood of Nebraska agriculture. But with Nebraska now the nation's leading irrigation state, a new federal report raises concerns that climate change could have a long-term impact on the state's groundwater reserves. Last year, Nebraska farmers achieved a total corn production of 1.39 billion bushels. Of that, 960 million bushels were grown on irrigated acres. The average irrigated acre had a yield of 184 bushels, compared to 130 bushels per acre for ...
Thu, 25 Jun 09
Agency says wildlife-rich Tennessee has lot to lose with global warming
http://www.tennessean.com/article/20090624/NEWS01/906240389/1017/NEWS03/Agency%20says%20wildlife-rich%20Tennessee%20has%20lot%20to%20lose%20with%20global%20warming
Tennessean: Brook trout, the state's only native trout, could disappear. Wood duck wouldn't be found as often raising their young along waterways and in wetlands. Drying of prairie potholes and marshes to the north could mean fewer mallard, northern pin-tail, blue-winged teal and other ducks migrating to Tennessee in winter, resulting in shorter hunting seasons. These are among many possibilities that the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency lists in a new report showing that ...
Thu, 25 Jun 09
U.S. gives go-ahead for offshore towers to study wind
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/home_region/20090624_U_S__gives_go-ahead_for_offshore_towers_to_study_wind.html
Philadelphia Inquirer: Proposed wind farms off the coast of New Jersey and Delaware took a major step forward yesterday when U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar gave four companies the right to build research towers offshore - the first such leases the agency has issued for the nation's outer continental shelf. The leases will allow the companies to gather crucial data on wind speeds and other meteorological information. Until now, the companies and New Jersey, which has agreed to invest $12 million ...
Thu, 25 Jun 09
Taiwan: 'Climate change is already here'
http://www.saipantribune.com/newsstory.aspx?newsID=91436&cat=1
Saipan Tribune: Tiny island nations in the Pacific are now feeling the impact of rising sea levels linked to climate change-from disappearing coastal villages to washed-out shores, flooded streets and taro patches, landslides and contamination of drinking water-even as the rest of the world are still thinking that climate change is far off into the future. "It's happening. Climate change is no longer a future thing. It's already here, it's already on our shores," said Joe Konno of the Federated ...
Thu, 25 Jun 09
The living dead - Australia's disappearing landscape
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0624-novich_australia.html
Mongabay: Gum trees dot the hills and valleys of south-eastern Australia, a vivid fixture of the rolling landscape. But despite the seeming health of these iconic trees, they have earned the morbid nickname "the living dead" among ecologists, who say natural changes and human actions are threatening the next generation of gum trees. The gum trees that are scattered through the landscape are naturally dying off at a rate of one to two percent each year. With no replacement, researchers fear more ...
Thu, 25 Jun 09
Obama calls on Democrats to back "historic" climate change bill
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2244733/obama-calls-democrats-back
Business Green: Capitol Hill officials are cautiously optimistic the Waxman-Markey climate change bill will be passed by the House of Representatives this Friday, after President Obama used a press conference to call on wavering Democrats to back the controversial legislation. Praising the "historic" bill, Obama said the new legislation, which includes binding emissions caps as part of a nationwide cap-and-trade scheme, would lead to a "transformation that will reduce our dependence on foreign oil ...
Thu, 25 Jun 09
Ozone Hole Reduces Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide Uptake In Southern Ocean
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090624093458.htm
ScienceDaily: Does ozone have an impact on the ocean's role as a "carbon sink"? Yes, according to researchers from three laboratories(1) attached to INSU-CNRS (2), UPMC, CEA, IRD, MNHN and UVSQ. Using original simulations, they have demonstrated that the hole in the ozone layer reduces atmospheric carbon uptake in the Southern Ocean and contributes to the increase in ocean acidity. These results, which are published online in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, should have a considerable ...
Thu, 25 Jun 09
West Coast needs more research on fisheries, marine science, climate change
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-06/uosc-wcn062409.php
EurekAlert: According to a new report on regional marine research and information needs, the West Coast critically needs more research about fisheries, ocean health, coastal hazards and climate change - among other topics - to support and protect the region's annual $32-billion ocean-related economy, according to a new report prepared by the region's four Sea Grant programs. The report, West Coast Regional Marine Research and Information Needs, is available online at: ...
Thu, 25 Jun 09
Ice on fire: The next fossil fuel
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20227141.100-ice-on-fire-the-next-fossil-fuel.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=climate-change
New Scientist: DEEP in the Arctic Circle, in the Messoyakha gas field of western Siberia, lies a mystery. Back in 1970, Russian engineers began pumping natural gas from beneath the permafrost and piping it east across the tundra to the Norilsk metal smelter, the biggest industrial enterprise in the Arctic. By the late 70s, they were on the brink of winding down the operation. According to their surveys, they had sapped nearly all the methane from the deposit. But despite their estimates, the gas ...
Thu, 25 Jun 09
Scotland agrees world's toughest 2020 climate goal
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE55N3ZV20090624?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Scottish lawmakers Wednesday backed a binding goal to cut greenhouse gases by 42 percent by 2020 from 1990 levels, edging Germany into second place in a ranking of the most ambitious developed world targets. Developing countries have demanded that rich nations take the lead in fighting climate change. They have so far been unimpressed with plans which show big gaps must be bridged to agree a global treaty in December to replace the Kyoto Protocol. Scotland's bill included an ...
Thu, 25 Jun 09
Historic Climate Change Bill Making Its Way Through The House
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1711057/historic_climate_change_bill_making_its_way_through_the_house/index.html?source=r_science
redOrbit: House Democrats working on quick legislation to combat global warming said on Tuesday a bill that would reduce industrial emissions of carbon dioxide was showing signs of progress, Reuters reported. President Barack Obama said at a midday White House press conference the "historic" climate change bill moving through the U.S. House of Representatives would "transform the way we produce and use energy in America." The president said the legislation would spark a "transformation ...
Thu, 25 Jun 09
Rich should compensate Africa for global warming: Ethiopian PM
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090624/sc_afp/g8summitafricaenvironmentclimate
Agence France-Presse: Rich countries should compensate Africa for the consequences of their carbon emissions on the world's poorest continent, Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said Wednesday. "My view is that Africa has been suffering from the consequences of carbon emissions in the developed world," Meles told a press conference. "There are some theories that the droughts of the 90s might have been influenced by a phenomenon of global warming caused by pollution in northern countries," added ...
Thu, 25 Jun 09
Plant making gas from wood opens in Austria
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090624/sc_afp/energygasenvironmentaustria
Agence France-Presse: A new plant that produces gas from wood was opened in Austria on Wednesday, paving the way towards new possibilities in renewable energy. According to its backers, the gas produced at the plant can be used in urban heating systems, for gas-powered cars or by power stations that work on gas. "We still need fossil fuel of course, but this plant shows what is technically possible," Austria's Environment Minister Nikolas Berlakovich said at the plant's inauguration. The ...
Thu, 25 Jun 09
Green group asks U.S. to bar Canada oil sands
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090624/wl_canada_nm/canada_us_usa_canada_oil
Reuters: An environmental group on Wednesday asked U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to deny permits for pipelines that would bring oil from Canada's oil sands to the United States. ForestEthics said production from Canadian oil sands, also known as tar sands, generates up to five times more greenhouse gas emissions than conventional oil. It said this conflicts with President Obama's pledge to tackle global warming. "Oil from the tar sands is one of the world's dirtiest," the ...
Thu, 25 Jun 09
US climate bill fights heats up as vote looms
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090624/pl_afp/climateusenergypoliticscongress
Agence France-Presse: Supporters of sweeping US legislation to fight climate change ramped up their push for a "green energy revolution" Wednesday with a vote on the massive bill expected at week's end. "We are going to create a green energy revolution -- not only for our country but for the entire world," Democratic Representative Ed Markey, one of the measure's lead authors, said with a vote due as early as Friday. The Massachusetts lawmaker was speaking at a press conference outside the Capitol ...
Thu, 25 Jun 09
Philippines: Climate change shortens fishing season
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/nation/view/20090625-212327/Climate-change-shortens-fishing-season
Philippine Daily Inquirer: The rapidly changing weather pattern blamed on global warming is hurting the fishing industry, depriving fishermen and their families not only of income but also their own places to live. However, the government seems unprepared to respond to the effects of global warming as well as to its impact on the population, mostly the poor, who are at risk, civil society groups said on Wednesday. In a study conducted three months ago on Camiguin Island, the umbrella group NGOs for ...
Thu, 25 Jun 09
What Will Obama Do on Climate Change?
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2009/06/what_will_obama_do_on_climate.html
Washington Post: I've been trying pretty hard to wrap my head around the politics of the climate change debate. No one, for instance, seems to think Waxman-Markey is, at this point, a particularly good bill, even as everyone agrees it's the best we're likely to get. No one has a particularly strong explanation of how it gets better as it winds its way through the legislative process. No one has a particularly compelling theory on how it gets strengthened over time. And even though Obama made the bill part of ...
Thu, 25 Jun 09
United States: Tallest U.S. building to get "green" retrofit
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE55N5R920090624?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: The tallest building in the Western Hemisphere will undergo a $350 million "green" retrofit that its owners said on Wednesday will make the 110-story office tower a beacon for environmentally sound space. Plans call for the 1,450-foot Sears Tower to reduce its electricity consumption by 80 percent and water usage by 40 percent. It will be renamed the Willis tower later this summer in a deal with new tenant global insurance broker Willis Group Holdings. To achieve the savings, ...
Thu, 25 Jun 09
Putting A Financial Spin On Global Warming
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=105834436&ft=1&f=1025
National Public Radio: Climate change is a potential environmental disaster -- but it's also potentially an economic opportunity. President Obama spoke of it in economic terms Tuesday when he urged the House of Representatives to pass legislation that would address global warming. "The nation that leads in the creation of a clean energy economy will be the nation that leads the 21st century global economy," he said. "That is what this legislation seeks to achieve. It is a bill that will open the door to a ...
Wed, 24 Jun 09
Liberia: 'Changes Africa' On Climate Change
http://allafrica.com/stories/200906231060.html
Concord Times: Coordinator for CHAGNES Africa has said in Freetown that his organization was very much determined to help fight climate change in the country. Julian Deigh told Concord Times that the issue of climate change must not be overlooked as it has a devastating effect on health and could affect the country's chance of achieving the millennium development goals (MDGs). He voiced the urgent need for government to address the impact of climate change on health, as it was one of the ...
Wed, 24 Jun 09
Tell Congress that the American Clean Energy and Security Act is not strong enough
http://www.culturechange.org/cms/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=463&Itemid=68
Culture Change: Editor's note: The Center for Biological Diversity is one of the few environmental groups Culture Change can endorse. So an activist alert from them has got to be well considered. The Center was part of the old Alliance for a Paving Moratorium, a ten-year project our office ran until 2001. Would you flip a coin to determine whether hundreds of thousands of species live or die? How about whether hundreds of millions of people are displaced and forced to live in misery? Congress ...
Wed, 24 Jun 09
Society faces 'irreversible' impact from climate change
http://www.theparliament.com/latestnews/news-article/newsarticle/society-faces-irreversible-impact-from-climate-change/
The Parliament: Society faces "serious risks" from climate change - even with a global increase in temperature of only about two degrees, according to a new report. The study, by the University of Copenhagen, said that if society wants to minimise these risks "action must be taken now". The launch of the 36-page document comes six months before the UN climate change conference (COP 15) begins in Copenhagen. "Even with only one to two degrees warming there is evidence pointing towards ...
Wed, 24 Jun 09
A Plea To President Obama: End Mountaintop Coal Mining
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-james-hansen/a-plea-to-president-obama_b_219300.html
The Huffington Post: The issue of mountaintop removal is so important that I and others concerned about this problem will engage in an act of civil disobedience on Tuesday, June 23rd at a mountaintop removal site in Coal River Valley, West Virginia...We must make clear to Congress, to the EPA, and to the Obama administration that we the people want mountaintop removal abolished and we want a move toward a rapid phase-out of coal emissions now. The time for half measures and caving in to polluting industries is ...
Wed, 24 Jun 09
Russia's weak target cements climate stalemate
http://www.carbonpositive.net/viewarticle.aspx?articleID=1587
Reuters: Russia's announcement of weak greenhouse targets further ingrains the obstacles standing in the way of new global climate accord due in Copenhagen in less than six months time. Russian president Dmitry Medvedev has become the latest leader to commit an industrialised country to an all-important 2020 "mid-term" target for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. But it's one that would see emissions rise, not fall, over the next decade. Medvedev set a target level of 10 to 15 per cent ...
Wed, 24 Jun 09
U.N. Launches "Seal the Deal" Campaign
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47340
Inter Press Service: Growing U.S. support for U.N. initiatives is raising hopes among those who want to see the world community take immediate and concrete action to tackle climate change, although their optimism is also tinged with scepticism. "So far, the response by the world's governments has been less than sufficient," said U.N. Secretary General-Ban Ki-moon at a news conference held outside the world body's headquarters in an open space filled with leafy trees. In pushing the U.N. agenda on ...
Wed, 24 Jun 09
Australia: Climate ball up in the air
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25680666-7583,00.html
Australian: IT is surprising to see the slow response of Climate Change Minister Penny Wong in fielding a team to counter the arguments assembled by Family First senator Steve Fielding's team of experts and presented on this page last week. At this stage we don't know whether the questions are too hard or she has opted for the regal approach of lofty silence. As a mere scientist, I'll join my colleague Neville Nicholls, whose letter was published in The Australian on Saturday, and step in where others ...
Wed, 24 Jun 09
Car makers fight EU ban on climate change chemicals
http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssConsumerGoodsAndRetailNews/idUSLN24261420090623
Reuters: Car makers are lobbying the European Union to delay an agreed 2011 ban on climate-damaging chemicals in car air conditioners, a letter from auto industry group ACEA shows. The move has aroused strong opposition from environmentalists and suppliers of greener engineering systems. The European Union ruled in 2006 that from 2011 it would ban the use of fluorinated chemicals, such as the industry standard known as R134a, which have a powerful climate-warming effect when released ...
Wed, 24 Jun 09
Government Moves To Strengthen Florida Levees
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=105808804&ft=1&f=1025
National Public Radio: Residents of the towns that line the southern rim of Florida's Lake Okeechobee know about the benefits and risks of living next to one of the nation's largest freshwater lakes. Many have relatives who survived the massive flood of 1926 -- and another, two years later, when a Category 4 hurricane blew through the area. Old mud dikes failed, killing at least 2,500 people. In 2005, the failure of levees in Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina hit led authorities to re-evaluate the ...
Wed, 24 Jun 09
Obama Lauds Energy Bill Before it Reaches House Floor
http://news.yahoo.com/s/cq/20090623/pl_cq_politics/politics3150987
CQPolitics: With the House set to take up a sweeping global warming bill later this week, President Obama weighed in Tuesday with an endorsement of what he called "historic" legislation that will "transform the way we produce and use energy in this country." "It's a bill that will open the door to a better future for this nation," Obama said. The president's comments at an afternoon news conference were part of an intense lobbying push by the White House and interest groups to win over ...
Wed, 24 Jun 09
UK firm plans to log habitat of critically endangered orangutan for palm oil production
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0623-tripa.html
Mongabay: A Scottish firm has been implicated in funding a plan that would destroy the rainforest habitat of critically endangered orangutans in Sumatra. Jardine Matheson Holdings is the majority shareholder of Astra Agro Lestar, a palm oil company that plans to develop the peatland forests of Tripa in Aceh Province for oil palm plantations. Environmentalists say conversion of the forest would destroy a biologically rich ecosystem that serves as a buffer against natural disasters in a region ...
Wed, 24 Jun 09
Obama urges passage of "historic" climate change bill
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2009/06/23/obama_urges_passage_of_historic_climate_change_bill/?rss_id=Boston.com+--+Latest+news
Reuters: President Barack Obama on Tuesday urged Congress to pass "historic legislation" to fight global warming, prompting his fellow Democrats in the House of Representatives to aim for a vote on Friday on the bill to reduce industrial emissions of carbon dioxide. At a midday White House press conference, Obama said the climate change bill moving through the House would "transform the way we produce and use energy in America." With incentives to encourage utilities, manufacturers and ...
Wed, 24 Jun 09
Copenhagen climate change treaty backed by 'Hopenhagen' campaign
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/jun/23/hopenhagen-climate-change-campaign
Guardian: The United Nations and an international coalition of advertising agencies today launched a global marketing campaign for the climate change treaty to be ratified in Copenhagen later this year. Launched under the umbrella strapline "Hopenhagen", the campaign aims to raise awareness of the importance of the UN meeting in Denmark in December. The meeting aims to secure a new global climate change treaty to replace the Kyoto protocol. UN representatives unveiled the campaign, in ...
Wed, 24 Jun 09
Sarkozy pledges to work for global deal on climate change
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hrnhGlTvyzbLFsqCNJn-HD_Dv5Wg
Agence France-Presse: French President Nicolas Sarkozy pledged Tuesday to work toward reaching a global deal on climate change at the Copenhagen conference in December. Sarkozy told Rajendra Kumar Pachauri, president of the Nobel prize-winning UN panel of climate experts, that the "challenge of a world agreement on climate change must be met," a statement from his office said. The French leader said the Group of Eight summit in Italy in July and a UN climate summit in September were key moments that ...
Wed, 24 Jun 09
U.S. to start financing efficient car design
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=130836
New York Times: After months of uncertainty, the Energy Department is beginning to lend money from a $25 billion loan program to develop fuel-efficient cars. Ford Motor Company, Nissan Motor Company and Tesla Motors are slated to get the first round of loans. Energy Secretary Steven Chu is scheduled to make the announcement of the loans on Tuesday, according to several wire service reports that quoted unnamed sources. Absent from the loan program are General Motors and Chrysler, two companies that ...
Wed, 24 Jun 09
Climate Bill to Cost Average Consumer $175 a Year: CBO
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/22/AR2009062202836.html
Washington Post: Climate-change legislation would cost the average household $175 a year by 2020, according to the Congressional Budget Office, far below the figure commonly used by GOP critics of the House bill. The CBO said yesterday that the poorest 20 percent of American households would actually receive a $40 benefit in 2020 from the legislation, which would establish a cap-and-trade system to limit greenhouse gas emissions, while the richest 20 percent of households would see a net cost of $245 ...
Wed, 24 Jun 09
Australia: Emissions losers to be left in the lurch
http://www.smh.com.au/environment/global-warming/emissions-losers-to-be-left-in-the-lurch-20090621-cslb.html
Sydney Morning Herald: THE State Government is moving to shield itself from being sued for any losses faced by investors because of the planned closure of the state's greenhouse gas abatement scheme, which could leave many businesses out of pocket. The state scheme is to be rolled into the Federal Government's planned emissions trading scheme, although environmental credits earned by some of the earliest investors in the NSW scheme will not be carried over, leaving them exposed to significant ...
Wed, 24 Jun 09
Patagonian glaciers melting at unprecedented rates
http://www.santiagotimes.cl/santiagotimes/index.php/2009062216532/news/environmental-news/chilean-glaciers-melting-at-unprecedented-rates.html
Santiago Times: The latest research expedition to the Southern Patagonia Ice Field revealed that alpine glaciers in the Chilean and Argentine Andes are disappearing at much faster rates than previously anticipated by the scientific community. Grey's Glacier meets Lake Grey in Patagonia's Torres del Paine National Park.Photo courtesy of Flickr, bigeoino A preliminary analysis by a team of scientists from NASA and Chile's Valdivia-based Center of Scientific Studies (CECS), which commenced an expedition to the ...
Wed, 24 Jun 09
Skeptical Farmers Complicate Climate Change Discussion
http://www.voanews.com/english/Science/2009-06-23-voa21.cfm
Voice of America: The White House on June 16 released a report it described as the most comprehensive to date on the effects of climate change in the United States. It says farmers and ranchers will be among the most affected. But some farm producers don't see it that way. The Earth's present carbon dioxide concentration of about 385 ppm is about 30 percent above its highest level over at least the last 800,000 years. Click to view full graph and explanation Jerry Melillo is one of the lead ...
Wed, 24 Jun 09
Climate change theory West's 'new religion'
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25681856-30417,00.html
Australian: A PROMINENT geologist Ian Plimer has labelled climate change theory an "ascientific, urban, religious, fundamentalist movement" promoted by academics and activists who would be "unemployable outside taxpayer-funded climate institutes". The University of Adelaide professor argued that climate change was a cyclical process and not the fault of human emissions in a speech at the NSW Parliament House last night. Professor Plimer made the speech, put on by the Sydney Institute, to ...
Wed, 24 Jun 09
UK climate change policies 'dangerously optimistic', MPs warned
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jun/23/anderson-climate-change-uk-emissions
Guardian: A leading UK climate scientist today warned MPs that the government's climate change policies are "dangerously optimistic". Professor Kevin Anderson, the director of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, said the government's planned carbon cuts – if followed internationally – would have a "50-50 chance" of limiting the rise in global temperatures to 2C. This is the threshold that the EU defines as leading to "dangerous" climate change. Anderson also said that the two ...
Wed, 24 Jun 09
Pelosi Takes A Gamble On Climate Change Bill
http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/06/23/politics/politicalhotsheet/entry5106372.shtml
CBS News: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has scheduled a floor vote for a controversial climate change bill for this week, even though some key Democrats may not yet be on board with the significant changes the legislation would make. Other Democratic leaders are still working out compromises in the bill, but Pelosi filed the legislation with the House Rules Committee Monday night, Politico reported, meaning the full House of Representatives will vote on the matter. The speaker has said she wanted ...
Wed, 24 Jun 09
Dem leaders confident, but no climate change deal
http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/dem-leaders-confident-but-no-climate-change-deal-2009-06-23.html
The Hill: Democratic leaders are expressing confidence they can patch together enough of an agreement to pass climate change legislation on the floor by Friday. But a deal has not been finalized. Democrats -- who are still courting centrist Republicans for potential votes -- are continuing to negotiate with Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson (D-Minn.) over a number of outstanding issues. Weekend negotiations between Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman ...
Wed, 24 Jun 09
European Climate Change Study Launched In Brussels
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1709998/european_climate_change_study_launched_in_brussels/index.html?source=r_science
redOrbit: Two new reports examining climate change adaptation and policy making across Europe will be launched today in Brussels in the presence of Peter Gammeltoft, Head of Unit 'Protection of Water & Marine Environment' at the European Commission. The preliminary conclusions of the research were used in the European Commission's White Paper on climate change, published in April 2009. The reports are published by the Partnership for European Environmental Research (PEER), a grouping of ...
Wed, 24 Jun 09
Obama calls on House to pass climate bill
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE55M4SS20090623?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: U.S. President Barack Obama on Tuesday called on the House of Representatives to pass a comprehensive climate change bill, which Democrats hope to debate and pass on Friday. "The nation that leads in the creation of a clean energy economy will be the nation that leads the 21st century global economy," Obama told reporters at a White House press conference. "And that is why I urge members of the House to come together and pass it," he added. The legislation aimed at ...
Wed, 24 Jun 09
House aims for Friday vote on climate bill
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE55M3XV20090623?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Democratic leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives hope to debate and pass a climate change bill on Friday, although negotiations were continuing with farm-state lawmakers who have concerns, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said on Tuesday. "It is quite possible and maybe even probable that we will go to the energy bill on Friday and complete the energy bill on late Friday," Hoyer told reporters. He was referring to the legislation that would cut carbon dioxide emissions ...
Wed, 24 Jun 09
Senate Panel Trims Interior-Epa Budget From House Levels
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=130802
New York Times: Legislation approved this morning by a Senate panel would slash environmental agencies' spending by $200 million from the levels approved by House appropriators. The measure approved unanimously today by the Senate Interior Appropriations Subcommittee requests $32.1 billion to fund the Interior Department, U.S. EPA and U.S. Forest Service for fiscal 2010, compared with the $32.3 billion requested in the measure approved by the House Appropriations Committee last week. The Senate ...
Wed, 24 Jun 09
Fuel cell firm turns to chemicals industry to tear down hydrogen barrier
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2244612/fuel-cell-firm-turns-chemicals
Business Green: One of the largest barriers to the adoption of fuel cell technologies could soon be overcome, according to a UK firm which claims to have successfully tested a new system capable of capturing waste hydrogen from the chemical industry. Despite their credentials as a zero emission technology, the commercialisation of hydrogen fuel cells has been consistently hampered by the energy intensive and costly nature of hydrogen production. However, UK-based AFC Energy is confident it has ...
Tue, 23 Jun 09
CBO: Climate bill costs to be modest
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2009/06/22/cbo_climate_bill_costs_to_be_modest/?rss_id=Boston.com+--+Latest+news
Associated Press: A nonpartisan congressional study projects only modest household cost increases as a result of a Democratic proposal to limit carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, contradicting claims by many Republican lawmakers that the climate legislation amounts to a huge energy tax on average Americans. The Congressional Budget Office report estimates that the proposed limits on greenhouse gases required by the House bill would produce a net additional cost to the economy of $22 billion a ...
Tue, 23 Jun 09
U.S. climate fix to cost consumers $175 a year: CBO
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE55L57O20090622?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Climate change legislation pending in Congress would cost U.S. households only about $175 annually in higher energy and consumer prices, far less than the $3,100 "burden" opponents have claimed would result, according to a Congressional Budget Office estimate. "The net annual economy wide cost of the cap and trade program in 2020 would be $22 billion, or about $175 per household," the CBO, which gives Congress nonpartisan advice about the impact of legislation under consideration, ...
Tue, 23 Jun 09
Megafauna demise blamed on humans
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8112885.stm
BBC: A fossil study of the extinct giant kangaroo has added weight to the theory that humans were responsible for the demise of "megafauna" 46,000 years ago. The decline of plants through widespread fire or changes toward an arid climate have also played into the debate about the animals' demise. But an analysis of kangaroo fossils suggested they ate saltbush, which would have thrived in those conditions. The research is in Proceedings of the National Academy of ...
Tue, 23 Jun 09
Mexico warns recession could hurt climate goals
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE55L5U120090622?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Mexican President Felipe Calderon warned governments on Monday against letting economic crisis derail steps to cut greenhouse gas emissions, saying failure to reach a deal would cost all nations dearly. Speaking at a meeting of representatives of the world's biggest economies on how to tackle climate change, Calderon said the world was running out of time to take serious action to address the problem of global warming. "The finger-pointing has gone on for more than a decade ...
Tue, 23 Jun 09
Wind could power the entire world
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0622-hance_global_wind.html
Mongabay: Wind power may be the key to a clean energy revolution: a new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science finds that wind power could provide for the entire world's current and future energy needs. To estimate the earth's capacity for wind power, the researchers first sectioned the globe into areas of approximately 3,300 square kilometers (2,050 square miles) and surveyed local wind speeds every six hours. They imagined 2.5 megawatt turbines crisscrossing the ...
Tue, 23 Jun 09
Carbon Footprint Calculator Enables First-ever Country By Country Comparison
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1709209/carbon_footprint_calculator_enables_firstever_country_by_country_comparison/index.html?source=r_science
redOrbit: A first-ever analysis and comparison of the carbon footprints of different countries using a single, trade-linked model has been created by researchers at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and the Centre of International Climate and Environment Research - Oslo (CICERO). An interactive version of the analysis is available on the Web at carbonfootprintofnations.com. "We are trying to help come up with a better framework for mitigation actions, and to point out ...
Tue, 23 Jun 09
World's Greatest Polluters Meet In Mexico For Climate Talks
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1709194/worlds_greatest_polluters_meet_in_mexico_for_climate_talks/index.html?source=r_science
redOrbit: The U.S. summoned environment ministers from the world's largest polluters to meet in Mexico today to expedite a key United Nations climate accord. The U.S. and China, the most industrialized nations, are listed as the greatest environmental offenders. The Major Economies Forum's (MEF) objective is to assist in forming a new agreement to mitigate greenhouse gases that will ultimately be replacing the Kyoto Protocol upon its expiration in 2012. The Kyoto Protocol is a UN ...
Tue, 23 Jun 09
Climate Change Bill Would Cost Households $175 a Year: CBO
http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?docID=cqmidday-000003150161
CQPolitics: House legislation to address climate change would cost households an average of $175 a year in 2020, the Congressional Budget Office said in a June 19 report. The bill, which could move to the House floor this summer, would limit emissions of greenhouse gases and direct companies to buy and sell pollution allowances in order to meet the cap. The CBO report could undercut frequent Republican claims that the bill would cost households as much as $3,128 a year. However, GOP ...
Tue, 23 Jun 09
Anti-Nuclear Activists to Form Common Front
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47316
Inter Press Service: Environmental organisations in Chile plan to revive the anti-nuclear movement in the Southern Cone of South America, in response to vigorous lobbying by corporations and politicians in favour of nuclear energy in the region. "The anti-nuclear movement in Latin America has lapsed and no longer exists. We have to rebuild it. If we can get through the next three years we will have won the battle; if not, we will be in trouble," said Sara Larraín, head of the non-governmental Sustainable ...
Tue, 23 Jun 09
China: New Yangtze River dam could doom more endangered species
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0622-hance_dam_yangtze.html
Mongabay: Eight Chinese environmentalists and scientists have composed a letter warning that a new dam under consideration for the Yangtze River could lead to the extinction of several endangered species. The letter contends that Xiaonanhia Dam, which would be 30 kilometers upstream from the city of Chongqing, will negatively impact the river's only fish reserve. Spanning 400 kilometers in the upper Yangtze, the reserve is home to 180 fish species, including the Endangered Chinese sturgeon, and ...
Tue, 23 Jun 09
Mexico seeks help for developing nations on climate change
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090622/sc_afp/unclimateenvironmentmexico
Agence France-Presse: Mexican President Felipe Calderon on Monday called for financial help for developing countries to meet their climate change commitments under a new treaty set to replace the Kyoto Protocol. The Major Economies Forum (MEF), including environment ministers from the world's largest polluters, met in central Mexico Monday as part of a US push to speed up work towards the key new United Nations accord to curb greenhouse gases. The new agreement must include "adequate instruments so ...
Tue, 23 Jun 09
Scientists call on Obama for 'maximum personal leadership' to combat global warming
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/622-hance_obama_letter.html
Mongabay: Twenty leading scientists have called on President Obama "to exercise maximum personal leadership" in tackling the threat posed by climate change. In a letter composed by some of the world's best and brightest scientists and scholars, they write that their "purpose is to call attention to the large difference between what U.S. politics now seems capable of enacting and what scientists understand is necessary to prevent climatic disruption and protect the human future". While ...
Tue, 23 Jun 09
Debate rages over climate bill's cost, but will it actually work?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/mcclatchy/20090622/sc_mcclatchy/3257725
McClatchy Newspapers: How much will it cost the average American household to reduce the U.S. share of global warming pollution and shift to cleaner sources of energy produced at home? If Congress passes a law that puts the country on a path to that outcome, the answer on costs will depend on what kind of consumer protections are part of the new policy. The House of Representatives could vote on a bill produced by Reps. Henry Waxman , D- Calif. , and Ed Markey , D- Mass. , this week or after lawmakers ...
Tue, 23 Jun 09
Top Scientists Voice Support for Climate Legislation
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=climate-legislation-bill-scientists-waxman-markey
Greenwire: A group of U.S. climate scientists is urging Congress to quickly pass a strengthened version of the House global warming bill, saying the legislation would provide a basis for stronger federal policies. The letter [pdf] signed by 20 scientists says strong U.S. leadership is needed to avert a "rapidly developing global climatic catastrophe." The House climate and energy bill proposed by Democratic Reps. Henry Waxman of California and Ed Markey of Massachusetts offers a "powerful ...
Tue, 23 Jun 09
Energy secretary announces $16 million for Iowa
http://news.ino.com/headlines/?newsid=689886848373793
Associated Press: U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced Monday that Iowa will get $16 million for energy efficiency and renewable energy projects, an amount that likely will grow to $40 million as the state ramps up its efforts. Chu said officials will monitor the initial state spending before allocating the rest of the money, but that the funding _ part of the federal stimulus package _ needs to be spent quickly. "I want to shove this money out the door as quickly as possible," Chu said at ...
Tue, 23 Jun 09
Climate change bill pending in US House
http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKN2251486820090622
Reuters: Climate change legislation pending in Congress would cost U.S. households only about $175 annually in higher energy and consumer prices, far less than the $3,100 "burden" opponents have claimed would result, according to an estimate by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office. Democratic leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives hope they can soon pass a climate change bill that would significantly reduce industry emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases ...
Tue, 23 Jun 09
US must take the lead on climate: Greenpeace
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/press/releases/us-must-take-the-lead-on-clima
Greenpeace: Greenpeace today called on the United States to take the lead on climate action as the world's largest emitters gathered in Mexico for the US-led Major Economies Forum. A banner reading 'Save the Climate, Act Now!' was unfurled in Cuernavaca City, where the meeting is being held, as the Forum opened. Leadership is urgently needed to achieve a climate saving treaty at Copenhagen in December. Environment ministers meeting in Mexico over the next two days are discussing the ...
Tue, 23 Jun 09
Canadian scientists breeding cows that burp less
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090622/sc_nm/us_cows
Reuters: Canadian scientists are breeding a special type of cow designed to burp less, a breakthrough that could reduce a big source of greenhouse gases responsible for global warming. Cows are responsible for nearly three-quarters of total methane emissions, according to Environment Canada. Most of the gas comes from bovine burps, which are 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas. Stephen Moore, a professor at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, is examining the ...
Tue, 23 Jun 09
Australian emissions trading plan in trouble
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=130736
New York Times: On the windswept streets of Newcastle, the world's largest coal port and a hub of Australian heavy industry, people get nervous when asked to give their opinions on climate change. Australia is the world's largest exporter of coal, which pumps billions of dollars into the economy, supplies more than 80 percent of the country's electricity and keeps tens of thousands of people in their jobs – particularly in and around Newcastle. But the carbon dioxide produced from burning coal is ...
Tue, 23 Jun 09
Australia: Energy heavies back geothermal sources
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/business/story/0,28124,25667712-5018910,00.html
Australian: ENERGY giants Origin and AGL have been busy beefing up their wind-farm portfolios in recent months in preparation for the upgraded Renewal Energy Target -- should it make its way through parliament. But perhaps the most revealing aspects of presentations both companies made last week was their faith in geothermal energy as a significant source of base-load power in the future. Wind power is expected to dominate the early years of the RET scheme, which will require that 20 per cent of ...
Tue, 23 Jun 09
Australia: Canberra plays politics as others pick up pace on climate
http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/editorial/canberra-plays-politics-as-others-pick-up-pace-on-climate-20090621-csi0.html
Age: THE November 2007 federal election was held a week after the release of the final report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which found that evidence of global warming was "unequivocal" and its effects could be "abrupt or irreversible". Kevin Rudd, then opposition leader, said: "The panel is sending out a very clear warning to the leaders of this country and of the world to act now on climate change." Now, more than halfway through the Rudd Government's term, Australians have ...
Tue, 23 Jun 09
Europe looks to Africa for solar power
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=130732
New York Times: The European project known as Desertec is nothing if not ambitious. It aims to harvest the sun's energy – using a method known as concentrating solar power, or C.S.P. – from the vast North African desert and deliver it as electricity, via high-voltage transmission lines, to markets in Europe. Eventually, its backers say, it could satisfy as much as 15 percent of the European Union's power needs. The idea, which has been bouncing around for years, arises out of an alphabet soup ...
Tue, 23 Jun 09
United States: Environment-minded Md. town seeks greenlight on costly LED street lamps
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/21/AR2009062101945.html
Washington Post: One of the latest hot spots in Washington's fight against global warming hangs 25 feet above the speed humps and manses of the little town of Somerset in Montgomery County -- 174 streetlights bolted to wooden telephone poles, a prosaic government service tucked under the tree canopy. No one ever paid much attention to the humble street lamps, until Pepco announced last summer that it was replacing the mercury vapor bulbs in 36,000 fixtures in the Maryland suburbs with a more ...
Tue, 23 Jun 09
Sole option is to adapt
http://www.thestar.com/sciencetech/article/654444
Toronto Star: Climate change is inevitable, proceeding and even accelerating. With those alarming words, author and theorist James Lovelock left the two dozen or so people within earshot – a mixed bag of politicians, activists, corporate types and media – feeling awkwardly helpless. They'd gathered May 26 in a small boardroom on Spadina Ave. to hear the British scientist talk about the coming impacts of climate change. Lovelock kept his message simple: There's nothing we can do now but adapt ...
Tue, 23 Jun 09
Indonesia: Warming causes bleaching
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2009/06/22/warming-causes-bleaching.html-0
Jakarta Post: A recent survey conducted by the Reef Check Indonesia Foundation (YRCI) revealed around 30 percent of reefs in northern Balinese waters have suffered mass bleaching. Similar phenomena, found at several prominent dive sites in South Bali, experts believe were triggered by global warming. The foundation's expert Jensi Sartin disclosed that, according to the resilient force theory, the mass bleaching was due to increasing sea temperatures. Coral reefs, which have a low level of ...
Tue, 23 Jun 09
Under House energy bill, coal won't be going away
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-coal22-2009jun22,0,6722721.story
LA Times: Coal-fired power plants are the largest source of heat-trapping gases that cause global warming, but President Obama's plan to fight climate change would result in the nation burning more coal a decade from now than it does today. The administration's plan, the centerpiece of a 700-page legislative package, proposes strict limits on emissions of greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide. U.S. to restart plans for a coal plant to capture greenhouse gases But to attract ...
Tue, 23 Jun 09
'Act now or face food shortages' warns farm expert
http://www.kentnews.co.uk/kent-news/_Act-now-or-face-food-shortages_-warns-farm-expert-newsinkent25488.aspx
Kent News: A radical overhaul of food production is needed urgently or the UK will face food shortages, a farming expert from Kent has warned. Dr Howard Lee, who runs the sustainable land management course at Hadlow College near Tonbridge, said that in as little as five years we were heading for "serious food scares'. "We are going to be face some potential food shortages and we really need to start doing something pretty radical,' he said. "The degree I'm running produces ...
Tue, 23 Jun 09
Big climate change headed Michigan's way, study says
http://www.freep.com/article/20090621/NEWS06/906210481/1008/Big%20climate%20change%20headed%20Michigan%20s%20way%20%20study%20says
Detroit Free Press: By the end of this century, Michigan could face more simmering Texas-style heat in summer, more Seattle-like downpours in other seasons and levels of some Great Lakes that are as much as 2 feet lower. Those are among the worst-case scenarios in a new study on climate change compiled by 13 federal agencies. Past reports have targeted the global effects of rising global-warming gases, but the latest report covers findings for the United States. The 200-page report by the Global ...
Tue, 23 Jun 09
Newly Uncovered Enzymes Turn Corn Plant Waste into Biofuel
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=corn-biofuel-enzymes
Scientific American: "Visualize three tons of moldy bread." It's not the most appealing image, perhaps, but it's a description of the moist mound of growth media tended by bioscientist Cliff Bradley and his partner, chemical engineer Bob Kearns at their biofuel facility in Butte, Mont., that could help cut ethanol costs at the fuel pump. Selected soil fungi that eat cellulose--the hard-to-digest, structural component of woody plants--thrive on the big pile of putrefaction from which Bradley and Kearns ...
Tue, 23 Jun 09
World must strive for "green economy": UN
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090622/sc_afp/energyenvironmenteconomyunaustria
Agence France-Presse: A green economy backed by a green industry should be the goal of all states as they try to cope with climate change and the economic crisis, experts said Monday at the start of a UN conference. "The current global financial and economic crisis must be used to our advantage to bring about a green energy revolution," said Kandeh K. Yumkella, director-general of the UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO). The three-day meet was to pave the way "towards a low-carbon global ...
Tue, 23 Jun 09
Brazil to pay farmers $50/month to plant trees in the Amazon
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0622-arco_verde_brazil.html
Mongabay: Brazil will pay small farmers to plant trees in deforested parts of the Amazon under a plan unveiled Friday by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. The Green Arch initiative (Arco Verde) will pay farmers up to $51 per month for reforestation of degraded lands in 43 Amazon municipalities where deforestation is an ongoing problem. "We need to think about how to make those people feel that they will make more money by planting trees than by cutting them down," Lula told Reuters on ...
Tue, 23 Jun 09
Brazil: Amazon deforestation in 2009 declines to lowest on record
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0622-brazilian_amazon.html
Mongabay: Annual deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon fell below 10,000 square kilometers for the first time since record-keeping began, reported Brazil's Environment Minister Carlos Minc on Sunday. Minc said preliminary data from the country's satellite-based deforestation detection system (DETER) showed that Amazon forest loss between August 2008 and July 2009 would be below 10,000 square kilometers, the lowest level in more than 20 years. Official figures are due out in August or ...
Tue, 23 Jun 09
US-China Climate Deal Elusive
http://www.rfa.org/english/energy_watch/us-china-climate-06222009115059.html
Radio Free Asia: Hopes are dimming for a climate change deal between the United States and China following a key U.N. meeting in Germany, experts say. The two-week conference in Bonn that ended June 12 was called to craft an agreement that would follow the 1997 Kyoto Protocol on global warming. But despite a 200-page draft pact that will be subject to major revisions, the talks "produced little of substance," the Washington Post said. The meeting was one of the last chances to strike a ...
Tue, 23 Jun 09
Mixed signals from the crown? Queen knights logging tycoon while Prince fights deforestation
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0622-tiong_knighthood.html
Mongabay: Tiong Hiew King, founder and chairman of the Rimbunan Hijau Group, a Malaysian logging firm notorious for large-scale destruction of rainforests, has been knighted by Queen Elizabeth, a move which environmentalists say directly conflicts with her son's campaign to save global rainforests. Prince Charles established the Prince's Rainforests Project in 2007 and has become increasingly vocal in his calls to conserve forests. The Bruno Manser Fund (BMF), a Swiss NGO that campaigns on ...
Tue, 23 Jun 09
Environmental Writer Bill McKibben Turns Words into Action to Fight Climate Change
http://www.voanews.com/english/AmericanLife/2009-06-22-voa34.cfm
Voice of America: Last week, the U.S. Global Climate Research Program released a report concluding that climate change is happening now and is already having a significant impact on the United States. Bill McKibben was one of the first voices to warn of climate change - two decades ago, in his 1989 book, The End of Nature. He is still speaking out. Bill McKibben is an environmentalist, writer, activist and scholar-in-residence at Middlebury College in VermontMcKibben was born in 1960 in Lexington, ...
Tue, 23 Jun 09
Mitsubishi Signs $3.4 Billion Australia Plant Accord
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601101&sid=aZT4YcR2CNII
Bloomberg: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. and Mitsubishi Corp. signed an accord with Australia's Queensland state government to study a A$4.3 billion ($3.4 billion) project to build a cleaner-burning coal-fired power plant. Under the accord with ZeroGen Pty Ltd., owned by the Queensland government, Mitsubishi Heavy and Mitsubishi Corp. will conduct a feasibility study for a 530-megawatt power station, with commercial operation slated for September 2015, the Japanese companies said in a joint ...
Tue, 23 Jun 09
Australia: We're leading the way on climate change, councils say
http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news/local/news/general/were-leading-the-way-on-climate-change-councils-say/1546744.aspx
Canberra Times: Local government so long portrayed as the poor cousin of the state and Federal governments says it is leading the charge on climate change and its counterparts in parliaments across Australia better catch up. About 700 mayors and other councillors from throughout Australia are in Canberra for the National General Assembly of Local Government to debate more than 140 motions, many with a green tinge. The three-day conference also has a focus on infrastructure and finance, with ...
Tue, 23 Jun 09
Australia: Study to measure SE Qld climate change vulnerability
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/06/22/2604323.htm
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: South-east Queensland's vulnerability to climate change will be measured in a $14 million state and federal government study. The study - which also involves the CSIRO and the University of the Sunshine Coast (USC), the University of Queensland and the Griffith University - will assess climate change vulnerability from Noosa to Coolangatta and west to Toowoomba. Professor Tim Smith, the director of USC's Sustainability Research Centre, says the region's adaptability will ...
Tue, 23 Jun 09
Climate bill unfair to Iowa, utilities say
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20090622/BUSINESS01/906220323/-1/SPORTS09
Des Moines Register: Iowans could see their power bills jump as much as 25 percent if Congress enacts a House bill aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions, industry officials say. MidAmerican Energy Co. and other Iowa utilities say the climate legislation is unfairly skewed toward consumers on the east and west coasts, where power companies are less dependent on coal to produce electricity. The bill is a top priority of President Barack Obama. But Democratic leaders in Congress have been ...
Tue, 23 Jun 09
Ocean Rescue
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=130698
New York Times: Most of the world`s important commercial fish species have been declining for years. Nearly one-fourth are unable, essentially, to reproduce. The biggest cause of the deterioration in ocean health -- bigger than climate change or pollution -- is overfishing. American fisheries are in better shape than most but not by much. The White House seems prepared to give this issue high priority. George W. Bush, though more sensitive to marine issues than other environmental problems, was slow ...
Tue, 23 Jun 09
Sweden promotes climate-friendly food choices
http://www.euractiv.com/en/cap/sweden-promotes-climate-friendly-food-choices/article-183349
EurActiv: Guidelines for climate-friendly food choices developed by the Swedish authorities recommend citizens to reduce their meat and rice consumption as a way of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The first of their kind, the guidelines are now being sent out for reactions and inspiration from other EU countries. Background: According to the European Commission, the food and drink sector contributes to some 23% of global resource use, 18% of greenhouse gas emissions and 31% of ...
Tue, 23 Jun 09
Earth's sea levels may rise 25 meters by 4000 AD despite CO2 freeze
http://story.malaysiasun.com/index.php/ct/9/cid/89d96798a39564bd/id/510407/cs/1/
Asian News International: A new study on the effects of climate change on melting ice sheets has indicated that even if scientists could freeze-frame the atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) as it is today, sea levels would still rise by 25 meters by 4000 AD. According to a report in New Scientist, Eelco Rohling of the UK National Oceanography Centre at the University of Southampton and colleagues conducted the study. They reconstructed sea level fluctuations over the last 520,000 years and compared this to ...
Mon, 22 Jun 09
Record hunger: one billion people are going hungry worldwide
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0621-hance_hunger.html
Mongabay: A new estimate by the UN FAO estimates that one billion people are currently going hungry: the highest number in history. Largely exacerbated by the global economic crisis, the number of the world's hungry has risen by 100 million people. The economic crisis has led to more hunger due to lower wages and layoffs worldwide. In addition, food prices still remain high after the food crisis that began in 2006: food prices remain 33 percent higher today than in 2005. "A dangerous mix ...
Mon, 22 Jun 09
Australia small-minded on climate
http://www.skynews.com.au/eco/article.aspx?id=344224
Sky News: Debate on climate change in Australia is small-minded and a repeat of the Victorian bushfires is possible if global temperatures do not ease, climate change expert Tim Flannery says. At best, Prof Flannery says, children who aspire to be firefighters may be alive long enough to avoid severe weather conditions that fuelled February's Black Saturday and claimed 173 lives. Prof Flannery expressed his views on Saturday in a speech on extreme climate events at the International ...
Mon, 22 Jun 09
Floods, heatwaves and withering vines: how scientists see the US in 75 years
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jun/16/climate-change-sea-level
Guardian: The Obama administration's long-awaited scientific report on the sweeping and life-altering consequences of a failure to act on global warming – Global climate change impacts in the United States – is released today. It provides the most detailed picture to date of the impacts on the US in the worst case scenarios, when no action is taken to cut emissions. Examples include: floods in lower Manhattan; a quadrupling of heatwave deaths in Chicago; withering on the vineyards of ...
Mon, 22 Jun 09
Vermont farmers cut cows' carbon emission
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2009/06/21/9879921-ap.html
Associated Press: Vermont dairy farmers Tim Maikshilo and Kristen Dellert, mindful of shrinking their carbon footprint, have changed their cows' diet to reduce the amount of gas the animals burp - dairy cows' contribution to global warming. Coventry Valley Farm is one of 15 Vermont farms working with Stonyfield Farm Inc., whose yogurt is made with their organic milk, to reduce the cows' intestinal methane by feeding them flaxseed, alfalfa, and grasses high in Omega 3 fatty acids. The gas cows belch is ...
Mon, 22 Jun 09
The influence game: Farm lobby wins on burps
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/20/AR2009062000538.html
Washington Post: One contributor to global warming - bigger than coal mines, landfills and sewage treatment plants - is being left out of efforts by the Obama administration and House Democrats to limit greenhouse gas emissions. Cow burps. Belching from the nation's 170 million cattle, sheep and pigs produces about one-quarter of the methane released in the U.S. each year, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. That makes the hoofed critters the largest source of the heat-trapping ...
Mon, 22 Jun 09
Desert icon Joshua trees are vanishing
http://www.pe.com/localnews/environment/stories/PE_News_Local_S_joshuatree21.474c058.html
Press-Enterprise: A breeze stirs the silence at Joshua Tree National Park as a red-tailed hawk takes flight from the spiky arm of one of the namesake plants in search of breakfast. It's a scene that national parks protector Mike Cipra has witnessed many times. Still, he can't contain his enthusiasm on this early morning outing, despite the gloomy topic he's discussing with a visitor -- the probable extinction of the Joshua tree in the park that bears its name. The ancient plants are dying in the ...
Mon, 22 Jun 09
Set the controls for the heart of the Sun
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/moslive/article-1194169/Set-controls-heart-Sun.html
Daily Mail: This is the view inside the doughnut-shaped JET reactor, the largest fusion device on Earth. During a reaction, nuclear fuels are held away from the walls by electromagnets, and reach temperatures more than ten times hotter than the core of the sun The highly compacted core of the sun is a very hot place indeed. In the star's burning heart, hydrogen atoms collide at immense speeds. This welds them together and turns them into helium atoms, which each release a burst of energy ...
Mon, 22 Jun 09
Coal's costs outweigh benefits, WVU study finds
http://wvgazette.com/News/200906200170
Charleston Gazette: Coal mining costs Appalachians five times more in early deaths as the industry provides to the region in jobs, taxes and other economic benefits, according to a groundbreaking new study co-authored by a West Virginia University researcher. In the latest in a series of papers, WVU researcher Michael Hendryx questions the idea that coal is good for West Virginia and other Appalachian communities, and recommends that political leaders consider other alternatives for improving the ...
Mon, 22 Jun 09
Fate of world's rainforests likely to be determined in next 2 years
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0618-duke_forests.html
Mongabay: The fate of millions of hectares of tropical forests will probably be sealed this year and next year, reports a new set of policy papers detailing an emerging climate change mitigation mechanism known as Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD). REDD has been proposed by the U.N. and other entities as a form of carbon finance under which industrialized nations would pay tropical countries for conserving their forest cover. Deforestation and forest degradation currently ...
Sun, 21 Jun 09
Disaster Request for a Drought-Hit County in California
http://www10.nytimes.com/2009/06/20/us/20fresno.html?_r=5&partner=rss&emc=rss
New York Times: Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger made an unusual request Friday, asking President Obama to declare Fresno County a federal disaster area because of a three-year drought that is straining California's agricultural industry and worsening unemployment in the hard-hit Central Valley. Mr. Schwarzenegger, a Republican, announced his request on a visit to the county, the state's breadbasket, where unemployment is near 17 percent. Tough new environmental regulations to protect endangered ...
Sun, 21 Jun 09
Climate Change Bill Stalls Over Agriculture Concerns
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/06/19/climate-change-stalls-agriculture-concerns/
Fox News: A key Democrat said Friday that he doesn't see any way party leaders could bring a controversial, energy and climate change bill to the floor for debate next week because of concerns coming from the agriculture industry. "I don't see how we do that," said House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson D-Minn. Peterson's comments came after a negotiating session "blew up" Thursday night as he and other key players tried to forge a deal. "I'm tired of going around in ...
Sun, 21 Jun 09
Climate change seen to threaten economies
http://business.inquirer.net/money/topstories/view/20090619-211477/Climate-change-seen-to-threaten-economies
Philippine Daily Inquirer: Governments worldwide will have to face head on the issue of climate change and its adverse effects, otherwise all their efforts toward development will go to waste. "Climate change will roll back decades of hard won development gains," unless goverments do something about it, said Antonio Hill, Oxfam senior climate change policy advisor, during the closing ceremonies of the 4th Asian Clean Energy Forum. The reduction of gas emissions and significant increase in investments in ...
Sun, 21 Jun 09
GEN Reports On Alternative Feedstocks For Ethanol Production
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1708577/gen_reports_on_alternative_feedstocks_for_ethanol_production/index.html?source=r_science
redOrbit: Scientists say they are forging ahead in developing replacements for petrochemical fuels that will be cost-competitive and renewable while having a minimal impact on the environment, reports Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News (GEN). A consensus is emerging that no one technology will reign supreme and that a range of current and novel methodologies will contribute to meeting biofuel needs, according to the June 15 issue of GEN ...
Sun, 21 Jun 09
China: Unprecedented Air Pollution At 2008 Olympic Games
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1708575/unprecedented_air_pollution_at_2008_olympic_games/index.html?source=r_science
redOrbit: Particulate air pollution during the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing constantly exceeded levels considered excessive by the World Health Organization, was far worse than other recent Olympic Games, and was about 30 percent higher than has been reported by Chinese environmental experts – even though some favorable weather conditions helped reduce the problem. The weather, in fact, turned out to be more valuable in addressing this concern than major programs by the Chinese government to ...
Sun, 21 Jun 09
What's so depressing is the inevitability of all
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/michael-mccarthy-whats-so-depressing-is-the-inevitability-of-all-this-1708980.html
Independent (UK): You might think you've heard it all before, and in a sense you have. There are not huge disparities between the core predictions of how climate change will affect the UK, released by the Government yesterday, and the earlier set of forecasts produced seven years ago. The central estimates of temperature rise by the 2080s, for example, are in the same ballpark. But there are three important differences. Firstly, the new figures make a much stronger attempt at qualifying one of the key ...
Sun, 21 Jun 09
Liberia: Liberia: Climate Change Threatens Country
http://allafrica.com/stories/200906180900.html
Informer: The global Climate Change is posing a serious a serious threat to Liberia, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf alarmed Monday while opening the 2009 Consultation on Climate Change, Human Rights, Peace and Security in Monrovia. The Liberian leader said her Government is revitalizing the National Disaster Relief Commission to educate the public about disaster risk education, a measure she said would help the public respond more effectively to disasters. Speaking at the conference ...
Sun, 21 Jun 09
Poll shows Americans concerned, confused about environment
http://www.connpost.com/ci_12620538?source=rss
Connecticut Post: Despite conflicting messages on global warming, the majority of Americans believe in the phenomenon, see it as an environmental threat and want to do something about it. However, they might not be totally sure how to do that. That's according to a national poll released this week by Sacred Heart University in Fairfield. The poll, conducted by Sacred Heart's polling institute, surveyed 800 people throughout the United States between May 27 and June 9 about their thoughts on global ...
Sun, 21 Jun 09
2.1 Million-Year High Measured for Carbon Dioxide in Atmosphere
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601072&sid=aG5p2kBin538
Bloomberg: Carbon dioxide in the earth's atmosphere has risen to its highest level in at least 2.1 million years, according to a new investigation of the greenhouse gas's role in ice ages over the millennia. Researchers including Columbia University's Baerbel Hoenisch drilled into the ocean floor off the coast of Africa to remove shells of ancient marine animals called foraminifera that contain climate records, according to the study published today on Science's Web site. Previous evidence of ...
Sun, 21 Jun 09
Sudden Collapse in Ancient Biodiversity: Was Global Warming the Culprit?
http://www.physorg.com/news164556026.html
Physorg: Ancient fossil leaves tell a story of sudden loss of biodiversity that may have future parallels. Scientists have unearthed striking evidence for a sudden ancient collapse in plant biodiversity. A trove of 200 million-year-old fossil leaves collected in East Greenland tells the story, carrying its message across time to us today. Results of the research appear in this week's issue of the journal Science. The researchers were surprised to find that a likely candidate ...
Sun, 21 Jun 09
The Waxman-Markey bill: a good start or a non-starter?
http://energybulletin.net/node/49260
Yale Environment 360: As carbon cap-and-trade legislation works it way through Congress, the environmental community is intensely debating whether the Waxman-Markey bill is the best possible compromise or a fatally flawed initiative. Yale Environment 360 asked 11 prominent people in the environmental and energy fields for their views on this controversial legislation. The bill is officially entitled "The American Clean Energy and Security Act," but most people who follow this issue simply call it ...
Sun, 21 Jun 09
Time to Take the Gloves off with Obama
http://www.culturechange.org/cms/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=460&Itemid=65
Culture Change: The clock is ticking, and we are not building life boats. As the population's options close and a harder ecological and socioeconomic fall is assured more each day, Barack Obama is leading the thumb twiddlers, albeit with eloquence and charm. What passes for policy debate today seldom reckons with the life and death issues of climate extinction, petrocollapse, and the social chaos ahead. Obama is dealing with a heck of a lot, granted. This alone is supposed to quiet the people quite a ...
Sun, 21 Jun 09
The cultural problem that stops us from reaching 'the most ambitious agreement ever negotiated' in Copenhagen?
http://energybulletin.net/node/49255
Energy Bulletin: Thank you for your warm welcome. I begin by acknowledging the Ngunnawal people, the traditional owners of the land. Gandhi once said, "The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world's problems." We have reached a point in human history where 'what we do' on this planet imperils our survival. Now is the moment to re-imagine and reconsider 'what we are capable of doing'. As Kofi Annan said recently, "The world is ...
Sun, 21 Jun 09
Europe to offer China help in burying CO2 emissions
http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSLI320173
Reuters: Europe will next week start moves to help China and India develop technology to trap and bury carbon dioxide underground in the fight against global warming, according to a draft European Commission document. Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS), a process of burying harmful gases, is seen by some as a potential silver bullet to curb emissions from coal-fired power plants, which are multiplying rapidly worldwide and threaten to heat the atmosphere to dangerous levels. The European ...
Sun, 21 Jun 09
Australia: Probe carbon claims: Garnaut
http://business.smh.com.au/business/probe-carbon-claims-garnaut-20090619-cndn.html
Sydney Morning Herald: Professor Ross Garnaut has called on Australia's competition watchdog to thoroughly investigate claims that some Australian businesses have been exaggerating the impact of emissions trading on their operations. The Australian Conservation Foundation and the Australian Climate Justice Program have submitted a 200-page brief for the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission comparing what they say are inconsistencies between claims made by some Australian companies to political ...
Sun, 21 Jun 09
U.S. Should Expand Carbon Capture Research, MIT Report Says
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601072&sid=aPEzDA9VWvZk
Bloomberg: The U.S. should create a multibillion dollar program to prove that carbon-dioxide from the nation's coal-fired power plants can be captured, vastly reducing emissions, a report by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology said. A "quasi-government corporation" should be established with funding from electricity taxes to support the program, the report recommended. The study, released today, summarizes views from a symposium held by the university's "Energy Initiative," a research ...
Sun, 21 Jun 09
Waxman-Markey is not nearly good enough
http://energybulletin.net/node/49264
Energy Bulletin: There is a meeting in Copenhagen at the end of the year to formulate a global treaty and action on climate change. The big problem facing those negotiating this global treaty - the developing world demands that those who have caused the climate change problem and who still have huge carbon footprints lead in reducing their emissions. The developing world will soon be producing the bulk of greenhouse gas emissions. A recent initiative by Lord Stern for developed countries to take ownership of ...
Sun, 21 Jun 09
Rural Electric Co-ops Threaten Climate Deal
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=130590
ClimateWire: Some say Glenn English, CEO of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, could play a role in killing climate legislation. Others call him just a blip in the current political radar. English, for his part, says he may not be able to support the federal global warming legislation now pending in the House until it reaches the Senate -- or as he calls it, "the fourth inning." That's because NRECA represents some 930 rural customer-owned utilities that are more dependent ...
Sun, 21 Jun 09
Nissan to make electric cars in U.S.: report
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE55I5VG20090619?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Nissan Motor Co plans to launch production of electric vehicles and their batteries in the United States to tap low-interest loans for green vehicles, the Nikkei business daily said. The overall investment is estimated at 50 billion yen ($516.4 million) and may rise to 100 billion yen, it said. Under the plan, the new electric-car assembly lines are to be built at a plant in Smyrna, Tennessee, where Nissan North America Inc is based, the paper said. The facility, capable ...
Sun, 21 Jun 09
House chairman: No direct climate pay to farmers
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE55I67420090619?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: The climate change law being written in Congress is unlikely to pay directly U.S. farmers if they alter their operations to control greenhouse gases, said the House Energy Committee chairman on Friday. Energy chairman Henry Waxman, the lead sponsor of the climate bill, also told reporters it was dubious if a new land stewardship program would be created with the goal of locking carbon in the soil. Waxman commented after meeting four dozen farm-group leaders for 90 minutes. He ...
Sun, 21 Jun 09
China: Study: Weather helped to clean air for Olympics
http://www.boston.com/news/world/asia/articles/2009/06/19/study_weather_helped_to_clean_air_for_olympics/?rss_id=Boston.com+--+Latest+news
Associated Press: Beijing's notoriously dirty air got cleaner during last summer's Olympic Games, but the weather played a larger role than the government's massive pollution control measures, a new report says. The first major study on air pollution during the Olympics found that conditions in Beijing were far worse than at other recent Olympics, even with the government's cleanup campaign. Particulate levels often exceeded what the World Health Organization considers safe. The report was ...
Sun, 21 Jun 09
United States: Destroying Levees in a State Usually Clamoring for Them
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=130583
New York Times: In the 1960s, a group of businessmen bought 16,000 acres of swampy bottomland along the Ouachita River in northern Louisiana and built miles of levee around it. They bulldozed its oak and cypress trees and, when the land dried out, turned it into a soybean farm. Now two brothers who grew up nearby are undoing all that work. In what experts are calling the biggest levee-busting operation ever in North America, the brothers plan to return the muddy river to its ancient floodplain, ...
Sun, 21 Jun 09
Study boosts U.S. natural gas reserves by 35%
http://www.financialpost.com/reports/story.html?id=1708621
New York Times: Thanks to new drilling technologies that are unlocking substantial amounts of natural gas from shale rocks, the nation's estimated gas reserves have surged by 35%, according to a study due for release on Thursday. The new report by the Potential Gas Committee, the authority on gas supplies, shows the United States holds far larger reserves than previously thought. The jump is the largest increase in the 44-year history of reports from the committee. The finding raises the ...
Sun, 21 Jun 09
Study: Beijing's air worse than at past Olympics
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090620/ap_on_re_as/as_china_pollution_study
Associated Press: Beijing's notoriously dirty air was cleaner during last summer's Olympic games, but pollution levels were still much worse than at recent Olympics, despite a massive Chinese cleanup campaign, a new report said. Athletes in Beijing faced pollution levels that were up to 3.5 times higher than those in recent Olympic cities like Athens, Atlanta and Sydney, said the study published Friday in the journal Environmental Science and Technology. The pollution often exceeded what the World ...
Sun, 21 Jun 09
Earth Can Generate Summer out of Winter
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47303
Inter Press Service: Iceland manages to produce tomatoes, paprika and cucumbers all year round by harnessing geothermal energy locally, even though the growing season is short. Iceland first started to use geothermal energy in the late 19th century for heating soil to grow outdoor vegetables, and continued in a small way in the early 20th century for heating swimming pools, greenhouses and buildings. But it was only during the oil crisis in the 1970s that Icelanders started to develop their geothermal ...
Sun, 21 Jun 09
THE INFLUENCE GAME: Excuse me! Lobby wins on burps
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090620/ap_on_go_co/us_climate_bill_cow_tax
Associated Press: One contributor to global warming -- bigger than coal mines, landfills and sewage treatment plants -- is being left out of efforts by the Obama administration and House Democrats to limit greenhouse gas emissions. Cow burps. Belching from the nation's 170 million cattle, sheep and pigs produces about one-quarter of the methane released in the U.S. each year, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. That makes the hoofed critters the largest source of the heat-trapping ...
Sun, 21 Jun 09
Solar project meets bigger foe than cloudy skies: The Air Force
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/19/AR2009061903404.html
Washington Post: On a vacant piece of land near Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada, the promise of solar energy has collided into the demands of military training. And a solar project that would have featured a vast field of mirrors, a molten-salt storage facility and a 600-foot "power tower" appears to be heading for defeat. In 2007, a Los Angeles firm called SolarReserve proposed the construction of a $700 million solar thermal power plant, covering two square miles near the Nevada Air Force base, ...
Sun, 21 Jun 09
Climate change will 'transform our lives' says minister
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/5570904/Climate-change-will-transform-our-lives-says-minister.html
Telegraph: The most comprehensive climate change projections ever produced show the UK is facing temperature rises of between 3.6F (2C) and 10.8F (6C) by 2080. Droughts will become commonplace in the South East by 2040 and there will be less rain in the summer and more in the winter, with more storms leading to widespread flooding, particularly in the North of the country. Presenting the findings of the UK Climate Projections 09 study, Hilary Benn said the predicted changes would ...
Sun, 21 Jun 09
United Kingdom: Native wildlife and plants will struggle to adapt to warmer temperatures
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/5570159/Native-wildlife-and-plants-will-struggle-to-adapt-to-warmer-temperatures.html
Telegraph: Areas like East Anglia and Lincolnshire, that currently grow wheat and potatoes, will have to switch to crops designed for hotter climates like maize and sunflowers. Vines will become more popular in areas of the south as well as olives, apricots and chillies. In the north of the country it will be easier to grow soft fruits like strawberries but may be more difficult for blackcurrants that need a cold winter. Gardeners will also see a change in what they grow with the ...
Sun, 21 Jun 09
United Kingdom: Police told to go easy on the accelerator to save environment
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/5570017/Police-told-to-go-easy-on-the-accelerator-to-save-environment.html
Telegraph: Officers should also switch their engine off when stopped for a "prolonged" time, skip gears to slow the car down and even take their foot off the accelerator if possible. For the first time, the "eco-driving" tips now form part of the official police driver training manual in a hope of cutting costs and making forces greener. But one campaign group warned the advice was more evidence of "micromanagement" which hampered officers fighting crime. The training is based on ...
Sun, 21 Jun 09
Weighing the price of clean energy
http://www.stjoenews.net/news/2009/jun/20/weighing-price-clean-energy/?local
St. Joseph News Press: Mike Easter a contractor for MFA Agri Services sprays herbicide on a farm south of St. Joseph. MFA manager Jim Veraguth says farmers have to calculate the cost of energy compared to the price their crops will bring. Farmers plant a crop, but they hope to reap a balance. With energy concerns, Jim Veraguth believes, that becomes tricky. Mr. Veraguth manages MFA Agri Services in St. Joseph and sees farmers in constant calculation on the fluctuating demand for corn to make ethanol ...
Sun, 21 Jun 09
German coalition agrees to scaled-down CO2 capture law
http://www.reuters.com/article/GCA-GreenBusiness/idUSTRE55I3TR20090619
Reuters: Germany's grand coalition government has agreed to a scaled-down draft law on carbon dioxide storage after conservatives objected to some of the measures, coalition sources told Reuters on Friday. "We've reached an agreement," a coalition source said, referring to the carbon capture and storage (CCS) law. But sources said the agreement only allows for individual test sites rather than allowing a more comprehensive framework for CCS across Germany. The breakthrough was ...
Sun, 21 Jun 09
Incentives add shine to China solar drive
http://www.reuters.com/article/GCA-GreenBusiness/idUSTRE55I18S20090619?sp=true
Reuters: Beijing's bid to boost the solar energy sector could draw more than $10 billion in private funding for projects and put China on track to become a leading market for solar equipment in the next three years. Shares of U.S.-listed Chinese solar firms such as Suntech Power Holdings, the world's biggest crystalline solar panel-maker, have risen strongly on expectations China will soon unveil more cash incentives to develop solar energy. China, the world's top greenhouse gas ...
Sun, 21 Jun 09
Reps. Waxman, Peterson inch closer to consensus on climate bill
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=130567
ClimateWire: House Democrats are within sight of agreement on a comprehensive energy and global warming bill, but it is still unclear if they have satisfied enough rural and fiscal conservative lawmakers to guarantee the votes for floor passage by next week. "I think we made some real progress," Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) told reporters yesterday as he left a meeting with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and Agriculture Chairman Collin ...
Sun, 21 Jun 09
Many green-friendly bills don't make the cut in Oregon
http://www.oregonlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2009/06/many_greenfriendly_bills_dont.html
Various: Suburban and rural Democrats joined with Republicans to run over environmentalists on a bill that would ban new resort development in the Metolius River basin. Gov. Ted Kulongoski and environmental advocates began this legislative session with a long to-do list of green-friendly legislation that included making Oregon a world leader in combating global warming. Instead, despite a Democratic Legislature, they've seen their plans crumble in the face of a poor economy and ...
Sun, 21 Jun 09
Obama climate change report discusses Pacific salmon
http://www.oregonlive.com/environment/index.ssf/2009/06/obama_climate_change_report_di.html
Oregonian: The report released by the Obama administration this week about the potential impacts of climate change (PDF) touches on one species of particular interest to the Northwest: salmon. "Salmon are under threat from a variety of human activities, but global warming is a growing source of stress," the 196-page report says on page 87. The report goes on to explain how warmer temperatures could lead to heavier floods that flush salmon eggs from stream beds; increase fish's metabolism, ...
Sun, 21 Jun 09
How could climate change affect New Jersey?
http://www.northjersey.com/environment/How_could_climate_change_affect_New_Jersey.html
North Jersey: In the wake of the climate change report released this week by the White House, The Record asked David Robinson, the New Jersey state climatologist, about global warming and the threat of more frequent rains and droughts, rising sea levels, and warmer temperatures in the Garden State. Q. The report noted that since 1970, the Northeast has seen average temperatures rise 2 degrees. Has that played out here? Yes. The mean annual temperature for Northern New Jersey was 50.6 degrees ...
Sun, 21 Jun 09
UK climate effects revealed in finest detail yet
http://www.nature.com/news/2009/090619/full/news.2009.586.html
Nature: Scientists in London yesterday delivered unprecedented regional climate projections for the United Kingdom, detailing how the nation -- piece by piece, in sections measuring just 25 square kilometres -- will probably be affected by climate change. The projections, which update the findings of the UK Climate Impacts Programme (UKCIP) from 2002, are the first of their kind worldwide. Produced for the UK government in the hope of enabling citizens and local authorities to adapt to the ...
Sun, 21 Jun 09
Averting a climate-led food crisis in Africa
http://www.nature.com/news/2009/090619/full/news.2009.585.html
Nature: Most African farmers will be able to find heat-resistant crop varieties within their own borders or in other countries on the continent, providing an easy first step towards adapting to climate change, according to new research. A study to be published in the journal Global Environmental Change1 found that by 2050, most African countries will experience temperatures they have never before encountered over at least half of their crop-growing areas. But three-quarters of these will see ...
Sun, 21 Jun 09
Ghana's environment refugees
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/bb6b0efc-5ad9-11de-8c14-00144feabdc0.html
Financial Times: The heart of Nandom is a fork in the road. It is here, in one of the northernmost towns in Ghana, that the buses come and go. You would call it a station if it was anything more than a triangle of reddish dust, surrounded by fast-food stalls, general stores and the rural bank. Once a week, a market sets up. The rest of the time, it's the buses themselves, privately owned mini-vans known as "tro tros", daubed with prayers for the road – "Lord Have Mercy", "My Redeemer Liveth" – that provide ...
Sun, 21 Jun 09
Changing ocean conditions may be adversely affecting sea lions
http://www.contracostatimes.com/california/ci_12651466
San Francisco Chronicle: Fluctuating ocean conditions may be depleting the food supply of young sea lions that are turning up skinny and ill on California beaches. Peter Wallerstein, founder and president of the Whale Rescue Team in El Segundo, has rescued 240 marine mammals along South bay beaches so far this year, including a sea lion in Redondo Beach and two other sea lions in Manhattan Beach on Friday. "I've done more rescues this year than I have in my 25 years of doing this," Wallerstein said. ...
Sun, 21 Jun 09
Cheap oil, but at what cost?
http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/lifestyle/green/sns-canada-oil-sands-webonly,0,7963741.story
Chicago Tribune: From here in the far north of Canada through a web of transcontinental pipelines down to a network of refineries ringing the Chicago area, a new supply of precious oil has begun flowing into the gas tanks of more Americans, tapped from a source so vast it could one day furnish close to half of U.S. oil needs for 50 years or more. This Canadian oil is stable and reliable. It promises to substantially reduce America's future dependence on volatile Middle Eastern sources of oil. And much ...
Sun, 21 Jun 09
Australia: Climate changes for directors
http://business.smh.com.au/business/climate-changes-for-directors-20090619-cr5r.html?page=-1
Sydney Morning Herald: Non-executive directors sitting on the boards of six heavy polluters named in a complaint to the competition watchdog may be feeling slightly less comfortable this week. They should be, because a groundswell of climate-change litigation is building around the world. On June 11 the Australian Conservation Foundation complained to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, alleging Boral, Rio Tinto, Woodside, Bluescope Steel, Xstrata and Caltex had made "misleading and ...
Sun, 21 Jun 09
United States: PG&E opposes two solar-power bills
http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_12620166?source%253Dmost_emailed.26978592730A3B8C7F471EACE0DA4EF2.html
Mercury News: After casting itself as a champion of solar power, Pacific Gas & Electric has angered green-energy advocates by opposing two state bills that would ramp up the benefits for those who go solar. Put simply, PG&E's objection is that the two measures would make solar too popular. The utility says that would be unfair to its non-solar customers, who under existing law must subsidize rebates and credits paid to solar-power users. But some supporters of the bills say ...
Sun, 21 Jun 09
America's state of the climate
http://www.loe.org/shows/segments.htm?programID=09-P13-00025&segmentID=1
Living on Earth: CURWOOD: From the Jennifer and Ted Stanley studios in Somerville, Massachusetts, this is Living on Earth. I'm Steve Curwood. YOUNG: And I'm Jeff Young. Back in 2007 it took a court order to get the Bush administration to follow a congressional mandate and issue a comprehensive report about climate change. But the Obama administration has embraced the opportunity enthusiastically. Its 192-page report is called "The Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States." It's ...
Sun, 21 Jun 09
Philippines: Warming could cut rice production by 75 percent
http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2009/june/21/yehey/top_stories/20090621top1.html
Manilla Times: RICE production will decline by as much as 75 percent in the Philippines if it is not quick enough to adapt to and put in place safeguards against climate change.The decline starts in 2020, according to a study made by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and released this week during a high level regional meeting on the impact of climate change in Asia and the Pacific. The fall in rice production in the Philippines is the highest in the four countries--RP, Indonesia, Thailand and ...
Sun, 21 Jun 09
Innovative technologies to ease climate change
http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2009/june/21/yehey/top_stories/20090621top4.html
Manila Times: THE energy needs of Asia and the Pacific implies a rising trajectory of carbon dioxide emissions. About 1.6 billion people now lack access to electricity, 400 million of them in India alone. It reflects a balancing act between easing climate change and reducing poverty. Rising energy required needs to maintain high economic growth have significant implications. If the region's robust economic growth continues, the energy consumption of developing Asian countries alone ...
Sun, 21 Jun 09
Obama's climate change silence
http://u.tv/News/Obamas-climate-change-silence/badfa333-60af-4e92-8589-54efa4741dca
UTV: The top scientific advisers in the Obama administration on Tuesday unveiled a startling new report on what the latest climate science tells us is both already happening and likely to happen in the near future if planet-warming emissions continue unhindered. The report is astounding – in the foreseeable future, the United States could witness the submersion of the Florida Keys, up to 100 days of more-than-100-degree heat in places like Texas and the end of a domestic maple syrup ...
Sun, 21 Jun 09
United States: Counting Carbon at Madison Square Garden
http://www.reuters.com/article/gwmCarbonEmissions/idUS110832374220090619
Reuters: Deutsche Bank unveiled a giant billboard in New York City yesterday as part of a public awareness campaign to educate Americans about rising greenhouse gas emissions. The bank hopes the mammoth Carbon Counter launched by its Asset Management division and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) will spur action and convey a sense of urgency, executives said during its unveiling Thursday. The 70-foot tall device, which sits outside Madison Square Garden, is billed as the world's ...
Sun, 21 Jun 09
Rwanda 'baptises' 18 endangered baby gorillas
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090620/sc_afp/rwandaanimalsenvironmentgorillas
Agence France-Presse: Rwanda "baptised" 18 rare baby mountain gorillas at what has become an annual event to highlight the plight of the endangered species. The baby gorillas, however, were not physically present at the colourful ceremony at the edge of a national park where the primates live. Eighteen masked people represented the gorillas at the event, which included songs and dances, attended by senior government officials including Prime Minister Bernard Makuza. Tourism Minister Monique ...
Sun, 21 Jun 09
Scientists Tackle Climate Model Mystery
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1708791/scientists_tackle_climate_model_mystery/index.html?source=r_science
redOrbit: Imagine a climate model as a black box. You put something in, you get something out. But what happens when the output is completely unexpected? "If you don't get the results you expect, that's when you start to ask why," said climate modeler Peter Lawrence from the University of Colorado at Boulder's Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences. Working with Tom Chase, a colleague at the institute, the researcher was comparing climate simulations from the ...
Sun, 21 Jun 09
Who's On The EPA's Most Wanted List?
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=105724458&ft=1&f=1025
National Public Radio: We all know that drugs are the business of narco cops, and that murders are treated by the homicide division. But who goes after the criminals who illegally remove asbestos or secretly store hazardous waste? The Environmental Protection Agency's Criminal Investigations Division does. Deputy Director Doug Parker discusses the EPA's most wanted fugitives with Guy Raz.
Sun, 21 Jun 09
CO2 warning: 3.6tn tonnes and counting
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jun/18/new-york-carbon-counter
Guardian: New Yorkers leaving Penn station and the tenor Andrea Bocelli's concert at Madison Square Garden stadium were confronted with an unusual advert yesterday – a huge sign showing greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere. Updated in real time, using projections from monthly measurements of CO2 and other greenhouse gases by Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Carbon Counter is designed to get everyone to reduce their emissions. Kevin Parker, the global head of Deutsche Bank's ...
Sun, 21 Jun 09
South Korean PM says threats from climate change, economic crisis not mutually exclusive
http://www.latimes.com/business/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-as-asia-world-economy-climate,0,5821594.story
Associated Press: South Korean Prime Minister Han Seung-soo said Friday that Asia is at grave risk from climate change and warned that responding to the environmental threat cannot be separated from fighting the global economic crisis. "Asian countries are particularly vulnerable to the adverse impacts of climate change," Han said in a speech at the annual World Economic Forum on East Asia. "Many major Asian cities are situated along coast lines and are susceptible to extreme climate ...
Sun, 21 Jun 09
China: Twittering Air Pollution Levels in Beijing
http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20090619/wl_time/08599190573600
Time Magazine: Anyone stepping outside in Beijing around midday on June 18 would have noticed something slightly amiss. The sky was dark enough for cars to use their headlights, and the air was as thick as a smoky bar just before last call. After one of the cleanest springs on record, the Chinese capital's air quality took an unhealthy plunge for the worse. You wouldn't have known it by the official numbers. The Ministry of Environmental Protection publishes air quality data online each day at noon, ...
Sun, 21 Jun 09
Asian Development Bank to invest $2bn a year in clean energy
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2244473/asian-development-bank-invest
Business Green: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has announced it is to double its annual spending on clean energy investments in Asia-Pacific to $2bn (£1.2bn). The increase, which forms part of ADB's Energy Efficiency Initiative, will take effect from 2013. Since last year the bank has budgeted $1bn a year to finance clean energy projects in developing member countries. However, investments in 2008 exceeded the allotted amount, totalling $1.6bn, and now the bank has moved to formally endorse ...
Sun, 21 Jun 09
Climate Change Already Underway, More To Come
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1708315/climate_change_already_underway_more_to_come/index.html?source=r_science
redOrbit: The US is already experiencing extreme weather, drought and heavy rainfall as a result of human-induced climate change, and the changes are likely to continue into the future, leading climate scientists reported on Wednesday. The report "Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States" forecasts hotter, drier conditions, resulting in "significant effects on the environment, agriculture and health" for the southwest region, according to experts from 13 US government science ...
Sun, 21 Jun 09
How Students Can Teach Congress about Climate Change
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=how-students-can-teach-congress
Scientific American: Although Eban Goodstein has been educating people about the global-warming threat for a decade, he only recently took major action to help solve the problem. In 2006 he heard James E. Hansen, a leading climate scientist at the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, say that global warming could prove catastrophic sooner than anticipated and that the world needed practical solutions immediately. Goodstein, an economics professor at Lewis and Clark College, temporarily left teaching ...
Sun, 21 Jun 09
One in six UK homes 'at risk of flooding'
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jun/19/uk-homes-risk-flood
Press Association: One in six homes in England is at risk of flooding, the Environment Agency warned today. And with climate change likely to raise the risk of flooding through rising sea levels and more rainstorms, £20bn needs to be invested in flood defences to protect properties in the next 25 years, the agency said. As many as 5.2m properties are already at risk of flooding, with 2.4m threatened by rivers and the sea, and a further 2.8 million at risk from surface water flooding from ...
Sun, 21 Jun 09
Climate Change Brings New Diseases
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47290
Inter Press Service: As its name suggests, the West Nile virus, a leading cause of a form of meningitis and a neuro-invasive disease, has until recently been reported mostly in tropical and sub-tropical African regions. But it is now about to become a global virus. "Due to climate change, regions with moderate temperatures, that is most of Europe and North America, are now facing diseases that were thought completely exotic in these areas," says Thomas Mettenleiter, president of the German Federal ...
Sun, 21 Jun 09
CO2 Higher Now Than Last 2.1 Million Years
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1708323/co2_higher_now_than_last_21_million_years/index.html?source=r_science
redOrbit: Researchers have reconstructed atmospheric carbon dioxide levels over the past 2.1 million years in the sharpest detail yet, shedding new light on its role in the earth's cycles of cooling and warming. The study, in the June 19 issue of the journal Science, is the latest to rule out a drop in CO2 as the cause for earth's ice ages growing longer and more intense some 850,000 years ago. But it also confirms many researchers' suspicion that higher carbon dioxide levels coincided with ...
Sun, 21 Jun 09
How aerosols mask climate change
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8108100.stm
BBC: A Norwegian scientist says he has shown how much aerosols influence climate. Aerosol particles scatter and reflect the Sun's rays - an effect that "masks" global warming. This study aimed to bring together models and observations of this "direct aerosol effect", to accurately estimate the magnitude of this cooling. Reporting in the journal Science, climate scientist Gunnar Myhre has found that the effect is weaker than previous studies have estimated. Dr Myhre, ...
Sun, 21 Jun 09
United States: Coal production forecast to decline this year
http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/articles/2009/06/18/news/top/doc4a3a921ccdf9b198534009.txt
Rapid City Journal: Coal production is expected to decline this year after more than a decade of steady, record-setting increases, but an industry official remains bullish on the energy source. The U.S. Energy Information Administration predicts that U.S. coal consumption for electricity generation will drop 4.6 percent this year. The reasons include falling demand and utilities switching to natural gas, nuclear power and renewable energy. The result could be a 7 percent drop in U.S. coal ...
Sun, 21 Jun 09
Farm interests fight climate regulations
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=130464
Greenwire: House appropriators approved a $10.6 billion spending bill for U.S. EPA last night, tucking in several amendments aimed at insulating agricultural interests from the reach of federal climate regulations. The House Appropriations Committee cleared the fiscal 2010 Interior and Environment spending bill after adding provisions to block EPA regulations requiring factory farms to report their greenhouse gas emissions and exempt livestock operations from possible carbon ...
Sun, 21 Jun 09
Italy cancels G8 research meeting
http://www.nature.com/news/2009/090617/full/news.2009.579.html
Nature: The Italian government has caught scientists off-guard by unexpectedly, and mysteriously, cancelling the G8 science and technology meeting planned for next week. The meeting was planned for 25-28 June. It would have brought together science ministers of the rich G8 nations to discuss issues of long-term and global concern, such as how to monitor climate change, maintain environment-friendly energy supplies and how to deal with the ageing society. It was one of nine ministerial ...
Sun, 21 Jun 09
Baker urges Obama to push nations on greenhouse gases
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus/stories/DN-bakergreenhouse_19bus.ART.State.Edition1.3bf9b5a.html
Dallas Morning News: Former Secretary of State James Baker suggested a strategy Thursday to get other greenhouse gas-emitting nations to regulate their pollution. President Barack Obama should not sign any legislation until China, India, Indonesia and Brazil agree to work on their own laws to regulate the gases thought to contribute to climate change, he said. "The U.S. as a pre-eminent power has got to spearhead that effort. There is no alternative, absolutely no alternative, to American ...
Sun, 21 Jun 09
Oceans in deep trouble, Congress told
http://www.courthousenews.com/2009/06/18/Oceans_in_Deep_Trouble_Congress_Told.htm
Courthouse News Service: s the globe begins to fry, ocean acidification threatens many of the finned species with extinction along with destruction of the $111 billion in economic trade that comes from the ocean, legislators were told last week by a host of witnesses, including the descendant of famed oceanographer Jaques-Yves Cousteau. "The ocean is the lifeblood of the Earth, covering more than 70 percent of the planet's surface, driving weather, regulating temperature and ultimately supporting all living ...
Sun, 21 Jun 09
China attacks Kyoto carbon trading with Greenpeace approval
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601080&sid=aLM4otYnvXHQ
Bloomberg: The market for trading rights to spew carbon dioxide, created by the 1997 Kyoto Protocol to reduce global warming, is under attack by developing countries and environmentalists as negotiators hammer out a sequel treaty. Investors who trade pollution permits are fighting proposals to limit or kill a United Nations program that lets European companies offset requirements to cut emissions by bankrolling low-carbon projects in emerging economies. The process creates credits that the World ...
Sun, 21 Jun 09
Climate change threatens to knock crop yields
http://planetark.org/enviro-news/item/53433
Reuters: Rapid rises in temperatures worldwide may overwhelm farmers' efforts to keep up, say experts who want funds to breed new crops and freeze heat-resistant strains bred over past centuries. A Stanford University study to be published on Friday estimates that African growing seasons for the continent's staple foods -- maize, millet and sorghum -- will be hotter in nine out of 10 years by 2050. Farmers can adapt by shifting growing times or using new varieties but the pace of change ...
Sun, 21 Jun 09
Borneo project aims to yield lessons on saving forests
http://planetark.org/enviro-news/item/53432
Reuters: Within a vast deforested area on Borneo island, Australia and Indonesia hope to turn an ecological disaster into a global lesson on how to help local communities save tropical forests and fight climate change. Borneo, like the Amazon, is at the center of efforts to fight deforestation that is a major contributor to global warming and many governments are trying to build on a U.N.-backed scheme that aims to reward developing nations for preserving their forests. Billion of ...
Sun, 21 Jun 09
Climate talks ease concern in Farm Belt
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124537051280829707.html
Wall Street Journal: House Democrats are on the verge of a deal with rebelling Farm Belt legislators on a climate-change bill, a move that could pave the way for a full House vote on legislation as soon as next week. Dozens of Democrats -- mostly from Midwest agricultural states -- are concerned that the bill, which aims to cut greenhouse-gas emissions, could disproportionately raise energy prices for residents and businesses in their states. Lawmakers and industry officials close to the ...
Sun, 21 Jun 09
United States: City of Seattle halts biodiesel purchases, looks for greener fuel
http://www.seattlepi.com/local/407384_fuel19.html
Seattle Post-Intelligencer: The city of Seattle has temporarily stopped buying biodiesel fuel for its fleet of vehicles because of concerns that the soy-based mix it was using was more harmful to the environment than regular diesel. But Brenda Bauer, director of Seattle's Fleets and Facilities Department, said the city could start using a different type of biodiesel made from waste grease -- byproducts of food production. "Not all biodiesels are the same," Bauer said. She said Mayor Greg Nickels ...
Sun, 21 Jun 09
Climate change will make Britain hot, wet and wild, says Met Office
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article6532079.ece
Times (UK): It is August 2084 and in the olive groves of Bedfordshire, the temperature has just topped 41C for the fourth day running. Luton's silk industry may be thriving, but on the radio, there are reports of wildfires raging across the Yorkshire moors. Hospitals are overflowing with elderly victims of the heat wave, some stricken with tropical diseases. It may sound far-fetched but it is one possible future as laid out yesterday by the Met Office, where Britain is still recognisable ...
Sun, 21 Jun 09
Rising sea levels put one in six homes in England at risk of flooding
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article6531379.ece
Times (UK): One in six homes in England is at risk of flooding and some £20 billion is needed by 2035 for defences to protect properties from rising sea levels and extreme rainfall, the Environment Agency warns today. Spending on flood defences must rise from £570 million a year to £1 billion a year -- and that will protect only 490,000 homes that are at the highest risk of flooding. The threat to entire communities is particularly alarming as vital installations for electricity, water and ...
Sun, 21 Jun 09
Rising ocean temperatures near worst-case predictions
http://www.theage.com.au/environment/rising-ocean-temperatures-near-worstcase-predictions-20090619-cmcs.html
Age: The ocean is warming about 50 per cent faster than reported two years ago, according to an update of the latest climate science. A report compiling research presented at a science congress in Copenhagen in March says recent observations are near the worst-case predictions of the 2007 report by the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. In the case of sea-level rise, it is happening at an even greater rate than projected - largely due to rising ocean ...
Sat, 20 Jun 09
Japan: Hot demand for Prius
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=130470
Associated Press: Toyota Motor Corp. got 180,000 orders for the new Prius hybrid in Japan in just a month, far surpassing its target of 10,000 vehicles in monthly sales, the automaker said Friday. The third-generation Prius, which rolled out a month ago, has been a big hit here, partly because of tax-breaks and other new government incentives that are meant to perk growth during the nation's downturn. The Prius was the No. 1 selling vehicle in Japan for May, clinching the top spot in the ...
Sat, 20 Jun 09
Study: US technology key to China and climate
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/19/AR2009061900342.html
Associated Press: Finding an economical way to capture carbon dioxide from existing coal burning power plants is key to getting China to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions as well as for U.S. efforts to combat global warming, says a study being released Friday. The report by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology concludes that the United States cannot meet its targets for stabilizing greenhouse gases unless it finds a way to economically capture carbon dioxide emissions coming from existing ...
Sat, 20 Jun 09
Oil industry cranks up lobbying effort
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/18/AR2009061802584.html
Associated Press: Oil and gas companies have accelerated their spending on lobbying faster than any other industry, training their gusher of profits on Washington to fight new taxes on drilling and slow efforts to move the nation off fossil fuels. The industry spent $44.5 million lobbying Congress and federal agencies in the first three months of this year, on pace to shatter last year's record. Only the drug industry spent more. Last year's total of $129 million was up 73 percent from two years ...
Sat, 20 Jun 09
World warming faster than thought
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,631262,00.html
Spiegel: Is climate change beyond our control? Respected geo-researchers have presented a new prognosis for the global increase in temperature. Yesterday's worst-case scenario is becoming today's reality. Two degrees -- that value has long been the guideline for international climate policy. Were the increase in average global temperatures held below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), then drastic climate change and long-term irreversible damage -- like the melting of Greenland's ...
Sat, 20 Jun 09
Russia's Medvedev sets goals for greenhouse gas cuts
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE55I3CP20090619?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Russia plans to release 30 percent more greenhouse gases by 2020 under an emissions target scheme announced on Friday by President Dmitry Medvedev. The plan would reduce emissions by 10-15 percent from Russia's emissions in 1990 when it was part of the Soviet Union and its emissions were far higher than they are today. This angered environmentalists, and the target also is likely to fall short of expectations from developing countries. "It's not enough, it's very low," ...
Sat, 20 Jun 09
U.N. seeks to avert half of natural disaster deaths
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE55I3QD20090619?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: The United Nations called on Friday for more aid funds to help countries prepare for -- instead of respond to -- natural disasters, saying simple steps could halve the number of deaths they cause. John Holmes, the U.N.'s emergency relief coordinator, said that 10 percent of humanitarian aid and 30 percent of climate change response money should be used to help fortify schools and hospitals and teach people how to survive crises. "You can't stop the disasters happening but you ...
Sat, 20 Jun 09
Denmark to power electric cars by wind in vehicle-to-grid experiment
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jun/19/denmark-wind-electric-cars
Guardian: Cars could be the solution to the intermittent nature of wind power if a multimillion European project beginning on a Danish island proves successful. The project on the holiday island of Bornholm will use the batteries of parked electric cars to store excess energy when the wind blows hard, and then feed electricity back into the grid when the weather is calm. The concept, known as vehicle-to-grid (V2G) is widely cited among greens as a key step towards a low-carbon future, ...
Sat, 20 Jun 09
German minister rules out new nuclear power stations
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090619/sc_afp/germanypoliticsenergynuclearclimatewarming
Agence France-Presse: Germany's economy minister on Friday ruled out building new nuclear power stations but said the life of some reactors might be extended and the development of alternative technologies stepped up. "We need limited extensions until we are able to work with sensible alternative technologies in an economical and environmentally friendly manner," Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg told the Sueddeutsche Zeitung daily in an interview. "That includes the possibility of equipping existing ...
Sat, 20 Jun 09
Peru revokes decrees that sparked Amazon Indian uprising
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0619-peru.html
Mongabay: Peru's Congress revoked two controversial land laws that sparked violent conflicts between indigenous protesters and police in the country's Amazon region. The move temporarily defuses a two-week crisis, with protestors agreeing to stand down by removing blockades from roads and rivers. Congress voted 82-14 Thursday to overturn legislative decrees 1090 and 1064, which would have facilitated foreign development of Amazon land. Indigenous groups said the decrees threatened millions of ...
Sat, 20 Jun 09
Green Parties Going It Alone
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47292
Inter Press Service: Fed up of waiting for existing parties to take up the cause of sustainable development and establish appropriate government policies to that end, environmental campaigners in Latin America have begun an increasingly high-profile battle for power in order to carry out their proposals themselves. Under the umbrella of the Global Greens Network, made up of about 100 environmentalist parties around the world, the Federation of Green Parties of the Americas is composed of a dozen ...
Sat, 20 Jun 09
Be Afraid. Be Very Afraid. Now Do Something About Climate Change
http://www.reuters.com/article/gwmEnergy/idUS428388833020090618
Reuters: On Tuesday, the Obama Administration released a study analyzing the potential impact of climate change in the United States. It read like the Ten Plagues at my family's annual seder: " ... heavy downpours, rising temperature and sea level, rapidly retreating glaciers, thawing permafrost, lengthening growing seasons, lengthening ice-free seasons in the ocean and on lakes and rivers, earlier snowmelt, and alterations in river flows ... " And if that wasn't enough ... " ... ...
Sat, 20 Jun 09
Greenhouse gas auction nets $104 million
http://www.boston.com/news/local/vermont/articles/2009/06/19/greenhouse_gas_auction_nets_104_million/?rss_id=Boston.com+--+Latest+news
Associated Press: The fourth quarterly auction of carbon allowances raised more than $104 million for 10 Northeastern states to invest in energy efficiency and renewable energy programs. Officials announced Friday that all 30.8 million allowances offered on June 17 were sold for $3.23 each -- 8 percent less than the March price of $3.51. Each allowance represents a ton of carbon that electric plants can release. Generators in the 10 Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative states are required to buy ...
Sat, 20 Jun 09
Explore how climate change might affect the US
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17341-explore-how-climate-change-might-affect-the-us.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=climate-change
New Scientist: The White House has released a detailed report on climate change, titled Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States. The report summarises and synthesises a number of in-depth studies on both past and projected future effects of greenhouse gases on the US. It outlines projections for high-emissions and reduced-emissions scenarios. New Scientist has compiled this Google map to show what the report has to say for various regions and cities in the US.
Sat, 20 Jun 09
United Kingdom: Eco-activist rock musician thinks local, acts global
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE55I3GO20090619?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: It's a long way from rock and roll to eco-activist but Chuck Leavell, most recently keyboardist for The Rolling Stones, believes the two are anything but mutually exclusive. Leavell, 57, said while the 60's are best known for the music and sexual revolutions, in a smaller but equally important way there was greater recognition that people had to start taking care of the environment. His most recent incarnation is as a co-founder of The Mother Nature Network, an environmental ...
Sat, 20 Jun 09
Conservatives have always been green
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/5581031/Conservatives-have-always-been-green.html
Telegraph: For reasons best known to himself, George W Bush privately derided environmentalists as "green, green lima beans". But he was often embarrassed to find them growing in unexpected places. Possibly his worst moment came when Angela Merkel, just installed as Germany's youngest ever chancellor, came to call. The Right-wing former East German, he assumed, would be far less concerned about the environment than the Red-Green coalition that preceded her. So he suggested that they could ignore the ...
Sat, 20 Jun 09
Nuclear power could cost trillions over renewables
http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/60-second-science/post.cfm?id=nuclear-power-could-cost-trillions-2009-06-19
Scientific American: Nuclear power plants may not emit greenhouse gases, but they sure could suck in the tax dollars. An analysis by economist Mark Cooper at the Vermont Law School claims that adding 100 new reactors to the U.S. power grid would cost taxpayers and customers between $1.9 and $4.1 trillion over the reactors' lifetimes compared with renewable power sources and conservation measures. The analysis factors in studies from Wall Street and independent energy analysts estimating the ...
Sat, 20 Jun 09
Carbon counter offers real-time global emissions data
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2244454/carbon-counter-offers-real
Business Green: New Yorkers are to receive real-time information on the rising level of greenhouse gases in the Earth's atmosphere, via a giant 70-feet-tall digital billboard outside Madison Square Garden and Penn Station. The billboard, which is being touted as the world's first scientifically valid, real-time indicator of carbon emissions, was officially unveiled yesterday by Deutsche Bank's Asset Management division and a team of researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology ...
Sat, 20 Jun 09
Too much or too little fertilizer: crop productivity and environmental impact
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0618-hance_fertilizer.html
Mongabay: While the use of synthetic fertilizer has greatly increased agricultural production globally--helping to feed a global population that is not slowing down--it has brought with it high environmental costs. Fertilizer runoff has polluted many coastal regions creating 'dead zones' where the ocean is starved of oxygen by the influx of nitrogen. Synthetic fertilizers have also polluted the air with ammonia, and sent emissions of nitrous oxide into the atmosphere, contributing to global ...
Sat, 20 Jun 09
US climate change impacts are forecast
http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2009/06/18/US-climate-change-impacts-are-forecast/UPI-20201245347787/
United Press International: A report detailing the impact of climate change on the United States calls for decreased rainfall in southwestern states, with more 100-degree Fahrenheit days. Evan Mills and Michael Wehner at the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory contributed to the report released by the multi-agency U.S. Global Change Research Program. For southwest states, which include California, the report forecasts a hotter, drier climate with significant effects on the ...
Sat, 20 Jun 09
EU leaders discuss climate change deal contribution
http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSLI891219
Reuters: European Union leaders will agree the basis of its financial contribution to a global climate change deal by the end of Friday, Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said. Rasmussen, whose country hosts talks in Copenhagen in December where the deal should be clinched, urged EU leaders to ensure they continue to play a lead role on climate change at a time when the United States was gaining momentum in tackling global warming. His comments followed criticism by ...
Fri, 19 Jun 09
Biofuel crops may damage water resources
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1707887/biofuel_crops_may_damage_water_resources/index.html?source=r_science
redOrbit: Scientists warn the United States must be careful that its biofuel development takes into account potential damage to the nation's water resources. "The ongoing, rapid growth in biofuels production could have far-reaching environmental and economic repercussions, and it will likely highlight the interdependence and growing tension between energy and water security," said Rice University researchers in a report titled "The Water Footprint of Biofuels: A Drink or Drive ...
Fri, 19 Jun 09
CO2 currently at highest level in 2.1 million years
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0618-co2.html
Mongabay: Atmospheric carbon dioxide levels are higher than any point in the last 2.1 million years, report researchers writing in the journal Science. Analyzing the shells of single-celled plankton buried under the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Africa, Bärbel Hönisch, a geochemist at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, and her colleagues dtermined that peak CO2 levels over the last 2.1 million years averaged only 280 parts per million. By comparison current CO2 levels ...
Fri, 19 Jun 09
Britain releases new climate change report
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31429461/ns/us_news-environment/
Associated Press: Britain's soggy summers will become warmer and drier, and London could experience scorching heat waves by late this century, a government-backed report on climate change said Thursday. The study outlines three scenarios for climate change, based on high, medium and low global levels of greenhouse gas emissions. The report said the medium emissions scenario, to which the world is currently closest, would see summer temperatures in Britain rise by about 4 C (7.2 F) by ...
Fri, 19 Jun 09
Global warming braked less than expected by haze
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE55H59720090618?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Air pollution, dust and other tiny particles that can bounce sunlight back into space are braking global warming less than previously believed, a Norwegian study said. The report, which helps understand how climate change works, said scientific estimates of light-reflecting airborne particles had underestimated a fast build-up of black airborne soot, which has the opposite effect by soaking up heat. "The black carbon, or soot, emissions have increased fastest," said Gunnar ...
Fri, 19 Jun 09
Greenpeace Spoofs the IHT to Spotlight Climate
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=130415
New York Times: The environmental group Greenpeace on Thursday distributed a spoof edition of The International Herald Tribune, in an effort to draw attention to climate change as European Union leaders gathered to discuss the issue in Brussels. "Heads of state agree historic climate-saving deal," the parody proclaimed on Page 1, along with a picture of President Nicolas Sarkozy of France, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany and José Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission. It was dated ...
Fri, 19 Jun 09
China and the Global Climate: 'The West Is Responsible'
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,631146,00.html#ref=rss
Spiegel: SPIEGEL: China is now the largest emitter of CO2 in the world. Is China recognizing its responsibility for climate change? Yu Qingtai: We take climate change very seriously, but don't forget that we are 1.3 billion people. The difference in per-capita emissions between China and the developed nations is still huge. You can't tell Chinese people that being born in China means being allowed just 20 percent or 25 percent of the CO2 emissions allowed somebody born in ...
Fri, 19 Jun 09
Met Office to map UK climate change forecast
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jun/18/uk-weather-climate-impact-report
Guardian: Scientists today produced a detailed map of how climate change is expected to affect every part of the UK over the next century. Experts from the Met Office used sophisticated computer models to build up a picture of how temperature and rainfall are likely to change across 600 different locations. Announcing the results, the environment secretary, Hilary Benn, said global warming will affect "every aspect of our daily lives". The scientists say summer rainfall in south-east England ...
Fri, 19 Jun 09
UK 'must plan' for warmer future
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8107014.stm
BBC: Some regions of the UK are likely to see more floods, especially in winter The UK needs to plan now for a future that will be hotter and bring greater extremes of flood and drought, says Environment Secretary Hilary Benn. Launching the UK Climate Projections 2009 report (UKCP09), Mr Benn told MPs that the UK climate will change even with a global deal on emissions. By 2080, London will be between 2C and 6C hotter than it is now, he said. Every part of the UK is ...
Fri, 19 Jun 09
Oceans Rising Faster Than UN Forecast, Scientists Say
http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=T&ct=us/8-0&fd=R&url=http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news%3Fpid%3D20601124%26sid%3Dafmw1nT6inhA&cid=1262845874&ei=VCw6SoGNNKGkM7WmrLUF&usg=AFQjCNFjU-BQsWwoDoXx22thzht8d0L6Jg
Bloomberg: Polar ice caps are melting faster and oceans are rising more than the United Nations projected just two years ago, 10 universities said in a report suggesting that climate change has been underestimated. Global sea levels will climb a meter (39 inches) by 2100, 69 percent more than the most dire forecast made in 2007 by the UN's climate panel, according to the study released today in Brussels. The forecast was based on new findings, including that Greenland's ice sheet is losing 179 ...
Fri, 19 Jun 09
Poet prepares for second-gen biofuel push
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2244414/poet-prepares-second-gen
Business Green: It may still be about two years away from launching its first large-scale facility for producing fuel made from cellulosic material, but that has not stopped US biofuel giant Poet beginning the search for suitable supplies of the waste organic matter it will need to run the plant. The company, which is currently the largest producer of ethanol in the world, announced yesterday that it has launched a new division dedicated to managing the development of the new feedstocks that will be ...
Fri, 19 Jun 09
Streetcar launches UK's first plug-in Prius hire scheme
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jun/18/streetcar-plug-in-prius-hire
Guardian: Car club firm Streetcar has this week launched the UK's first electric car hire scheme, offering Londoners the chance to hire a plug-in hybrid version of Toyota's popular Prius. The modified version of the hybrid car is provided by UK firm Amberjac Projects and features a new lithium ion phosphate battery that can be charged from the mains, allowing the car to travel up to 30 miles without using the conventional engine. According to reports from the Evening Standard, the ...
Fri, 19 Jun 09
How Local Solutions Can Have Global Climate Impact
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=how-local-solutions-can-have
Scientific American: The London School of Economics and Political Science has been at the forefront of analyzing the costs of climate change. Together with the University of Leeds in England, the school has started a Center for Climate Change Economics and Policy to examine issues in more detail. Co-director Andrew Gouldson assesses the likelihood of an international climate agreement and what local communities can do to adapt to change. What is your vision for the center? There is a need to move ...
Fri, 19 Jun 09
Climate catastrophe getting closer, warn scientists
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090618/ts_afp/climatewarmingscience
Agence France-Presse: The world faces a growing risk of "abrupt and irreversible climatic shifts" as fallout from global warming hits faster than expected, according to research by international scientists released Thursday. Global surface and ocean temperatures, sea levels, extreme climate events, and the retreat of Arctic sea ice have all significantly picked up more pace than experts predicted only a couple of years ago, they said. The stark warning comes less than six months before an ...
Fri, 19 Jun 09
United Kingdom: Thirsty crops
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8107350.stm
BBC: We are standing under endless Fenland skies. It's not yet Eight O Clock, but already the sun is warm and high. We are surveying three fields on Duncan Worth's farm. Before us, glossy green potato plants with their scented white flowers; to the left of us, maize to be used in power generation; to the right of us, wheat. "It's been ideal growing weather recently," Duncan says, "sunshine and the right amount of rain." But for how much longer? The hotter, drier summers ...
Fri, 19 Jun 09
NYC billboard monitors rising greenhouse gases
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2009/06/18/nyc_billboard_monitors_rising_greenhouse_gases/?rss_id=Boston.com+--+Latest+news
Associated Press: New Yorkers have long been able to keep tabs on the national debt, but they now have a highly visible counter to track greenhouse gas emissions. A 70-foot-high billboard outside Madison Square Garden and Pennsylvania Station, not far from the Empire State Building, features a carbon counter. Digital numbers help viewers track the amount of greenhouse gases in Earth's atmosphere. As of Thursday morning, it stood at more than 3.6 trillion metric tons. The carbon counter is ...
Fri, 19 Jun 09
Warming may outstrip Africa's ability to feed itself
http://www.africasia.com/services/news/newsitem.php?area=africa&item=090617170445.60mc6qaf.php
Agence France-Presse: By mid-century, climate change may have outrun the ability of Africa's farmers to adapt to rising temperatures, threatening the continent's precarious food security, warns a new study. Growing seasons throughout nearly all of Africa in 2050 will likely be "hotter than any year in historical experience," reports the study, published in the current issue of the British-based journal Global Environmental Change. Six nations -- Senegal, Chad, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Sierra ...
Fri, 19 Jun 09
Estimate places natural gas reserves 35% higher
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=130365
New York Times: Thanks to new drilling technologies that are unlocking substantial amounts of natural gas from shale rocks, the nation's estimated gas reserves have surged by 35 percent, according to a study due for release on Thursday. The report by the Potential Gas Committee, the authority on gas supplies, shows the United States holds far larger reserves than previously thought. The jump is the largest increase in the 44-year history of reports from the committee. The finding raises the ...
Fri, 19 Jun 09
Expansive energy bill advances in Congress
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/17/AR2009061701699.html
Washington Post: A Senate energy bill was voted out of committee yesterday, but not before losing the support of two Democrats and a dozen leading environmental organizations. The measure would be the third energy bill in four years -- not counting the huge energy provisions in this year's economic stimulus bill. Like the others, it is rife with controversy over new offshore drilling plans near Florida, the sharing of federal offshore oil and gas royalties, and a mandate for renewable energy that ...
Fri, 19 Jun 09
Arctic thaw could make global warming worse
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=the-peril-below-the-ice
Scientific American: A young scientist with curly, reddish hair tucked beneath a knit cap stepped gingerly onto the three-day-old ice of a remote lake in northeastern Siberia. Coating the black depths like cellophane, the thin film held no promise to bear her weight, but a sudden dunk in the frigid water was a risk she had to take. Searching the lake by rickety rowboat all summer had failed, and any day winter's first big snow would engulf the region, obscuring the lake's surface until spring. She could not ...
Fri, 19 Jun 09
'Tough' negotiator Peterson rocks climate debate
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=130362
Greenwire: Rep. Collin Peterson, the outspoken House Agriculture Committee chairman who has emerged as a key figure in the climate debate, is used to rocking the house. He has done so, guitar in hand, at night clubs, the Grand Ole Opry and Farm Aid as the leader of rock-country bands. And with gavel in hand, he has often rocked the boat in Congress, frequently going against his party on key votes and fighting for fiscal restraint as a founding member of the conservative "Blue Dog" ...
Fri, 19 Jun 09
Where smart money is going in clean tech
http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/jun2009/gb20090617_981467.htm?chan=globalbiz_europe%20index%20page_top%20stories
Business Week: The scenic Geneva lakeshore--complete with luxury houses and boutique fashion retailers--seems an odd place to tackle climate change. But in a five-star hotel on the Avenue de France in the center of the Swiss city, clean technology entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, and bankers gathered on June 17 and 18 to do just that. The agenda: Identify Europe's leading cleantech startups and make deals to fund the fight against global warming. The summit, organized by the nonprofit European ...
Fri, 19 Jun 09
EU must put climate money on the table
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jun/18/letter-eu-climate-change-emissions
Guardian: Developing countries are the most vulnerable to climate change (We need to act now, 17 June), the least responsible for historic emissions and have the fewest resources to tackle its consequences. Successfully tackling climate change will require the transfer of tens of billions of dollars a year from developed to developing countries to help them reduce their emissions and adapt to climate risks that are growing by the day. The EU promised at the climate talks in Poznan last December to ...
Fri, 19 Jun 09
Australia Senate delays renewable energy laws
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE55G00X20090618?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: The Australian parliament's upper house Senate on Thursday postponed a debate on renewable energy laws until at least August, dashing government hopes of passing the laws by the end of June. The laws, which set a 20 percent target for renewable energy use by 2020 in Australia's coal-reliant electricity supply, would unlock up to $22 billion worth of investment in solar and wind projects. The government and Greens opposed the delay, saying the move would undermine investment in ...
Fri, 19 Jun 09
UK maps climate impacts in detail
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8106104.stm
BBC: The government hopes the project will lead to better protective measures such as sea walls Detailed forecasts of how climate change may affect the UK during this century are to be released by the government later. The report will predict how temperature and rainfall are likely to change at regional and local scales. Scientists believe winters will be wetter, particularly in the north, and summers drier, especially in the south. The projected impacts are "worse ...
Fri, 19 Jun 09
New climate change report warns of extreme weather; Inhofe calls it "phony"
http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=298&articleid=20090617_298_0_WASHIN473932&allcom=1
Tulsa World: A new climate change report warns of more extreme weather marked by heat waves, droughts and heavy rainfall for Oklahoma and other Great Plains states. U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., who once referred to global warming as a hoax, dismissed the latest report Wednesday as a "phony'' effort to shore up support for legislation. Released by the Obama administration, the report states that climate change already is having visible impacts on the U.S. "It tells us why remedial ...
Thu, 18 Jun 09
Report: Climate change is here, should be dealt with now
http://www.sltrib.com/ci_12603195
Salt Lake Tribune: Utahns have heard it before: Climate change threatens to make water more scarce. It will shrink the ski season, and swell the demand for summertime air conditioning. But there are new messages for the Southwest in the White House report on climate change released Tuesday: Powerful changes are under way already and the time to act is now. "Recent warming in the Southwest has been among the most rapid in the nation," says the opening line describing the region's climate impacts. ...
Thu, 18 Jun 09
Continental says biofuel did well in flight test
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE55G4Z420090617?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Continental Airlines said a blend of biologically derived fuel and jet fuel performed slightly better than jet fuel alone during a test flight by the world's fifth-largest airline. During some parts of a 90-minute test flight in January, the blended fuel displayed a 1.1 percent increase in fuel efficiency over traditional jet fuel alone, the Houston, Texas-based airline said in a statement on Wednesday. Continental estimates greenhouse gas emissions were cut at least 60 percent ...
Thu, 18 Jun 09
New report predicts dire consequences for every U.S. region from global warming
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0617-hance_US_warming.html
Mongabay: Sobering report is the most comprehensive to date. Government officials and scientists released a 196 page report detailing the impact of global warming on the U.S. yesterday. The study, commissioned in 2007 during the Bush Administration, found that every region of the U.S. faces large-scale consequences due to climate change, including higher temperatures, increased droughts, heavier rainfall, more severe weather, water shortages, rising sea levels, ecosystem stresses, loss of ...
Thu, 18 Jun 09
China Reins in Dam Builders
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47259
Inter Press Service: Beijing has reined in China's unbridled dam-building spree, issuing warnings to power-hungry developers that stimulating the economy in a time of crisis should not be used as an excuse to forego environmental reviews of big hydroelectric projects. Nevertheless, the country remains committed to a series of dam schemes outside of its borders as its role grows as a global financier and builder. Over the last few months, Beijing has pulled the plug on several highly controversial ...
Thu, 18 Jun 09
African farms becoming too hot to handle
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17327-african-farms-becoming-too-hot-to-handle.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=climate-change
New Scientist: African farmers will soon face growing seasons hotter than any in their experience. To cope with this rapid climate change, they "" and the plant breeders who supply their crops "" will need to make big changes, and soon. Agricultural experts have predicted for some time that farmers are likely to face problems as climates become hotter and drier than they are today. Indeed, some farmers in South Africa are already reporting difficulties (pdf). To see how fast, and how broadly, ...
Thu, 18 Jun 09
Philippines: Climate Change Just as Vital as Economy
http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2009/june/18/yehey/top_stories/20090618top5.html
Manila Times: President Gloria Arroyo said Wednesday that the world leaders should keep their economies afloat without forgetting about climate-change concerns. People should not lose sight of the challenges facing the environment that were around even before the onset of the current global turmoil, she added during her speech at the High Level Meeting on Climate Change in Asia and the Pacific held at the Asian Development Bank headquarters in Pasig City (Metro Manila). "The issue of climate ...
Thu, 18 Jun 09
Groups add climate change to oil shale concerns
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2009/06/17/ap6555097.html
Associated Press: Conservation groups challenging a plan to open nearly 2 million acres of public land in Wyoming, Utah and Colorado to commercial oil shale development say potential effects on climate change weren't considered and that violates federal law. Thirteen groups seeking to set aside the Bush administration's plan have amended two lawsuits first filed in January to add the claim about climate change. The amendments also allege the federal government broke environmental laws by not ...
Thu, 18 Jun 09
U.S. Senate panel approves comprehensive energy bill
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE55G3S420090617?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: A U.S. Senate committee on Wednesday approved a comprehensive energy package that would require utilities to generate 15 percent of electricity from renewable sources such as solar and wind power. Utilities could meet about a quarter of their renewable requirements through energy efficiency gains. The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee voted 15 to 8 in favor of the wide-ranging legislation that would also require the Energy Department to create an emergency reserve ...
Thu, 18 Jun 09
Calling for action, White House underscores climate impact
http://wwwp.dailyclimate.org/tdc-newsroom/2009/06/white-house-underscores-climate-impact
Daily Climate: The Obama Administration on Tuesday released a report showing climate disruption is already leaving deep imprints on every sector of the environment and that the consequences of these changes will grow steadily worse in coming decades. The 196-page report crisscrosses the United States and finds that global warming has touched every corner: Heavier downpours, strengthened heat waves, altered river flows and extended growing seasons. These changes, the report notes, will place ...
Thu, 18 Jun 09
Australia: Coal-fired power gets boost
http://www.smh.com.au/environment/global-warming/coalfired-power-gets-boost-20090616-cgk7.html
Sydney Morning Herald: COAL-FIRED electricity will get a big boost in funding and the state's greenhouse gas emissions will keep rising, according to figures outlined in the budget yesterday. The state's second-largest coal-fired power station, which already emits about 12 million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year, will be expanded with an investment of $205 million. The NSW Government will "break the record on energy spending", the Energy Minister, Ian Macdonald said yesterday, laying out a massive ...
Thu, 18 Jun 09
Lomborg calls for a carbon tax
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0617-lomborg.html
Mongabay: Bjorn Lomborg, a Danish business school professor and author who has riled environmentalists by arguing that addressing climate change should be a lesser priority than global health and nutrition initiatives, is calling for a $7 per ton tax on carbon dioxide emissions, reports the Wall Street Journal. According to the paper, Lomborg says a carbon tax "could address what he calls a 'market failure' in the development of solar-power systems and wind turbines effective enough and cheap ...
Thu, 18 Jun 09
Global sunscreen won't save corals
http://www.physorg.com/news164378973.html
Physorg: Emergency plans to counteract global warming by artificially shading the Earth from incoming sunlight might lower the planet's temperature a few degrees, but such "geoengineering" solutions would do little to stop the acidification of the world oceans that threatens coral reefs and other marine life, report the authors of a new study in the journal Geophysical Research Letters. The culprit is atmospheric carbon dioxide, which even in a cooler globe will continue to be absorbed by seawater, ...
Thu, 18 Jun 09
Australia drives renewables amid carbon deadlock
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/SYD21513.htm
Reuters: Australia's government introduced laws on Wednesday aimed at driving renewable energy investment and curbing greenhouse emissions, but remained deadlocked with rivals over ambitious plans to start carbon trading. The centre left Labor government hopes laws setting a 20 percent target for renewable energy use by 2020 in Australia's currently coal-reliant electricity supply will spur up to $22 billion worth of investment in solar and wind projects. "We must provide our future ...
Thu, 18 Jun 09
A New Measure Of Global Warming From Carbon Emissions
http://www.terradaily.com/reports/A_New_Measure_Of_Global_Warming_From_Carbon_Emissions_999.html
SPX: Damon Matthews, a professor in Concordia University's Department of Geography, Planning and the Environment has found a direct relationship between carbon dioxide emissions and global warming. Matthews, together with colleagues from Victoria and the U.K., used a combination of global climate models and historical climate data to show that there is a simple linear relationship between total cumulative emissions and global temperature change. Until now, it has been difficult to ...
Thu, 18 Jun 09
United Kingdom: E.ON moves forward with Kingsnorth CCS plan
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2244304/moves-forward-kingsnorth-ccs
Business Green: Following hot on the heels of the launch of the UK's new clean coal consultation, energy giant E.ON has stepped up pressure on the government to approve its plans for a new coal-fired power plant at Kingsnorth in Kent featuring carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology. Just hours after the government released proposals for four new CCS demonstration plants and the regulatory and incentive framework that will govern them, E.ON announced it had signed an agreement with two ...
Thu, 18 Jun 09
Urban farming, a bit closer to the sun
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=130273
New York Times: THIS summer, Tony Tomelden hopes to be making bloody marys at the Pug in Washington, D.C., with tomatoes and chilies grown above the bar, thanks to the city's incentives for green roofs. Mr. Tomelden, the Pug's principal owner, says he's planting a garden to take advantage of tax subsidies the city offers in his neighborhood if he covers his roof with plants. "If I can do something in my corner for the environment, that seemed a reasonable thing to do," he said. "Plus I can ...
Thu, 18 Jun 09
Critical biomass
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/16/AR2009061602796.html
Washington Post: ADVOCATES of the energy bill making its way through the House say that it will help America make the transition to a new, green economy. But first it must get past the powerful agriculture bloc. Among many other things, the bill -- known as Waxman-Markey after its champions, Reps. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.) and Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) -- requires that utilities derive 15 percent of their electricity from "renewable" sources by 2020. Most people think of wind or solar power, but ...
Thu, 18 Jun 09
Clean-energy windmills a 'dirty business' for farmers in Mexico
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/environment/2009-06-16-mexico-wind-power_N.htm
USA Today: he windmills stand in rows like an army of Goliaths, steel towers taller than the Statue of Liberty and topped with blades as long as a jetliner's wing. The blades whoosh through the humid air, carving energy from a wind that rushes across Mexico's Isthmus of Tehuantepec on its journey from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific Ocean. Nearly every day, another tower rises out of the countryside. The isthmus – Mexico's narrowest point – is becoming the Saudi Arabia of alternative energy as ...
Thu, 18 Jun 09
On the streets of China, electric bikes are swarming
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1904334,00.html
Time: In China, electric bicycles are leaving cars in the dust. Last year, Chinese bought 21 million e-bikes, compared with 9.4 million autos. While China now has about 25 million cars on the road, it has four times as many e-bikes. Thanks to government encouragement and a population well versed in riding two wheels to work, the country has become the world's leading market for the cheap, green vehicles, helping to offset some of the harmful effects of the country's automobile boom. Indeed, as ...
Thu, 18 Jun 09
Britain's most polluting car needs an acre of forest to absorb fumes
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/5553816/Britains-most-polluting-car-needs-an-acre-of-forest-to-absorb-fumes.html
Telegraph: Churning out 488 grams of carbon dioxide every kilometre, 322 mature oak trees would be needed to absorb the American sports car's emissions in a year, experts warned. The Environmental Transport Association made the disclosure following a study of more than 1,300 models of cars currently on sale in Britain. Meanwhile, green celebrity favourite the Toyota Prius lost its crown as the country's most environmentally friendly car. The hybrid vehicle driven by Gwyneth ...
Thu, 18 Jun 09
Asia set to become biggest climate change driver
http://www.postbulletin.com/newsmanager/templates/localnews_story.asp?z=50&a=404253
Associated Press: Asia's share of global greenhouse gas emissions could rise to more than 40 percent by 2030, making it the world's main driver of climate change, experts warned Tuesday. The most populous continent with the fastest-growing economies in China and India already accounts for a third of world emissions of gases blamed for warming weather, including carbon dioxide, Asian Development Bank President Haruhiko Kuroda told a conference in Manila. Its share of discharges from energy use ...
Thu, 18 Jun 09
Scientists debate shading earth as climate fix
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=105483423
National Public Radio: Engineering our climate to stop global warming may seem like science fiction, but at a recent National Academy of Sciences meeting, scientists discussed some potential geoengineering experiments in earnest. Climate researcher Ken Caldeira was skeptical when he first heard about the idea of shading the Earth a decade ago in a talk by nuclear weapons scientist Lowell Wood. "He basically said, 'We don't have to bother with emissions reduction. We can just throw aerosols -- little ...
Thu, 18 Jun 09
World disaster toll faces new threat from global warning: Red Cross
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hXUE6oyBYXgTEjG7iYWsFYPBOukw
Agence France-Presse: Natural and man-made disasters killed nearly a quarter of a million people in 2008 and warnings about looming disasters, particularly climate change, are not being heeded, the Red Cross said Tuesday. In 2008, disasters ranging from the Chinese earthquake to a devastating cyclone in Myanmar wrought the second most devastating annual toll of the past decade, 242,662 deaths, according to a report by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. It cautioned ...
Thu, 18 Jun 09
U.S. urges cleaner Alberta oilsands
http://www.calgaryherald.com/Business/urges%20cleaner%20Alberta%20oilsands/1699392/story.html
Calgary Herald: Two of President Barack Obama's top advisers on energy and climate change said Monday the Alberta oilsands are a key part of the U.S. energy mix, but warned its development must be cleaned up because there's "a lot of concern" south of the border about the environmental footprint. U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu and Nancy Sutley, chairwoman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, said the Obama administration is committed to ramping up clean-energy production in the U. ...
Thu, 18 Jun 09
Australia: Livelihoods under threat as lands turn to desert
http://www.abc.net.au/rural/news/content/200906/s2600709.htm
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: The CSIRO says 250 million people across the world are in danger of losing homes and employment if the problem of desertification is not addressed. Desertification is the degradation of dry lands through soil erosion, mismanagement and climate change. Dr Mark Stafford Smith, from the CSIRO's Desert Knowledge Co-operative Research Centre, says the problem needs to be taken seriously by landholders and government. "Although desertification is on the world agenda as an ...
Thu, 18 Jun 09
White House: Climate change damage happening now
http://www.usatoday.com/weather/climate/globalwarming/2009-06-16-climate_change_damage_N.htm?csp=34
USA Today: "Human-induced climate change is a reality," said Lubchenco at a White House briefing. "It's not just a problem for the future." "Climate change is happening now," says Thomas Karl, an NOAA scientist and co-editor of the report. "Changes have already been observed in all aspects of the climate." The report was commissioned during the Bush administration to combine findings from federal agencies with those from other sources. Findings include: *U.S. temperatures have increased ...
Thu, 18 Jun 09
Hybrid Chestnut Trees Hold Promise as Carbon Sponges
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47245
Inter Press Service: Reducing carbon levels in the atmosphere may be as simple as planting a new breed of hybridised chestnut trees, according to a new study by Purdue University Associate Professor Douglass Jacobs. The hybrid American chestnut tree, which is mixed with a similar and more disease-resistant Chinese chestnut tree, has been found to grow faster than other chestnut trees and retain carbon for a longer period of time, including after its death. The American chestnut has been facing ...
Thu, 18 Jun 09
White House Says Climate Change Already Affecting US
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/environment/jan-june09/climatechange_06-16.html
PBS: Global climate change is already affecting the United States, according to a report by federal scientists released Tuesday. The report was prepared by a 13 federal agencies and was overseen by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, under the umbrella of a joint venture called the United States Global Change Research Program. Under a 1990 law, the group is required to report every 10 years on climate change effects on the environment. The group found that the ...
Thu, 18 Jun 09
Report: Drier South, warmer North, and more bugs
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090616/ap_on_sc/us_sci_climate_report_regions
Associated Press: The new climate change science report by the federal government looks at effects of global warming on specific U.S. regions and forecasts what's to come: NORTHEAST Already: Winter temperatures have increased by 4 degrees since 1970. Future: Even warmer winters, harm to the ski industry, extreme heat and polluted air in the summer. The maple syrup industry may move north. SOUTHEAST: Already: Spring rainfall is down nearly 30 percent since ...
Thu, 18 Jun 09
Scientists warn of devastating effects from climate change
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/06/16/MNNP188DSH.DTL
San Francisco Chronicle: Top government scientists on Tuesday warned that climate change already is wreaking devastating changes on the United States, threatening the Southwest with blistering heat, the Atlantic Coast with dangerous hurricanes and the Midwest with flooding. The alarms were delivered in a nearly 200-page report, begun by the Bush administration, that documents how the changing climate is reshaping U.S. coastlines and could affect American agriculture. The report finds that U.S. ...
Thu, 18 Jun 09
United Kingdom: The ultimate green car - but where do you fill it up?
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/the-ultimate-green-car-ndash-but-where-do-you-fill-it-up-1706923.html
Independent (UK): It's silent, it's pollution free, it's nippy, and it'll get you round town for £2,500 a year, fuel and maintenance included. So, is it the car of the future? Maybe. The developers of the hydrogen-powered Riversimple Urban Car certainly think it is, and when this new British contribution to green motoring was unveiled in London yesterday they did not spare the superlatives. The lightweight two-seater, which has a hydrogen fuel cell powering four electric motors, will cut travelling ...
Thu, 18 Jun 09
U.S. climate report details energy, agriculture harm
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE55F7P020090616?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Climate change has already caused "visible impacts" in the United States and poses particular risks to the U.S. agriculture and energy industries, a new government report said on Tuesday. The report, which lays out the effects of global warming on specific U.S. regions and sectors, calls for quick policy action as the U.S. House of Representatives prepares to vote soon on a bill to reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. "It's not too late to act," said Jane Lubchenco, the ...
Thu, 18 Jun 09
Australia's carbon farmers in quiet revolution
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE55G00X20090617?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: On the rolling hills of Winona, a fine merino sheep stud, a quiet revolution is taking place which Australian farmers hope will eventually see them selling soil carbon credits in the fight against climate change. Winona's Colin Seis is one of the country's leading "carbon farmers" and has for the past 10 years been encouraging the extraction of greenhouse gas CO2 from the atmosphere and increasing the carbon content of his soil to improve pastures. Seis estimates he has ...
Thu, 18 Jun 09
Climate change is happening 'here, now': US report
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090617/ts_alt_afp/usclimateenvironment
Agence France-Presse: The harmful effects of global warming are being felt "here and now and in your backyard," a groundbreaking US government report on climate change has warned. "Climate change is happening now, it is not something that will happen decades or centuries in the future," Jerry Melillo of the Marine Biological Laboratory in Massachusetts, one of the lead authors of the report, told AFP. Climate change, which the report blames largely on human-induced emissions of heat-trapping gases, ...
Thu, 18 Jun 09
Plan to turn Africa's sunshine into Europe's energy
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jun/16/solar-power-europe-africa
Guardian: Twenty blue chip German companies are pooling their resources with the aim of harnessing solar power in the deserts of north Africa and transporting the clean electricity to Europe. The businesses, which include some of the biggest names in European energy, finance and manufacturing, will form a consortium next month. If successful, the highly ambitious plan could see Europe fuelled by solar energy within a decade. The consortium behind what would be the biggest ever solar ...
Thu, 18 Jun 09
US, China at a crossroads on climate change
http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_12603866
Salt Lake Tribune: Utah Lt. Gov. Gary Herbert listens as China scholar Susan Shirk, of the University of California, San Diego, talks to the assembled governors at the Western Governors' Conference about China's energy technology and the environment. (Paul Fraughton / The Salt Lake Tribune) Park City » The United States will have to dance a delicate diplomatic waltz to work toward an agreement with China to tackle climate change, but the cooperation of the world's leading greenhouse gas emitters will be ...
Thu, 18 Jun 09
ConocoPhillips chief warns of impending oil crisis
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090617/pl_afp/useconomyenergywarmingoil_20090617022709
Agence France-Presse: Government efforts to curb climate change could soon spur an oil crisis more severe than those already experienced, the head of oil and gas giant ConocoPhillips has said. "We're very concerned that if we don't keep the supply up we're going to see another crisis," said chief executive officer Jim Mulva. Government intervention in the energy market "has an impact" on the willingness of companies to pour billions into the development of new projects, Mulva told an economic summit ...
Thu, 18 Jun 09
United Kingdom: Green building consultancies join forces
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2244239/green-building-consultancies
Business Green: Two of the UK's leading green consultancies have announced they are to team up to extend the advice and services they offer to both commercial and domestic customers. Environmental and energy auditing specialist Envos and micro-renewables supplier British Eco announced yesterday that they are to work together to access each other's customer base, in a move that will see Envos offering energy audits to British Eco's green technology customers and vice versa. Wade Barker, ...
Thu, 18 Jun 09
State push for turbines gathering wind
http://wbztv.com/local/wind.power.turbines.2.1044154.html
Associated Press: Massachusetts is searching for every blustery nook and cranny it can find, from the tops of former dumps to a vast military reservation, as it whips up its push for wind energy production. Gov. Deval Patrick has already set a goal of generating 2,000 megawatts of wind power in Massachusetts by the year 2020 -- an effort that may require the installation of as many as 3,000 wind turbines. So far, the state boasts 11 commercial-scale turbines and dozens of smaller scale ...
Tue, 16 Jun 09
United States: Forest fires burn in Sumatra
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0615-fires_sumatra.html
Mongabay: Fires set by developers in Sumatra are causing a choking haze to spread across the island and over to Malaysia, reducing visibility and raising health concerns, reports Reuters. NASA fire hotspot data shows dozens of fires currently burning across Sumatra and Peninsular Malaysia. More than 2,600 fire hotspots in Sumatra's Riau province alone so far this year. Though open burning is illegal in Indonesia and Malaysia, fire is widely used by plantation managers and farmers to ...
Tue, 16 Jun 09
Making case for climate as driver of migration
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=130102
New York Times: A new report on human migration and climate change, released as delegates from 182 countries gathered in Bonn over the past two weeks to continue hammering out some preliminary language for a new global climate treaty, made its case plainly: "The impacts of climate change are already causing migration and displacement," the document began, adding that by midcentury, "the prospects for the scope and scale could vastly exceed anything that has occurred before." The study, titled ...
Tue, 16 Jun 09
Democrats struggling for consensus on climate bills
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/14/AR2009061402266.html
Washington Post: Democratic allies remain at odds over provisions of a House climate bill and a Senate energy bill, even as congressional leaders and Obama administration officials are pressing to complete work on the legislation. The latest rough patch came late Thursday afternoon when House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin C. Peterson (D-Minn.) met with the two chief sponsors of a climate bill to hash out differences in the office of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). After more than an ...
Tue, 16 Jun 09
Coal group coy about port exposure to rising seas
http://www.smh.com.au/environment/global-warming/coal-group-coy-about-port-exposure-to-rising-seas-20090614-c7g3.html
Sydney Morning Herald: A NEW coal port that will cement Newcastle's place as the largest coal exporter in the world is quietly being built up by several metres, apparently in preparation for the rising sea levels brought about by climate change. The new coal loader is being constructed on a low-lying island on the Hunter River, fringed with tidal mangrove swamps, in an area vulnerable to higher seas, storm surges and coastal erosion. A landmark aerial survey of Newcastle and Wyong, undertaken by the ...
Tue, 16 Jun 09
Australia companies accused of carbon deception
http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSSYD410126
Reuters: Some of Australia's biggest corporate names, including resource giants Rio Tinto (RIO.AX) and Woodside (WPL.AX), may be investigated by consumer regulators over complaints they have been deceptive on climate change. The Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) asked competition regulator the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) to investigate whether six companies had been misleading in public statements on the impact of climate policies to gain extra compensation ...
Tue, 16 Jun 09
EU, US criticised for low profile in Bonn climate talks
http://www.euractiv.com/en/climate-change/eu-us-criticised-low-profile-bonn-climate-talks/article-183163
EurActiv: The EU and the US took a backseat at the negotiating table during the second round of global climate talks in Bonn, while Japan shocked developing countries by announcing a "shameful" emissions reduction target. Background: The global community is in the midst of negotiations for a new climate treaty, which is expected to be signed in Copenhagen in December (see EurActiv LinksDossier on 'The Road to Copenhagen'). The treaty is to replace the Kyoto Protocol, which sets ...
Tue, 16 Jun 09
Big Carbon Players Jockey for Advantage
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47222
Inter Press Service: Political and business leaders may agree in principle that climate change is a serious threat, but there is a startling lack of consensus and a 'you-go-first' attitude on taking action, even amongst a small group of high-level decision makers disconnected from their cell phones here in the Arctic. "We want to reduce China's CO2 (carbon dioxide) emissions, but we are a market-driven economy," Liu Yanhua, China's vice minister for science and technology, told 30 participants at the ...
Tue, 16 Jun 09
The next 'moon landing?' Norway plans deep-sea CO2 storage.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0615/p06s01-woeu.html
Christian Science Monitor: Can the North Sea basin hold all of the carbon dioxide in Europe? Norway certainly hopes so. At a high-level conference in Bergen last month, the oil-rich Nordic nation announced that it will work with Britain to study how the base of the North Sea could be used for carbon dioxide storage for European countries. It will also allocate nearly $200 million toward carbon capture and storage projects in the European Union. Although some environmentalists aren't yet convinced of the ...
Tue, 16 Jun 09
Scientists Ask If Biofuels Will Lead To A 'Drink or Drive' Choice
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1705443/scientists_ask_if_biofuels_will_lead_to_a_drink_or/index.html?source=r_science
redOrbit: Rice University scientists warned that the United States must be careful that the new emphasis on developing biofuels as an alternative to imported oil takes into account potential damage to the nation's water resources. "The ongoing, rapid growth in biofuels production could have far-reaching environmental and economic repercussions, and it will likely highlight the interdependence and growing tension between energy and water security," said a report titled "The Water Footprint of ...
Tue, 16 Jun 09
Bangladesh and China top U.N. disaster risk index
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE55E4ZM20090615?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Asian countries led by Bangladesh and China dominated an index produced on Monday by the United Nations that estimates which populations are most at risk from earthquakes, floods, cyclones and landslides. The Mortality Risk Index was issued by the U.N. International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) before a four-day meeting of the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction opening on Tuesday at which 1,800 officials and experts will examine natural catastrophes. "There ...
Tue, 16 Jun 09
Is Obama caving in to coal?
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-mining15-2009jun15,0,1149902.story
LA Times: Clear-cutting forests, then blowing the tops off of mountains and dumping the debris into stream beds is an environmentally catastrophic way of mining for coal. President Obama and the green activists he has appointed to run his interior-focused regulatory agencies surely know this. But their contortions over mountaintop mining would make a Cirque du Soleil performer wince. The administration last week announced a number of new restrictions on mountaintop coal mining in the six ...
Tue, 16 Jun 09
Lifestyle melts away with Uganda peak snow cap
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5juO8oIXAPsiP4pVfkU4nHsI0TNGg
Agence France-Presse: In 1906, Mount Speke, one the highest peaks of Uganda's Rwenzori Mountains was covered with 217 hectares (536 acres) of ice, according to the Climate Change Unit at Uganda?s ministry of water and environment. In 2006, only 18.5 hectares remained. Satellite images taken in 1987 and again in 2005 show that much of the thaw has occurred over the past two decades. When Yasamu Maate was a younger man, he could stand in his garden on a clear, cloudless morning and stare at the ice ...
Tue, 16 Jun 09
Mainstream makes first US wind power investment
http://in.reuters.com/article/oilRpt/idINN149985420090615
Reuters: Ireland's Mainstream Renewable Power bought three wind farms in Illinois and plans to spend $1.7 billion to ramp capacity up to 787-megawatts by 2013, marking its first investment in the United States. The company, which is also developing smaller wind-power projects in Canada, plans to raise about half the capital needed through tax-equity financing, under which banks bankroll renewable energy projects and win tax breaks. [ID:nN10463042] Investors get a generous tax credit for ...
Tue, 16 Jun 09
Appointments to PNG climate change office cause furore
http://www.radioaustralianews.net.au/stories/200906/2598629.htm?desktop
Radio Australia: Papua New Guinea's Climate Change Office has been accused of engaging two international brokers to sell carbon credits without landowners consent. The international Reuters newsagency is reporting it held discussions with Earth Sky and Climate Assist. But the Climate Change Office says it has not yet authorised any international firm to sell carbon credits from forests in the country. The PNG Climate Change Office's Executive Director Doctor Theo Yasause says forest ...
Tue, 16 Jun 09
Worldwide goals in Sino-US climate talks
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/bizchina/2009-06/15/content_8285113.htm
China Daily: As 182 nations at the UN ended 12 days of talks on climate change in the run up to a final conference in Copenhagen this December, US and Chinese envoys held three-days of talks in Beijing to explore potential cooperation between the two countries. China Business Weekly journalists You Nuo, Li Jing, Fu Jing and C.J. Holtzman interviewed Daniel Dudek, chief economist of the New York-Based Environmental Defense Fund, and Todd Stern, US climate change chief negotiator. Q: There are only ...
Tue, 16 Jun 09
Australians demand more action on climate change
http://in.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idINTRE55E14520090615
Reuters: Hundreds of environmental activists took to the streets of Australia's main cities on Saturday, saying the Labor government was not doing enough on climate change. The protests came ahead of a vote in the upper house Senate next week on the government's planned emissions trading scheme, which the protesters regard as inadequate. The government has delayed introduction of the scheme by a year until 2011 to enable heavy industry to recover from the global financial crisis, a move ...
Tue, 16 Jun 09
Western governors dip into growing water demand
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jBQAp_8dQNrZCoz5va4U_fMo3XgwD98R0FC80
Associated Press: It's an old quip in the West: Whiskey's for drinkin' and water's for fightin'. Only these days, there's more people with a stake in the fight for water and a dwindling supply. Quenching the growing demand for water in the warming West will require a bigger push for conservation, innovative technology and a rethinking of supply and demand, Western governors and water experts said Sunday. The three-day Western Governors' Association meeting that began Sunday focuses on key issues ...
Tue, 16 Jun 09
Rendered homeless by climate change
http://businessmirror.com.ph/home/economy/11689-rendered-homeless-by-climate-change.html
Business Mirror: It has already started. People are literally living on the edge, communities in coastal areas are already adapting and people are forced to leave their homes, with more than 200 million more expected to follow as evidence of climate change mounts. This scenario is already happening in the Philippines. In the decades to come, Asia, home to more than half the world's 6.3 billion people, will lurch from one climate extreme to another. Extreme weather caused by global warming has already ...
Tue, 16 Jun 09
Australia pushes for airlines to curb emissions
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/jun/14/airlines-emissions-trading-australia
Guardian: The prospect of a worldwide carbon tax for airline passengers is gathering pace after the Australian government demanded the inclusion of the aviation industry in the global climate change treaty. The Australian administration has proposed that airlines are set a carbon dioxide reduction target as part of the treaty that will emerge from the Copenhagen summit this year. The latest plan would see responsibility for any aviation deal handed over to the UN Framework Convention on Climate ...
Tue, 16 Jun 09
International Agreement on Climate Treaty Seems Unlikely in 2009
http://www.reuters.com/article/mnCarbonEmissions/idUS120030731120090614
Reuters: It seems unlikely that an agreement on the terms of the next climate treaty could be reached at the December-scheduled Copenhagen talks. The United States, not a member of the Kyoto Protocol and one of the major players in the international negotiations tussle over the climate treaty, has not yet reached a consensus over how to reduce carbon emissions and a bill successfully passing through the Senate in 2009 seems quite difficult. The major issues that US lawmakers need to look into ...
Tue, 16 Jun 09
Argentine glacier advances despite global warming
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090614/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_argentina_glacier
Associated Press: Argentina's Perito Moreno glacier is one of only a few ice fields worldwide that have withstood rising global temperatures. Nourished by Andean snowmelt, the glacier constantly grows even as it spawns icebergs the size of apartment buildings into a frigid lake, maintaining a nearly perfect equilibrium since measurements began more than a century ago. "We're not sure why this happens," said Andres Rivera, a glacialist with the Center for Scientific Studies in Valdivia, Chile. ...
Tue, 16 Jun 09
Silk Road threatened by melting glaciers
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17304-silk-road-threatened-by-melting-glaciers.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=climate-change
New Scientist: The Chinese gateway to the ancient Silk Road is being flooded "" and the culprit, researchers say, is climate change. Melting glaciers sitting above the Hexi corridor in Gansu province, once an important trading and military route into Central Asia, are fuelling dramatic regional floods. The finding illustrates a major problem for the coming century: around the world, arid regions that sit next to glaciers will suffer a spate of floods, then dry up completely when the glaciers melt ...
Tue, 16 Jun 09
Climate-change talks ends
http://businessmirror.com.ph/home/top-news/11745-climate-change-talks-ends.html
Business Mirror: The latest talks on the road toward a new global deal on climate change made a "step in the right direction" toward a global climate pact, but many countries still aired criticism that little progress has been made. Yvo de Boer, the top UN climate- change official, said he was confident of reaching an ambitious agreement in Copenhagen in December, though it will lack details and thus require further work. The latest round showed that governments "are committed to reaching an ...
Tue, 16 Jun 09
Climate change forcing new migration response
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2009%5C06%5C15%5Cstory_15-6-2009_pg14_4
Reuters: Climate change will force millions of people to leave their homes to flee rising seas and drought over the coming decades, requiring a new plan for mass migration, according to a report. Funds needed to help migrants escape natural disasters - which will worsen - threatening political stability, said the report published by the UN University, CARE International and Columbia University. "Environmentally induced migration and displacement has the potential to become an ...
Tue, 16 Jun 09
Ireland: Human hourglass symbolises time running out for climate change deal
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2009/0615/1224248849251.html
Irish Times: MORE THAN 1,000 demonstrators formed a human hourglass on Sandymount Strand in Dublin on Saturday afternoon in an effort to send a message to the Government that time is running out for agreement on a new treaty on climate change. The demonstration was organised by Stop Climate Chaos, a coalition of organisations including Oxfam Ireland, Action Aid, Christian Aid, Concern and Trócaire, among others. The event was the biggest demonstration the coalition has organised since it ...
Tue, 16 Jun 09
As Iraq runs dry, a plague of snakes is unleashed
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/as-iraq-runs-dry-a-plague-of-snakes-is-unleashed-1705315.html
Independent (UK): Swarms of snakes are attacking people and cattle in southern Iraq as the Euphrates and Tigris rivers dry up and the reptiles lose their natural habitat among the reed beds. Doctors in the area say six people have been killed and 13 poisoned. "People are terrified and are leaving their homes," says Jabar Mustafa, a medical administrator, who works in a hospital in the southern province of Dhi Qar. "We knew these snakes before, but now they are coming in huge numbers. They are attacking ...
Tue, 16 Jun 09
McCartney urges 'meat-free days' to tackle climate change
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/news/mccartney-urges-meatfree-days-to-tackle-climate-change-1705289.html
Independent (UK): Chargrilled asparagus and lemon tart -- that's the vegetarian menu for a glamorous cast of musicians, actors, writers and artists starting a mass movement today to limit meat eating and combat climate change. With his daughters, Stella and Mary, Sir Paul McCartney is behind Meat Free Monday, which aims to persuade people to go veggie once a week to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the world's livestock, among the most serious contributors to global warming. "We should care ...
Tue, 16 Jun 09
BA: Inclusion in emissions trading will mean price hikes
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2244096/inclusion-emissions-trading
Business Green: Passengers will have to bear the weight of fare increases if airlines join a global emissions trading scheme, British Airways (BA) boss Willie Walsh said in an interview with The Times. Walsh said fares would have to rise to cover the cost of a global trading scheme, citing the sector's unsustainable financial state, with a total loss of $9bn (£5.5bn) forecast this year. "This will add billions to the industry's cost base and airlines are unlikely to be able to absorb the cost. ...
Tue, 16 Jun 09
Defra to turn EU energy efficiency directive into law
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2244095/defra-turn-eu-energy-efficiency
Business Green: Better design of energy-using products could save the economy £900m, according to evidence given to a new consultation by the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). The consultation seeks views on how best to implement minimum energy standards and energy labelling of high street products introduced by EU legislation. The European Union (EU) Framework Directive for the Eco-design of Energy Using Products (EuP) has already begun to introduce minimum energy ...
Tue, 16 Jun 09
Australians rally for action on climate change
http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-06-13-voa11.cfm
Voice of America: Protesters hold placards and banners during the 'National Climate Emergency Rally' in Sydney, Australia, 13 Jun 2009Thousands of demonstrators have rallied across Australia to demand greater government action to protect the environment. A series of so-called National Climate Emergency Rallies have been held across the country to demand Australia take the lead at the Copenhagen environment summit in December. The protesters, dressed in red to highlight the perils of global warming, ...
Tue, 16 Jun 09
Peak coal, global warming policy and exponential math
http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/blogs/republican/peak-coal-47061401
Daily Green: Rising gasoline prices brings usually bring bouts of worry about "peak oil," the idea that petroleum supplies will peak and then inexorably decline, leading to price shocks. Recent studies have stirred up similar concerns about peak coal. Stop right there. Peak coal? Why would anyone worry about peak coal? Haven't we been told that the U.S. is the Saudi Arabia of coal, with a domestic supply exceeding 200 years? Maybe not, if new information from the U.S. Geological Survey ...
Tue, 16 Jun 09
Climate pact: What kind of deal can emerge in Copenhagen?
http://www.terradaily.com/2007/090614011736.b0erysqv.html
Agence France-Presse: Official smiles and breezy confidence were firmly on display after the latest round of UN talks that aim to build a landmark treaty on climate change. But only six months are left for completing a deal as fiendish in its complexity as it is unprecedented in ambition. Can it be done? In the corridors of Bonn's Maritim Hotel, where the 12-day round unfolded under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), many delegates seemed to have quietly acknowledged the ...
Tue, 16 Jun 09
Met Office predict likelihood of climate change on your doorstep
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/climatechange/5532147/Met-Office-predict-likelihood-of-climate-change-on-your-doorstep.html
Telegraph: The set of predictions from the Met Office will forecast temperature, rainfall, sea level rise and even sunshine up until 2099. It is the most comprehensive climate change forecast to be produced anywhere in the world, showing details of how each area will be affected down to a 25km (16 mile) square grid. Local authorities, the Environment Agency, primary health care trusts, insurance companies and property developers are all eagerly awaiting the content to be revealed to the ...
Tue, 16 Jun 09
Australia: Rally declares climate emergency
http://www.smh.com.au/environment/global-warming/rally-declares-climate-emergency-20090614-c7bj.html
Sydney Morning Herald: Environmentalists took to the streets yesterday to demand a greater Federal Government commitment to fight climate change. The rallies attracted about 6000 people nationwide, and included environmental groups such as Greenpeace and the Wilderness Society which want an emissions scheme ditched in favour of an alternative dubbed "Plan B", which includes the phasing out of coal-fired power stations. A leaked United Nation analysis, dated June 6, says that on conservative ...
Tue, 16 Jun 09
Science vs Politics at the Edge of the North Pole
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47218
Inter Press Service: Spectacular views of mountains and glaciers here in the world's most northerly permanent human settlement contrasted with business and political leaders' pessimism and concern about the enormous gap between the action on climate that science deems necessary and what politics considers realistic. "We must push beyond the politically feasible," said Tora Aasland, Norway's minister of research and higher education. "Here we are at the edge of the North Pole where climate change is ...
Tue, 16 Jun 09
Australia demands bushfire exemption
http://business.smh.com.au/business/australia-demands-bushfire-exemption-in-carbon-treaty-20090613-c6h4.html
Bloomberg: Peat bogs in Germany, New Zealand firs and North American forests will likely allow industrialized countries to lower carbon emissions while still burning coal and oil, according to a draft United Nations document. Australia is demanding that emissions from natural disasters, such as bush fires, not be counted in its tally. Negotiators at climate-change talks in Bonn are proposing that carbon stored and absorbed by forests, soil and peat bogs in richer nations be included as ...
Tue, 16 Jun 09
California sees big costs to renewable power plan
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/afx/2009/06/12/afx6539989.html
Reuters: California on Friday forecast high costs for the most ambitious clean energy plan in the nation, including a 28 percent rise in electricity rates and $115 billion in construction if the state wants to get a third of its electricity from renewable sources by 2020. And even so, it might not hit the goal. The Public Utilities Commission in a draft report nails down the most populous U.S. state's price of going green at a time of economic turmoil and as Congress considers federal ...
Sun, 14 Jun 09
GOP slams Democrats' climate bill as an energy tax
http://nwitimes.com/articles/2009/06/13//ap-state-in/d98pqbl02.txt
Associated Press: Republicans on Saturday slammed a Democratic bill before the House that seeks to address climate change, arguing that it amounts to an energy tax on consumers. In the GOP's weekly radio and Internet address, Indiana Rep. Mike Pence said Congress should instead open the way for more domestic oil and natural gas production and ease regulatory barriers for building new nuclear power plants. "During these difficult times, the American people don't want a national energy tax out of ...
Sun, 14 Jun 09
Scientists Wonder Whether Painting the World's Roofs White May Be One Way to Slow Global Warming
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/13/AR2009061300866.html?wprss=rss_nation
Washington Post: Could climate change be staved off by making the United States look like the set of "Mamma Mia!"? That was suggested in a recent talk by Energy Secretary Steven Chu -- although, because he was speaking to Nobel laureates, he did not mention the ABBA musical set in the Greek Islands. He said that global warming could be slowed by a low-tech idea that has nothing to do with coal plants or solar panels: white roofs. Making roofs white "changes the reflectivity . . . of the Earth, ...
Sun, 14 Jun 09
Ocean bones are crumbling
http://www2.canada.com/burnabynow/news/story.html?id=122e347b-1398-4284-b0c5-3168edaac8d7
Burnaby Now: Crumbling ocean: Lorenzo Alvarez-Filip on a diving expedition. He was lead researcher in a study that involved two other SFU biologists and two international researchers. It was already known that coral reefs in the Caribbean are dying, but this study discovered the dead reefs are collapsing much more quickly than expected. Beneath the blue Caribbean skies lie vast stretches of bones crumbling on the ocean floor. That is what's metaphorically happening to the Caribbean coral reefs. ...
Sun, 14 Jun 09
Global warming may spread plant seeds faster and farther
http://www.oregonlive.com/environment/index.ssf/2009/06/global_warming_may_spread_plan.html
Oregonian: A team headed by a Finnish researcher concludes that stronger winds caused by global warming may be dispersing seeds and pollen over longer distances. An increase in temperature of only a couple of degrees may increase the dispersal of plants in Northern forests and the spread of plant species into forest clearings after logging or forest fires. University of Helsinki researcher Anna Kuparinen headed the international research into the impact of global warming on seed and pollen ...
Sun, 14 Jun 09
Poor farmers to guard Earth's crop riches
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20227125.100-poor-farmers-to-guard-earths-crop-riches.html
New Scientist: IF YOU like potatoes, chances are you will one day owe some measure of thanks to the Quechua Indians of Peru. That's because they will be making sure that potatoes continue to be available whatever the vagaries of future climate change. The Quechua (pictured) are among the first recipients of a new global fund, established last week, to make poor farmers the custodians of all the world's threatened crops. Importantly, the move could provide valuable options should the world find ...
Sun, 14 Jun 09
United States: Role of 'microgrids' may grow
http://www.mlive.com/business/ann-arbor/index.ssf/2009/06/role_of_microgrids_may_grow_in.html
Michigan Business Review: Technologies that improve the efficiency of the electrical grid and allow consumers to sell renewable power back to utility companies are likely to get a boost as momentum grows for investment in the "smart grid." A Wayne State University professor has received a $311,334 grant from the National Science Foundation to conduct computerized tests designed to gauge the promise of a control strategy that would improve grid efficiency. Caisheng Wang, an assistant professor of ...
Sun, 14 Jun 09
Tropical 4ft moray eel is caught in British seas 3,000 miles from home
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1192763/First-moray-eel-caught-Britain-pulled-Cornish-coast.html
Daily Mail: It is usually found in the warm coral reefs off the Indo-Pacific oceans around 3,000 miles away. But a moray eel has been pulled from off the Cornish coast. It's likely that it's the first time the vicious eel species has ever been found in British waters and some say it could be down to global warming. That's a moray: John Payne, above, snapped up the eel hauled in off the Cornish coast on Friday The 4ft eel, which weighs between 10 and 12kg, was caught on Friday ...
Sun, 14 Jun 09
Even as industry slumps, Prius inspires waiting list
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=130006
New York Times: Throughout Toyota's global operations, managers are scrambling to cut costs in the wake of record losses. But at Toyota's Tsutsumi plant, managers have the opposite problem: meeting demand for the third generation of the Prius, which has become an instant hit in Japan and is rolling into American showrooms now. The Prius plant has brought back overtime – a rarity these days, given Japan's weak economy – and recruited workers from Toyota factories across the country. The ...
Sun, 14 Jun 09
Cash-for-clunkers clears hurdle
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124485495153311725.html
Wall Strreet Journal: A program that would provide up to $4,500 in government-funded discounts to consumers who trade in an old car could provide a much-needed boost to the auto industry. The "cash for clunkers" program, which cleared a key hurdle late Thursday, would allow consumers to buy a wide range of vehicles -- including large pickup trucks -- with the government money when they scrap an older, less-efficient model. Congressional leaders attached legislation for the program to a must-pass ...
Sun, 14 Jun 09
Why 700,000 addresses face being washed off map
http://www.smh.com.au/environment/why-700000-addresses-face-being-washed-off-map-20090612-c64c.html
Sydney Morning Herald: AUSTRALIAN climate scientists are by and large cautious people. So when they publish findings, as they did yesterday, warning that sea-level rises caused by climate change and associated storm surges will be one of the greatest impacts of a warming world, it is sobering advice. This has huge implications for Australia, where more than 700,000 addresses are within three kilometres of the coast and sit less than six metres above sea level. And while we tend to focus on the serious ...
Sun, 14 Jun 09
United States: Forest salvation
http://www.loe.org/shows/segments.htm?programID=09-P13-00024&segmentID=3
Living on Earth: YOUNG: It's Living on Earth, I'm Jeff Young. CURWOOD: And I'm Steve Curwood. We continue now with another in our ongoing series of stories about connections between changing forests and the disruption of the earth's climate. The burning and felling of forests is perhaps releasing one fifth of all greenhouse gases. The United Nations is trying to protect tropical forests – through REDD – the UN program on reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation. But the ...
Sun, 14 Jun 09
Climate change and America's poor
http://www.loe.org/shows/segments.htm?programID=09-P13-00024&segmentID=2
Living on Earth: YOUNG: The effects of climate change would likely hit hardest in places with the fewest resources to adapt. And we're not just talking about the developing world or tiny island nations. University of California-Berkeley environmental health scientist Rachel Morello-Frosch studied low-income communities in the U.S. and found something she calls a climate gap. Report co-author Rachel Morello-Frosch. MORELLO-FROSCH: Well essentially the climate gap describes a hidden ...
Sun, 14 Jun 09
Countdown to Copenhagen
http://www.loe.org/shows/segments.htm?programID=09-P13-00024&segmentID=1
Living on Earth: YOUNG: From the Jennifer and Ted Stanley studios in Somerville, Massachusetts, this is Living on Earth. I'm Jeff Young. CURWOOD: And I'm Steve Curwood. In December the nations of the world are planning to gather in Copenhagen to come to a new agreement to fight climate change. The Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012. In the beginning of June, delegates came to Bonn, Germany for a two-week meeting intended to hammer out some details of a new deal. And Living on Earth's Bruce ...
Sun, 14 Jun 09
U.S. to restart plans for a plant to capture greenhouse gases
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-coal-plant13-2009jun13,0,2124900.story
LA Times: Reporting from Washington -- Federal officials announced an agreement Friday to restart plans to build an experimental coal plant that seeks to collect greenhouse gas emissions before they enter the atmosphere. If completed, the project would be the first commercial-scale effort in the country to test such technology. The agreement will at least temporarily resurrect the so-called FutureGen project, which the Bush administration had discontinued in 2008, citing rising cost ...
Sun, 14 Jun 09
Critics say 'cash for clunkers' bill is a lemon
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-clunkers13-2009jun13,0,942989.story
LA Times: Reporting from Washington -- Congress is about to approve a new federal program to pay car owners up to $4,500 for trading in gas-guzzling automobiles for more fuel-efficient cars, to the applause of the struggling auto industry. But the program is drawing heavy criticism from an unlikely quarter: environmentalists who are sworn enemies of big, old clunkers that get poor mileage. Critics contend that the "cash for clunkers" bill, which has auto industry backing, was designed more to ...
Sun, 14 Jun 09
US eases pressure on China over climate change targets
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jun/12/us-eases-climate-pressure-china
Guardian: The US said today it would not demand that China commits to binding cuts in its greenhouse gas emissions, marking an important step towards agreement on a global treaty to fight climate change. The move came at the end of the latest round of UN climate change talks involving 183 countries, which aim to produce a deal in Copenhagen in December. Jonathan Pershing, head of the US delegation in Bonn, said developing countries – seeking to grow their economies and alleviate ...
Sun, 14 Jun 09
Less for more: utilities seek money for less power
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gL2VEVOnqF-lIJaADEftAwPV0JcgD98PC4N00
Associated Press: Your utility is becoming more efficient, power is becoming greener and you're taking steps to conserve energy in your home. So, the rate on your electric bill should go down, right? No, it's going higher. And as shocking as that may sound, consumer and environmental groups as well as state regulators are all for it. It was environmental groups that announced a deal Friday with Charlotte-based Duke Energy Co. that will raise rates for residential customers in North ...
Sun, 14 Jun 09
Compromises threaten energy bill's chances on Senate floor
http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?parm1=5&docID=news-000003142712
CQPolitics: After more than two months of horse-trading and compromises, a Senate commmittee is on the brink of approving energy legislation with something for just about everybody to hate. Jeff Bingaman , D-N.M., chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, hoped to complete work on the draft bill by now but postponed a vote until next week because of scheduling conflicts. The bill, intended to be the main Senate vehicle for President Obama's energy agenda, would boost ...
Sun, 14 Jun 09
Caribou herds dwindling worldwide: Alberta study
http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2009/06/12/tech-caribou-population-decline-worldwide-vors-study-alberta.html
CBC: Populations of caribou and reindeer, which northern peoples have long relied on, have fallen drastically worldwide over the past three decades, a Canadian study has found. While researchers knew that Canadian caribou populations had been plunging, University of Alberta biologists Liv Vors and Mark Boyce believe their study is the first worldwide analysis. It shows the problem spans the north from Alaska to Scandinavia to Siberia. "This is happening all around the world," Vors ...
Sun, 14 Jun 09
Dispute on CO2 cuts forms roadblock to Copenhagen
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LC396286.htm
Reuters: A small reference on page 776 of a mammoth U.N. scientific report to cuts in greenhouse gases far deeper than those on offer by rich nations has become a main roadblock towards a new U.N. climate treaty. For developing nations at two-week U.N. talks in Bonn ending on Friday, the outlined emissions cuts by developed nations of 25 to 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2020 have become vital for a deal due to be agreed in Copenhagen in December. Many developed nations, however, say ...
Sun, 14 Jun 09
Greenhouse pledges way too low: UN
http://www.theage.com.au/environment/greenhouse-pledges-way-too-low-un-20090612-c67d.html
Age: WEALTHY countries' targets to cut greenhouse emissions fall well short of what is needed to avoid catastrophic climate change, according to a confidential United Nations analysis. The informal note by the UN climate change secretariat dated June 6 estimates current pledges add up to a total emissions cut by the rich of between 16 and 24 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020. Conservative estimates suggest rich countries must make a cut of 25-40 per cent to give the world a chance ...
Sun, 14 Jun 09
World legislators says G8 must take lead on climate
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LC823526.htm
Reuters: Legislators from around the world called on G8 nations on Friday to take the lead on climate change by slashing their carbon output and promising hundreds of billions of dollars to help poorer countries adapt. One hundred parliamentarians from rich and poor countries gathered in Italy -- where the G8 club of industrial nations is due to meet next month -- said time was running out to clinch a deal before a make-or-break UN climate summit in Copenhagen. The December summit is ...
Sun, 14 Jun 09
Lobbyists Battle Over Climate Bill's Escape Hatch on Carbon Penalties
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=129979
Greenwire: A provision in the House climate bill that offers a controversial hedge against high costs for curbing carbon is a top target for lobbyists -- with one pack fighting to expand it and another to strip it out. The focus is on emission offsets. Added to the bill at the behest of industry and large environmental groups, offsets let polluters avoid some fines by investing in projects that draw carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. As the climate measure ...
Sun, 14 Jun 09
Global warming: India, China unite against West
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Climate-meet-India-China-unite-against-West/articleshow/4651148.cms
Times of India: India-China unity held firm at the climate change talks here with the two big Asian countries defeating a bid by developed nations to offer limited reductions while seeking concrete commitments from ""third world"" nations on control and mitigation of greenhouse gases. The "Chindia" partnership was a key element that bound a group of 37 developing nations including Brazil and South Africa, which submitted an amendment to the Kyoto Protocol with figures of average greenhouse gas ...
Sun, 14 Jun 09
US Wants a 'Legally Binding Climate Agreement'
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,630073,00.html
Spiegel: SPIEGEL: The US and China are responsible for 40 percent of global CO2 emissions. Should the two countries find a solution to global warming between themselves? Jonathan Pershing: My impression from our talks in Beijing is that China does not want to reduce the global climate talks to US-Chinese talks, to a kind of G-2. Like us, they want this to be part of the UN process. There are tasks we can pursue bilaterally, but ultimately the whole world has to agree on the framework to combat ...
Sun, 14 Jun 09
Arctic Sea Ice Extent Trending Below Record 2007 Melt
http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/latest/arctic-sea-ice-47061201
Daily Green: The annual melting of Arctic sea ice is trending toward another record-low. While it's still too early to say whether the 2009 melt will exceed the record 2007 melt -- the annual low-point isn't reached until September -- the trend line for 2009 for the first time has dipped below 2007, according to the latest data from the National Snow and Ice Data Center. Another record would be startling, but not surprising. Just 30% of the sea ice in the Arctic at the height of the winter ...
Sun, 14 Jun 09
US will exempt China from binding greenhouse gas targets
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jun/12/climate-change-copenhagen
Guardian: Progress towards a global treaty to fight climate change took an important step forward today when the US said it would not demand that China commits to binding cuts of its greenhouse gas emissions. The move came on the last day of the latest round of UN climate change talks involving 183 nations, which aim to produce a deal in Copenhagen in December. Jonathan Pershing, head of the US delegation in Bonn, said developing nations – seeking to grow their economies and alleviate ...
Sun, 14 Jun 09
UK importing rubbish from other countries
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/5516496/UK-importing-rubbish-from-other-countries.html
Telegraph: In recent years councils have tried to increase recycling rates by introducing fortnightly bin collections, piloting bin taxes and even offering money off Marks and Spencer underwear. But still Britain recycles just over a third of waste, with the rest going to landfill where it is heavily taxed. Even that which is collected for recycling is so mixed and therefore of such low quality that more than half of it is sent abroad to be sorted by cheap labour. The lack of high quality ...
Sun, 14 Jun 09
United States: U.S. moving forward with clean coal power plant
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE55B3WU20090612?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced on Friday plans to restart the country's first clean coal power project, scrapped by the previous Bush administration as too expensive. Under an agreement with the non-profit FutureGen Alliance, the Energy Department will take the first steps toward developing the first U.S. commercial scale-carbon capture and storage project, to be located in Mattoon, Illinois. "Not only does this research have the potential to reduce harmful greenhouse ...
Sun, 14 Jun 09
UN climate chief confident of global warming pact
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090612/ap_on_re_eu/eu_germany_climate_talks
Various: U.N. climate delegates completed their first rough sketch of a new global warming agreement Friday, a draft replete with gaps and competing ideas that await decisions by political leaders. At the end of a two-week negotiating session, the rift lay more clearly exposed between industrial and emerging nations -- and within those blocs -- on the obligations of the 192 countries involved in the talks to control greenhouse gases blamed for climate change. The end result, due in six ...
Sun, 14 Jun 09
Stalled carbon capture coal plant in Ill. gets OK
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090612/ap_on_bi_ge/us_futuregen
Various: The Energy Department is moving forward on a futuristic coal-burning power plant in Illinois that the Bush administration had declared dead. Energy Secretary Steven Chu said Friday that reviving the FutureGen plant is an important step that shows the Obama administration's commitment to carbon-capture technology. "Developing this technology is critically important for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. and around the world," Chu said in a ...
Sun, 14 Jun 09
Brazil: Environment Minister Under Fire from All Sides
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47199
Inter Press Service: The approval of draft laws and infrastructure projects that pose a threat to the environment in Brazil, promoted by large landowners and even sanctioned by some sectors in the government, has tied the hands of Environment Minister Carlos Minc and brought a replay of the tense climate that cost his predecessor her job. Known for his provocative statements, Minc accused the "ruralistas," the name given to lawmakers who represent agribusiness interests, of being "swindlers" after they ...
Sun, 14 Jun 09
UN climate talks advance, poor urge more CO2 cuts
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/22/20090612/twl-environment-us-climate-1202b49.html
Reuters: Climate talks made progress on Friday toward a new U.N. treaty to curb global warming but ended far short of calls by developing nations for the rich to make deeper cuts in greenhouse gas emissions. Four years of talks to widen the existing Kyoto Protocol have struggled to agree on how to share the cost of efforts to curb greenhouses gas mainly emitted by burning fossil fuels. The United States and Europe warned in closing remarks on Friday that the private sector would ...
Sun, 14 Jun 09
U.S. Emissions Bill Is Criticized Abroad
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/12/AR2009061202072.html?wprss=rss_nation
Washington Post: A bill to cap U.S. greenhouse-gas emissions, hailed on Capitol Hill as a historic breakthrough, went over with a soft thud this week during international negotiations, criticized as inadequate for the climate and unfair to poor countries. The bill passed a House of Representatives committee last month and is regarded as the most serious effort yet to reduce U.S. contributions to climate change. But at a United Nations-led conference in Bonn, Germany, and at a summit of mega-emitters ...
Sun, 14 Jun 09
How the Global Warming Bill Will Affect Your Wallet
http://news.yahoo.com/s/usnews/20090612/ts_usnews/howtheglobalwarmingbillwillaffectyourwallet
U.S. News & World Report: In the coming weeks, Congress will likely consider a massive global-warming bill to create a new cap-and-trade program to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. President Obama praised the bill, dubbed "Waxman-Markey" for its co-sponsors, as a vital step to "create millions of new jobs all across America." But Obama and supporters of the bill are now facing a litany of charges that the bill is not a good deal for American consumers. Critics on both sides of the political aisle complain ...
Sun, 14 Jun 09
Call for a Green Fund
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47201
Inter Press Service: Environmental legislators from the 13 countries with the largest greenhouse gas emissions have called for the creation of an international green fund to be included in the Copenhagen protocol on climate change. The fund would provide developing countries with financial and technical resources to create a carbon-free economy. This fund is urgently needed given the quot;substantial financial resources to be usedquot; in large developing countries to reduce their greenhouse gases (GHG) ...
Sun, 14 Jun 09
China Rallying South to Defend Right to Development
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47200
Inter Press Service: As the December deadline for reaching a global climate deal in Copenhagen approaches, China is claiming leadership - rallying emerging economies to defend their rights to development and strike bargaining positions with rich nations. While a string of U.S. top envoys have been visiting Beijing over recent weeks in attempt to negotiate a preliminary agreement with China that would lay the foundations for Copenhagen talks, in a first China has hosted climate change negotiators from the ...
Sun, 14 Jun 09
Amazon deforestation: short-lived boost, big damage
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090612/sc_afp/usenvironmentclimateeconomybrazilfrance
Agence France-Presse: Clearing the Amazon rainforest for soy or cattle does not bring long-term social or economic benefit to local communities and threatens the environment, according to a study published Friday. Huge swaths of the Brazilian rainforest are cut down, burnt or cleared each year, at an average rate of 1.8 million hectares (4.4 million acres) -- about the size of Kuwait -- because the land is worth more when deforested. Deforestation is moving at a sobering rate of over four football ...
Sun, 14 Jun 09
Obama Sounds Too Much Like Bush
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47202
Inter Press Service: A leading global environmental group has accused the United States of holding up UN climate negotiations. Friends of the Earth Malaysia's honorary secretary Meena Raman said that throughout the second round of the United Nations climate talks in Bonn that ended Jun. 12, the U.S. administration had blocked progress to move negotiations forward. Delegates from 183 countries meeting in Bonn discussed key negotiating texts which will serve as the basis for an international climate ...
Sun, 14 Jun 09
US expects China to cut emissions after a 'peak year'
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090612/sc_afp/chinausclimatewarming
Agence France-Presse: The United States wants China to accept slow increases in its greenhouse gas emissions until it hits a quot;peak year,quot; beyond which a real decrease must occur, US negotiator Todd Stern said Friday. Stern, briefing reporters following a trip to China, said he believed the Chinese authorities have taken quot;on boardquot; the concept of a peak year for carbon gases that cause climate change but have not specified what year that will be. quot;It matters a whole lot when that peak year is,quot; said ...
Sun, 14 Jun 09
Denmark says climate talks moving 'too slow'
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090612/sc_afp/unclimatewarmingdenmark
Agence France-Presse: Danish Climate and Energy Minister Connie Hedegaard, whose country will host a UN climate summit in December, said Friday that talks towards a treaty to tackle global warming were moving quot;too slow.quot; quot;Of course we have to respect the way the United Nations works. But to me, there is no doubt that things are moving too slow,quot; Hedegaard said in a statement as the preparatory 12-day talks in Bonn wound up. quot;At the negotiators meeting in Bonn that has just finished, only a reading ...
Sun, 14 Jun 09
California sees big costs to renewable power plan
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE55B5KN20090612?feedType=RSSfeedName=environmentNews
Reuters: California on Friday forecast high costs for the most ambitious clean energy plan in the nation, including a 28 percent rise in electricity rates and $115 billion in construction if the state wants to get a third of its electricity from renewable sources by 2020. And even so, it might not hit the goal. The Public Utilities Commission in a draft report nails down the most populous U.S. state's price of going green at a time of economic turmoil and as Congress considers federal ...
Sun, 14 Jun 09
Nations may form global CO2 market without U.N. deal
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE55B67V20090612?feedType=RSSfeedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Rich countries may act on their own to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by developing a carbon market they hope will lure in poor nations even if U.N. climate talks get bogged down, experts said. Nearly 200 countries have been trying to reach an agreement to replace the Kyoto Protocol on global warming with a December deadline at a meeting in Copenhagen approaching. But there remains a large rich-poor divide. Developing countries want industrialized countries to make deep cuts ...
Sun, 14 Jun 09
'We are fighting for our lives'
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jun/13/forests-environment-oil-companies
Guardian: It has been called the world's second quot;oil warquot;, but the only similarity between Iraq and events in the jungles of northern Peru over the last few weeks has been the mismatch of force. On one side have been the police armed with automatic weapons, teargas, helicopter gunships and armoured cars. On the other are several thousand Awajun and Wambis Indians, many of them in war paint and armed with bows and arrows and spears. In some of the worst violence seen in Peru in 20 years, the ...
Sun, 14 Jun 09
Wal-Mart bans beef illegally produced in the Amazon rainforest
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0612-abras_beef_wal-mart.html
Mongabay: Brazil's three largest supermarket chains, Wal-Mart, Carrefour and Pão de Açúcar, will suspend contracts with suppliers found to be involved in Amazon deforestation, reports O Globo. The decision, announced at a meeting of the Brazilian Association of Supermarkets (Abras) this week, comes less than two weeks after Greenpeace's exposé of the Amazon cattle industry. The report, titled Slaughtering the Amazon [], linked some of the world's most prominent brands -- including Nike, Toyota, ...
Sun, 14 Jun 09
Climate Change Treaty, to Go Beyond the Kyoto Protocol, Is Expected by the Year's End
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=129872
New York Times: The world is on track to produce a new global climate treaty by December, the top United Nations climate official said Friday as delegates from more than 100 nations concluded 12 days of talks in Bonn, Germany. The delegates issued a 200-page document that they said would serve as the starting point for treaty negotiations that open in Copenhagen in December. quot;Time is short, but we still have enough time,quot; the official, Yvo de Boer, who is the executive secretary of the United ...
Sun, 14 Jun 09
The carbon capture conundrum
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/the-carbon-capture-conundrum/article1180418/
Globe and Mail: On a late-spring day beneath a warm prairie sun, some 6,000 construction workers and 30 cranes are at work on a $12-billion expansion to Royal Dutch Shell PLC's upgrader to boost its capacity for processing oil sands bitumen. A short drive across the massive industrial complex near Fort Saskatchewan, Alta., a gravel lot sits largely empty -- an idle crane, some pickup trucks, and a row of portable offices. It is, however, home to a controversial idea: This undeveloped lot is the ...
Sun, 14 Jun 09
Stalled Carbon Capture Coal Plant in Ill. Wins Approval
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/12/AR2009061202120.html?wprss=rss_nation
Washington Post: The Department of Energy committed yesterday to spend $1 billion in economic stimulus funds to restart plans for a controversial coal-fired power plant that promises to capture 60 percent of its carbon dioxide emissions and trap them underground. The announcement, which would provide about half the funds needed to design and construct the research plant, does not mean it will ultimately be built. Energy officials said that decision will be made in early 2010 after design plans, ...
Sun, 14 Jun 09
China: Small Carmaker May Blaze Plug-In Trail
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=105263198ft=1f=1025
National Public Radio:
Sun, 14 Jun 09
Abrupt Global Warming Could Shift Monsoon Patterns, Hurt Agriculture
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090611142354.htm
ScienceDaily: At times in the distant past, an abrupt change in climate has been associated with a shift of seasonal monsoons to the south, a new study concludes, causing more rain to fall over the oceans than in the Earth's tropical regions, and leading to a dramatic drop in global vegetation growth. If similar changes were to happen to the Earth's climate today as a result of global warming -- as scientists believe is possible - this might lead to drier tropics, more wildfires and declines in ...
Sun, 14 Jun 09
U.S. climate bill, U.N. pact seen more likely in 2010
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE55A74G20090611?feedType=RSSfeedName=environmentNews
Reuters: The U.S. energy bill may not pass until next year, which could also delay an agreement to extend the Kyoto Protocol on cutting global greenhouse gas emissions until 2010, experts said on Thursday. Environmentalists, carbon market developers and many politicians have urged passage of a U.S. climate bill before December, when nearly 200 countries will aim to hash out a successor to the Kyoto pact. They have seen it as a way for the United States, the world's largest greenhouse ...
Sun, 14 Jun 09
U.S. climate bill needs improvements: USDA's Vilsack
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE55A74W20090611?feedType=RSSfeedName=environmentNews
Reuters: The climate change bill being drafted in the U.S. House is ripe for improvement, said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on Thursday, but he vowed farms and forests will play a central role in controlling greenhouse gases despite skepticism among lawmakers. U.S. farm groups, along with Democrats and Republicans on the House Agriculture Committee, have been sharply critical of the bill they say threatens to leave farmers in the lurch. Representative Collin Peterson, the chairman ...
Sun, 14 Jun 09
NYC water towers seen as ground for "wind farms"
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE55A5PD20090611?feedType=RSSfeedName=environmentNews
Reuters: New York City could become the grounds for a new kind of urban wind farm if a Cleveland-based mechanical engineer has his way. Cleveland State University's Fenn College of Engineering on Thursday said it will unveil a new wind turbine design by one of its professors, Majid Rashidi, that could attach to the sides of the water storage tanks that sit on the rooftops of many city apartment buildings. Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has made green programs a centerpiece of his ...
Sun, 14 Jun 09
World CO2 emissions growth keeps focus on coal, China
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601124sid=aLy.KHzozKw0
Bloomberg: World carbon-dioxide emissions from energy use rose last year as China, India and Russia burned more coal, the most polluting of the major fuels, data compiled by BP Plc indicate. Fossil-fuel combustion in power plants, vehicles and heaters around the planet released 31.5 billion metric tons of the greenhouse gas, 1.8 percent more than in 2007, the figures show. China's coal consumption climbed 7.1 percent, adding 366 million tons of extra emissions, using conversion factors provided ...
Sun, 14 Jun 09
United Kingdom: Hayfever may hit half of Britons within 50 years due to climate change
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/5496023/Hayfever-may-hit-half-of-Britons-within-50-years-due-to-climate-change.html
Telegraph: The number of people with the condition, which can cause itchy, watery eyes, a bunged up nose and bouts of coughing and sneezing, has been steadily increasing in recent decades. One in three people in this country could suffer from the problem by 2040, up from around one in four who at the moment will develop the problem at some point in their lives, a new report predicts. Caused by an allergy to pollen, most significantly grass pollen, hayfever symptoms currently tend to flare ...
Sun, 14 Jun 09
Interpol warns of carbon fraud
http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,25623269-5006301,00.html
Advertiser: CARBON fraud is the white-collar crime of the future - and it could cost taxpayers millions. As Australian companies prepare to trade in what is effectively thin air, climate criminals are cashing in on similar schemes overseas. Interpol has warned companies to beware of bogus quot;carbon creditsquot; that fail to lower emissions. And there are real questions over the ability of regulators to check if companies have met their emissions caps. Carbon trading involves buying and ...
Sun, 14 Jun 09
Report disperses migration myth
http://www.nature.com/climate/2009/0907/full/climate.2009.56.html
Nature: The first global survey of human migration driven by climate change suggests that most relocation will be regional rather than international in scale. The research, published 10 June as part of a report titled In Search of Shelter1, dispels a common myth that the majority of climate refugees will arrive on the doorsteps of developed nations. quot;There's been a bit of political rhetoric saying we're going to have waves of migrants at our doorsteps, rushing into Europe and North America,quot; ...
Sun, 14 Jun 09
Company calls new small nuclear reactor a game changer
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=129811
Greenwire: A major manufacturer of power-generation equipment announced plans today to build a small nuclear reactor that company officials touted as a quot;potential game changer for the global nuclear market.quot; Babcock Wilcox Co.'s 125-megawatt reactor would be significantly smaller than the average 1,000-megawatt nuclear reactor and is aimed at plugging a major quot;market gap,quot; CEO Brandon Bethards said at a Washington press conference. The new reactor might come online as early as ...
Sun, 14 Jun 09
Global warming will have serious consequences
http://www.niagarafallsreview.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1607422
Niagara Falls Review: Global warming is happening at a much faster rate than first predicted, and if something isn't done to slow it down, many countries will be in for a great deal of suffering, says internationally renowned author and journalist Gwynne Dyer. If we fail to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide that is going into the air, there will be a heavy price to pay because it will affect both our food and water supply. quot;Our food production has flat lined. We are not keeping up and are eating ...
Sun, 14 Jun 09
Climate change worsens disaster risks for poor: U.N
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE55A3A420090611?feedType=RSSfeedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Climate change will aggravate natural disasters and people in developing nations such as Dominica, Vanuatu, Myanmar and Guatemala are most at risk, a U.N.-backed study showed Thursday. It urged governments to invest hundreds of billions of dollars to curb mounting impacts of hazards such as cyclones, floods, droughts, landslides, earthquakes and tsunamis. quot;Risk is ... felt most acutely by people living in poor rural areas and slums,quot; U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon wrote in ...
Sun, 14 Jun 09
Virtual power plants could tame coming grid chaos
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17290-virtual-power-plants-could-tame-coming-grid-chaos.html?DCMP=OTC-rssnsref=climate-change
New Scientist: Fears over energy security and climate change have led to record investment in renewable energy. But a major problem threatens to stall progress towards a more sustainable future: national electricity grids are far from ready to cope with the unreliable output from the new technologies. A solution might be at hand, though, and would not involve radical changes to the existing infrastructure. Treating groups of dispersed power sources, such as solar and wind generators, as a single ...
Sun, 14 Jun 09
U.S. Power Firms Want Free Carbon Permits Until 2040
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601072sid=aZJ68WIUErHo
Bloomberg: The Edison Electric Institute, which represents investor-owned utilities, wants the free carbon- dioxide permits under a proposed quot;cap-and-tradequot; program for greenhouse gases to continue for nearly three decades. Cap-and-trade legislation being debated in Congress would enter force in 2012 and eliminate free permits to the electricity sector between 2025 and 2030, allowing a greater share to be auctioned by the federal government. EEI wants a quot;longer phase-out period,quot; Tom ...
Fri, 12 Jun 09
Peru suspends decree that triggered bloody conflict between Indians and police
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0601-peru.html
Mongabay: Peruvian lawmakers yesterday suspended a controversial decree that contributed to a bloody conflict between police and indigenous protesters in the country's Amazon region, reports the AFP. The legislature voted 59 to 49 to suspend decree 1090, which eased restrictions on logging and development in the Amazon rainforest. Indigenous communities say loggers, miners, and oil and gas developers are encroaching on their lands, putting their traditional way of life at risk. Decree ...
Fri, 12 Jun 09
Study: Global Warming Can Impact Monsoons and Lower Crop Production
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1704174/study_global_warming_can_impact_monsoons_and_lower_crop_production/index.html?source=r_science
redOrbit: When the climate warmed relatively quickly about 14,700 years ago, seasonal monsoons moved southward, dropping more rain on the Earth's oceans at the expense of tropical areas, according to climate researchers. If the same pattern occurs in the coming decades as the Earth's temperatures rises due to climate change, the highly-populated regions of the world that depend on monsoons could face more wildfires, water shortages and lower agricultural production. In an article to be ...
Fri, 12 Jun 09
India to tackle climate change in its own way, says Ramesh
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/India-to-tackle-climate-change-in-its-own-way--says-Ramesh/475177
Indian Express: Minister for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh on Thursday emphasised that India would not be told which path to take for tackling climate change. Speaking to The Indian Express, Ramesh said: "We are not going to take any legal commitments or binding, mandatory restrictions on climate change as set by others. India has set her own path on climate change through the National Action Plan for climate change. We have set our own eight missions which we will continue to focus ...
Fri, 12 Jun 09
Green Groups Not Pleased With Japan's New Emissions Targets
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1704148/green_groups_not_pleased_with_japans_new_emissions_targets/index.html?source=r_science
redOrbit: Japan announced plans on Wednesday that would scale back its greenhouse gas emissions reduction target by 15 percent by 2020. Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso said the plan, which is based on a 2005 base year, was uniform with others initiated by the US and Europe. "We all must make a commitment to tackle the problem of global warming," Aso said Wednesday. However, environmentalists have been outspoken in their criticism of Aso's new reductions target. Leading ...
Fri, 12 Jun 09
Amazon deforestation leads to development 'boom-and-bust'
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jun/11/amazon-deforestation-development
Guardian: Chopping down the Amazon rainforest to make way for crops or cattle has no economic or social benefit for local people in the long term, according to a major new study. The finding undercuts the argument that deforestation, which causes 20% of the globe's greenhouse gas emissions, leads to long-term development. Conservationists showed communities develop rapidly but temporarily when forests are cleared. But rates of development quickly fall back below national average levels ...
Fri, 12 Jun 09
NYC water towers seen as ground for "wind farms"
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE55A5PD20090611?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: New York City could become the grounds for a new kind of urban wind farm if a Cleveland-based mechanical engineer has his way. Cleveland State University's Fenn College of Engineering on Thursday said it will unveil a new wind turbine design by one of its professors, Majid Rashidi, that could attach to the sides of the water storage tanks that sit on the rooftops of many city apartment buildings. Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has made green programs a centerpiece of his ...
Fri, 12 Jun 09
'Boom and bust' of deforestation
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8095833.stm
BBC: Cutting down Amazon forest for cattle and soy does not bring long-term economic progress, researchers say. A study of 286 Amazon municipalities found that deforestation brought quick benefits that were soon reversed. Writing in the journal Science, the researchers say the deforestation cycle helps neither people nor nature. They suggest that mechanisms to reward people in poorer countries for conserving rainforest could change this "lose-lose-lose" ...
Fri, 12 Jun 09
Amazon: boom-and-bust cycle
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0611-amazon_deforestation.html
Mongabay: A new study finds Amazon deforestation fails to sustain long-term economic growth for rural populations. The findings come as development interests in Brazil push for government support to bolster infrastructure projects and agricultural expansion in the world's largest rainforest. Deforestation generates short-term benefits but fails to increase affluence and quality of life in the long-run, reports a new study based an analysis of forest clearing in 286 municipalities across the ...
Fri, 12 Jun 09
Humanitarian Angle Key to Climate Deal
http://news.yahoo.com/s/oneworld/20090611/wl_oneworld/world3643131244740251
OneWorld.net: The humanitarian impact of global warming must be addressed in the next major global treaty on climate change -- to be negotiated in Copenhagen in December, urged 18 aid organizations during climate talks in Bonn, Germany. What's the Story? "The scale of the potential humanitarian challenge presented by climate change in the future is huge," said John Holmes, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs. "This is a defining moment to ensure that the challenge ...
Fri, 12 Jun 09
Hybrid Vehicles That Are Even More Efficient
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090611112651.htm
ScienceDaily: One of the controllable causes of global warming is carbon dioxide (CO2) emission from burning fossil fuels. This process is precisely what enables most cars to function by means of combustion engines. In recent years, some companies in the automobile sector have brought out models that combine a standard combustion engine with an electric one. These are known as hybrids, and they produce less pollution. In his final thesis, Toni Font, who recently graduated from the ETSEIB, proposed a way ...
Fri, 12 Jun 09
World science academies push for G8 climate action
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090611/sc_nm/us_climate_science_g8
Reuters: The world's richest countries and those that are developing fastest need to lead the transition to an energy-efficient and low-carbon economy to stave off the worst effects of climate change, science academies from these nations said on Thursday. In a message to the Group of Eight industrialized nations, as well as leaders of fast-growing Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South Africa, the academies from these so-called G8+5 countries said that tackling this environmental challenge ...
Fri, 12 Jun 09
US nuclear industry tries to hijack Obama's climate change bill
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jun/11/us-nuclear-industry-plans-new-reactors
Guardian: America's nuclear industry and its supporters in Congress have moved to hijack Barack Obama's agenda for greening the economy by producing a rival plan to build 100 new reactors in 20 years, and staking a claim for the money to come from a proposed clean energy development bank. Republicans in the House of Representatives produced a spoiler version of the Democrats' climate change bill this week, calling for a doubling of the number of nuclear reactors in the US by 2030. The 152-page ...
Fri, 12 Jun 09
Another Go at Cracking Those Hard Nuts
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47183
Inter Press Service: Environmental legislators from the 13 countries with the largest greenhouse gases emissions are meeting in Rome this Friday and Saturday to discuss steps towards the UN climate change conference scheduled in December in Copenhagen. The meeting of the Global Legislators Organisation (GLOBE) brings together environmental law makers from the eight most industrialised countries (the G8 formed by the U.S., Canada, Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Japan, and Russia) and from the five ...
Fri, 12 Jun 09
Spain facing key decision on use of nuclear power
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090611/sc_afp/spainnuclearenergyenvironmentpolitics
Agence France-Presse: The Spanish government will have to take a clear stand for or against nuclear power in the coming weeks when it decides whether to renew the operating licence of the oldest of the country's six nuclear plants. Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, whose socialist government has backed the development renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power, has said he wants to phase out nuclear energy in the country when the life span of its six nuclear plants expires. But ...
Fri, 12 Jun 09
US climate envoy: China seeks top US technology
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090611/ap_on_re_eu/eu_germany_climate_us
Associated Press: The chief U.S. climate negotiator says China is seeking to get advanced U.S. technology as part of a deal on global warming. Jonathan Pershing was part of a U.S. delegation that recently returned from meeting China's vice premier and officials involved in climate change in Beijing. An understanding between the world's two biggest polluters is seen as essential for a global climate change deal. Pershing told Public Radio International on the sidelines of U.N. climate ...
Fri, 12 Jun 09
Agreement Prospects Slipping Away
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47182
Inter Press Service: As the electronic clock at the preparatory talks here in the former West German capital counted up to the crucial UN climate change conference Dec. 7-18 in Copenhagen, the possibility of a new treaty being hammered out appeared rather remote. This was in sharp contrast to Jun. 1 when the UN's top climate change official Yvo de Boer said at the start of the Bonn round: "The political moment is right to reach an agreement." He had added: "There is no doubt in my mind that the Copenhagen ...
Fri, 12 Jun 09
Canada: Renewable revolution: Blowing up a storm
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/blowing-up-a-storm/article1177125/
Globe and Mail: They're the farms of steel behemoths that may one day liberate us from our fossil-fuel dependence. By 2015, new wind-power developments will double the amount of wind energy produced in Canada. But as government investment in wind power has increased, opposition has risen in tandem. Local and provincial legislators are finally acknowledging opponents' growing concerns, but they certainly aren't putting the brakes on development. This week, the Ontario government ...
Fri, 12 Jun 09
Canada: Ottawa unveils carbon market plan
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/ottawa-unveils-carbon-market-plan/article1176652/
Canadian Press: The federal government took the long-awaited step Wednesday of detailing its plan to trade pollution permits on the open market. Environment Minister Jim Prentice released two draft documents laying the ground rules for a federal carbon-offset scheme. The guidelines set out which offset projects qualify for the federal system, how others can apply for inclusion, the value of each offset credit, how emissions cuts are tracked and verified, and other nitty-gritty details of the ...
Fri, 12 Jun 09
Climate change: Keeping up momentum is key challenge
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/b648a878-548d-11de-a58d-00144feabdc0.html
Financial Times: It is hard for businesses to look much beyond their corporate noses when they are focusing on getting through the recession, and long-term challenges are often pushed into the background. Addressing the impact of climate change is just the sort of issue that one might expect to suffer in these circumstances. But the message from the latest CR Index is that this has not happened. As the UK slipped into recession towards the end of last year, UK business continued to place ...
Fri, 12 Jun 09
World CO2 emissions growth keeps focus on coal, China
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601124&sid=aLy.KHzozKw0
Bloomberg: World carbon-dioxide emissions from energy use rose last year as China, India and Russia burned more coal, the most polluting of the major fuels, data compiled by BP Plc indicate. Fossil-fuel combustion in power plants, vehicles and heaters around the planet released 31.5 billion metric tons of the greenhouse gas, 1.8 percent more than in 2007, the figures show. China's coal consumption climbed 7.1 percent, adding 366 million tons of extra emissions, using conversion factors provided ...
Fri, 12 Jun 09
Cap-and-trade faces ag foes
http://www.argusleader.com/article/20090611/NEWS/906110309/1001/news
Argus Leader: A climate-change bill that won approval from the House Energy and Commerce Committee isn't getting the same reception from rural lawmakers. When members of the House Agriculture Committee hold a hearing today, many of them - Republican and Democrat - are expected to pick apart a measure driven by urban interests, one that they say practically ignores farming interests. Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin, D-S.D., said she'll vote against the bill unless it undergoes major changes. ...
Fri, 12 Jun 09
Russia presses claim to Arctic energy riches
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2009322085_apeurussiaarcticclaim.html
Associated Press: Russia will rebuild its Soviet-era network of polar stations and use its icebreaker fleet to help support its claim to the vast resources of the Arctic, the man who led a mission to plant a Russian flag on the Arctic seabed said Wednesday. Artur Chilingarov, a famed polar scientist who was recently appointed the Kremlin's point man for Arctic issues, said Russia will gather data and resubmit its claim to the United Nations that an underwater mountain range crossing the polar region is ...
Fri, 12 Jun 09
Climate change could displace millions: study
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-06/11/content_11525351.htm
Xinhua: A recent UN-backed study said climate change could displace millions of people in the future. According to a UN press release, the report , launched at the ongoing UN climate change conference in Bonn, Germany, said displacement will get worse "unless vulnerable populations, especially the poorest, are assisted in building climate-resilient livelihoods." Researchers interviewed more than 2,000 migrants in various parts of the world and mapped climate change in Central America, ...
Fri, 12 Jun 09
50% of us will suffer from hay fever by 2060, expert claims
http://news.scotsman.com/health/5037-of-us-will-suffer.5354633.jp
Scotsman: MORE than half of us could be suffering from hay fever by 2060, a researcher has claimed. Professor Jean Emberlin said the number of people with the condition will shoot up from the current level of around 24 per cent of the population to around half. Climate change is playing a role by altering the length of pollen seasons for trees and plants, she believes. For example, the birch pollen season, which affects around one in four people with hay fever, is now seen up to a month earlier ...
Fri, 12 Jun 09
Australia opposition accuses government of "blackmail"
http://news.asiaone.com/News/Latest%2BNews/Asia/Story/A1Story20090611-147738.html
Reuters: Australia's opposition accused the government on Thursday of "legislated blackmail"after tieing millions of dollars in business compensation for new renewable energy laws to a doomed scheme for carbon emissions trading. The major conservative opposition and Australian Greens, wielding the upper house balance-of-power, said the government was threatening US$22 billion ($31.9 billion) in planned energy investment by linking renewable energy laws to its ill-fated carbon trade ...
Fri, 12 Jun 09
Report: "Green" jobs outpacing traditional ones
http://features.csmonitor.com/economyrebuild/2009/06/10/report-green-jobs-outpacing-traditional-ones/
Christian Science Monitor: "Green jobs" are growing nearly 2-1/2 times as fast as traditional jobs, finds a new study by Pew Charitable Trusts. The study, released Wednesday by Pew as the first ever count of such jobs in all 50 states, concludes that the clean energy economy, while still in its infancy, "is a vital component of America's new economic landscape." The Pew study looked at jobs created between 1998 and 2007. Since then the overall job market, especially in traditional manufacturing, has shrunk ...
Fri, 12 Jun 09
Climate change worsens disaster risks for poor: U.N
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE55A3A420090611?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Climate change will aggravate natural disasters and people in developing nations such as Dominica, Vanuatu, Myanmar and Guatemala are most at risk, a U.N.-backed study showed Thursday. It urged governments to invest hundreds of billions of dollars to curb mounting impacts of hazards such as cyclones, floods, droughts, landslides, earthquakes and tsunamis. "Risk is ... felt most acutely by people living in poor rural areas and slums," U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon wrote in ...
Fri, 12 Jun 09
Virtual power plants could tame coming grid chaos
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17290-virtual-power-plants-could-tame-coming-grid-chaos.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=climate-change
New Scientist: Fears over energy security and climate change have led to record investment in renewable energy. But a major problem threatens to stall progress towards a more sustainable future: national electricity grids are far from ready to cope with the unreliable output from the new technologies. A solution might be at hand, though, and would not involve radical changes to the existing infrastructure. Treating groups of dispersed power sources, such as solar and wind generators, as a single ...
Fri, 12 Jun 09
United Kingdom: Bird numbers decline 'worrying'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/north_east/8095416.stm
BBC: SNH said lower fish numbers led to lower numbers of adult birds surviving from one year to the next, and not enough chicks being produced and surviving to replace them. SNH director of policy and advice, Prof Colin Galbraith, said: "While it's always disappointing to witness declines in important species, we are not entirely surprised at these findings. "After several decades of increasing seabird abundance, we are now witnessing a period of decline. Key reasons are likely to ...
Fri, 12 Jun 09
Sizewell nuclear disaster averted by dirty laundry, says official report
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jun/11/nuclear-waste-nuclearpower
Guardian: A nuclear leak, which could have caused a major disaster, was only averted by a chance decision to wash some dirty clothes, according to a newly obtained official report. On the morning of Sunday 7 January 2007, one of the contractors working on decommissioning the Sizewell A nuclear power station on the Suffolk coast was in the laundry room when he noticed cooling water leaking on to the floor from the pond that holds the reactor's highly radioactive spent nuclear fuel. As ...
Fri, 12 Jun 09
China shakes off image as climate criminal with green revolution
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cif-green/2009/jun/11/china-carbon-emissions
Guardian: China's intentions to set new and ambitious targets for renewable energy, revealed in the Guardian yesterday might come as a surprise. It is China's dependence on coal that has claimed our attention, and China's status as the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases make its image as a climate change criminal hard to shed. But despite its poor reputation for climate policy, a quiet revolution is underway as China positions itself for a low carbon future. China and the US are the ...
Fri, 12 Jun 09
China slams weak Japanese cuts as US talks falter
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2243977/china-slams-weak-japan-cuts
Business Green: A number of global warming experts -- including China's top climate envoy -- have criticised Japan for not going far enough in its recently unveiled targets to reduce emissions. Japan this week set a target reduction of 15 per cent of emissions from 2005 levels by 2020 -- an amount that equates to eight per cent below 1990 levels, far less than the 20 per cent pledged by the EU. "I do not believe it is a number that is close to what Japan needs to do and should do," said Yu ...
Fri, 12 Jun 09
Md. regulators say they must OK nuclear power deal
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090611/ap_on_bi_ge/us_constellation_energy_buyout
Associated Press: Maryland regulators say they have the right to sign off on French nuclear power company EdF's plan to buy half of Constellation Energy's nuclear power business for $4.5 billion. In a ruling Thursday, the Public Service Commission says the deal would give Electricite de France SA a substantial influence over Constellation subsidiary Baltimore Gas and Electric. Because of that, EdF and Constellation need regulatory approval to close the deal. At the time when the deal was ...
Fri, 12 Jun 09
America and China talk climate change: Heating up or cooling down
http://www.economist.com/world/asia/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13832227
Economist: THOUSANDS of officials from all over the world this week neared the end of two weeks of difficult talks in Bonn under the United Nations' climate convention. But they were conscious that even more difficult and probably more important negotiations were under way in Beijing. America's most senior climate-change officials were meeting their Chinese counterparts. The two countries are by far the world's biggest emitters of greenhouse gases. They will determine whether a worthwhile global treaty ...
Fri, 12 Jun 09
GOP counters Democrats with "drill bill"
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2243997/gop-counters-democrats-drill
Business Green: The Republican party has responded to the Democrats' proposed cap-and-trade legislation with a bill of its own that abandons carbon trading and instead prioritises nuclear energy. The American Energy Act highlights both nuclear energy and further domestic oil exploration as two routes to American energy independence. One of the most significant clauses in the bill prevents the Nuclear Regulatory Commission refusing a licence on the grounds that there may be nowhere to store the ...
Fri, 12 Jun 09
Carbon price must rise, IEA director says
http://www.financialpost.com/reports/story.html?id=1674049
Bloomberg: The price of carbon emissions must rise to US$180 a metric ton by 2030 to meet greenhouse gas reduction targets, the executive director of the International Energy Agency said. "An energy revolution is necessary," Nobuo Tanaka said at the Asian Oil & Gas Conference in Kuala Lumpur. European Union carbon dioxide allowances for December traded US$18.82 a ton today on the European Climate Exchange in London. United Nations scientists say greenhouse-gas output should peak by ...
Fri, 12 Jun 09
Swedish PM calls for national carbon taxes in Europe
http://www.spacedaily.com/2006/090609145447.bqlhyu7e.html
Agence France-Presse: Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt of Sweden, which will assume the rotating EU presidency next month, called Tuesday for European nations to tax carbon emissions to reduce greenhouse gases. Sweden introduced such a tax on carbon dioxide as far back as 1991, deeming it an inexpensive way of helping the environment without resorting to costly new infrastructure and technology. The move has proved very effective, Reinfeldt told reporters during a trip to Brussels. Reinfeldt, ...
Fri, 12 Jun 09
U.S. Power Firms Want Free Carbon Permits Until 2040
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601072&sid=aZJ68WIUErHo
Bloomberg: The Edison Electric Institute, which represents investor-owned utilities, wants the free carbon- dioxide permits under a proposed "cap-and-trade" program for greenhouse gases to continue for nearly three decades. Cap-and-trade legislation being debated in Congress would enter force in 2012 and eliminate free permits to the electricity sector between 2025 and 2030, allowing a greater share to be auctioned by the federal government. EEI wants a "longer phase-out period," Tom ...
Fri, 12 Jun 09
Texas Blasts Federal Efforts to Fight Global Warming
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124458842076899771.html
Wall Street Journal: Texas elected officials Tuesday railed against federal efforts to curb global warming, claiming it would throttle the state's economy -- one of the few that generated job growth last year. State comptroller Susan Combs said that if passed, a landmark climate change bill winding its way through Congress could cost the state 164,000 jobs and shave some $25 billion per year, or 2%, off the state's total economic output. "Texas is the kitchen of the country. We cook up all of the ...
Fri, 12 Jun 09
Canada: Shell sells straw-based biofuel
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8092991.stm
BBC: Royal Dutch Shell is selling a biofuel made from straw at one of their service stations in Canada. The station in Ottawa will sell a blend of cellulosic ethanol and petrol. Biofuels have been hailed as a way to fight climate change, but have also been criticised for their potential impact on food stocks and prices. This biofuel, however, is made from a non-food portions of crops, such as corn stalks and corn cobs, which are renewable, according to Shell. Such ...
Fri, 12 Jun 09
United Kingdom: Climate protest over private jets
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/8092724.stm
BBC: Climate change campaigners have attempted to disrupt private jet flights at an airport by locking themselves to an aircraft. Plane Stupid said five activists donned pinstripe suits and bowler hats before attaching themselves to the wheel of the jet at London City Airport. The group said the protest in the early hours of Wednesday morning was against the "selfishness of private jet use". Police said five people have been arrested and the airport remained open. The ...
Fri, 12 Jun 09
The Greening of the French, Finally
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47175
Inter Press Service: Compost boxes on the balcony of small apartments. Queues at market stalls selling organic produce. Massive audiences for a film about the state of the earth. Unprecedented votes for environmental politicians in the European elections... Yes, the French are going green, after years of an international reputation as the enemy of groups such as Greenpeace, whose flagship the Rainbow Warrior French intelligence agents sank in 1985 as the green group protested against nuclear testing in the ...
Fri, 12 Jun 09
US wind farm energy up in the air over climate change, says study
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jun/11/windpower-renewable-climate-change
Guardian: The great gusting winds of the American midwest – and possibly the hopes for the most promising clean energy source – may be dying, in part because of climate change, according to a new report. A study, due to be published in August in the peer-reviewed Journal of Geophysical Research, suggests that average and peak winds may have been slowing across the midwest and eastern states since 1973. The authors of the study note that their findings are preliminary and some of their ...
Fri, 12 Jun 09
UN: Necessary climate agreement unlikely in Copenhagen
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2243933/un-necessary-climate-agreement
Business Green: The UN's top climate official today said global emissions reductions targets recommended by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) were unlikely to be delivered in Copenhagen climate talks later this year. But he insisted that much could still be achieved with a view to agreeing targets at some point after the talks. "I don't think in Copenhagen we're going to get an agreement on an 80 per cent global emission reduction [by 2050] and I think that, at the end of ...
Fri, 12 Jun 09
FEMA Launches Effort to Measure Impact of Climate Change on Flood Insurance
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=129759
ClimateWire: Federal officials are struggling to calculate the fiscal impact that climate change could have on the nation's troubled public flood insurance program, amid predictions of intensifying downpours and more potent hurricanes. The mission is proving extremely difficult, according to one researcher, who said the effort so far has failed to reveal even "squishy assumptions." The study, undertaken by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which runs the insurance program, aims to determine ...
Fri, 12 Jun 09
UN sketches countries with climate risk profile
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090611/sc_afp/climatewarmingdisasters
Agence France-Presse: Disasters caused by climate change will inflict the highest losses in poor countries with weak governments that have dashed for growth and failed to shield populations which settle in exposed areas, a UN report said on Thursday. "Disaster risk is not evenly distributed," said the report, released on the sidelines of the world climate talks in Bonn, as it urged countries to shore up protection for their citizens. From 1990 to 2007, loss of life and property from weather-related ...
Fri, 12 Jun 09
Congress abandoning Obama clean energy goals
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2009/06/10/congress_abandoning_obama_clean_energy_goals/
Associated Press: Congress is all but abandoning President Barack Obama's goal of producing fully one-quarter of the nation's electricity from renewable sources -- wind, solar and the like -- by 2025, though a push for at least some increase is making headway. Both the House and Senate are considering legislation that would establish the first national requirement for electric utilities to generate a certain percentage of their power from renewable energy -- from wind turbines and solar cells to ...
Fri, 12 Jun 09
China leads escalation of coal consumption
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/jun/10/coal-usage-global-energy-survey
Guardian: Coal consumption is continuing to grow more quickly than other traditional sources despite high prices and the dangerous impact it will have on carbon emissions, new statistics released by oil giant BP show. China, which has been trumpeting its new wind and solar goals in recent days, led the way with a near 7% increase in the amount of coal it burned during 2008 despite average prices rising 73% to $150 (£129) per tonne. This accounts for 43% of global coal use. Worldwide coal ...
Fri, 12 Jun 09
NGOs draft global 'treaty' to tackle climate change
http://www.sindhtoday.net/news/1/18935.htm
Indo-Asian News Service: Frustrated by the way governments are dragging their feet on combating climate change, leaders of green NGOs from around the world have come together to present the climate treaty they want to see inked at a global summit scheduled to be held in Denmark in December. The Copenhagen Climate Treaty, as they call it, will be presented to bureaucrats from over 180 countries meeting here (June 1-12) in an attempt to draft the official version of the treaty. Srinivas Krishnaswamy of ...
Fri, 12 Jun 09
Climate change protest targets Australia smelter
http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssIndustryMaterialsUtilitiesNews/idUSSYD48038420090609
Reuters: Environmental activists tried to shut down Australia's second-largest aluminium smelter on Tuesday in a widening series of protests targeting the resources sector, blamed by green groups for dragging its feet over global warming. Production at the giant Tomago smelter north of Sydney was unaffected by the protest by environmental group Rising Tide, said a spokeswoman for the smelter, which is 51.55 percent owned by Rio Tinto Ltd/Plc (RIO.AX) (RIO.L). Three members of the ...
Fri, 12 Jun 09
Airlines call for CO2 targets, climate fund
http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssIndustryMaterialsUtilitiesNews/idUSSP14928120090609
Reuters: Some of the world's largest airlines called on Tuesday for the industry to set global emissions targets as part of efforts to include aviation in a broader climate agreement at the end of the year. The seven airlines, including Air France/KLM (AIRF.PA) and British Airways (BAY.L), along with international NGO The Climate Group, have backed a range of emissions reduction targets for negotiators involved in U.N.-backed climate talks to consider. Aviation is responsible for about ...
Fri, 12 Jun 09
Menaces to oceans: CO2, plastic bags, overfishing
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE55761B20090608?sp=true
Reuters: The world's seas are filled with too much garbage and too few fish with flimsy plastic bags and government subsidies bearing much of the blame, activists and trade officials said Monday on the first U.N. World Oceans Day. The World Trade Organization's director-general, Pascal Lamy, used the occasion to note that some species are at risk of extinction from overfishing, and government subsidies bear some of the blame. "Governments have contributed to this problem by providing ...
Fri, 12 Jun 09
Could cap and trade cause another market meltdown?
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2009/06/could-cap-and-trade-cause-another-market-meltdown
Mother Jones: You've heard of credit default swaps and subprime mortgages. Are carbon default swaps and subprime offsets next? If the Waxman-Markey climate bill is signed into law, it will generate, almost as an afterthought, a new market for carbon derivatives. That market will be vast, complicated, and dauntingly difficult to monitor. And if Washington doesn't get the rules right, it will be vulnerable to speculation and manipulation by the very same players who brought us the financial ...
Fri, 12 Jun 09
Midwest's future tied to cutting CO2, report says
http://www.jsonline.com/business/47267057.html
Journal Sentinel: Cutting carbon dioxide emissions won't be cheap, but delaying action on addressing global warming will be worse, both for the environment and the Midwest economy. That's the conclusion of a report released Monday by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. The group is urging that the Midwest turn the challenge of energy and climate change into a competitive advantage and says enactment of greenhouse gas regulations is "essential to the Midwest's future prosperity and ...
Fri, 12 Jun 09
Greens make big gains in EU parliament
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ildDdUGIWXPs6Sxqy4G9mn2kVarwD98MJRAG2
Associated Press: Polar bears have taken over screen savers. Two of the last five Nobel Peace Prizes have gone to eco-campaigners. Climate change has crept onto government agendas. And now the European Parliament itself has gone a bit more green. Riding a wave of public concern over the effects of climate change, the Green-European Freedom Alliance bloc captured 53 of the EU parliament's 736 seats, compared with 43 spots in the last 785-seat assembly. "To have increased our side with the ...
Fri, 12 Jun 09
Kenya: Experts blame cholera outbreak on climate change
http://www.eastandard.net/InsidePage.php?id=1144016434&cid=4&ttl=Experts%20blame%20cholera%20outbreak%20on%20climate%20change
Standard: Kenya has experienced unprecedented outbreaks of cholera, dysentery and other diarrhoea diseases. Public Heath officials have attributed this to poor access of water and effective sanitation systems. While experts relate the epidemic to climatic change and population explosion, medics say these factors are linked to poverty, ignorance, low latrine coverage and traditional beliefs. This month alone, 442 cholera cases were attended to in Merille, Garbatulla and Laisamis. ...
Thu, 11 Jun 09
Mixed Response to Japan's New Emissions Targets
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=129753
New York Times: Japan, a major emitter of greenhouse gases and a major player in the global warming debate, announced Wednesday that by 2020 it intended to reduce emissions 15 percent from 2005 levels – a goal immediately criticized as inadequate by environmentalists and international officials. Climate-change campaigners have called on Japan to set steep targets to build momentum before global climate talks this year in Copenhagen. A strong commitment by rich countries is seen as crucial to efforts ...
Thu, 11 Jun 09
Scientists urged to cut carbon emissions
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1703538/scientists_urged_to_cut_carbon_emissions/index.html?source=r_science
United Press International: A Canadian scientist says those who study climate change must be careful to reduce their own carbon footprints. University of Calgary postdoctoral fellow Ryan Brook is urging scientists to examine and share ways to reduce the impact of working in polar regions. Brook regularly flies north to study the health and anatomy of caribou herds in Nunavut and Northwest Territories. The research typically takes him north five or six times each year and when he calculated his own carbon ...
Thu, 11 Jun 09
Reviving American Chestnut Trees May Mitigate Climate Change
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090610154457.htm
ScienceDaily: A Purdue University study shows that introducing a new hybrid of the American chestnut tree would not only bring back the all-but-extinct species, but also put a dent in the amount of carbon in the Earth's atmosphere. Douglass Jacobs, an associate professor of forestry and natural resources, found that American chestnuts grow much faster and larger than other hardwood species, allowing them to sequester more carbon than other trees over the same period. And since American chestnut ...
Thu, 11 Jun 09
Google Nears Its Goal For Cheap, Clean Energy
http://www.redorbit.com/news/technology/1703482/google_nears_its_goal_for_cheap_clean_energy/index.html?source=r_technology
redOrbit: Google Inc. is approaching its goal of developing and producing electricity from renewable energy sources that will be cheaper than coal. The United States will need to significantly increase government funded research and take greater risks if it intends to make alternative energy mainstream, according to executive Bill Weihl. Google has been primarily known for its Internet search engine, but this ambitious company set forth a plan in late 2007 to promote a massive renewable ...
Thu, 11 Jun 09
Canada to establish carbon trading market
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090610/wl_canada_afp/environmentwarmingcarboncanada
Agence France-Presse: Canada announced Wednesday plans for a carbon market that could eventually link up with nascent EU and proposed US markets to form a global system for carbon pollution trading. The local market would provide Canadian companies and individuals an opportunity to reduce their carbon emissions, which are linked to global warming. "It does so by establishing a price for carbon in Canada -- something that has never been done before in this country," Environment Minister Jim Prentice ...
Thu, 11 Jun 09
Peru suspends decree that fueled Amazon violence: lawmaker
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090610/wl_afp/peruviolencenatives
Agence France-Presse: 43 mins ago LIMA (AFP) -- Peru's legislature on Wednesday temporarily suspended a decree easing restrictions on lumber harvesting in the Amazon rain forest, sparking weekend clashes between indigenous people and police that claimed at least 35 lives. Legislature chief Javier Velasquez said Peru's single-chamber legislature agreed to suspend for 90 days a legislative decree 1090, covering forestry and wild fauna in Peru's northeastern Amazon rain forest. The measure ...
Thu, 11 Jun 09
Higher U.S. ethanol blends would spike food: experts
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE5584NH20090609?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Raising the allowable levels of ethanol in conventional U.S. gasoline would help push up prices for corn and other grains and ultimately meat and dairy, economists associated with food groups said on Tuesday. The government allows conventional gasoline to be blended with up to 10 percent ethanol. But the ethanol industry, which has grown rapidly during the last two years amid generous government incentives and mandates that call for more ethanol blending over time, wants the blend ...
Thu, 11 Jun 09
Nigeria: Shell settlement with Ogoni people stops short of full justice
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/cif-green/2009/jun/09/saro-wiwa-shell
Guardian: Shell's decision to settle out of court with a group of Ogoni people rather than take them on in New York means a measure of justice has come to the Niger Delta. The sum of $15.5m (£9.6m) may be peanuts for the company and nothing can compensate the 500,000 Ogoni people for generations of devastating pollution, human rights abuses and persecution. But while Shell insists that the result is no admission of guilt, it nevertheless represents a triumph for an impoverished community over one of ...
Thu, 11 Jun 09
Japan set to unveil timid target on climate change: campaigners
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hVPgheZpWHAX6Oq4zG4utWjYMhLg
Agence France-Presse: Japan on Wednesday will unveil a target of reducing its greenhouse-gas emissions by seven percent by 2020 compared with 1990 levels, Japanese campaigners said on Tuesday at the UN climate talks here. They lashed the reported goal as pitiful, saying it marked a mere one-percentage-point fall over Japan's target for 2012 under the Kyoto Protocol, the treaty set to be superseded by a far more ambitious global pact. The target will be announced by the government as part of a larger ...
Thu, 11 Jun 09
Canada frosts the most widespread in recent memory
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE55851U20090609?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: The multiple frosts that have blanketed Western Canada in the last week are the most widespread in the top canola-growing province of Saskatchewan in at least five years, the Canola Council of Canada said on Tuesday. Two overnight frosts last week have already resulted in some Saskatchewan farmers reseeding their canola, a Canadian variant of rapeseed, said Jim Bessel, senior agronomy specialist in the province for the industry group Canola Council. Other farmers are waiting to ...
Thu, 11 Jun 09
Japan should set strong 2020 greenhouse gas curbs: U.N
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE5585KK20090609?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Japan should set strong 2020 targets for greenhouse gas curbs since Tokyo will be judged against a past promise of a six percent cut, the head of the U.N. Climate Change Secretariat said on Tuesday. Japanese media suggest that Prime Minister Taro Aso will announce on Wednesday a seven percent cut by 2020 from 1990 levels when he chooses from six options ranging from a four percent rise to a 25 percent cut. "I am looking forward very keenly to the number that Japan will come ...
Thu, 11 Jun 09
China eyes 20 pct renewable energy by 2020: report
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090610/sc_afp/chinaenvironmentenergy
Agence France-Presse: China plans to dramatically increase its use of wind and solar power, aiming to generate up to one fifth of its energy from renewable sources by 2020, a senior official told Britain's Guardian newspaper. "We are now formulating a plan for development of renewable energy," Zhang Xiaoqiang, vice-chairman of China's national development and reform commission, said in an interview in London published Wednesday. "We can be sure we will exceed the 15 percent target. We will at least ...
Thu, 11 Jun 09
China to offer subsidy for green lighting products
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE5590RL20090610?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: China will offer 600 million yuan in subsidies to promote the use of energy-saving lighting products, in a move to cut the nation's carbon emissions. The subsidy will result in 120 million units of energy-efficient lighting products being put into use, saving about 6.2 billion kilowatts of electricity, the government estimated in a statement. China subsidiaries of companies including Philips Electronics NV and Panasonic Corp were among 23 companies that will participate in the ...
Thu, 11 Jun 09
House Republicans Draft Energy Bill With Heavy Focus on Nuclear Power
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=129643
New York Times: Badly outnumbered and months behind in the debate on energy and climate change, House Republicans plan to introduce an energy bill on Wednesday as an alternative to the Democratic plan barreling toward a House vote this month. The Republican proposal, drafted by a group led by Representative Mike Pence of Indiana, leans heavily on nuclear power, setting a goal of building 100 reactors over the next 20 years. No new nuclear plants have been ordered in the United States since 1978 ...
Thu, 11 Jun 09
China launches green power revolution to catch up on west
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jun/09/china-green-energy-solar-wind
Guardian: China is planning a vast increase in its use of wind and solar power over the next decade and believes it can match Europe by 2020, producing a fifth of its energy needs from renewable sources, a senior Chinese official said yesterday. Zhang Xiaoqiang, vice-chairman of China's national development and reform commission, told the Guardian that Beijing would easily surpass current 2020 targets for the use of wind and solar power and was now contemplating targets that were more than ...
Thu, 11 Jun 09
Fuelling the fury: the price of Shell's gas
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2009/jun/10/shell-corrib-ireland
Guardian
Thu, 11 Jun 09
Peruvian indigenous leader seeks asylum
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jun/09/peru-amazon-protests-indigenous-leader
Guardian: A Peruvian indigenous leader has sought asylum in Nicaragua's embassy to escape sedition charges over anti-government protests in the Amazon which turned bloody last weekend. Alberto Pizango, a leader in a campaign against oil and mining projects in the rainforest, slipped into the Nicaraguan embassy in Peru's capital, Lima, after an arrest warrant was issued on Saturday. Meanwhile in the jungle hundreds and possibly thousands of Awajun and Wambis Indians hid from security ...
Thu, 11 Jun 09
Report: Climate change adding to migration
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jojz-avq9oguzdC74uv4NyRup6rgD98NOPQO1
Associated Press: A report says climate change is becoming a major driver in the migration of tens of millions of people battered by storms, droughts and the inundation of their lands by sea water. Estimates of the number of climate migrants are difficult to assess, but the new report by CARE International and the U.N. University cites estimates by the International Organization for Migration that 200 million people will be driven from their homes by mid-century for environmental reasons, including ...
Thu, 11 Jun 09
Japan sets 'weak' climate target
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8092866.stm
BBC: Japan has announced a target of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 15% over the next 11 years - a figure derided by environmentalists as "appalling". The target equates to a cut of about 8% from 1990 levels, the commonly used baseline. By comparison, the EU plans a 20% reduction over the same period. The announcement comes in the middle of talks on the UN climate treaty in Bonn. Some observers say Japan's goal is not enough to persuade developing countries to cut their ...
Thu, 11 Jun 09
Japan targets 8% emissions cut from 1990 levels
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090610/wl_asia_afp/japanpoliticsclimatewarming
Agence France-Presse: Japan said Wednesday it plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions by the equivalent of eight percent from 1990 levels by the end of the next decade, a goal attacked as too little by environmentalists. Prime Minister Taro Aso announced Japan's mid-term target ahead of a December meeting in Copenhagen set to hammer out a new climate treaty that will replace the Kyoto Protocol when it expires in 2012. "I have decided to aim at a 15 percent reduction from 2005," Aso told a news ...
Thu, 11 Jun 09
China plans increase in renewables targets
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2243829/china-increases-renewables
Business Green: China is planning a huge increase in renewables and hopes to generate 20 per cent of its energy from clean sources by 2020, officials said yesterday. Zhang Xiaoqiang is the vice-chairman of China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the government office responsible for masterminding China's move towards green energy. "We are now formulating a plan for development of renewable energy," he told The Guardian. "We can be sure we will exceed the 15 per cent ...
Thu, 11 Jun 09
Climate change forces new migration response
http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE55928W20090610
Reuters: Climate change will force millions of people to leave their homes to flee rising seas and drought over the coming decades, requiring a new plan for mass migration, said a report published on Wednesday. Funds were needed to help migrants escape natural disasters which will worsen, threatening political stability, said the report published by the U.N. University, CARE International and Columbia University. "Environmentally induced migration and displacement has the potential to ...
Thu, 11 Jun 09
Water stress, ocean levels to unleash 'climate exodus'
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090610/sc_afp/unclimatewarmingmigrants
Agence France-Presse: Tens of millions of people will be displaced by climate change in coming years, posing social, political and security problems of an unprecedented dimension, a new study said on Wednesday. "Unless aggressive measures are taken to halt global warming, the consequences for human migration and displacement could reach a scope and scale that vastly exceed anything that has occurred before," its authors warned. "Climate change is already contributing to migration and ...
Thu, 11 Jun 09
Japan emissions targets fail to impress
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/technology/japan-emissions-targets-fail-to-impress/article1176128/
Reuters: Japan on Wednesday unveiled plans for only marginally deeper greenhouse gas cuts over the coming decade than its current UN commitments, a step green groups say threatens to deal a blow to global climate talks. The world's fifth-biggest greenhouse gas emitter has been under huge pressure from developing nations to opt for deep 2020 greenhouse gas reductions to ensure a strong outcome from talks for a new global climate pact at the end of the year. But Prime Minister Taro Aso, ...
Thu, 11 Jun 09
S.F. OKs toughest recycling law in U.S
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/06/10/MN09183NV8.DTL
San Francisco Chronicle: The Board of Supervisors voted 9-2 Tuesday to approve Mayor Gavin Newsom's proposal for the most comprehensive mandatory composting and recycling law in the country. It's an aggressive push to cut greenhouse gas emissions and have the city sending nothing to landfills or incinerators by 2020. "San Francisco has the best recycling and composting programs in the nation," Newsom said, praising the board's vote on a plan that some residents had decried as heavy-handed and impractical. "We ...
Thu, 11 Jun 09
Australian farm irrigators face another grim year
http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSSYD429097
Reuters: Australia's major river system, the Murray-Darling, has recorded its third-lowest water intake in 118 years, due to a long-running drought that will continue to suppress production of export crops such as cotton. The Murray-Darling, which runs through four states from Queensland to South Australia, recorded only 90 gigalitres in May, well below its long-term average of 390 gigalitres, because of a lack of autumn rain. "Autumn is a critical time for wetting of the catchment ...
Thu, 11 Jun 09
Climate change is shifting bird migration
http://www.azstarnet.com/metro/296424
Arizona Daily Star: Enjoy the elegant trogon, a longtime summer visitor to Southern Arizona that now is increasingly staying for the winter. But don't get too attached to the purple finch, because that mountain bird's Arizona population has dropped 45 percent since the 1960s. These birds represent two sides of a dramatic northward movement for many bird species nationally over four decades due to climate change, according to a recent National Audubon Society study. Some bird species have shifted their ...
Thu, 11 Jun 09
U.S. demand for residential solar rising in '09
http://www.reuters.com/article/GCA-GreenBusiness/idUSTRE5586H920090609
Reuters: U.S. demand for residential solar power installations is surging despite an economic recession, thanks to government financial incentives, some easing in credit availability, and increasing public recognition of its environmental benefits, industry executives said on Tuesday. Companies represented at the PV America solar conference in Philadelphia said the volume of their installations as much as tripled in 2008 and they see further gains this year as more people recognize that they ...
Thu, 11 Jun 09
Europe car scrapping seen failing green test
http://www.reuters.com/article/GCA-GreenBusiness/idUSTRE5582ZX20090609
Reuters: European car scrapping schemes are aiding a shift to small, less polluting cars but environmental campaigners say they fall short of pledges to create a greener economy during the recession. "It's definitely a missed opportunity. This is just doling out cash to the car industry," said Jos Dings, director of the European Federation for Transport and Environment, which campaigns for greener transport. "The first goal is to help the economy," German Environment Minister Sigmar ...
Thu, 11 Jun 09
In bid to stem global warming, future of foreign aid is green
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/648348
Toronto Star: In the future of foreign aid, it won't matter whether the need is in Africa, Asia or Latin America. If a number of Western governments have their way, development projects for the world's poorest will be as green as the money that pays for them. Pressure on rich countries to cut greenhouse gas emissions could mean government-branded sacks of food aid could take a back seat to things like more efficient wood-burning cooking stoves for rural Mexicans. "Is that the future? Yes, I ...
Thu, 11 Jun 09
Reefs collapse across Caribbean, study says
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/reefs-collapse-across-caribbean-study-says/article1175531/
Globe and Mail: There has been a massive collapse of coral reefs throughout the Caribbean, according to a joint project by researchers from Simon Fraser University and the University of East Anglia in Norwich, England. The study has found that not only are reefs dying faster and on a wider scale than previously thought, but they are quickly crumbling after they die, in a process scientists call "reef flattening.' The scale of the collapse is massive. "Probably the most stark finding of ...
Thu, 11 Jun 09
Bold Strokes Needed Now to Save Climate
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=bold-strokes-needed-now
Scientific American: The climate challenge just became a lot more challenging. We know that man-made carbon dioxide emissions are accelerating global warming. But intrepid research has revealed an additional sinister threat: methane. As Sarah Simpson reports, the warming of the Arctic is releasing vast quantities of methane that has been locked away for centuries in formerly frozen soil. Once released, methane traps 25 times more heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide does. So it is more imperative than ever ...
Thu, 11 Jun 09
UN climate chief: Rich nations short on CO2 goals
http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2009/06/10/un_climate_chief_rich_nations_short_on_co2_goals/?rss_id=Boston.com+--+Latest+news
Various: Japan unveiled a new target Wednesday for reducing greenhouse gas emissions 15 percent by 2020, but the plan was slammed by environmentalists and the U.N. climate chief as leaving the industrial world dangerously short of its pollution goals. Prime Minister Taro Aso said in Tokyo the plan was ambitious and in line with efforts by the United States and Europe to trim carbon emissions over the next decade. He said Japan calculated its target on a 2005 base year -- but environmentalists ...
Thu, 11 Jun 09
U.S. green economy needs plan to hit potential: study
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE55946B20090610?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: The number of U.S. workers in environmental fields such as renewable energy and cutting air pollution has grown quickly over the past decade but the country needs a comprehensive energy plan for sector to meet its full potential, a Pew Center report said on Wednesday. Clean economy jobs grew at a national rate of 9.1 percent from 1998 to 2007 to 770,385, while overall jobs grew 3.7 percent during that time, the study said. Despite the recession, innovation and competition in ...
Thu, 11 Jun 09
Full climate deal 'unlikely' in Copenhagen
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5glOuTZdaVLxwq820ZEBjxjwov4zA
Agence France-Presse: The UN's top climate official on Wednesday voiced doubt about the prospects for completing a new pact on global warming in Copenhagen by its much-touted December deadline. "I don't think it is possible between now and the end of Copenhagen to finalise every last detail of a post-2012 [accord], of a long-term response to climate change," said Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). "There is going to be work after Copenhagen," ...
Thu, 11 Jun 09
Japan pledges up to $30m for New Mexico smart grid
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2243874/japan-pledges-30m-mexico-smart
Business Green: Japan will contribute between $20.3m (£12.2m) and $30.4m towards the construction of a smart grid pilot project in the south-western US state of New Mexico. A consortium of Japanese companies is being formed to help build the grid and is expected to include Hitachi and Toshiba Corp. The initiative is being led by Japan's New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization, a public research body focused on the development of new energy sources. Japanese electronic ...
Thu, 11 Jun 09
Buses more carbon-hungry than planes, says research
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2243876/buses-carbon-hungry-planes
Business Green: Diesel buses running during off-peak periods are more carbon-consuming than airplanes on a per-passenger basis, according to a new report published in Environmental Research Letters. The paper, entitled 'Environmental assessment of passenger transportation should include infrastructure and supply chains' was produced by researchers at UC Berkeley. Traditional methods for assessing carbon emissions from transport tend to focus on emissions at the tailpipe, they said, which can ...
Thu, 11 Jun 09
Chestnut trees might slow climate change
http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2009/06/10/Chestnut-trees-might-slow-climate-change/UPI-59451244651023/
United Press International: A U.S. study shows introducing a hybrid of the American chestnut tree would not only help the nearly extinct species, but also reduce atmospheric carbon. Purdue University Associate Professor Douglass Jacobs said the study found American chestnuts grow much faster and larger than other hardwood species, allowing them to sequester more carbon. And since American chestnut trees are more often used for high-quality hardwood products such as furniture, they hold the carbon longer than ...
Thu, 11 Jun 09
Green collar job creation 'outstripped traditional sectors in US'
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jun/10/green-jobs-america
Guardian: America's emerging clean energy economy created more than twice as many new jobs as more traditional industries in the years leading up to the economic downturn, a new study released today claimed. The report by the Pew Charitable Trusts provides the first hard evidence of jobs created by the rising demand for environmentally friendly services, and in the new clean energy sectors like wind and solar. It said such jobs grew at a rate of 9.1% from 1998-2007, easily outstripping ...
Thu, 11 Jun 09
France moves to bring in carbon tax by 2011
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090610/sc_afp/franceenvironmentclimatetax
Agence France-Presse: The French government on Wednesday kickstarted plans for a so-called carbon tax on energy-hungry products, to be rolled out by 2011 as part of France's efforts to slash global warming emissions. Environment Minister Jean-Louis Borloo unveiled a white paper on the new Climate-Energy Contribution, to be posted online for public comment before an experts' panel gathers on July 2-3 to hammer out the details. Initially announced after a nationwide environment conference in late ...
Thu, 11 Jun 09
Top Climate Scientists Urge Action in Run Up to Historic Meeting
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kevin-grandia/top-climate-scientists-ur_b_213836.html
Huffington Post: Representatives of the world's governments are in Bonn, Germany this week to begin negotiating what may be one of the most important deals of our times. The Bonn climate talks are the first big step towards a very large and historical meeting that will take place in Copenhagen in December of this year. The Copenhagen United Nations Climate Change Conference - or in UN lingo "COP 15" - will be venue for the world's governments to decide on how aggressively the human race will work to ...
Thu, 11 Jun 09
Report says climate change is adding to migration
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jojz-avq9oguzdC74uv4NyRup6rgD98NV1Q82
Associated Press: Global warming is uprooting people from their homes and, left unchecked, could lead to the greatest human migration in history, said a report released Wednesday. Estimates vary on how many people are on the move because of climate change, but the report cites predictions from the International Organization for Migration that 200 million people will be displaced by environmental pressures by 2050. Some estimates go as high as 700 million, said the report, released at U.N negotiations ...
Thu, 11 Jun 09
Study hints at reduced wind speed in U.S
http://www.torontosun.com/news/world/2009/06/10/9753101.html
Associated Press: The wind, a favourite power source of the green energy movement, seems to be dying down across the United States. And the cause, ironically, may be global warming -- the very problem wind power seeks to address. The idea that winds may be slowing is still a speculative one, and scientists disagree whether that is happening. But a first-of-its-kind study suggests that average and peak wind speeds have been noticeably slowing since 1973, especially in the U.S. Midwest and the ...
Thu, 11 Jun 09
Hummer purchase triggers environmental concerns in China
http://en.rian.ru/world/20090609/155209671.html
Ria Novosti: A domestic company's purchase of the GM's gas-guzzling Hummer brand goes against China's environmental policies, Xinhua agency said on Tuesday citing an official with the cabinet's Development Research Center. China's Tengzhong, which produces heavy machinery, announced last week that it had signed a preliminary deal with the troubled U.S. car giant to buy the right to produce Hummer off-road vehicles. "If the Chinese company is just trying to stir media hype, that is ...
Thu, 11 Jun 09
China Shuns Polluting Industries to Reduce Emissions
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601130&sid=aD43eSW0EA0I
Bloomberg: China rejected 473 billion yuan ($69 billion) of polluting projects last year as developed nations urged the world's biggest producer of greenhouse gases to adopt limits in heat-trapping emissions. The government turned down 156 highly polluting industrial projects in 2008, Zhang Lijun, the deputy head of the Ministry of Environmental Protection, said at a renewable energy conference in Tianjin today. China is also developing clean energy to meet its carbon-reduction goals, Zhang ...
Thu, 11 Jun 09
Will We Still Eat Meat, Drink Milk, and Fry Eggs in 2109?
http://www.alternet.org/environment/140486/will_we_still_eat_meat,_drink_milk,_and_fry_eggs_in_2109/
AlterNet: Teacher: Good morning class. Today we are remembering what life was like in the days of Barack Hussein Obama, the first African American president of the United States. As you all know, President Obama did many things to distinguish himself as one of the greatest presidents our country has ever known. Back in 2009, the country was in a fast downward spiral of financial disaster; but Obama and his cabinet -- against all odds -- implemented a plan that reorganized the way banks and ...
Thu, 11 Jun 09
Jellyfish threaten to 'dominate' oceans
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/06/08/2592196.htm
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: Giant jellyfish are taking over parts of the world's oceans due to overfishing and other human activities, researchers say. Nomura jellyfish are the biggest in the world and can grow as big as a sumo wrestler. They weigh up to 200 kilograms and can reach 2 metres in diameter. Dr Anthony Richardson and his colleagues from CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research says jellyfish numbers are increasing, particularly in South East Asia, the Black Sea, the Gulf of Mexico and the North ...
Thu, 11 Jun 09
China wrestles climate quandary: growth vs CO2
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/PEK7547.htm
Reuters: Global warming is fast rising in the pile of crises facing China as it pursues the unshakeable goal of economic growth while grappling with international pressure to curb its greenhouse gas output. China, the world's number three economy, is the top greenhouse gas polluter, scientists say, and its emissions of the main greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide, are set to keep rising. The United States' climate change policy envoy, Todd Stern, is in Beijing this week, the latest in a ...
Wed, 10 Jun 09
Delay new biofuels rule one year: U.S. oil industry
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE5586HS20090609?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: The government should delay new rules that expand U.S. use of biofuels until 2011, the oil industry said on Tuesday, because there is too much work to do on the ground-breaking rules to start sooner. The Environmental Protection Agency has a January 1 target to apply the rules that also require advanced biofuels to have greenhouse gas emissions that are 40 percent lower than petroleum from creation through consumption. Al Mannato, a manager at the American Petroleum Institute, ...
Wed, 10 Jun 09
U.S. industry warns of high costs from climate bill
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE5586DE20090609?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Energy prices, from fuel for interstate trucking to electric utility costs, would rise significantly under climate change legislation pending in the U.S. Congress, industry officials said on Tuesday. The global warming legislation, which aims to drastically reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other industrial pollutants over the next 40 years, could face a vote by the full House of Representatives this month or next. It has an uncertain future in the Senate this year even ...
Wed, 10 Jun 09
Alberta says Ottawa must consult it on climate pact
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE55863320090609?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Alberta's government has moderated demands for a direct role in negotiations between Canada and the United States on climate change but it wants the federal government to consult with the provinces before reaching any deal, Alberta's energy minister said on Tuesday. "Before they (Ottawa) get to that point ... all provinces need to have a clear understanding of what it is the federal government is going to put forward internationally," Energy Minister Mel Knight told reporters at a ...
Wed, 10 Jun 09
Scientists: Global warming has already changed oceans
http://news.yahoo.com/s/mcclatchy/20090609/sc_mcclatchy/3249010
McClatchy Newspapers: In Washington state , oysters in some areas haven't reproduced for four years, and preliminary evidence suggests that the increasing acidity of the ocean could be the cause. In the Gulf of Mexico , falling oxygen levels in the water have forced shrimp to migrate elsewhere. Though two marine-derived drugs, one for treating cancer and the other for pain control, are on the market and 25 others are under development, the fungus growing on seaweed, bacteria in deep sea mud and sea fans ...
Wed, 10 Jun 09
Mexico Yet to Cross Clean Energy Threshold
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47155
Inter Press Service: Despite its great potential for energy from the sun, wind and water, Mexico has not taken advantage of the Clean Development Mechanism laid out in the Kyoto Protocol on climate change. Mexico, responsible for 1.5 percent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions, was chosen by the United Nations as the global host for World Environment Day on Jun. 5. The latest official data on greenhouse gas emissions, from 2002, indicate that this country released into the atmosphere 643 ...
Wed, 10 Jun 09
Caribbean reefs 'flattened' in just 40 years
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17279-caribbean-reefs-flattened-in-just-40-years.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=climate-change
New Scientist: In just 40 years, the Caribbean's spectacular branched corals have been flattened. Research reveals that the corals have been replaced by shorter rival species -- and points to climate change as at least partly to blame. Most of the reefs have lost all the intricate, tree-like corals that until the 1970s provided sanctuary for unique reef fish and other creatures, as well as protecting coastlines by sapping the energy of waves. Coral diversity is important for both the many ...
Wed, 10 Jun 09
Climate change blamed for Caribbean coral deaths - Reuters
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE55872W20090609
Reuters: Climate change has contributed to a flattening of the complex, multi-layered architecture of Caribbean coral reefs, compromising their role as a nursery for fish stocks and a buffer against tropical storms, a study shows. The analysis of 500 surveys of 200 reefs, conducted between 1969 and 2008, showed the most complex types of reef had been virtually wiped out across the entire Caribbean. Such reefs -- typified by Table Corals of over 1 meter across and huge antler-shaped ...
Wed, 10 Jun 09
Japan to aim for 15 percent carbon cut from 2005 level: NHK
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE55879C20090609?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso is likely to announce that Japan, the world's fifth-biggest greenhouse gas emitter, will cut emissions by 15 percent by 2020 from 2005 levels, national broadcaster NHK reported on Wednesday. Aso's government has been looking at six options for how and how much to cut emissions by 2020 in Japan, ranging from minus 4 percent to minus 30 percent from 2005 levels. A 15 percent cut from 2005 would be a slightly bigger cut that the minus 14 percent ...
Wed, 10 Jun 09
Berners-Lee: Web could cure cancer and halt climate change
http://www.thetechherald.com/article.php/200924/3826/Berners-Lee-Web-could-cure-cancer-and-halt-climate-change
Tech Herald: For many of its detractors, the Internet will always be little more than a haven of frivolous gossip, misinformation and pornography. However, the Web's founding father is holding out for a grander future, with the Internet playing a significant role in human development. Specifically, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the man credited with creating the Web as we know it, has said he sees the Internet contributing heavily towards the development of cures for presently incurable diseases and also ...
Wed, 10 Jun 09
China alone 'could bring world to brink of climate calamity'
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jun/09/china-sandalow-stern-emissions
Guardian: China must be far more ambitious in tackling climate change if the international community wants to prevent calamitous levels of global warming, a senior US official told counterparts in Beijing today. David Sandalow, assistant secretary of state for energy, said the continuation of business as usual in China would result in a 2.7C rise in global temperatures by 2050 even if every other country slashed greenhouse gas emissions by 80%. "China can and will need to do much more if ...
Wed, 10 Jun 09
Sweden to call for CO2 tax as EU president
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Sweden-to-call-for-CO2-tax-as-apf-15477837.html?.v=1
Associated Press: When Sweden takes over the European Union presidency in July, it will urge its EU counterparts to impose a carbon tax as a way to meet targets to reduce emissions across Europe, Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt said Tuesday. The premier said a tax on pollution was the best way to cut greenhouse gases blamed for climate change and suggested member states coordinate the introduction of such a levy since the EU has no powers regarding taxation. "I am asking them to ...
Wed, 10 Jun 09
Levy on international air travel could fund climate change fight
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jun/07/international-flight-levy-un-climate-change
Guardian: Britain and other rich countries will be asked to accept a compulsory levy on international flight tickets and shipping fuel to raise billions of dollars to help the world's poorest countries adapt to combat climate change. The suggestions come at the start of the second week in the latest round of UN climate talks in Bonn, where 192 countries are starting to negotiate a global agreement to limit and then reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The issue of funding for adaptation is critical ...
Wed, 10 Jun 09
Rainforests could be more profitable standing, says research
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2243636/rainforests-profitable-standing
Business Green: The Indonesian rainforest is worth more to businesses standing than if it was felled, according to new research. A study published in the journal Conservation Letters shows that a scheme that would give palm oil companies -- largely responsible for deforestation in the region -- carbon credits for protecting rainforests would make them more money than clearing land to grow plants for palm oil. Palm oil is used in a number of cosmetic products as well as man biofuels. The ...
Wed, 10 Jun 09
Forest degradation is huge source of CO2 emissions
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0605-degradation.html
Mongabay: Selective logging, understory fires, fuelwood harvesting, and other forms of forest degradation are a substantial source of greenhouse has emissions, reports a policy brief issued by The Nature Conservancy (TNC) at U.N. climate talks in Bonn, Germany. The brief, titled "Don't Forget the Second 'D': The Importance of Including Degradation in a REDD Mechanism", says that forest degradation is often overlooked by policy makers, but accounts for a large share of emissions, including at ...
Wed, 10 Jun 09
UK set to cut carbon emissions 23 percent by 2010
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE5544VY20090605?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Britain is on course to cut its greenhouse gas by about 23 percent by 2010 from the 1990 level -- nearly double its target under the Kyoto agreement, the Department of Energy and Climate Change said on Friday. "Our latest report...shows what can be achieved when Government, communities and business work together," Climate Change Minister Joan Ruddock was quoted as saying "We know there is more to be done -- we must continue to work urgently to reduce our emissions further and ...
Wed, 10 Jun 09
Will Nuclear Power Be Part Of A Climate Solution?
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=105012130&ft=1&f=1025
National Public Radio: Some environmentalists believe building more nuclear power plants today is the best way to combat climate change while solar and other renewable energy sources mature. Ira Flatow and experts discuss the economic and engineering hurdles to nuclear development in the U.S. Guests: Thomas Cochran, nuclear physicist and senior scientist, nuclear program, Wade Greene Chair for Nuclear Policy, Natural Resources Defense Council, Washington, DC Ernest Moniz, former under ...
Wed, 10 Jun 09
Colombia: Coal Mine Hurts Highlands Lake, Farms
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47114
Inter Press Service: Protests by indigenous farmers in the Colombian village of Cuayá, 75 km north of Bogotá, have failed to bring to a halt the unregulated extraction of coal, which has had disastrous environmental effects on Lake Suesca, 3,000 metres above sea level. "Three decades ago, Lake Suesca was 14 kilometres in diameter, but now it's only around three," Vicente Castillo, a local farmer who has witnessed enormous environmental degradation caused by the mining industry over his 53 years of life, ...
Wed, 10 Jun 09
Q&A: "I Hope We Are Civilised When Climate Disaster Hits"
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47113
Inter Press Service: "When the first great climate disaster strikes, I hope we will all pull together just as if our nation were being invaded," says British scientist James Lovelock in this exclusive Tierramérica interview. As the world marks International Environment Day Friday, Lovelock argues that as the climate warms and the carbon content of the atmosphere soars, humanity is facing a far grimmer future that will be upon us sooner than any of the projections made by the Intergovernmental Panel ...
Wed, 10 Jun 09
US urged to abandon ageing flood defences in favour of Dutch system
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jun/05/flooding-us-defence
Guardian: America, now entering its hurricane season, was today urged to abandon the outmoded "patch and pray" system of levees – whose failure magnified the devastation of Hurricane Katrina – and borrow from the Dutch model of dykes and water management. Mary Landrieu, a senator from New Orleans who was brought to tears during a helicopter tour of the destruction of 2005, said America needed to rethink its entire approach to low-lying coastal areas and adopt an integrated model of water ...
Wed, 10 Jun 09
US Energy Secy, UN chief meet on climate change
http://in.reuters.com/article/oilRpt/idINN0548718620090605
Reuters: U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu and United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon met on Friday to discuss solutions to global energy problems and climate change. "The two leaders agreed on the global nature of our energy, climate and economic challenges, and the urgent need for action to address them," the Energy Department said in a statement. The leaders also reviewed opportunities for cooperation and participation by countries to promote clean energy and energy efficiency ...
Mon, 8 Jun 09
West not playing its part to tackle climate change: India
http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/enviornment/west-not-playing-its-part-to-tackle-climate-change-india_100201896.html
Indo-Asian News Service: Industrialised countries are nowhere near meeting their legal obligations to combat climate change and are trying to muddy the waters by saying the global problem cannot be tackled unless developing countries do more, says Shyam Saran, India`s chief negotiator at the climate treaty talks. As the world stumbles towards a climate treaty scheduled to be inked this December in Copenhagen, a key preparatory meet is on in Bonn (June 1-12). Negotiators from around the world are poring over ...
Mon, 8 Jun 09
United States: Making solar panels requires old-fashioned coal-fired power
http://www.mlive.com/news/bay-city/index.ssf/2009/06/making_solar_panels_requires_o.html
Bay City Times: Michigan's solar industry has a dirty secret: It needs a lot of coal-fired power. The process of manufacturing base materials and panels to capture electricity from the sun is energy-intensive, utility officials say. And that energy comes mostly from fossil fuels in Michigan, where up to eight new coal-fired power plants are on the drawing board. That includes a $2 billion-plus, 800-megawatt plant proposed by Consumers Energy in Bay County's Hampton ...
Mon, 8 Jun 09
Algae could become reliable jet fuel source
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/stories/DN-algaefuel_07pro.ART.State.Bulldog.50aec9c.html
Dallas Morning News: Seawater algae -- a cousin to pond scum -- may someday become a significant source of fuel for military jets and airliners, and at the same time rejuvenate farmlands where tumbleweeds fill old irrigation ditches and abandoned cotton gins bake in the Texas sun. Algae farmers conceivably could become the newest breed of Texas oilmen. For now, that's still a very big "if." Several scientific and technical obstacles must be overcome before the tiny plantlike organisms, which create ...
Mon, 8 Jun 09
Climate change bill confronts hurdles in the House
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/biz/6460442.html
Houston Chronicle: Lawmakers who want to make businesses pay for heat- trapping pollutants released into the atmosphere celebrated when a key House committee approved a contentious proposal to combat climate change. That milestone came after months of often-bitter public deliberations and intense closed-door negotiations. But congressional supporters of the bill are finding that the really hard part is just beginning. To get the climate change initiative on to the House floor -- and ultimately ...
Mon, 8 Jun 09
Maldives' disappearing coast prompts appeal to UN space agency
http://businessmirror.com.ph/home/science/11368-maldives-disappearing-coast-prompts-appeal-to-un-space-agency.html
Bloomberg: The Maldives, one of the nations most threatened by global warming, is appealing to the United Nations space agency to help the island country plan its defenses against rising sea levels. "Beach erosion is the No. 1 problem for our country right now," Environment Minister Abdulla Shahid said over the weekend in an interview in Vienna. The Indian Ocean nation of 385,000 people has had to relocate the populations of two of its 200 islands because of eroding beaches, he said. The ...
Mon, 8 Jun 09
Rainforest Resources Conflict in Northern Peru Turns Bloody
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/jun2009/2009-06-06-01.asp
Environment News Service: Peruvian Special Forces staged a violent raid early Friday on a group of indigenous people who were sleeping at a road blockade outside of Bagua in the remote northern Peruvian Amazon. At least 25 civilians are confirmed dead and over 100 were wounded and nine police officers are confirmed dead in the raid. For the past two months, indigenous people have blocked waterways and roads across the Amazon, demanding the repeal of legislative decrees issued last year to bring Peru into ...
Mon, 8 Jun 09
At least 31 killed in Peru Amazon clashes
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5g_1_8pO7z3Irrxpid66l_JoGGPrQ
Agence France-Presse: At least 31 people have been killed in a 24-hour orgy of violence in northern Peru where police clashed with Amazon Indians over land rights in the rainforest, government officials said. According to Prime Minister Yehude Simon, 22 police officers and nine civilians were killed Friday and Saturday after police forcibly re-opened a regional highway that thousands of Amazon Indian protesters had been blocking for days. The clashes mark the bloodiest unrest in Peru since the ...
Mon, 8 Jun 09
Health, climate change vie for boost in Congress
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE5560MS20090607?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Barack Obama may be pressuring Congress as no U.S. president has for decades as he aims to get two big domestic goals passed this year -- reforming health care and fighting global warming. "It's not impossible to do both, but that would be more than a Congress has ever given a president, maybe since the first First 100 Days," said Brookings Institution senior fellow Stephen Hess, referring to the start of Franklin Roosevelt's "New Deal" presidency in 1933. A further time ...
Mon, 8 Jun 09
Nine alien insects to cause pain illness and even death in Britain as climate warms up
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/climatechange/5463255/Nine-alien-insects-to-cause-pain-illness-and-even-death-in-Britain-as-climate-warms-up.html
Telegraph: Experts working for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) have identified dozens of "nuisance insects' which will thrive. Many are native in the UK, including common species like the wasp and cockroach. However, the list also contains nine alien species which are either on the verge of invading Britain or have very recently arrived here. Among the insects the experts are most concerned about is the Asian tiger mosquito (Aedes albopictus). It has already ...
Mon, 8 Jun 09
United States: State still slow to warm up to solar energy's potential
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/chronicle/6461726.html
Houston Chronicle: It wasn`t solar`s time to shine, after all. The 81st Texas Legislature began with strong interest in cleaner energy -- lawmakers filed at least 69 bills related to solar and other forms of renewable power -- but ended Monday without the boost for the emerging industry that advocates wanted. A bill to provide $500 million in rebates for solar panels died late in the session on a procedural maneuver. Without the incentives, the state will likely fall behind others in both ...
Mon, 8 Jun 09
Climate change and the region's role
http://www.thenational.ae/article/20090606/BUSINESS/706069915/1137
National: Climate change is arguably the greatest challenge we face, threatening the trend towards increasing global prosperity that has lifted hundreds of millions of people from poverty. There are doubters and special-interest pleaders but the overwhelming body of scientific evidence is that we have to act now. I won't rehearse the evidence; others are better qualified. But let me make one small anecdote: last year in Uganda, the Daily Monitor started printing a daily weather map for ...
Mon, 8 Jun 09
Buried code
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/06/AR2009060601797.html
Washington Post: THE RUNNING joke in Washington is that nobody has read the 900-plus-page energy bill sponsored by Reps. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.) and Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), which the House will consider in coming weeks. What you hear from its backers is that its cap-and-trade provisions would create a market-based program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions -- which should mean that a simple, systemwide incentive encourages polluters to make the easiest reductions in greenhouse gases first, keeping the ...
Mon, 8 Jun 09
US climate debate plays key role in global fight to protect planet
http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-06-07-voa2.cfm
Voice of America: As countries around the world mark World Environment Day Friday, members of the U.S. Congress are preparing to debate new legislation aimed to slow global warming. From Washington, VOA's Kate Woodsome examines how actions in the United States may influence the international debate on combating climate change. Blocks from the U.S. Capitol building, John Mulqueen navigates a bicycle rickshaw through the traffic on a rainy Washington street. Mulqueen is one of many drivers in a ...
Mon, 8 Jun 09
Australia: Youth speak out on climate change goals
http://www.smh.com.au/environment/global-warming/youth-speak-out-on-climate-change-goals-20090606-bz3b.html
Sydney Morning Herald: BROOKE SATCHWELL'S life is a staple of glossy magazines but in her own time the actor has been ploughing through the Garnaut report - the weighty, 600-page tome outlining the economic impact of climate change on Australia. "I was forewarned it was going to be a very dry read but it's not, actually, it's very interesting," she said. Along with other prominent young Australians, including swimmer Ian Thorpe, Satchwell is participating in Power Shift, the biggest climate-change ...
Mon, 8 Jun 09
Could the Sahara's sun save us?
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/natural_resources/article6446064.ece
Times (UK): Our present lifestyle cannot be sustained on Britain's own renewable energy resources unless we are prepared to cover huge areas of land and sea with wind turbines, tidal farms or solar cells. So what are our options if we wish to wean ourselves off fossil fuels? We can balance the energy budget either by reducing demand or by increasing supply, or both. And these reductions in demand and increases in supply must be big. Don't be distracted by the myth that "every little ...
Mon, 8 Jun 09
Moving U.S. from carbon energy to clean power
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/06/06/INDV180UN4.DTL
San Francisco Chronicle: The American Clean Energy and Security Act begins to lay the groundwork for a future powered by the wind and sun. America needs this bill to maximize job creation, invest in the skills of our workers and the long-term economic prosperity of our country, and significantly reduce the pollution that has been caused by fossil fuel industries for decades. University of Massachusetts economists estimate that investing $100 billion in clean energy and green infrastructure over two years ...
Mon, 8 Jun 09
Clean energy: America can meet the challenge
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/06/06/INDV180UFR.DTL
San Francisco Chronicle: America's addiction to oil and other fossil fuels has put our economy, our security and our future at risk. But while President Obama, Congress, energy experts, business leaders and citizens across the country are rolling up their sleeves to create a clean-energy future, oil executives stubbornly insist that rapid change is impossible or too expensive. Chevron CEO David O'Reilly says moving away too quickly from oil is "a straight path back to a pre-industrial economy and a standard ...
Mon, 8 Jun 09
Clean energy is the best option for US
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/06/06/IN7G17VFCM.DTL
San Francisco Chronicle: Global warming and unsustainable energy dependence are the foremost environmental issues of our time; they are also the signature economic issues of our day, providing enormous risks to future economic growth and unparalleled opportunities to create jobs and launch a different model of economic development. America's energy future must create millions of new jobs; reduce our dependence on oil; shift American energy production toward cleaner, cheaper sources like wind and solar; reduce ...
Mon, 8 Jun 09
Paper industry: Don't kill fuel credit
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=105004252
National Public Radio: They call it "black liquor," but the dark, chemical brew is not a beverage. It's the sludge left over from the cooking process used to turn wood pulp into paper. Paper companies burn it to generate steam and make electricity. And a little over a year ago, they found that just by adding one-tenth of 1 percent of diesel fuel to the black liquor mix, they could qualify for the "alternative fuel mixture credit." "In the short term, this has provided to us some extra cash flow and income ...
Mon, 8 Jun 09
Water supply shifts as global climate changes
http://www.kansascity.com/news/nation/story/1237661.html
Kansas City Star: Many of the world`s great rivers are becoming less so. Yet in the Midwest, the wet is getting wetter. So says a study that finds global climate change shifting weather and water patterns around the planet. "In terms of water, the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer," said Kevin Trenberth, head of climate analysis at the National Center for Atmospheric Research. And, he said, the poverty of precipitation is more dramatic than the wealth of water ...
Mon, 8 Jun 09
Climate change may act as 'threat multiplier' in strife-torn middle east, study shows
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1244035011650&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Jerusalem Post: While it is unlikely that scarcities caused by climate change will start wars in the Mideast, they could become "threat multipliers" in an already conflict-ridden area, a report released on the weekend concluded. The report, "Rising Temperatures, Rising Tensions: Climate Change and the Risk of Violent Conflict in the Middle East," was written by the Canada-based International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), which attempted to examine potential scenarios caused by climate ...
Mon, 8 Jun 09
Kenya: The eco evangelist
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jun/07/eco-evangelist-craig-sorley
Guardian: In God's fields rats are the problem. They crawled under the old maize stalks that Paul Kiongo Thuo carefully placed on his soil as mulch, as the missionary had shown him, and ate the seeds he had planted in neat rows the day after the rains came. Thuo killed seven of the rodents, but more have moved in. Perhaps it is best to let the seeds germinate first before laying down the mulch, his wife Grace suggests as they stand in the middle of their four-acre farm, where they also grow beans, ...
Mon, 8 Jun 09
A war of water
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jun/06/gaza-strip-water-supply
Guardian: The water spouts from a broken pipe, forming a perfect circle before it is dispersed by the wind and falls on the breaking waves of the Mediterranean sea. It looks like a fountain, but the pipe that runs from the town of Rafah to the sea by Gaza's border with Egypt contains raw sewage. It enters the sea by the Swedish Village, so-called because it was built by Swedish UN soldiers in the 1960s. In the overcrowded village it is impossible to escape the smell of sewage. The ...
Mon, 8 Jun 09
Declaration set
http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=123067
Fiji Times: Seventy-five of the world's nations adopted the Manado Declaration on the final day of the World Ocean Conference talks in Indonesia late last month. The declaration is aimed at protecting the world's oceans and coastal communities from global warming. During the conference, six nations from the Asia Pacific region signed the landmark Coral Triangle Reefs declaration in an attempt to protect ocean resources such as reefs, fish and food in the area. Climate change talks ...
Mon, 8 Jun 09
Peru: Oil or Death in the Amazon
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0606-oil_or_death_in_the_amazon.html
Mongabay: More than 70% of the Peruvian Amazon has been allocated for oil and gas extraction, and the current government of Alan Garcia has been pushing for more. Unfortunately, as usual, these policies are promoted by and only benefit a handful of people, but negatively impact the lives of many. However, Garcia's government did not foresee the potential consequences of their actions. An excellent paper published in August 2008 by Dr. Matt Finer and collaborators, Oil and gas Projects in the ...
Mon, 8 Jun 09
Kitchen bin war: tackling the food waste mountain
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/kitchen-bin-war-tackling-the-food-waste-mountain-1698753.html
Independent (UK): An ambitious "War on Waste" campaign to tackle Britain's mountains of food-based rubbish with a range of radical new measures is to be launched tomorrow. The programme will scrap "best before" labels on food, create new food packaging sizes, build more "on-the-go" recycling points and unveil five flagship anaerobic digestion plants, to harness the power of leftover food and pump energy back into the national grid. The government hopes that its plans will reduce the 100 million tons of ...
Mon, 8 Jun 09
30 die as indigenous protesters, police clash in Peru
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/americas/06/05/peru.indigenous.clash/
CNN: The government of Peru on Friday declared a state of emergency in a remote northern area after a clash between police and indigenous people protesting what they say is the exploitation of their native lands left a number of people dead. Alberto Pizango, a leader of the protesters, says his followers did not kill police officers. Police and indigenous protesters said separately that at least eight police and 22 protesters died. The clash took place at dawn outside the ...
Mon, 8 Jun 09
Drastic action may be needed over US flood risk
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20227114.000-drastic-action-may-be-needed-over-us-flood-risk.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=climate-change
New Scientist: DRASTIC measures such as river barrages and floating buildings may be needed to protect people in New York, Boston and other US cities on the Atlantic coast from flooding. That's the message of yet another study showing that the north-east coast of North America will bear the brunt of rising seas. Regional currents keep sea levels on the continent's eastern seaboard lower than elsewhere, but they will probably be disrupted by the melting of the Greenland ice sheet. If the melting ...
Mon, 8 Jun 09
China commentary chides rich nations on climate change
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/PEK3329.htm
Reuters: China's official news agency has accused rich countries of shirking their duty to fight climate change and seeking to divide developing countries, warning that negotiations for a new global climate pact face deep disputes. The commentary by China's state-run Xinhua news agency on Fiday comes while negotiations in Bonn seek to foster consensus ahead of a key conference in Copenhagen in December that aims to announce a new international agreement on global warming. It also comes ...
Mon, 8 Jun 09
Australia: No neutrality: how the carbon lobby blackens media coverage
http://business.smh.com.au/business/how-the-carbon-lobby-blackens-media-coverage-20090605-byjv.html
Sydney Morning Herald: The resource industry's spin on global warming is pervasive. Through lobby groups - the Minerals Council, the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association (APPEA) and the cleverly titled Australian Industry Greenhouse Network, which hopes to accelerate the greenhouse effect - the likes of Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton stop real action on climate change. Former Liberal staffer-turned-author and Greens candidate Guy Pearse has shown how the self-titled "greenhouse mafia" - ...
Mon, 8 Jun 09
Australia: Climate protest targets engineers
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/8085368.stm
BBC: Five environmental activists have been arrested during a protest against plans to build a coal-fired power station. Thirteen members of Thames Valley Climate Action from Oxford had entered the BAM Nuttall offices in Camberley, Surrey at about 1100 BST. The civil engineering company has submitted a bid to E.On UK for the construction of the power station at Kingsnorth in Hoo, Kent. The plant would be the UK's first coal power station to be built for 30 years. A ...
Mon, 8 Jun 09
UN Report: Nature Best Controls Climate Gases
http://www.usnews.com/articles/science/2009/06/05/un-report-nature-best-controls-climate-gases.html
Associated Press: Nature's way is best for controlling the gases responsible for climate change, the U.N. Environment Program said in a report Friday. The report said better management of forests, more careful agricultural practices and the restoration of peatlands could soak up significant amounts of carbon dioxide, the most common of the gases blamed for global warming. "We need to move toward a comprehensive policy framework for addressing ecosystems," said co-author Barney Dickson, releasing ...
Mon, 8 Jun 09
Norway: Floating wind turbine launched
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8085551.stm
BBC: The world's first floating wind turbine is to be towed out to sea this weekend. Statoil's Alexandra Beck Gjorv told the BBC the technology, the Hywind, to be put off Norway's coast - "should help move offshore wind farms out of sight". And it could lead to offshore wind farms eventually being located many miles offshore, away from areas where they cause disruption, Ms Gjorv added. This would benefit military radar operations, the shipping industry, fisheries, bird life ...
Mon, 8 Jun 09
Why Does the Much-Touted Climate Bill Look Like It Was Stolen From the Republican Playbook?
http://www.alternet.org/environment/140483/why_does_the_much-touted_climate_bill_look_like_it_was_stolen_from_the_republican_playbook/
AlterNet: "Command and control" is a military term the Republicans long ago appropriated to caricature and condemn Democratic programs. Republicans like to contrast the Democrats' embrace of a command and control, regulation-based you-will-do-as-I-say-or-else strategy with their own, presumably, more effective market-based we-will-make-it-worthwhile-for-you-to-do-what-we-want approach. Nowhere is the phrase "command and control" used more often and with more passion than when Republicans attack ...
Mon, 8 Jun 09
California's Water Woes Threaten the Entire Country's Food Supply
http://www.alternet.org/environment/140487/california's_water_woes_threaten_the_entire_country's_food_supply/
AlterNet: What a difference an administration makes. Samuel Bodman, the previous secretary of energy under the Bush administration, spent his short term stumping for nuclear power plant construction, polluting the hell out of the Earth, profiting off global warming and trying to significantly downplay America's singular role in greenhouse-gas emissions. The new one? Well, he's a doom prophet with a Ph.D. "I don't think the American public has gripped in its gut what could happen. We're ...
Mon, 8 Jun 09
Studies predict rapid rise in sea levels along US East Coast
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/05/AR2009060501342.html
Washington Post: Sea levels could rise faster along the U.S. East Coast than in any other densely populated part of the world, new research shows, as changes in ice caps and ocean currents push water toward a shoreline inlaid with cities, resort boardwalks and gem-rare habitats. Three studies this year, including one out last week, have made newly worrisome forecasts about life along the Atlantic over the next century. While the rest of the world might see seven to 23 inches of sea-level rise by 2100, ...
Mon, 8 Jun 09
21st-century Noah's Ark needed to save coral reefs from extinction
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article6439553.ece
Times (UK): The year is 2050, and the few remaining coral reefs are thriving. The tourists who flock to admire their vibrant seascapes and their clouds of multicoloured fish need no boat or dive gear, however. The world's only surviving coral ecosystems are contained in enormous aquaria where conditions can be carefully regulated. Out in the ocean itself, a collision of unconstrained human impacts have reduced reefs to grey rubble. This is the nightmare scenario envisioned by marine ...
Mon, 8 Jun 09
Follow US, defer vote on climate change, say Liberals
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25594820-11949,00.html
Australian: CLAIMS by the US that its likely failure to finalise climate change legislation before December will not jeopardise the crucial Copenhagen talks have been seized on by the federal Opposition as evidence that Australia does not need to rush its laws through by the end of the year. Climate Change Minister Penny Wong countered by saying the Opposition was again looking for excuses to delay action on climate change. The US legislation still needs to go through a lengthy process, ...
Mon, 8 Jun 09
Australia: Climate change laws through lower house
http://www.smh.com.au/environment/global-warming/climate-change-laws-through-lower-house-20090604-bwnm.html
AAP: The Rudd Government's contentious and complex scheme to cut carbon emissions and curb climate change has passed the lower house of Parliament. But it is unlikely to get through the Senate, where the Opposition will again move to defer the suite of legislation. Towards the end of a marathon debate today, the Government defeated an Opposition amendment that would have deferred the measures until next year. The Opposition believes Australia should wait until December's ...
Mon, 8 Jun 09
Clean energy depends on wider economy growth
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE55428020090605?sp=true
Reuters: Clean energy has strong guaranteed government backing in long-term subsidies but its future growth hinges on wider economic recovery and European targets are in doubt, senior energy executives told Reuters Energy Summit. The big picture for renewables is a sector which may emerge from recession as fast or faster than the wider economy, because government support is often in the form of guaranteed long-term price support. But capital-intensive projects, such as new ...
Mon, 8 Jun 09
Poor nations need $142 billion a year in climate fight: EU
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE55425020090605
Reuters: Poor countries will need to be given about 100 billion euros ($142 billion) a year by 2020 to help them cut emissions in the fight against climate change, a draft report for European Union finance ministers shows. The report, obtained by Reuters, comes after the EU laid out plans to hold competitive tenders for the funding from richer countries, during which poor nations would present their most cost-effective projects for cutting carbon emissions. Both documents reveal an EU ...
Mon, 8 Jun 09
Experts plumb cap-and-trade bill in search of bottom line
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=129509
Greenwire: Looking for a price tag on the massive House climate and energy bill? Good luck. Conflicting financial analyses abound. Some predict the measure will bring financial ruin, others say it will actually save money for most Americans. Economists estimate costs using mathematical models. But in trying to predict the future, they struggle to account for variables -- such as how rapidly technology advances, how fast the economy grows, or how quickly consumers install more efficient ...
Mon, 8 Jun 09
U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu: U.S. should adopt Netherlands-like policies for flood control
http://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2009/06/us_sen_mary_landrieu_us_should.html
Times-Picayune: The Times-PicayuneThe Dutch work and play in the canals that run through Amsterdam, demonstrating the close link the Dutch have to the waters that both nurture and threaten them. The U.S. must adopt Netherlands-like policies that treat water as a beneficial resource and not simply as a flood risk, even in coastal areas threatened by hurricanes, U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., said Friday. Briefing reporters by telephone about her four-day tour of the Dutch countryside last ...
Mon, 8 Jun 09
Tribal representatives speak out about UN forest proposal
http://www.loe.org/shows/segments.htm?programID=09-P13-00023&segmentID=3
Living on earth: GELLERMAN: It's Living on Earth, I'm Steve Curwood – and I'm Bruce Gellerman. GELLERMAN: REDD...spelled R-E-D-D .... is the new green. REDD stands for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation. It's a UN proposal to mitigate climate change by preserving the world's tropical forests. CURWOOD: Tropical trees store vast amounts of carbon - but each year wide swaths of forests are cut down or burned, releasing more greenhouse gases into the environment than all ...
Mon, 8 Jun 09
Carbon storage may not be quick solution
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/feedarticle/8543965
Reuters: Capturing and storing carbon underground, a key component of U.S. President Barack Obama's plan to limit carbon dioxide emissions, is unlikely to be a quick-fix for power producers and manufacturers, energy industry officials said this week. A host of technical, legal, and operational obstacles must be overcome before the heat-trapping gas blamed for global warming can be economically captured and safely sequestered deep underground, energy executives told the Reuters Global Energy ...
Mon, 8 Jun 09
Nurturing forests, peatlands will attack global warming: UNEP
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jvwfHUpvUbpel-OjWx0X1tif0-ww
Agence France-Presse: Fixing deforestation, preserving peatlands and ending reckless agricultural methods could be a major weapon in tackling climate change, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) said on Friday. Biological systems, if responsibly managed, can absorb billions of tonnes of the dangerous carbon gases that fuel the greenhouse effect, the agency said in a report coinciding with World Environment Day. Trees and plants suck in carbon dioxide (CO2), the principal greenhouse gas, through ...
Mon, 8 Jun 09
China: Emissions targets set for government schemes
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/world/2009green/2009-06/06/content_8256019.htm
China Daily: China will put in place carbon dioxide emissions targets for its economic and social development programs, the central government has promised. The change marks a new phase in China's pledge to tackle climate change and global warming with the international community. It also signals that China may be considering national goals for carbon dioxide levels when it maps its 12th five-year national development plan (2011-15). The central government unveiled the change at ...
Mon, 8 Jun 09
China continues efforts to address climate change
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-06/05/content_11496110.htm
Xinhua: China will continue its massive elimination of backward industrial facilities in 2009 to save energy and cut pollution in its bid to address climate change, the government said Friday. China aims to close down small coal-burning power stations with a total generating capacity of 15 million kilowatts, according to an action plan approved by a joint meeting of the national steering committee for responses to climate changes and the State Council steering committee for energy-saving and ...
Mon, 8 Jun 09
Japan: Mitsubishi rolls out zero-emission electric minicar
http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-technology/mitsubishi-rolls-out-zeroemission-electric-minicar-20090606-byr3.html
Agence France-Presse: Japan's Mitsubishi Motors Corp. rolled out its first zero-emission electric minicar Friday, hoping to capture a slice of the fast-growing market for environmentally friendly vehicles. The new "i-MiEV" -- short for Mitsubishi Innovative Electric Vehicle -- can seat four adults, emits no carbon dioxide and has a range of up to 160 kilometers (100 miles) on a fully-charged battery. The distance should be enough for day-to-day city driving in Japan, said company president Osamu ...
Mon, 8 Jun 09
United States: Study: Climate change could cause $12 billion in damage in the Houston/Galveston area
http://houston.bizjournals.com/houston/stories/2009/06/01/daily51.html?s=
Houston Business Journal: A new study suggests more than 100,000 households will be displaced and more than $12 billion infrastructure losses suffered as a result of climate change raising the sea level in the Galveston area over the next 100 years. The finding comes three days after a Texas A&M University study found that Corpus Christi's infrastructure will also be affected by climate change. "The Socio-Economic Impact of Sea Level Rise in the Galveston Bay Region,' commissioned by the ...
Mon, 8 Jun 09
Fatal Clashes Erupt in Peru at Roadblock
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=129492
New York Times: Clashes between indigenous protesters and security forces on a remote jungle highway in northern Peru left more than a dozen dead on Friday, including 11 police officers, heightening tension over intensifying protests by indigenous groups over plans to open vast tracts of rain forest to oil drilling, logging and hydroelectric dams. Initial accounts of the clashes varied. Indigenous leaders here said the killings unfolded early on Friday after the police fired from helicopters on ...
Sun, 7 Jun 09
Tribes keep Peru police hostage after Amazon fights
http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSN051571
Reuters: Hundreds of indigenous protesters were holding 38 police hostage early on Saturday in Peru's Amazon jungle after fights between tribes and police killed up to 33 people in the worst violence of President Alan Garcia's government. Demonstrators also were threatening to set fire to an oil pumping station of state-owned Petroperu unless the government told police to halt efforts to clear weeks of blockades of roads and rivers that have hurt food and fuel supplies. Tribes, worried ...
Sun, 7 Jun 09
United States: 'Smart' Process Could Boost Economics Of Biofuel Production
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1701174/smart_process_could_boost_economics_of_biofuel_production/index.html?source=r_science
redOrbit: Researchers at the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory believe they've identified a simpler way to generate biofuels – a one-step process to convert cellulose found in plant material and other biomass into a chemical that can serve as a precursor to make fuels and plastics. A simpler process means scientists can provide alternatives to economists and investors who are looking to make smart decisions about biofuel production as fossil fuel resources become more ...
Sun, 7 Jun 09
House farm panel sets hearing on U.S. climate bill
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE5546T520090605?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: The House Agriculture Committee scheduled a meeting next week to review a climate-change bill the committee leadership has criticized . A priority of House Democratic leaders, the bill would set a target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 17 percent by 2020. House leaders aim for a floor vote on the bill later in June or in July. The Agriculture Committee was to examine the climate bill on Thursday. No date was set to consider possible amendments. Some of the elements of ...
Sun, 7 Jun 09
Mexico promises CO2 cuts, activists urge consistency
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090606/sc_afp/mexicoenvironmentclimateun
Agence France-Presse: President Felipe Calderon has promised to dramatically reduce Mexico's carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions as activists slammed the government for inconsistent energy policies. "Mexico promises to reduce emissions of 50 million tonnes of carbon dioxide per year starting now," Calderon told foreign ambassadors, activists and scientists gathered in the steamy ecopark of Xcaret on the Yucatan Peninsula to mark World Environment Day. Calderon, president of one of the world's most ...
Sun, 7 Jun 09
Bolster Natural Carbon Absorption, Says UN
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47118
Inter Press Service: Expanding the capacity of natural areas for capturing and storing carbon is one of the keys to curbing climate change, and would be a relatively low-cost solution that would also improve the quality of life of millions of farmers, the United Nations said Friday. More attention must be paid to natural carbon absorption, along with cutting greenhouse gases caused by humans, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) stated in a report released to coincide with World Environment ...
Sun, 7 Jun 09
U.S.-China Deal Crucial for New Climate Treaty
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47116
Inter Press Service: Cooperation between the U.S. and China was at the forefront of discussions this week in Washington at two events focusing on the possibilities of a bilateral relationship between the two countries on cutting emissions. Next week, U.S. officials will travel to China to boost cooperation on climate change. The delegation includes Department of State special envoy for climate change Todd Stern, White House science adviser John Holdren, and assistant energy secretary David ...
Sun, 7 Jun 09
Newspapers must stop taking advertising from environmental villains
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/georgemonbiot/2009/jun/05/climate-change-corporatesocialresponsibility
Guardian: I've just come out of an interesting debate with Alan Rusbridger, the editor of the Guardian, Adam Freeman, the director of the Guardian's commercial department, and Dan Burgess from the communications company Naked. We were meant to be discussing the role advertising can play in "building a more sustainable future". Of course, what we were really talking about was the extent to which newspapers should restrict the advertisements they carry. You'll be able to watch the debate ...
Sun, 7 Jun 09
Twilight of the Fossil Fuel Era?
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47108
Inter Press Service: The world has turned a green corner toward a more sustainable future, with investments in clean energy outpacing fossil fuel power generation for the first time. Despite the global economic crisis, a record 155 billion dollars was invested in clean energy companies and projects worldwide last year, mainly in wind and solar, according to a new report from the U.N. Environment Programme (UNEP). More remarkably, that investment in clean energy topped 2007's record investments by ...
Sun, 7 Jun 09
Canada: Carbon capture no 'silver bullet'
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/carbon-capture-no-silver-bullet/article1170007/
Globe and Mail: The much-touted carbon capture and storage technology is not the answer to reducing greenhouse gas emissions from oil sands projects in northeastern Alberta, Environment Minister Jim Prentice says. While Ottawa and Alberta are spending billions of dollars on CCS demonstration projects, the minister yesterday acknowledged what critics have said all along: The technology has limited application at the energy-intensive mines and in situ projects that extract the bitumen from the ...
Sun, 7 Jun 09
Greening the herds - trying to limit cows' 'emissions'
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=129398
New York Times: Chewing her cud on a recent sunny morning, Libby, a 1,400-pound Holstein, paused to do her part in the battle against global warming, emitting a fragrant burp. Libby, age 6, and the 74 other dairy cows on Guy Choiniere's farm here are at the heart of an experiment to determine whether a change in diet will help them belch less methane, a potent heat-trapping gas that has been linked to climate change. Since January, cows at 15 farms across Vermont have had their grain feed ...
Sun, 7 Jun 09
High-stakes quest for permission to pollute
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/04/AR2009060404435.html
Washington Post: During the final days of the drafting of a 946-page climate bill, Rep. Gene Green (D-Tex.) won support for an amendment that deleted a single word and inserted two others. The words could be worth millions of dollars to U.S. oil refiners. The Green amendment deleted the word "sources" and inserted "emission points." In the arcane world of climate legislation, that tiny bit of editing might one day give petroleum refiners valuable rights to emit carbon dioxide when it otherwise might ...
Sun, 7 Jun 09
Toyota says hybrids will be the best 'green' car for some time
http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/2009-06-04-toyota-prius_N.htm
Associated Press: A Toyota executive said Thursday a battery breakthrough is needed for electric vehicles to become mainstream, and hybrids will remain the best "green" car choice for some time. His comments came just hours after the Japan Automobile Dealers Association said Toyota's Prius hybrid was the No. 1 selling vehicle in Japan for May, clinching the top spot for the first time -- even though the latest model had been on sale for only half the month. Toyota Executive Vice President ...
Sun, 7 Jun 09
Wyoming wind power boom could drive sage grouse to endangered list
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=129392
Greenwire: Development of wind energy and sage grouse protection are on a collision course in Wyoming, where state officials are worried that a future Endangered Species Act listing for the chicken-like bird could ruin the golden egg laid by the Obama administration's renewable energy mandates. Should the Fish and Wildlife Service determine that the greater sage grouse is imperiled and warrants federal protection, Wyoming leaders say, the state will be forced to adopt broad conservation efforts ...
Sun, 7 Jun 09
Study: Climate change altering lake levels
http://www.mlive.com/news/muskegon/index.ssf/2009/06/study_climate_change_altering.html
Muskegon Chronicle: A new study blames a post-1998 plunge in upper Great Lakes water levels on changing climate patterns -- not a manmade "drain hole" sucking lake water out the St. Clair River. So there's no need to plug the leak ... for now. But global warming might make a St. Clair fix necessary in the future. Those are the preliminary conclusions of a draft report published recently as part of a massive study of Great Lakes water levels. West Michigan residents will have a chance to ...
Sun, 7 Jun 09
Study finds forest conservation in Indonesia could be as profitable as palm oil plantations
http://www.latimes.com/business/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-as-palm-oil-versus-conservation,0,6065382.story
LA Times: Selling credits for the billions of tons of carbon that are locked in Indonesia's tropical rain forests could be as profitable as converting these areas into palm oil plantations, a study released Friday found. The study, in the current issue of the peer-reviewed journal Conservation Letters, also found that conserving the 3.3 million hectares (8.2 million acres) that are slated to become plantations on Kalimantan, on the island of Borneo, would boost the region's biodiversity. The ...
Sun, 7 Jun 09
United Arab Emirates: Impact of climate change on region 'will be disastrous'
http://www.gulfnews.com/nation/Environment/10319852.html
Gulf News: Millions are commemorating World Environment Day around the world on Friday, with the common goal of standing united against climate change. Established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1972, the day is marked in over 100 countries with thousands of events bound by a common theme. This year's theme is "Your Planet needs You! Unite to combat climate change". It is a topic that reflects individual responsibility to protect the planet and comes with a strong call for ...
Sun, 7 Jun 09
Automakers still have faith hydrogen fuel-cell cars are zero-emission future
http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5jvrrBZ3Y4O8u2EQ5OM2HHt5ohR-w
Canadian Press: The shine went off hydrogen fuel-cell cars well before the auto industry drove off a cliff last year, but that doesn't mean carmakers have abandoned the zero-emission technology. In the 1990s, proponents predicted consumers could be driving fuel-cell vehicles as early as next year. But they underestimated the obstacles in the way of producing a reliable, affordable car with the kind of range and drivability motorists now take for granted. The U.S. government, facing a ...
Sun, 7 Jun 09
Ecuador: The Amazon vs. Big Oil: Chevron Faces Largest Damage Claim Ever Against the Industry
http://www.alternet.org/environment/140409/the_amazon_vs._big_oil:_chevron_faces_largest_damage_claim_ever_against_the_industry/
Christian Science Monitor: For over a decade, Judid Angamarca lived in a wooden shack on stilts next to an old waste pit, where for years oil sludge from drilling was dumped. The patch of land, the size of a tennis court, was cleaned and covered with earth in 1996. But it stubbornly refused to produce anything she tried to grow. Her three children played in the grass as babies; her animals roamed around, too. The residents living in and around San Carlos have long lived among the wells, pipes, and waste pits ...
Fri, 5 Jun 09
Climate change to raise a $340 bn bill
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/ET-Cetera/Climate-change-to-raise-a-340-bn-bill/articleshow/4618812.cms
Economic Times: About 300,000 people, more than the death toll for an Indian Ocean tsunami, die from climate-related changes annually. The world"s poorest nations face an economic cost of $125 billion, more than the total amount of world aid from rich to developing nations, and 325 million people are hit, says a damning report that called for global governments to scale up multilateral funding for developing countries to adapt to climate change a 100 times. Multilateral funds for adaptation to clean ...
Fri, 5 Jun 09
BLM denies request to boost bond for oil company
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090605/ap_on_bi_ge/us_saltwater_spill_bond
Associated Press: The federal government has rejected an environmental group's request to boost the bond required of an Oklahoma company after a pipeline spilled nearly 1 million gallons of saltwater into a creek in northwestern North Dakota. Saltwater that spewed from the ruptured pipeline near Alexander and was discovered in early January 2006 has been described as the worst environmental disaster in North Dakota's oil history. Lonny Bagley, the field manager for the Bureau of Land Management ...
Fri, 5 Jun 09
Invest in trees and soil, not just cleaner coal: U.N
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE55406O20090605?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Chopping down fewer trees and caring for the soil may be cheaper and more effective in fighting climate change than curbing emissions from coal plants, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) said on Friday. Many energy companies and analysts say the world should invest in technology which traps carbon emissions from the flue gas of coal plants and then buries it underground. But the technology is untested. And according to a UNEP report, there are better natural ways ...
Fri, 5 Jun 09
No Climate Change Fix Without New Land Use, Farming Policies
http://www.greenbiz.com/news/2009/06/04/climate-change-fix-needs-land-use-ag-policies
ClimateBiz: The world cannot effectively address climate change without altering our relationship with soil, the world's third largest carbon pool, according to a new report. Changing the way we manage land and produce food can offset 25 percent of worldwide fossil fuel emissions, putting agriculture and land use near the center of the climate change fight, a report from Worldwatch Institute and Ecoagriculture Partners concluded. "Mitigating Climate Change Through Food and Land Use" ...
Fri, 5 Jun 09
US sales stall, but Prius is still big in Japan
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2243569/sales-stall-prius-big-japan
Business Green: Toyota's iconic Prius, beloved by environmentalists and right-on movie stars, saw its mainstream status well and truly cemented this week following reports from one dealer group that it was the best-selling car in Japan during May. The figures show that Japan's attempts to kick-start its flagging economy and car industry may be working -- for Toyota at least -- with the Prius topping sales charts from the Japan Automobile Dealers Association, having sold about 10,915 cars in ...
Fri, 5 Jun 09
US climate change legislation hits the fast track
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2243568/climate-change-legislation-hits
Business Green: President Barack Obama might be keen for US drivers to take their pedal off the metal to curb carbon emissions, but when it comes to passing his climate change legislation the only option appears to be fast and furious. According to Reuters reports, Democratic leaders in the US House of Representatives are fast-tracking US climate change legislation with a view to getting the American Energy and Security Act (ACES) passed through the House by the end of June or possibly ...
Fri, 5 Jun 09
Wind turbines on public sector land could power 1.5 million homes
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/5445929/Wind-turbines-on-public-sector-land-could-power-1.5-million-homes.html
Telegraph: On World Environment Day (5th June), the Environment Agency are calling on the Government to use the one million hectares of land and tens of thousands of buildings owned by public sector organisations to generate more renewable electricity. At the moment less than 0.1 per cent of the total amount of renewable energy which the UK is capable of producing comes from renewable energy projects on publicly owned property like Ministry of Defence land, schools, hospitals and public ...
Fri, 5 Jun 09
China Challenge: How Can U.S., China Tackle Climate Change?
http://blogs.wsj.com/environmentalcapital/2009/06/04/china-challenge-how-can-us-china-tackle-climate-change/
Wall Street Journal: There's a new parlor game in Washington these days: Trying to figure out how the U.S. and China can work together to tackle climate change. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee hosted the latest round today, as resident China optimist John Kerry called in a slate of heavyweights to explain just how important it is to get China on board and just how difficult that is going to be. The testimony--from the Carnegie Institute's Bill Chandler, the Council on Foreign Relations' ...
Fri, 5 Jun 09
Billionaire Slim launches $100 mln Mexico green project
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090604/en_afp/mexicoenvironmentinvest
Agence France-Presse: Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim, one of the world's richest men, on Thursday launched a joint 100 million dollar project to protect Mexico's environment with the government and the World Wildlife Fund. "I believe that looking after the environment will be one of the big generators of jobs in the future," Slim said on a beach on Mexico's Caribbean island of Cozumel at the launch of the alliance. "Whether there's a crisis or not, the cost of looking after the environment and ...
Fri, 5 Jun 09
Climate Change Pros: Male, Well Paid and Secure
http://www.reuters.com/article/gwmEnergy/idUS164148228320090603
GreenBiz: Professionals in climate change-related fields are more likely to be male, highly educated, well paid and not worried about losing their jobs, according to a new survey. The results of the inaugural Carbon Salary Survey offer a glimpse of the demographic make-up of this burgeoning sector that is poised to explode and reap the benefits of future U.S. climate change regulations and a new international climate change treaty. The survey, conducted by recruiting firm Acre Resources ...
Fri, 5 Jun 09
What Is Killing Chile's Coastal Wildlife?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20090604/wl_time/08599190288500
Time Magazine: First, in late March the bodies of about 1,200 penguins were found on a remote beach in southern Chile. Next came the sardines - millions of them - washed up dead on a nearby stretch of coastline in April, causing a stench so noxious that nearby schools were closed and the army was called in to shovel piles of rotting fish off the sand. Then it was the turn of the rare Andean flamingos. Over the course of approximately three months, thousands of them abandoned their nests on a salt lake in ...
Fri, 5 Jun 09
Slide Show: The World's 10 Largest Renewable Energy Projects
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=10-largest-renewable-energy-projects
Scientific American: Today, renewable energy sources generate 12 percent of electricity in the U.S. But wind, wave, sunshine and others represent more than 93 percent of the energy the country could be producing, according to the Energy Information Administration of the U.S. Department of Energy. If renewable energy is going to be a bigger player and have a significant impact in cutting the greenhouse gas emissions from power plants that are driving climate change, it's going to have to grow quickly. ...
Fri, 5 Jun 09
U.S. lawmakers seek more nuclear power in bill
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE5536TW20090604?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: U.S. lawmakers on Thursday sought to increase incentives for nuclear power and energy efficiency in a measure that would require utilities to generate a certain amount of electricity from renewable sources. Nuclear power is not currently considered a renewable electricity source in the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee bill. Under the bill, a percentage of utilities' total power production would have to be dedicated to renewables. The committee adopted an amendment ...
Fri, 5 Jun 09
Environmentalists plan suit to protect ice seals
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090604/ap_on_re_us/us_ice_seals
Associated Press: An environmental group plans to sue the federal government to force a decision on additional protections for Arctic seals. The Center for Biological Diversity said in a notice of intent to sue sent this week to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that it missed a deadline required by law for an endangered species listing decision on ringed, bearded and spotted seals. A 60-day notification letter is required before a lawsuit can be filed against the federal ...
Fri, 5 Jun 09
Companies Show Little Awareness of Climate Change Risks, Report Finds
http://www.reuters.com/article/gwmCarbonEmissions/idUS36157675220090603
GreenBiz: Two new studies from investor group Ceres, the Environmental Defense Fund and the Center for Energy and Environmental Security assess the major impacts climate change could have on global companies, and calls on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to set standards for climate-related risk reporting. The two new studies, one an in-depth look filings from 100 global companies in 2008, and another a longitudinal look S&P 500 companies' reports over the past 13 years, detail ...
Fri, 5 Jun 09
Indonesia: Modest carbon price could save Borneo forests: study
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE5537LF20090604?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Tropical forests in Borneo under threat of conversion to palm oil plantations could be more profitable left standing if carbon credits were priced between $10 and $33 per tonne, a study has found. Forests soak up vast amounts of planet-warming carbon dioxide each year and are crucial in the fight to curb climate change. Many governments and scientists want to put a price on the carbon locked away in forests as an incentive to curb deforestation, which contributes nearly a fifth ...
Fri, 5 Jun 09
U.S. tells California to cut water use to save fish
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE5537W020090604?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Californians' thirst for water has pushed salmon and other fish to the brink of extinction, a federal agency ruled on Thursday as it directed officials to cut water supplies to cities and farms to save several species. California's rivers used to brim with trout, salmon, sturgeon and more, but the federal, state and local governments built a monumental system of dams and pipelines in the most populous that turned a desert into productive farmland and left some rivers dry. The ...
Fri, 5 Jun 09
Climate change work 'a game-changer': Pelosi
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jwwv3b5ExB5yPch1VNjcRNgPdI7w
Agence France-Presse: US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday that the initial progress Congress has made on a climate change bill was a "game-changer" in her recent talks in China ahead of a major UN conference. "Frankly, it was a game-changer for us in our discussions in China, that the US was ready to do something very substantial, and that, therefore, it was important for China to do so, as well," Pelosi told reporters. Pelosi's visit to China last week came after the House Energy and ...
Fri, 5 Jun 09
REDD can compete financially with palm oil in Indonesia peatlands while protecting endangered species
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0604-venter_redd_palm_oil.html
Mongabay: A new paper by Oscar Venter, a PhD student at the University of Queensland, and colleagues finds that forest conservation via REDD -- a proposed mechanism for compensating developing countries for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation -- could be economically competitive with oil palm production, a dominant driver of deforestation in Indonesia. The study is published online in the journal Conservation Letters. The study, based on overlaying maps of proposed oil palm ...
Fri, 5 Jun 09
Obama seeks US-Chinese deal on global warming
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jun/04/climate-change-obama-china
Guardian: The Obama administration said yesterday that it was pursuing a joint US-Chinese deal on action against global warming to help push the rest of the world towards a global agreement on cutting greenhouse gas emissions. Todd Stern, the US climate change envoy, said a deal between the two countries – the world's largest polluters – would boost efforts to secure a crucial accord to avoid dangerous climate change. Those UN talks are just six months away. "China may not be the alpha ...
Fri, 5 Jun 09
Gore says carbon capture boom unlikely across China
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE5535WG20090604?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: A carbon capture boom is unlikely near term in China, the world's top greenhouse gas polluter, because its coal-burning plants are inefficient, said global warming activist Al Gore. "I'm not saying it's technologically impossible, but a lot of the coal plants in China are old technology. They are thermally inefficient ... and they have to use a lot of energy to capture and store the CO2," former U.S. Vice President Gore told a panel at the Cornell Global Forum on Sustainable ...
Fri, 5 Jun 09
Burning fossil fuels is disrupting nitrogen cycle
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0604-hance_nitrogen.html
Mongabay: The burning of fossil fuels has disrupted the nitrogen cycle by altering that amount of nitrogen in the biosphere, according to scientists from Brown University and the University of Washington. It has long been known that fossil fuel combustion releases nitric oxides into the air--which combine with other elements to form both smog and acid rain--but until now scientists have been unsure as to the extent nitric oxide emissions have affected the natural nitrogen cycle. In a study ...
Fri, 5 Jun 09
Changing climate likely to make 'super weed' even more powerful
http://www.physorg.com/news163250124.html
Physorg: Researchers at the University of Delaware have discovered a new reason why the tall, tasseled reed Phragmites australis is one of the most invasive plants in the United States. The UD research team found that Phragmites delivers a one-two chemical knock-out punch to snuff out its victims, and the poison becomes even more toxic in the presence of the sun's ultraviolet rays. The study, which is published in the June issue of the scientific journal Plant Signaling & Behavior, is ...
Fri, 5 Jun 09
Green energy investments top carbon fuels: UN
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/18/20090603/tsc-green-energy-investments-top-carbon-e123fef.html
Agence France-Presse: Global investments in renewable energy overtook those in carbon-based fuels for the first time in 2008, attracting a record 155 billion dollars, a UN report said Wednesday. Skip related content Of that sum, 36 billion dollars was invested in producing clean energy in emerging economies such as China, a increase of 27 percent compared to 2007. And 105 billion dollars was spent directly developing power generating capacity from wind, solar, small-hydro, biomass and geothermal ...
Fri, 5 Jun 09
Bioenergy Makes Heavy Demands On Scarce Water Supplies
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090603091737.htm
ScienceDaily: The 'water footprint' of bioenergy, i.e. the amount of water required to cultivate crops for biomass, is much greater than for other forms of energy. The generation of bioelectricity is significantly more water-efficient in the end, however -- by a factor of two -- than the production of biofuel. By establishing the water footprint for thirteen crops, researchers at the University of Twente were able to make an informed choice of a specific crop and production region. They published their ...
Fri, 5 Jun 09
Australia: Stock being moved as drought continues: Mayor
http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/latest/5627350/stock-being-moved-as-drought-continues-mayor/
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: A south-west Queensland Mayor says graziers in his region are being forced to move stock off properties because of continuing drought conditions. Bulloo Mayor John Ferguson says the region west of Thargomindah has missed out on recent relief rain. He says the shire has been in drought for eight years and governments need to recognise the prolonged dry is far from over. "You only have to go 200 kilometres east of us and it's a reasonable season," he said. "But go ...
Fri, 5 Jun 09
Foreigners swept aside as wind power blows through China
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE5532PS20090604?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: The world's biggest wind farm, China's Rudong, is unlikely to blow any business the way of foreign turbine manufacturers such as Vestas, Gamesa and Suzlon, according to local officials. Those foreign companies complain that despite jumping through hoops to meet "localization" rules requiring 70 percent of their equipment to be sourced and built domestically, they are still unable to win orders from state projects like Rudong, which form the bulk of China's ambitious wind build-up over ...
Fri, 5 Jun 09
Australia carbon trade laws pass lower house
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE5532S220090604?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Australia's controversial carbon emissions trading laws passed their first parliamentary hurdle on Thursday but the government still faces a near-impossible task to win approval for the scheme in the upper house Senate. The scheme aims to cover 75 percent of the nation's carbon emissions from 1,000 of the biggest polluters from June 2011, with companies needing a permit for every ton of carbon pollution they produce. Center-left Prime Minister Kevin Rudd wants parliament to ...
Fri, 5 Jun 09
United Kingdom: Solar giants predict grid parity in five years
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2243526/solar-giants-predict-grid
Business Green: Just days after a new study suggested solar panel prices will fall by more than a quarter this year, top execs at two of the world's largest solar manufacturers have this week predicted the sector will be able to compete on price with conventional power sources within five years. Speaking as part of this week's Reuters Global Energy Summit, Steven Chan, chief strategy officer at Suntech Power, told the news agency that he expected silicon costs per watt to halve over the next five ...
Fri, 5 Jun 09
EU eyes airlines and shipping for climate funding
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE55348T20090604?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Shipping and airlines could be tapped for money to help poor nations tackle and adapt to climate change, according to draft proposals to be presented to European finance ministers on Tuesday. Greenhouse gas emissions from the two sectors are expected to be addressed at a United Nations meeting in Copenhagen in December to find a new global deal on fighting climate change. The key issue in Copenhagen will be finding the finance needed to persuade developing nations to cut their ...
Fri, 5 Jun 09
UN urges focus on security implications of climate change
http://www.terradaily.com/2007/090603185229.ycc3obp8.html
Agence France-Presse: The UN General Assembly on Wednesday approved by consensus a resolution which for the first time turned the spotlight on the possible security implications of the adverse impact of climate change. The text, sponsored by 63 member states, calls on relevant UN bodies "to intensify their efforts in considering and addressing climate change, including its possible security implications." It directs UN chief Ban Ki-moon to submit a comprehensive report to the 192-member General ...
Fri, 5 Jun 09
Cultivation changed monsoon in Asia
http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/44282/title/Cultivation_changed_monsoon_in_Asia
ScienceNews: The dramatic expansion of agriculture in India and southeastern China during the 18th century -- a sprawl that took place at the expense of forests -- triggered a substantial drop in precipitation in those regions, a new study suggests. Winds that blow northeast from the Indian Ocean into southern Asia each summer bring abundant rain to an area that's home to more than half the world's population. But those seasonal winds, known as monsoons, brought about 20 percent less rainfall each ...
Fri, 5 Jun 09
Lawmakers seek broader U.S. biomass-for-biofuel list
http://www.reuters.com/article/GCA-GreenBusiness/idUSTRE5527E520090603
Reuters: Farm-state lawmakers on Wednesday asked the Obama administration to back a broader definition of biomass for use in renewable fuels, an issue entangled with congressional action on climate change. Some lawmakers from rural districts say they will not support the climate bill without a more favorable treatment of biofuels, such as an expansive definition of biomass. The climate bill is a top priority for House Democratic leaders. During a House Agriculture subcommittee hearing, ...
Fri, 5 Jun 09
Arranging a slow farewell to a coastal wildlife refuge
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=129306
ClimateWire: A century from now, rising sea levels will have overwhelmed the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge, which juts from North Carolina's mainland like a beckoning finger, shielded from the raw ocean by a sliver of barrier beaches known as the Outer Banks. To Dennis Stewart, the increasing impact of climate change on this fragile piece of land is a fact of life. The refuge's soft-spoken biologist of nearly three decades knows it is beyond his ability to sway matters. He has a ...
Fri, 5 Jun 09
Climate change has a deadly harvest
http://www.newera.com.na/article.php?articleid=4693
New Era: More than 300 000 people are killed due to climate change every year, a new report on the human impact of climate change has said. The findings also indicate that climate change affects 325 million people seriously and also results in losses of US$125 billion to the global economy. In addition, four billion people are left vulnerable with 500 million others at extreme risk. These figures represent averages based on projected trends over many years and carry a significant margin ...
Fri, 5 Jun 09
Russia: Researchers drill Siberian Lake to study history of climate change
http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2009/06/umass_researchers_hope_siberia.html?category=Amherst&category=Education
Republican: An international team of scientists is hoping that a core - nearly a fifth of a mile long - drilled out of the bed of an ancient Siberian lake will provide a unique history of climate change over more than 3 million years. The team, which included researchers from University of Massachusetts here, as well as German, Russian and Austrian scientists, returned this month from the six-month drilling expedition to Siberia's Lake El'gygytgyn, "Lake E" for short. It formed 3.6 million years ...
Fri, 5 Jun 09
US role in new climate treaty hinges on China
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jkbeAj3yojTN0AEWQq_dkP1_e1zgD98JDSSG0
Associated Press: The United States is not likely to enter into a new international treaty to reduce the emissions blamed for global warming without China and other major greenhouse-gas emitters on board, the Obama administration's chief climate negotiator said Wednesday. U.S. climate envoy Todd Stern told reporters in a conference call that China and other major developing countries are critical to making any international agreement work, and there is not going to be a new treaty to curb greenhouse ...
Fri, 5 Jun 09
Poor countries 'unable' to absorb climate funding, EU warned
http://www.euractiv.com/en/climate-change/poor-countries-unable-absorb-climate-funding-eu-warned/article-182812
EurActiv: While governments haggle over the amounts needed to finance climate adaptation in developing countries in order to close a global agreement later this year, concerns are being raised that the demand side of adaptation has been ignored. Background: The global community is in the midst of negotiations to strike a deal on a new climate treaty in Copenhagen in December (see EurActiv LinksDossier on 'The Road to Copenhagen'). The treaty is to replace the Kyoto Protocol, setting ...
Fri, 5 Jun 09
A poor refuge for climate change victims
http://bdnews24.com/details.php?id=86157&cid=2
bdnews24: Septuagenarian Nurussafa had eight acres of land at Khudiartek on Kutubdia island, as security in his old age, until the sea claimed it all. He used to raise animals and cultivate salt, but all his precious land now lies under the choppy waters plied by fishing trawlers and ships. Nurussafa has sought refuge at the sprawling shanty town named Kutubdia Para in Cox's Bazar, where around 30,000 people, mostly from the island, have landed in the past two decades after losing homes ...
Fri, 5 Jun 09
Toyota said to face $1 billion in costs for California rules
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601101&sid=aFDihC4ACj20&refer=japan
Bloomberg: Toyota Motor Corp., ranked as the U.S. market's most fuel-efficient automaker, may have to spend more than $1 billion to meet California's requirement for zero- emission cars, said a person familiar with the matter. Toyota and Honda Motor Co. have the biggest market share in the state and starting with 2012 models must sell the most vehicles that don't pollute, according to California law. The rule requires 3 percent of unit sales over a three-year period to be non-polluting ...
Fri, 5 Jun 09
Peatlands conversion for oil palm a 'monumental mistake' for Indonesia's long-term prosperity, sustainability
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0604-indonesia_peatlands.html
Mongabay: Indonesia's decision earlier this year to allow conversion of up to 2 million hectares of peatlands for oil palm plantations is "a monumental mistake" for the country's long-term economic prosperity and sustainability, argues an editorial published in the June issue of Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment. Lian Pin Koh of ETH Zurich, Corey J.A. Bradshaw of the University of Adelaide, and I cite five reasons why the move is a counterproductive one for Indonesia. First, ...
Fri, 5 Jun 09
Captured on camera: 50 years of climate change in the Himalayas
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jun/04/byers-himalaya-changing-landscapes
Guardian: When Fritz Müller and Erwin Schneider battled ice storms, altitude sickness and snow blindness in the 1950s to map, measure and photograph the Imja glacier in the Himalayas, they could never have foreseen that the gigantic tongue of millennia-old glacial ice would be reduced to a lake within 50 years. But half a century later, American mountain geographer Alton Byers returned to the precise locations of the original pictures and replicated 40 panoramas taken by explorers Müller and ...
Fri, 5 Jun 09
Calling Earth from the Air: world release of green movie 'Home'
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090604/ennew_afp/entertainmentfilmclimatewarming
Agence France-Presse: World Environment Day on Friday sees the worldwide release of a movie billed by producers as "the greatest green event ever", a high-budget documentary to save the planet from Yann Arthus-Bertrand. From New York's Central Park to the Champs de Mars by Paris' Eiffel Tower, the French photographer known for the "Earth From The Air" books and "Seen From The Air" on TV, is releasing the green-awareness movie "Home" in over 100 countries simultaneously. "More than a movie, Home will ...
Fri, 5 Jun 09
Mass. forms climate change advisory committee
http://www.masshightech.com/stories/2009/06/01/daily46-Mass-forms-climate-change-advisory-committee.html
Mass High Tech Business Talk: Massachusetts Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Ian Bowles announced that the agency has launched a new advisory committee to help the commonwealth develop strategies for adapting to environmental changes such as sea level rise, warming temperatures, increased incidence of flood and drought and other predicted effects of climate change. The Climate Change Adaptation Advisory Committee was created by the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2008 and comprises experts from business, ...
Fri, 5 Jun 09
Papua New Guinea: Forest carbon market already shows cracks
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE55302M20090604?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: It could save the rainforests of Borneo, slow climate change and the international community backs it. But a plan to pay tropical countries not to chop down trees risks being discredited by opportunists even before it starts. A forest carbon market is emerging in anticipation of a global, U.N. climate deal in December in Copenhagen, expected to allow rich countries to pay to protect rainforests as a cheap alternative to cutting their own greenhouse gases. Officials in Papua New ...
Fri, 5 Jun 09
US taps stimulus fund for more than $300m in clean tech investment
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2243499/taps-stimulus-fund-300m-clean
Business Green: The US Department of Energy (DoE) has this week once again opened up its stimulus funding war chest, announcing $256m (£155m) in fresh investment for energy-efficiency projects and a further $50m of funding for geothermal heat pump technologies. The energy-efficiency funding, which has been made available through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, will be targeted at projects designed to improve energy efficiency across heavy industries and the IT and communications ...
Fri, 5 Jun 09
United Kingdom: Student invents solar tower storage system
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2243498/student-invents-solar-tower
Business Green: An engineering student claims to have found a way to store solar energy -- the Holy Grail of solar technology. Claus Volkening, 23, of the University of Portsmouth, has designed and laboratory-tested a solar updraft tower that uses water storage tanks to solve the problem of existing solar power plants which only generate electricity when the sun shines. Existing solar updraft towers work by collecting heat energy from the sun and sending the warm air up through a tower which ...
Fri, 5 Jun 09
New Research Offers Clues On Origins Of Antarctic Ice Sheet
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1700068/new_research_offers_clues_on_origins_of_antarctic_ice_sheet/index.html?source=r_science
redOrbit: New research by scientists in Britain and China reveals evidence of how the East Antarctic ice sheet initially formed. The work provides a snapshot of terrain that has lain hidden miles beneath the ice for millions of years, when rivers ran through mountain valleys that were oddly similar to the modern European Alps. The scientists used radar to map an area of the Gamburtsev mountains believed to be where the ice originated. The region would have been cold enough to support the ...
Fri, 5 Jun 09
U.S. House puts climate bill on quick pace for passage
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE55276S20090603?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Democratic leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives have put major environmental legislation on a fast-track, boosting chances a climate change bill will pass this month or next, leading lawmakers said on Wednesday. On May 21, the House Energy and Commerce Committee approved a bill requiring reductions of industrial emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases of 17 percent by 2020 and 83 percent by 2050, from 2005 levels. The climate change bill, along with ...
Fri, 5 Jun 09
Mexico plants trees, loses forests: Greenpeace
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090603/sc_afp/mexicoenvironmentforests
Agence France-Presse: Mexico is failing to stop deforestation, despite planting millions of trees, Greenpeace said here Wednesday, two days before the country hosts the UN World Environment Day. Mexico is fifth in the world for species diversity, but also fifth in the world for deforestation, the lobby group said. "We call on the government of (President) Felipe Calderon to be coherent. It's not possible to extol Mexico as an example in defending the environment ... whilst systematically destroying ...
Fri, 5 Jun 09
Origin of Antarctic ice revealed
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8079767.stm
BBC: Incredible peaks and valleys, buried beneath ice for 14 million years, have revealed evidence of how the East Antarctic ice sheet first formed. Scientists used radar to map an area of the Gamburtsev mountains - believed to be the point of origin of the ice. The region would have been cold enough for the first glacier to form. Writing in the journal Nature, the researchers say their findings provide important clues about how the ice sheet will behave as our climate ...
Fri, 5 Jun 09
US climate envoy to seek commitment on China trip
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090603/sc_afp/uschinaclimatewarming
Agence France-Presse: The chief US climate negotiator said Wednesday he would go to China to press the rapidly growing economy to commit to hard numbers on emission reductions under the next treaty on global warming. In the midst of climate negotiations in Bonn, US climate envoy Todd Stern said he would head Saturday to Beijing in the belief that any future agreement must include strong action by China. Stern regretted that developing nations -- which say rich countries bear historical ...
Fri, 5 Jun 09
Best practice for biochar
http://www.nature.com/climate/2009/0906/full/climate.2009.53.html
Nature: With just six months left to go, all sectors are vying for a place at the table in Copenhagen, where negotiators will begin sketching what should eventually become an all-embracing climate deal. While some players are seeking assistance in adapting to the impacts of climate change (page 68), others are hoping to stake a claim in the emerging green economy (page 72). The prospects of the latter are bright for those involved in the nascent biochar industry, which plans to sequester vast ...
Fri, 5 Jun 09
160 Syrian villages deserted due to climate change: study
http://www.zawya.com/Story.cfm/sidANA20090602T111843ZHSA47/160%20Syrian%20Villages%20Deserted%20Due%20To%20Climate%20Change
Agence France-Presse: Some 160 villages in northern Syria were deserted of their residents in 2007 and 2008 because of climate change, according to a study released on Tuesday. The report drawn up by the International Institute for Sustainable Development warns of potential armed conflict for control of water resources in the Middle East. "The 2007/8 drought caused significant hardship in rural areas of Syria. In the northeast of the country, a reported 160 villages have been entirely abandoned and ...
Fri, 5 Jun 09
Britons turning off tumble driers over global warming concerns
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/5424819/Britons-turning-off-tumble-driers-over-global-warming-concerns.html
Daily Telegraph: An online poll of 2,127 adults carried out last month for the charity Christian Aid found nine out of 10 people, or 90 per cent, have taken steps to reduce carbon emissions. Three-quarters, or 75 per cent, of consumers have switched to energy efficient light bulbs and 70 per cent do not leave electrical items on standby, the survey found. More than half, or 57 per cent, no longer heat rooms at home unnecessarily and 42 per cent tumble dry less. Lifestyle changes have ...
Fri, 5 Jun 09
Mexico sees support for UN climate finance plan
http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSL3730686
Reuters: A Mexican proposal to raise billions of dollars to fight climate change is winning backing in talks on a new U.N. treaty, paradoxically because no one really likes it, a Mexican official said on Wednesday. "It has something for everyone, although everyone will dislike part of it. That's the beauty of the proposal," Fernando Tudela, Undersecretary of Planning and Environmental Policy, told Reuters on Wednesday. "It could be an area of consensus because nobody likes 100 percent ...
Fri, 5 Jun 09
U.N. climate treaty talks to go down to wire
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE55253I20090603?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Talks on a United Nations climate treaty to succeed the Kyoto Protocol are likely to go down to the wire, as rich countries play poker over who will pay for measures to curb CO2 emissions, a key mediator in the talks said on Wednesday. Connie Hedegaard, Danish Climate and Energy Minister, said agreement on a treaty hinged on rich countries paying for emission abatement measures in developing countries. "If we do not provide financing then we will not have a deal in Copenhagen," ...
Fri, 5 Jun 09
Small islands win UN vote on climate change security
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE5525W920090603
Reuters: Small Pacific islands vulnerable to rising sea levels won a symbolic victory at the United Nations on Wednesday with the passage of a resolution recognizing climate change as a possible threat to security. The non-binding resolution, passed by consensus by the General Assembly, may help put climate change on the agenda of the more powerful U.N. Security Council, which deals with threats to international peace and security. General Assembly resolutions are largely symbolic but ...
Fri, 5 Jun 09
US may not be ready with numbers for climate deal
http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2009/06/03/us_may_not_be_ready_with_numbers_for_climate_deal/?rss_id=Boston.com+--+Latest+news
Associated Press: The United States may miss a December deadline for committing to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions, but that should not block an international agreement on global warming, the chief U.S. negotiator said Wednesday. Specific pledges by industrial countries to cut carbon dioxide and other gases blamed for climate change is a key element of a U.N. treaty being negotiated by 190 nations. The talks are due to be completed at a major conference in Copenhagen before the end of the ...
Fri, 5 Jun 09
Spain arrests Greenpeace activists over climate protest
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090603/sc_afp/spainenvironmentprotestgreenpeace
Agence France-Presse: Police in the southern Spanish city of Seville Wednesday arrested 10 Greenpeace activists who had staged a protest against the effects of climate change on tourism, the organisation said. It said eight members of the environmental group climbed the steps of a famous monument, Seville's 13th century Torre del Oro (Gold Tower), pretending to be tourists. Two of them then climbed over the battlements in an attempt to unfurl a 70-square-meter banner reading "Closed by Climate ...
Fri, 5 Jun 09
Groups seek more SEC climate disclosure
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090603/ap_on_bi_ge/us_sec_climate_disclosure
Associated Press: Federal regulators have not done enough to ensure that shareholders are aware of material risks to companies from greenhouse gas emissions, according to a pair of studies released Wednesday by environmental and investor groups. Congress is now debating legislation that would require a 17 percent reduction in greenhouse gases by 2020 and 83 percent reduction by mid-century. Investors need more information about which companies may face greater costs not only because of those ...
Fri, 5 Jun 09
US role in climate treaty depends on China
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2009/06/03/us_role_in_climate_treaty_depends_on_china/?rss_id=Boston.com+--+Latest+news
Associated Press: The Obama administration's chief climate negotatior says the United States is not likely to enter into a new international treaty to reduce the emissions blamed for global warming without China and other major greenhouse-gas emitters on board. U.S. climate envoy Todd Stern told reporters in a conference call Wednesday that China and other major developing countries are critical to making any international agreement work. He also said the U.S. would not race forward on a new treaty if ...
Fri, 5 Jun 09
Bill Clinton speaks out for rainforests in Brazil
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0603-hance_clinton_amazon.html
Mongabay: Former US president Bill Clinton spoke out against rainforest destruction on Monday in Brazil. Headlining the Ethanol Summit 2009 in Sao Paulo, Clinton spoke of the positive role ethanol could play in lowering carbon emissions, but not when at the expense of rainforest. "What people are worried about Brazil is not (whether) you have the most efficient biofuel in the world... everybody knows that is true," Clinton said, as quoted by Reuter. "(But) the world would say if we let Brazil ...
Fri, 5 Jun 09
Tribes in Peru to get $0.68/acre for protecting Amazon forest
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0603-peru.html
Mongabay: Indigenous communities in Peru will be paid 5 soles ($1.70) per hectare ($0.68/acre) of preserved forest under a new conservation plan proposed by Peru's Ministry of Environment, reports the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO) in its bi-monthly update. Antonio Brack, Peru's Minister of Environment, says the scheme could generate $18.3 million dollars for forest communities, which control some 11 million hectares of forest in the country, beginning in 2010. Brack says ...
Fri, 5 Jun 09
Farm aid could cut climate change, poverty: FAO
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090603/sc_afp/environmentfarmclimatefao
Agence France-Presse: Aid to farmers in poor countries could help curb greenhouse gas emissions affecting climate change and reduce poverty and hunger for some billion people worldwide, the UN food agency said Wednesday. "If agriculture in developing countries becomes more sustainable... and becomes more resilient against the impact of climate change, this should help to reduce the number of currently around one billion hungry people and offer better income and job opportunities," said Food and ...
Fri, 5 Jun 09
U.S. envoy sees climate partnership with China
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE5524RQ20090603?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: The United States wants to forge a partnership with China, bringing the world's two biggest emitters of greenhouse gases together to address global warming, Washington's top climate diplomat said on Wednesday. This bilateral relationship could be a "positive anchor" for overall U.S.-China relations, possibly easing dialogue on such issues as trade and the Korean peninsula, said Todd Stern, the U.S. special envoy for climate change. Stern said he expected no signed document from ...
Fri, 5 Jun 09
Green energy overtakes fossil fuel investment, says UN
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jun/03/renewables-energy
Guardian: Green energy overtook fossil fuels in attracting investment for power generation for the first time last year, according to figures released today by the United Nations. Wind, solar and other clean technologies attracted $140bn (£85bn) compared with $110bn for gas and coal for electrical power generation, with more than a third of the green cash destined for Britain and the rest of Europe. The biggest growth for renewable investment came from China, India and other developing ...
Fri, 5 Jun 09
China cuts sulphur dioxide, water pollution in '08
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE5524V020090603?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: China cut its water pollution and emissions of acid rain-causing sulphur dioxide last year, as it stepped up efforts to make its economic growth cleaner, state media said on Wednesday. Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), a measure of water pollution, dropped by 4.42 percent in 2008 from a year earlier, while sulphur dioxide emissions were down 5.95 percent, the official Xinhua news agency said. China has promised to cut the two key pollution measures by 10 percent between 2006 and ...
Fri, 5 Jun 09
Renewable-Energy Investments Top Traditional Investments, Report Finds
http://blogs.wsj.com/environmentalcapital/2009/06/03/renewable-energy-investments-top-traditional-investments-report-finds/
Wall Street Journal: Good news, bad news on the clean-energy investment front. Despite the global economic slump, total clean-energy investment last year grew 5% to $155 billion. For the first time ever, investment in clean power generation outpaced investment in traditional energy sources: $140 billion for wind, solar, and the like compared with $110 billion for traditional power sources, according to a new report prepared by New Energy Finance for the United Nations' Environmental Program. The ...
Fri, 5 Jun 09
Climate adaptation is not enough
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jun/03/climate-change-yale360
A leading environmentalist explains why drastically reducing carbon dioxide emis: The awareness that humans could alter the climate of Earth has dawned slowly on our consciousness. In 1896, Swedish chemist Svante Arrhenius deflected his anguish over a failed marriage into remarkably tedious and, as it turned out, accurate calculations about the effect of CO2 emissions on climate. It was an oddly therapeutic thing to do, but it had no more effect on public attention than the smallest cloud on a distant horizon. Another 69 years would pass before scientists warned a ...
Fri, 5 Jun 09
Soviet legacy seen worsening climate change impact
http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSL2485911
Reuters: A legacy of environmental neglect by the Soviet Union makes countries from Poland to Central Asia more vulnerable than previously expected to climate change, the World Bank said on Tuesday. Two decades after the fall of the Berlin Wall, it said the region faced risks including that communist-era pollution trapped in soils could leach out, or that poorly constructed ports, roads or homes may not withstand climate shifts. "The impact of climate change in the Europe and Central ...
Fri, 5 Jun 09
Indonesia offers Pacific climate refugees island rental
http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/pacbeat/stories/200906/s2588395.htm
Radio Australia: Indonesia's Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry is considering renting some of its islands to climate change refugees. The Indonesian Maritime Minister's proposal comes as a recently released report reinforces the need to accommodate the expected increase of people displaced by climate change. Many from Pacific Island nations, among the hardest hit by rising sea-levels, are already fleeing. And Pacific Islanders relocating to Indonesia could become a reality, however impractical ...
Fri, 5 Jun 09
U.S., China Seek Common Ground
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47079
Inter Press Service: As the slew of U.S. officials visiting Beijing continued with Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner's visit this past weekend, it is clear the Barack Obama administration is taking a much more active approach to relations with China than in years past. This shift is probably most clear, and most crucial, in the field of climate change. Climate change talks continue this week in Bonn ahead of December's United Nations-sponsored talks in Copenhagen, which will try to determine a successor to ...
Fri, 5 Jun 09
Climate change may affect Mideast conflict
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1699420/climate_change_may_affect_mideast_conflict/index.html?source=r_science
United Press International: Growing climate change and lack of water could spur further conflict and security concerns in the Middle East, a Danish environmental report warns. Syria, Lebanon, Israel and Jordan and the occupied Palestinian territories have suffered from more than 60 years of "bloody conflict", the International Institute for Sustainable Development, IISD, report states, noting: " Climate change -- by redrawing maps of water availability, food security, disease prevalence, population distribution ...
Fri, 5 Jun 09
Rangel Says Climate Bill Takes Priority in House
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124397622746278569.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
Wall Street Journal: Rep. Charles Rangel (D., N.Y.), chairman of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, said Tuesday that House Democratic leaders want to move climate legislation through the House before taking up a bill to overhaul the U.S. health system. Mr. Rangel told a meeting of the U.S. Council for International Business that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told him Tuesday, during an hourlong meeting to discuss health care, that she wants to move a climate bill first. However, Mr. ...
Fri, 5 Jun 09
Funding plea to help poor tackle climate change
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/5431326/Funding-plea-to-help-poor-tackle-climate-change.html
Telegraph: The International Development Committee said the issue of global warming should be central to the Government's work in developing countries. And more funding - on top of existing budgets - needs to be committed to tackle problems caused by climate change. A report by the MPs said that in Africa, changes to rainfall were already affecting food production, while rising temperatures are increasing exposure to malaria. Existing aid and national budgets are not enough to meet ...
Fri, 5 Jun 09
Climate change threatens African farmland -study
http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSN02530991
Reuters: Climate change could cost the African continent more farmland than the United States uses to plant its eight major field crops combined, according to a study published in the June issue of Environmental Science and Policy. Farming on up to 1 million square kilometers (247 million acres) of land in Africa could subside by 2050 as climate change makes areas too hot and dry for growing crops, the study said. The latest U.S. Agriculture Department data puts plantings of the eight ...
Fri, 5 Jun 09
Ancient Mammals Shifted Diets As Climate Changed
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090602204255.htm
ScienceDaily: A new University of Florida study shows mammals change their dietary niches based on climate-driven environmental changes, contradicting a common assumption that species maintain their niches despite global warming. Led by Florida Museum of Natural History vertebrate paleontologist Larisa DeSantis, researchers examined fossil teeth from mammals at two sites representing different climates in Florida: a glacial period about 1.9 million years ago and a warmer, interglacial period about ...
Fri, 5 Jun 09
Technology seen key to oil sands: Chu
http://www.reuters.com/article/GCA-BusinessofGreen/idUSTRE5505VZ20090601
Reuters: U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu said on Monday he believes technology can solve environmental problems associated with Canada's oil sands and that the huge nearby resource contributes to U.S. energy security. Chu told the Reuters Global Energy Summit that the balance between the environmental impact from the huge energy resource in northern Alberta and its importance to U.S. energy supply is a complicated one that will require solutions from the industry. Environmental groups ...
Fri, 5 Jun 09
Climate change could kill your pet warns the RSPCA
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/climatechange/5429593/Climate-change-could-kill-your-pet-warns-the-RSPCA.html
Telegraph: In the first conference to be called on pets and climate change, scientists warned that the small heartworm, that kills dogs, cats and foxes, is already on the rise in the UK with more cases appearing in the north of the country and Scotland because of warmer wetter summers. Furthermore because of the increased numbers of pets coming into the country from abroad without quarantine, there is a greater threat of exotic diseases that can become established in warmer temperatures and may ...
Fri, 5 Jun 09
Wildlife Parks Can Save Species As Climate Changes
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1698778/wildlife_parks_can_save_species_as_climate_changes/index.html?source=r_science
redOrbit: Retaining a network of wildlife conservation areas is vital in helping to save up to 90 per cent of bird species in Africa affected by climate change, according to scientists. The research team – led by Durham University - including BirdLife International and the RSPB (BirdLife in the UK) looked at the effects of climate change on 815 bird species of conservation concern in sub-Saharan Africa and on the network of sites designated for them (termed Important Bird ...
Fri, 5 Jun 09
Network of parks can save Africa's birds in warmer world
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0602-hance_africa_birds.html
Mongabay: As Africa's birds are forced to move habitats due to climate change, a new study finds that the continent's current park system will continue to protect up to 90 percent of bird species. "We looked at bird species across the whole network of protected areas in Africa and the results show that wildlife conservation areas will be essential for the future survival of many species of birds," said Dr. Stephen Willis from Durham University. "Important Bird Areas (IBAs) will provide new ...
Fri, 5 Jun 09
Cash for Clunkers: A Fair Trade for the Environment
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=cash-for-clunkers
Scientific American: Old cars that foul the air with dirty exhaust are a valuable commodity in Texas. If you own a clunker at least 10 years old and live near a major city like Houston, the state will give you a voucher worth more than the car's value. Drive the car to a dealer, sign a few forms, hand over the voucher–worth up to $3,500–and drive off in a newer vehicle, no soot trailing you down the road. For the clunker, this swap is the last stop before being plundered for parts and scrap metal. But for ...
Fri, 5 Jun 09
Possible changes to House climate bill
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE5514GU20090602?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Climate change legislation is advancing in the U.S. House of Representatives and is expected to go through several committees this month. The House Energy and Commerce Committee has already approved the bill to cut industry's greenhouse gas emissions 17 percent by 2020. Now, other committees will take their crack at the bill which could result in further changes. Once the bill lands on the House floor, possibly this month or next, more changes will be sought. For example, some ...
Fri, 5 Jun 09
Green energy goal to boost EU jobs, economy: study
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE5513QM20090602?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: The European Union will boost economies and create an additional 410,000 jobs if the bloc meets its target of getting one fifth of its energy from renewable sources by 2020, a new report shows. The 27-country bloc will boost gross domestic product (GDP) by a quarter of 1 percent in the process, the study prepared for the European Commission's energy department said. The executive Commission introduced its green energy plan last year, with the aim of combating climate change and ...
Fri, 5 Jun 09
Key climate negotiations under way
http://www.upi.com/Energy_Resources/2009/06/02/Key-climate-negotiations-under-way/UPI-91061243953928/
United Press International: Negotiations on a global climate change treaty began Monday in Bonn, Germany. Delegates from more than 180 countries meeting in the western German city are hammering out the details of a treaty to succeed the Kyoto Protocol, which runs out in 2012. The Bonn meeting is the second of five negotiation rounds before national delegations are supposed to agree on a final deal at a conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, in December. The groundwork of the Bonn talks is a draft ...
Fri, 5 Jun 09
Rooftop solar just a small part of energy solution, experts say
http://www.sacbee.com/378/story/1910379.html
Sacramento Bee: On hot California summer days, it makes all the sense in the world: Harness the power of the sun to cool your home, run your refrigerator and charge your gizmos. After three years in his Placerville home, Brian Veerkamp decided to join the energy revolution. He had a 6 kilowatt solar array mounted on his roof. "My wife and I firmly believe that individuals should take responsibility for their power needs," said Veerkamp, chief of the El Dorado Hills Fire Department. "California ...
Fri, 5 Jun 09
G20 renewable energy aid not enough: IEA
http://www.reuters.com/article/GCA-GreenBusiness/idUSTRE55039R20090601
Reuters: Renewable energy's sliver of the multi-trillion dollar economic stimulus announced by the world's biggest economies falls far short of the investment needed to meet carbon emissions targets, the head of the International Energy Agency said on Monday. The IEA, which advises 28 industrialized countries on energy, estimates that only about $20 billion out of a total of $2.6 trillion in economic aid announced in the economic crisis by the G20 countries will go toward renewable power, with ...
Fri, 5 Jun 09
Study: Hurricane damage on Texas coast to worsen
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/6452602.html
Associated Press: Flooding and damage along the Texas Gulf Coast from major hurricanes is expected to be more severe in the coming years because of global warming, according to a study released today. Engineering researchers at Texas A&M University focused on Corpus Christi to illustrate how climate change will affect hurricane-related flooding and storm surge damage along the Texas Gulf Coast. "It`s going to get worse," said Jennifer Irish, an assistant professor of Coastal and Ocean ...
Fri, 5 Jun 09
Bio-diesel: Nigeria's future "green gold" cash cow?
http://www.businessdayonline.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2974:bio-diesel-nigerias-future-qgreen-goldq-cash-cow&catid=96:columnists&Itemid=350
Business Day: The world's leading fossil fuels consuming nations are bent on shifting towards developing and consuming cleaner and less environmentally damaging fuel products that a now labelled "Green Fuels". For example, during the 2008 presidential election campaign season in the United States of America (USA), the Democratic Presidential contender, Senator Barack Hussain Obama, now the first African American to be elected US President, promised his country and the World, that the United State will ...
Fri, 5 Jun 09
Old wood is new coal as polluters embrace carbon-eating trees
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601102&sid=ardNIC7rNzQE&refer=uk
Bloomberg: Wood is becoming a hot commodity in a new low-carbon world. Power companies are burning trees because they're renewable and can be cheaper than coal. Wood needs no permit to release carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas blamed for global warming. Vattenfall AB of Sweden, Germany's RWE AG and American Electric Power Inc. of Ohio, the biggest coal-burner in the U.S., have switched a few plants over to wood and more are planned. So far that hasn't driven up paper prices or strained ...
Fri, 5 Jun 09
Wood Is New Coal as Polluters Use Carbon-Eating Trees
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601086&sid=aYIHK.YDKafc&refer=latin_america
Bloomberg: Wood is becoming a hot commodity in a new low-carbon world. Power companies are burning more trees because the renewable fuel can be cheaper than coal and ignited without needing permits to release carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas blamed for global warming. Vattenfall AB of Sweden, Germany's RWE AG and American Electric Power Inc. of Ohio, the biggest coal-burner in the U.S., have switched a few plants over to wood and more are planned. So far that hasn't driven up paper ...
Fri, 5 Jun 09
Australia: Carbon Plan Puts Unfair Burden on LNG, Woodside Says
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601081&sid=asug7jbTugao&refer=australia
Bloomberg: Woodside Petroleum Ltd., Australia's second-largest gas producer, said the country's proposed carbon pollution reduction system places an unfair burden on liquefied natural gas producers and may constrain exports of the fuel. "We remain concerned with the planned cap and trade scheme in its current form," Woodside Chief Executive Officer Don Voelte said at the Australian Petroleum Production & Exploration Association conference in Darwin today. The government delayed the ...
Fri, 5 Jun 09
Elevated Water Temperature And Acidity Boost Growth Of Key Sea Star Species
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090601140926.htm
ScienceDaily: New research by UBC zoologists indicates that elevated water temperatures and heightened concentrations of carbon dioxide can dramatically increase the growth rate of a keystone species of sea star. The study is one of the first to look at the impact of ocean acidification on marine invertebrates that don't have a large calcified skeleton or external shell, and challenges current assumptions about the potential impact of climate change on marine species. The findings were ...
Fri, 5 Jun 09
United States: Govt Probes Land Speculation Claim Involving First Solar
http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20090601-716918.html
Dow Jones: The federal government is investigating a claim that solar-panel maker First Solar Inc.'s (FSLR) recent $400 million acquisition of a smaller rival wrongly included pending applications to use federal land. In early May, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management in Sacramento, Calif., received a citizen's report claiming that OptiSolar Inc. of Hayward, Calif., had sold its land-use applications pending at the BLM to First Solar as part of the deal. The agency referred the matter to the ...
Fri, 5 Jun 09
Plan for huge virtual database of life on earth
http://digital.asiaone.com/Digital/News/Story/A1Story20090602-145497.html
Reuters: Scientific organisations are working to link up thousands of computer databases of animals and plants into a one-stop "virtual observatory" that could be similar to global systems for monitoring the weather or earthquakes. The idea is to compile an Internet-based observatory of life on earth as a guide to everything from the impact of climate change on wildlife to pests that can damage crops. "I would hope (for) millions of people providing data", said Mr James Edwards, head of ...
Fri, 5 Jun 09
Give agriculture a shot at carbon credits: spokeswoman
http://www.reuters.com/article/GCA-GreenBusiness/idUSTRE5506H120090601
Reuters: U.S. agriculture should be allowed, as part of a climate-change bill being drafted in the U.S. House, to earn money for carbon offsets, a spokeswoman for Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said on Monday. At present, the bill is silent on a role for farms and forests in controlling emissions of greenhouse gases. Under House rules, the Agriculture Committee and seven other committees now have a chance to modify the bill. Vilsack believes agriculture and forestry should be ...
Fri, 5 Jun 09
Australia: Labor prepared to sit all night to force ETS through House
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25574798-5013871,00.html
Australian: THE Government is tightening the screws on the Opposition over the emissions trading scheme. Manager of Government Business Anthony Albanese has warned parliament could sit all night tomorrow to pass legislation for its Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme. The Opposition wants the bills delayed until after the Copenhagen Conference on Climate Change at the beginning of December. Tensions in the Coalition over tackling climate change - already running high - boiled over ...
Fri, 5 Jun 09
Sudan to open ethanol plant
http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=Business_News&subsection=market+news&month=June2009&file=Business_News2009060265138.xmlt
Peninsula: Sudan will soon open an ethanol plant to initially produce 65 million litres a year of the biofuel, and annual production should reach 200 million litres in two years, state news agency SUNA said. The plant, which one economist said would be Sudan's first, will use by-products from Sudan's sugar industry to create a renewable energy source for a country whose economy is largely dependent on crude oil. "Production is expected to increase to 200 million litres (a year) in two years' time," ...
Fri, 5 Jun 09
Wind power development begins on public Oregon lands
http://www.theworldlink.com/articles/2009/06/01/news/doc4a241b359d9c5002515573.txt
Associated Press: 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 Mountains. That screaming is the siren song in a new gold rush under way on public lands in Oregon and across the West. And the red and white wind-testing tower Hasson stands below is a stake ...
Tue, 2 Jun 09
Friends of the Earth: Carbon off-sets 'add to climate change'
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article6409376.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=3392178
Times (UK): Carbon off-setting will do nothing to prevent climate change and is increasing rather than reducing carbon emissions, a leading environmental charity warns today. The Government's scheme to buy carbon quotas from developing countries in order to reduce global emissions should be scrapped and developed countries made to cut their own carbon output, a report by Friends of the Earth says. "Offsetting is a having a disastrous impact on the prospects for averting catastrophic ...
Tue, 2 Jun 09
Friends of the Earth slams "fundamentally flawed" offsetting model
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2243304/friends-earth-slams
Business Green: The practice of carbon offsetting is "profoundly unjust" and "fundamentally flawed", according to a critical new report from Friends of the Earth. A Dangerous Distraction, which calls on the UK government to ditch calls for an expansion of UN-backed offsetting schemes, argues there is now ample evidence to show that offsetting is "ineffective and damaging". The report has been released to coincide with international talks in Bonn this week, where reforms designed to expand the ...
Tue, 2 Jun 09
Advanced Plasma Power touts international expansion plans
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2243302/advanced-plasma-power-touts
Business Green: UK-based waste-to-energy firm Advanced Plasma Power (APP) is in talks to roll out its technology at a number of sites in Canada and South East Europe after entering into a joint venture with clean tech private equity fund Leveraged Green Energy (LGE). Under the terms of the joint venture deal, which was announced last week, the two companies have agreed to co-operate on expanding APP's presence in new global markets with a particular focus on Canada and Central and Eastern Europe, and ...
Tue, 2 Jun 09
European biofuels firms scramble for 'idle' lands in poor countries
http://euobserver.com/9/28113
EUobserver: Massive tracts of land in Africa, Russia and Ukraine are being bought up or leased by richer countries to ensure access to food and for production of biofuels - a development that could result in unrest as locals begin to lose access over their territory. An area roughly the same size as the amount of farmland in Germany is in play and at a cost of tens of billions of euros. This phenomenon, a product of the twin food and fuel crises of last year, is threatening local ...
Tue, 2 Jun 09
Climate talks must tackle ocean acidification: scientists
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090601/sc_afp/unclimatewarmingoceans
Agence France-Presse: The world's top scientific academies on Monday called on UN talks to include ocean acidification, a dangerous byproduct of carbon pollution, in a global treaty to tackle climate change. "Ocean acidification is expected to cause massive corrosion of our coral reefs and dramatic changes in the makeup of the biodiversity of our oceans and to have significant implications for food production and the livelihoods of millions of people," 70 academies of science said in a joint ...
Tue, 2 Jun 09
Ecuador: Mosquito evolves into threat to Galapagos wildlife
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/mosquito-evolves-into-threat-to-galapagos-wildlife-1694524.html
Independent (UK): A mosquito that has lived on the Galapagos Islands for thousands of years is emerging as a potential threat to the archipelago's wildlife, because of an increase in tourism. Scientists fear the endemic insect could pick up diseases from other mainland mosquitoes brought to the Galapagos as stowaways on tourist ships and planes and then transmit the infections to the rare collection of indigenous animals on the islands. The black salt marsh mosquito distributed throughout the ...
Tue, 2 Jun 09
United Kingdom: Geothermal power plant to supply electricity
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/geothermal-power-plant-to-supply-electricity-1694523.html
Independent (UK): yesterday when plans were revealed for the UK's first power plant to produce electricity from geothermal energy -- the Earth's own heat. The plant is a joint partnership between the Eden Project, the Cornish ecotourism attraction which features the world's largest greenhouse, and a geothermal power company, EGS Energy. It is hoped the plant will be built on the Eden site near St Austell, and will power the whole complex. It will be based around two wells, driven down 4km into ...
Tue, 2 Jun 09
History may help us survive climate change
http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2009/06/01/History-may-help-us-survive-climate-change/UPI-68201243892404/
United Press International: British scientists say history might help people mitigate the worst effects of climate change by teaching how our ancestors adapted to similar occurrences. Research led by the University of Leicester suggests people today and in future generations should look to the past to determine how our ancestors coped with the dangers of rising sea levels, crop failures and extreme weather conditions. Jago Cooper of the university's School of Archaeology and Ancient History led ...
Tue, 2 Jun 09
United States: Up North utilities are giving more of their attention to renewable energy
http://freep.com/article/20090531/NEWS06/905310476
Detroit Free Press: In downtown L'Anse in the Upper Peninsula, a dormant 50-year-old coal plant smokestack is operating again. Instead of coal, the L'Anse Warden Electric Co. plant creates electricity and steam by burning biomass, such as old railroad ties, recycled tires and sawmill waste. The biomass plant is the first such plant to open in Michigan since the state passed a requirement for renewable energy last fall. Next month, its owners will start paying farmers to plant hybrid trees that ...
Tue, 2 Jun 09
Palm Oil Could Scuttle Forest Carbon Plan: Experts
http://planetark.org/wen/53165
Reuters: Carbon credits derived from a fledgling forest conservation scheme for developing nations will struggle to compete with palm oil as an investment, industry advisers and conservationists said on Friday. A UN-backed scheme called reduced emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD) allows developing countries to raise potentially billions of dollars in carbon credits in exchange for conserving and rehabilitating forests. However, profits from palm oil plantations could, in ...
Tue, 2 Jun 09
UN climate talks grudgingly accept treaty draf
http://uk.reuters.com/article/homepageCrisis/idUKL13678._CH_.2420
Reuters: Rich and poor countries criticised a first draft text of a new United Nations climate treaty on Monday but grudgingly accepted it as the basis for six months of arduous negotiations. "We ... have some dismay about the way it has been structured," Jonathan Pershing, head of the U.S. delegation at the June 1-12 talks among 180 nations in Bonn, said of a 53-page draft outlining ideas from all countries. "This text should contain more balance," said Ibrahim Mirghani Ibrahim of ...
Tue, 2 Jun 09
Scientists warn acid is killing oceans
http://www.smh.com.au/environment/scientists-warn-acid-is-killing-oceans-20090601-bszh.html
Sydney Morning Herald: RISING carbon dioxide emissions are turning the oceans acidic in an irreversible process that threatens coral reefs and food security, the world's scientific academies have warned. Seventy academies, including the Australian Academy of Science, urged governments meeting in Bonn for climate talks to tackle the issue in the new United Nations treaty on climate change to be agreed in Copenhagen in December. In the past 200 years the world's oceans have absorbed about a quarter of ...
Tue, 2 Jun 09
Australian greenhouse emissions rise in 2008
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/SYD440485.htm
Reuters: Australia's total greenhouse gas emissions grew by 1.1 percent in 2008 to 553 million tonnes, but the country remained on track to meet its target under the Kyoto Protocol, Climate Change Minister Penny Wong said on Monday. Wong released the latest national greenhouse gas inventory and said Australia was about 1 percent ahead of its Kyoto Protocol target, which allows Australia to increase emissions to 108 percent of 1990 levels during 2008-2012. But taking into account ...
Tue, 2 Jun 09
Protecting Forests Is Critical to Climate Solution, U.S. Says
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601130&sid=a9kdU7l39CwQ
Bloomberg: Protecting tropical forests and using land in ways that absorb greenhouse-gas emissions are "critical" to fighting climate change, the U.S. said. Funding to reduce logging rates should come from government and private sources, as well as from international carbon markets, the U.S. proposed in a 5-page submission to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the UN agency guiding talks today in Bonn for a new global-warming treaty. Envoys will negotiate proposals ...
Tue, 2 Jun 09
Obama looks to Congress to push ahead reforms
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090601/pl_afp/uspolitics_20090601160724
Agence France-Presse: US lawmakers face a slew of key debates before the August recess, urged by President Barack Obama to back his ambitious agenda with bills on healthcare reform and global warming, and the confirmation of a new Supreme Court judge. The US Congress was back in session Monday after a week's recess with a packed program in the coming weeks before the month-long summer vacation starts on August 3. The Obama administration is counting on the House of Representatives to push through ...
Tue, 2 Jun 09
Climate talks move into next phase
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gtwDGQr6DEtxexpwGN2qrH-ctUnwD98I23V00
Associated Press: Negotiators from 181 countries began work on the first draft of a new global warming treaty Monday, calling it a good beginning despite complaints it was unbalanced and incomplete. Delegates have been brainstorming and arguing over principles for 18 months. The draft includes conflicting proposals pointing to tough negotiations ahead. Among dozens of unresolved issues was whether developing economies must commit to control their greenhouse gas emissions and whether their ...
Tue, 2 Jun 09
The seldom-seen devastation of climate change
http://www.salon.com/env/feature/2009/06/01/gavin_schmidt/
Salon: In our visual culture, climate change remains oddly invisible. Few people can glimpse melting glaciers or perceive that seas levels are rising. We may feel hotter, but we cannot see carbon rising through the atmosphere as we drive our cars around. This is one reason for our lethargic response to the problem: out of sight, out of mind. "Climate Change: Picturing the Science," a new book by Gavin Schmidt and Joshua Wolfe, aims to alter that by providing a rich photographic record of a ...
Tue, 2 Jun 09
U.S. climate bill best bet to take enviro lead: Chu
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE5506FQ20090601?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: The U.S. climate change bill making its way through Congress is the best legislative bet to help the country take the lead in tackling global warming on the world stage, U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu said on Monday. "The Waxman-Markey bill is our best shot of any thing I've seen in recent legislative pasts where Congress might get something (passed) and it's got a lot support in the industry now," said Chu, speaking at the Reuters Global Energy Summit in Washington. The ...
Tue, 2 Jun 09
Science Academies Unite to Save Oceans
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=science-academies-save-oceans-carbon-dioxide-acidification
Greenwire: Carbon dioxide emissions are turning the world's oceans more acidic, endangering coral reefs and fisheries, the science academies of 70 nations warned today in a joint statement. The effect could be irreversible for tens of thousands of years, the academies said. They urged countries attending U.N. climate negotiations in Bonn, Germany, this week to cut the world's CO2 emissions at least 50 percent below 1990 levels by 2050, with additional cuts after that. Without such action, ...
Tue, 2 Jun 09
Political infighting in Brazil threatens the Amazon rainforest
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0601-brazil_politics.html
Mongabay: Brazil's Environment Minister Carlos Minc accused other government agencies of working to undermine environmental laws in favor of Amazon development projects, report Reuters and the Associated Press. His charge comes a year after his predecessor, Senator Marina Silva, resigned due to the same opposition from development interests. After a meeting with President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Thursday last week, Minc told reporters that government ministers "are going behind his back to ...
Tue, 2 Jun 09
Four Tough Nuts To Crack
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47062
Inter Press Service: The world is on track towards negotiating a solid deal in Copenhagen at the end of this year, Yvo de Boer, the UN's top climate change official, told reporters at the opening of a 12-day conference in Bonn Monday. "The political moment is right to reach an agreement," said De Boer, executive secretary of the UN Framework Climate Change Convention (UNFCCC). "There is no doubt in my mind that the Copenhagen climate conference in December is going to lead to a result." If the ...
Tue, 2 Jun 09
Expecting new tax, firm prepares to track carbon
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=129065
New York Times: If Congress passes legislation that puts a price on carbon emissions, companies will need to track and report the waste from their operations. Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, one of Silicon Valley's top venture capital firms, is betting that such a cap-and-trade law or carbon tax will open the door for a new kind of software company. Since 2007, it has been quietly incubating Hara, a start-up that on Monday will start selling software to help businesses measure and reduce ...
Tue, 2 Jun 09
Utilities seek stimulus money to improve energy efficiency
http://www.thestate.com/nation/story/635467.html
McClatchy Newspapers: A utility association that represents 70 percent of the U.S. power industry joined environmental and energy groups Friday in calling on Congress and the new administration to jump-start the economy by helping Americans save energy. The groups suggest that any economic recovery package Congress passes early next year include $33 billion that mostly would go to state and local governments for programs such as weatherizing houses, schools, businesses and government buildings. To get some ...
Tue, 2 Jun 09
Vietnam: Ho Chi Minh City among 10 cities most vulnerable to climate change
http://www.thanhniennews.com/society/?catid=3&newsid=49369
Thanhmien: Ho Chi Minh City is one of the 10 cities in the world most vulnerable to climate change along with Dacca in Bangladesh, Shengzhen and Guangdong in China, Bangkok in Thailand, and Yangon in Myanmar. The remark was made by the Vietnamese Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment in a press release for the World Environment Day, June 5, quoting from a report by the Paris-based Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development. The peak tide level in HCMC has risen in the ...
Tue, 2 Jun 09
India says US domestic policy crucial to climate deal
http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSDEL301158
Reuters: U.S. domestic policy on curbing carbon emissions is crucial for a global climate deal this year, a top Indian negotiator said on Monday, adding rich countries also had to provide a commitment on funding for poorer nations. Dinesh Patnaik said there was a good chance of success at a negotiating session in Germany starting this week as part of efforts to seal a new climate pact in Copenhagen in December. "Each one is hearing the other side so it is not a dialogue of the deaf in ...
Tue, 2 Jun 09
Cap-and-trade may hinge on farm vote
http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20090601/BIZ/906010308/1055/NEWS/Cap-and-trade%20may%20hinge%20on%20farm%20vote
Gannett: If Democrats are serious about enacting controls on greenhouse gases, they may have to win over farmers first. House Democratic leaders are pledging to move ahead with legislation that would set up a cap-and-trade system to reduce carbon emissions. The bill would set limits on greenhouse gases and force companies to reduce their emissions or buy credits from others that do. Democrats control the House 256-178, but many of their newest, most politically vulnerable members are ...
Tue, 2 Jun 09
Australia: National greenhouse gas emissions rising
http://news.brisbanetimes.com.au/breaking-news-national/national-greenhouse-gas-emissions-rising-20090601-bstj.html
AAP: Evidence of Australia's mounting carbon pollution levels strengthens the case for emissions trading, says Climate Change Minister Penny Wong. The national greenhouse accounts released on Monday show emissions rose by an estimated 553 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent, or 1.1 per cent, last year. Senator Wong said the underlying trends showed carbon pollution was increasing, particularly in the energy sector, and demonstrated the need to turn around Australia's ...
Tue, 2 Jun 09
Government to set clear targets for UK energy mix
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/utilities/article6401711.ece
Times (UK): Britain is set to turn its back on a wholly liberalised energy market and will return to a more interventionist, state-directed model, according to Ed Miliband, the Energy Secretary. In an interview with The Times, Mr Miliband said that a more assertive role for government was the only way that Britain could achieve its present target of slashing its carbon emissions by 34 per cent by 2020 and 80 per cent by 2050. "The market on its own is not going to ensure that we make the ...
Tue, 2 Jun 09
Gore-backed Hara sees profit from low-carbon economy
http://www.reuters.com/article/GCA-GreenBusiness/idUSTRE5500S420090601?sp=true
Reuters: An environmental start-up backed by Al Gore's venture capital firm aims to take advantage of coming U.S. climate change legislation by helping companies like Coca Cola and even cities cut pollution. Hara, a 25-employee company that debuted in 2008, provides online software to help companies reduce their carbon footprint -- a $2.5 billion market that will grow 10-fold if the proposed energy bill, which will require companies to get permits for emissions, becomes law, Chief Executive ...
Tue, 2 Jun 09
Poland to invest $1.6 bln in renewables
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/feedarticle/8534988
Guardian: Poland will spend 5 billion zlotys ($1.55 billion) over the next few years to meet its renewables target under the European Union's strategy to combat global warming, Environment Minister Maciej Nowicki said. The 27-nation EU has undertaken to produce 20 percent of its total energy from renewable sources by 2020. Within that plan, Poland is only committed to securing 15 percent from renewables by 2020. At present, renewables account for some 7 percent of power production in the ...
Tue, 2 Jun 09
Australia farmers to be hit by carbon trade
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/feedarticle/8534821
Reuters: Australia's farmers will be hit by the introduction the world's broadest carbon trade regime, despite a four-year reprieve from inclusion in the scheme, the country's top agricultural forecaster said on Monday. Agriculture accounts for 16 percent of Australia's carbon emissions and billions of dollars in exports. The government will exempt the rural sector from the emissions market when it begins in July 2011, with farming excluded until at least 2015 to help agriculture adjust ...
Tue, 2 Jun 09
Time Series Identify Population Responses To Climate Change
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090601091932.htm
ScienceDaily: Biologists have for several years modeled how different species are likely to respond to climate change. Most such studies ignore differences between populations within a species and the interactions between species, in the interest of simplicity. An article in the June issue of BioScience, by Eric Post of Pennsylvania State University and five colleagues, shows how these limitations can be avoided. Their approach, which relies on multi-stage analyses of how populations fluctuate over ...
Tue, 2 Jun 09
The Coming Of Biofuels: Study Shows Reducing Gasoline Emissions Will Benefit Human Health
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/05/090528135250.htm
ScienceDaily: When it comes to transportation fuels, carbon-neutral biofuels as an alternative to gasoline are coming. While the focus of a shift from gasoline to biofuels has been on global warming, such a shift could also impact human health. A grant from the Energy Biosciences Institute (EBI) has produced a novel and comprehensive "Life Cycle Impact Assessment' to measure the benefits on human health that might result from a switch to biofuels. Although there are a number of uncertainties that ...
Tue, 2 Jun 09
The Heat Is On When It Comes to Building Coal-Fired Power Plants
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=building-coal-power-plants
Scientific American: Kyle Nelson points upward to show off the six-story-high main boiler of Holcomb Station. The 370-megawatt coal-fired power plant sits on the rolling prairie of southwestern Kansas just a few miles from the small town of Holcomb, population 2,100, roughly 40 miles (65 kilometers) east of the Colorado border. Enormous metal pipes crisscross far overhead in a facility where the temperature is a little too hot to ignore, and the machinery's din is deafening. Nelson, a senior vice ...
Tue, 2 Jun 09
MPs attack shipping industry's 'irresponsible' inaction on emissions
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jun/01/travel-and-transport-climate-change
Guardian: The international shipping industry has acted irresponsibly in failing to address rapidly growing climate change emissions and the UN body that governs it is "not fit for purpose", according to an influential group of MPs. Showing clear impatience at continuing lack of progress in cutting emissions, the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee said: "There can be no excuse for the lack of progress within the International Maritime Organisation since the Kyoto protocol was signed ...
Tue, 2 Jun 09
Shipping not doing enough to curb CO2: UK lawmakers
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE5504MT20090601?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: The United Nations' shipping agency has not done enough to address carbon emissions from shipping, a panel of British lawmakers said on Monday. The shipping industry accounts for