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Pakistan yet to exploit alternative energy resources
http://www.thenews.com.pk/print1.asp?id=200552
The News: Despite an acute energy shortage and worsening environmental pollution, Pakistan has not exploited the vast potential of environment-friendly alternative energy resources which could add billions of dollars to the economy in the form of carbon credit. Besides developed countries, many developing economies are adopting alternative methods to produce energy from sources other than fossil fuel. Pakistan, on the other hand, has almost doubled its fossil fuel consumption in order to ...
Wed, 30 Sep 09
This pile of manure is gold
http://www.shanghaidaily.com/sp/article/2009/200909/20090929/article_415203.htm
Shanghai Daily: Just think of the foul, methane-rich manure produced by 500,000 million chickens. Don't turn up your nose. That's a lot of green biofuel. Zhang Qian gets a whiff. Feeding plants to farm animals and using animal manure to fertilize plants is an environmentally friendly, but old-fashioned way to farm today. But generating biogas - especially flammable methane gas - from manure and organic waste and using that to generate electricity is far better and tackles air, water and ground ...
Wed, 30 Sep 09
United States: San Francisco tilts toward wind power
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2009/09/29/MNAO19U159.DTL
San Francisco Chronicle: The two famous windmills in Golden Gate Park could soon have a lot of company as a broad array of city officials, business leaders and environmentalists push for streamlined, modern versions to spring up at famous spots all over the city. Wind turbines could soon be built at Twin Peaks, Treasure Island, the Civic Center, Ocean Beach, the San Francisco Zoo, city parks and the airport as demonstration sites for how urban wind farms could help power San Francisco - and to educate ...
Wed, 30 Sep 09
Brussels targets carbon trading fraud ahead of Copenhagen summit
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/sep/29/carbon-trading-carousel-fraud-eu
Guardian: The European commission announced an overhaul of the EU's VAT system today in its latest attempt to prevent its much-vaunted carbon trading system being riddled by multimillion-pound fraud. Criminals who for years had been ripping off VAT from finance ministries around the EU on the trade of items such as mobile phones and computer chips have recently moved in on Europe's EUR90bn (£81bn) carbon market. Last month Revenue & Customs raided 27 businesses and private addresses ...
Wed, 30 Sep 09
United States: Waist-deep in fieldwork
http://www.baltimoresun.com/features/green/bal-md.gr.climate26sep29,0,5893905.story
Baltimore Sun: This lush marsh south of Annapolis seems like an alien landscape - clear plastic bubbles dot the watery plain, with curved white pipes poking, periscope-like, out of the tall, green grass. The odd-looking structures spread across Kirkpatrick Marsh are providing researchers with a peek into Earth's future, helping them understand how climate change could alter the world we live in. For the past 23 years, Bert Drake and other scientists at the Smithsonian Environmental Research ...
Wed, 30 Sep 09
California rules on flat screen TVs worry some retailers
http://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=113274397
National Public Radio: California is about to become the first state to regulate the amount of energy used by flat screen TVs. According to the state energy commission, flat screens account for up to 10 percent of household energy use. But some retailers say the proposed regulations could put them out of business. NPR's Ina Jaffe reports. INA JAFFE: It doesn't matter whether you're using your flat screens to watch nature documentaries… (Soundbite of TV broadcast of lion ...
Wed, 30 Sep 09
Obama 's solar plan ignites local concerns
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=112860913&ps=cprs
National Public Radio: An Obama administration plan to build huge new solar energy plants in the Southwest is causing heartburn in the environmental community. The Interior Department has proposed allowing two dozen solar energy study areas on public land in California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Colorado. These would be industrial facilities that would require huge amounts of land and water to operate. They wouldn't allow room for other uses on the land such as recreation. While ...
Wed, 30 Sep 09
It's the rich who are burning the planet
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cif-green/2009/sep/28/population-growth-super-rich
Guardian: It's no coincidence that most of those who are obsessed with population growth are post-reproductive wealthy white men: it's about the only environmental issue for which they can't be blamed. The brilliant Earth systems scientist James Lovelock, for instance, claimed last month that "those who fail to see that population growth and climate change are two sides of the same coin are either ignorant or hiding from the truth. These two huge environmental problems are inseparable and to discuss ...
Wed, 30 Sep 09
Climate change measures 'crucial for Asia-Pacific'
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090929/sc_afp/climatewarmingununfccc
Agence France-Presse: UN experts warned on Tuesday that Asia-Pacific nations and other developing countries need support to combat climate change as they face an intensification of extreme weather such as the Philippine floods. The comments came as a divide between rich and poor nations continued to dominate crucial negotiations in Bangkok to develop a new climate treaty before world leaders meet in Copenhagen in December. UN climate chief Yvo de Boer said one of the "key elements" of a deal was ...
Wed, 30 Sep 09
Exclusive: Insiders predict China could beat US to cap-and-trade launch
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2250315/china-cap-trade-announcement
Business Green: China could announce the launch of an emissions cap-and-trade scheme as early as the Copenhagen climate talks in December, according to a senior figure in the carbon market currently working closely with the Chinese government. Speaking at The Carbon Show in London today, Philippe Chauvancy, director at climate exchange BlueNext, said that the announcement last week that it is to develop China's first standard for voluntary emission reduction projects alongside the government-backed ...
Wed, 30 Sep 09
More Corn For Biofuels Would Hurt Water
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1761173/more_corn_for_biofuels_would_hurt_water/index.html?source=r_science
redOrbit: More of the fertilizers and pesticides used to grow corn would find their way into nearby water sources if ethanol demands lead to planting more acres in corn, according to a Purdue University study. The study of Indiana water sources found that those near fields that practice continuous-corn rotations had higher levels of nitrogen, fungicides and phosphorous than corn-soybean rotations. Results of the study by Indrajeet Chaubey, an associate professor of agricultural and biological ...
Wed, 30 Sep 09
Ecuador court lets judge leave Chevron case
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090929/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_ecuador_chevron
Associated Press: An Ecuadorean court has said it will allow a judge to withdraw from overseeing a $27 billion lawsuit charging the Chevron Corp. with environmental damage in the Amazon rain forest. The lawyer representing the plaintiffs in the lawsuit told The Associated Press on Tuesday about the court's decision to allow Judge Juan Nunez to step down. Pablo Fajardo says the case now will be heard by Judge Nicolas Zambrano. A different court had earlier denied Nunez's request. He asked to step ...
Wed, 30 Sep 09
Green groups slam BA over new business class-only flights
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2250334/green-groups-slam-business
Business Green: Just a week after announcing its support for industry wide plans to halve aviation's carbon emissions by 2050, British Airways (BA) has been accused of hypocrisy after launching a new twice-daily business service between London City Airport and New York with just 32 seats. This morning's inaugural flight was marred by protests from the Plane Stupid lobby and prompted accusations from green groups that the company was already failing to live up to chief executive Willie Walsh's ...
Wed, 30 Sep 09
Poorer states need 'billions' for global warning: World Bank
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090929/sc_afp/climatewarmingunassistancenetherlands
Agence France-Presse: Developing countries will need up to 100 billion dollars (80 billion euros) a year for 40 years to combat the effects of global warming, said a World Bank report released in The Hague on Tuesday. Assuming the planet is two degrees Celsius warmer by 2050, "the study puts the cost of adapting ... at 75 billion to 100 billion dollars a year" from 2010, according to an investigation commissioned by Britain, the Netherlands and Switzerland. "What we try to show with this report is ...
Wed, 30 Sep 09
Could Trash Be The Solution To Tackling Climate Change?
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1761457/could_trash_be_the_solution_to_tackling_climate_change/index.html?source=r_science
redOrbit: Converting the trash that fills the world's landfills into biofuel may be the answer to both the growing energy crisis and to tackling carbon emissions, claim scientists in Singapore and Switzerland. New research published in Global Change Biology: Bioenergy, reveals how replacing gasoline with biofuel from processed waste could cut global carbon emissions by 80%. Biofuels produced from crops have proven controversial because they require an increase in crop production which has its ...
Wed, 30 Sep 09
United States: Sierra Club wants to join lawsuit against Westar
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090929/ap_on_bi_ge/us_anti_coal_campaign_kansas
Associated Press: An environmental group said Tuesday it wants to intervene in an anti-pollution lawsuit filed by the federal government against Kansas' largest electric company, a case the utility hopes to settle. Sierra Club attorney Bob Eye said the group would file a request in federal court to intervene. He said the Sierra Club won't raise new issues but offer its expertise and support the claims made against Westar Energy Inc. by attorneys for the U.S. Department of Justice and the Environmental ...
Wed, 30 Sep 09
Senate May Seek Greater U.S. Carbon Cuts Than House
http://news.yahoo.com/s/bloomberg/20090929/pl_bloomberg/a171cf510jie
Bloomberg: A Senate measure to slow global warming calls on U.S. power plants, factories and refineries to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions by 20 percent through 2020, a deeper cut than approved by the House, according to a draft. The target is part of legislation prepared by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee staff for release tomorrow, said a person familiar with the process who asked not to be identified before then. Exxon Mobil Corp., the largest U.S. energy company, ...
Wed, 30 Sep 09
'Gender Is No Distraction in Climate Change Talks'
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48634
Inter Press Service: As the countdown to the Copenhagen Climate Change Summit draws to a close, gender and climate change advocates are doubling their efforts to make sure that 23 gender-related paragraphs in the negotiating text will make it to the new treaty that will be hammered out in December. At the ongoing 12-day Bangkok Climate Change Talks, which opened Monday and the latest round in a series of global discussions leading to the Copenhagen conference, the Global Gender and Climate Alliance (GGCA) ...
Wed, 30 Sep 09
Senate Democrats to offer climate bill
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE58S5X320090929?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: A climate change bill circulating in the Senate on Tuesday is slightly more ambitious than one passed in the House of Representatives, but still has many details to be worked out on how to encourage companies to reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases. The legislation by Senators Barbara Boxer and John Kerry to be formally unveiled on Wednesday aims to reduce smokestack emissions of carbon dioxide by 20 percent by 2020 and 83 percent by 2050 -- from 2005 levels. A ...
Wed, 30 Sep 09
Senate's pollution plan cuts deep
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/energy/6643375.html
Associated Press: Senate climate bill calls for a 20 percent cut in greenhouse gases by 2020, deeper than the reductions mandated by the House but also includes stronger measures to try to avoid energy price spikes, according to a draft of the bill. The draft obtained by The Associated Press, remains subject to change. But the overall carbon reduction requirements are expected to stand. The Democratic bill is to be released Wednesday by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee with a vote by ...
Wed, 30 Sep 09
Climate Bill Splits Exelon and US Chamber
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/29/business/energy-environment/29chamber.html?_r=5&em
New York Times: Exelon, one of the country's largest utilities, said Monday that it would quit the United States Chamber of Commerce because of that group's stance on climate change. It was the latest in a string of companies to do so, perhaps a harbinger of how intense the fight over global warming legislation could become. "The carbon-based free lunch is over," said John W. Rowe, Exelon's chief executive. "Breakthroughs on climate change and improving our society's energy efficiency are within ...
Wed, 30 Sep 09
Senate climate-change bill calls for 20% cut in greenhouse emissions by 2020
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-climate30-2009sep30,0,128921.story
LA Times: Reporting from Washington - The Senate's environment committee is set to take up an energy and climate-change bill that features a 20% cut in U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by 2020, a target that is stricter than legislation passed by the House this summer, according to an 801-page draft of the bill. The measure, to be unveiled Wednesday, is co-sponsored by Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.). It will serve as the starting point for what promises to be a ...
Wed, 30 Sep 09
UN warns deadline imminent on climate change agreement
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/world/stories/DN-climate_29int.ART.State.Edition2.4bb3b47.html
Associated Press: The United Nations on Monday warned world leaders they have only 70 days to reach a new deal to limit global warming. "Time is not just pressing. It has almost run out," U.N. climate chief Yvo de Boer said of leaders' dwindling time before they meet in Copenhagen to finalize a pact. "As many leaders have said, there is no Plan B," he said. "If we don't realize Plan A, the future will hold us to account for it." But only hours after negotiations began, rich and poor ...
Wed, 30 Sep 09
Conservation Groups Say Forest Carbon Market Critical to Climate Change Solution
http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-09-29-voa28.cfm
Voice of America: Conservation groups say creating a global market for trading carbon credits from uncut forests is critical to fighting climate change and should be part of a United Nations-backed agreement being whittled down in Bangkok. But, there are many challenges to expanding the carbon market. Activists gather with others outside the UN climate talks in Bangkok, Thailand, 29 Sep 2009The conservation group WWF on Tuesday told journalists any global deal on climate change should take into account ...
Wed, 30 Sep 09
Climate debate leads to Chamber of Commerce rift
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5j2X_RxW3eF0MDBChkLZH7P1a19aQD9AUIGMO0
Associated Press: A rift widened between the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and some utilities as another major power provider quit over the business group's hard stance on pending climate regulation. The Public Service Company of New Mexico, the state's largest utility, quit the chamber Friday just days after California's largest utility, Pacific Gas and Electric Co., said it was leaving because of the chamber's "extreme" positions. Both sides of the climate change debate are escalating campaigns to ...
Wed, 30 Sep 09
United States: Carbon Offset Kiosks Help Air Travelers Ditch Guilt
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=113280463&ft=1&f=1025
National Public Radio: If you're an environmentally conscious traveler, you may be feeling a little bit guilty about flying these days. Airplanes spew harmful greenhouse gases into the air. San Francisco International Airport is taking a step to help ease these concerns: It's the first airport to install self-serve kiosks where passengers can purchase carbon offsets for their flights. The airport has partnered with a private company to provide the offsets. But carbon offsets for travel are ...
Wed, 30 Sep 09
Looming food crisis
http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/14-looming-food-crisis-zj-02
Dawn: Talking about chronic hunger and the unrest it can spark, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called on Saturday for quick action to ensure global food security. The irony, he pointed out, was that 'there is more than enough food in the world, yet today more than one billion people are hungry.' The UN chief's comments on global food insecurity are pertinent to Pakistan, where the compounded problems of food production, distribution and falling purchasing power are already in evidence. ...
Wed, 30 Sep 09
United States: Water interests argue new state dam proposals
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/09/29/MNRO19SUMN.DTL
San Francisco Chronicle: Thirty years ago, a chunk of chain, an eyebolt and Mark Dubois helped end the era of big dam building in California. Dubois, a bearded, 6-foot-8, 30-year-old river guide from Sacramento, chained himself to a rocky outcropping on the north bank of the Stanislaus River and stayed there for a week, determined to prevent the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from filling the canyons behind New Melones Dam and submerging the limestone caves, verdant meadows and petroglyphs of the river ...
Wed, 30 Sep 09
Japan under pressure to halt imports of polar bear products
http://home.kyodo.co.jp/modules/fstStory/index.php?storyid=462460
Kyodo News: Japan is considered to be the world's No. 1 importer of polar bear products and items such as fur skin and rugs are widely sold on the Internet. But with the white bears in the North Pole at risk due to global warming and U.S. government moves to protect them, Japan could become a target of criticism for its lax policy. According to environmental protection groups, exports and imports of fur skin and other bear products resulting from hunting of the animal recognized by Canada ...
Wed, 30 Sep 09
World known species rises to 1.9 mln, report says
http://in.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idINIndia-42774620090929
Reuters: The world's only catalogue of known plants and animals has listed 1.9 million species globally, a rise of 114,000 on a study done three years ago, Australian researchers said on Tuesday. The number of currently accepted and described species had jumped 6.3 percent from 1,786,000 last described in 2006, Australia's Environment Minister Peter Garrett said, releasing the Numbers of Living Species in Australia and the World report in Cairns. "The report shows that the science of ...
Wed, 30 Sep 09
Atomic future will fight climate change: Indian PM
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5isyDrnw8BFJAs1_soIzzwBM4O8kg
Agence France-Presse: India's prime minister vowed on Tuesday that a massive increase in nuclear power generation over the next four decades would allow the booming country to reduce its impact on global warming. Manmohan Singh told an international atomic conference in New Delhi that the civilian nuclear supply agreement he signed with the United States last year had opened an era for safer, cleaner energy production. "There will be huge opportunities for the global nuclear industry to participate ...
Wed, 30 Sep 09
China ready for int'l joint work in combating desertification, says official
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-09/29/content_12126664.htm
Xinhua: China is ready to work with the international community to contribute to the fight against global desertification, a Chinese forestry official said Monday. Zhu Lieke, deputy director of the State Forestry Administration of China, attended the high-level meeting of the ninth conference of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD)here and introduced the efforts and achievements China has made in combating desertification. Zhu called on the international ...
Wed, 30 Sep 09
Anti- Palm Oil Campaign Unlikely To Have Immediate Impact On Exporters
http://www.bernama.com.my/bernama/v3/news_lite.php?id=443024
Bernama: The anti-palm oil campaign by environmental groups is unlikely to have immediate effect on leading Malaysian and Indonesian exporters but could lead to trade and aid restrictions in future, the crop's pro-campaign group said Tuesday. Alan Oxley, chairman of the World Growth International, a US-based non-governmental organisation, said despite the smear campaign in Europe and restrictions on renewal energy there, palm oil's major markets are China and India. Despite the vigorous ...
Wed, 30 Sep 09
East Africa Drought In Fifth Year, Millions Hungry
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2009/09/29/world/international-uk-eastafrica-drought.html
Reuters: Drought for a fifth year running is driving more than 23 million east Africans in seven countries towards severe hunger and destitution, international aid agency Oxfam said on Tuesday. Launching a $9.5 million (6 million pounds) appeal, it said the situation was being worsened by high food prices and conflict. The most badly hit nations are Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia and Uganda. Malnutrition is now above emergency levels in some areas and hundreds of thousands of valuable cattle ...
Wed, 30 Sep 09
Dozens of Aussie mammals 'under threat'
http://www.watoday.com.au/breaking-news-national/dozens-of-aussie-mammals-under-threat-20090929-gazh.html
WA Today: One in five species of Australian mammals are at risk of extinction, a new report says. Of the 388 species of mammals found naturally in Australia, 78 are listed as vulnerable, endangered or extinct in the wild. In addition, nearly 14 per cent of amphibians, five per cent of reptiles and six per cent of birds are at risk. The figures are included in a new report, The Numbers of Living Species in Australia and the World, released by federal Environment Minister Peter ...
Wed, 30 Sep 09
Indonesia CO2 pledge to help climate talks-greens
http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSSP495601
Reuters: Environmentalists on Tuesday welcomed Indonesia's pledge to substantially cut the growth of its greenhouse gas emissions, saying the promise could help talks on crafting a broader global pact to fight climate change. Indonesia is the world's third largest greenhouse emitter and steps by big developing nations to curb their emissions of planet-warming greenhouse gases are a key focus of U.N.-led climate talks under way in the Thai capital until Oct 9. Delegates from about 180 ...
Wed, 30 Sep 09
EU mulls carbon tax to curb global warming
http://www.euractiv.com/en/climate-change/eu-mulls-carbon-tax-curb-global-warming/article-185832?Ref=RSS
EurActiv: The European Commission is considering imposing an EU-wide tax on CO2 emissions on sectors such as transport and agriculture, which are currently not covered by the bloc's cap-and-trade scheme for carbon dioxide, EurActiv has learnt. Background: Since the early 1990s, there have been several attempts to introduce a unitary carbon tax across all EU member states. But an EU carbon tax has never materialised, as countries like the UK were unwilling to render national ...
Wed, 30 Sep 09
Eden drying out
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8279290.stm
BBC: The Garden of Eden is in danger of turning into a dustbowl. The legendary Eden was in Mesopotamia, the land between two rivers - the Tigris and the Euphrates. For hundreds of miles between their lower reaches there is fabulously fertile farmland. But it's hardly rained in Iraq for more than two years, the river levels have dropped by half in some places, and farmland is drying out. The drought is having a devastating effect on Iraq's most renowned export after oil - its ...
Wed, 30 Sep 09
Climate pact must include forest scheme: WWF
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090929/sc_afp/climatewarmingununfccccarbon
Agence France-Presse: A leading environmental group on Tuesday urged delegates at UN climate talks in Bangkok to include plans to reward nations for saving their forests in any deal on global warming. WWF International released a survey saying that investors showed "significant support" for a carbon market mechanism, which would address the estimated 20 percent of global carbon emissions due to deforestation. The group released the poll as officials from 192 countries gathered in Thailand to try to ...
Wed, 30 Sep 09
10 percent of world's major species at threat: report
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090929/sc_afp/environmentspeciesaustralia
Agence France-Presse: Almost 10 percent of the world's mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish are in danger of extinction due to climate change and other factors, according to an Australian report released Tuesday. The "Number of Living Species in Australia and the World" study found 0.9 percent of the world's 1.9 million classified species were at threat, including 9.2 percent of major vertebrate species. Australia's government-funded Biological Resources Study, the world's only census of ...
Wed, 30 Sep 09
Exelon Quits Chamber Over Climate Change
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/28/AR2009092803762.html
Associated Press: Power generator Exelon became the latest utility to drop its membership in the U.S. Chamber of Commerce because of the group's opposition to legislation that would limit emissions of greenhouse gases. "Inaction on climate is not an option," John Rowe, Exelon's chairman and chief executive, said in a speech at an energy-efficiency conference. "If Congress does not act, the EPA will, and the result will be more arbitrary, more expensive and more uncertain for investors and the industry ...
Wed, 30 Sep 09
Philippines: Floods a wake-up call for climate change
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/nation/view/20090929-227496/Floods-a-wake-up-call-for-climate-change
Agence France-Presse: The massive floods that inundated the Philippine capital were a chilling reminder of the need to seriously address climate change, experts said, warning that the lives of millions were at stake. More rain fell on Manila and surrounding regions in nine hours on Saturday than the amount Hurricane Katrina dumped on New Orleans in 2005. The ferocity of the storm shocked even seasoned experts in this Southeast Asian country where an average 20 typhoons hit every year, but they said ...
Wed, 30 Sep 09
EU and US woo China with prospect of import tax cut on green goods
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2250252/eu-wooing-china-prospect-import
Business Green: The US and European Union hope to forge a deal with China that would cut import duties on green goods as part of a bid to secure Beijing's signature on any climate change treaty agreed at the forthcoming Copenhagen Summit in December. The trio, in addition to 30 nations of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, are currently discussing plans that would phase out import tariffs on products such as wind turbines, unnamed EU diplomats told the Reuters news ...
Wed, 30 Sep 09
Copenhagen negotiating text: 200 pages to save the world?
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2250254/copenhagen-negotiating-text-200
Guardian: It is a blueprint to save the world. And yet it is long, confusing and contradictory. Negotiators have released a draft version of a new global agreement on climate change, which is widely billed as the last chance to save the planet from the ravages of global warming. Running to some 200 pages, the draft agreement is being discussed for the first time this week as officials from 190 countries gather in Bangkok for the latest round of UN talks. There is only one short meeting after ...
Wed, 30 Sep 09
ETS 'to wipe $14bn off coal': carbon emissions
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,24897,26137839-643,00.html
AAP: ANGLO-AMERICAN chief executive Cynthia Carroll says the Rudd government's proposed emissions trading scheme could cost Australia's coal industry $14 billion in its first 10 years of operation, close two of Anglo's mines a decade early and wipe out thousands of jobs. Speaking in Brisbane yesterday, Ms Carroll, the world's most high-profile female mining executive, said the scheme in its current form would also destroy $1bn of government royalties, 2000 Anglo Coal jobs and wipe $118 ...
Wed, 30 Sep 09
Climate trumping needs of the poor
http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/politics/climate-trumping-needs-of-the-poor-20090928-g95d.html
Age: At one of those weird, celebrity-laden events they have every few months in New York, Hugh Jackman announced last week "climate change and poverty are inextricably linked". World leaders furiously nodded their heads in stern agreement. In a basic sense Jackman is right. Rich societies can cope with changes to climate. Poor ones cannot. Subsistence farmers will struggle more with any global warming than accountants in suburban Australia. But for all the talk of climate aid and ...
Tue, 29 Sep 09
Drafting of climate agreement continues in Bangkok
http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/pacbeat/stories/200909/s2699074.htm
Radio Australia: Another round of UN sponsored climate change talks has kicked off, this time in the Thai capital, Bangkok. The talks follow on from last week's meeting in New York, and have brought together delegates from 180 countries. They'll continue work on finalising a draft text ahead of the crucial Copenhagen summit in December. That meeting is intended to produce a successor agreement to the Kyoto Protocol on reducing greenhouse gas emissions when it expires in 2012. Negotations this week ...
Tue, 29 Sep 09
Region heading towards 'severe water scarcity'
http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=317190&version=1&template_id=36&parent_id=16
Gulf Times: The water supply in most of the Arab countries is in "continuous decline" and the region is "heading towards a severe water scarcity within a decade and half," an expert taking part in a seminar in Doha yesterday said. International Fund for Agricultural Development's regional communication manager for the Near East and North Africa, Taysir al-Ghanem, expected that by 2025, the annual per capita water supply will be around 500 cubic metre, or 15% of what it used to ...
Tue, 29 Sep 09
Australian Opposition to Reject Carbon Plan, Australian Says
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601081&sid=amhM8_5HDL3M
Bloomberg: Two-thirds of the Australian opposition Liberal party's federal parliamentary members disagree with their leader Malcolm Turnbull over his plan to hold talks with the government about changes to the emissions trading scheme, the Australian newspaper reported. Twelve of the Liberal Party's 59 backbenchers in the lower house of parliament said the opposition should negotiate ahead of a climate change conference in Copenhagen in December, according to a survey by the ...
Tue, 29 Sep 09
Apple's Greenhouse Gas Reporting is a Welcome Step Forward
http://www.reuters.com/article/gwmEnergy/idUS248485163320090928
Reuters: Greener World Media The leadership of Apple Inc. took an encouraging step forward last Thursday in a bid for a higher green leadership profile in the IT industry by releasing an update of its recent environmental accomplishments. The centerpiece is a summary of a lifecycle assessment of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with all of its products. The company also did a much better job this year discussing the breadth of its carbon footprint in the annual Carbon ...
Tue, 29 Sep 09
Grizzlies, Back on the List
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/28/opinion/28mon4.html?em
New York Times: Last week, a federal district judge in Montana put the grizzly bears in the greater Yellowstone National Park area back on the endangered species list. Judge Donald Molloy said the Interior Department`s 2007 rule removing the animal from the list -- and the protections of the Endangered Species Act -- had not provided adequately for the bears` survival. Although the department may appeal, the wiser course would be to devise a better plan. The judge agreed that the recovery of the ...
Tue, 29 Sep 09
Philippines: Fatal floods in Manila focus minds in Bangkok
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2009/0929/1224255438077.html
Irish Times: WITH JUST 70 days to the crucial UN climate change conference in Copenhagen, delegates from nearly 180 countries assembled in Bangkok yesterday for another round of talks aimed at hammering out a global agreement in December. Opening the two-week session, Thailand`s prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said he hoped the "political will and vision" expressed by world leaders at the UN summit in New York last week would act as a spur to the negotiations. "There is no plan B. If we do ...
Tue, 29 Sep 09
DR Congo says effects of climate change visible
http://www.china.org.cn/environment/news/2009-09/29/content_18623093.htm
Xinhua: The effects of climate change are now visible in certain areas of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), especially the torrential rains, the prolonged drought season and the disappearance of certain species of animals, a UN agency official says. Madou Aruna, a technical consultant with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), made the remarks in Bukavu, the headquarters of South Kivu province, the Congolese press reported on Sunday. Aruna told a weekend sensitization ...
Tue, 29 Sep 09
Sobering, unnerving documentary attests to urgency of global warming
http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/culturesports/2009/09/29/43/0701000000AEN20090929001100315F.HTML
Yonhap: Reducing greenhouse gas emissions may be a double-edged sword for rapidly developing nations across the world who care about the future of this planet, but must also consider their own economic growth. To the inhabitants of the Arctic region, however, the clock is ticking and the ice is melting too quickly to allow for debates. "We are afraid of the future that has already begun," an elderly Inuit inhabitant of the northern region of Greenland says. "Animals and humans are ...
Tue, 29 Sep 09
Death toll in Philippines flooding reaches 240
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jSvmEJ57ktsFxVCZq7aG_8T9rXpAD9B0LRBO0
Associated Press: Officials say the death toll in the massive flooding in the Philippine capital and surrounding areas has climbed to 240 people, with 37 others missing. The National Disaster Coordinating Council said Tuesday the homes of nearly 1.9 million were inundated, with nearly 380,000 people brought to schools, churches and other evacuation centers. Overwhelmed officials have called for international help, warning they may not have enough resources to withstand another storm that ...
Tue, 29 Sep 09
United States: Feds to decide on listing ice seals as threatened
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090928/ap_on_re_us/us_ice_seals
Associated Press: A federal agency must decide within three weeks whether spotted seals, which depend on sea ice off Alaska's coast, should be listed as a threatened or endangered species. In addition, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration agreed to decide by Nov. 1, 2010, whether two other ice-dependent seals, ringed seals and bearded seals, should be listed. A federal judge Friday approved the settlement between NOAA and the Center for Biological Diversity, which had sued to ...
Tue, 29 Sep 09
Third World population controls won't save climate, study claims
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article6852853.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=3392178
Times (UK): The population explosion in poor countries will contribute little to climate change and is a dangerous distraction from the main problem of over-consumption in rich nations, a study has found. It challenges claims by leading environmentalists, including Sir David Attenborough and Jonathon Porritt, that strict birth control is needed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The study concludes that spending billions of pounds of aid on contraception in the developing world will not ...
Tue, 29 Sep 09
United Kingdom: A nice day out, but the wrong kind of weather
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/michael-mccarthy-a-nice-day-out-but-the-wrong-kind-of-weather-1794723.html
Independent (UK): Is there a game for autumn, as cricket is the game for summer? I ask this because at the weekend I saw football played on the most exquisite autumn day, which was a great pleasure, and yet I felt the two experiences (the seasonal weather and the football) were somehow separate, whereas in cricket they would be conjoined. Cricket proclaims summer (as butterflies do) because it needs sunshine (as butterflies do). Consider: you don't play cricket in rain, hail, snow, fog, frost or even ...
Tue, 29 Sep 09
Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States
http://www.reuters.com/article/gwmEnergy/idUS388118200020090928
Reuters: This report summarizes the science and the impacts of climate change on the United States. The report examines climate change impacts in different regions of the U.S. and on various aspects of society and the economy such as energy, water, agriculture and health. The report also highlights the choices available in responding to human-induced climate change.
Tue, 29 Sep 09
Senators to unveil new draft climate bill
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2250244/senators-unveil-draft-climate
Business Green: Senior Democrat Senators are to unveil a new draft climate bill tomorrow, intended to build on the Waxman-Markey bill passed by the House of Representatives earlier this year and reinvigorate efforts to pass US climate change legislation. Senators Barbara Boxer and John Kerry said they would present new legislation on Wednesday with the aim of delivering a Senate vote on the controversial legislation before the end of the year. The Boxer-Kerry bill is based mainly on the ...
Tue, 29 Sep 09
Negotiators urged to speed up climate pact talks
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE58R05820090928?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Delegates at the start of marathon climate talks in Thailand on Monday were told to speed up "painfully slow" negotiations as they struggle to settle on the outline of a tougher pact to fight global warming. The Bangkok talks, which run until October 9, is the last major negotiating round before a gathering in Copenhagen in December that the United Nations has set as a deadline to seal a broad agreement on a pact to expand and replace the Kyoto Protocol. "Time is not just ...
Tue, 29 Sep 09
High tech may pinpoint Antarctica sea rise risks
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE58M5LM20090928?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Dismayed by ice and storms, British explorer Captain James Cook had no regrets when he abandoned a voyage searching for a fabled southern continent in 1773. Finding only icebergs after he was the first to cross the Antarctic Circle, he wrote ruefully that if anyone ventured further and found a "land doomed by nature...to lie for ever buried under everlasting ice and snow": "I shall not envy him the honor of discovery, but I will be bold to say that the world will not be ...
Tue, 29 Sep 09
Cassandras of Climate
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/28/opinion/28krugman.html?_r=5&partner=rss&emc=rss
New York Times: Every once in a while I feel despair over the fate of the planet. If you've been following climate science, you know what I mean: the sense that we're hurtling toward catastrophe but nobody wants to hear about it or do anything to avert it. And here's the thing: I'm not engaging in hyperbole. These days, dire warnings aren't the delusional raving of cranks. They're what come out of the most widely respected climate models, devised by the leading researchers. The prognosis for the ...
Tue, 29 Sep 09
Met Office warns of catastrophic global warming in our lifetimes
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/sep/28/met-office-study-global-warming
Guardian: Unchecked global warming could bring a severe temperature rise of 4C within many people's lifetimes, according to a new report for the British government that significantly raises the stakes over climate change. The study, prepared for the Department of Energy and Climate Change by scientists at the Met Office, challenges the assumption that severe warming will be a threat only for future generations, and warns that a catastrophic 4C rise in temperature could happen by 2060 without ...
Tue, 29 Sep 09
South Korean utility unveils $2.4bn clean energy budget
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2250179/south-korean-utility-spend-4bn
Business Green: South Korea's state-run power monopoly announced yesterday that it will spend US$2.4bn by 2020 on developing clean energy technologies. Korea Electric Power Corp (KEPCO) said it aims to generate $12bn in revenue on its green investment scheme -- roughly 700 times its current income from the sector -- which would comprise 16.5 per cent of the company's projected earnings in 2020. KEPCO has chosen eight sectors for investment, starting from 2010: integrated gasification combined ...
Tue, 29 Sep 09
China eyes emission trading as part of economic development plan
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2250182/china-eyes-emission-trading
Business Green: China plans to include a pilot emissions trading system in its five-year plan for economic development from 2010-15, although it is unclear whether carbon dioxide would be covered. The Environment Ministry yesterday stated that it will "carry out trial work on trading emission and pollution permits", according to the Reuters news agency. However, ministry officials declined to say how large the trial would be, or whether it would incorporate CO2 trading. China has conducted ...
Tue, 29 Sep 09
United Kingdom: Autumn comes early because of drought
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/6232722/Autumn-comes-early-because-of-drought.html
Telegraph: The lack of rain through August has already caused gardeners to lose flowers early. Now the leaves are turning faster than usual and some trees are even dying for lack of rain. Nigel Taylor, Curator of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, said the famous gardens have already lost two trees and the situation would be "serious" for gardeners if rain does not come soon. The Met Office said that while parts of Scotland, Northern Ireland and Cumbria experienced twice the normal ...
Tue, 29 Sep 09
Warmer weather threatens moose in Minnesota
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090928/ap_on_re_us/us_endangered_moose
Associated Press: The moose calf didn't seem to want to get out of the water. But its mother, perhaps concerned about approaching boats, decided it was time to leave. She waded back into the reeds along the Sea Gull River and nudged her light brown offspring. Then she bounded through the thick brush into the forest, her calf struggling to keep up. In moments, both were gone. Researchers say such sightings of moose, an icon in Minnesota's northwoods, are likely to become more rare. A special ...
Tue, 29 Sep 09
Obama raises prospect of Copenhagen II
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2250208/obama-raises-prospect
Business Green: The latest round of negotiations to agree a successor to the Kyoto Treaty kicked off in Bangkok today amidst reports that US President Barack Obama attempted to downplay the importance of the forthcoming Copenhagen Summit at last week's meeting of the G20 in Pittsburgh. According to reports, Obama told world leaders that, while the Copenhagen meeting where an international deal is expected to be finalised remains important to the fight against climate change, it does not necessarily ...
Tue, 29 Sep 09
E.U. alone and lonely on carbon
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/28/business/energy-environment/28green.html?_r=5
New York Times: Carbon trading put the European Union in the environmental vanguard. Since 2005, the trade bloc has operated the world's only continentwide system that puts a cap on greenhouse gas emissions and that requires major polluters to hold tradable allowances. But the system has also been the most "costly climate policy program in the world," according to Jürgen R. Thumann, the president of BusinessEurope, a powerful confederation of industry and employer groups. Mr. Thumann ...
Tue, 29 Sep 09
China sees unfulfilled potential in the wind
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/2009-09-27-chinaenergy_N.htm
USA Today: Among the many people with concerns about the enormous wind turbines being built here, count Jing Xiuwan. "Once the windmills start turning, it will rain much less," says Jing, 56, a farmer. "Everyone is worried." That's a myth -- a common one in China. Yet the Chinese government and industry groups have legitimate worries about a wind power grid that they say has expanded too fast and with too little regulation. China, the world's third-largest economy, has made green ...
Tue, 29 Sep 09
Wood heat, a '70s idea, catches fire again
http://www.startribune.com/business/61529702.html?elr=KArks:DCiU1OiP:DiiUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aULPQL7PQLanchO7DiUr
Star Tribune: With winter on the way, business appears to be warming up once again for Martin Lunde and his Garn WHS wood-fired heating systems. Lunde, a consulting engineer, began developing his high-efficiency, clean-burning system as both oil prices and interest in alternative energy rose in the 1970s. As those conditions returned in recent years, Lunde has rekindled production, largely shuttered since plunging oil prices froze him out of the market in 1989. A boost could come in March ...
Tue, 29 Sep 09
Google Earth climate change 3D map unveiled
http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/google-earth-climate-change-3d-map-unveiled-20090928-g8de.html
Sydney Morning Herald: Google is using its Google Earth mapping tool to simulate on a 3D map of the world the predicted effects of climate change until the year 2100. Using data provided by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the search giant created new layers for Google Earth showing the range of expected temperature and precipitation changes under different global emissions scenarios that could occur throughout the century. The new tools were introduced in partnership with the Danish ...
Tue, 29 Sep 09
Philippines: Massive floods to become the norm, expert warns
http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/222435/massive-floods-become-norm-expert-warns
Manila Bulletin: The record-breaking amount of rainfall brought by Tropical Storm "Ondoy' that inundated large parts of Metro Manila in less than 24 hours on Saturday could happen again, a climatologist warned Monday. Flaviana Hilario, a climatologist at the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA), said the unusually high amount of rainfall caused by a single weather disturbance will happen more often in the next years due to climate ...
Tue, 29 Sep 09
4 degrees warming "likely" without CO2 cuts-study
http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSLP228193
Reuters: Global temperatures may be 4 degrees Celsius hotter by the mid-2050s if current greenhouse gas emissions trends continue, said a study published on Monday. The study, by Britain's Met Office Hadley Centre, echoed a U.N. report last week which found that climate changes were outpacing worst-case scenarios forecast in 2007 by the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). [ID:nN24360533] "Our results are showing similar patterns (to the IPCC) but also show the ...
Tue, 29 Sep 09
Is 350 the new 450 when it comes to capping carbon emissions?
http://www.nytimes.com/cwire/2009/09/28/28climatewire-is-350-the-new-450-when-it-comes-to-capping-c-6627.html
ClimateWire: When it comes to fighting climate change, pick a number -- any number. Nearly 200 countries have signed a U.N. treaty pledging to avoid "dangerous" climate change. But lately, it seems, "dangerous" is lost in translation. Fifteen years since that agreement took effect, scientists and governments are still grappling with what carrying out its promise means. For the European Union, it means limiting Earth's warming to just 2 degrees Celsius hotter by the end of this century than ...
Tue, 29 Sep 09
Boxer, Kerry set to introduce climate bill in Senate
http://www.nytimes.com/cwire/2009/09/28/28climatewire-boxer-kerry-set-to-introduce-climate-bill-in-43844.html
ClimateWire: Ending some nine months of closed-door deliberations, Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and John Kerry (D-Mass.) will release global warming legislation Wednesday that they hope will be the vehicle for broader Senate negotiations and an eventual conference with the House. The bill's authors said last week that they expect to start hearings early next month on the bill, with a markup in Boxer's Environment and Public Works Committee to follow soon thereafter. They also acknowledged that ...
Tue, 29 Sep 09
US says climate bill might not pass in time
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5i7hP2g0kyiepKq9-cVavDQwIQpAAD9B009S80
Associated Press: The fate of U.S. legislation capping carbon emissions weighed heavily on delegates at U.N. climate talks starting Monday in Bangkok, with the Americans saying delays in passing the bill could deter commitments from other nations. Negotiations on a new U.N. climate pact have been bogged down by a broad unwillingness to commit to firm emissions targets, and a refusal by developing countries to sign a deal until the West guarantees tens of billions of dollars in financial assistance -- ...
Tue, 29 Sep 09
China's wind farms come with a catch: coal plants
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125409730711245037.html
Wall Street Journal: China's ambition to create "green cities" powered by huge wind farms comes with a dirty little secret: Dozens of new coal-fired power plants need to be installed as well. Part of the reason is that wind power depends on, well, the wind. To safeguard against blackouts when conditions are too calm, officials have turned to coal-fired power as a backup. China wants renewable energy like wind to meet 15% of its energy needs by 2020, double its share in 2005, as it seeks to rein in ...
Tue, 29 Sep 09
UN climate chief says time running out for deal
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090928/ts_afp/climatewarmingununfccc
Agence France-Presse: The UN climate chief warned on Monday that time was running out to break a deadlock on a global warming pact, telling delegates in Bangkok that failure to do so by December would threaten future generations. The talks are the next to last before a showdown in Copenhagen at the end of the year, when the 192 countries must agree on a treaty for tackling greenhouse gases beyond 2010, after the current Kyoto Protocol expires. "Time is not just pressing, it has almost run out," said ...
Tue, 29 Sep 09
Scientists Find Successful Way To Reduce Bat Deaths At Wind Turbines
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090928095347.htm
ScienceDaily: Scientists at the University of Calgary have found a way to reduce bat deaths from wind turbines by up to 60 percent without significantly reducing the energy generated from the wind farm. The research, recently published in the Journal of Wildlife Management, demonstrates that slowing turbine blades to near motionless in low-wind periods significantly reduces bat mortality. "Biologically, this makes sense as bats are more likely to fly when wind speeds are relatively low. When it's ...
Tue, 29 Sep 09
UN warns leaders time running out for climate deal
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090928/ap_on_re_as/as_thailand_un_climate_talks
Associated Press: The United Nations on Monday warned world leaders they have only 70 days to reach a new deal to limit global warming, while environmentalists pointed to the deadly floods in the Philippines to illustrate the already devastating impact of climate change. Only hours after negotiations began, rich and poor nations were already flinging their usual rebukes at one another for failing to do their part to reach a deal to replace the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012. Talks have ...
Tue, 29 Sep 09
"Climate illiterate" U.S. seen risking warming inaction
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE58R3VG20090928?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: U.S. wavering on climate commitment could undermine action to save the planet, the director of Germany's Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research said on the sidelines of a conference on Monday. Preserving the Greenland ice cap was the defining action needed to prevent several meters of sea level rise and warming which would threaten the world's food and water supplies, Hans Schellnhuber told reporters. The doubts of many Republican U.S. senators over the practicality of a ...
Tue, 29 Sep 09
Britain to host pre-Copenhagen climate talks
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE58R42X20090928?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Britain said on Monday it would host a meeting of major economies next month ahead of talks to reach a new U.N deal to fight climate change. The United States had asked Britain to hold the meeting of the 17-member Major Economies Forum (MEF) it set up earlier this year to provide an informal forum to discuss climate issues in London on October 18 and 19. The discussions come less than two months before about 190 nations gather for talks in Copenhagen in December to forge a ...
Tue, 29 Sep 09
Whitman pledge places California's climate leadership at risk, says rival
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2250237/election-put-california-climate
Business Green: A row has broken out between two of the leading candidates to take over from California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger when he steps down next year, after Republican primary candidate and former eBay chief executive Meg Whitman said that she would reverse the state's flagship climate bill. The pledge drew immediate fire from rival gubernatorial candidate and San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom, who accused Whitman of "backward thinking" on climate change that would jeopardise ...
Tue, 29 Sep 09
Exelon to quit U.S. Chamber of Commerce over climate
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE58R4GZ20090928?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Exelon Corp, the largest nuclear power operator in the United States, on Monday became the latest U.S. power company to say it will leave the Chamber of Commerce over that group's opposition to the climate bill. "The Chamber and other groups think climate legislation will be bad for the economy," an Exelon spokeswoman said. "We think it's going to be good for the economy." Exelon's top executive John Rowe said in a speech on Monday that the company would not renew its ...
Tue, 29 Sep 09
Four degrees of warming 'likely'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8279654.stm
BBC: In a dramatic acceleration of forecasts for global warming, UK scientists say the global average temperature could rise by 4C (7.2F) as early as 2060. The Met Office study used projections of fossil fuel use that reflect the trend seen over the last 20 years. Their computer models also factored in new findings on how carbon dioxide is absorbed by the oceans and forests. The finding was presented at an Oxford University conference exploring the implications of a 4C ...
Tue, 29 Sep 09
EU, U.S. eye green goods tax pact in climate fight
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE58R3AR20090928?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: The European Union and the United States are holding talks on forging a pact with OECD countries and China to eliminate duties on green goods as part of incentives to Beijing in a potential global climate deal. EU diplomats told Reuters that under a plan being discussed by Brussels and Washington, the 30 nations in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and China would agree a global pact to phase out import tariffs on goods such as wind turbines, renewables and ...
Tue, 29 Sep 09
Let's Have a Grown-Up Debate About Climate Change
http://www.reuters.com/article/gwmEnergy/idUS114681556520090928
Reuters: If, like me, you have been confused, frustrated, dispirited or all of the above by the health care debate in Congress, get ready for more as the U.S. Senate prepares to take up climate-change legislation. The stakes are high. The debate will not be high-minded. Expect opponents of mandatory carbon regulation to distort the science and economics of global warming, predicting an economic catastrophe if the bill passes, even as environmentalists promise a green jobs nirvana and warn of ...
Tue, 29 Sep 09
Companies desert the climate deniosphere
http://features.csmonitor.com/environment/2009/09/28/companies-desert-the-climate-deniosphere/
Christian Science Monitor: Increasingly, companies are leaving trade associations that have taken positions at odds with what science is telling us about human-induced global warming -- that it`s real and that we`d better address it sooner rather than later. Last week, Pacific Gas & Electric (possibly best known nationally as the villain in the movie Erin Brockovich") left the US Chamber of Commerce over "fundamental differences" on how to approach climate change caused by a build-up of greenhouse gases in ...
Tue, 29 Sep 09
Scientists Announce Trove of Fragile New Species in Mekong
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1926458,00.html
Time Magazine: Right now, bird-eating frogs with fangs wait for their prey in the streams of eastern Thailand. Technicolor geckos scurry up trees on the Thai-Malaysian border, and ruby-red fish – previously only found in the Ukrainian ornamental fish trade – are swimming in the rivers of Burma. These are three of the 163 species discovered by various researchers in the Greater Mekong region of Southeast Asia last year, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) announced on Sept. 25. But conservationists ...
Tue, 29 Sep 09
Calls for Massive Financing Kick Off Climate Change Talks
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48622
Inter Press Service: The need for adequate financing to assist developing countries in meeting the challenges of climate change was highlighted on Monday's opening of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) negotiations in Thailand's capital. Noeleen Heyzer, executive secretary for the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), called for new efforts to meet the challenge of finance at the opening of the Bangkok talks. "We were able ...
Tue, 29 Sep 09
Climate-Change Study Cites Role of Ancient Farming
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/27/AR2009092701949.html
Washington Post: It is an odd-sounding idea, because the problem is usually assumed to be a modern one, the product of a world created by the Industrial Revolution and powered by high-polluting fossil fuels. But a professor emeritus at the University of Virginia has suggested that people began altering the climate thousands of years ago, as primitive farmers burned forests and built methane-bubbling rice paddies. The practices produced enough greenhouse gases, he says, to warm the world by a degree or ...
Mon, 28 Sep 09
E.P.A. Ordered to Reconsider New Mexico Power Plant Permit
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/27/science/earth/27plant.html?_r=5&partner=rss&emc=rss
Associated Press: A federal appeals board has ordered the Environmental Protection Agency to reconsider an air permit issued for a planned coal-fired power plant on the Navajo Nation. The decision, in part, grants a request by regional agency officials who wanted to take another look at parts of the permit for the $3 billion Desert Rock Energy Project, which is planned for tribal land in northwestern New Mexico. Environmentalists and the State of New Mexico have voiced concerns about air ...
Mon, 28 Sep 09
Climate talks resume in Bangkok with deal in doubt
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5i7hP2g0kyiepKq9-cVavDQwIQpAAD9AVENR80
Associated Press: Two years ago, governments from around the world came together on the island of Bali and agreed to urgently rein in the heat-trapping gases blamed for deadly heat waves, melting glaciers and rising seas. But with just over two months left to reach a deal at a conference in Copenhagen on fighting climate change, negotiations have bogged down over the big issues of emissions targets and financing for poor nations. The climate negotiations resume Monday in Bangkok, but a growing chorus ...
Fri, 25 Sep 09
Recession barely dents 'eco-debt'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8273791.stm
BBC: The recession has had little impact on humanity's over-consumption of resources, says a report. The New Economics Foundation (Nef) calculates the day each year when the world goes into "ecological debt." This is the date by which humanity has used the quantity of natural resources that ought to last an entire year if used at a sustainable rate. This year, "ecological debt day" falls on 25 September - just one day later than in 2008. According to Nef, this means ...
Fri, 25 Sep 09
Boost food production or risk starvation: sunrice chief
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/09/25/2696376.htm
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: SunRice CEO Gary Helou has urged world leaders to act globally to prevent a looming food crisis. Speaking at the United Nations Leadership Forum on Climate Change in New York, Gary Helou said food production needs to rise 50 per cent by 2030 to prevent starvation. In his speech he called for the use and allocation of globally scarce resources such as water and energy to be prioritised, rather than the current focus on agricultural subsidies and tariffs.
Fri, 25 Sep 09
Preserve US national park
http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20090924/cm_csm/eparks
Christian Science Monitor: More than a century ago, naturalist John Muir urged urban dwellers in bustling Eastern cities to look up from their labors and head west to a national park for a fresh perspective. "Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees," wrote Muir in 1901. "The winds will blow their own freshness into you and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves." Beginning this Sunday America's premier documentary filmmaker, Ken Burns, issues that ...
Fri, 25 Sep 09
Calif. bans high-emission paint thinners, solvents
http://www.thestate.com/166/story/956993.html
Associated Press: California air regulators approved strict regulations Thursday for aerosol air fresheners, paint thinners and solvents as a way to lessen smog-forming emissions and reduce a health threat. The state Air Resources Board voted 8-0 to ban the sale of products that emit high levels of so-called volatile organic compounds. The rules are the toughest state mandate in the nation and will take effect Dec. 31, 2013. Regulators say the emissions from those household products increase ...
Fri, 25 Sep 09
'Capturing carbon from air only way to save earth'
http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/sci-tech/capturing-carbon-from-air-only-way-to-save-earth_100252035.html
Indo-Asian News Service: Capturing carbon directly from the air is the only way to prevent dangerous climate changes, says a pioneering Canadian scientist. University of Calgary scientist David Keith says governments need to earmark more research funding for technologies to capture carbon dioxide in surrounding air to save the planet. Keith has successfully tested an air capture technology last year. The market for carbon capture technologies is estimated to reach $1 billion a year within 20 years. In ...
Fri, 25 Sep 09
EU 'very worried' on climate negotiations
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jTE5cRacgsFymbYmzTJhC-P1d6Hw
Agence France-Presse: The European Union voiced deep concern about climate change negotiations, warning they were heading in the wrong direction with weeks to go before the make-or-break Copenhagen conference. Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, the current head of the EU, came to the US city of Pittsburgh for a 20-nation economic summit after top-level talks at the United Nations on climate change. "We are both very worried about the situation," Reinfeldt said at a joint news conference with ...
Fri, 25 Sep 09
El Nino shift could boost hurricanes, droughts, says study
http://www.caribbeannetnews.com/news-18983--46-46--.html
Agence France-Presse: Global warming periodically shifts El Nino thousands of miles to the west, potentially intensifying Asian droughts and weakening its dampening effect on Atlantic hurricanes, reports a study published Thursday. Up to now, the tropical weather phenomenon, which strikes on average every four or five years, has generally occurred along a wide stretch of the equator in the eastern Pacific. Such is the case with the current El Nino, which is likely to remain in place well into next ...
Fri, 25 Sep 09
United States: Street clashes as police disperse G20 protesters
http://news.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne%2BNews/World/Story/A1Story20090925-169864.html
Agence France-Presse: Riot officers fired pepper spray and non-lethal rounds Thursday to repel stone-throwing anarchist youths marching on a summit of the world's most powerful leaders. Riot officers intervened after a 1,000-strong crowd, led by black-clad hardliners wearing goggles, helmets and masks and brandishing anti-capitalist banners, began to trek across Pittsburgh towards the G20 conference venue. The Group of 20 is a forum for the world's biggest developed and emerging economies and its ...
Fri, 25 Sep 09
Vietnam finds itself vulnerable if sea rises
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/24/world/asia/24delta.html?_r=5
New York Times: For centuries, as monsoon rains, typhoons and wars have swept over them and disappeared into the sunshine, the farmers and fishermen of the Mekong Delta have drawn life from the water and fertile fields where the great river ends its 2,700-mile journey to the sea. The rhythms of life continue from season to season though, like much of the country, the delta is moving quickly into the future, and industry has begun to pollute the air and water. But everything here, both the ...
Fri, 25 Sep 09
U.S. panel shifts focus to reusing nuclear fuel
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/24/business/energy-environment/24yucca.html?_r=5
New York Times: With a federal plan to handle nuclear waste in deadlocked disarray, an advisory panel that has spent 20 years studying a proposed repository at Yucca Mountain turned Wednesday to discussing ways of reusing the fuel instead. But the meeting of the panel, the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board, made evident that such reuse was uncertain, along with the future of Yucca Mountain, in Nevada, about 100 miles from Las Vegas. The board heard presentations from three major nuclear ...
Fri, 25 Sep 09
Spain's answer to unemployment: Go greener
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/23/AR2009092302152.html
Washington Post: As world leaders converge in Pittsburgh for a major economic summit this week, one of the biggest questions they face is this: How do you begin to replace the millions of jobs destroyed by the Great Recession, now that the worst of the crisis has potentially passed? Here on the sun-drenched and windy Iberian Peninsula, Spain thinks it has an answer: create new jobs and save the Earth at the same time. Green jobs have become a mantra for many governments, including that of the ...
Fri, 25 Sep 09
Denver To Barcelona: Global Cities And Greenhouse Gas Emissions
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090923133007.htm
ScienceDaily: Denver released the largest amount of greenhouse gases (GHG) and Barcelona the smallest amount in a new study documenting how differences in climate, population density and other factors affect GHG emissions in global cities. The study, which could identify ways in which cities can reduce GHG emissions, is scheduled for October 1 issue of ACS' Environmental Science & Technology, a semi-monthly journal. Christopher Kennedy and colleagues note in the new study that some ...
Fri, 25 Sep 09
EU in tussle over CO2 emissions
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8273016.stm
BBC: The European Commission is considering pursuing a legal fight with the EU's top court over management of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS). On Wednesday the European Court of First Instance annulled commission decisions which sought to cut the CO2 emissions quotas of Poland and Estonia. The court defended the right of EU states to set their own CO2 quotas. "We are very disappointed and are studying the judgment with a view to a possible appeal," the commission ...
Fri, 25 Sep 09
GM to sell cheap electric cars in India
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/sep/24/gm-electric-car-india
Guardian: General Motors, one of the world's biggest carmakers, and the Bangalore-based company behind the G-Wiz electric car have announced a joint venture to produce "affordable" electric cars in India. The new vehicle, which has been road-tested, will be based on GM's popular Spark hatchback, which in India costs a quarter of a million rupees (£3,000). Neither GM nor its partner, Reva, would be drawn on the electric version's price tag, though both said it would be "competitive and ...
Fri, 25 Sep 09
Will tropical trees survive climate change?, an interview with Kenneth J. Feeley
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0923-hance_feeley.html
Mongabay: One of the most pressing issues in the conservation today is how climate change will affect tropical ecosystems. The short answer is: we don't know. Because of this, more and more scientists are looking at the probable impacts of a warmer world on the Earth's most vibrant and biodiverse ecosystems. Kenneth J. Feeley, tropical ecologist and new professor at Florida International University and the Center for Tropical Plant Conservation at the Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, is ...
Fri, 25 Sep 09
Time Running Out on Vows to Act, Scientists Warn
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48577
Inter Press Service: Promises are easy to make. But promises by world leaders will not halt the heat-trapping carbon emissions that are dialing-up global temperatures and altering the climate, say critics and climate researchers meeting in this U.S. Midwestern city. As evidenced at the U.N. leader's summit on climate change in New York Tuesday, the world's big economies are refusing to commit to actions that will prevent this and future generations from inheriting a hostile climate no other humans have ...
Fri, 25 Sep 09
Trees: Out of the Forest and Into the Oven
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48574
Inter Press Service: Millions of trees, especially from the developing countries of the South, are being shipped to Europe and burned in giant furnaces to meet "green energy" requirements that are supposed to combat climate change. In the last two months alone, energy companies in Britain have announced the construction of at least six new biomass power generation plants to produce 1,200 megawatts of energy, primarily from burning woodchips. At least another 1,200 megawatts of wood-fired energy ...
Fri, 25 Sep 09
Contraceptives to help poor cope with climate change
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20327273.900-contraceptives-to-help-poor-cope-with-climate-change.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=climate-change
New Scientist: A UNIQUE approach to helping farmers and communities in poor countries adapt to the destructive effects of climate change seems to be paying off. By combining environmental farming methods with family planning, the Consortium for Integration of Population, Health and Environment (CIPHE) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, says farming productivity in the Wichi wetlands in the south-west of the country has increased - although how much of this is down to a reduction in family size is not yet ...
Fri, 25 Sep 09
Droughts, melts signal climate change quickening: U.N
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE58N3Q420090924?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Droughts from Australia to the U.S. Southwest, acidic ocean water and melting glaciers are signs that the pace of climate change is surpassing the worst-case scenarios scientists predicted in 2007, a U.N. report said on Thursday. Mountain glaciers in Asia are melting at a rate that could eventually threaten water supplies, irrigation or hydropower for 20 percent to 25 percent of the world's population, the U.N. Environment Program report said. "We are headed to very serious ...
Fri, 25 Sep 09
China launches climate project with Britain, Switzerland: govt
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090924/sc_afp/chinaeuclimateenvironmentwarming
Agence France-Presse: China has launched with Britain and Switzerland a project aimed at finding ways for the Asian giant to tackle climate change and mitigate its effects, officials said Thursday. The Adapting to Climate Change in China project will run from this year through 2012, said the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), Beijing's top economic planning agency, in a statement on its website. Britain's departments for International Development and Energy and Climate Change along ...
Fri, 25 Sep 09
Europe wrangles over carbon emissions quotas
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE58N3X820090924?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: France, Italy and several other European Union countries weighed their chances of haggling up their EU carbon emissions quotas on Thursday, one day after Poland and Estonia successfully challenged theirs in court. The two east European countries won their appeal on Wednesday for more generous caps on industrial emissions in the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), the EU's main tool for ratcheting down gases blamed for climate change. The ruling by the European Court of First ...
Fri, 25 Sep 09
Carbon Traders Issue Warning After Ruling
http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/24/carbon-traders-issue-warning-after-ruling/
New York Times: Carbon traders on Thursday called for measures to ensure stability in the European market for greenhouse gases after a court ruled that regulators had botched their assessment of emissions targets in Poland and Estonia. The International Emissions Trading Association suggested there was a "hole in the fabric" of Europe`s carbon trading system. The price of carbon allowances dipped nearly 5 percent during Wednesday trading, after the European Union`s Court of First Instance said ...
Fri, 25 Sep 09
EU emissions trading scheme in turmoil after Poland wins right to raise carbon cap
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2250089/poland-wins-appeal-emit-carbon
Business Green: The price of carbon in the EU emissions trading scheme (ETS) slipped more than 2.5 per cent to EUR13.35 (£12.21) yesterday, after a European court overturned European Commission caps on the amount of carbon Poland and Estonia are permitted to emit between 2008 and 2012. The controversial decision opens the way for the court to make similar rulings on other countries' emission caps and, according to experts, could have devastating consequences for the high-profile cap-and-trade ...
Fri, 25 Sep 09
Air pollution may raise preterm birth risk
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090924/hl_nm/us_air_pollution
Reuters: Exposure to air pollution later in pregnancy may raise a woman's risk of delivering her baby too soon, a new study suggests. The findings, reported in the journal Epidemiology, do not prove that air pollution, per se, triggers preterm labor in some women. But they do provide "limited support" for that theory, the researchers say. Some previous studies have linked air pollution exposure in both the first and third trimester of pregnancy to an increased risk of preterm ...
Fri, 25 Sep 09
Senate blocks move against EPA climate rules
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE58N4I320090924?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Democratic and Republican leaders in the U.S. Senate on Thursday agreed to block legislation that would have stopped some possible Environmental Protection Agency rules to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Under the agreement, the Senate will not vote on whether to approve legislation by Senator Lisa Murkowski, an Alaska Republican, to impose a one-year moratorium on EPA rules for carbon emissions from utilities, oil refineries and factories that are under ...
Fri, 25 Sep 09
Planned emission cuts still means far hotter Earth
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090924/ap_on_sc/us_sci_warming_earth
Associated Press: Earth's temperature is likely to jump nearly 6 degrees between now and the end of the century even if every country cuts greenhouse gas emissions as proposed, according to a United Nations update. Scientists looked at emission plans from 192 nations and calculated what would happen to global warming. The projections take into account 80 percent pollution cuts from the U.S. and Europe by 2050, which are not sure things. The U.S. figure is based on a bill that passed the House of ...
Fri, 25 Sep 09
California Gubernatorial Hopeful Vows to Reverse California's Emissions Rules
http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/24/california-gubernatorial-hopeful-vows-to-reverse-californias-emissions-rules/
New York Times: Margaret C. Whitman, the former chief executive of eBay who declared her candidacy for the California governorship on Tuesday, hopes to roll back California`s law requiring deep cuts in the state`s greenhouse gas emissions. "As governor, I would work hard to protect our environment," Ms. Whitman said Wednesday, according to The San Diego Union Tribune. "But the needs of our environment have to be balanced with the needs of our people and the needs of our economy. We have too many ...
Fri, 25 Sep 09
Text: Obama's U.N. speech on climate change
http://www.usatoday.com/weather/climate/globalwarming/2009-09-24-obama-climate-change-text_N.htm?csp=34
USA Today: President Obama's remarks at the United Nations Climate Change Summit on Wednesday, as released by the White House: Good morning. I want to thank the Secretary General for organizing this summit, and all the leaders who are participating. That so many of us are here today is a recognition that the threat from climate change is serious, it is urgent, and it is growing. Our generation's response to this challenge will be judged by history, for if we fail to meet it -- boldly, ...
Fri, 25 Sep 09
Pressure mounts over climate change at G20
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/700556
Canadian Press: New climate-change commitments from China and Japan have ratcheted up pressure on Canada and other countries to put money and measures on the table at the G20 summit in Pittsburgh. Prime Minister Stephen Harper joined other leaders of rich and emerging market economies Thursday following ground-shifting talks on climate change in at the United Nations in New York. The host of the Pittsburgh meeting, U.S. President Barack Obama, has seen his carbon cap-and-trade commitment ...
Fri, 25 Sep 09
The Challenge Of Climate Change
http://www.voanews.com/uspolicy/2009-09-23-voa6.cfm
Voice of America: The Challenge Of Climate Change 24 September 2009 President Barack Obama addresses the United Nations climate change summit. At a UN summit on climate change in New York, U.S. President Barack Obama asked world leaders to come together in pursuing policies that allow economies to grow without endangering our planet. Over the next few months, nations of the world will be working to reach a new international agreement to combat climate change. Climate change affects all nations. ...
Fri, 25 Sep 09
United Kingdom: Industry warns against "disastrous" carbon capture funding cuts
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2250011/industry-warns-goverment-ccs
Business Green: The carbon capture and storage (CCS) industry has expressed grave concerns at reports the government is considering scaling back its £10bn plan to fund a series of CCS demonstration plants in the UK as part of its efforts to restore health to the public finances. The Guardian reported yesterday that Treasury officials have warned that the government plan to fund the development of up to four CCS plants could be cut as a result of renewed spending constraints. Luke Warren, ...
Fri, 25 Sep 09
United Kingdom: Lawyer launches pro-bono advisory network for low-carbon businesses
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2250010/law-firm-launches-pro-bono
Business Green: Green business startups could from today access free legal, management and investment advice, following the launch of a new network of professional services firms that is offering to undertake pro-bono work for businesses working on low-carbon projects. The non-profit Leapfrog network is the brainchild of Steve McNab, head of environment at law firm Travers Smith, who said the aim of the initiative was to integrate the pro-bono work that many professional services firms already offer ...
Fri, 25 Sep 09
US Treasury dishes out further $550m in renewables funding
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2250002/treasury-dishes-further-550m
Business Green: The Obama administration's campaign to convince the world that the US is doing all it can to curb carbon emissions received a boost this week with the announcement that the Department of Energy has awarded a further $550m in Federal grants to renewable energy projects. The new funding, which takes the total stimulus funding dished out to the renewables sector over $1bn, was awarded to 25 projects as part of the government's 1603 programme. Under the scheme, renewable energy ...
Fri, 25 Sep 09
Ancient glaciers are disappearing faster than ever
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/ancient-glaciers-are-disappearing-faster-than-ever-1792274.html
Independent (UK): Melting ice is pouring off Greenland and Antarctica into the sea far faster than was previously realised because of global warming, new scientific research reveals today. The accelerating loss from the world's two great land-based ice sheets means a rise in sea levels is likely to happen even more quickly than UN scientists suggested only two years ago, the findings by British scientists suggest. Although floating ice, such as that in the Arctic Ocean, does not add to sea-level ...
Thu, 24 Sep 09
China's climate pledge is small, but important
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/cif-green/2009/sep/22/china-climate-pledge-new-york
Guardian: The "c word" entered the vocabulary of a Chinese president for the first time today, as Hu Jintao promised his country would set its first carbon target for 2020. Overall greenhouse gas emissions will not fall, but the fossil fuels burned in powering each surge of the economy will decline - a cut in so-called carbon intensity. For the moment, it is a breakthrough of terminology more than substance. But in promising such a goal, Hu has effectively declared that China - the world's ...
Thu, 24 Sep 09
Obama: US Determined To Act On Climate Change
http://www.nasdaq.com/aspx/stock-market-news-story.aspx?storyid=200909221517dowjonesdjonline000392&title=3rd-update-obama-us-determined-to-act-on-climate-change
Dow Jones: U.S. President Barack Obama acknowledged the "doubts and difficulties" clouding progress on climate change in Congress, but said the U.S. is determined to tackle global warming at a year-end summit in Copenhagen. "We understand the gravity of the climate threat. We are determined to act," Obama told a U.N. meeting on climate change in New York on Tuesday. "And we will meet our responsibility to future generations." Tuesday's meeting at the U.N. General Assembly is designed to ...
Thu, 24 Sep 09
Time to break deadlock on climate change: Swedish PM
http://www.eubusiness.com/news-eu/un-diplomacy-climate.kq
Agence France-Presse: Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, whose country currently chairs the European Union, told a climate change summit here Tuesday that it was time to break the deadlock in talks for a new global warming deal. "We are only 76 days from the Copenhagen meeting, but the negotiations are going far too slow and they are still lacking real progress. We are close to a deadlock," he told leaders of some 100 nations attending the gathering. "Our job is to break the deadlock," he ...
Thu, 24 Sep 09
We will back a global deal to cut emissions, says Obama
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/we-will-back-a-global-deal-to-cut-emissions-says-obama-1791691.html
Independent (UK): Barack Obama insisted at a climate change summit yesterday that the US was committed to a new global treaty on greenhouse gases -- explicitly distancing himself from George Bush -- even while acknowledging that he faced an uphill task getting the necessary legislation passed in Washington. Listing actions taken in the US to curb carbon output since he took office, the President called his pledge "an historic recognition on behalf of the American people and their government. We understand the ...
Thu, 24 Sep 09
Utility Quits Alliance Over Climate Change
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/23/business/energy-environment/23utility.html?_r=5
New York Times: Amid a growing split in the business community over climate policy, Pacific Gas and Electric, a major California utility, is withdrawing from the United States Chamber of Commerce, citing "fundamental differences" with the chamber's approach to global warming. "We find it dismaying that the chamber neglects the indisputable fact that a decisive majority of experts have said the data on global warming are compelling and point to a threat that cannot be ignored," Peter A. Darbee, the ...
Thu, 24 Sep 09
U.N. Sets an Example by Offsetting Its Carbon Emissions
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/23/science/earth/23offsets.html?_r=5&partner=rss&emc=rss
New York Times: Like most large international conferences, the United Nations climate summit meeting in New York this week generated a hefty dose of greenhouse gas emissions. Hundreds of presidents, prime ministers and officials from across the globe this week took airplanes to the United Nations meeting, some accompanied by dozens of people. Limousines and motorcades ferried the dignitaries from airports to meetings to hotels and back, often getting stuck in Midtown Manhattan gridlock. But ...
Thu, 24 Sep 09
G20: Stiglitz and Sen Come In Too Late
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48559
Inter Press Service: A new report on Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress presented earlier this month in Paris by Nobel prize winners Joseph Stiglitz and Amartya Sen is a late, and quite modest contribution to an old debate, many experts say. Not many believe it can influence the discussions at the G20 in Pittsburgh Sep. 24 and 25. Stiglitz and Sen prepared the report on the request of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, and were expected to produce, as Sarkozy put it, "a ...
Tue, 22 Sep 09
Fashion labels drop APP after party highlights the plight of Indonesian forests
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0920-hance_fashion.html
Mongabay: The fashion world has been rocked: not by the newest designer or the most shocking outfit, but by the continuing destruction of forests in Indonesia. On September 15th, the Rainforest Action Network (RAN) helped open New York City's styling Fashion Week with a party to encourage fashion designers to take a closer look at the paper bags they give customers. Many luxury shopping bags are destroying forests as far away as Indonesia, impacting the world's climate and threatening ...
Tue, 22 Sep 09
Airlines vow to halve emissions by 2050
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/sep/21/airlines-carbon-emissions-cut
Guardian: The aviation industry will tomorrow make a dramatic pledge to slash carbon dioxide emissions in half by 2050 in a move that will force up air fares and spark a green technology race among aircraft manufacturers. The British Airways chief executive, Willie Walsh, will unveil an agreement between airlines, airports and aircraft companies to cut emissions to 50% below 2005 levels by 2050. In a bid to seize the initiative from environmental groups clamouring for higher taxes on the ...
Tue, 22 Sep 09
Europeans say U.S. lacks will on climate
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/21/world/europe/21climate.html?_r=5
New York Times: As world leaders gather in New York for the highest-level conference yet on climate change, European leaders are expressing growing unease about the United States' stance in international talks aimed at reaching a global agreement in Copenhagen in December. Officials of several European countries have cited what they see as a lack of political will on the part of the United States to adequately address climate change. The American reluctance to accept any agreement that would require ...
Tue, 22 Sep 09
Developing nations can raise greenhouse emissions under Wong plan
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,26102733-11949,00.html
Australian: DEVELOPING nations can continue to increase their greenhouse gas emissions under a compromise plan outlined by Australia to break deadlocked climate change talks. Climate Change Minister Penny Wong today conceded the world could not tell countries to "stay poor', spruiking her plan that would allow developing counties to opt out of binding, economy wide emission-reduction targets as the best chance of reaching a deal. Instead, Australia's compromise plan would require ...
Tue, 22 Sep 09
How cutting carbon emissions leads to wasting energy
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,26100892-7583,00.html
Australian: ECONOMISTS can and do get it wrong. The lead-up to the sub-prime mortgage crisis being an obvious case in point. While some economists and regulators were convinced all was well, many people were alarmed at a system that enabled people to buy expensive houses with loans that were beyond their means of repaying. It just didn't pass the common sense test. But have we learned our lesson about relying on complex economics that nobody really understands? In the context of climate change ...
Tue, 22 Sep 09
Australia: The revolution that will not be on TV
http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/the-revolution-that-will-not-be-on-tv-20090921-fxsq.html
Age: I spoke to a teacher yesterday who had witnessed a transformation taking place in her high school students as they voted in Youth Decide, Australia's first national youth climate vote. She told me that previously, she had many students who hadn't engaged in climate change issues, and one who didn't think it was real. As they voted in Youth Decide and looked at the consequences of the choices our politicians make today on the future world that they will grow up in, the students started to ...
Tue, 22 Sep 09
United States: A tangled web
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/09/20/BU1S19PACH.DTL
San Francisco Chronicle: The flurry of recent renewable power decisions in Sacramento could have far-reaching - even contradictory - results. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger last week signed an executive order forcing California utilities to get 33 percent of their electricity from renewable sources by 2020. At the same time, he promised to veto two bills passed by the Legislature days earlier that would have done the same thing, but with far more restrictions on how those goals could be met. Meanwhile, a ...
Tue, 22 Sep 09
China blames developed nations for pollution
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=106737§ionid=351020404
Press TV: Carbon dioxide is emitted by burning fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas. China, one of the world's leading emitters of carbon dioxide, has blamed developed countries for causing the catastrophic global warming. Chinese President Hu Jintao said Monday that as a developing country, China should not be expected to cut emissions of greenhouse gases, shifting the responsibility to developed countries. The World Bank has reported that 16 of the 20 most polluted cities in the ...
Tue, 22 Sep 09
Climate myths: Any cooling disproves global warming
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17808-climate-myths-any-cooling-disproves-global-warming.html
New Scientist: In fact, even if the world does cool over the next few years as some predict, it in no way undermines the certainty about long-term warming due to greenhouse gas emissions. Let's start with a thought experiment. Suppose you managed to find some children who knew nothing about the oceans, handed them a long measuring stick and sent them off to the seaside find out whether sea level is rising or falling. As soon they saw the waves crashing on the shore, the children would realise ...
Tue, 22 Sep 09
More Global 500 companies see climate change as key issue -CDP
http://www.nasdaq.com/aspx/stock-market-news-story.aspx?storyid=200909201916dowjonesdjonline000192&title=more-global-500-cos-see-climate-change-as-key-issuecdp
Dow Jones: More of the world's largest 500 companies responded to a survey conducted by the Carbon Disclosure Project and gave more detail than ever before on activities they are taking to mitigate and adapt to climate change, the CDP said Monday. The increase in disclosure to 82% of the Global 500 companies from 77% last year shows that despite the economic downturn and other pressures, climate change remains high on the agenda and is becoming an increasingly important issue for the majority of ...
Tue, 22 Sep 09
Costs of climate change deal would drop with truly global agreement, says report
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/sep/21/climate-group
Guardian: A truly global climate change deal -- with full collaboration from the developed and developing world -- would dramatically reduce the costs of dealing with global warming and moving to a clean energy economy, said a new study published today by the influential Climate Group. The report said a broad-based agreement with ambitious targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions would amplify the potential cost savings and benefits -- including job creation and rise in GDP -- of dealing ...
Tue, 22 Sep 09
That sinking feeling: World's deltas subsiding, says study
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5g5Rypcx89nBaZm90KTK-6C56pdIw
Agence France-Presse: Two-thirds of the world's major deltas, home to nearly half a billion people, are caught in the scissors of sinking land and rising seas, according to a study published Sunday. The new findings, based on satellite images, show that 85 percent of the 33 largest delta regions experienced severe flooding over the past decade, affecting 260,000 square kilometres (100,000 square miles). Delta land vulnerable to serious flooding could expand by 50 percent this century if ocean levels ...
Tue, 22 Sep 09
CO2 emissions down about 2.6 percent in 2009: IEA
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE58K2AN20090921?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Global emissions of the commonest man-made greenhouse gas carbon dioxide will fall by the sharpest rate in 40 years in 2009 following tumbling factory output, the International Energy Agency said on Monday. The world must use the drop of about 2.6 percent to drive a global fight against climate change, rather than allow emissions to rise again as after previous recessions, Fatih Birol, IEA chief economist, told Reuters in an interview. "The biggest fall (in about 40 years) was ...
Tue, 22 Sep 09
Cutting emissions will increase global GDP, says Tony Blair
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2249830/world-gdp-rise-tackling-climate
Business Green: Far from proving a drain on the global economy, measures designed to cut carbon emissions could lead to increases in GDP and employment for all major economies, according to a major new report presented today to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon by former British prime minister Tony Blair. The report from international NGO the Climate Group reiterates the conclusion of the influential Stern Review that failing to address climate change would cost more than preventing it. But whereas ...
Tue, 22 Sep 09
Kenya hit by killer drought
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8267165.stm
BBC: The stench of the rotting carcass made it easy to track down in the sparse bush. A young male - barely four years old and still an infant by elephant standards - lay on its side in the sand by a river. Around its feet, the sand had been cleared in small arcs - signs of the animal's thrashing as it struggled to stand and survive. But there was nothing to eat. Nothing. On the ground, not a blade of grass existed, every green shoot had been stripped from the trees. For Iain ...
Tue, 22 Sep 09
Environmentalists Not All Happy About New EPA Guidelines
http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20090921/us_time/08599192499700
Time Magazine: New fuel-economy rules proposed by the federal Department of Transportation and the Environmental Protection Agency are the first major move by the U.S. toward cracking down on greenhouse-gas emissions. The proposed program includes miles-per-gallon requirements and national emissions standards under the EPA's greenhouse-gas-emissions guidelines for model years from 2012 to 2016. You'd think that environmental groups would be overjoyed. (See pictures of the effects of global ...
Tue, 22 Sep 09
Europe fears Obama going cold on climate battle
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090921/sc_afp/euusg20climatewarming
Agence France-Presse: European leaders who once saw Barack Obama's election as a new dawn in the battle against global warming are becoming concerned, three months ahead of a key UN climate summit in Copenhagen. One sign of this is the revival of the idea for a "carbon tax" to protect Europe's industry and environment, amid fears that Europe's commitments on tackling climate change will not be matched in the United States and elsewhere. "I confess that I am very worried by the prospects for ...
Tue, 22 Sep 09
Win Some, Lose Some for Beleaguered Penan Tribe
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48521
Inter Press Service: In wealthy Malaysia that employs over four million Asians to service its high- rolling lifestyle, a tiny indigenous tribe is fighting for its survival against state inaction and bureaucratic apathy, as well as marauding giant multinationals and timber loggers. It is an increasingly losing battle for the Penan, a tribe of about 12,000 semi- nomadic people fighting against destruction of their home in the jungles of Sarawak state in East Malaysia, home to the world's oldest rain forest ...
Tue, 22 Sep 09
Recession and policies cut carbon
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8267475.stm
BBC: The global recession and a range of government policies are likely to bring the biggest annual fall in the world's carbon dioxide emissions in 40 years. The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that global CO2 emissions will fall by more than 2% during 2009. Measures such as emissions trading have complemented the drop in emissions as economic activity has declined. The news comes as leaders gather at the UN for a day of climate talks convened by Secretary-General ...
Tue, 22 Sep 09
Norway ready to reduce CO2 emissions further: report
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090921/sc_afp/norwayenvironmentclimatewarmingenergy
Agence France-Presse: Norway is ready to cut its carbon dioxide emissions further if this would help clinch a deal at a UN climate summit in December, Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg was quoted as saying Monday. "If it contributes to a better climate deal in December, we would be ready to consider an increase of our (emissions) reductions from 30 to 40 percent" by 2020 from 1990 levels, he told the daily Dagbladet. Neither Stoltenberg nor the environment ministry was immediately available for ...
Tue, 22 Sep 09
US subsidies of oil and coal more than double subsidies of renewable energy
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0921-hance_subsidies.html
Mongabay: During the fiscal years of 2002-2008 the United States handed out subsidies to fossil fuel industries to a tune of 72 billion dollars, while renewable energy subsidies, during the same period, reached 29 billion dollars. Conducted by the Environmental Law Institute (ELI) in partnership with the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, the research shows that the US government has heavily subsidized 'dirty fuels' that emit high levels of greenhouse gases. The funds provided to ...
Tue, 22 Sep 09
Thai rice region under climate threat: Greenpeace
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090921/sc_afp/thailandclimate
Agence France-Presse: Part of Thailand's main rice growing region is under severe economic and environmental threat from climate change which must be addressed by world leaders at a UN summit, Greenpeace said Monday. A study by the activist group revealed the dangers faced by the Bangpakong River Basin, which supports around 1.25 million people who rely heavily on the region's fertile soils for crops, especially rice, fruit and fishing. The study was released days before Bangkok holds another major ...
Tue, 22 Sep 09
Guyana is a model of forest protection that could solve the climate crisis
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/cif-green/2009/sep/21/forest-guyana
Guardian: The UN general assembly this week is going to change the world. This is because quiet conversations in meeting rooms and corridors around the UN complex will shape the world's climate negotiations in Copenhagen in December -- and all of our lives, and those of every generation that follows. And this is all going to happen because of trees. This week, among the talk of recession and growth, defence and terrorism, economic stimuli and trade sanctions, world leaders will discuss one of ...
Tue, 22 Sep 09
Concentrating Emissions
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1756456/concentrating_emissions/index.html?source=r_science
redOrbit: Ahmed Ghoniem of mechanical engineering leads an MIT effort to make coal plants cleaner by using a pressurized combustion system to capture carbon dioxide. Researchers at MIT have shown the benefits of a new approach toward eliminating carbon-dioxide (CO2) emissions at coal-burning power plants. Their system, called pressurized oxy-fuel combustion, provides a way of separating all of the carbon-dioxide emissions produced by the burning of coal, in the form of a concentrated, ...
Tue, 22 Sep 09
China and India seize initiative at UN talks
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/sep/21/china-india-climate-change
Guardian: China and India appeared poised for bold new action on climate change ahead of a major UN summit tomorrow, in moves that will significantly increase pressure on President Barack Obama to deliver cuts in US emissions. The UN climate chief, Yvo de Boer, said today that he expects China's president, Hu Jintao, to announce a series of new measures tomorrow that would put the country well ahead of America in dealing with climate change. Meanwhile, India's environment minister, Jairam ...
Tue, 22 Sep 09
Population growth driving climate change, poverty: experts
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090921/sc_afp/climatewarmingpopulationgrowth
Agence France-Presse: Unchecked population growth is speeding climate change, damaging life-nurturing ecosystems and dooming many countries to poverty, experts concluded in a conference report released Monday. Unless birth rates are lowered sharply through voluntary family-planning programmes and easy access to contraceptives, the tally of humans on Earth could swell to an unsustainable 11 billion by 2050, they warned. The UN currently projects that global population will rise from 6.8 billion today ...
Tue, 22 Sep 09
Bangladesh in the frontline against climate change
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/bangladesh-in-the-frontline-against-climate-change-1791077.html
Independent (UK): It's still Monsoon-time in Bangladesh -- and the rain continues to fall. Coping with flooding has already become a way of life for the resilient people living in Satkhira, southern Bangladesh, who are learning to live with the increasing impacts of climate change. Starting tomorrow 22 September, the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is convening a Summit on Climate Change in New York to focus Heads of State and Government on the need for urgent action in advance of ...
Tue, 22 Sep 09
Citing climate change, federal judge says grizzlies still threatened
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-us-threatened-grizzly-bears,0,2657506.story
Associated Press: Facing the combined pressures of habitat loss, hunters and climate change, 600 grizzly bears in and around Yellowstone National Park are going back on the threatened species list under a federal court order issued Monday. The ruling highlighted climate change's devastation to whitebark pine forests, which produce nuts that some grizzlies rely upon as a mainstay. With hundreds of thousands of the trees dead or dying over the last two decades, bears striking out in search of new ...
Tue, 22 Sep 09
U.N. Climate Chief: China Poised To Take A Lead Role
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=113034293&ft=1&f=1025
Associated Press: As the United States lags on climate legislation, China is poised to join the European Union in claiming "front-runner" status among nations battling climate change, the U.N. climate chief said Monday. Yvo de Boer said in an interview that China is leaping ahead of the United States with domestic plans for more energy efficiency, renewable sources of power, cuts in vehicle pollution and closures of dirty plants. The development marks a dramatic turnabout. The United States, ...
Tue, 22 Sep 09
British officials question US commitment to climate deal
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/barackobama/6216008/British-officials-question-US-commitment-to-climate-deal.html
Telegraph: As 100 presidents and prime ministers prepared for the meeting at the United Nations headquarters in New York, John Ashton, the Foreign Secretary's Special Representative for Climate Change, lamented the "ambition gap" between Europe and the US. The US Senate is considered unlikely to approve a new energy-saving bill before the intended signing of a new climate deal in Copenhagen in December, which would replace the Kyoto Protocol. "There is no technological obstacle, there is ...
Tue, 22 Sep 09
Bob Geldof getting celebs to record global warming song
http://www.3news.co.nz/Bob-Geldof-getting-celebs-to-record-global-warming-song/tabid/418/articleID/121989/Default.aspx?ArticleID=121989
3news: Bob Geldof and Duran Duran are among 55 celebrities planning a version of Midnight Oil's hit song 'Beds Are Burning' - in a bid to raise awareness of climate change. The track is part of a campaign headed by former United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan to highlight environmental issues. Officials at Geneva-based Global Humanitarian Forum are organising the launch of the song, and forum director Walter Fust says, "If we do not stop the (greenhouse gas) emissions today, ...
Tue, 22 Sep 09
Carbon intensity in focus as China's Hu heads to UN
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/PEK174025.htm
Reuters: China's President Hu Jintao may lay down a "carbon intensity" target for his country at a top level United Nations summit on Tuesday, experts said, as he seeks to show Beijing's commitment to fighting climate change. A pledge from the world's biggest emitter to cut the amount of greenhouse gasses produced for each dollar of national income -- while short of an absolute cap on output -- would counter critics of Beijing who says it is taking too little action. It could also ...
Tue, 22 Sep 09
Norway Ready For 30 Per Cent Cut In Carbon Emission- INO News
http://news.ino.com/headlines/?newsid=92120090466
RTTNews: Norwegian Prime Minister has hinted that his government is ready for a possible 30 per cent carbon emission cuts in order to secure an international climate change treaty this year-end. "I believe Norway should be prepared to cut more than the 30 per cent we have committed to before 2020 if it can help secure a global treaty on climate gases," Jens Stoltenberg on Monday told NRK, the state-owned public broadcasting company. Stoltenberg is due to attend a climate summit on the ...
Tue, 22 Sep 09
Australia 'flying blind' on emissions legislation
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/09/21/2691306.htm
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says he is not prepared to delay consideration of the Government's emissions trading scheme legislation despite conceding a global agreement remains some way off. Mr Rudd is in New York to advance international negotiations on strategies to cut greenhouse gas emissions ahead of the December Copenhagen summit. However, he is worried progress on international climate change talks are progressing too slowly to reach an agreement before ...
Tue, 22 Sep 09
CO2 emissions tumble; leaders to meet on climate
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090921/india_nm/india426052
Reuters: Recession has set the stage for the sharpest fall in world greenhouse gas emissions in 40 years, an estimate on Monday showed, as world leaders gathered in New York to seek a way forward on a new climate change treaty. The International Energy Agency said global output of carbon dioxide, the most common greenhouse gas produced by burning fossil fuels, would fall by about 2.6 percent this year amid a tumble in industrial activity. It expressed hope that the world would seize on ...
Tue, 22 Sep 09
Ontario invests C$2.3 billion for "greener" power grid
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090921/wl_canada_nm/canada_us_ontario_wind
Various: The Canadian province of Ontario, keen to get more of its electricity from renewable energy sources, said on Monday it would spend C$2.3 billion ($2.1 billion) over the next three years to expand and upgrade its power transmission network. "Enhancing our transmission grid is critical to taking advantage of green energy," said George Smitherman, Ontario's minister of energy and infrastructure. "Resources like wind and hydro aren't often where the people are, and this plan will ...
Tue, 22 Sep 09
Political will can deliver change in Copenhagen
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/climatechange/6216184/Political-will-can-deliver-change-in-Copenhagen.html
Telegraph: With 75 days to go until the Copenhagen summit on climate change, greater urgency is about to be injected into the search for an agreement. World leaders are gathering at the United Nations in New York today for discussions that could determine if there will be a deal and, if so, whether it will be one that makes any difference. In one sense, reaching a strong agreement is even more important than its precise details. The momentum that is building around the world behind the need to cut ...
Tue, 22 Sep 09
EU biofuels policy undermines governance in Indonesia, alleges report
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0922-ketapang.html
Mongabay: Indonesian authorities are failing to prevent illegal logging and conversion of protected areas for oil palm cultivation used to supply the European market with supposedly "green" biofuels, alleges a new report from Milieudefensie (Friends of the Earth Netherlands) and WALHI KalBar (Friends of the Earth Indonesia, West Kalimantan). The report, "Failing governance - Avoiding responsibilities" [PDF], claims that European biofuel policies have driven reckless oil palm expansion in ...
Tue, 22 Sep 09
Fake NY Post draws attention to global warming
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090921/ap_on_bi_ge/us_fake_new_york_post
Various: A day before a U.N. summit on climate change, an activist prankster group distributed copies of a fake newspaper mimicking the New York Post to draw attention to global warming. The front-page story in the newspaper parody Monday warned of "massive climate catastrophes" and "public health disasters." Volunteers for The Yes Men distributed the free parody outside busy commuter hubs in Manhattan and Brooklyn, including one of the city's main train stations, Penn ...
Tue, 22 Sep 09
U.S. court reinstates emissions suit versus utilities
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE58K4VT20090921?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: A U.S. Appeals Court reinstated on Monday a 2004 lawsuit by eight states and the city of New York against five of the largest U.S. utilities over their carbon dioxide emissions. The lawsuit was dismissed in October 2005 by U.S. District Court Judge Loretta Preska, who said the issue was a political question for Congress or the President, not the judiciary. Monday's ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit in New York said the judge "erred in dismissing two ...
Tue, 22 Sep 09
Groups spar over U.S. offshore drilling plan
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE58K4YB20090921?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Environmental and pro-drilling advocates pitched dueling messages about expanded offshore oil and natural gas production to the U.S. Interior Department on Monday, as the comment period on a Bush-era energy plan came to a close. The draft five-year offshore drilling proposal offered in the last days of the Bush administration would allow drilling along the East Coast and off the coast of California. Drilling was banned in most of the offshore areas of the United States outside ...
Tue, 22 Sep 09
New Coolants Make For Hotter Planet
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=113030178&ft=1&f=1025
National Public Radio: More than 20 years ago, an international treaty known as the Montreal Protocol phased out a group of chemicals that were destroying the Earth's ozone layer. But since then, scientists have discovered that some of the chemicals developed to replace those destructive compounds might be contributing to another problem: global warming. These new chemicals are known as hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs, and they're used as coolants in refrigerators. HFCs have largely replaced older ...
Tue, 22 Sep 09
Global Downturn Has Created Drop In Carbon Emissions
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1756674/global_downturn_has_created_drop_in_carbon_emissions/index.html?source=r_science
redOrbit: A report citing an International Energy Agency study shows that greenhouse gas emissions have fallen thanks to the global downturn, handing the world a chance to move away from high-carbon growth, AFP reported. Carbon emissions from burning fossil fuels had dropped significantly this year -- further than in any year in the past four decades, according to the unpublished IEA study. While falling industrial output was largely responsible for the emissions plunge, other factors ...
Tue, 22 Sep 09
Obama to shift focus to climate change
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-climate21-2009sep21,0,7997842.story
LA Times: After months of almost single-minded focus on healthcare, President Obama is about to shift the White House spotlight to global warming -- first with a speech to the United Nations in New York on Tuesday, then later in the week at the G-20 economic conference in Pittsburgh. The renewed emphasis on climate change and reducing carbon dioxide emissions comes at a crucial time: Negotiators are entering the home stretch in a drive to unveil a comprehensive international agreement to curb ...
Tue, 22 Sep 09
Australia: Rudd pushes climate change treaty
http://www.smh.com.au/environment/rudd-pushes-climate-change-treaty-20090920-fwsm.html
Sydney Morning Herald: WASHINGTON: Australia's behind-the-scenes work on the legal framework for a new climate change treaty, and ways to finance poorer countries' efforts to adapt to a low-carbon world, could become a crucial contribution in breaking the impasse on a greenhouse treaty. The Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, arrived in New York at the weekend for the opening of the United Nations General Assembly, which comes as the world wrestles with some of the most difficult issues in 50 years: a major global ...
Mon, 21 Sep 09
Climate deal in peril, says Brown
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8265974.stm
BBC: The climate deal planned for Copenhagen in 10 weeks' time is in grave danger of failure, the prime minister has said. Gordon Brown has become the first world leader to offer to go to the Danish capital to help seal the deal. He told Newsweek magazine there was no second chance to undo "catastrophic damage" to the environment if "we miss the opportunity to protect the planet". This year's talks are vital as they aim to produce a successor to the Kyoto Climate Protocol on ...
Mon, 21 Sep 09
River Deltas Sinking Due To Human Activity
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090920204459.htm
ScienceDaily: A new study led by the University of Colorado at Boulder indicates most of the world's low-lying river deltas are sinking from human activity, making them increasingly vulnerable to flooding from rivers and ocean storms and putting tens of millions of people at risk. While the 2007 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report concluded many river deltas are at risk from sea level rise, the new study indicates other human factors are causing deltas to sink significantly. The ...
Mon, 21 Sep 09
US Reluctance on Climate Change Persists
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/21/business/global/21iht-green21.html?_r=5
New York Times: Last Tuesday, Harry Reid, the Nevada Democrat and majority leader of the U.S. Senate, was asked by a reporter to appraise the odds that Congress, in the throes of debating health care changes, would manage to pass climate legislation in 2009 – including provisions for an emissions cap-and-trade plan. "So, you know, we are going to have a busy, busy time the rest of this year," Mr. Reid replied. "And, of course, nothing terminates at the end of this year. We still have next year to ...
Mon, 21 Sep 09
Rudd, Clinton talk climate change over brekkie
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/09/21/2691322.htm
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: Prime Minister Kevin Rudd started the second day of his visit to the US by catching up with former US president Bill Clinton over breakfast. The two men used the meeting at one of Mr Clinton's favourite French cafes in Chappaqua, upstate New York, to discuss this week's UN climate change summit. Mr Rudd says he fears progress is not happening fast enough in time to reach a new deal on cutting emissions by the December meeting in Copenhagen. The two men will share the ...
Mon, 21 Sep 09
Environmental groups to use Web to save rainforest
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE58J1YF20090921?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Environmental activists are taking to the Internet in a new bid to help save the world's rainforests with the help of major corporations including Starbucks Corp and Dell Inc. Campaigners plan to announce on Monday the formation of "Team Earth," a social network that includes businesses, nongovernmental organizations, students and politicians with the hope of battling tropical deforestation. Team Earth will launch in November, but its organizers wanted to spread the word this ...
Mon, 21 Sep 09
EU's Barroso warns climate talks in dangerous state
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE58J1XZ20090920?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: U.N. climate change talks are "dangerously close to deadlock," European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso will warn on Monday, kicking off a week that could prove critical for efforts to halt global warming. The head of the European Union's executive will challenge developing nations to commit to greenhouse gas emissions curbs to get financial support from industrial nations, according to excerpts of his remarks obtained by Reuters. "Europe's message to the developing ...
Mon, 21 Sep 09
PM urges leaders to attend climate talks
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/sep/20/gordon-brown-copenhagen-climate-change
Guardian: Gordon Brown is to urge his fellow world leaders to agree to go personally to the vital UN climate change talks in Copenhagen in December in an attempt to break what is rapidly becoming a dangerous deadlock. Brown will make his proposals when he joins world leaders in New York and Pittsburgh next week to discuss climate change talks and the world economy. The UN Copenhagen talks are due to be attended only by environment ministers, but Brown believes the issues are so ...
Sun, 20 Sep 09
To go solar, start local
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/18/AR2009091800078.html
Washington Post: One March day in 2008, Ketch Ryan, a long-time environmentalist, sent a message to her neighborhood group e-mail list in the town of Chevy Chase, inviting neighbors to see the modest two-kilowatt solar-panel array she had just installed on her south-facing roof to convert sunlight into household electricity. "Loads of people came," Ryan said. They asked questions about the process and how to do it themselves. The Common Cents Solar Co-op was born then and there, founded by Ryan and ...
Sun, 20 Sep 09
Dangers for journalists who expose environmental issues
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0919-danger-for-eco-journalists.html
Mongabay: The following is the text of report [PDF] released by Reporters Without Borders. It looks at 13 cases of journalists and bloggers who have been killed, physically attacked, jailed, threatened or censored for reporting on the environment, and highlights the need for a free press to tackle ecological challenges. Guinean journalist Lai Baldé has been threatened. Egyptian blogger Tamer Mabrouk has been sued. Russian journalist Grigory Pasko has just spent four years in prison. His Uzbek ...
Sun, 20 Sep 09
US, India Hope for Cooperation on Global Trade, Climate Change
http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-09-19-voa28.cfm
Voice of America: World trade and climate change are the two most prominent issues at the summit talks in Pittsburgh Thursday and Friday of the G-20, the influential group that brings together key members of the developing world and the big economic powers. Agreements on trade and global warming have been out of reach so far, at least in part because of differences between the United States and India. But rapidly improving relations between New Delhi and Washington makes future progress on those issues seem ...
Fri, 18 Sep 09
Maldives aims for action behind words on climate change
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/18/20090918/tsc-maldives-aims-for-action-behind-word-b1f5339.html
Agence France-Presse: White sand and crystal clear water that laps around the Maldives draw thousands to the islands every year, but in the waves lie the seeds of the country's possible destruction. Skip related content The archipelago is on the frontline of climate change in a way that few other countries can claim and its unfortunate position has made it a vocal campaigner and, it hopes, a role-model in the battle against global warming. In 2007, the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ...
Fri, 18 Sep 09
Settlement near for Ivory Coast's victims of contaminated waste
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/africa/article6839258.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=3392178
Times (UK): At Djibi in the north of Ivory Coast's biggest city, contaminated soil has been gathered into giant white bags that cover an area bigger than two tennis courts. Three years after the ship Probo Koala had its cargo dumped in Abidjan, a thorough clean-up operation has yet to be carried out. Warning signs mark the site, but the area is not closed off and several families live near by. More than 30,000 Ivorians who claim to have been harmed by the waste that they describe as toxic ...
Fri, 18 Sep 09
India challenges US by agreeing to impose limits on carbon emissions
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article6839231.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=3392178
Times (UK): India wrong-footed the United States and other rich nations yesterday by agreeing for the first time to set numerical targets for curbing its greenhouse gas emissions. The move added to pressure on the Obama Administration to deliver on its own climate change pledges even as senior Democrats warned that US legislation may face severe delays. Jairam Ramesh, the Indian Environment Minister, told The Times that legislation was being drafted in Delhi to limit India's carbon ...
Fri, 18 Sep 09
Eco groups tell parties not to cut spending on environment
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/eco-groups-tell-parties-not-to-cut-spending-on-environment-1789429.html
Independent (UK): Green groups have urged Britain's political parties to match their spin with substance by including firm pledges on the environment in their election manifestos. Although the parties have maintained their commitment to green issues despite the recession, campaigners fear that the huge deficit in the public finances may force cuts in spending on tackling climate change and improving the natural environment. In a report published today, eight groups which have a total of 1.5 ...
Fri, 18 Sep 09
EU urges G20 to hand billions to poor nations for climate fight
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090917/sc_afp/eusummitusclimatewarming
Agence France-Presse: EU leaders on Thursday put pressure on the United States and other rich nations to provide at least five billion euros of "fast-start" money next year to help poor nations tackle climate change. The call came as European heads of state and government held a summit in Brussels aimed at forging a joint position ahead of the G20 summit of major and developing economies in Pittsburgh next week. "The G20 should recognise the need to fast-start international public support for ...
Fri, 18 Sep 09
EU worries U.S. Senate dragging its feet on climate
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE58G7C220090917?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: The EU ambassador to the United States said on Thursday that any delay by the U.S. Senate that pushes action on climate into next year could subject the country to the charge that domestic politics will always trump its international commitments. Such a move would postpone the formation of an overall U.S. climate plan until after a U.N. climate meeting in Copenhagen in December, when 190 countries hope to craft a new treaty to fight greenhouse gas emissions. "If this were to ...
Fri, 18 Sep 09
Brazil eyes limits on Amazon sugar cane growth
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090918/sc_afp/environmentbrazilenergy
Agence France-Presse: The Brazilian government presented new legislation Thursday intended to protect the Amazon from deforestation by banning any new planting of sugar cane, widely cultivated for ethanol production. "Now we can say that our ethanol is 100 percent green," said Environment Minister Carlos Minc announcing the proposed rules. The legislation would ban new clearing or planting of the crop in more than 90 percent of Brazil's territory, as well as the construction of new factories in ...
Fri, 18 Sep 09
Sovereignty, oil hunt complicate Arctic research
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE58G79C20090918?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Russian and U.S. oceanographers studying the impact of global warming on the Bering Strait in late August enjoyed seas on some days that were so calm their ship made the only ripples. But the serenity of the seascape belied increasingly turbulent waters for scientific research as countries exert sovereignty over Arctic territory and Big Oil boosts exploration efforts. It has complicated life for Kathleen Crane, as she and her colleagues coordinate dozens of researchers in the ...
Fri, 18 Sep 09
Arctic ice melts to third-smallest area on record
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE58G2OL20090918?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: The Arctic's sea ice pack thawed to its third-lowest summer level on record, up slightly from the seasonal melt of the past two years but continuing an overall decline symptomatic of climate change, U.S. scientists said on Thursday. The range of ocean remaining frozen over the northern polar region reached its minimum extent for 2009 on September 12, when it covered 1.97 million square miles (5.1 million square km), and now appears to be growing again as the Arctic starts its annual ...
Fri, 18 Sep 09
Lobby groups call on party leaders to endorse green election manifesto
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2249710/lobby-groups-call-party-leaders
Business Green: A coalition of the UK's leading environmental groups will today call on the three main political parties to sign up to a detailed pre-election commitment designed to ensure the environment and the fight against climate change is treated as the highest priority in the next parliament. The Common Cause declaration, which has been issued to coincide with the launch of Party conference season, calls on the main political parties to recognise their responsibility for accelerating "the ...
Fri, 18 Sep 09
EU firms insist carbon caps have not damaged competitiveness
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2249709/eu-firms-insist-carbon-caps
Business Green: The EU's high profile emission trading scheme (ETS) has had "minimal" impact on businesses competitiveness and in some cases has delivered commercial benefits, according to nine of the largest companies affected by cap-and-trade scheme. That is the conclusion of a report carried out by The Climate Group think tank and commissioned by the German Marshall Fund of the United States lobby group, which is likely to be seized upon by US environmental campaigners currently attempting secure ...
Fri, 18 Sep 09
Canada: Greenpeace activists end Alberta oilsands protest
http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Greenpeace+activists+enter+oilsands+protest/2000556/story.html
Canwest News Service: Shell officials and Greenpeace activists negotiated a peaceful end Wednesday to a demonstration that saw protesters chain themselves to heavy machinery at Shell's Muskeg River oilsands mine ahead of a Washington meeting between Prime Minister Stephen Harper and U.S. President Barack Obama. The 30-hour protest near Fort McMurray, Alta., wound down in the hours after the morning summit. By mid-afternoon, the chains were off and the two sides were talking. By about 4 p.m. local time, the ...
Fri, 18 Sep 09
UN announces ozone-killing sprays now completely banned worldwide
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1115223.html
Haaretz: Consumers who want to be sure they are not buying aerosols that damage the ozone layer no longer need worry. Yesterday, the annual International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer, the United Nations announced that the ban on using materials harmful to the ozone layer is the first ecological treaty to be ratified by every country in the world. Advertisement The news came after the Pacific nation of Timor-Leste announced it had also ratified the treaty, known as the ...
Thu, 17 Sep 09
Cap-and-Trade Memos Fire Up the Skeptics
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/16/AR2009091603524.html
Washington Post: Climate-change legislation might be on the Senate's back burner, but the heat's still on climate politics. The latest flare-up occurred this week when the Competitive Enterprise Institute, which questions whether human and industrial activity is linked to global warming, released a one-page internal Treasury Department memo from March estimating potential government revenue from a cap-and-trade climate bill at $100 billion to $200 billion a year. The memo assumed that 100 percent of ...
Thu, 17 Sep 09
Canada: Greenpeace ends Alberta oilsands protest after 31 hours with no charges laid
http://www.610cktb.com/news/14/993634
Canadian Press: A Greenpeace protest at the massive Shell oilsands mine in northern Alberta ended peacefully Wednesday after 31 hours with an agreement that there will be no charges and no arrests. "Shell has agreed not to pursue criminal charges against the protesters because it does nothing to further the climate change conversation," John Abbott, Shell's executive vice president of heavy oil, said in a news release. About two dozen environmental activists from Canada, France and the U.S. ...
Thu, 17 Sep 09
World's big polluters kick off climate talks in Washington
http://www.spacedaily.com/2006/090917015045.5km0a5e1.html
Agence France-Presse: Representatives of the world's 17 biggest carbon polluters were due Thursday to kick off a week of high-level and high-stakes talks on climate change at a meeting in Washington. The aim of the talks, which will be held for two days at the State Department before moving to New York next week and then to Pittsburgh, is to try to patch up differences and generate momentum for a much heralded meeting in Copenhagen in December, where a UN conference hopes to produce an ambitious new pact ...
Thu, 17 Sep 09
Finance groups demand tough climate target
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/040577c6-a317-11de-ba74-00144feabdc0.html
Financial Times: Some of the biggest names in finance called on governments on Wednesday to strike a tough deal on emissions reductions in Copenhagen this December, in an effort to boost investment into climate change. The investors, with a combined $13,000bn in assets under management, demanded higher commitments on emissions reductions than nations are likely to agree. Signatories include investors such as HSBC, Hermes, ING Group, Société Général, Swiss Re, Allianz Global Investors and numerous US ...
Thu, 17 Sep 09
'Global health catastrophe' feared if no Copenhagen deal
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/stories/2009/09/17/1245c7fabcf2
Radio New Zealand: Medical leaders all over the world are warning of a global health catastrophe if governments cannot agree on cuts in greenhouse gases when they meet at Copenhagen in December. In articles in The Lancet and British Medical Journal, 18 professional medical organisations say developing countries in sub-Saharan Africa are particularly vulnerable. They say that what is good for the climate is good for health, because curbing climate change would have other benefits, such as ...
Thu, 17 Sep 09
Targets demand dogs poor nations' steps to cut CO2
http://in.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idINSP5485920090917
Reuters: In the game of climate poker, developing nations might feel they have the right cards on the table in U.N. talks after ramping up efforts to curb greenhouse gas output. China, India, South Korea and other emerging economic powers have announced a series of measures this year to make their economies greener and limit the increase of carbon dioxide emissions from their farms, forests and factories. The question is whether these domestic steps are enough to seal a new global ...
Thu, 17 Sep 09
Some Bad Climate News and Some Good
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/16/opinion/16wed2.html?em
New York Times: Senators Barbara Boxer and John Kerry have delayed the introduction of their long-awaited climate change bill until the end of this month – one more sign that Congress will be hard pressed to get a bill to President Obama's desk before the international summit on global warming in Copenhagen in December. The chances of action this year, never all that good, are even slimmer now that the White House and the Senate leadership have pretty much agreed to keep controversial issues – and a ...
Thu, 17 Sep 09
Ethanol emits same emissions as petrol: study
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,26086611-12377,00.html
Agence France-Presse: CARS running on sugarcane ethanol can produce as many harmful pollutants as those using ordinary petrol, according a study published by Brazil's environment ministry. But the report on the emissions of the cars on Brazil's roads did not count carbon dioxide emissions. "We want to make sure that customers are aware of pollutant emissions'' when they buy a car, Environment Minister Carlos Minc said. The study ranked emissions based of a scale of "green grades'' that ...
Thu, 17 Sep 09
Key "fat tail" risks facing Asian investors
http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSSP372971
Reuters: A year after the collapse of Lehman Brothers overturned many conventional risk management models, scenario-planning and risk-mapping techniques have taken on new importance for investors and businesses. Many of the "fat tail" risks that could cause another crisis come from outside the world of finance -- from geopolitics, terrorism, epidemics, extreme weather and natural disasters. While they may be impossible to capture in conventional risk estimates, markets and companies can ...
Thu, 17 Sep 09
Quotes on steps by developing nations to curb CO2
http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSSP501691
Reuters: Developing nations have stepped up pledges to curb growth in greenhouse gas emissions as U.N.-led talks trying to seal a broader pact on fighting climate change intensity ahead of a major climate meeting in December. Following are comments from leading climate officials and policy analysts on how these steps will affect the tone of the talks and the outcome. (For related analysis, click on: [ID:nSP54859]; for related factbox [ID:nSP415940]) KIM CARSTENSEN, HEAD OF WWF'S ...
Thu, 17 Sep 09
Copenhagen begins in Beijing
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cif-green/2009/sep/16/china-carbon-cuts-copenhagen-conference
Guardian: What is China playing at on climate change? That may be the most important question in the world right now, thanks alone to its status as the world's biggest producer of greenhouse gasses. But what Beijing is – or is not – prepared to do will also determine whether the rest of the world can reach a deal on combating global warming that is worth the paper it's written on. So it's hardly surprising that reading the Chinese approach has become the latterday equivalent of cold war ...
Thu, 17 Sep 09
EPA to propose tightening limits on ozone pollution
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6622604.html
Houston Chronicle: Federal regulators signaled Wednesday that they would abandon Bush-era limits on smog pollution that scientists said didn't go far enough to protect public health. Amid concerns that the current rules don't adhere to the federal Clean Air Act, the Environmental Protection Agency will propose tighter nationwide limits on ozone, or smog, by late December. "This is one of the most important protection measures we can take to safeguard our health and our environment," EPA ...
Thu, 17 Sep 09
Legislators may take up climate change spending this month
http://www.alaskadispatch.com/news/politics/1978-legislators-may-take-up-climate-change-spending-this-month
Alaska Dispatch: A legislative proposal to spend $1.5 million advancing Alaska's positions on climate change and related issues could be discussed later this month. The plan's major proponent, Rep. John Harris, said Alaska has sat on its heels too long while the nation considers new rules on carbon emissions, such as cap and trade, which could have repercussions for business and industry. He wants a firm to help identify what the state could do in conjunction with others to present its case to ...
Thu, 17 Sep 09
GE Energy to set up wind turbine plant in India
http://asia.news.yahoo.com/rtrs/20090916/tbs-ge-india-windturbine-02c71ef.html
Reuters: U.S. conglomerate General Electric's <GE.N> energy arm said on Wednesday it is planning to set up a wind-turbine-generator plant in southern India that will start production in the second half of next year. The plant will eventually have the ability to ship 300 wind turbines per year, a capacity of 450 megawatts, the company said in a statement. The facility would also help GE Energy, which entered wind power in 2002 when it bought Enron's wind assets, create a larger sourcing ...
Thu, 17 Sep 09
EU plans 30 cities to lead world on "smart" energys
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/22/20090916/tsc-uk-eu-energy-research-011ccfa.html
Reuters: Europe will select 30 cities to pioneer "smart" electricity grids and space-age insulation as it seeks to lead the global race for green technology, a draft European Union document shows. Skip related content The windpower sector must shift offshore and strive to provide a fifth of EU electricity by 2020, said a draft of the European Commission's long-awaited Strategic Energy Technology Plan. The so-called SET-Plan lays out the EU's strategy for promoting hi-tech solutions to ...
Thu, 17 Sep 09
China terms carbon tax protectionism
http://www.upi.com/Business_News/2009/09/16/China-terms-carbon-tax-protectionism/UPI-70391253101009/
United Press International: China says a proposed carbon tax on imported goods from countries without stringent environmental laws would violate World Trade Organization rules. Expressing his government's firm opposition to any such tax, Chinese Assistant Finance Minister Zhu Guangyao said it would amount to trade protectionism, China Daily reported. The carbon tax as it relates to climate change is expected to figure at the Group of 20 Summit next week in Pittsburgh. Referring to a bill passed by ...
Thu, 17 Sep 09
U.N. Seeks Political Boost for Climate Summit
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48461
Inter Press Service: U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, one of the strongest proponents of next week's summit on climate change, is confident that world leaders will provide a high political profile for an impending environmental crisis threatening to cause devastation worldwide in the next few decades. "Climate change is the greatest challenge facing this and future generations," he warns. "If we are to avoid catastrophic consequences for people and the planet, we have less than 10 years to halt ...
Thu, 17 Sep 09
EU calls on US to do more to tackle climate change
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090916/pl_afp/eusummitusclimatewarming
Agence France-Presse: The United States must do more to tackle climate change, the EU presidency said Wednesday, in a challenge to President Barack Obama ahead of a key international summit in Pittsburgh. "I hope to speed up the talks all over the climate issue," Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt said in online comments, the day before a EU summit Brussels. While acknowledging a promise by Japan's incoming prime minister, Yukio Hatoyama, to target 25 percent cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, ...
Thu, 17 Sep 09
Largest Group Ever of World Investors Calls For Strong Global Climate Change Treat
http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS152148+16-Sep-2009+PRN20090916
PRNewswire: The world's largest global investors issued a joint call today for strong action this year from U.S. and international policy makers in the fight against global warming. Amid growing focus on upcoming international climate treaty talks and Congressional debate of climate and energy legislation, global investors meeting here issued a major policy statement calling for a strong and binding international treaty that will reduce pollution and catalyze massive ...
Thu, 17 Sep 09
Greenland icesheet could melt faster than thought: study
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090916/sc_afp/climatewarmingsciencegreenlandice
Agence France-Presse: The Greenland icesheet responded to global warming over the past 10,000 years more quickly than thought, according to a study released Wednesday. As a result, a medium-sized temperature increase this century could cause the continent-sized ice block to start melting at an alarming rate, it suggests. "It is entirely possible that a future temperature increase of a few degrees Celsius in Greenland will result in a icesheet mass loss and contribution to sea level rise larger than ...
Thu, 17 Sep 09
Biofuel Production Could Undercut Efforts To Shrink Gulf 'Dead Zone'
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090916103422.htm
ScienceDaily: Scientists in Pennsylvania report that boosting production of crops used to make biofuels could make a difficult task to shrink a vast, oxygen-depleted "dead zone" in the Gulf of Mexico more difficult. The zone, which reached the size of Massachusetts in 2008, forms in summer and threatens marine life and jobs in the region. Their study is scheduled for the Oct. 1 issue of ACS' semi-monthly journal Environmental Science & Technology. Christine Costello and W. Michael ...
Thu, 17 Sep 09
Schwarzenegger boosts clean energy plan
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE58E8B920090916?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: California's governor on Tuesday ordered that a third of the state's electricity come from renewable resources by 2020, the same amount as a legislature plan but with promises to let power companies get more electricity from outside the state. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said that his plan would help the state better meet its clean energy target by making it easier to import power. He also said the legislature's alternative would have required solar thermal plants to clear more ...
Thu, 17 Sep 09
World Carbon Database Launches To Track Global Carbon Offsets
http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS140424+16-Sep-2009+BW20090916
Business Wire: The World Carbon Database (WCD) today launched the world's first integrated database for carbon offset credits and carbon reduction credits. WCD, a non-profit open resource, uses proprietary data collection tools at the point of sale to archive customer and product data, and is a single comprehensive source for data about carbon credit purchases and purchasers. WCD's database will provide the basis for consistent, in-depth and up-to-the-minute analysis of consumer activity ...
Thu, 17 Sep 09
West Africa group adopts common position on climate change
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090916/wl_africa_afp/africaclimateunecowas
Agence France-Presse: West African experts and officials Wednesday adopted a common position on the effects of climate change and human rights ahead of the global UN conference in Copenhagen. Participants at a two-meeting in Lome came up with a declaration on the challenges related to climate change in west Africa, approved by ministers responsible for environment and human rights in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), a statement said. "It is only through political will, ...
Thu, 17 Sep 09
Attempts to shape climate bill in full swing
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hdbnLCgcJEg0cdgYQvCnxJqMlOqQD9AOJTQG0
Associated Press: Industry, economic and environmental groups are making a final push to influence a climate bill that may go before the Senate within weeks. Investors managing more than $13 trillion in assets called for new global emissions laws Wednesday, illustrating how the issue has divided even groups that traditionally have opposed new curbs. Speaking at the International Investor Forum on Climate Change, Lord Nicholas Stern, among Britain's most influential economists, said the global ...
Thu, 17 Sep 09
Global investors call for binding climate policy
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE58F5R320090916?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Banks, pension funds and other investment groups representing more than $13 trillion in assets called for a strong global agreement on climate policy on Wednesday, saying it would lead to a flood of investment into the low-carbon economy. "Without the policies to encourage clean energy, investors are stuck at the starting gates," Mindy Lubber, the president of Ceres, a Boston-based coalition of investors and environmentalists, and the director of the Investor Network on Climate ...
Thu, 17 Sep 09
White House Wants Fuel Subsidy Cuts on G-20 Agenda
http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2009/09/16/16greenwire-white-house-wants-fuel-subsidy-cuts-on-g-20-ag-31582.html
New York Times: White House officials are calling for international efforts to end fuel and electric power subsidies as part of the agenda for next week's G-20 meeting in Pittsburgh, according to a letter from a senior administration official. The White House also says G-20 nations should take steps to improve oil market transparency and scale up financing for tackling climate change. Michael Froman, the White House's deputy national security adviser for international economic affairs, said in ...
Thu, 17 Sep 09
Q&A: "Climate Change Reinforcing Political Problems"t;
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48466
Inter Press Service: The negative fallout from climate change, including drought, floods, melting glaciers, mass migration, and sea level rise, is being increasingly viewed as a potential security threat to nation states worldwide. In a statement on Darfur, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon referred to climate change as one of the main causes of the violence taking place in the Sudanese province threatened by drought and desertification. This view is shared by U.S. Senator John Kerry, chair of the ...
Thu, 17 Sep 09
Oil firm to compensate Ivory Coast poison victims
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090916/wl_africa_afp/britainicoastenvironmentpollutionjustice
Agence France-Presse: An oil trading company is to pay compensation to thousands of victims in Ivory Coast who were poisoned by toxic waste dumped in the country in 2006, representatives of the two sides said Wednesday. Victims took legal action in Britain against Trafigura after waste from a ship the company chartered was illegally dumped in Abidjan, killing 17 people and causing more than 100,000 to seek medical help. "A global settlement is being considered by the parties and it currently appears ...
Thu, 17 Sep 09
Failure To Tackle Climate Change Spells A Global Health Catastrophe, Experts Warn
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090915192232.htm
ScienceDaily: An editorial and letter, published simultaneously by the BMJ and Lancet, warn that failure to agree radical cuts in carbon dioxide emissions at the UN climate change conference in Copenhagen this December spells a global health catastrophe. The scientific evidence that global temperatures are rising and that man is responsible has been widely accepted since the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's report in 2007, write Lord Michael Jay and Professor Michael Marmot in the ...
Thu, 17 Sep 09
Global warming may bring tsunami and quakes: scientists
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE58F62I20090916?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Quakes, volcanic eruptions, giant landslides and tsunamis may become more frequent as global warming changes the earth's crust, scientists said on Wednesday. Climate-linked geological changes may also trigger "methane burps," the release of a potent greenhouse gas, currently stored in solid form under melting permafrost and the seabed, in quantities greater than all the carbon dioxide (CO2) in our air today. "Climate change doesn't just affect the atmosphere and the oceans but ...
Thu, 17 Sep 09
College students protest coal use on campuses
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/09/16/financial/f143204D79.DTL
San Francisco Chronicle: On Wednesday, students at the University of Missouri and other schools nationwide mounted a Sierra Club-led campaign targeting coal-based power at colleges, whether generated at on-campus plants or purchased from private utilities. The campaign began the same day a group of college presidents rallied in Washington in support of clean energy legislation. Student organizers said colleges have a societal obligation to reduce and eventually eliminate coal use in favor of renewable energy. ...
Thu, 17 Sep 09
Lack of U.S. Climate Change Legislation Will Delay Global Treaty Talks
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=todd-stern-climate-change-special-envoy-copenhagen
Scientific American: President Obama's top climate diplomat acknowledged today that Capitol Hill delays over global warming legislation will likely push international negotiations to work beyond a December summit in Copenhagen on a new treaty to succeed the Kyoto Protocol. "I think that we'll shape the thing to get as much done as can be done, and there are some pieces that need to get completed," Todd Stern, the State Department's climate envoy, told reporters. "But I think the mission is to get the most ...
Thu, 17 Sep 09
Canada: Greenpeace ends protest at Shell oil sands mine
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090916/wl_canada_nm/canada_us_shell_oilsands_protest
Reuters: Greenpeace activists who occupied mining equipment at Royal Dutch Shell Plc's Canadian oil sands project ended their protest on Wednesday after 1-1/2 days and were escorted away without facing charges, the environmental group said. Shell said production at the Muskeg River mine, one of four oil sands projects in northern Alberta, operated at normal rates throughout the day as the demonstrators worked to spread their message that developing the oil sands hampers the fight against ...
Thu, 17 Sep 09
U.S. reconsiders Bush-era smog pollution standards
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE58F6EH20090916?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said on Wednesday it would reconsider Bush-era standards for smog pollution that have been slammed by environmentalists for not being aggressive enough. The 2008 standards, approved during the Bush administration, drew sharp criticism from environmental groups and the American Lung Association for being too weak and opening the regulatory process to interference from political appointees. "Reconsidering these standards and ensuring ...
Thu, 17 Sep 09
Green surge gives carbon trade hub its first profit
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/green-surge-gives-carbon-trade-hub-its-first-profit-1788611.html
Independent (UK): Carbon passed a milestone on the road to acceptance as a tradeable commodity yesterday as the Climate Exchange recorded its first ever profit. The company -- which runs the European Climate Exchange in London and its US counterpart -- recorded a near-doubling in volumes in the first half, pushing it to pre-tax profits of £1.5m compared with last year's £300,000 loss. The market for "green" products is taking off, boosted by schemes such as Europe's emissions trading scheme and ...
Thu, 17 Sep 09
United Kingdom: Miliband announces boost for green jobs
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/sep/16/ed-miliband-wind-turbines
Guardian: The energy and climate change secretary, Ed Miliband, today announced a boost for green jobs including government funding for a new factory in the north-east, which will make the largest offshore wind blades in the world. Miliband unveiled the £4.4m grant to Clipper Windpower to develop offshore wind turbines, with blades 70m long, 175m high, and weighing over 30 tonnes – "the size of a jumbo jet" – in a speech to the TUC in Liverpool. "With strong government backing, the UK is ...
Thu, 17 Sep 09
EPA limits pollution from medical incinerators
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2009/09/16/epa_limits_pollution_from_medical_incinerators/?rss_id=Boston.com+--+Latest+news
Associated Press: About 50 medical waste incinerators nationwide will have to reduce their air pollution under new regulations announced Wednesday by the Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA said that the new rules, which require better monitoring and tighten emissions limits, will reduce toxic pollution from the burning of medical waste by 390,000 pounds annually and likely result in no new incinerators being built. Medical incinerators burn biological waste, needles, plastic gloves, ...
Thu, 17 Sep 09
Former Cold War foes team up to probe warming seas
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE58F6UV20090917?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Rebecca Woodgate had no time for idle chat as her oceanography team scurried on the deck of their research ship during a recent mission in the Bering Strait, a crucial region for studying the impact of global warming. Woodgate, of the University of Washington's Polar Science Center, had much to do in a short time, pinpointing undersea locations of eight data-gathering moorings on the U.S. and Russian sides of the strait, electronically coaxing them to the surface and sinking new ones ...
Thu, 17 Sep 09
Using the market to tackle the climate crisis
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2009/09/17/using_the_market_to_tackle_the_climate_crisis/
Boston Globe: IT HAS become clear that the full changes America needs will not be solved by simply swapping White House tenants. In fact, this has been emphasized by the new tenant himself: we can`t stand on the sidelines and expect to realize the full change we need. And the change we most urgently need is the one that government is least able to tackle alone: the climate crisis. The US government has so far produced only a counterfeit proposal for responding to climate change. As fossil fuels` day in ...
Wed, 16 Sep 09
Obama administration unveils fuel economy rules
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5geOa2g5Et3NDxoLNWvogWFFtPCcQD9AO14AO0
Associated Press: With global talks on climate change looming, the Obama administration sought to gain momentum Tuesday by unveiling its plan to require better gas mileage for cars and trucks and the first-ever rules on vehicle greenhouse gas emissions. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson released the proposed regulations at the White House, the follow-up to President Barack Obama's announcement in May that the government regulations would link emissions and fuel ...
Wed, 16 Sep 09
New Zealand: Activists chain themselves to ship
http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/greenpeace-activists-chain-themselves-ship-2993194
TVNZ: Greenpeace activists have chained themselves to a ship moored off Tauranga, protesting against a shipment of palm kernel animal feed. The 12 activists have boarded the East Ambition, waiting to enter the Port of Tauranga and destined for Fonterra dairy farms. The protestors are calling on Prime Minister John Key to halt imports of the palm kernel feed due to its impact on climate change and address intensive dairy farming in New Zealand. "Fonterra's involvement in ...
Wed, 16 Sep 09
Climate change spells 'global health catastrophe'
http://www.politics.co.uk/news/health/climate-change-spells-global-health-catastrophe--$1327326.htm
Politics.co.uk: Eminent surgeons and physicians from across the world have signed a joint letter calling for the government to see climate change as a priority health issue. The letter, a copy of which has been sent to Gordon Brown and Ed Miliband, was published jointly by the BMJ and the Lancet today. It emphasises the benefits a low-carbon economy and diet would have on health, including lower rates of cancer, obesity, diabetes and heart disease. It also warns that a failure of world ...
Wed, 16 Sep 09
Australia: Wong says Coalition has no ideas on climate change
http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2009/s2687089.htm
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: TONY EASTLEY: The polls all say Malcolm Turnbull is not at all popular, but everyone wants a piece of him when it comes to debate about emissions trading legislation, or an ETS. The Opposition Leader is facing a divided party room and different pressure from industry groups. Some want him to participate; others to walk away. The Climate Change Minister, Penny Wong, who heads off to the US for climate discussions today, says she can't believe the Opposition has bluntly opposed ...
Wed, 16 Sep 09
Climate change 'could kill 4.5 million children'
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,26080919-12377,00.html
Agence France-Presse: AT least 4.5 million children could die if wealthy nations fail to provide more funds to help impoverished countries combat global warming, development charity Oxfam has warned. The organisation said in a report it was concerned that industrialised nations would take money out of existing funds dedicated to economic development in order to help poor countries battle climate change. World leaders will meet in Denmark in December to negotiate a new climate pact on reducing ...
Wed, 16 Sep 09
US Hits the Brakes on Vehicle Greenhouse Gas Emissions
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/sep2009/2009-09-15-01.asp
Environment News Service: The Obama administration opened a new era in U.S. automotive history today by proposing the nation's first greenhouse gas emissions standards for vehicles. The emissions standards would be paired with stronger vehicle fuel efficiency standards in a coordinated national program to address climate change and energy security. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and U.S. EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson announced the program at a news conference in Washington. "These proposed ...
Wed, 16 Sep 09
Australia is #1 - New World Leader in Global Warming Emissions
http://www.reuters.com/article/mnCarbonEmissions/idUS346834663120090915
Reuters: Australia now emits about 20.6 tons of CO2 per capita annually. The US is second at about 19.8 tons. China leads the world in total greenhouse gas emissions, but it's per capita emissions are miniscule in comparison - 4.5 tons. Also, India, another developing nation leading the world in CO2 emissions (4th) and under pressure to curb its emissions only emits 1.16 tons per capita annually. This new information comes from Maplecroft, a world leader in global risk assesments. Canada is ...
Wed, 16 Sep 09
UN chief urges leaders to 'get moving' on climate change talks
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5g-l8-f93boLaJzT2SUdGM8uPD_Xw
Agence-France Presse: UN chief Ban Ki-moon said Wednesday negotiations have stalled over a climate change deal, and urged world leaders to "get moving," ahead of a crucial meeting on the issue. Before a summit of almost 100 heads of government in New York next week to discuss climate change, the UN secretary general told the Guardian that leaders held in their hands "the future of this entire humanity". "We are deeply concerned that the negotiation is not making much headway," Ban told the ...
Wed, 16 Sep 09
United States: Senate Dems react to Schwarzenegger's renewable energy order
http://www.sacbee.com/static/weblogs/capitolalertlatest/025495.html
Sacramento Bee: Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg and Sen. Joe Simitian, D-Pato Alto, sent a letter today to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger urging him to reconsider pursuing a legislative mandate for boosting the state's reliance on solar, wind and other renewable energy sources. "(An) Executive Order does not have the force and effect of law. Additionally, such a proclamation will only cause confusion and uncertainty to California's energy markets, jeopardizing California's role as the world ...
Wed, 16 Sep 09
United States: Schwarzenegger bypasses legislature on clean energy bill
http://features.csmonitor.com/politics/2009/09/15/schwarzenegger-bypasses-legislature-on-clean-energy-bill/
Christian Science Monitor: As promised, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger Tuesday signed an executive order, requiring California to get 33 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2020. The state legislature had already passed two bills on Sept. 11, calling for the same standard and giving California the largest "renewable portfolio standard" in the country. But Governor Schwarzenegger declared that he will veto those bills when they reach his desk because they are "poorly drafted" and "overly ...
Wed, 16 Sep 09
Doctors warn of 'world catastrophe'
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5iMLmNQXAgXMIEGBZt8pkeq1_dB7g
Press Association: A failure to tackle climate change will lead to a "global health catastrophe", leading doctors have warned. But taking steps to cut the world's carbon emissions, such as eating less meat and switching to cleaner energy, will have benefits for people's health, an editorial published in both the Lancet and British Medical Journal (BMJ) said. And in a letter accompanying the editorial, medical chiefs in the UK, Ireland and around the world called on doctors to put pressure on ...
Wed, 16 Sep 09
Australia: Garrett douses Beds Are Burning re-recording speculation
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/09/16/2687319.htm?section=entertainment
Agence France-Presse: Federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett says he will not join 55 celebrities in reprising one of Midnight Oil's greatest hits in the name of climate change. The former Midnight Oil frontman confirmed he and the band did collaborate with the Geneva-based Global Humanitarian Forum on a revamp of their 1980s hit Beds Are Burning, but will not take part in the recording. "The band were obviously aware of it and were happy to contribute to [the song] being reworked," a spokesman ...
Wed, 16 Sep 09
China and India warned to co-operate over CO2 emissions
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/9f0bc6c2-a258-11de-9caa-00144feabdc0.html
Financial Times: Todd Stern, the US's climate change envoy, has warned countries such as China and India that they run greater risk of protectionist measures in the US Congress if they do not co-operate on international steps to hold down carbon emissions. Speaking to the FT, he added that the US would still have a solid bargaining position even if, as is widely expected, the Obama administration fails to push its own emissions legislation through Congress before December's intergovernmental ...
Wed, 16 Sep 09
Australia: Wong heads to US for climate talks
http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/wong-heads-to-us-for-climate-talks-20090916-fqgw.html
AAP: Federal Climate Change Minister Penny Wong leaves for the United States on Wednesday for talks with Obama administration officials as the government's planned emissions trading scheme remains stalled. Labor legislation setting up the carbon pollution reduction scheme is in legislative limbo following its rejection in the Senate in August. The government is still waiting to see promised coalition amendments to its draft laws. "I have said for months now, forward your ...
Wed, 16 Sep 09
United States: Schwarzenegger Orders Increase in Renewable Energy Use
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/16/us/16standard.html
New York Times: Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed an executive order Tuesday requiring that California draw 33 percent of its electricity from renewable sources like solar and wind power by 2020. The requirement is stricter than any other state's except Hawaii's, which calls for 40 percent by 2030. "Right now, we are relying too heavily on coal-fired power plants," Mr. Schwarzenegger said at a news briefing in Sacramento, shortly before signing the order. About half the 50 states have ...
Wed, 16 Sep 09
Climate change: Senate Democrats may delay legislation
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/sep/16/senate-delay-climate-change-legislation
Guardian: Democratic leaders in the Senate said last night they may wait until next year to take up climate change legislation, jeopardising the prospect of reaching a deal to avoid the most catastrophic consequences of global warming. The delay would prevent Barack Obama from delivering on his promise of demonstrating firm US commitment on climate change action in advance of negotiations at Copenhagen next December. The setback arrives at a critical moment in the home stretch of the ...
Wed, 16 Sep 09
Fuel-economy rules set 35.5 mpg standard for 2016 models
http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/2009-09-15-new-fuel-economy_N.htm
USA Today: The government announced tough new fuel-economy standards Tuesday in a proposed rule that also would place the first nationwide limits on vehicles' greenhouse gas emissions, blamed for global warming. The Obama administration outlined its targets in May, but final details were uncertain until the joint announcement by the federal Department of Transportation and Environmental Protection Agency. The rules would phase in with 2012 models, when the current rules end, and escalate ...
Wed, 16 Sep 09
Greenpeace shuts down oil sands mine in Canada
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2009/09/15/business-energy-cn-canada-oil-sands-protest_6890782.html
Associated Press: A Greenpeace protest shut down Royal Dutch Shell PLC's massive oil sands mine on Tuesday on the eve of Prime Minister Stephen Harper's visit with President Barack Obama. Two dozen Greenpeace members chained themselves to giant earth-moving equipment, shutting down Shell's massive Albian Sands oil sands mine in northwestern Alberta for several hours. Alberta's oil sands projects have been criticized as a growing source of greenhouse gas emissions. Shell temporarily suspended ...
Wed, 16 Sep 09
World Bank spends billions on coal-fired power stations despite own warnings
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article6836112.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=3392178
Times (UK): The World Bank is spending billions of pounds subsidising new coal-fired power stations in developing countries despite claiming that burning fossil fuels exposes the poor to catastrophic climate change. The bank, which has a goal of reducing poverty and is funded by Britain and other developed countries, calls on all nations in a report today to "act differently on climate change'. It says that the world must reduce its dependence on fossil fuels, but it is funding several giant ...
Wed, 16 Sep 09
United States: Schwarzenegger boosts state's clean energy plan
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE58E8B920090915?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: California's governor on Tuesday ordered that a third of the state's electricity come from renewable resources by 2020, the same amount as a legislature plan but with promises to let power companies get more electricity from outside the state. Governor Arnold said that his plan would help the state better meet its clean energy target by making it easier to import power. He also said the legislature's alternative would have required solar thermal plants to clear more regulatory hurdles ...
Wed, 16 Sep 09
North America backs plan to cut greenhouse gases
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2009/09/15/north_america_backs_plan_to_cut_greenhouse_gases/?rss_id=Boston.com+--+Latest+news
Associated Press: Small island nations gained North America's powerful backing Tuesday for a plan to convert the U.N. ozone treaty into a tool for phasing out some of the globe's most powerful climate-warming gases. The Obama administration announced the United States, Canada and Mexico now support using the treaty to require cuts in powerful greenhouse gases known as hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs. The treaty, called the Montreal Protocol, was signed by 195 nations to fix the globe's ozone ...
Wed, 16 Sep 09
EC president outlines climate change, immigration and human rights plans
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/sep/15/jose-manuel-barroso-ec-elections
Guardian: The president of the European commission, Jos̩ Manuel Barroso, pledged yesterday to create three European commissioner posts Рfor climate change, immigration and human rights Рif he is granted a second term tomorrow. The European parliament will vote following a summer of intense politicking that saw the vote postponed. Barroso needs a simple majority of votes to win a new term. The centre-right former Portuguese prime minister should muster a majority, but the scale of the victory will be ...
Wed, 16 Sep 09
World Bank warns even two degree rise will cripple development efforts
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2249544/world-bank-warns-two-degree
Business Green: The World Bank yesterday issued its clearest warning to date that development efforts in poorer nations will be derailed without a huge increase in funding for climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts. The Bank's annual World Development Report warns that even if the G8 group of industrialised nations achieves its target of limiting global warming to two degrees above pre-industrial levels, the increase in global average temperatures will still result in shrinking levels of ...
Wed, 16 Sep 09
U.S. backs proposal to cut HFC greenhouse gases
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE58E81X20090915?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: The United States, Canada and Mexico have proposed using an existing international protocol to reduce emissions of potent greenhouse gases called hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) used in refrigerators and air conditioners, the State Department said on Tuesday. The State Department said the three countries believed the Montreal Protocol, which regulates hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) blamed for depleting the ozone layer, could also help phase down hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) used in cooling ...
Wed, 16 Sep 09
Climate change will damage your health
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/climate-change-will-damage-your-health-1787948.html
Independent (UK): Human society faces a global health catastrophe if climate change is not effectively tackled at the UN conference in Copenhagen in December, leading doctors from around the world warn today. Calling on medical practitioners everywhere to put pressure on politicians in advance of the meeting, the doctors say that the world's poorest people will be hit first by the health effects of global warming, but add that "no one will be spared". Their stark challenge to governments follows ...
Wed, 16 Sep 09
United Kingdom: Doctors warn on climate failure
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8257766.stm
BBC: Failure to agree a new UN climate deal in December will bring a "global health catastrophe", say 18 of the world's professional medical organisations. Writing in The Lancet and the British Medical Journal, they urge doctors to "take a lead" on the climate issue. In a separate editorial, the journals say that people in poor tropical nations will suffer the worst impacts. They argue that curbing climate change would have other benefits such as more healthy diets and ...
Wed, 16 Sep 09
Climate cuts urged to avert "health catastrophe"
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE58E87E20090915?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: The world will face a "global health catastrophe" if governments fail to agree deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions as part of a U.N. pact in Copenhagen in December, several leading doctors have declared. "What's good for the climate is good for health," according to an editorial published in the British Medical Journal and The Lancet on Wednesday. A strong agreement in Copenhagen by 190 nations to curb emissions would help avert heatwaves, floods and desertification that ...
Wed, 16 Sep 09
Malaysia: Independent review finds logging company has abused rights of indigenous Penan in Borneo
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0915-hance_penan_review.html
Mongabay: An independent review of Interhill Logging found that the Sarawak logging company is regularly violating forest laws and abusing the rights of the indigenous Penan peoples. The review, conducted by French tourism giant ACCOR, found that Interhill Logging had not received free, prior, and informed consent from the local Penan people for its logging operations; the logging being done by Interhill "is very definitely not sustainable"; the company is not fully compiling with Sarawak's ...
Wed, 16 Sep 09
Tackling Climate Change Could Earn Africa $1.5bn
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2009/09/15/world/international-uk-africa-worldbank-climatechange.html?_r=5
Reuters: Using Africa's vast agricultural resources to help tackle climate change could earn the continent $1.5 billion (909.4 million pounds) a year, a World Bank head said on Tuesday. The region should also tap its underexploited renewable resources, particularly hydropower, to meet increasing energy demand and boost both growth and development. "It is essential that climate change be viewed as a major development opportunity for Africa given the anticipated increase in the energy ...
Wed, 16 Sep 09
Rich nations must lead global warming battle: World Bank
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090915/sc_afp/worldbankclimatewarming
Agence France-Presse: The World Bank on Tuesday called on rich countries to step up the battle against global warming, saying their assistance is essential to help developing countries reduce their carbon footprints. Developing countries can shift to lower-carbon paths while promoting development and reducing poverty, but this depends on financial and technical assistance from high-income countries, the World Bank said in a report released ahead of the December international conference on climate change in ...
Wed, 16 Sep 09
Climate goals must be achievable: U.S. official
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE58E3UT20090915?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Nations aiming to agree on a new global climate deal should focus on achievable greenhouse gas emissions targets, to involve as many nations as possible, U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu said on Tuesday. The world is meant to thrash out in December in Copenhagen a new international climate change pact beyond 2012, to replace the Kyoto Protocol. Developing nations want rich countries to cut emissions by 25 to 40 percent from 1990 levels by 2020 to avert the worst effects of ...
Wed, 16 Sep 09
World Bank urges rich states to act now on climate
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE58E40Q20090915?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: The world's rich nations must make immediate and deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions or the steeply rising cost of climate change will fall disproportionately on poor countries, the World Bank said on Tuesday. In a major report on the threat of climate change, the Bank's "World Development Report" said developing countries will bear 75 to 80 percent of the costs of damage caused by climate change and rich countries, the biggest CO2 emitters in the past, have a "moral" obligation to ...
Wed, 16 Sep 09
China's Hu to unveil new climate proposals to UN - Reuters
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE58E1ZQ20090915
Reuters: China's President Hu Jintao will present China's new plans for tackling global warming at a United Nations summit on climate change later this month, the country's senior negotiator said on Tuesday. "He will make an important speech," Xie Zhenhua told reporters ahead of Hu's trip next week to the United Nations and the G20 summit of major rich and developing economies in Pittsburgh. Hu "will announce the next policies, measures and actions that China is going to take," added ...
Wed, 16 Sep 09
Climate Change Risks Could Cost Nations nearly 20% of GDP
http://www.environmentalleader.com/2009/09/15/climate-change-risks-could-cost-nations-nearly-20-of-gdp/
Environmental Leader: While one study shows that climate change risks could cost nations nearly 20 percent of their GDP by 2030, another one indicates that some countries including Mexico and Argentina are leading the way to a low-carbon economy. Climate change risks could cost nations up to 19 percent of their GDP by 2030, with developing countries most vulnerable, according to a new report from the Economics of Climate Adaptation Working Group. The report also finds that cost-effective adaptation ...
Wed, 16 Sep 09
Lawyers call on G20 to deliver clearer climate change regulations
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2249526/lawyers-call-g20-deliver
Business Green: A coalition including some of the UK's largest law firms has called upon world leaders to deliver a clear and consistent international regulatory framework, or risk undermining the effectiveness of the global climate change deal that is expected to be agreed later this year in Copenhagen. The Legal Sector Alliance (LSA), which represents 124 law firms including global players such as Linklaters and Taylor Wessing, yesterday issued a communiqué to leaders of the G20 group of nations ...
Wed, 16 Sep 09
Iraq seeks 30-year water plan to fight drought
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE58E4RX20090915?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Iraq is studying offers from three foreign companies on putting together a strategic 30-year plan for managing its water resources during a lingering and damaging drought, the water resources ministry said on Tuesday. Water resources director Oun Thiab Abdullah said 15 companies had originally been invited to make submissions for the $50 million project but only three -- a British, a Russian and an Italian consultancy -- showed interest. The finalist would be selected in a ...
Wed, 16 Sep 09
Emissions from cerrado destruction in Brazil equal to emissions from Amazon deforestation
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0915-cerrado.html
Mongabay: Damage to Brazil's vast cerrado grassland results in greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to those produced by destruction of the Amazon rainforest, said Carlos Minc, the country's Environment Minister. Speaking on National Cerrado Day on September 11, Minc said that 21,000 square kilometers of cerrado was destroyed per year between 2002 and 2008, twice the rate of the Amazon rainforest. Nearly half the cerrado has been converted for cattle ranches and mechanized soy farms. Many of ...
Wed, 16 Sep 09
East Timor makes U.N. history with ozone treaty signing
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE58E4YX20090915?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Tiny East Timor on Wednesday signed a U.N. treaty to protect the Earth's fragile ozone layer, making it the first environmental pact to achieve backing from all 196 member states, the United Nations said. The Montreal Protocol is designed to phase-out man-made chemicals that damage the planet's ozone layer, which shields life from harmful ultraviolet radiation from the sun that can cause skin cancer, cataracts and reduce plant yields. The pact has been so successful that the ...
Wed, 16 Sep 09
China to unveil new climate plans at UN summit
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSLF52641120090915?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: China said on Tuesday it would unveil new plans for tackling global warming at a United Nations summit next week that will try to break deadlock between rich and poor nations on a new climate treaty. President Hu Jintao "will announce the next policies, measures and actions that China is going to take," senior climate negotiator Xie Zhenhua said of the September 22 summit in New York. Xie told reporters that China, which has overtaken the United States as the top greenhouse gas ...
Wed, 16 Sep 09
US and Europe clash over Copenhagen deal
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/sep/15/europe-us-copenhagen
Guardian: Europe has clashed with the US Obama administration over climate change in a potentially damaging split that comes ahead of crucial political negotiations on a new global deal to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. The Guardian understands that key differences have emerged between the US and Europe over the structure of a new worldwide treaty on global warming. Sources on the European side say the US approach could undermine the new treaty and weaken the world's ability to cut carbon ...
Wed, 16 Sep 09
Birds may move if climate change occurs
http://www.timesoftheinternet.com/110787.html
United Press International: University of California-Berkeley biologists say they've discovered birds will move if climate change produces unfavorable conditions. The researchers found 48 of 53 bird species studied in California's Sierra Nevada Mountains adjusted to climate change during the last century by moving to new sites "In order to conserve biodiversity in the face of future climate change, we need to know how a species actually responds to a warming climate," said doctoral student Morgan Tingley, ...
Wed, 16 Sep 09
Kerry Calls For China And US To Speed Up Climate Change Conversation
http://talkradionews.com/2009/09/kerry-calls-for-china-and-u-s-to-speed-up-climate-change-conversation/
Talk Radio News Service: Sen John Kerry (D-Mass.), who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called upon the U.S. and China to escalate their efforts to prevent climate change Tuesday. "These conversations [about climate change] between the U.S. and China are at a critical stage... they need to speed up. They need to focus," Kerry said during a conference call. "The U.S. needs to lead, we [the U.S.] have an obligation to lead", Kerry added. However, Kerry stressed that this did not release China ...
Wed, 16 Sep 09
EPA tightens limits on power plant water pollution
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2009/09/15/epa_tightens_limits_on_power_plant_water_pollution/?rss_id=Boston.com+--+Latest+news
Associated Press: For the first time in nearly 30 years, the Environmental Protection Agency plans to limit the quantity of toxic metals that coal-fired power plants release into waterways. The agency said Tuesday that equipment required to reduce pollution in the air has increased harmful contaminants in water discharged by power plants, particularly heavy metals such as selenium, cadmium, mercury and lead. Current regulations do nothing to control metals and are not enough to protect water quality ...
Wed, 16 Sep 09
Mobility key to climate change adaptation, say experts
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=86163
IRIN: Specialists studying the likelihood of population movements due to climate change effects offer widely divergent predictions. But most agree policymakers must understand that migration is a vital coping mechanism for at-risk populations and must do more to help destination hubs prepare. "Migration and mobility are always seen as exceptions but they are the norm. Mobility helps people get out of poverty," said Cecelia Tacoli, senior researcher with London-based NGO the International ...
Wed, 16 Sep 09
Mali: Technology Transfer So Slow "We'll Have to Copy Like China"
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48446
Inter Press Service: Cars and motorcycles are stuck because of the heavy rains that have drenched Mali's capital for the past few days. It is late afternoon and the water, mud and damaged fruit from nearby stalls make the journey for those heading home to celebrate Ramadan even more treacherous. These sudden floods are a direct consequence of climate change that is causing extreme changes of weather with shorter and more abrupt rainy seasons alternating with drought and desertification. "Since the ...
Wed, 16 Sep 09
S.Africa won't compromise economic growth to cut carbon emissions
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090915/wl_africa_afp/safricaenergyclimatecopenhagen
Agence France-Presse: South Africa will not sign any deal that would compromise the country's economic development chances at the upcoming climate change conference in Copenhagen, the environment minister said Tuesday. "All negotiators are there to pursue national interests ... and South Africa is no different in this regard. If a deal is going to compromise our national interest we are not going to support it 100 percent," Buyelwa Sonjica told journalist. In the lead up to the crucial climate ...
Wed, 16 Sep 09
Canada: Shell halts mining as activists protest oil sands
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE58E63420090915?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Royal Dutch Shell Plc has suspended production at its Canadian oil sands mine after environmental activists blockaded a massive dump truck and mining shovel to protest the impact of oil sands development, the company said on Tuesday. Greenpeace said 25 of its activists locked down the oil sands mining equipment at the Albian Sands Muskeg River mine in northern Alberta on Tuesday morning, a day before Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper meets U.S. President Barack Obama in ...
Wed, 16 Sep 09
South Africa puts power security above clean energy
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSLF61008120090915?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: South Africa, which relies on coal for 90 percent of its electricity, will need to first focus on ensuring sufficient power supply before moving full-scale to fight climate change, a minister said on Tuesday. South Africa, the continent's largest economy and the world's 12th largest carbon emitter, has been struggling to meet its fast-rising power demand and has chosen to invest in new coal-fired power plants to fill the power supply gap. The country plans to diversify its ...
Wed, 16 Sep 09
United States: Schwarzenegger to sign order boosting clean power
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090915/ap_on_bi_ge/us_california_renewable_energy
Associated Press: Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed an executive order Tuesday giving California the nation's most aggressive alternative energy standards, requiring utilities to get a third of their power from renewable sources by 2020. Schwarzenegger said the order signed at a field of solar panels will reduce California's dependence on fossil fuels and help clean its air while creating a reliable power supply for a state with 38 million people. It also will ensure that California remains a ...
Wed, 16 Sep 09
Canada: Protesters target oil sands before Harper meets Obama
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE58E6MZ20090915?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Environmentalists shut down a Canadian oil sands mine on Tuesday in a series of protests on the eve of Prime Minister Stephen Harper's visit with President Barack Obama, aimed at pressing their case that the projects undermine the fight against climate change. Green groups accused Harper's government of trying to hamper U.S. efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions by seeking protections for Canada's oil sands industry, a major supplier of crude oil to the United States. Harper ...
Wed, 16 Sep 09
Obama administration wants more salmon protection
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090915/ap_on_re_us/us_salmon_dams
Associated press: Calling it an "insurance policy" for salmon, the Obama administration has offered up a tougher conservation plan for the Pacific Northwest that includes monitoring for climate change and possible dam removal. But a top official also said the original plan drafted during the previous Bush administration and completed last year was "biologically and legally sound" when combined with measures added by the Obama administration. Jane Lubchenco, chief of the National Oceanic and ...
Wed, 16 Sep 09
Italy: Mafia 'sank nuclear waste ship'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8257912.stm
BBC: A shipwreck that could contain nuclear waste is being investigated by authorities in Italy amid claims that it was deliberately sunk by the mafia. An informant told a judge the ship was one of a number he blew up as part of an illegal operation to bypass rules on the disposal of toxic waste. The sunken vessel has been found 30km (18 miles) off the south-west of Italy. Murky pictures taken by a robot camera show the vessel intact and alongside it are a number of yellow ...
Wed, 16 Sep 09
Report Criticizes Canada's Climate Change Commitment
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1753555/report_criticizes_canadas_climate_change_commitment/index.html?source=r_science
redOrbit: Canada's effort to expand extraction of oil from tar sands in the Alberta province was criticized by Greenpeace on Monday when the environmental group accused the country of contributing to a "global climate crisis," AFP reported. Canada, along with Japan, is seeking to block progress towards a new global climate change agreement to be finalized at a December summit in Copenhagen, according to the Greenpeace report entitled "Dirty Oil". Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper ...
Tue, 15 Sep 09
Engineers find ways to combat climate change
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/city/varanasi/Engineers-find-ways-to-combat-climate-change/articleshow/5009937.cms
Times of India: This year's theme of Engineer's Day- 'Engineering Solutions to Combat Climate Change'- fits perfectly with the technology being applied by Sankat Mochan Foundation (SMF) for cleaning the Ganga under the second phase of the Ganga Action Plan (GAP) in Varanasi. To commemorate the birthday of Bharat Ratna Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya, many events are organised in the country every year on September 15. Considering global awareness on climate change and realising engineer's role in ...
Tue, 15 Sep 09
A major price drop for solar panels
http://features.csmonitor.com/environment/2009/09/14/a-major-price-drop-for-solar-panels/
Christian Science Monitor: Solar power has hit Bill McÂEleney's pocketbook – but in a good way. Putting solar panels on his roof was an idea that "just rattled around" for years, says the Cranston, R.I., engineer, until he saw panel prices plummeting in December and decided to get off the fence. He got a bid for a rooftop solar power system, but was delayed eight months. Still, that delay worked to his advantage as solar-electric prices continued to fall – eventually cutting the cost of his 3.8-kilowatt ...
Tue, 15 Sep 09
German campaign focusing on nuclear
http://www.upi.com/Energy_Resources/2009/09/14/German-campaign-focusing-on-nuclear/UPI-30811252958606/
United Press International: Energy is one of the few divisive issues in what has so far been a rather cozy German election campaign. When it comes to Germany's future energy mix, all parties agree on one thing: Renewables are to play a significant role. There is one energy source, however, that the country is at odds over -- and that's nuclear energy. The energy source is revived in most of Europe but remains highly controversial in Germany. It's one of the very few divisive issues in what has so far been ...
Tue, 15 Sep 09
Australia leads world in carbon emissions
http://www.upi.com/Energy_Resources/2009/09/14/Australia-leads-world-in-carbon-emissions/UPI-13351252958994/
United Press International: Australia has surpassed the United States as the world's biggest per capita producer of carbon emissions, according to a report by a risk consultancy. The study by British-based Maplecroft released last week finds that Australia tops the CO2 energy emissions index, which measures how much carbon dioxide a country spews into the atmosphere relative to its population size. Carbon emissions are blamed for global warming. Coal-fired power stations, known for high CO2 emissions, ...
Tue, 15 Sep 09
Will China's Planned Solar Field Lower the Cost of Alternative Energy?
http://www.physorg.com/news172165180.html
PhysOrg.com: One of the biggest complaints that some have about solar power (and other forms of alternative energy) is that it is so much more expensive than the fossil fuels that are more commonly used today. However, this might change with China's ambitious plans to build a 2-gigawatt solar field in Inner Mogolia. The solar field will be built by the U.S. company First Solar, and it is not scheduled to be completed for another 10 years, in 2019. The massive undertaking, though, could help make ...
Tue, 15 Sep 09
Australia: Pass ETS now: Garnaut
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/09/15/2685978.htm?section=australia
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: The Federal Government's former climate change adviser Ross Garnaut says Australia's credibility on the issue would be boosted if the Senate were to pass an emissions trading scheme. Professor Garnaut says the differences between the Government and Opposition over the scheme do not look good internationally. "With the 2020 target on the table, if the rest of the world is prepared to accomodate strong mitigation, I think our interests would be served by passing ETS," he ...
Tue, 15 Sep 09
Expert says climate change impacting northern Minn. forests
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2009/09/14/frelich-forests-prairie/
Minnesota Public Radio: A University of Minnesota forestry expert says global warming and other stressors will dramatically change the state's northern forests, leaving much of the state a prairie. Lee Frelich said it's not just the higher temperatures and drought, it's also more straight-line wind storms, fires, the booming deer population, and plagues of pests both native and exotic. They'll all push the range of balsams and birches as much as 300 miles north. Frelich's predictions appear in the ...
Tue, 15 Sep 09
Europe's $57 billion plan to put windmills in the ocean
http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0915/p06s01-woeu.html
Christian Science Monitor: Wind is the fastest growing renewable energy in Europe – making up a third of new energy here, with 20 turbines added every working day in 2008, according to EU statistics. What the European wind energy industry now wants is to expand – offshore. Ocean winds are a stronger and more predictable form of energy than the ones on land, and the industry is pushing a $57 billion investment to allow broad-winged turbines to spin at sea. Offshore wind is "absolutely" a significant new ...
Tue, 15 Sep 09
Australia: Agriculture impact 'worse than mining'
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/09/15/2686241.htm
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: A keynote speaker at a mining conference in Wollongong says the agriculture sector will come out worse off than the mining sector in the coming decades. Business forecaster Phillip Ruthven from the IBIS Group also told the conference agriculture has a far greater environmental footprint than the mining industry. Mr Ruthven says the output from the coal mining industry in New South Wales is twice that of agriculture. He says in the face of climate change, mining will be a ...
Tue, 15 Sep 09
United States: Prairie/forest border is moving north because of warmer climate
http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/event/article/id/146564/
Duluth News Tribune: Substantial areas of what is now Northland forest may someday change to savanna or grassland, according to University of Minnesota scientists detailing the impacts of climate change in a newly published research paper. The paper predicts Duluth-area forest types -- red and white pine, birch and aspen -- will recede northeast to about Thunder Bay, while prairie-like habitats now common in southern and central Minnesota will move into the North-land. The scientific paper, ...
Tue, 15 Sep 09
Canada: Oilsands foes ready hostile reception for Harper in DC
http://www.montrealgazette.com/business/Oilsands+foes+ready+hostile+reception+Harper/1993488/story.html
Montreal Gazette: A coalition of North American environmental groups plans to welcome Prime Minister Stephen Harper to Washington this week with an advertising blitz targeting Alberta's oilsands and Ottawa's climate change policy. "Our top line message is that Canada's tarsands are inconsistent with President Obama's clean energy vision," says Gillian McEachern, senior climate campaigner at ForestEthics. Dimitri Soudas, a spokesman for Harper, said the prime minister plans to use his meeting ...
Tue, 15 Sep 09
One in six Mediterranean mammals face extinction
http://news.asiaone.com/News/Latest%2BNews/Tech/Story/A1Story20090915-167868.html
Agence France-Presse: One in six Mediterranean mammals is threatened with extinction at the regional level, mainly due to the destruction of their habitat from urbanization, agriculture and climate change, nature body IUCN said Tuesday in a new study. Of the 320 mammal species assessed by the Geneva-based International Union for the Conservation of Nature, 49 were threatened, including 20 that can be found nowhere else in the world, it said in a statement. Three percent are "critically endangered", ...
Tue, 15 Sep 09
Schwarzenegger veto of renewable-energy bill could be risky
http://features.csmonitor.com/politics/2009/09/14/schwarzenegger-veto-of-renewable-energy-bill-could-be-risky/
Christian Science Monitor: Several environmental groups worry that California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger`s attempt to take control of the state`s landmark renewable-energy standards is putting the entire effort at risk. The state legislature passed a bill Friday that would require California to get 33 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2020. If signed, the bill would give California the largest, so-called "renewable portfolio standard" in the country. But Schwarzenegger spokesman Matt ...
Tue, 15 Sep 09
$900 Billion to Cut China's Emissions with Wind Power
http://www.reuters.com/article/mnCarbonEmissions/idUS60634993220090914
Reuters: As mentioned in previous posts, the United Nations is calling on rich (developed) countries to provide developing countries with $500-600 billion a year in support to tackle climate change. A recent report declares that India needs $1.1 trillion in the next several years to cut emission growth by 50-60% by 2030. Another report from the last week says that China could cut its emissions by 30% by 2030 as well with $900 billion of investment in wind energy. This new report estimates that ...
Tue, 15 Sep 09
Australia overtakes U.S. as biggest polluter: report
http://www.tehrantimes.com/index_View.asp?code=203362
Agence France-Presse: Australians have overtaken Americans as the world's biggest individual producers of carbon dioxide, which is blamed for global warming, a risk consultancy says. British firm Maplecroft placed Australia's per capita output at 20.58 tons a year, some four percent higher than the United States and top of a list of 185 countries. Canada, the Netherlands and Saudi Arabia rounded out the top five. China remains the world's biggest overall greenhouse gas polluter, followed by the ...
Tue, 15 Sep 09
Interior Launches Climate Strategy
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/14/AR2009091403307.html?hpid=moreheadlines
Washington Post: Interior Secretary Ken Salazar launched the Obama administration's first coordinated response to the impacts of climate change Monday, which he said would both monitor how global warming is altering the nation's landscape and help the country cope with those changes. Salazar will lead a new "climate change response council" that will coordinate action among the department's eight bureaus and offices. A secretarial order will create eight "regional climate change response centers" in ...
Tue, 15 Sep 09
Droughts force Indian farmers to sell wives to pimps
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/india/6190033/Droughts-force-Indian-farmers-to-sell-wives-to-pimps.html
Telegraph: A succession of droughts compounded by flash floods in recent years have destroyed crops and ruined the soil, leaving farmers in debt to loan sharks. The growing number who have committed suicide to escape the shame has attracted concern but less attention has been paid to farmers handing wives and daughters to prostitution. Sangeeta, a farmer's wife from the Bundelkhand area, which straddles Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh and has been particularly hard hit, told campaigners how her ...
Tue, 15 Sep 09
Greenpeace calls Canada polluter, climate change 'bully'
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090914/sc_afp/environmentcanadaenergyoilgreenpeace
Agence France-Presse: Environmental group Greenpeace on Monday accused Canada of contributing to a "global climate crisis" by seeking to expand extraction of oil from tar sands in Alberta province. In a report entitled "Dirty Oil" the organization also says that Canada, along with Japan, is seeking to block progress towards a new global climate change agreement to be finalized at a December summit in Copenhagen. Greenpeace published its new report shortly ahead of a meeting between Canadian Prime ...
Tue, 15 Sep 09
Pursuing a Battery So Electric Vehicles Can Go the Extra Miles
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/15/science/15batt.html?_r=5&partner=rss&emc=rss
New York Times: A future generation lithium-air battery might be the much sought after power source for electric vehicles with ranges that match gasoline powered cars of today. The interest in the as-yet-unproven technology was underscored this summer when I.B.M. said it had begun to pursue a tenfold improvement in battery storage, with hopes of reaching the goal before the end of the next decade. I.B.M. executives said the company was unlikely to enter the battery business directly but was ...
Tue, 15 Sep 09
California feud breaks out on clean energy plan
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE58B1YM20090915?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger will veto a bill requiring the state to get a third of its electricity from solar, wind and other renewable sources, his staff said on Monday in a fight that shows the difficulties of addressing climate change fast. However, the governor on Tuesday will issue an executive order with the same goal, but different rules, his staff said. Schwarzenegger, whose legacy is largely pinned on driving California's response to global warming, ...
Tue, 15 Sep 09
EPA to propose ways to cut car emissions
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/environment/2009-09-14-jackson_N.htm?csp=34
USA Today: The chief of the Environmental Protection Agency said Monday that the Obama administration is studying how to curb global-warming gases from big industrial polluters such as power plants and factories. In an appearance before the USA TODAY editorial board, Lisa Jackson also said the agency will soon propose rules to cut greenhouse emissions from cars. "We will continue to move stepwise down the path toward regulation of greenhouse gases," Jackson said, assuming that the EPA ...
Tue, 15 Sep 09
Economists, scientists warn that world crises require a new order of international cooperation and enforcement
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0914-hance_neworder.html
Mongabay: A group of environmental scientists and economists warn that under current governing models the number and scale of human-caused crises are "outrunning our ability to deal with them". The researchers, writing in Science, say that "energy, food and water crises, climate disruption, declining fisheries, ocean acidification, emerging diseases and increasing antibiotic resistance are examples of serious, intertwined global-scale challenges spawned by the accelerating scale of human ...
Tue, 15 Sep 09
Saving the last megafauna of Malaysia, an interview with Reuben Clements
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0914-hance_megafauna.html
Mongabay: Reuben Clements has achieved one success after another since graduating from the National University of Singapore. Currently working in peninsular Malaysia, he manages conservation programs for the Endangered Malayan tiger and the Critically Endangered Sumatran Rhino with World Wildlife Fund. At the same time he has discovered three new species of microsnails, one of which was named in the top ten new species of 2008 (a BIG achievement for a snail) due to its peculiar shell which has four ...
Tue, 15 Sep 09
Report: Switch from high to low carbon energy to boost employment
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2249443/report-switch-low-carbon-energy
Business Green: The transition from high to low carbon energy infrastructure will deliver a net increase in global employment of 2.7 million jobs by 2030, despite the inevitable loss of jobs in declining fossil fuel industries. That is the conclusion of a major new study released yesterday by Greenpeace and the European Renewable Energy Council, which predicts that fast-expanding renewable energy industries, as well as energy efficiency programmes, will prove more labour intensive than the ...
Tue, 15 Sep 09
Key US states, issues in climate bill fight
http://www.reuters.com/article/vcCandidateFeed7/idUSN14336571
Reuters: If a climate change bill makes it to the U.S. Senate floor for a vote this year -- and there are doubts -- its passage will depend partly on conflicting pressures lawmakers face in their home states. Attracting support from moderate Democrats, along with at least a few Republicans, in some of those states is considered essential. Here is a look at some of the main issues and players: MONTANA -- COAL, WIND AND GLACIERS Montana holds some of the largest coal ...
Tue, 15 Sep 09
Global Warming Could Cool N. America in a Few Decades?
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/09/090914-north-america-cooling-warming.html
National Geographic: Global warming could actually chill down North America within just a few decades, according to a new study that says a sudden cooling event gripped the region about 8,300 years ago. Analysis of ancient moss from Newfoundland, Canada, links an injection of freshwater from a burst glacial lake to a rapid drop in air temperatures by a few degrees Celsius along North America's East Coast. This event created a colder year-round climate with a much shorter growing season for about ...
Tue, 15 Sep 09
Eyes Turn to Mexico as Drought Drags On
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/14/us/14drought.html?_r=5&partner=rss&emc=rss
New York Times: The Southwest drought has reached the point where even drain water is coveted. Beginning nearly 40 years ago, the briny runoff from the "salad bowl" of southern Arizona, some of the most productive farmland in the nation, has been channeled into an arid plain of the Sonoran desert in Mexico. It is an engineered solution to the vexing problem of keeping the nearby Colorado River free of agricultural wastewater too heavy in salt compounds for drinking water and other uses. An ...
Tue, 15 Sep 09
China clean tech market could be worth up to $1 trillion annually
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2249391/china-cleantech-market-worth
Business Green: China's booming clean tech market could soon be worth up to $1 trillion (£605bn) annually, according to a new report that credits the government's support for the sector as central to its recent stratospheric growth. The China Greentech Report 2009, released last week, looked at businesses that could feasibly be launched in the country in areas such as clean energy, construction, transport, water and other industries. The sectors could eventually generate between $500m and $1tn ...
Tue, 15 Sep 09
Australia tops global per capita carbon emissions, says report
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2249385/australia-tops-global-per
Business Green: Australia has surpassed the US as the world's biggest per capita producer of carbon emissions, according to a report by a British risk consultancy. Analyst Maplecroft estimates that Australian CO2 output per head of population now stands at 20.5 tons annually, putting it ahead of the 19.7 tons emitted by the average American. By comparison, China -- which emits more carbon overall than any nation -- has a per capita average of about 4.5 tons. In India, where greenhouse gases ...
Tue, 15 Sep 09
United Kingdom: Thousands of Co-operative customers urged to join Wave climate rally
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/sep/14/co-op-supporters-wave-rally
Press Association: The Co-operative is chartering trains and coaches to take thousands of its customers to a march calling for action on climate change later this year, the company said today. The Wave rally is being organised by the Stop Climate Chaos Coalition to mark the beginning of crucial UN climate change negotiations which aim to secure a new deal to cut global greenhouse gas emissions. The coalition - representing 100 UK organisations ranging from the Women's Institute to Friends of the ...
Tue, 15 Sep 09
Bickering over CO2 count seen unhelpful for climate
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090914/india_nm/india424416
Reuters: Bickering by individual nations over whether annual carbon emission figures are accurate stands in the way of finding a global solution to fighting climate change, a leading German researcher said. Norbert Allnoch, head of the IWR renewable energy research institute, said nations should follow the same yardstick for measuring their annual emissions from agriculture or burning fossil fuels. "It doesn't change the global situation if numbers are pushed about to and fro," he ...
Tue, 15 Sep 09
Rockefeller Finds It's Better to Negotiate on Climate Bill Than Sit on Sidelines
http://www.nytimes.com/cwire/2009/09/14/14climatewire-rockefeller-finds-its-better-to-negotiate-on-65562.html
New York Times: As one of the nation's largest producers of coal, West Virginia has more to lose than many other states when it comes to the debate over comprehensive global warming and energy legislation. And that is why across the state, the loudest voices now being heard are against taking the kinds of aggressive actions envisioned by President Obama and Democratic congressional leaders. Yet, Sen. Jay Rockefeller is happy to be at the bargaining table, trying to negotiate the best outcome ...
Tue, 15 Sep 09
World celebrities sing to stop global warming
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090914/ennew_afp/entertainmentclimateenvironmentmusic
Agence France-Presse: British rock group Duran Duran and heavy metal band Scorpions are among 55 world celebrities who have joined in recording a song to draw attention to the global warming crisis, organisers said on Monday. The song is part of a mass media campaign on the threats of climate change organised by the Geneva-based Global Humanitarian Forum, headed by former UN secretary general Kofi Annan. The song entitled "Beds'r Burning", which was originally recorded by the Australian group ...
Tue, 15 Sep 09
France: Sarkozy faces down carbon tax opposition
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2249415/sarkozy-faces-carbon-tax
Business Green: French president Nicholas Sarkozy last week staked his political reputation on controversial plans to introduce a carbon tax, arguing that the unpopular proposals were essential to efforts to tackle climate change and establish France as "the world leader of non-carbon energies". Speaking in a televised address from a heat pump factory in Culoz last week, Sarkozy attempted to face down critics of the new tax, drawing parallels between the introduction of the levy and other unpopular ...
Tue, 15 Sep 09
Many climate change costs seen avoidable
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE58D1ZR20090914?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Climate change could cost some countries up to 19 percent of their gross domestic product by 2030, a panel including major insurance, banking and consulting companies as well as the European Commission said on Monday. Developing nations will be most vulnerable to the effects of climate change but a lot of their economic loss could be avoided, a report by the Economics of Climate Adaptation (ECA) Working Group said. Together with prevention and mitigation measures, risk transfer ...
Tue, 15 Sep 09
A cheap fix for climate: retrofitting
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/14/business/energy-environment/14green.html?_r=5
New York Times: Though it looked earlier in the week as if it might be something of a nail-biter, the New York State Senate ultimately passed a landmark energy efficiency and green jobs bill late last Thursday. The implications of the bill, which has already passed the state Assembly and appears likely to be signed by the governor, might seem profoundly local. But like similar endeavors quietly unfolding across the globe, the New York legislation aims at one of the most intractable barriers to ...
Tue, 15 Sep 09
Cargo ships navigate Northeast Passage for the first time
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article6832885.ece
Times (UK): It is both a symbol of global warming and a potentially lucrative new trade route between Europe and Asia. Two German container ships have successfully navigated the Russian Northeast Passage across Arctic waters from the Pacific for the first time in a voyage considered impossible until a few years ago. The journey through formerly frozen seas promises to transform Russia's neglected Siberian coast and reduce transport costs for goods taken from Asia to the European ...
Tue, 15 Sep 09
Oil sands under attack on environment
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/oil-sands-under-attack-on-environment/article1286239/
Globe and Mail: The environmental battle over Alberta's oil sands is going global, forcing the industry to respond to new attacks on its record and putting fresh pressure on Ottawa. The Calgary-based industry is accustomed to defending its image in North America, but it now faces a multifront war. That growing global opposition is highlighted by its role in today's federal election in Norway, where the state-owned oil company's plans for the oil sands have sparked controversy. As well, a ...
Tue, 15 Sep 09
Australia: Investment experts burst 'green bubble' fears
http://www.theage.com.au/business/investment-experts-burst-green-bubble-fears-20090913-fmak.html
Age: THE world's rising energy demand and proper reporting of performance is predicted to save clean technology investment from inhabiting the same bubble that claimed previous victims such as the dot-com boom, according to risk management experts. As governments around the world legislate to assist renewable energy technologies to compete on price with traditional forms of power generation, which is typically carbon intensive, some commentators are warning of a ''green bubble'' around ...
Tue, 15 Sep 09
Coal booming despite Japan's move on emissions
http://www.theage.com.au/business/coal-booming-despite-japans-move-on-emissions-20090913-fmaf.html
Age: INVESTMENT and production in the coal industry are galloping towards record highs, in stark contrast to moves in Australia's biggest export market to shift towards cleaner fuels. As Japan - which buys nearly half of Australia's coal exports - pledges heavy cuts to its greenhouse gas emissions, a coal investment boom is driving domestic production to new peaks. Over the next five years Australia's total coal production is set to bulge by 30 per cent to a record 450 million ...
Tue, 15 Sep 09
Scientists find CO2 link to Antarctic ice cap origin
http://www.reuters.com/article/scienceNews/idUSTRE58D20U20090914
Reuters: A team of scientists studying rock samples in Africa has shown a strong link between falling carbon dioxide levels and the formation of Antarctic ice sheets 34 million years ago. The results are the first to make the link, underpinning computer climate models that predict both the creation of ice sheets when CO2 levels fall and the melting of ice caps when CO2 levels rise. The team, from Cardiff, Bristol and Texas A&M Universities, spent weeks in the African bush in ...
Tue, 15 Sep 09
Big utility puts carbon capture technology to the test
http://www.nytimes.com/cwire/2009/09/14/14climatewire-big-utility-puts-carbon-capture-technology-t-28424.html
New York Times: At the Mountaineer power plant, more than 10,000 tons of coal are pulverized to a fine powder each day and combusted inside the fiery inferno of one of the biggest boilers on earth. Nestled in the hills along the Ohio River's winding banks, this was a state-of-the-art coal burner when American Electric Power put it online in 1980. Thirty years and $650 million in air pollution control retrofits later, the 1,300-megawatt behemoth is still shiny and new compared to much of the utility's ...
Tue, 15 Sep 09
Security fears used to sell climate bill
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-warming-security14-2009sep14,0,6999827.story
LA Times: After months of promoting President Obama's climate plan as a vehicle to create millions of clean-energy jobs, supporters of the legislation are increasingly pushing another strategy -- its benefits for national security. It's a deliberate, anxiety-themed effort to press a handful of fence-sitting moderates to support a bill that will probably be the administration's next great legislative push after healthcare. A coalition backing the energy and climate bill pending before the ...
Tue, 15 Sep 09
United States: Schwarzenegger may order a change in green energy rules
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-power14-2009sep14,0,1839476.story
LA Times: After vowing to veto this year's biggest environmental bill, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is expected to issue an executive order by midweek that would require all electric utilities to generate a third of their power from renewable resources, such as wind and solar power, by 2020. The order presumably would set no limit on how much of the green power could be imported from other states. Environmentalists who have been told about the governor's still-evolving plans said ...
Tue, 15 Sep 09
EU climate scientist casts doubt on geo-engineering
http://www.euractiv.com/en/climate-change/eu-climate-scientist-casts-doubt-geo-engineering/article-185287
EurActiv: Scientists should not meddle with the Earth's complex climate by experimenting with futuristic geo-engineering options when softer approaches are available, Frank Raes, head of the climate change unit at the European Commission's Joint Research Centre, told EurActiv in an interview. Sophisticated geo-engineering programmes - including mirrors to reflect the sun's radiation or plans to "fertilise" oceans - have already been imagined to try and manipulate the Earth's climate in case ...
Tue, 15 Sep 09
United Kingdom: Cambridge professor warns of blackouts in the future
http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/cn_news_cambridge/displayarticle.asp?id=448642
Cambridge News: THERE could be blackouts by 2016 unless new sources of energy are developed, a Cambridge University researcher has warned. Prof David Mackay, recently appointed a key Government advisor, said a massive building programme which would "industrialise" much of the countryside would be needed if Britain was to meet its energy needs from renewable sources. He said public opposition to developments such as nuclear power plants, windfarms and tidal barrages was partly to blame for the ...
Tue, 15 Sep 09
Clean energy to create more jobs than coal: study
http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE58D0EA20090914
Reuters: A strong shift toward renewable energies could create 2.7 million more jobs in power generation worldwide by 2030 than staying with dependence on fossil fuels would, a report suggested Monday. The study, by environmental group Greenpeace and the European Renewable Energy Council (EREC), urged governments to agree a strong new United Nations pact to combat climate change in December in Copenhagen, partly to safeguard employment. "A switch from coal to renewable electricity ...
Tue, 15 Sep 09
Air Pollution May Raise Blood Pressure
http://news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20090914/hl_hsn/airpollutionmayraisebloodpressure
HealthDay News: Breathing polluted air for even two hours can boost blood pressure, potentially raising the risk of cardiovascular disease in those exposed to smog, a new study suggests. Although the increase may not mean much for healthy people, "this small increase may actually be able to a trigger a heart attack or stroke," study author Dr. Robert D. Brook, an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Michigan, said in a university news release. An estimated nearly one in three ...
Tue, 15 Sep 09
Apocalypse now? Dark visions at Toronto film festival
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090914/en_nm/us_toronto_environment
Reuters: A new wave of documentaries at this year's Toronto International Film Festival poses a disturbing question: is environmental and social disaster on a global scale imminent and perhaps inevitable? Doomsday visions captured by three filmmakers at the annual industry event may have seemed a bit implausible only a couple of years ago. But after the global economy's near-death experience over the past 12 months, such ideas may no longer strike audiences as radical or hard to ...
Tue, 15 Sep 09
Malaysia slammed for peatland conversion
http://bmf.ch/en/news/?show=170
Bruno Manser Fronds: Borneo Resources Institute Malaysia (BRIMAS) strongly calls upon the State Government of Sarawak to halt its current development policy and practice of developing its 1.7 million hectares of peat soil land for large scale oil palm plantations as its development is tantamount to the build-up of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Over the recent years, about 750,000 hectares of land have been planted with oil palm trees. Of this, about 70% are deep peat soil area in Sarawak. With this ...
Tue, 15 Sep 09
Sweden urges US Senate to act on climate bill
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hHEifn7j9uXobMa1ffiAoHhvg2OAD9AN5CL00
Associated Press: Sweden's environment minister urged the U.S. Senate on Monday to pass legislation to control greenhouse gases, saying a delay in the vote is impeding negotiations on a new international climate treaty. Minister Andreas Carlgren said America's complex debate over health care reforms is sidelining its vote on a climate bill that is needed to persuade other nations -- especially the fast-growing economies of India and China -- to commit to lowering their greenhouse gas emissions at the ...
Tue, 15 Sep 09
Social causes of deforestation in the Amazon rainforest
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0914-fearnside_social_amazon.html
Mongabay: Understanding the web of social groups involved in deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon is key to containing forest loss, argues a leading Amazon researcher writing in the journal Ecology and Society. Philip Fearnside of the National Institute for Research in the Amazon (INPA) reviews nine actors that have had significant roles in deforestation and reports differences in why they deforest, where they are active, and how they interact with each other. The actors range from the poor ...
Tue, 15 Sep 09
The Amazon Road: Paving Paradise For Progress?
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=112535943&ft=1&f=1025
National Public Radio:
Tue, 15 Sep 09
United States: Schwarzenegger to issue renewable energy order
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090914/ap_on_bi_ge/us_california_renewable_energy
Associated Press: Administration officials say Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is moving ahead with plans to sign an executive order establishing the most aggressive renewable energy standard in the nation. The governor plans to sign the order Tuesday. It would require utilities to generate one-third of their electricity from renewable sources such as wind, solar or geothermal plants by 2020. His office says the governor will veto a similar bill passed by lawmakers last week. Mary Nichols, ...
Tue, 15 Sep 09
Traveling Down The Amazon Road
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=112489035&ft=1&f=1025
National Public Radio: A transcontinental highway under construction in Peru and Brazil is bringing the prospects of economic opportunity and environmental ruin to some of the most remote places on the planet. NPR correspondent Lourdes Garcia-Navarro and staff photographer John Poole traveled the Peruvian route to produce this series.
Tue, 15 Sep 09
Investment banks in carbon trading
http://www.reuters.com/article/GCA-BusinessofGreen/idUSTRE58D3MH20090914?sp=true
Reuters: Investment banks are chasing opportunities in a $126 billion carbon market as the U.S. Senate considers a federal climate bill that would launch a cap and trade scheme. Governments worldwide are also expected to lean heavily on the private sector and carbon markets in particular, as a way to raise finance to fight climate change, at a major U.N.-led meeting in Copenhagen in December. Investment banks have three main strategies in carbon: buy and sell emissions rights on behalf ...
Tue, 15 Sep 09
U.S. Interior Dept seeks better climate cooperation
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE58D5GE20090914?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: The U.S. Interior Department unveiled an initiative on Monday to address the effects of climate change on public lands by increasing coordination between its various bureaus and other groups. "This is one house which frankly over its history ... has been divided, with every one of its agencies doing its own thing," Interior Secretary Ken Salazar told a news conference. Salazar said he will set up a Climate Change Response Council made up of agency heads that will work to ...
Tue, 15 Sep 09
California feud breaks out on clean energy plan
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090914/us_nm/us_california_energy
Reuters: California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger will veto a bill requiring the state to get a third of its electricity from solar, wind and other renewable sources, his staff said on Monday in a fight that shows the difficulties of addressing climate change fast. Schwarzenegger, whose legacy is largely pinned on driving California's response to global warming, believes the bill passed in the last hours of the legislative session on Friday would make it more difficult to build solar plants ...
Tue, 15 Sep 09
Interior Dept. gets ready for global warming
http://www.newsday.com/news/nation/interior-dept-gets-ready-for-global-warming-1.1447257?localLinksEnabled=false
Associated Press: Interior Secretary Ken Salazar moved Monday to prepare the nation's parks, refuges and endangered species for the onslaught of global warming. Salazar signed an order setting up a Climate Change Response Council and eight regional response centers to study and respond to such issues as rising sea levels threatening to swamp historic structures and warmer temperatures shifting where wildlife live. The order also commits the Interior Department to develop a plan to reduce its ...
Tue, 15 Sep 09
France: Sarkozy renews pressure for CO2 border tax
http://www.euractiv.com/en/climate-change/sarkozy-renews-pressure-co2-border-tax/article-185387
EurActiv: French President Nicolas Sarkozy repeated calls to impose a European tax on goods imported from countries with less stringent environmental laws as he outlined plans for a new carbon tax on French households and industries last week (10 September). Background: Border carbon tariffs have been floated as a way to prevent European businesses from relocating to third countries as the EU progressively ups its environmental protection laws. The idea was put forward in January ...
Tue, 15 Sep 09
United States: Santa Cruz shrinks its carbon footprint
http://www.mercurynews.com/centralcoast/ci_13331867
Mercury News: City residents are well on their way to shrinking their carbon footprint to a size not seen in 20 years, since before the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. Since 1996, Santa Cruz residents have reduced the amount of carbon dioxide pollution they create annually by more than 110,000 tons, from 455,187 tons in 1996 to 344,230 tons in 2008, according to city officials. A carbon footprint is a measure of the impact certain activities have on the environment. It relates to the amount of ...
Tue, 15 Sep 09
New Carbon Dioxide Data Helps Unlock The Secrets Of Antarctic Formation
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090913134030.htm
ScienceDaily: The link between declining CO2 levels in the earth's atmosphere and the formation of the Antarctic ice caps some 34 million years ago has been confirmed for the first time in a major research study. A team of scientists from Cardiff, Bristol and Texas A&M universities braved the lions and hyenas of a small East African village to extract microfossils in samples of rocks which show the level of CO2 in the Earth's atmosphere at the time of the formation of the ...
Tue, 15 Sep 09
France: Renault to unveil new all-electric runabouts
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/motoring/motoring-news/renault-to-unveil-new-allelectric-runabouts-1786872.html
Independent (UK): The French car-maker Renault will try to jump the lights on its rivals tomorrow by announcing plans for a commercially viable, non-polluting "car of the future". Renault and its Japanese subsidiary, Nissan, will reveal details of a range of all-electric cars capable of matching the price and performance of internal-combustion vehicles within two years. At the start of the Frankfurt motor show, the president and chief executive of Renault-Nissan, Carlos Ghosn, will announce a ...
Tue, 15 Sep 09
United Kingdom: Staff in carbon footprint trial face £100 fines for high emissions
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article6832964.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=3392178
Times (UK): People who emit more than their fair share of carbon emissions are having their pay docked in a trial that could lead to rationing being reintroduced via the workplace after an absence of half a century. Britain's first employee carbon rationing scheme is about to be extended, after the trial demonstrated the effectiveness of fining people for exceeding their personal emissions target. Unlike the energy-saving schemes adopted by thousands of companies, the rationing scheme monitors ...
Sun, 13 Sep 09
Australia Leads World in New Greenhouse Gas Pollution Index
http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-09-12-voa19.cfm
Voice of America: New vehicles await shipment from a wharf in Sydney, Australia (file photo)A new study has shown that Australians have overtaken Americans as the world's highest per capita carbon dioxide polluters. The global pollution report has been compiled by a British company, Maplecroft. Using U.S. Energy Department data it calculated that Australia's per capita output of carbon dioxide at 18.66 metric tons a year, four percent higher than the United States. In a list of 185 countries, ...
Sun, 13 Sep 09
RSPB accused of damaging British environment in bid to save birds
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/sep/13/rspb-uk-charity-deforestation-birds
Guardian: It is an all-too familiar scene of environmental destruction. Deep in a forest, heavy machinery has felled a giant swath of trees to leave bare scrubland and a handful of stumps as forlorn memorials. The timber has long gone and cattle now pick their way across the clearing. But the scene of this environmental vandalism is not Indonesia or the Amazon; it is affluent Surrey. And those responsible are not illegal loggers, but one of Britain's largest and most influential conservation ...
Sun, 13 Sep 09
Carbon-trading market hit by UN suspension of clean-energy auditor
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/natural_resources/article6832259.ece
Times (UK): The legitimacy of the $100 billion (£60 billion) carbon-trading market has been called into question after the world's largest auditor of clean-energy projects was suspended by United Nations inspectors. SGS UK had its accreditation suspended last week after it was unable to prove its staff had properly vetted projects that were then approved for the carbon-trading scheme, or even that they were qualified to do so. The episode will be embarrassing for European lawmakers in the ...
Sun, 13 Sep 09
Britain falls behind in the race to win low-carbon trade
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/natural_resources/article6832249.ece
Sunday Times: Green business deals worth £300m between British and Chinese companies were unveiled in the People's Republic last week by Lord Mandelson, the business secretary. They were meant to illustrate Britain's leading role in the £2 trillion global market for low-carbon goods and services, yet new figures reveal that we are being left behind by China and America. Britain's share of the global market for low-carbon products and services is only 3.5%, or about £63 billion, according to ...
Sun, 13 Sep 09
United States: Schwarzenegger to veto renewable energy bills
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090912/ap_on_re_us/us_california_renewable_energy
Associated Press: Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger says he will veto legislation that would have given California the nation's most ambitious renewable energy standards. Instead, a spokesman said Saturday that Schwarzenegger will sign an executive order mandating a similar change but without elements the governor objects to. The measures approved by the state Legislature Friday night would have required California to get a third of its energy from renewable sources like wind, solar and geothermal by ...
Sun, 13 Sep 09
Calif. lawmakers pass tougher clean energy goals
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE58B1YM20090912?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: A bill that would power up California's already ambitious effort to shift to cleaner, renewable energy has cleared the state legislature, but it was uncertain if Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger would sign it. Schwarzenegger, who supports the more aggressive requirements in the measure, is under pressure from interests such as small energy producers and local utility districts to veto the bill. The plan, passed by the state Senate late on Friday, would require California's ...
Sun, 13 Sep 09
Global Warming Causes Outbreak Of Rare Algae Associated With Corals, Study Finds
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090909203142.htm
ScienceDaily: A rare opportunity has allowed a team of biologists to evaluate corals and the essential, photosynthetic algae that live inside their cells before, during, and after a period in 2005 when global warming caused sea-surface temperatures in the Caribbean Ocean to rise. The team, led by Penn State Assistant Professor of Biology Todd LaJeunesse, found that a rare species of algae that is tolerant of stressful environmental conditions proliferated in corals as the more-sensitive algae were ...
Sun, 13 Sep 09
New Sources Of Biofuel To Take Pressure Off Traditional Crops
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090909203140.htm
ScienceDaily: "Salt-loving algae could be the key to the successful development of biofuels as well as being an efficient means of recycling atmospheric carbon dioxide," Professor John Cushman of the University of Nevada told the Society for General Microbiology meeting at Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, Sept. 10. The current major limitation of biofuel production is the lack of adequate feedstocks, soybeans and corn, for biodiesel and ethanol production, respectively. Halophytic (salt-loving) ...
Sun, 13 Sep 09
Australians are biggest polluters: Report
http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=World_News&subsection=Rest%20of%20the%20World&month=September2009&file=World_News200909128255.xml
Agence France-Presse: Australians have overtaken Americans as the world's biggest individual producers of carbon dioxide, which is blamed for global warming, a risk consultancy says. British firm Maplecroft placed Australia's per capita output at 20.58 tons a year, some four percent higher than the United States and top of a list of 185 countries. Canada, the Netherlands and Saudi Arabia rounded out the top five. China remains the world's biggest overall greenhouse gas polluter, followed by the ...
Sun, 13 Sep 09
REDD path to a green planet
http://www.loe.org/shows/segments.htm?programID=09-P13-00037&segmentID=6
Living on Earth: YOUNG: It's Living on Earth. I'm Jeff Young. CURWOOD: And I'm Steve Curwood. When negotiators gather in Copenhagen in December to consider a new global climate treaty, one major new element is what's called REDD - Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation. The idea is to set a value on tropical forests, so they're worth more left standing and capturing carbon than cut down. YOUNG: In the coming months Living on Earth will present a special series about REDD ...
Sun, 13 Sep 09
Two German merchant ships conquer famed Arctic passage: Climate change is blamed for opening of path
http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2009/09/12/two_german_merchant_ships_conquer_famed_arctic_passage/
Boston Globe: Two German merchant ships have traversed the fabled Northeast Passage after global warming and melting ice opened a route from South Korea along Russia`s Arctic coast to Siberia. The merchant ships MV Beluga Fraternity and MV Beluga Foresight arrived this week in Yamburg, Siberia, their owner Beluga Shipping GmbH said yesterday. They traveled from Ulsan, South Korea, in late July to Siberia by way of the Northeast Passage, a sea lane that, in years past, was avoided because of ...
Fri, 11 Sep 09
House Unearths a 14th Forged Letter from a Lobbyist
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/capitol-briefing/2009/09/house_unearths_a_14th_forged_l.html?hpid=politics
Washington Post: Congressional investigators today said they have turned up a 14th forged letter that was sent to a Congressional office criticizing the House's climate change bill, this one appearing to come from an American Legion post in Rocky Mount, Va. The letter, sent to the office of Rep. Tom Perriello (D-Va.), asks Perriello to "make sure the Waxman-Markey bill includes provisions to promote American energy independence, while protecting already cash-strapped constituents from increases in ...
Fri, 11 Sep 09
The changing face of the Arctic
http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/science/09/10/changing.arctic.temps/
CNN: The Arctic as we know it may soon be a thing of the past. That's the message from Eric Post, lead scientist of a new report into the effects of climate change on life in the Arctic. Published in "Science" magazine, Post and his team of international scientist conducted the study during the fourth International Polar Year that ended in 2008. "It seems no matter where you look -- on the ground, in the air, or in the water -- we're seeing signs of rapid change," said Post ...
Fri, 11 Sep 09
Australia overtakes US in per capita CO2 emissions
http://www.chinapost.com.tw/asia/australia/2009/09/11/224278/Australia-overtakes.htm
China Post: Australia has overtaken the U.S. as the biggest emitter per person of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas blamed for global warming, according to a British risk analysis firm. The average Australian contributes 20.58 tons of CO2 to the atmosphere each year to cool homes, drive cars and generate electricity with coal, the U.K.-based risk assessment company Maplecroft said Thursday. The U.S. fell to second at 19.78 tons per inhabitant a year while Canada was third at 18.81 tons. The ...
Fri, 11 Sep 09
Calif. lawmakers weigh rules on renewable energy
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090911/ap_on_bi_ge/us_california_renewable_energy
Associated Press: Increasing California's use of renewable energy would seem like a relatively simple goal, but it has become one of the hottest legislative debates as lawmakers rush to finish their business for the year. Democrats are pushing two bills that would require utilities to get a third of their power from renewable energy sources by 2020. It would be the most aggressive such standard in the nation. How and where utilities would be allowed to get that energy remains a point of ...
Fri, 11 Sep 09
UK 'could face blackouts by 2016'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8249540.stm
BBC: The government's new energy adviser says the UK could face blackouts by 2016 because green energy is not coming on stream fast enough. Ministers have previously denied that the UK is heading for an energy gap. But David MacKay, who takes up his post at the Department of Energy on 1 October, says that the public keep objecting to energy projects. This, he says, is creating a huge problem, which could turn out the lights. Professor MacKay is a researcher at ...
Fri, 11 Sep 09
China: US should take lead on climate
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2009-09-10-china_N.htm
USA Today: Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao reminded the world Thursday that China is serious about tackling global warming -- but on its own terms. Speaking at a meeting of the World Economic Forum, Wen said his government is increasing efforts to cut greenhouse gases. He said richer, developed countries, including the United States, should take the lead in reducing emissions tied to global warming based on their higher per capita emissions and longer history of pollution. The leader's remarks ...
Fri, 11 Sep 09
Don't count on carbon offsets to solve climate change, group says
http://www.oregonlive.com/environment/index.ssf/2009/09/dont_count_on_carbon_offsets_t.html
Oregonian: International carbon offsets, popular with lawmakers as a way to compensate for U.S. polluters, are a flawed -- and sometimes fictitious -- weapon to combat climate change, according to a report this week by an international environmental group. In "Dangerous Distraction," Friends of the Earth argues against offsets as a centerpiece of energy policy. The practice gives a false sense of security, the group says, and lets U.S. companies and governments go on producing greenhouse ...
Fri, 11 Sep 09
Arctic Shortcut, Long a Dream, Beckons Shippers as Ice Thaws
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/11/science/earth/11passage.html?_r=5&partner=rss&emc=rss
New York Times: For hundreds of years, mariners have dreamed of an Arctic shortcut that would allow them to speed trade between Asia and the West. Two German ships are poised to complete that transit for the first time, aided by the retreat of Arctic ice that scientists have linked to global warming. The ships started their voyage in South Korea in late July and will begin the last leg of the trip this week, leaving a Siberian port for Rotterdam in the Netherlands carrying 3,500 tons of construction ...
Fri, 11 Sep 09
Europe Tamps Down Expectations on Climate Funds
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/11/world/europe/11iht-climate.html?_r=5
New York Times: The European Union's commissioner for the environment sought Thursday to tamp down expectations that wealthy nations would immediately hand over vast sums of money demanded by developing countries to manage global warming. Such funds "cannot be a blank check," the commissioner, Stavros Dimas, said at a news conference. José Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission, the E.U.'s executive body, said fast-emerging economies should be expected to do more to finance ...
Fri, 11 Sep 09
US must lead at G20 on climate, says group
http://www.reuters.com/article/GCA-GreenBusiness/idUSTRE58A0DE20090911
Reuters: The United States should show decisive leadership at the Group of 20 summit in Pittsburgh this month and rally heads of state to prepare for the next global crisis -- climate change. In a speech before the G20 meeting on September 24-25, Nancy Birdsall, president of the Washington-based Center for Global Development, said preparing for climate change was key because it was a new issue and because the world's poor will be severely hurt by it. Influential think tanks in ...
Fri, 11 Sep 09
France: Can he fix it? Sarkozy's carbon-tax plan derided by environmentalists
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/can-he-fix-it-sarkozys-carbontax-plan-derided-by-environmentalists-1785452.html
Independent (UK): A "carbon" tax on transport, homes and factories, intended to make France a "green" model for other large economies, was unveiled yesterday by President Nicolas Sarkozy. But the convoluted proposals, including mechanisms to refund most of the new energy levies through tax breaks and "green cheques", were condemned by critics as half-hearted and a bureaucratic nightmare. President Sarkozy insisted, however, that the carbon tax or "climate contribution" would put France on track ...
Fri, 11 Sep 09
The Climate's Warm Future Is Now in the Arctic
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=warm-future-climate-now-in-arctic
Scientific American: When the summer sea ice goes, the Arctic will lose the ivory gull, Pacific walrus, ringed seal, hooded seal, narwhal and polar bear--all animals that rely on the ice for foraging, reproduction or as refuge from predators. And the sea ice is going, faster and faster: In the past 30 years, minimum sea ice cover in the Arctic Ocean has declined by 45,000 square kilometers annually*--an area twice the size of New Jersey is lost each year. "Sea ice is like rainforest in the tropics. There ...
Fri, 11 Sep 09
Nicolas Sarkozy plans carbon tax on French
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/copenhagen-climate-change-confe/6169570/Nicolas-Sarkozy-plans-carbon-tax-on-French.html
Telegraph: The French president told a sceptical public that his "fiscal revolution" - a new levy on oil, gas and coal consumption by households and businesses -- would come into effect next year and would encourage people to use less fuel. Long a laggard on the ecological front, France hopes the new announcement will boost its green credentials ahead of the United Nations conference on climate change in Copenhagen in December, in which nations will try to thrash out a deal to cut carbon ...
Fri, 11 Sep 09
More in Europe look to carbon tax to curb emissions
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/10/business/energy-environment/10carbon.html?_r=5
New York Times: Economists have long seen a carbon tax as a good idea because of its simplicity: Polluters pay at a level that is set by decree. But the idea never caught on widely in the United States or Europe, where governments jealously guard their autonomy on taxes. Industries lobbied for a market-based system called cap and trade instead, which they helped to design and from which some have profited handsomely. Now, with only modest progress so far in meeting goals set for greenhouse gas ...
Fri, 11 Sep 09
United Kingdom: Carbon mating
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/2629748/Use-condoms-to-cut-carbon-and-climate-change.html
Sun: CONDOMS are the cheapest way to fight climate change, a controversial new report claims. It says putting the brake on global population growth is the most effective way to lower carbon emissions. Contraception would be FIVE TIMES cheaper than any other method of tackling the world's greenhouse gases, claims the report for the UK's Optimum Population Trust. The study - compiled by the London School of Economics - found every 4 extra spent on family planning for the next ...
Fri, 11 Sep 09
Google plans new mirror for cheaper solar power
http://www.reuters.com/article/GlobalClimateandAlternativeEnergy09/idUSTRE58867I20090909
Reuters: Google Inc (GOOG.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) is disappointed with the lack of breakthrough investment ideas in the green technology sector but the company is working to develop its own new mirror technology that could reduce the cost of building solar thermal plants by a quarter or more. "We've been looking at very unusual materials for the mirrors both for the reflective surface as well as the substrate that the mirror is mounted on," the company's green energy czar Bill ...
Fri, 11 Sep 09
United States: Goal to drive up renewable energy lauded - but divisions over details remain
http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_13302045
Mercury News: Hoping to add "green" jobs to a beleaguered state economy, California lawmakers are poised to take up new rules dramatically increasing the amount of renewable power used in the state over the next 10 years. But while that broad, if ambitious, target – 33 percent by the end of 2020 – has attracted widespread support from utilities, regulators and lawmakers, deep divisions remain over how best to achieve it and how much it might cost. And time is running out to forge an ...
Fri, 11 Sep 09
The world could get colder over the next two decades - but still hotter in the long run, expert predicts
http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1212442/The-world-colder-decades--hotter-long-run-expert-predicts.html
Mail: The world could get colder over the next two decades because of natural changes in the Earth's climate, a leading environmental scientist has warned. Dr Mojib Latif, one of the world's top climate modellers, believes predictions of imminent global warming may be wrong and that the Earth could be heading for up to 20 years of cooler temperatures. However, the dip will be temporarily - and the long term trend is still for a warmer planet, he says. 'People will say this is ...
Fri, 11 Sep 09
China could be $1 trillion a year market for green technologies, report says
http://www.latimes.com/news/science/wire/sns-ap-as-china-green-technology,0,5464130.story
Associated Press: China potentially could be a $500 billion to $1 trillion a year market for environmentally sustainable "green technologies," a group of businesses and experts said in a report Thursday that urges governments to ease the way for such initiatives. The report by the China Greentech Initiative, a group of more than 80 leading technology companies, non-governmental organizations and policy advisers, pinpointed opportunities from 300 potential green technology options for China, spanning ...
Fri, 11 Sep 09
EU offers poor nations billions in climate aid
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090910/ap_on_re_eu/eu_eu_climate_aid
Associated Press: The European Union proposed Thursday to offer up to euro15 billion ($21.8 billion) a year in aid to poor developing countries to persuade them to sign a new global climate change agreement. However, development and environmental campaigners blasted the offer as insufficient because it assumes that poorer nations will bear most of the costs of reducing their greenhouse gas emissions. EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas said the promised funding was Europe's "first ...
Fri, 11 Sep 09
Five EU states vow to step up climate diplomacy
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE5893Y620090910?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Britain, France, Denmark, Sweden and Finland agreed Thursday to intensify "green diplomacy" to rescue an ambitious global climate agreement in Copenhagen in December, officials said. Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Moller said the European Union had shown leadership by committing itself to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent by 2020 or by 30 percent if other countries make comparable cuts. "Now it is time to show the same leadership on ensuring an ambitious ...
Fri, 11 Sep 09
U.S. climate envoy notes "difficult" global talks
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE5893ZD20090910?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: President Barack Obama's top climate change negotiator on Thursday said international talks to cut carbon emissions were "difficult," adding that the U.S. Senate must pass a domestic bill to fight global warming to give the talks a boost. "Let me say bluntly that the tenor of negotiations in the formal UN track has been difficult," said Todd Stern, Obama's special envoy for climate change. In prepared testimony to the House energy independence and global warming panel, Stern ...
Fri, 11 Sep 09
New Sources Of Biofuel Take Pressure Off Traditional Crops
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1750678/new_sources_of_biofuel_take_pressure_off_traditional_crops/index.html?source=r_science
redOrbit: "Salt-loving algae could be the key to the successful development of biofuels as well as being an efficient means of recycling atmospheric carbon dioxide", Professor John Cushman of the University of Nevada told the Society for General Microbiology meeting at Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, today (10 September). The current major limitation of biofuel production is the lack of adequate feedstocks, soybeans and corn, for biodiesel and ethanol production, respectively. Halophytic ...
Fri, 11 Sep 09
United Kingdom: Global warming cynicism rises in face of stronger evidence
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/global-warming-cynicism-rises-in-face-of-stronger-evidence-1785068.html
Independent (UK): A significant proportion of the population have become more sceptical about climate change and the link with man-made emissions of greenhouse gases despite the fact that the scientific evidence has become stronger. A survey of public opinion has found that 29 per cent of people believe claims that human activities are changing the climate are exaggerated compared with 15 per cent of respondents to a similar survey carried out in 2003. About one in five people are uncertain ...
Fri, 11 Sep 09
France: Sarkozy carbon tax to help 'save the human race'
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/sep/10/sarkozy-carbon-tax-france
Guardian: Nicolas Sarkozy today vowed to lead the fight to "save the human race" from global warming, launching a carbon tax to encourage French families and industry to cut their use of fossil fuels. From 2010, France will become the biggest European economy to levy a carbon tax, following other successful schemes introduced by Nordic countries in the 1990s. The tax – initially set at EUR17 (£15) per tonne of carbon dioxide emissions – will be levied on individuals and businesses for ...
Fri, 11 Sep 09
People power key to Copenhagen success
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/cif-green/2009/sep/10/copenhagen-bob-ward
Guardian: We have reached a defining moment in the global battle against climate change, and the role of the public is now more crucial than ever. There are now less than 100 days until the United Nations climate change conference in Copenhagen in December, which my colleague Nicholas Stern, the former head of the UK Government Economic Service and author of the Stern review has described as "the most important international meeting since the second world war". A strong international ...
Fri, 11 Sep 09
U.S. Climate Envoy Says Some Calls for Aid 'Wildly' Off Mark
http://news.yahoo.com/s/bloomberg/20090910/pl_bloomberg/abqqe4xoxwi0
Bloomberg: President Barack Obama's top climate negotiator said calls for wealthy nations to pay as much as 1 percent of their gross domestic product to help emerging economies tackle climate change are "wildly unrealistic." "It's going to be important that there be financing assistance provided," Todd Stern, the White House special envoy on climate change, told lawmakers today during a House panel's hearing on international climate treaty talks. Some of the demands being made are "untethered to ...
Fri, 11 Sep 09
Google plans new mirror for cheaper solar power
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2249278/google-plans-mirror-cheaper
Business Green: Search giant Google wants to reduce the costs involved in building solar thermal plants and is developing its own mirror technology to help achieve the aim. Speaking at the Reuters Global Climate and Alternative Energy Summit in San Francisco on Wednesday, Google's green energy czar Bill Weihl said it was investing in companies and researching ways to produce renewable energy within a few years. The company said it expected to be able to demonstrate some working mirror ...
Fri, 11 Sep 09
France: Sarkozy pushes ahead with carbon tax
http://www.bangkokpost.com/breakingnews/153984/sarkozy-pushes-ahead-with-unpopular-carbon-tax
Agence France-Presse: French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Thursday unveiled a new carbon tax to help combat global warming, calling it a "fiscal revolution" and overriding strong public opposition to the plan. French President Nicolas Sarkozy (2nd right) working on heat exchange in Culoz. French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Thursday unveiled a new carbon tax to help combat global warming, calling it a "fiscal revolution" and overriding strong public opposition to the plan. The new levy on oil, gas ...
Fri, 11 Sep 09
Cuba: Scientists, Farmers Fighting Climate Change - Together
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48396
Inter Press Service: Cuba is facing the challenge of boosting agricultural output under difficult climate conditions and on soils badly deteriorated by erosion, salinity and other problems. And scientists have a strategic role to play, provided they do not sit in their laboratories but get out into the fields where the action is. "To do real science you have to be out there where the crops are growing," said Sergio RamÃrez, the son of a farmer who for the past 18 years has directed a research centre that ...
Fri, 11 Sep 09
UN climate talks could fail, EU ministers warn
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090910/sc_afp/euenvironmentclimatewarming
Agence France-Presse: European ministers warned that December's landmark UN climate talks could fail, as the EU Commission urged rich nations Thursday to stump up tens of billions of euros to help the developing world combat global warming. "The Copenhagen deal is hanging in the balance," British Foreign Secretary David Miliband told reporters. "It's a real danger that the world will not come together in the way that is necessary to agree on an ambitious and comprehensive deal in December," warned ...
Fri, 11 Sep 09
Europe's €15bn climate aid price tag
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/sep/10/europe-climate-change-funding
Guardian: Rich countries should be paying around EUR100bn (£88bn) a year by 2020 to cover the cost of climate change mitigation and adaptation in developing countries, according to the EU's environment commissioner. The announcement is the first time that Brussels has identified the cost of tackling global warming in poor countries, an issue that is central to achieving a global deal at the UN climate talks in Copenhagen in December. Europe's top climate official, Stavros Dimas, said that the ...
Fri, 11 Sep 09
Guatemala latest country to declare food crisis: nearly half a million families face food shortages
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0910-hance_guatemala_food.html
Mongabay: The President of Guatemala, Alvaro Colom, has announced a "state of public calamity" to tackle food shortages throughout the Central American nation. The failure of bean and corn crops from drought, which cut the yields of these staple crops in half, has brought the crisis to a head. In addition, prime agricultural land in Guatemala is often used to grow export crops like coffee and sugar rather than staples. "There is food, what is lacking is the money for the affected people to buy ...
Fri, 11 Sep 09
Wind could meet China's electricity needs by 2030: study
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090910/wl_asia_afp/scienceenvironmentwarmingenergywindchinaus
Agence France-Presse: China could meet all of its future electricity needs with wind power if the government continues to subsidize the development of wind farms with price guarantees, a study published Thursday has found. Already the world's largest emitter of carbon dioxide, China's electricity needs are expected to double in the next two decades and it is currently adding several new coal-fired power plants to its grid every week. "The real question for the globe is: What alternatives does China ...
Fri, 11 Sep 09
The Changing Arctic: How Animals Respond to Climate Change
http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20090910/sc_livescience/thechangingarctichowanimalsrespondtoclimatechange
LiveScience.com: The dramatic changes sweeping the Arctic as a result of global warming aren't just confined to melting sea ice and polar bears - a new study finds that the forces of climate change are propagating throughout the frigid north, producing different effects in each ecosystem with the upshot that the face of the Arctic may be forever altered. "The Arctic as we know it may be a thing of the past," said Eric Post of Penn State, who led an international team that brought together research on ...
Fri, 11 Sep 09
France announces carbon tax
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0910-hance_france_tax.html
Mongabay: The President of France, Nicolas Sarkozy, has announced that he will implement a carbon tax to help "save the human race" from global warming. The tax of 17 Euros (about 25 dollars) per ton of carbon will be placed on the consumption of oil, gas, and coal, but not electricity. Eighty percent of France's electricity is delivered by nuclear power. "We want to change behavior toward fossil energies," the French leader said in a speech in the city of Culoz in eastern France. ...
Fri, 11 Sep 09
Polar bear, arctic fox, caribou hurt by climate change
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jLXBaBMQv3AQTHLgo_7OqI03KAkg
Agence France-Presse: Polar bear cubs, the arctic fox and caribou herds are among the victims of dramatic changes in the Arctic due to climate change, a study published Thursday found. "Species on land and at sea are suffering adverse consequences of human behavior at latitudes thousands of miles away," said lead author and biologist Eric Post of Penn State University. "It seems no matter where you look -- on the ground, in the air, or in the water -- we're seeing signs of rapid change." The ...
Fri, 11 Sep 09
Study: Wind could cut China's emissions by 30 pct
http://www.boston.com/news/world/asia/articles/2009/09/10/study_wind_could_cut_chinas_emissions_by_30_pct/?rss_id=Boston.com+--+Latest+news
Associated Press: China could cut its emissions by 30 percent in the next two decades if it switches to wind power to meet about half of its electricity demands, a U.S. study published Thursday said. China's energy needs are expected to double by 2030, but the study in the journal Science says that the country could reasonably meet half of those needs with wind. Using meteorological data to assess the potential for wind power in China-- the world's largest emitter of carbon dioxide -- the ...
Fri, 11 Sep 09
Effects of Arctic warming seen as widespread
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090910/ap_on_sc/us_sci_arctic_warming
Associated Press: Arctic warming is affecting plants, birds, animals and insects as ice melts and the growing season changes, scientists report in a new review of the many impacts climate change is having on the far north. As the global climate changes, the Arctic Circle has been warming faster than other regions and scientists have documented a series of affects on wildlife in the region. Indeed, just last week researchers reported that the Arctic is warmer than it's been in 2,000 years, even ...
Fri, 11 Sep 09
Car dealers appeal ruling on California emissions
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2009/09/10/car_dealers_appeal_ruling_on_california_emissions/?rss_id=Boston.com+--+Latest+news
Associated Press: Auto dealers and business leaders have appealed a decision by the Environmental Protection Agency to allow California to establish the nation's first greenhouse gas standards for cars and trucks. The National Automobile Dealers Association and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce asked a U.S. appeals court Thursday to review the EPA's decision. The EPA in July granted California's request for a waiver allowing it to push tougher air pollution rules. The legal move could allow the ...
Fri, 11 Sep 09
UK climate scepticism more common
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8249668.stm
BBC: The British public has become more sceptical about climate change over the last five years, according to a survey. Twice as many people now agree that "claims that human activities are changing the climate are exaggerated". Four in 10 believe that many leading experts still question the evidence. One in five are "hard-line sceptics". The survey, by Cardiff University, shows there is still some way to go before the public's perception matches that of their elected ...
Fri, 11 Sep 09
Chamber challenges EPA on California emissions
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE58965520090910?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Automobile Dealers Association have asked an appeals court to review the federal government's decision to let California set its own auto emissions standard. The petition, filed this week with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, questions the Obama administration's decision in June of granting California a waiver from federal law to act on its own. It is unclear whether the legal challenge to the Environmental ...
Fri, 11 Sep 09
Greenland's melt mystery unfolds, at glacial pace
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5j9o49fkp6kJr846lYBtCb2QR0crAD9AKLUE00
Associated Press: Suddenly and without warning, the gigantic river of ice sped up, causing it to spit icebergs ever faster into the ocean off southeastern Greenland. Helheim Glacier nearly doubled its speed in just a few years, flowing through a rift in the barren coastal mountains at a stunning 100 feet (30 meters) per day. Alarm bells rang as the pattern was repeated by glaciers across Greenland: Was the island's vast ice sheet, a frozen water reservoir that could raise the sea level 20 feet ...
Thu, 10 Sep 09
Britain's First Dual Fuel Bus Will Cut Emissions By Half
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090908203750.htm
ScienceDaily: A consortium brought together by low carbon experts at the University of East Anglia (UEA) is today launching the first bus in the UK to run on clean, biomethane gas. The innovative dual-fuel diesel-biomethane powered bus will reduce pollutant emissions and greenhouse gas emissions by around a half. It is hoped the technology will be rolled out to bus fleets across the country and further afield. The bus will make its first public showing at LCV 2009, the UK's leading ...
Thu, 10 Sep 09
China and U.S. company plan a big solar project
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/09/business/energy-environment/09solar.html?_r=5
New York Times: Chinese government officials signed an agreement on Tuesday with First Solar, an American solar developer, for a 2,000-megawatt photovoltaic farm to be built in the Mongolian desert. Set for completion in 2019, the First Solar project represents the world's biggest photovoltaic power plant project to date, and is part of an 11,950-megawatt renewable-energy park planned for Ordos City in Inner Mongolia. The memorandum of understanding between Chinese officials and First Solar, ...
Thu, 10 Sep 09
Pollution in China affecting rainfall
http://www.voanews.com/english/Science/2009-09-08-voa38.cfm
Voice of America: Pollution in China appears to be decreasing the amount of light rainfall the country receives, according to a new study. That's important because light rain is the kind that helps sustain crops. VOA's Steve Baragona has more. Over the past 50 years, the total amount of rainfall in northeastern China has been decreasing, while the southeastern portion of the country has been getting more rain -- mostly in the form of heavy downpours. "People have been calling this trend the ...
Thu, 10 Sep 09
Study suggests denser development could cut driving pollution
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/environment/2009-09-08-density_N.htm
USA Today: Would Americans drive less if they stopped living on big lots far from urban centers? If so, would that reduce pollution and dependence on energy? By how much? Meeting the growing demand for conveniently located homes in neighborhoods designed to encourage walking could significantly reduce the number of miles Americans drive while giving people more housing choices, a national research panel has concluded. How much it would shrink the nation's carbon footprint is not as ...
Thu, 10 Sep 09
North Sea cod 'doomed by climate change.'
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article6827389.ece
Times (UK): Cod are doomed to disappear from the North Sea because of climate change and not just as a result of over-fishing, researchers have discovered. In the past 40 years the average temperature of the North Sea has increased by 1C with catastrophic effects on its delicate eco-systems. Species of plankton, on which cod larvae feed, have moved away in search of cooler waters. The decline in cod stocks has led to an explosion in the populations of crabs and jellyfish, on which the ...
Thu, 10 Sep 09
Why Van Jones' ideas on green jobs should stay
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1920883,00.html
Time Magazine: I spent a day with Jones in Oakland, Calif., his adopted hometown, back in November 2007, just as his star was beginning to rise. A Yale Law School graduate who, like Barack Obama, turned his back on a corporate paycheck and returned to work in his community, Jones founded the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights in 1996, initially focusing on police brutality and prison reform. By the time I met him, Jones had shifted his attention to the environment -- but not out of an overwhelming desire ...
Thu, 10 Sep 09
Desert Winds Stir New Hope
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48377
Inter Press Service: With oil and gas reserves running dry, the most populous country in the Arab world is eyeing wind power as a solution to its looming energy crunch. Egypt relies on the burning of fossil fuels to satisfy about 85 percent of its electricity requirements. But with electricity consumption growing at 8 percent a year, and the country's oil and gas reserves expected to dry up within 30-50 years, energy policymakers have taken an increasingly hard look at the potential of wind ...
Thu, 10 Sep 09
Britain bans palm oil ad campaign
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0909-mpoc.html
Mongabay: Britain's Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), a group that regulates advertisements, has again banned a "misleading" ad by the palm oil industry, reports the Guardian. ASA ruled that a campaign run by the Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC) makes dubious claims, including that palm oil is the "only product able to sustainably and efficiently meet a larger portion of the world's increasing demand for oil crop-based consumer goods, foodstuffs and biofuels." The advertorial [PDF] said ...
Thu, 10 Sep 09
US House Speaker: World can learn from China on climate
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090909/pl_afp/uschinadiplomacyclimatewarming
Agence France-Presse: US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday told Wu Bangguo, the second most powerful man in China's ruling Communist Party, that the world could learn from Beijing's approach to climate change. "It is clear that the world can learn a lot, a great deal, from what China is doing. Hopefully, we can learn from each other," the senior Democrat said as she welcomed Wu, who is also chairman of China's National People's Congress. Pelosi said he and her guest would discuss the global ...
Thu, 10 Sep 09
Cap and Trade in Senate Limbo as Obama Makes All-Out Push on Health Care
http://www.nytimes.com/cwire/2009/09/08/08climatewire-cap-and-trade-in-senate-limbo-as-obama-makes-92462.html
Climate Wire: President Obama's energy and global warming agenda stands at a major crossroads as lawmakers return today from their monthlong summer break amid an all-out push to pass health care legislation. Senate Democrats originally intended to roll out their version of a cap-and-trade climate bill this week, but they have since delayed that schedule until later this month in part because of the brewing battle over health care. Gone is the immediacy for action on global warming, and there ...
Thu, 10 Sep 09
Nanosolar unwraps new Berlin factory
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2249191/nanosolar-unwraps-berlin
Business Green: Low-cost solar specialist Nanosolar has announced that its European panel-assembly factory is now fully operational and capable of producing one panel every ten seconds. Announced in a blog posting on Wednesday, Nanosolar said the fully-automated factory located in Luckenwalde near Berlin would help it meet current orders for its panels totaling around $4.1bn. "Getting to the point of serial production with the unusual cost reduction involved in our technology is an ...
Thu, 10 Sep 09
EU considers 15 bln euros to help poor nations on climate
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090909/sc_afp/euunenvironmentclimate
Agence France-Presse: The European Union will propose giving developing countries 15 billion euros annually to help fight climate change, Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt said Wednesday. Reinfeldt said that the figure, which represents a target annual contribution to be reached by 2020, is a "starting-point" in negotiations on a new global deal to combat climate change after Kyoto Protocol requirements expire in 2012. "The (European) Commission has presented 15 billion (euros) as the ...
Thu, 10 Sep 09
Nation's oldest nuclear plant showing its age
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090909/ap_on_re_us/us_oldest_nuke_plant
Associated Press: As the nation's oldest nuclear power plant shows its age, some call it Oyster Creak. The latest problems -- a series of radioactive water leaks -- were found just days after the Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station got a new 20-year license that environmentalists bitterly fought for four years. Those problems followed corrosion that left the reactor's crucial safety liner rusted and thinned. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Agency and the plant's owners, Chicago-based ...
Thu, 10 Sep 09
Another Company Leaves 'Mixed Messaging' Coal Alliance
http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2009/09/09/09greenwire-another-company-leaves-mixed-messaging-coal-al-88273.html
Greenwire: Another member of the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity is leaving the coal-and-utility trade group, citing concerns about whether the alliance wants to obstruct legislation to cap greenhouse gas emissions. Alstom Power, a French company that makes parts for power plants and is working on carbon sequestration, said it is leaving ACCCE immediately. "We have resigned from ACCCE because of questions that have been raised about ACCCE's support for climate legislation," ...
Thu, 10 Sep 09
Q&A: The World Needs a Marshall Plan for Climate Change
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48382
Inter Press Service: When world leaders meet for a mega talk-fest on climate change at the United Nations in late September, the focus will be more on politics and less on finance. "No new financial commitments to support the efforts of developing countries were expected during the summit," says Janos Pasztor, director of the U.N.'s Climate Change Support Team. "But it is hoped there would be a new framework (for funding arrangements)," he adds cautiously. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, the ...
Thu, 10 Sep 09
Success of US climate bill hinges on health care reform
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17764-success-of-us-climate-bill-hinges-on-health-care-reform.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=climate-change
New Scientist: Much more than the future of US health care hangs on the fate of health care reform. That was the message delivered by Connecticut senator Joseph Lieberman, a long-term environmental campaigner, to Capitol Hill on the Senate's first day back in office after the August recess. "If the health care bill fails, the climate change bill will fail too," Lieberman told the Climate Change, Energy and National Security conference hosted by the political think tank Partnership for a Secure ...
Thu, 10 Sep 09
Senate Democrats skeptical about climate bill
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE5883HD20090909?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Several U.S. Senate Democrats, including a top leader, on Wednesday questioned whether it would be possible to vote on a climate change bill this year, especially with healthcare reform eating up so much of the lawmakers' time. "It's a difficult schedule" with many members already "anxious" about healthcare reform, Senator Dick Durbin, the second-ranking Democrat, told Reuters when asked about prospects this year for a bill to cap emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse ...
Thu, 10 Sep 09
Walruses congregate on Alaska shore as ice melts
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090910/ap_on_re_us/us_sea_ice_walrus
Associated Press: Thousands of walruses are congregating on Alaska's northwest coast, a sign that their Arctic sea ice environment has been altered by climate change. Chad Jay, a U.S. Geological Survey walrus researcher, said Wednesday that about 3,500 walruses were near Icy Cape on the Chukchi Sea, some 140 miles southwest of Barrow. Animals the agency tagged with satellite transmitters also were detected on shore at Cape Lisburne about 150 miles farther down the coast. Walruses for ...
Thu, 10 Sep 09
Ecuador: Is Chevron scared of "Crude" the movie?
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE5885L020090910?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Is oil giant Chevron afraid of a movie? One of the stars of "Crude," a documentary about a $27 billion environmental lawsuit filed against the company on behalf of residents of Ecuador's Amazon, certainly thinks so. A spokesman for Chevron vehemently denies it. The film's New York opening on Wednesday is the latest twist in a class action case that began 16 years ago, which argues that Chevron should compensate some 30,000 Ecuadoreans who live near waste pits left by oil ...
Thu, 10 Sep 09
Climate lobby urges Democrats to reject pressure to accept modest energy gains
http://thehill.com/business-a-lobbying/58013-climate-lobby-urges-democrats-to-reject-modest-energy-gains
The Hill: If healthcare poisons the well for climate change, some observers expect Democrats to settle for more modest environmental gains. Ditching the cap-and-trade piece to pass a so-called renewable electricity standard and stronger energy-use standards could give Democrats a partial win and President Barack Obama at least something to show off at the climate talks in Copenhagen, Denmark, in December. But it would also threaten to fracture Democrats and their base of support, in much ...
Thu, 10 Sep 09
Brazil says US climate goal unacceptable
http://www.reuters.com/article/GlobalClimateandAlternativeEnergy09/idUSTRE58871E20090910
Reuters: Brazil's Environment Minister Carlos Minc said on Wednesday that U.S. targets for greenhouse gas emissions are unacceptably weak and that Brazil will place new restrictions on its huge farm sector to cut deforestation. Brazil would also soon announce targets to substantially curb carbon emissions before a crucial global climate summit in Copenhagen in December, he said in an interview as part of the Reuters' Climate Change and Alternative Energy Summit. Criticizing the U.S. ...
Wed, 9 Sep 09
UK lined up to be Europe's carbon capital
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2009/sep/08/carbon-capture-north-sea
Guardian: An animation released by the British Geographical Survey shows carbon dioxide (in grey) stored in the Sleipner oilfield, as part of an ongoing trial into the feasibility of burying the greenhouse gas in sediments beneath the North Sea Link to this video Britain could become the carbon storage capital of Europe by selling space beneath the North Sea to bury billions of tonnes of waste gases from the continent's power stations. An industry offering carbon storage to the mainland ...
Wed, 9 Sep 09
United Kingdom: Storing carbon dioxide could be Britain's new oil industry
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/science/earth-environment/article6826737.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=3392178
Times (UK): The North Sea will provide Britain with a natural resource worth as much as £10 billion a year if the Government exploits it as a store for carbon dioxide (CO2 ) captured from power stations, scientists have said. Britain has more storage space for waste CO2 than all other northern European countries combined, with the exception of Norway, according to research that suggests carbon capture and storage (CCS) could be one of the boom industries of the next 20 years. The extent of ...
Wed, 9 Sep 09
United Kingdom: Passengers face new tax to halt rise in air travel
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article6826794.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=3392178
Times (UK): Tens of billions of pounds will have to be raised through flight taxes to compensate developing countries for the damage air travel does to the environment, according to the Government's advisory body on climate change. Ticket prices should rise steadily over time to deter air travel and ensure that carbon dioxide emissions from aviation fall back to 2005 levels, the Committee on Climate Change says. It believes that airlines should be forced to share the burden of meeting Britain's ...
Wed, 9 Sep 09
Climate change talks 'in danger', warns David Miliband
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article6826731.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=3392178
Times (UK): Hopes of a global deal to tackle climate change have receded after David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, said there was a "real danger' that a UN summit in Copenhagen in December would fail to produce an effective treaty on cutting greenhouse gases. He said that the world was facing a bleak future in which climate change would cause mass migration and conflict in many regions over declining supplies of food, water and other resources. Suspicion between rich and poor countries was ...
Wed, 9 Sep 09
UN calls on broadcasters to support climate change
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2249110/un-calls-broadcasters-support
Business Green: The Unitied Nations has described the run-up to climate talks in Copenhagen as a "watershed moment" for the broadcast industry which has a responsibility to motivate viewers around the world ahead of the conference in December. Late last week, the UN Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) held the two day Broadcast Media and Climate Change conference in Paris which covered a range of issues including how television and radio providers in developed countries could ...
Wed, 9 Sep 09
Planes 'to reset climate targets'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8243922.stm
BBC: The UK may have to cut emissions of greenhouse gases by 90% by 2050 to make space for emissions from planes. That is the warning from the government's official climate advisers, the Climate Change Committee (CCC). It would mean even bigger emissions cuts than already planned for households and industry in Britain. But the committee also says global aviation emissions should be capped during the forthcoming Copenhagen climate talks. The committee was asked by ...
Wed, 9 Sep 09
Climate talks must agree aviation CO2 cap: UK adviser
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE5876L520090908?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: The world must reach an agreement to cap aviation emissions at U.N. climate talks in Copenhagen in December if countries are to meet targets to combat global warming, Britain's chief climate adviser said on Wednesday. The Committee on Climate Change, which advises the British government on carbon reduction, said a global agreement must bring carbon dioxide emissions from developed nations' air travel at or below 2005 levels by 2050. "It is vital that an agreement capping global ...
Wed, 9 Sep 09
Renewable energy plan creates rift
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/environment/2009-09-07-renewable_N.htm
USA Today: The morning heat hits triple digits as a whiptail lizard darts below a creosote bush near Route 66. Gazing across the desert valley, power company executives, environmentalists and federal land managers stand beneath a cloudless sky and argue over the landscape. PG&E project manager Alice Harron says she is "comfortable" with the solar power plant her utility wants to build on government land here along 4 miles of the Mother Road that connected Chicago and Los Angeles long before ...
Wed, 9 Sep 09
Global warming would hit Utah hard
http://www.standard.net/topics/news/2009/09/08/study-global-warming-would-hit-utah-hard
Standard-Examiner: While Gov. Gary Herbert is putting together a conference on climate change to decide if humans have anything to do with it, the Nature Conservancy has issued a warning on what global warming will do to the humans in Utah if current trends do not change. Average temperatures will rise just a bit over nine degrees in the next 90 years. Lakes will dry up faster, snowpack will be less, grasslands will die and huge chunks of the state's economy all will be affected if the latest ...
Wed, 9 Sep 09
Wall St Journal criticises NZ's carbon programme
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10595961
New Zealand Herald: An editorial in the influential Wall St Journal today accuses New Zealand of "green PR gone wild", and says our stance on carbon emissions will cost the country's economy dearly. The article says the "nominally conservative government" run by Prime Minister John Key is uncertain about how to apply environmental taxes. It notes that, having adopted the cap-and-trade approach to battling air pollution, PM Key went on to order a committee to look into the issue - the Emissions Trading ...
Wed, 9 Sep 09
Climate bill slammed at pro-coal West Virginia rally
http://www.kentucky.com/latest_news/story/925932.html
Associated Press:
Wed, 9 Sep 09
Stop the oil rush
http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20090908/OPINION/909081016/2198/OPINION?Title=Stop-the-oil-rush
Herald Tribune: A special session of the Florida Legislature - likely to be held next month for the consideration of a complex gambling compact -- is no time to discuss a monumental shift in the state's long-established limits on near-shore exploration and drilling for oil. Proponents of exploring and drilling in state waters -- within 10 miles of the shore -- attempted during the Legislature's regular session last spring to ram through a bill that would have overturned Florida's longtime ban on such ...
Wed, 9 Sep 09
Sea level rise will affect Sri Lanka's marine ecosystem
http://www.dailynews.lk/2009/09/08/news51.asp
Daily News: Sri Lanka's marine ecosystem will be affected due to sea level rise around its coastal zone due to melting of the Himalayas. Therefore, the problem related to Himalaya is a regional phenomenon, Environment Minister Patali Champika Ranawake said. The Minister was expressing his views during bi-lateral discussions with Nepali Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal at the Prime Minister's Office on September 1 during a Regional Climate Change Conference in Katmandu. The theme was 'A vision ...
Wed, 9 Sep 09
GOP hits Ohio to bash climate bill
http://www.cleveland.com/newsflash/index.ssf?/base/national-57/125239936577720.xml&storylist=cleveland
Associated Press: With the nation fixated on the debate on how to overhaul the health care system, the other major policy issue of the year-an effort to address climate change-has largely been overshadowed. Recent polling numbers also show that public support for President Barack Obama's energy policies has held firm, even while support for the health care overhaul has dipped. Republicans are hoping they can change that. Six House Republicans, including Minority Leader John Boehner of southwest ...
Wed, 9 Sep 09
Japan: Hatoyama stands by bold CO2 target
http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200909080029.html
Asahi Shimbun: Yukio Hatoyama, who will become prime minister next week, committed his incoming government Monday to pursuing a far more ambitious goal to slash greenhouse gas emissions than the one set by the outgoing administration. Speaking at the Asahi World Environment Forum 2009, which opened the same day in Tokyo, the Democratic Party of Japan leader said his administration would aim for an emissions cut of 25 percent from 1990 levels by 2020. The new national mid-term goal is ...
Wed, 9 Sep 09
Japan: Super typhoons in store as seas warm
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20090908a2.html
Kyodo News: A super typhoon stronger than the deadly Hurricane Katrina that devastated the southern United States in 2005 could hit Japan in the latter half of this century if global warming continues, according to a study by a Japanese research team made available Monday. Typhoons packing winds of at least 241.2 kph are often called super typhoons, but the one feared by the researchers could blow as strong as 288 kph on the ground, the team from Nagoya University and the Meteorological Research ...
Wed, 9 Sep 09
Arguing from the inside
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204908604574336611877502176.html
Wall Street Journal: Here's a thing you don't see very often: the head of one of the world's dirtiest industries making common cause with climate-change campaigners. Lars Göran Josefsson is chief executive of Vattenfall AB, Europe's fifth-largest electricity producer. His company is hardly the cleanest on the planet: Four of its plants feature in the dirty 30, a list of Europe's biggest carbon-dioxide emitters, compiled by the European Union's executive branch. But that hasn't stopped Mr. ...
Wed, 9 Sep 09
Seeds for change
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204619004574320094291018298.html
Wall Street Journal: Every now and then, Dorothy and Dan Oberhausen take a little detour to check in on their solar panels. The two panels aren't much to look at. They are just standard-issue photovoltaic cells, facing due south and angled skyward, set in a scruffy, weed-choked field. Not only are they participating in the nation's first co-operative solar farm--a pioneering venture set up by the electric-utility co-op serving their area--they are playing a small role in an emerging and potentially ...
Wed, 9 Sep 09
The New Nukes
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204409904574350342705855178.html
Wall Street Journal: If there ever were a time that seemed ripe for nuclear energy, it's now. For the first time in decades, popular opinion is on the industry's side. A majority of Americans thinks nuclear power, which emits virtually no carbon dioxide, is a safe and effective way to battle climate change, according to recent polls. At the same time, legislators are showing renewed interest in nuclear as they hunt for ways to slash greenhouse-gas emissions. The industry is seizing this chance to ...
Wed, 9 Sep 09
Solar panel prices falling
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204313604574330572870415610.html
Wall Street Journal: The solar industry has been struggling this year against weak demand, ample supply and sliding prices. Which means that for anyone thinking about putting solar panels on their roof, there probably hasn't been a better time. All along the supply chain, prices have been falling, and could fall further still. Silicon, a main ingredient in most panels, has been selling for as little as half what it went for a year ago, while some panels and installed systems can be had for 25% less, ...
Wed, 9 Sep 09
Climate deal is 'in the balance'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8244223.stm
BBC: Prospects for reaching a new global deal on climate change are "in the balance", according to UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband. There is a "real chance" that December's UN summit in Copenhagen will not reach agreement, he said. Mr Miliband was briefing reporters prior to a whirlwind tour of European capitals aimed at stepping up EU diplomacy on the Copenhagen process. The EU could be a "force multiplier" on the issue, he said. In the same news conference, Mr ...
Wed, 9 Sep 09
Arctic Offers More Evidence of Human Influences on Climate Change
http://www.usnews.com/articles/science/2009/09/08/arctic-offers-more-evidence-of-human-influences-on-climate-change.html
U.S. News and World Report: A new study indicates that Arctic temperatures suddenly increased during the last 50 years of the period from A.D. 1 to the year 2000. Because this warming occurred abruptly during the 20th century while atmospheric greenhouse gases were accumulating, these findings provide additional evidence that humans are influencing climate. Incorporating geologic records, biologic records and computer simulations, the study reconstructed Arctic summer temperatures at a resolution down to ...
Wed, 9 Sep 09
US lawmakers grapple with health care, climate, wars
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090908/ts_alt_afp/uspoliticscongresshealthafghanistan
Agence-France Presse: US lawmakers on Tuesday rejoined pitched political battles over health care, climate change, and the increasingly unpopular war in Afghanistan after a month-long August break from Washington. US President Barack Obama hoped to set the agenda immediately with a rare speech late Wednesday to a joint session of the Congress to revive prospects for his top domestic priority -- remaking US health care. And Obama, whose job approval ratings have slid sharply since he took office in ...
Wed, 9 Sep 09
UK: Global deal on climate change at risk
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iVNkthqWXZuZD9P6lr9Kh3AxSkBQD9AJ7AGG0
Associated Press: Two British Cabinet ministers said Tuesday that attempts to broker a new global pact on climate change by the end of the year are at risk of failing. Hopes for an agreement being reached at a United Nations summit in December "hang in the balance," undermined by a climate of suspicion between rich and poor countries, said Foreign Secretary David Miliband, speaking at a press conference with his brother, Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband. Nations will meet in Copenhagen, ...
Wed, 9 Sep 09
Survival Means Anticipating and Adapting
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48366
Inter Press Service: Imagine being able to know months in advance when and where floods or droughts may occur. That is what over 150 countries participating in the third World Climate Conference, which concluded last Friday in Geneva, pledged to achieve through the creation of a Global Framework for Climate Services. "Today is a landmark day for making climate services available to all people," said Michel Jarraud, secretary-general of the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), convener of the ...
Wed, 9 Sep 09
Climate treaty hinges on China and India: Denmark
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE58747420090908?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: A new global treaty on climate change hinges on China and India agreeing to limit their CO2 emissions but it is unclear whether they will do so, Denmark's climate and energy minister said. Connie Hedegaard, who is a key mediator in the talks to find a successor to the Kyoto Treaty, said western nations must agree to pay to help poorer countries cut emissions. However, this will not be enough to get a deal at a United Nations climate conference in Copenhagen in December, or to ...
Wed, 9 Sep 09
Russia's plan to mine peatlands for energy could release 113 gigatons of carbon
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0908-hance_russia_peat.html
Mongabay: Wetlands International, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to preserving the world's wetlands, has warned of drastic environmental consequences if the Russia government goes ahead with plans to begin large scale peat mining, including the potential release of 113 gigatons of carbon. Peat mining for energy "causes much larger carbon dioxide emissions than fossil fuels, will ruin precious nature and disrupt the hydrology of large areas," writes Tatiana Minaeva from Wetlands ...
Wed, 9 Sep 09
Federal survey finds coal ash sites in 35 states
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090908/ap_on_go_ot/us_epa_coal_ash
Associated Press: The toxic leftovers from burning coal for power are sitting in nearly 600 sites in 35 states, according to a federal survey released Tuesday. Spills have occurred at 34 of those sites over the last decade. Many of the spills were minor compared with the disaster that occurred at the Tennessee Valley Authority's power plant in Kingston, Tenn., in December. That spill, which flooded hundreds of acres of land, damaged homes and killed fish in nearby rivers, is not included in the ...
Wed, 9 Sep 09
US firm in China solar mega-deal
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8245129.stm
BBC: US energy group First Solar has signed a preliminary deal to build the world's biggest solar power plant in China. The 10-year project would result in a two gigawatt plant - enough to power three million Chinese homes - at Ordos City in Inner Mongolia. First Solar will begin constructing a 30 megawatt demonstration project in June next year. China is expanding its use of solar power as it works towards meeting ambitious renewable energy targets. First Solar has ...
Wed, 9 Sep 09
US firm wins huge solar power project in China
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090908/ts_alt_afp/uschinaenergyalternativesolarwarming
Agence-France Presse: US energy giant First Solar on Tuesday won a deal to build the world's largest solar power plant in China, aimed at helping mitigate climate change concerns. First Solar will construct the two-gigawatt plant in Ordos City, Inner Mongolia, under a memorandum of understanding (MOU) inked Tuesday with Chinese officials at the company's headquarters in Tempe, Arizona. The solar facility is to be built in four phases over a decade and supply power to three million Chinese homes, the ...
Wed, 9 Sep 09
European ministers to hold climate talks in Denmark
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090908/sc_afp/unclimatewarmingeu
Agence-France Presse: A group of European foreign ministers will meet Thursday in Copenhagen a bid to speed up negotiations ahead of a crucial UN climate change summit in December, the Danish government said Tuesday. Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller invited British counterpart David Miliband, Bernard Kouchner of France, Carl Bildt of Sweden and Alexander Stubb of Finland to send the world a "clear signal" of their commitment against global warming, Moeller's office said in a statement. This ...
Wed, 9 Sep 09
Van Jones Resignation Heaps Criticism Upon Obama
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=112636478&ft=1&f=1025
National Public Radio: The resignation of the Obama administration's "green jobs" czar, Van Jones, has caused an uproar within progressive circles. Jones recently came under scrutiny after it was revealed that he signed a 2004 petition questioning whether the U.S. government allowed the Sept. 11 attacks to occur, and after remarks in which he used a derogatory word to describe Republicans. Caving to strong criticism by conservative political pundits, and more specifically that of Fox News Channel ...
Wed, 9 Sep 09
Coalition Launches Campaign to Pass Climate Bill
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/08/AR2009090802295.html
Washington Post: A coalition of environmental, labor, veterans and religious groups formally launched a national lobbying campaign Tuesday aimed at mobilizing grass-roots support for passage of a Senate climate bill this fall. The group -- dubbed Clean Energy Works -- marks perhaps the most ambitious effort yet to enact legislation that would cap greenhouse gas emissions linked to global warming. The coalition has enlisted organizers in 28 key states to help build support for a cap-and-trade bill, and ...
Wed, 9 Sep 09
NRC: No threat from leak at NJ nuclear power plant
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090908/ap_on_re_us/us_oyster_creek_tritium_leak
Associated Press: Federal regulators say the first of two leaks of radioactive tritium this year at the nation's oldest nuclear power plant did not spread contamination beyond the plant's grounds. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission says its investigation of an April tritium leak at the Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station found that groundwater contamination has not left the site of the Lacey Township plant. Tuesday's report did not address a second leak that occurred last month. It will ...
Wed, 9 Sep 09
Time to negotiate seriously on climate: European powers
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090908/sc_afp/unclimatewarmingeurope
Agence-France Presse: Foreign ministers from major European countries pleaded on Tuesday for parties to the upcoming UN climate talks in Copenhagen to start negotiating earnestly to save Earth from the worst ravages of global warming. They also heaped praise on Japan's plan for a 25-percent cut in its carbon pollution, but said only a wider deal in Copenhagen would prompt the European Union (EU) to spice its own offer on emissions reduction. "We are here with a warning, and the warning is that the ...
Wed, 9 Sep 09
Lieberman: Climate Change Threatens National Security
http://talkradionews.com/2009/09/lieberman-climate-change-threatens-national-security/
Talk Radio News Service: Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) said Tuesday that climate change presents a growing threat to the United States. "The environmental concerns have merged with two other major American national interests. One is economic. The second coalescence is that climate change is a matter of national security," Lieberman said during a panel discussion with the Reserve Officers Association in Washington, D.C. Lieberman, who chairs the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs ...
Wed, 9 Sep 09
NRC seeks better leak detection at US nuke plants
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090908/ap_on_re_us/us_nuclear_plant_leak_report
Associated Press: Federal regulators say they're looking for better ways to detect leaks from buried pipes at nuclear power plants. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Tuesday that it has told its staff to consider whether programs to find underground leaks need to be improved. The agency acted after responding to two leaks of radioactive tritium from underground pipes at the Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station in Lacey Township, N.J., this year. It's the nation's oldest nuclear ...
Wed, 9 Sep 09
GE supplying turbines to Europe's largest wind farm
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2249059/ge-supplying-turbines-europe
Business Green: Czech utility company CEZ has announced that it has selected GE as the main supplier of turbines for a wind farm which the backers claim is the largest project of its kind in Europe. In a statement issues this week, CEZ said that it had signed a new contract with GE for the purchase of 101 2.5MW turbines for its site in Cogealac - one of the two adjacent sites of the Romanian wind farm which the backers claim will have a combined capacity of 600MW. Situated in the Dobrogea ...
Wed, 9 Sep 09
UN: Looking beyond carbon makes economic sense
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2249036/un-looking-beyond-carbon-makes
Business Green: Urgent scientific investigation of the impact of a range of non-C02 pollutants is needed ahead of the climate convention in Copenhagen if real and meaningful action is to be taken against global warming, according to the UN. Speaking at the World Climate Conference in Geneva late last week, Achim Steiner, executive director of the UN Environment programme, said the contribution of non-CO2 pollutants needs to ascertained to make sure that the decisions taken in Copenhagen in December ...
Wed, 9 Sep 09
United Kingdom: Drax coal hijackers fail to re-create Kingsnorth verdict
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2249035/drax-coal-hijackers-fail
Business Green: A group of environmental protesters has failed in its attempts to justify the hijacking of a coal train under the same terms that were applied to similar direct action at the Kingsnorth power station. According to a report in the Guardian, eight members of a 29-strong team of environmental protesters were sentenced to community service and ordered to pay costs and compensation to train company Network Rail. The judge in the case at Leeds crown court said the action had resulted ...
Wed, 9 Sep 09
Incoming Japanese PM raises emissions targets to 25 per cent
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2249034/incoming-japanese-pm-raises
Business Green: Japan's prime minister-elect Yukio Hatoyama appears to have heeded international calls and has revised his country's greenhouse gas emission targets upwards to a 25 per cent cut from 1990 levels by 2020. According to reports from Reuters, while the targets are more aggressive, Hatoyama emphasised that they were dependent on other major nations agreeing similarly stringent aims. "We can't stop climate change just with our country setting an emissions target," said Hatoyama. "We ...
Wed, 9 Sep 09
PCs use less energy
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204908604574336280116296164.html
Wall Street Journal: Some of the biggest energy hogs in a company sit in front of workers everyday: their PCs. For a company that has 10,000 personal-computer desktops, for example, just leaving most of them turned on all night can cost more than $165,000 a year in electricity bills, while spewing more than 1,380 tons of carbon dioxide into the air per year, estimates a 2007 report by the Alliance to Save Energy, an advocacy group in Washington, D.C. That's roughly the amount of greenhouse gas ...
Tue, 8 Sep 09
Japan throws down gauntlet, vows to cut greenhouse gas emissions 25 percent by 2020
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0907-hance_japan_emission.html
Mongabay: The new prime minister of Japan, Yukio Hatoyama, has thrown down the gauntlet to other industrialized nations in the lead-up to the UN Climate Change Summit in Copenhagen this December. He had pledged to cut his nation's greenhouse gas emissions 25 percent from 1990 levels (the set date for the Kyoto Treaty) by 2020. However, Hatoyama has stated that his country--the world's fifth in terms of greenhouse emissions--will only stick to this pledge if other nations sign up to similar ...
Tue, 8 Sep 09
Miliband aims to shock on climate tour
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/sep/07/david-miliband-global-warming-tour
Guardian: The spectre of a 4C warmer world, with alligators basking off the coast of Sweden, a vast desert surrounding the Mediterranean and a largely uninhabitable mainland Europe, is to be presented to European Union countries by the foreign secretary, David Miliband. As part of a diplomatic push by Britain to persuade rich countries to put climate change at the top of their agendas, Miliband will address EU, French, Swedish and Danish foreign ministries in the next 48 hours. He then ...
Tue, 8 Sep 09
Maldives to miss climate summit
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8243091.stm
BBC: The president of the Maldives has said that, even though his country is under threat from climate change, he cannot afford to go to a summit on the issue. President Mohamed Nasheed said his nation would only go to the December talks in Copenhagen if someone offered to pay for the trip. He said the Maldives needed to be defended from the effects of global warming and rising sea levels. But he added that the country would have to do much of the work itself. "We ...
Tue, 8 Sep 09
Japanese carbon cut may change UN climate poker
http://www.spacedaily.com/2006/090907141944.9fogrpqo.html
Agence-France Presse: Japan's announcement Monday of a 25-percent cut in its greenhouse gas emissions could be a game-changer at the UN showdown on climate change in Copenhagen in December, observers said. It could sweep away the who-jumps-first obsession that has bedevilled the world climate talks for nearly two years, they said. "For a long time, everybody has been waiting for everybody else to move in the negotiations.... At this crucial point, the strong message from Japan is exactly what is ...
Tue, 8 Sep 09
India doesn't want to pay for climate change, but it's already feeling the costs
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/india-doesnt-want-to-pay-for-climate-change-but-its-already-feeling-the-costs/article1278146/
Globe and Mail: In the village of Pujar in the Himalayas, the burans -- a species of rhododendron -- flowers each spring. And the tradition in Pujar, since time immemorial, is that no one picks and eats the flowers until after the spring Shiva festival. To do otherwise is to risk the anger of the gods, explains Himal Behan, who farms near the foot of the glacier. "But this year, the tree flowered in December. Even people who are 80 or 90 years old in my village say they have never known this to ...
Tue, 8 Sep 09
Major scientific project to study climate change
http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=313252&version=1&template_id=40&parent_id=22
Indo-Asian News Service: At least 220 Indian scientists and 127 research organisations are joining hands for a massive study to monitor climate change in different parts of the country. Climate change in India has led to a rise in sea levels while storm surges in coastal areas have also become a major concern for environmental authorities. According to Ministry of Environment and Forests officials, the report of their study will be released in November 2010. "We've seen that the shoreline across ...
Tue, 8 Sep 09
Bodega Bay scientists weigh impact of ocean acid levels on shellfish
http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20090906/ARTICLES/909069979/1349?Title=Will-high-acid-levels-doom-shellfish-
Press Democrat: The danger from increasing levels of acid in the ocean, which could devastate California's shellfish industry, is under investigation by Bodega Bay scientists. It is painstaking work that requires the team to wade through knee-deep mud at Tomales Bay to collect native Olympic oysters and then raise their young in salt-water tanks under conditions that mimic climate change. "Very little is known about how ocean acidification is unfolding, other than it is," said Susan Williams, ...
Tue, 8 Sep 09
Ultraviolet radiation will rise 20 per cent, climate scientists warn
http://www.canada.com/technology/Ultraviolet%20radiation%20will%20rise%20cent%20scientists/1968392/story.html
Canwest News Service: Climate change will so dramatically impact Earth's atmosphere that there could be a 20 per cent increase in the amount of harmful ultraviolet radiation hitting some parts of the planet, scientists are warning. As temperatures climb in coming decades, there will be marked changes in the circulation of the upper atmosphere and distribution of the ozone protecting Earth from the sun's potent ultraviolet radiation, University of Toronto researchers Theodore Shepherd and Michaela Hegglin ...
Tue, 8 Sep 09
EU proposes UN war chest for climate funds
http://www.reuters.com/article/GCA-GreenBusiness/idUSTRE58636M20090907
Reuters: The United Nations should set up a war chest to help process the billions of dollars poor countries will be paid to slash their greenhouse gas emissions, the European Union has proposed. The facility would sit separately from an existing "Adaptation Fund," which aims to soften the impact of climate change on crops and water sources, the executive European Commission added in a draft report, seen by Reuters on Monday. The EU hopes to find unity on its financial support for the ...
Tue, 8 Sep 09
Seaweed suspected in French death
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8242649.stm
BBC: French investigators are examining whether a lorry driver has become the first victim of a toxic seaweed that is clogging parts of the Brittany coast. The driver died in July after carrying three truckloads of sea lettuce away from the beaches where it has been decaying, releasing poisonous gas. His death was originally recorded as a heart attack but prosecutors want to know if it was linked to the seaweed. France's PM warned of the health risk while visiting the beaches ...
Tue, 8 Sep 09
Maldives to introduce green tax on tourists
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090907/india_nm/india422854
Reuters: The Maldives archipelago, threatened by rising sea levels blamed on climate change, said on Monday it would introduce a new environment tax on all tourists who use its resorts and provide its economic lifeline. Famed mostly for high-end luxury resorts and white-sand atolls, the Maldives has made a name for itself as an advocate for mitigating climate change because rising sea levels are forecast to submerge most of its islands by 2100. The Maldives' $850 million economy gets ...
Tue, 8 Sep 09
Post-wildfire worries: floods, damaged ecosystem
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090907/ap_on_re_us/us_wildfires_environment
Associated Press: Southern California's huge wildfire has turned nearly a quarter of the 1,000-square-mile Angeles National Forest into a moonscape of barren mountains looming above thousands of homes that now face the threat of flash floods and mudslides. Experts are already evaluating the extent of risk to lives and property as well the impacts of the wildfire on a forest ecosystem that in some areas may not have burned in at least a century. Sprawled across the San Gabriel Mountains, the ...
Tue, 8 Sep 09
Japan's New Leader Pledges Sharp Emissions Cut
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/08/world/asia/08japan.html?_r=55
New York Times: Japan's presumptive prime minister breathed new life Monday into efforts to curb global warming, standing by a campaign pledge to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent in the next 10 years from 1990 levels – a target that environmentalists said puts Japan at the forefront of the fight against climate change. Nonetheless, the incoming prime minister, Yukio Hatoyama, whose center-left Democrats swept to a landmark electoral victory last month, attached what appeared to be a new ...
Tue, 8 Sep 09
New Japan leaders vow 25 percent cut in emissions
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090907/ap_on_bi_ge/as_japan_environment
Associated Presss: Japan's incoming prime minister promised Monday to aim for a 25 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 -- among the most ambitious cuts proposed by an economic power and significantly more aggressive than the current plan. The reduction, which will be measured from 1990 levels, was immediately hailed by environmentalists, who are watching target proposals closely ahead of a major international climate conference in December. Prime Minister Taro Aso's current plan was to ...
Tue, 8 Sep 09
Maldives too broke to attend climate meet, says president
http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=313327&version=1&template_id=44&parent_id=24
Agence-France Presse: The Maldives, whose fight against rising sea levels has become a cause celebre for environmentalists, said yesterday it would have to skip UN climate change talks in Copenhagen this year to save money. "We can't go to Copenhagen because we don't have the money," President Mohamed Nasheed told reporters, adding that he was staying away to set an example of cost-saving to the rest of the government. In 2007, the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warned that a ...
Tue, 8 Sep 09
Drought and deforestation push Kenyan tea prices to record high
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article6823979.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=3392178
Times (UK): The mist hangs thickly over rolling hills covered with a green patchwork of thigh-high tea bushes. Workers wearing boots and aprons move methodically through the fields, choosing the youngest tips to throw into their sacks. The dampness in the air and the light drizzle that fell last week was welcome, because there has been so little of it lately in Kenya, the leading tea exporter in the world. Drought has decimated crops, including tea, and, as output has fallen, so prices ...
Sat, 5 Sep 09
French carbon tax hotly debated
http://www.upi.com/Energy_Resources/2009/09/04/French-carbon-tax-hotly-debated/UPI-25511252094326/
United Press International: Paris is planning to introduce a carbon tax -- a controversial move that could significantly boost energy efficiency behavior in France. Championed by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, the carbon tax is part of Paris' plan to slash greenhouse gas emissions, combat climate change and become less dependent on fuel imports. To be placed on transport and household fuels, the tax is due to come into effect next year, with its exact scale under intense debate. Prime Minister Francois ...
Sat, 5 Sep 09
PM joins thousands in British carbon-cutting pledge
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5h8Q8voX7FfHCjQSBSq--rfhRmfYw
Agence-France Presse: Prime Minister Gordon Brown has put his name to a campaign for a 10-percent cut in Britain's carbon emissions, his office said Friday, as the list of signatories to the pledge reached almost 11,000. Brown has signed up to the 10:10 campaign in a personal capacity, his office said, as have all of his senior ministers, the leaders of the main opposition Conservatives and the centrist Liberal Democrats. Fashion designer Vivienne Westwood, actor Colin Firth, artists Anish Kapoor ...
Sat, 5 Sep 09
Try nature, not tech, to fix economic woes -UNEP
http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSL4671773
Reuters: The world is waking up to huge economic benefits of investing in nature, from forests to coral reefs, after one of the "great oversights" of the 20th century, the head of the U.N. Environment Programme said on Friday. Achim Steiner told Reuters that governments had long placed too much faith in technology to fix problems such as global warming, water pollution or erosion, instead of looking to natural solutions. "At the beginning of the 21st century we are being thrown back ...
Sat, 5 Sep 09
US wants G20 to axe fuel subsidies
http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE58326U20090904
Reuters: The United States plans to call on the Group of 20 to eliminate fossil fuel subsidies in five years and increase oil market transparency when the group meets at the end of the month, according to a source familiar with the proposal. The world's biggest energy user intends to argue fuel subsidies distort oil and product markets and artificially raise fuel demand, leading to higher greenhouse gas emissions, said the source, who asked not to be named. This proposal -- which could ...
Sat, 5 Sep 09
UN urges nations to tackle air pollution
http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-world/un-urges-nations-to-tackle-air-pollution-20090905-fbos.html
Agence-France Presse: Countries could speed up their action against climate change if they tackled air pollution as well as carbon dioxide emissions, the UN Environment Program says. UNEP executive director Achim Steiner says there's strong evidence that the world's climate is changing faster than initially expected, adding to the urgency for concrete measures against global warming. "It is... becoming clear that the world must also deploy all available means to combat climate change," Steiner said ...
Sat, 5 Sep 09
China's Clean Revolution 2
http://www.reuters.com/article/gwmSmallBusiness/idUS19732406320090904
Reuters: This report from The Climate Group shows that China is leading the development and commercialization of a range of low carbon technologies. From a recent article about the report: With a new breed of entrepreneurs and ambitious government policies, Chinese businesses are amongst the top producers of electric vehicles, wind turbines, solar panels and energy efficient appliances. Tony Blair, speaking at the launch event in Beijing, said: "China is already playing an important ...
Sat, 5 Sep 09
China, US could sign climate deal
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2009-09/05/content_8658415.htm
China Daily: The US and China are likely to sign an agreement to combat climate change during President Barack Obama's visit to Beijing in November, Washington senator Maria Cantwell said on Friday. This, and US ambassador to China Jon Huntsman's remark that he was impressed by Beijing's green efforts prompted Chinese analysts to say that the Obama administration wanted to cooperate with China in fighting climate change. Tokyo, on the other hand, put pressure on Beijing, with the Democratic ...
Sat, 5 Sep 09
Drought Puts Focus on a Side of India Untouched by Progress
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/05/world/asia/05drought.html
New York Times: Two very different recent scenes from India: At a power breakfast in New Delhi for many of the country's corporate leaders and top economic officials, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee declared that India had "weathered the storm" of the global economic crisis and was witnessing "green shoots" in industry and services that signaled a return to more rapid growth by next year. Hundreds of miles away in this farming village in Andhra Pradesh, in the south, weeds were the only green ...
Sat, 5 Sep 09
'Water Recklessness Worsening Drought' in India
http://www.alternet.org/water/142438/%27water_recklessness_worsening_drought%27_in_india/
Inter Press Service: India's current dry spell, brought on by an errant annual monsoon, is rapidly turning into a full-fledged drought as a result of reckless exploitation of groundwater resources for farming, experts say. According to information available from the agriculture ministry, 246 of India's 626 districts have now been officially declared as facing a "drought-like" situation. Monsoon rains account for 75 percent of India's annual rainfall. Officials at the Indian Meteorological Department say ...
Sat, 5 Sep 09
China faces massive bill for clean coal
http://www.theage.com.au/environment/global-warming/china-faces-massive-bill-for-clean-coal-20090905-fbpm.html
Bloomberg: Western governments pushing China to use clean-coal technology may need to lower their expectations for the world's largest producer of greenhouse gases. Costs will total as much as $US400 billion ($474 billion) over 30 years to install systems to capture carbon dioxide from power plant smokestacks in China and bury it underground, said Richard Morse, a Stanford University research associate and author of a study on the technology. China has little incentive to invest because it will ...
Sat, 5 Sep 09
Rich countries face $100bn annual climate change aid bill
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/28717c44-99b3-11de-ab8c-00144feabdc0.html
Financial Times: Rich countries must get ready to provide some $100bn a year by 2030 to help developing nations tackle climate change, G20 finance ministers meeting in London are to be told. An international market in carbon will also be essential to ensuring that the necessary hundreds of billions of dollars can be provided by both the private and public sectors of developed countries, according to a confidential briefing paper for the meeting of G20 ministers seen by the Financial Times. The ...
Sat, 5 Sep 09
United States: Home solar prices falling, even as rebates shrink
http://www.mercurynews.com/greenenergy/ci_13272807?nclick_check=1
San Jose Mercury News: Even as a state rebate is shrinking, the price of residential solar power is dropping, thanks to lower installation costs and a glut in the supply of key components. That's putting it in reach of more people and prompting solar advocates to say the day is coming when rebates and tax credits won't be needed to spur the growth of the renewable energy industry. The cost of a typical 4,000-watt home solar system has dropped as much as 10 percent in the last year – falling below ...
Sat, 5 Sep 09
Verizon Wireless Criticized by Green Groups for Backing Event
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/04/AR2009090403566.html?hpid=topnews
Washington Post: Verizon says it all started innocently enough. A Verizon Wireless sales team in West Virginia agreed to co-sponsor a Labor Day event called "Friends of America" featuring singer Hank Williams Jr., Ted Nugent and other country music groups. For $1,000, Verizon got to set up a sales table at the event, which is expected to draw 75,000 people to Holden, W.Va. The sales staff "jumped at the chance," said Verizon Wireless spokesman Jim Gerace. But now environmental groups and ...
Sat, 5 Sep 09
United Kingdom: Hundreds of homes evacuated as flooding causes chaos in Scotland's North East
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/scotland/article6822075.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=3392178
Times (UK): Hundreds of homes were evacuated and scores of roads closed today after the North East of Scotland suffered torrential rain and flooding. The downpour was the worst the North East had experienced in 66 years and in one town the deluge swept away a bridge and several vehicles. Police in Grampian and Tayside advised people not to travel unless necessary, while Northern Constabulary urged motorists to drive with care. The Met Office forecast more heavy rain for tomorrow while the ...
Sat, 5 Sep 09
Global Warming Reverses Long-Term Arctic Cooling
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=global-warming-reverses-arctic-cooling
Scientific American: Based on its long-term orbit, Earth should be heading into an ice age. But instead of continuing to cool--as it had been for at least the past 2,000 years--the Arctic has started to warm. And the reason is humans' impact on the composition of the atmosphere, new research suggests. To look at this trend, geologist Darrell Kaufman of Northern Arizona University and a consortium of colleagues reconstructed Arctic temperatures decade by decade over the past two millennia by pulling ...
Sat, 5 Sep 09
Nowhere To Hide: Some Species Are Unable To Adapt To Climate Change Due To Their Genes
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090903163723.htm
ScienceDaily: Species living in restricted environments such as the tropics may lack adequate variation in their genes and be unable to adapt to climate change, according to a new study. Adaptation is a physiological or behavioural change that makes an organism better suited to its environment, and more likely to survive and reproduce. Because adaptations usually occur due to a change (or mutation) in a gene, species with a more varied set of genes to begin with, are likely to have a better basis ...
Sat, 5 Sep 09
Japan emissions target hinges on international deal
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE5831BZ20090904?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: The greenhouse gas emissions target for 2020 set by Japan's incoming Democratic Party government is based on the premise that there will be an international agreement including China and India, a party executive said on Friday. The party, promising a more aggressive green policy than the outgoing government, has called for a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent by 2020 from 1990 levels, although the target faces resistance from industries. "This is not something ...
Sat, 5 Sep 09
Prius top-selling car in Japan for 4th month
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090904/ap_on_bi_ge/as_japan_toyota_prius
Associated Press: Toyota's hugely popular Prius ranked as Japan's best-selling car in August, keeping the top spot for the fourth consecutive month with the help of government subsidies and tax breaks, an auto industry group said Friday. The Japan Automobile Dealers Association said Toyota Motor Corp., the world's biggest automaker, sold 21,669 Prius cars in the month. Honda Motor Co.'s Fit compact was No. 2 in August with 10,927 units sold. "Government measures such as subsidies and tax breaks ...
Sat, 5 Sep 09
Climate will cost much more than UN thinks
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20327242.900-climate-will-cost-much-more-than-un-thinks.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=climate-change
New Scientist: A KEY number in the struggle to tackle global warming is flawed. The cost of adapting to the effects of climate change is two to three times the figure quoted by the UN climate change convention, a new study claims. The UN has estimated that meeting health needs, adapting farming and infrastructure, and so on will cost $70 to 100 billion a year by 2030. Now Martin Parry of Imperial College London says this "back of a metro ticket calculation" ignores major sectors, including energy ...
Sat, 5 Sep 09
United Kingdom: Drax climate change protesters sentenced today
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/sep/04/drax-protesters-sentence
Guardian: Climate protesters who hijacked a coal train on its way to Drax power station in June 2008 are expected to be sentenced today at 4.30pm. The 22 men and women, including a senior university lecturer, teachers and film-makers, were convicted in July of obstructing an engine or carriage using a railway. The judge has already ruled out prison and they are likely to receive heavy community service sentences. Their hopes of repeating the "Kingsnorth Six" judgment last September, when ...
Sat, 5 Sep 09
Local governments keep Chinese public in the dark about pollution
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/sep/04/china-pollution-secrecy
Guardian: Polluters in China are operating in a "black box" of secrecy, the Ministry of Environmental Protection has warned amid a rash of violent protests related to industrial poisoning. Offenders are protected by the vast majority of local authorities defying Beijing and violating state law by refusing to disclose information about pollution, with a study showing just 4 out of 113 local governments complied. The ministry said this lack of transparency was partly to blame for recent ...
Sat, 5 Sep 09
China kicks off construction on first coal-to-gas plant
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2248934/china-kicks-construction-first
Business Green: China is building its first large-scale coal-to-gas demonstration plant in Inner Mongolia at a cost of $3.7bn (£2.3bn). Construction on the project commenced last week in Chifeng city, according to state-run media. It is being built by China Datang, the country's second-biggest power producer. The plant will use heat and pressure to convert coal into synthetic gas, which will be piped through a 381km-long gas transmission line to Beijing. It is being built in three ...
Sat, 5 Sep 09
Warmer climate could make succulent meat a memory
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17735-warmer-climate-could-make-succulent-meat-a-memory.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=climate-change
New Scientist: If you like a tasty slab of meat, make sure you place your orders soon. Pork chops will become soggier and paler as the world warms, say veterinary scientists, and steaks could become blander, leaner, darker and more prone to spoilage. This is all because the quality of our meat depends on whether or not animals experience heat stress during transport to the abattoir. Cattle begin to suffer heat stress at 20 °C, pigs at 31 °C. "The one thing we can be sure of is that they'll ...
Sat, 5 Sep 09
Africa's new climate leader outlines continent's stance
http://www.scidev.net/en/climate-change-and-energy/africa-s-new-climate-leader-outlines-continent-s-s.html?utm_source=link&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=en_climatechangeandenergy
SciDev.Net: Africa should not be seen as a charity case in global negotiations on climate change, the continent's newly chosen chief negotiator said yesterday (3 September). Speaking at a meeting convened by the UN Economic Commission for Africa in Addis Ababa to promote the African negotiating position, Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said the continent has "no intention to free-ride" a post-Kyoto agreement. Zenawi was chosen to chair a new high-level committee to steer the African ...
Sat, 5 Sep 09
Danish Think Tank Calls to Focus on Geoengineering Solutions to Global Warming
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/03/AR2009090303723.html?wprss=rss_technology
Washington Post: The Copenhagen Consensus Center, a controversial Denmark-based think tank focused on the environment and international development, proposed Thursday that world leaders should focus on a geoengineered solution to climate change in the near term rather than mandating cuts in greenhouse gas emissions. The group, headed by statistician Bjorn Lomborg, issued a report by five economists that suggested it made more sense to spend money on marine cloud whitening research and green energy ...
Sat, 5 Sep 09
Emissions linked to end of 2,000-year Arctic trend
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/03/AR2009090302199.html
Washington Post: Human-generated greenhouse gas emissions have helped reverse a 2,000-year trend of cooling in the Arctic, prompting warmer average temperatures in the past decade that now rank higher than at any time since 1 B.C., according to a study published Thursday in the online version of the journal Science. The analysis, based on more than a dozen lake sediment cores as well as glacier ice and tree ring records from the Arctic, provides one of the broadest pictures to date of how industrial ...
Sat, 5 Sep 09
Worst climate change offenders to escape effects, report claims
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article6821896.ece
Times (UK): Countries which are contributing most to climate change, including Britain, will be shielded from its worst effects, according to a study which ranks nations according to their vulnerability to global warming. The poorest countries, including most of Africa and much of south Asia, face "extreme risk' from climate change despite having very low greenhouse gas emissions. Countries with the highest emissions are the least vulnerable, largely because they will be able to use their ...
Sat, 5 Sep 09
Canada: Ontario to cut back coal power 40 per cent
http://www.thestar.com/news/ontario/article/690868
Toronto Star: Ontario plans to shut down four coal-fuelled power units in late 2010, a move environmentalists say will make the province a leader in the fight against climate change. Nanticoke generating station, near Simcoe, will see two of eight units closed and at the Lambton plant near Sarnia, two of four units will close by October next year. "As an asthmatic and former health minister I have come to understand this is not just a matter of the energy supply mix but of a matter of ...
Sat, 5 Sep 09
I am a top foreigner in Papua New Guinea, says carbon kingpin
http://www.smh.com.au/environment/i-am-a-top-foreigner-in-papua-new-guinea-says-carbon-kingpin-20090903-fa0m.html
Sydney Morning Herald: THE Australian at the heart of Papua New Guinea's carbon trading rush is the entrepreneur and colourful racing identity Kirk Roberts, who has persuaded many tribal groups to sign their rainforests up for future use as carbon credits. Opponents call him the kingpin of the ''carbon cowboys'' who have flooded into Port Moresby in the past few years. ''It's no secret that I am one of the most important foreigners in PNG,'' Mr Roberts told the Herald. The pioneer carbon ...
Sat, 5 Sep 09
Australian firm linked to PNG's $100m carbon trading scandal
http://www.smh.com.au/environment/australian-firm-linked-to-pngs-100m-carbon-trading-scandal-20090903-fa2y.html
Sydney Morning Herald: AN AUSTRALIAN company has been swept up in a $100 million carbon trading scandal in Papua New Guinea after claims fake carbon certificates were given to landowners to help persuade them to sign over the rights to their forests. The scandal threatens to undermine efforts by the Climate Change Minister, Penny Wong, to win support at the United Nations climate talks in Copenhagen for a global carbon trading scheme to include forests in the likes of PNG and Indonesia. She declined ...
Sat, 5 Sep 09
Abrupt reversal detected in Arctic cooling trend
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/09/04/MNB219HIRT.DTL&tsp=1
San Francisco Chronicle: The report from an international team of climate scientists concludes that climate change in the Arctic has accelerated since the Industrial Revolution, abruptly reversing a long-term worldwide cooling trend. "The study provides a clear example of how increased greenhouse gases are now changing our climate," said Caspar Ammann of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo., a co-author of the report published Thursday in the journal Science. To deduce the ...
Sat, 5 Sep 09
Dutch learn to live with, instead of fight, rising seas
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE58300N20090904
Reuters: The watermark column inside Amsterdam's city hall is more than just a tourist attraction, it's a reminder that the Dutch capital like much of the rest of the Netherlands is well below sea level. Some 70 percent of the country's economic output is generated below sea level, protected by a complex-system of ancient dikes and modern cement barriers that hold back water from the sea and the multitude of rivers that weave through the country. Now, with scientists' predicting that ...
Sat, 5 Sep 09
Ocean acidification may be trouble for Alaskan fish
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE5825LS20090903
Reuters: The waters off Alaska, teeming with enough fish to support more than half the U.S. commercial seafood catch, face a new threat -- increasing acidification from the same atmospheric carbon linked to global warming. Although nobody knows for sure what the effects of higher acidity levels will be, reports of smaller salmon catches are worrying scientists and cast a pall over the state's $3.6 billion fishing industry. "These waters are becoming corrosive and harmful to marine ...
Sat, 5 Sep 09
United States: Chamber opposes cap-and-trade legislation
http://www.register-herald.com/local/local_story_246222251.html
Register-Herald: The director of the Center for Climate Change Law painted a gloomy picture for an overflow crowd at a state Chamber of Commerce symposium on energy and the environment Thursday. Michael B. Gerrard warned the business leaders that if Congress fails to pass cap-and-trade legislation, the Environmental Protection Agency will surely implement regulations that could prove to be even more onerous to the coal industry. "The EPA has the authority to regulate greenhouse gases," Gerrard ...
Sat, 5 Sep 09
United States: Power struggle looms in plans to regulate wind turbines at sea
http://www.mvgazette.com/article.php?22845
Vineyard Gazette: Finding themselves at a historic crossroad between embracing renewable energy technologies and protecting the Vineyard, Island planning and conservation leaders gathered Wednesday to discuss two legislative initiatives that would put the Vineyard on the front line of an ambitious state plan to build large-scale wind farms on land and at sea. Gov. Deval Patrick is aggressively promoting the development of green energy technologies in separate initiatives: the draft Oceans Management ...
Sat, 5 Sep 09
Clean coal in China said to face 'staggering' costs
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=av__wX90MZIQ
Bloomberg: Western governments pushing China to use clean-coal technology may need to lower their expectations for the world's largest producer of greenhouse gases. Costs will total as much as $400 billion over 30 years to install systems to capture carbon dioxide from power plant smokestacks in China and bury it underground, said Richard Morse, a Stanford University research associate and author of a study on the technology. China has little incentive to use carbon capture because it will raise ...
Sat, 5 Sep 09
Some Species Unable To Adapt To Climate Change Due To Genes
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1748033/some_species_unable_to_adapt_to_climate_change_due_to/index.html?source=r_science
redOrbit: Species living in restricted environments such as the tropics may lack adequate variation in their genes and be unable to adapt to climate change, according to a new study. Adaptation is a physiological or behavioral change that makes an organism better suited to its environment, and more likely to survive and reproduce. Because adaptations usually occur due to a change (or mutation) in a gene, species with a more varied set of genes to begin with, are likely to have a better basis ...
Sat, 5 Sep 09
Clean Energy from Manure
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48331
Inter Press Service: With its enormous potential for biogas production, Argentina is gearing up for this clean energy alternative - which has already seen good results on ranches that transform manure into energy. Biogas is a fuel generated from the biodegradation of organic material in an airless environment. But to achieve sustained development of this source it will be necessary to break through some bottlenecks, according to experts consulted for this report. "Biogas production is in full ...
Sat, 5 Sep 09
Widen global warming fight beyond CO2: U.N
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSL449824520090904?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: The world should widen a fight against global warming by curbing a string of pollutants other than carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, the U.N. Environment Programme (UNEP) said on Friday. Heat-trapping methane, nitrogen compounds, low-level ozone and soot are responsible for almost half of the man-made emissions stoking climate change in the 21st century, it said. A wider assault on pollutants, twinned with cuts in carbon dioxide, would help toward a new U.N. climate pact ...
Sat, 5 Sep 09
EC president: Europe must "decarbonise" transport and grid
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2248963/ec-president-europe-decarbonise
Business Green: José Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission (EC), has laid out his mandate for his next term, which includes focusing on improving the sustainability of the electricity supply and the transport sector. In a statement this week, Barroso, who is running for re-election as president for a second term, has said that if he is successful, climate change will be an integral part of his next five years as head of the EC. "The next commission needs to maintain the momentum ...
Sat, 5 Sep 09
Himalayas hotspot of climate change
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Global-Warming/Himalayas-hotspot-of-climate-change/articleshow/4969827.cms
Economic Times: It's 4,000 miles of mountains, seas and valleys from Kathmandu to Copenhagen. With changing climate, it could well become 4,000 miles of sudden storms, flood and climate migrations. Recognising that nations need to pool resources and expertise to face climate change impacts, South Asian countries came together for the first time earlier this week for a climate mini-summit in Kathmandu ahead of the Copenhagen meet in December. Himalayan ecosystems are 'the hotspots'. That's the message ...
Sat, 5 Sep 09
Tackling wider air pollution would speed climate action: UN
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090904/sc_afp/unclimatewarmingcopenhagenemissionsindustryfarm
Agence France-Presse: Countries could speed up their action against climate change if they tackled air pollution as well as carbon dioxide enissions, the UN Environment Programme said Friday. UNEP executive director Achim Steiner said there is strong evidence that the world's climate is changing faster than initially expected, adding to the urgency for concrete measures against global warming. "It is... becoming clear that the world must also deploy all available means to combat climate change," ...
Sat, 5 Sep 09
World's climate could cool first, warm later
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17742-worlds-climate-could-cool-first-warm-later.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=climate-change
New Scientist: Forecasts of climate change are about to go seriously out of kilter. One of the world's top climate modellers said Thursday we could be about to enter "one or even two decades during which temperatures cool. "People will say this is global warming disappearing," he told more than 1500 of the world's top climate scientists gathering in Geneva at the UN's World Climate Conference. "I am not one of the sceptics," insisted Mojib Latif of the Leibniz Institute of Marine Sciences at ...
Sat, 5 Sep 09
Drax coal train hijackers sentenced
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/sep/04/drax-protesters-sentenced
Guardian: Environmental protesters who hijacked a freight train carrying coal to one of Europe's largest power stations were today sentenced to community service and ordered to pay costs and compensation to Network Rail. The group had taken part in a non-violent protest against climate change at the giant Drax power station near Selby, north Yorkshire, in June last year when they halted a train carrying 1,000 tonnes of coal. Twenty nine people were convicted in July following a four-day ...
Sat, 5 Sep 09
Current economic growth model is 'immoral', says Prescott
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/sep/04/prescott-economic-growth-immoral
Guardian: John Prescott, the former UK climate negotiator, called on developed nations today to accept a new model of economic growth that would create a more equitable spread of carbon emissions in the world. Speaking to the Guardian in Beijing, Prescott said talks at Copenhagen would probably not be decided until an 11th-hour crisis, but that no global consensus could be reached without a fairer spread of emissions. Since helping to bang heads together to set the first targets on carbon in ...
Sat, 5 Sep 09
Climate Bill Backers, Critics Rally In Tenn
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=112566461&ft=1&f=1025
National Public Radio: Environmentalists gathered Thursday in Nashville to show their support for the climate legislation in the Senate. Last week, groups backed by the oil industry gathered in the city to oppose the measure. States with big energy sectors and high manufacturing bases such as Ohio, Indiana and Tennessee are being targeted.
Sat, 5 Sep 09
France to set carbon tax at €14 a tonne
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2248913/france-set-carbon-tax-14-tonne
Business Green: The French government is poised to introduce a carbon tax of EUR14 (£12.22) a tonne from next year, brushing aside concerns that unilateral emission taxes could force carbon-intensive businesses to leave the country. In an interview with Le Figaro magazine to be published tomorrow, prime minister Francois Fillon said the government would introduce the tax at a level in line with the current carbon market price of EUR14 a tonne before increasing it over time. The bulk of ...
Sat, 5 Sep 09
Maldives to pilot biochar technology
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2248911/maldives-begin-biochar-project
Business Green: The Republic of the Maldives has announced it is to undertake a series of biochar projects on three of the islands that make up the Indian Ocean archipelago. The technology works by heating wood and crop waste using a process known as pyrolysis to create a carbon-rich substance called biochar that can be mixed with soil and buried underground. Advocates of the approach, including controversial British scientist James Lovelock, argue that it provides an effective means of removing ...
Thu, 3 Sep 09
Climate change killing corals, costing billions: study
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090902/sc_afp/environmentsciencecoralwarming
Agence France-Presse: Climate change is killing valuable coral reef systems, a United Nations-backed report published on Wednesday warned. The report -- entitled "The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity" -- unveiled in Berlin, concluded: "We face the imminent loss of coral reefs due to climate change, with all the serious ecological, social and economic consequences this will entail." It said coral reef systems were worth up to 172 billion dollars per year in terms of economic ...
Thu, 3 Sep 09
Asia's poorest to be worst hit by climate change: ADB
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jjKHlOgzgyfOg6nda-UsjiAaiYqA
Agence France-Presse: Climate change threatens to bring food and water shortages to 1.6 billion people in South Asia, with the region's poorest likely to be worst hit, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said here Wednesday. New research commissioned by the ADB shows that if current climate trends persist until 2050, maize yields in South Asia will fall by 17 percent, wheat by 12 percent and rice by 10 percent. Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India and Nepal are "particularly vulnerable to falling crop yields ...
Thu, 3 Sep 09
Icecap photo shows 'mother nature in tears'
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/6127552/Icecap-photo-shows-mother-nature-in-tears.html
Telegraph: Marine photographer and environmental lecturer Michael Nolan captured the pictures while on an annual voyage to observe the largest icecap in Norway Austfonna on July 16. He said the image looked just like mother nature in tears, "as if she was crying about our inability to reduce global warming". 'Tears' in the natural sculpture were created by a waterfall of glacial water falling from one of the face's 'eyes'. Mr Nolan has visited Norway's largest the icecap on the ...
Thu, 3 Sep 09
India will be key player at Copenhagen conference, says Miliband
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/sep/02/india-copenhagen-ed-miliband
Guardian: Ed Miliband, Britain's climate change secretary, hailed India as a potential "deal maker" in the forthcoming talks in Copenhagen for an international treaty to tackle global warming, stating that the country would not face targets to cut its emissions in the near future because it "took climate change seriously". The UK's "softly-softly" approach has won plaudits in India, and contrasts with that of US secretary of state, Hilary Clinton, whose visit in July resulted in a spat with ...
Thu, 3 Sep 09
UK energy giants unveil proposals for five new biomass plants
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2248805/five-uk-biomass-plants-proposed
Business Green: Five new biomass power plants were proposed last week as UK energy companies moved to take advantage of the government's increased support for the fast-growing sector. Four of the plants were proposed at ports in Scotland by Forth Energy, the joint-venture between Scottish and Southern Energy and Forth Ports. The plants are planned for Dundee, Leith, Rosyth and Grangemouth and would together boast a total installed capacity of around 400MW. The new generation of biomass plants, ...
Thu, 3 Sep 09
Has runaway Arctic warming already begun?
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17726-has-runaway-arctic-warming-already-begun.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=climate-change
New Scientist: Runaway warming of the Arctic threatens to spread climate havoc across the globe in the coming decades, according to a new study by the environment group WWF. But has the process already begun? Climate scientists meeting at the World Climate Conference in Geneva, Switzerland, where the report was launched today, are in two minds. Some reckon the WWF report may understate future events. The report's author, climate adviser Martin Sommerkorn, reckons 90 per cent of the Arctic's surface ...
Thu, 3 Sep 09
Greenland glaciers melting faster than ever: NGO
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090902/sc_afp/greenlanddenmarkclimatewarming
Agence France-Presse: Greenland's glaciers are melting into the sea faster than ever before, the environmental pressure group Greenpeace claimed on Wednesday. Glaciers move when melting occurs from the effects of global warming, causing masses of ice to slide into fjords and the sea. Greenland's Helheim glacier, which measures six kilometres wide (four miles) and is one kilometre thick, moves about 25 metres (yards) a day, Greenpeace said in a statement. The group said that is twice as fast ...
Thu, 3 Sep 09
Nitrous oxide now top Earth emission
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1746743/nitrous_oxide_now_top_earth_emission/index.html?source=r_science
United Press International: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says nitrous oxide has become Earth's largest ozone-depleting substance emitted through human activities. NOAA scientists said they have, for the first time, evaluated nitrous oxide emissions in terms of their potential impact on Earth's ozone layer. Not only did they find nitrous oxide to be the top ozone-depleting substance, but they said they expect it to remain so throughout the 21st century. The scientists said nitrous ...
Thu, 3 Sep 09
U.N. climate talks bogged down, need impetus
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE5815OM20090902?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Talks on a U.N. climate pact have become bogged down like "walking in wet sand" but a U.N. summit this month could give impetus for a deal due in December, the head of a key U.N. negotiating group said on Wednesday. Michael Zammit Cutajar, who chairs a group of 190 nations working on the planned climate pact due to be sealed in Copenhagen on December 18, said a draft text was still 200 pages or more long despite efforts to cut back at a U.N. meeting in mid-August. "I think ...
Thu, 3 Sep 09
Potential seen for climate insurance in tourism
http://www.reuters.com/article/internal_ReutersNewsRoom_BehindTheScenes_MOLT/idUSTRE5812KF20090902
Reuters: Insurance is an under-used way for the tourism industry to manage the risks of climate change, with existing offers ranging from a "perfect weather guarantee" by Barbados to ski resorts promising deep snow, experts say. "Insurance products...have a huge potential for tourism," Daniel Scott, chair of a team on tourism and climate for the U.N.'s World Meteorological Organization, told Reuters at a climate conference in Geneva. "It's coming but it's been under-utilized. Many ...
Thu, 3 Sep 09
Early Warning Signs Of Change In Climate, Ecosystems, Financial Markets, Human Health
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1746924/early_warning_signs_of_change_in_climate_ecosystems_financial_markets/index.html?source=r_science
redOrbit: What do abrupt changes in ocean circulation and Earth's climate, shifts in wildlife populations and ecosystems, the global finance market and its system-wide crashes, and asthma attacks and epileptic seizures have in common? According to a paper published this week in the journal Nature, all share generic early-warning signals that indicate a critical threshold of change dead ahead. In the paper, Martin Scheffer of Wageningen University in The Netherlands and co-authors, ...
Thu, 3 Sep 09
WWF: Arctic Ice Thawing Faster Than Expected
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1746907/wwf_arctic_ice_thawing_faster_than_expected/index.html?source=r_science
redOrbit: Arctic thawing is likely to result in worldwide consequences - from an increase in greenhouse gases and global weather pattern changes, according to a WWF report on Wednesday. The World Wildlife Fund released a new study, titled "Arctic Climate Feedbacks: Global Implications," Wednesday that found that Arctic ice is shrinking at a much quicker pace than previously expected. The thawing Arctic is likely to have far-reaching implications that will affect hundreds of millions of ...
Thu, 3 Sep 09
United Kingdom: John Prescott: Call me Al - why our answer to Gore is hitting the road
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/john-prescott-call-me-al--why-our-answer-to-gore-is-hitting-the-road-1780898.html
Independent (UK): As reinventions go, it's pretty good. The country knows him fondly as "Two Jags", or simply "Prezza", the beefy, brawling, language- mangling ex-shop steward who was at the heart of New Labour, but also kept the beer-and-sandwiches spirit of Old Labour alive and well. Now John Prescott is becoming Britain's answer to Al Gore, America's man with a mission about climate change. From the middle of this month, the former Deputy Prime Minister, out of office since Gordon Brown took over as ...
Thu, 3 Sep 09
United Kingdom: Prescott: cutting emissions by 80% will not be enough
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/prescott-cutting-emissions-by-80-will-not-be-enough-1780899.html
Independent (UK): Europe's climate targets of cutting carbon emissions by 30 per cent by 2020 and 80 per cent by 2050 may not be tough enough to get developing countries into a worldwide global warming deal, John Prescott has warned. In an interview with The Independent, the former Deputy Prime Minister, who brokered the current climate treaty, the Kyoto Protocol, said a 90 per cent cut might be needed in order to secure an agreement at December's UN climate conference in Copenhagen. Countries ...
Thu, 3 Sep 09
Schwarzenegger to Obama cabinet: Water... please!
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE5817FK20090902?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has demanded that President Barack Obama's cabinet rethink federal policy that would divert water from parched farms and cities to threatened fish, his administration said on Wednesday. California's rivers used to brim with salmon and sturgeon, but a massive system of canals diverted water that fed farms and cities, now suffering through a third year of drought. Schwarzenegger has gained credibility as an environmentalist for his push ...
Thu, 3 Sep 09
Energy-gulping U.S. buildings ripe for savings
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE5817EA20090902?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: New York's Empire State Building is doing it, Chicago's Willis Tower is about to start and many more landlords and companies are expected to undertake building retrofits to reduce energy costs. Spurred by steadily rising utility bills, the need to rein in costs in the recession, a host of government tax incentives and increasing awareness of carbon footprints, energy-saving building renovations are in vogue. "Things are thriving," said Terry Singer, executive director of the ...
Thu, 3 Sep 09
US wants to fill need for climate forecasts
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hJU-XDpvNzfPXq0JEaFXSCde13dQD9AFAUB80
Associated Press: The global need to cope with climate change is fueling a desire to make climate forecasts as common as weather forecasts, U.S. officials attending a U.N. conference said Wednesday. Jane Lubchenco, head of the National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration that creates weather forecasts for the United States, said the world needs better ways to share information about climate change. "We're seeing now a convergence between what users are beginning to ask for and the ability of ...
Thu, 3 Sep 09
Focus of L.A. wildfire turns to rugged interior
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE57R3G820090903?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Firefighters, helped again by favorable weather, made new gains on Wednesday against the wildfire raging through mountains near Los Angeles as evacuation orders were lifted for the last of those forced to flee earlier. Having removed the immediate threat to thousands of homes around the outer fringe of the 8-day-old blaze in the San Gabriel Mountains, firefighters turned their focus to two interior fronts at either end of the 20-mile-long (32 km-long) fire zone. Officials said ...
Thu, 3 Sep 09
EPA signals carbon regulations could be introduced within months
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2248808/epa-signals-carbon-regulations
Business Green: Democrats pushing for the proposed Waxman-Markey bill to be approved by the Senate could soon have an important new bargaining chip, after the head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) signalled this week that it would soon formally declare that carbon dioxide constitutes a dangerous pollutant. The long-awaited decision was trailed back in April when the EPA released an "endangerment finding" for public review, which ruled that carbon dioxide and six other greenhouse gases ...