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Expect the unexpected when adapting to climate change in Africa, says researcher
http://www.physorg.com/news175963280.html
Physorg: Nations, communities and families in Africa need to safeguard their homes and livelihoods against the unpredictable effects of climate change, according to a discussion paper written by Imperial College London's Professor Sir Gordon Conway, published today (28 October). The paper describes how predicting climate change's impact on specific countries, regions or towns in Africa is extremely difficult. Africa's climate is driven by three very complex factors - the cycle of hot air and ...
Fri, 30 Oct 09
Global warming cycles threaten endangered primate species
http://www.physorg.com/news175896415.html
Physorg: Two Penn State University researchers have carried out one of the first-ever analyses of the effects of global warming on endangered primates. This innovative work by Graduate Student Ruscena Wiederholt and Associate Professor of Biology Eric Post examined how El Niño warming affected the abundance of four New World monkeys over decades. The research will be published on 28 October 2009 in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters. Wiederholt and Post decided to concentrate on the way ...
Fri, 30 Oct 09
Total warns UK lagging on biofuel adoption
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2252178/total-uk-lagging-biofuel
Business Green: France and Germany are progressing well in increasing adoption of biofuels, but other countries in Europe including the UK are lagging behind, according to a senior executive at French oil giant Total. Speaking at a BioFuels 2009 conference in Budapest yesterday, Jacques Blondy, director of agriculture development at Total, said that while France and Germany are progressing well towards European targets to increase the share of biofuels used in transport to 10 percent of total fuel ...
Fri, 30 Oct 09
GE reveals plans for revolutionary lightweight wind turbine
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2252177/ge-reveals-wind-waste-heat
Business Green: Engineering giant General Electric (GE) is poised to unveil a new lightweight carbon fibre wind turbine blade design that promises to significantly increase turbine efficiency and revolutionise blade manufacture. Wind turbines typically use glass fibre blades, but for turbines with a blade length of more than 50 metres, carbon fibre can be more cost effective because it is up to a third lighter and causes less wear on the drive shaft, gear system and tower. As a result, carbon ...
Thu, 29 Oct 09
Senate Democrats push for climate bill ahead of Copenhagen
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2252115/senate-democrats-push-climate
Guardian: The epic confrontation about how America will power the economy of the future formally got underway yesterday amid stark warnings from the Obama administration of the costs of inaction on energy reform. Yesterday's hearing, the first of three blockbuster sessions in the Senate, marks a last heave by administration officials and Democratic leaders to advance a bill to reduce America's greenhouse gas emissions before an international climate change meeting at Copenhagen, now just six ...
Thu, 29 Oct 09
Google's home power monitor arrives in UK
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/oct/28/google-powermeter-home-energy-monitor
Guardian: Google may be best known for helping you find things on the web, but the online search company's latest move is a bid to make futuristic low-energy eco-homes a reality. Launching for the first time in the UK today, Google Powermeter is an online tool that allows householders to monitor their home's energy use and greenhouse gas emissions via the web, and so reduce their consumption and save money. Already being trialled in the US, the free energy-monitoring service uses new ...
Thu, 29 Oct 09
United Kingdom: Power station protest ends with arrests
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/power-station-protest-ends-with-arrests-1810734.html
Press Association: A climate change protest being staged on top of a power station chimney came to an end today. The nine environment activists who remained at Didcot Power Station, Oxfordshire, after breaking into the site on Monday came down of their own accord in the early hours of this morning. The four women and five men, who spent two nights on the emissions chimney, were arrested on suspicion of aggravated trespass, Thames Valley Police said. A further 11 people who staged a protest ...
Thu, 29 Oct 09
Clean Energy Touted As Good For Planet And Jobs
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=114232183&ft=1&f=1025
National Public Radio: Officials from the Obama Administration are out in force this week making the case for clean energy as a way to create jobs and help the planet. The push comes as the Senate begins to consider an energy bill that would crack down on carbon pollution from traditional fossil fuels. It also comes just weeks before a global climate conference in Copenhagen.
Thu, 29 Oct 09
Obama's China Visit Unlikely To Produce Climate Deal
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=114232203&ft=1&f=1025
National Public Radio: President Obama's envoy for climate change has dashed hopes of a bilateral climate-change deal during next month's presidential trip to China. Todd Stern says a wide gap remains between Chinese and U.S. officials. China and the U.S. account for 40 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions.
Thu, 29 Oct 09
United Kingdom: Homebase turns off lights to save energy
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/businessandecology/energyefficiency/6448368/Homebase-turns-off-lights-to-save-energy.html
Telegraph: Customers have commented that branches of the hardware chain seem unusually dim since Home Retail Group, owner of Homebase and Argos, ordered stores to start cutting their carbon footprint. A quarter of the lights are reportedly switched off in certain stores whenever the sun comes out, in an effort to cut the company's power consumption. The Homebase "Switch it off campaign", which began a year ago, asks individual stores to make energy savings wherever possible, for example ...
Thu, 29 Oct 09
Review of Forestry Carbon Standards 2009
http://www.carbonpositive.net/viewarticle.aspx?articleID=1702
Carbon Positive: This 92-page report is the thesis of Master of Science student Paulo Lopes in the Centre of Environment Policy at Imperial College London, released in September 2009. The author's aim is to provide a tool for voluntary carbon credit buyers to identify the most appropriate forestry carbon credit for their purposes. The report adds to a useful body of work now available comparing and analysing the sometimes confusing array of third-party standards that have merged to deliver credibility ...
Thu, 29 Oct 09
UK energy firm inks Google smart meter deal
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2252105/uk-energy-firm-inks-google
Business Green: UK energy supplier first:utility has today announced a partnership with Google that will see the company integrate its smart meter service with the search giant's recently launched online PowerMeter tool. First:utility, which operates as an independent provider of gas and electricity to business and domestic customers, is currently in the process of rolling out free smart meters to all its customers and already operates a service where users can track their energy use online with ...
Thu, 29 Oct 09
United States: Gas Company Won't Drill in New York Watershed
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/28/business/energy-environment/28drill.html?_r=5&partner=rss&emc=rss
New York Times: Bowing to intense public pressure, the Chesapeake Energy Corporation says it will not drill for natural gas within the upstate New York watershed, an environmentally sensitive region that supplies unfiltered water to nine million people. The reversal seems to signal a more conciliatory tone from the gas industry, which is facing mounting opposition in New York to its drilling practices. The decision also increases the pressure on state regulators to reverse their decision to allow ...
Thu, 29 Oct 09
Climate deal not expected during Obama's China visit
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE59R0YU20091028?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: The United States does not expect to reach an agreement on climate change with China during President Barack Obama's visit to Beijing next month, the country's senior climate change envoy said on Wednesday. "I don't think we are getting any agreement per se," said Todd Stern, U.S. Special Envoy for Climate Change. "I think (Obama) is trying to talk to President Hu, to push toward as much common understanding as we possibly can in order to facilitate an agreement in Copenhagen," ...
Thu, 29 Oct 09
Envoy: No China-US climate pact from Obama visit
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091028/ap_on_re_as/as_china_us_climate_change_2
Associated Press: President Barack Obama's visit to China next month is not likely to yield a separate accord on countering global warming, though both countries are pushing for progress for upcoming global talks in Copenhagen, the top U.S. envoy on climate change said Wednesday. "I don't think we're going to get an agreement per se," said Todd Stern, the U.S. special envoy for climate change. However, he said Obama will work with Chinese President Hu Jintao toward facilitating an agreement at the ...
Thu, 29 Oct 09
Australia boosts international efforts on climate
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE59R17H20091028?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Australia stepped up lobbying ahead of the global climate talks in Copenhagen on Wednesday, with Prime Minister Kevin Rudd accepting a key role as Climate Change Minister Penny Wong heads to Spain for talks. Rudd has accepted an offer from Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen to become a friend of the Copenhagen summit chair, giving him a key role in helping to forge an international deal to curb Greenhouse emissions ahead of the December meeting. "The leaders engaged by ...
Thu, 29 Oct 09
Obama Targeted By Climate Change 'Twitterstorm'
http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Twitter-Targets-Barack-Obama-Climate-Change-Campaigners-Want-Him-At-Copenhagen-UN-Talks/Article/200910415420348?lpos=World_News_Second_Home_Page_Feature_Teaser_Region_0&lid=ARTICLE_15420348_Twitter_Targets_Barac
Sky News: Barack Obama is set to come under pressure to commit to a climate change summit as campaigners prepare to bombard the internet. It is not yet known whether the US President will attend the Copenhagen event They hope a "Twitterstorm" will raise awareness of the Copenhagen talks and force the US President to publicly respond. Despite speaking about the risks of global warming, it is not yet known whether Mr Obama will attend the UN-led summit in December. The new ...
Thu, 29 Oct 09
Indonesia: Climate change to affect marine tourism
http://www.antara.co.id/en/news/1256682045/climate-change-to-affect-marine-tourism
Antara: Sea and Coastal Areas Director of the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry Subandono Diposaptono said that climate change could affect the marine tourism, particularly natural tourism in coastal areas. "When the climate changes as a result of global warming the sea surface would rise so that white sand will disappear because it is submerged with water," Diposaptono told a seminar on climate change here on Tuesday. He said that the increase in global warming would also bring ...
Wed, 28 Oct 09
Coastal homes in Australia at risk from rising sea levels
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/australasia/coastal-homes-in-australia-at-risk-from-rising-sea-levels-1810518.html
Independent (UK): Australia's love affair with the beach is in danger of being rudely terminated. A parliamentary report released yesterday suggests that the government may have to force people to abandon prime oceanfront homes along thousands of miles of coastline vulnerable to rising sea levels. The report, published in the run-up to the Copenhagen summit on climate change in December, sent a shiver through a country where 80 per cent of the population lives on the coast. With more than 700,000 homes ...
Wed, 28 Oct 09
Crisis averted for now, Peruvian natives will meet with Hunt Oil
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/1027-hance_hunttwo.html
Mongabay: Indigenous groups in a dispute with Hunt Oil, over the company performing seismic tests their land, have scheduled a meeting with the Texas based oil corporation, according to Reuters. Prior to this, representatives of the indigenous group had said that they would defend "the protected area with their lives" and the groups were reportedly headed to the town if Salvacion to forcibly remove the company from the area in question known as Lot 76 or the Amarakaeri Communal ...
Wed, 28 Oct 09
United Kingdom: The palm oil scandal: Boots and Waitrose named and shamed
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/the-palm-oil-scandal-boots-and-waitrose-named-and-shamed-1810503.html
Independent (UK): Most British manufacturers and retailers including Boots, Morrisons and Waitrose have done little to limit the environmental damage done by the production of the world's cheapest vegetable oil, according to research published today. In a survey of leading European food and household firms, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) said that only Sainsbury's, Marks and Spencer and a handful of other companies had made substantial progress towards sourcing sustainable palm ...
Wed, 28 Oct 09
Melting Kyrgyz glaciers pose threat
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8326594.stm
BBC: Geologist Bakutbek Ermenbaev points up through the pine trees at the glacier above us in Kyrgyzstan's Alatau mountains. "That one - called Adigene - has decreased in size by about 20% over the last 50 years," he says. He adds that a neighbouring glacier, Aksai, has disappeared completely. Mr Ermenbaev, who works for the government's hydrogeology agency, says global warming is to blame. And he warns that unless action is taken to reduce this warming, all of ...
Wed, 28 Oct 09
Critics round on Lord Stern over vegetarian call
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article6893037.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=3392178
Times (UK): Farmers and meat companies across Britain reacted with a mixture of anger and exasperation yesterday after one of the world's leading climate change campaigners urged people to become vegetarian to help to fight global warming. The offensive by Lord Stern of Brentford in The Times was especially timely as about 100 leading meat and farm industry figures sat down to breakfast in the elegant Cholmondeley Room in the House of Lords to celebrate champions in the pig industry. The ...
Wed, 28 Oct 09
Climate change 'will put endangered monkeys at further risk'
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article6892468.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=3392178
Times (UK): Several endangered species of monkey are likely to be pushed further towards extinction by the effects of climate change, research has suggested. At least four primates from South America that appear on the international Red List of endangered species are adversely affected by climate phenomena that are predicted to worsen as the world warms, scientists have found. The muriqui, the Colombian red howler monkey, the woolly monkey and Geoffroy's spider monkey, have all declined in ...
Wed, 28 Oct 09
Australians 'could be forced to evacuate seaside homes'
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article6891521.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=3392178
Times (UK): Australia's fabled beachside life of sea, surf and sundowners overlooking the ocean is under threat from rising sea levels. Those living in coastal areas most at risk could be ordered out of their homes for their own safety, while construction in other sensitive seaside areas may be banned. A government report on climate change says that urgent action is needed to protect thousands of miles of coastline and to maintain an Australian way of life. The issue is already coming to a ...
Wed, 28 Oct 09
Catastrophic climate change
http://www.theage.com.au/national/against-the-tide-20091027-hj28.html?autostart=1
Age: IT WAS a grand plan that would have transformed a small Victorian coastal town. The $200 million resort development known as Great Ocean Green would have spanned 165 hectares, expanded Apollo Bay by 500 blocks and added an 18-hole, championship golf course for good measure. The development was to be built on the Barham River flood plain between Marengo and Apollo Bay and became a hot issue in the local community. Three local councillors were sacked by Local Government Minister ...
Wed, 28 Oct 09
UK car firm debuts light-weight plug-in hybrid
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2252096/uk-car-firm-debuts-light-weight
Business Green: UK-based green car startup Axon Automotive yesterday unveiled a new plug-in hybrid featuring a lightweight carbon fibre chassis that the company said would deliver fuel efficiency of over 100mpg. The Northamptonshire-based firm, which is part funded by the UK Technology Strategy Board and has developed its technology in partnership with Open University and Cranfield University, said the new hatchback would go into production at small factories in the UK and mainland Europe, with the ...
Wed, 28 Oct 09
Canada: Report slams low-carbon tar sand "myth"
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2252067/report-ccs-making-tar-sand
Business Green: The potential rollout of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology should not be used to justify the continued expansion of Canada's controversial tar sands industry, according to a major investor-backed report released yesterday. The report, from Co-operative Financial Services and WWF-UK, challenges oil industry and Canadian government claims that fitting emerging CCS technologies to the plants used to extract and refine oil from tar sands will sufficiently limit the emissions ...
Wed, 28 Oct 09
Updated: Marine energy needs new wave of subsidy
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2252071/marine-energy-policy
Business Green: Britain's marine energy policy is in danger of repeating the mistakes that allowed Germany, Denmark and China to outstrip the UK in the race to develop a domestic wind energy sector, according to a major new report from the British Wind Energy Association (BWEA). The trade group, which also represents the UK's emerging wave and tidal energy sector, released its annual State of the Industry report this week warning that while the UK is home to many of the world's leading marine energy ...
Wed, 28 Oct 09
Senate hearing begins action on climate bill
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2009-10-27-climate-bill_N.htm?csp=34
Associated Press: The leading sponsor of a U.S. Senate climate bill says action to combat global warming will raise energy prices but also create jobs and that inaction could cause even worse economic and security problems. Sen. John Kerry, a Democrat, said "America's leadership is on the line here" as he urged members of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on Tuesday to approve a bill that would cut greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by midcentury. Republicans oppose Kerry's bill, ...
Wed, 28 Oct 09
Climate differences set to weigh on EU summit
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091027/sc_afp/eusummitclimatewarming
Agence France-Presse: The very real risk of failure on climate change is worrying EU leaders ahead of a summit starting Thursday, amid deep differences over how to help poor nations fight global warming. Financial aid from the 27 country EU and other rich, but major polluting countries, to help developing nations confront the challenge of global warming has become a key issue, six weeks before the world climate summit in Denmark. "We need to find a solution on financing, the internal ...
Wed, 28 Oct 09
Climate change threatens quarter of Swiss farmland: research
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091027/sc_afp/switzerlandclimatewarmingfarm
Agence France-Presse: Climate change is already threatening more than a quarter of Switzerland's farmland with frequent and lengthy water shortages, according to official research published Tuesday. The Swiss federal agricultural research station Agroscope said about 10 times more land would need to be irrigated to avoid lost harvests, some 400,000 hectares (988,000 acres) instead of the 38,000 hectares that currently receive regular irrigation. But researcher Jurg Fuhrer told AFP that such huge ...
Wed, 28 Oct 09
Ecuador wants funds to stop rainforest oil output
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE59Q3GU20091027?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Germany, Spain and France have expressed interest in a pioneering Ecuadorean plan not to pump oil from under a tropical forest in return for international compensation, Ecuadorean officials said on Tuesday. Ecuador's President Rafael Correa, on a London visit, called for support for the Yasuni initiative, under which Ecuador would leave 850 million barrels of oil, worth $6 billion, underground as a contribution to countering climate change. In return for not exploiting the oil ...
Wed, 28 Oct 09
Obama unveils historic power grid reform
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091027/ts_alt_afp/useconomyenergyobama
Agence France-Presse: President Barack Obama Tuesday announced the largest modernization of the US electricity grid in history, in a 3.4-billion-dollar bid to launch a new era of renewable energy consumption. The president toured the largest solar energy plant in the United States to unveil the program, under which 100 firms, manufacturers, utilities and cities were awarded grants worth from 400,000 to 200 million dollars. The new plan will help build a nationwide "smart energy grid" to cut costs ...
Wed, 28 Oct 09
Obama putting $3.4B toward a 'smart' power grid
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091027/ap_on_bi_ge/us_obama_smart_grid
Associated Press: President Barack Obama made a pitch for renewable energy Tuesday, announcing $3.4 billion in government support for 100 projects aimed at modernizing the nation's power grid. Touring a field of solar energy panels in west-central Florida, the president urged greater use of several technologies to make America's power transmission system more efficient and better suited to the digital age. The projects include installing "smart" electric meters in homes, automating utility substations, ...
Wed, 28 Oct 09
W.Va. intends to issue coal-to-gas plant permit
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091027/ap_on_bi_ge/us_coal_to_gasoline_west_virginia
Associated Press: The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection is seeking comment on its preliminary decision to issue an air pollution permit for a planned coal-to-gasoline plant in the southern coalfields. New York-based TransGas Development LLC announced in December it planned to build the plant in Mingo County near Wharncliffe. The facility is expected to turn 3 million tons of coal a year into methanol that would then be converted into as much as 756,000 gallons of gasoline a ...
Wed, 28 Oct 09
Concern About Climate Change Waning
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=114207989&ft=1&f=1025
National Public Radio: It's been three years since An Inconvenient Truth put climate change on the agenda. But a Pew survey of what Americans believe about climate change shows that concern about global warming is waning. Guests examine what could be behind the change in attitude.
Wed, 28 Oct 09
Administration Steps Up Efforts on Climate Bill
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/28/us/politics/28climate.html?_r=5&partner=rss&emc=rss
New York Times: The White House and its allies in the Senate intensified their campaign Tuesday, in the face of some determined opposition, to advance a bill that its supporters say will reduce global warming while making the United States more secure. "When the starting gun sounded on the clean energy race, the United States stumbled," Energy Secretary Steven Chu said on Capitol Hill. "But I remain confident that we can make up the ground. When we gear up our research and production of clean energy ...
Wed, 28 Oct 09
Senate brawl over climate change legislation begins
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/energy/6688452.html
Houston Chronicle: The Senate this morning kicked off three days of hearings on a plan to impose the first-ever nationwide limits on greenhouse gas emissions, with top Obama administration officials insisting that quick action is needed to ensure the U.S. leads the world in developing new clean energy technologies. The United States has fallen behind other countries in a "clean energy race" to produce wind turbines, advanced batteries and solar cells, said Energy Secretary Steven Chu. Legislation that ...
Wed, 28 Oct 09
Obama says momentum growing for climate change legislation
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-obama-energy28-2009oct28,0,7048163.story
LA Times: President Obama declared today that a "consensus is building" around climate change legislation and characterized opponents as preoccupied with the past instead of a "clean energy future." Standing on the edge of a large solar-power farm, Obama urged the Senate to pass a measure that caps carbon emissions -- and to set aside arguments that it would harm the economy and costs jobs. "The closer we get, the harder the special interests are going to fight," Obama said, with the sun ...
Wed, 28 Oct 09
Tenn. gov says China trip has green energy focus
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091027/ap_on_bi_ge/us_bredesen_china_tennessee
Associated Press: The renewable energy sector has been among the most promising areas of discussion while on a trade mission to China, Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen said Tuesday. Bredesen said in a conference call from Hong Kong that the trip has been highlighted by visits to Shaanxi and Zhejiang provinces and meetings with their governors and business officials. Both provinces are larger than California, Bredesen said. "There is a lot of interest it the renewable energy sector and of course we ...
Wed, 28 Oct 09
Will Ecuador's plan to raise money for not drilling oil in the Amazon succeed?
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/1027-hance_yasuni.html
Mongabay: Ecuador's Yasuni National Park is full of wealth: it is one of the richest places on earth in terms of biodiversity; it is home to the indigenous Waorani people, as well as several uncontacted tribes; and the park's forest and soil provides a massive carbon sink. However, Yasuni National Park also sits on wealth of a different kind: one billion barrels of oil remain locked under the pristine rainforest. While drilling for oil has brought huge profits--the commodity is Ecuador's top ...
Wed, 28 Oct 09
Climate change begins at home
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=climate-change-begins-at-home
scientific america: Climate Change Begins at Home: Small Steps to Cut Greenhouse Emissions Can Lead to Big Results A new study shows how household improvements, such as better insulation, could cut U.S. carbon emissions by more than 7 percent AMERICAN HOUSEHOLDS: U.S. homes could cut greenhouse gas emissions by 123 metric tons of carbon per year by installing better insulation and other simple actions. American homes and their energy consumption account for nearly 40 percent of U.S. ...
Wed, 28 Oct 09
Ecuador to Europe: Pay us not to drill in Amazon
http://www.seattlepi.com/national/1102ap_lt_ecuador_amazon_oil.html
Associate Press: Ecuador's president is in London this week to promote a unique proposal: pay his country $3 billion not to drill for oil in a pristine Amazon reserve. Germany and Spain have expressed interest in President Rafael Correa's idea, which environmentalists say could set a precedent in the fight against global warming by lowering the high cost to poor countries of going green. "This is the first time the government of a major oil-producing country has voluntarily offered to forego ...
Wed, 28 Oct 09
Coal industry protections drafted into climate bill
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09299/1008495-100.stm
Post-gaette: A group of coal state senators including Pennsylvania's Bob Casey Jr. and Arlen Specter have negotiated protections for the coal industry into a draft of climate change legislation. But both Mr. Specter and Mr. Casey are withholding full support of the chairman's mark, released Friday by Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., because of concerns about how Pennsylvania would be affected by a transition away from fossil fuels. The bill would give coal plants advance payments to take ...
Wed, 28 Oct 09
Obama launches climate push with December goal
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091027/sc_afp/climatewarminguspoliticssenate
A FP: <cite class="vcard"> by Olivier Knox Olivier Knox -- Tue Oct 27, 12:23 pm ET WASHINGTON (AFP) -- US President Barack Obama's Senate allies launched a major push Tuesday behind sweeping legislation to battle climate change, with time running short before a high-stakes global summit in December. "Today, we begin the formal legislative process to lead the world in rolling back the urgent threat of climate change," said Democratic Senator John Kerry, the lead author of a ...
Wed, 28 Oct 09
United States: Deal-Breaker for Climate-Change Treaty May Be U.S.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/bloomberg/20091027/pl_bloomberg/asy3juttvfm
Bloomberg: When Barack Obama was elected president, he was heralded as a possible savior for climate- treaty talks that had dragged on for years while George W. Bush rejected limits on U.S. greenhouse-gas emissions. "America is back" at the United Nations negotiating table, Democratic Senator John Kerry declared after the November election. Danish climate minister Connie Hedegaard said U.S. emissions policy moved forward 35 years overnight. Instead, Obama may send empty-handed envoys in ...
Wed, 28 Oct 09
Kerry pushes climate change bill
http://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/2009/10/kerry_pushes_cl.html
Boston Globe: After days of focusing on his top foreign priority, Senator John F. Kerry returns today to an issue atop his domestic agenda -- global warming and alternative energy. Kerry, who has emerged as an influential voice in the debate over the US mission in Afghanistan, is pushing for his bill on climate change, which he has portrayed as a national security issue as chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee. "Today, we have an opportunity to lead the world in rolling back the urgent ...
Wed, 28 Oct 09
India-China Deal Reinforces Climate Stand
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49011
Inter Press Service: India and China's memorandum of understanding signed last week in this capital may have only had "a symbolic value," but it nevertheless showed that two of the world's major players were serious about finding an alternative path to dealing with climate change while trying to attain sustainable development, said a top United Nations official. Rajendra Pachauri, chair of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, also told IPS that it was "unlikely that India or China ...
Tue, 27 Oct 09
Chamber files suit to protect against pranksters
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091026/ap_on_bi_ge/us_chamber_hoax
Associated Press: The U.S. Chamber of Commerce filed a civil complaint on Monday against members of a liberal activist group who staged a news conference to falsely announce that the 3 million-member business federation had reversed its stance on climate change legislation. "The defendants are not merry pranksters tweaking the establishment," said Steven Law, general counsel for the chamber. "Instead, they deliberately broke the law in order to further commercial interest in their books, movies and ...
Tue, 27 Oct 09
Climate chief Lord Stern: give up meat to save the planet
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article6891362.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=3392178
Times (UK): People will need to consider turning vegetarian if the world is to conquer climate change, according to a leading authority on global warming. In an interview with The Times, Lord Stern of Brentford said: "Meat is a wasteful use of water and creates a lot of greenhouse gases. It puts enormous pressure on the world's resources. A vegetarian diet is better.' Direct emissions of methane from cows and pigs is a significant source of greenhouse gases. Methane is 23 times more ...
Tue, 27 Oct 09
Utah bidder asserts oil auction was illegal
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091027/ap_on_bi_ge/us_national_parks_drilling
Associated Press: Defense lawyers for a college student who disrupted the auction of oil and gas drilling leases on land around some of Utah's national parks outlined in court papers Monday a plan to put global warming on trial instead of their client. The lawyers for Tim DeChristopher want to call some of the nation's pre-eminent climate scientists to testify about what they said are the dangers that heat-trapping gases have in store for the planet. Prosecutors have objected to widening the scope of ...
Tue, 27 Oct 09
U.S. Chamber seeks to protect trademarks after hoax
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE59Q03Y20091027?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: The U.S. Chamber of Commerce filed a civil suit on Monday against an activist group that staged a media hoax last week seeking to draw attention to the debate over climate change policy. The activist group, called the "Yes Men," on October 19 issued a press release and held a news conference at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., posing as members of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and falsely saying the Chamber of Commerce had decided to support climate change legislation ...
Tue, 27 Oct 09
India: Micro loans bring light to rural poor
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE59Q01J20091027?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: When night falls in remote parts of Africa and the Indian subcontinent, hundreds of millions of people without access to electricity turn to candles or flammable and polluting kerosene lamps for illumination. Slowly through small loans for solar powered devices, microfinance is bringing light to these rural regions where a lack of electricity has stymied economic development, literacy rates and health. "Earlier, they could not do much once the sun set. Now, the sun is used ...
Tue, 27 Oct 09
Ailing planet seen as bad for human health
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/26/AR2009102602402.html
Washington Post: Climate change will make Americans more vulnerable to diseases, disasters and heat waves, but governments have done little to plan for the added burden on the health system, according to a new study by a nonprofit group. The study, released Monday by the Trust for America's Health, an advocacy group focused on disease prevention, examines the public-health implications of climate change. In addition to pushing up sea levels and shrinking Arctic ice, the report says, a warming planet ...
Tue, 27 Oct 09
Blast Climate Change: India's Ready to Go Nuclear
http://www.motherjones.com/blue-marble/2009/10/blast-climate-change-indias-ready-go-nuclear
Mother Jones: The effects of coal-fired power are obvious everywhere in India. Filthy air. Grimy buildings. Persistent tubercular coughing from people, babies, dogs, cats, cows. It's reminiscent of Europe in the first half of the 20th century, complete with pea-soup--make that dhal-soup--smogs. So who can blame India for wanting to get more energy and cleaner energy and turning to the fastest solution? Just like France did. And Japan. And Russia. And South Korea. Ever since a deal ...
Tue, 27 Oct 09
Australia: Coastal building bans flagged as part of climate change response
http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2009/s2724986.htm
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: TONY EASTLEY: Australians love their coastline, and over the years the push for people to move closer to the ocean has been labelled a "sea change". But Australians may have to rethink their ideas. A federal parliamentary report has raised the possibility of banning people living in areas of Australia's coastline which are threatened by rising sea levels. The Lower House Environment Committee has spent 18 months examining the effect the changing climate will have on coastal ...
Tue, 27 Oct 09
350 PPM Too Ambitious, Say Lawmakers
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49010
Inter Press Service: A future global climate change treaty must limit the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to 350 parts per million (ppm), and not 450 ppm, the currently proposed level, Samuel Fankhauser told a meeting of pro-environment legislators from the eight most industrialised countries and emerging economies here. But they felt the goal was not feasible. A British economist and researcher on climate change, Fankhauser said the limit he is urging is the only way to avoid the ...
Tue, 27 Oct 09
MPs to grill Turner and Miliband over carbon targets
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2252001/mps-grill-turner-miliband
Business Green: The government and the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) can today expect to face a grilling at the hands of MPs over the scientific credibility of the emission reductions recommended in its proposed carbon budgets. CCC chairman Lord Turner, chief executive David Kennedy, and energy and climate change secretary Ed Miliband are all scheduled to give evidence to the Environmental Audit Committee's inquiry into the carbon budgets recommended by the CCC which require the UK to cut carbon ...
Tue, 27 Oct 09
U.N. lowers expectations for Copenhagen climate deal
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE59P4YY20091026?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: The United Nations on Monday lowered expectations for clinching a legally binding agreement at a U.N. climate change summit in Copenhagen in December, saying it might take longer to secure a final deal. For months Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and other top officials at the United Nations have been urging industrialized and developing nations to overcome their differences so they can "seal the deal" and get a binding agreement in Copenhagen. But recently U.N. officials and ...
Tue, 27 Oct 09
United Kingdom: Climate change protesters target power station
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091026/wl_uk_afp/britaingermanycoalclimateprotestrwe
Agence France-Presse: Ten protesters were arrested Monday as environmental campaigners prepared to spend the night at a coal-fired power station as part of a climate change rally, police said. Protesters cut through security gates at the Didcot power station in Oxfordshire early Monday, and some climbed to the top of the emissions chimney, police said. Ten people who targeted a coal conveyor building at the station were later arrested. But nine others who scaled the chimney were preparing to stay ...
Tue, 27 Oct 09
200 million more people going hungry
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/1026-hance_hunger.html
Mongabay: The war on hunger is becoming a rout--and we're losing. The UN World Food Program (WFP) announced today that during the last two years 200 million more people are going hungry. Josette Sheeran, executive director of the WFP, said that a number of factors have led to the continuing rise of hunger in the world, including falling incomes, higher fuel costs, and climate change. Sheeran said that four times as many natural disasters were occurring every year than occurred twenty years ...
Tue, 27 Oct 09
Simple lifestyle tweaks key in climate change fight: study
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hHHAvtl2j7JyKRkwzoqoHzaXZOuA
Agence France-Presse: The United States could cut greenhouse gas emissions by the equivalent of France's total annual emissions by getting Americans to make simple lifestyle changes, like regularly maintaining their cars or insulating their attics, a study showed Monday. If US households took 17 easy-to-implement actions -- like switching to a fuel-efficient vehicle, drying laundry on a clothesline instead of in a dryer, or turning down the thermostat -- carbon emissions could be cut by 123 metric tons a ...
Tue, 27 Oct 09
Budgeting Environmental Justice
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49005
Inter Press Service: There is a consensus that industrialised nations are mainly responsible for the greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming. It should be equally clear that such responsibility should have political consequences. But it isn't. One example: the government and legislature of the country that until recently was the biggest greenhouse gas emitter – the United States – refused virtually from the start of global talks to commit to emissions cuts accepted by other industrialised ...
Tue, 27 Oct 09
Japan offers Indonesia $400m climate funding
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2251988/japan-offers-indonesia-400m
Business Green: Japanese officials said yesterday that they would offer a $400m (£244m) loan to Indonesia to help tackle global warming, as part of efforts to increase funding for clean technology and climate adaptation projects in developing economies. Reports in the Japan Times claim that recently elected Japanese prime minister Yukio Hatoyama made the offer to Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono this weekend during a meeting on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific summit at the Thai beach ...
Tue, 27 Oct 09
Climate map shows human impacts
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8324428.stm
BBC: A map designed to show the predicted effects of a 4C rise in global average temperature has been unveiled by the UK government. It shows a selection of the impacts of climate change on human activity. These include extreme temperatures, drought, effects on water availability, agricultural productivity, the risk of forest fire and sea level rise. The map is based on peer-reviewed science from the Met Office's Hadley Centre and other scientific groups. It was ...
Tue, 27 Oct 09
UN leader hopes US will act soon on global warming
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091026/ap_on_re_us/us_ban_ki_moon
Associated Press: Just six weeks before a key meeting on climate change, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Monday he's hopeful the U.S. Senate will pass a significant bill to limit carbon emissions. With deep divisions in Congress on how to deal with climate change, a bill is not likely before the end of the year. However, Ban told a news conference he still thinks the U.S. can come up with an ambitious measure that will encourage other nations to act on carbon emissions. "I'm very ...
Tue, 27 Oct 09
U.S. seen needing more health preparedness for climate change
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE59P32S20091026?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Climate change will mean new health problems for the United States, but public health officials play only a limited role in decisions about how to cope with the changing environment, a report said on Monday. A study by the Washington-based health advocacy group Trust for America's Health predicted that warming temperatures will mean more infectious diseases while changes in rainfall are likely to bring new disease and safety challenges whether from floods, storms, droughts or ...
Tue, 27 Oct 09
Countries ranked for climate change investments
http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2009/10/26/countries_ranked_for_climate_change_investments/?rss_id=Boston.com+--+Latest+news
Associated Perss: Investors wanting to put money in climate-friendly businesses would be wise to look at Germany, Brazil or even China rather than at the United States, an international investment group said Monday. Other lower-risk countries among the world's leading economies are Australia, Japan and France, said a report by the <org idsrc="NYSE" value="DB">Deutsche Bank</org>. Those countries have the most comprehensive and transparent policies that give greater certainty to investments in ...
Tue, 27 Oct 09
Obama plans big smart grid announcement
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE59P3EP20091026?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: President Barack Obama will announce the largest investment of economic stimulus funds in clean energy during a visit to Florida, an Obama administration official said on Monday. The announcement will involve the smart grid, which will help bring energy from clean domestic sources to consumers in 49 states and help build a strong and more reliable electricity grid, the official said. Obama is to travel to Arcadia, Florida, on Tuesday to make the speech and take a tour of the ...
Tue, 27 Oct 09
New reserve created in Cambodia with REDD in mind
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/1026-hance_seima.html
Mongabay: Cambodia's Royal Government's Council of Ministers has declared the creation of the Seima Protection Forest, a 1,100 square miles (2,849 square kilometers) park home to tigers, elephants, and endangered primates. The park's creation was developed in part by the Wildlife Conservation Society's (WCS) "Carbon for Conservation" program, which intends to protect high-biodiversity ecosystems while raising funds through carbon sequestration schemes such as Reducing Emission from Deforestation and ...
Tue, 27 Oct 09
Psychology is missing from climate debate
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/cif-green/2009/oct/26/psychology-of-climate-change
Guardian: From 10:10 to the government's Act On CO2 campaign, it is now widely accepted that tackling climate change will require tackling behaviour change too. But until now, a key piece has been missing from the puzzle – psychology. The study of human behaviour has been conspicuous by its absence from the climate change debate. The assessment reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change have provided the scientific evidence of human impact on the climate, and a glimpse of what the ...
Tue, 27 Oct 09
EU looks to divert budget spending towards climate
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE59P3XX20091026?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: The European Union should shift more of its spending to climate and energy security as part of a radical overhaul of the bloc's budget, according to a draft paper by the EU's executive arm The proposal, which the European Commission is likely to be table in late November, would mark a long-term shift of funds away from agriculture. Budgets worldwide could be affected by a new global climate pact to be agreed at a U.N. meeting in Copenhagen in December. From 2013, when ...
Tue, 27 Oct 09
Statisticians reject global cooling
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091026/ap_on_sc/us_sci_global_cooling
Associated Press: Have you heard that the world is now cooling instead of warming? You may have seen some news reports on the Internet or heard about it from a provocative new book. Only one problem: It's not true, according to an analysis of the numbers done by several independent statisticians for The Associated Press. The case that the Earth might be cooling partly stems from recent weather. Last year was cooler than previous years. It's been a while since the super-hot years of 1998 and ...
Tue, 27 Oct 09
"Money is not a problem," palm oil CEO tells conservationists during speech defending the industry
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/1026-hance_basiron.html
Mongabay: Earlier this month at a colloquium to implement wildlife corridors for orangutans in the Malaysian state of Sabah, Dr. Yusof Basiron, the CEO of Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC), told conservationists and primate experts that the palm oil industry was ready to fund reforestation efforts in the corridors. "We can raise the money to replant [the corridors] and keep contributing as a subsidy in the replanting process of this corridor for connecting forests," Basiron said in response to ...
Tue, 27 Oct 09
U.S. households could cut emissions sharply: study
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE59P4TI20091026?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: The United States could cut climate-changing carbon emissions significantly over the next decade by getting American households to take actions that require no new laws or regulations and no loss of well-being, a report said on Monday. A research team led by Michigan State University estimated that 7.4 percent of current U.S. emissions -- slightly more than the total emissions of France -- could be eliminated in 10 years if U.S. households became energy-efficient by adopting available ...
Tue, 27 Oct 09
Simple Measures Can Yield Big Greenhouse Gas Cuts, Scientists Say
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091026152944.htm
ScienceDaily: New technologies and policies that save energy, remove atmospheric carbon and limit greenhouse gas emissions are needed to fight global climate change -- but face daunting technological, economic and political hurdles, a Michigan State University scientist said. The good news: Basic actions taken by everyday people can yield fast savings at low cost, according to MSU Professor Thomas Dietz and colleagues. Cutting consumer energy waste is a good place to start, said Dietz, a ...
Tue, 27 Oct 09
How to keep track of climate change
http://features.csmonitor.com/innovation/2009/10/26/how-to-keep-track-of-climate-change/
Christian Science Monitor: It's a vexing problem – how to keep the public and policymakers informed and engaged on what many scientists say is the primary long-term challenge to humanity's well-being: global warming. You could invite folks to burrow into the most recent 998-page climate-change opus by 620 leading scientists and editors. Or, for lighter reading, peruse the 34-page "frequently asked questions" primer on that same 2007 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report. But to capture public ...
Tue, 27 Oct 09
Historic chance to halt the scourge of deforestation
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/historic-chance-to-halt-the-scourge-of-deforestation-1809418.html
Independent (UK): At last, the wreck of the rainforests is being tackled. One of the key parts of the Copenhagen climate agreement which the international community will try to construct in December is a comprehensive treaty aiming to reduce deforestation rates in the developing countries by at least 50 per cent by 2020. Not before time. It has been 20 years since we woke up to the reality of large-scale rainforest loss: in the late 1980s, the terrible scale of destruction in regions such as the ...
Tue, 27 Oct 09
Illegal logging responsible for loss of 10 million hectares in Indonesia
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/illegal-logging-responsible-for-loss-of-10-million-hectares-in-indonesia-1809417.html
Independent (UK): Lush tropical rainforest once covered almost all of Indonesia's 17,000 islands between the Indian and Pacific oceans. And just half a century ago, 80 per cent remained. But since then, rampant logging and burning has destroyed nearly half that cover, and made the country the world's third largest emitter of greenhouses gases after the US and China. Indonesia still has one-tenth of the world's remaining rainforests, a treasure trove of rare plant and animal species, including ...
Tue, 27 Oct 09
Rainforest treaty 'fatally flawed'
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/rainforest-treaty-fatally-flawed-1809412.html
Independent (UK): A vital safeguard to protect the world's rainforests from being cut down has been dropped from a global deforestation treaty due to be signed at the climate summit in Copenhagen in December. Under proposals due to be ratified at the summit, countries which cut down rainforests and convert them to plantations of trees such as oil palms would still be able to classify the result as forest and could receive millions of dollars meant for preserving them. An earlier version of the text ...
Tue, 27 Oct 09
United Kingdom: Gordon Brown's climate change finance package hangs in balance
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article6889867.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=3392178
Times (UK): Gordon Brown's plan for Europe to lead the world in tackling climate change stands on the brink of failure as a row about its cost threatens to overshadow the European Council. The Prime Minister was the first to call for a $100 billion (£60 billion) fund to help emerging nations to meet the terms of the replacement for the Kyoto Protocol, to be finalised at a United Nations summit in December. As part of this, he wants the EU to pledge EUR10 billion (£9 billion) a year to the ...
Tue, 27 Oct 09
Developing countries 'not ready' for clean tech transfers
http://www.euractiv.com/en/climate-change/developing-countries-ready-clean-tech-transfers/article-186708?Ref=RSS
EurActiv: Major institutional building will be necessary if a new climate treaty is to move from the Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) to sectoral crediting as planned by the EU, a European Commission official said last week (22 October). Background: Under the Kyoto Protocol, industrial countries can meet part of their greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets by investing in projects in developing countries. The arrangement, called the Clean Development Mechanism ...
Tue, 27 Oct 09
United Kingdom: Protesters climb power station chimney
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/protesters-climb-power-station-chimney-1809636.html
Press Associaation: Activists have climbed a power station chimney in a protest over climate change. The group, who met at the Camp for Climate Action earlier this year, forced their way into Didcot Power Station, Oxfordshire, at about 5.30am today. Nine members climbed the steps of one of the chimneys and say they will stay at the power station, run by RWE npower, for "as long as possible". A further 13 are on the station's coal conveyer. Protester Amy Johnson, a 20-year-old student from ...
Tue, 27 Oct 09
Indonesia warns of REDD carbon cowboys
http://www.carbonpositive.net/viewarticle.aspx?articleID=1700
Jakarta Post: The Indonesian government is warning local authorities to be wary of those purporting to be carbon brokers promising big financial gains for future REDD projects. The Jakarta Post reports that bogus operators are attempting to sign up local governments and landholders on the promise of developing lucrative forest preservation projects, which in many cases are a con. REDD is the term given to the emerging international initiative to develop a global financial mechanism to pay for the ...
Tue, 27 Oct 09
Why is it so difficult to take a bike on a train?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/green-living-blog/2009/oct/26/bike-train
Guardian: Taking your bike by train in the UK needs a combination of luck, patience and an encyclopaedic knowledge of the rail industry. Why is it so hard to take a bike on a train when the usual alternative would be driving all the way? I went away for the weekend recently, starting with a train from Guildford to Reading. The trains on this line sometimes have space for one bike, sometimes nothing. I had to guess where the bike space would be and then pray that it wasn't already be stuffed ...
Tue, 27 Oct 09
United Kingdom: Protesters climb power station chimney
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/oct/26/protesters-didcot-power-station-chimney
Guardian: Fossil fuel protesters occupied Didcot power station early yesterday morning, forcing it to switch electricity generation from coal power to gas as a safety precaution. The protesters, who range in age from 19-50 and belong to no named group, said they planned to occupy the Oxfordshire station for up to a week and could escalate their action by occupying the inside of one of the flues. Nine protesters were still 200m up the chimney tonight after entering the power station ...
Tue, 27 Oct 09
Climate bill Democrats unveil free pollution permit proposals
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2251963/climate-bill-democrats-unveil
Business Green: The US climate change bill inched forward on Friday, with the unveiling of proposals on how to distribute free emission allowances as part of a nationwide emission cap-and-trade scheme. The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee confirmed that under the Boxer-Kerry bill's proposed cap-and-trade scheme, carbon-intensive industries would initially receive a share of free carbon allowances to minimise the impact on energy prices and limit the risk of businesses migrating ...
Tue, 27 Oct 09
Sharp's triple-layer solar cells stake claim for efficiency record
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2251968/sharp-triple-layer-solar-cells
Business Green: Electronics giant Sharp has laid claim to the world record for the highest solar cell conversion efficiency, announcing that its latest triple-junction compound cell has delivered an energy conversion rate of 35.8 per cent. In a statement released last week, the company said its new cell design had broken the record for non-concentrator solar cells and had been independently verified by Japan's National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology. The company said ...
Tue, 27 Oct 09
Japan's hip young farmers dig in to avert food crunch
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/japans-hip-young-farmers-dig-in-to-avert-food-crunch-1809725.html
Independent (UK): Young Japanese are fleeing the urban jungle for the half-abandoned countryside on a mission to make farming cool again and cut Japan's frightening food deficit in the process. Organic farming converts, rice-growing Tokyo fashionistas and other young greenfingers have trickled back into rural Japan where many farm towns have been slowly dying amid fast-greying Japan's demographic crunch. Japan, the world's second-largest economy, now imports 60 percent of its food, and many ...
Tue, 27 Oct 09
Protesters scale UK's Didcot power plant chimney
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE59P26X20091026?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Environmental campaigners tried to starve Britain's Didcot power station of fuel and scaled its 200-meter high chimney in protest against coal fired plants on Monday, while operator RWE npower switched to burning gas at the flexible plant for the time being. About 20 protesters from the Camp for Climate Action got into the power station in Oxfordshire in the southeast early on Monday morning, with some heading up the chimney and others trying to stop a conveyor belt from feeding it ...
Tue, 27 Oct 09
German coalition cautiously favorable on GMOs
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE59P2IK20091026?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Germany's incoming government drew mixed responses on Monday to its cautiously-favorable policy toward genetically-modified organisms (GMOs). The incoming coalition between the conservative and pro-business liberal parties which won Germany's parliamentary elections in September announced its core policies over the weekend which included a statement in overall favor of GMO crops if they are found to be safe. Germany's ban on commercial production of GMO maize of type MON 810 ...
Tue, 27 Oct 09
AES taps into China's rush to wind power
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/25/AR2009102502132.html
Washington Post: Along the flat shoreline of the Bohai Sea, 33 new Chinese-made wind turbines jut up into the hazy sky, forming a line more than six miles long amid the shrimp farms here. In the light breeze, the turbines turn lazily, but the pace of China's wind business is anything but sluggish. China aims to boost wind-generating capacity to more than 120 gigawatts by 2020, about four times the capacity that currently exists in the United States. In Huanghua, about a three-hour drive ...
Tue, 27 Oct 09
Energy department aid for scientists on the edge
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/26/science/earth/26energy.html?_r=5
New York Times: The federal Energy Department will make good on a pledge for a bolder technology strategy on Monday, awarding research grants for ideas like bacteria that will make gasoline, enzymes that will capture carbon dioxide to counter global warming and batteries so cheap that they will allow the use of solar power all night long. A new agency within the department will nurture these and other radical proposals, most of which will probably fail but a few of which could have "a transformative ...
Tue, 27 Oct 09
A cascade of plug-in efficiencies
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/26/business/energy-environment/26iht-green26.html?_r=5
New York Times: With the first big wave of modern electric cars due to arrive in the next few years, the battle to attract manufacturing plants is heating up. Last week, Reva, an Indian maker of electric cars, announced that it planned to open an assembly plant in Upstate New York to build a three-door plug-in hatchback called the NXR, in partnership with a local company. New York officials welcomed the decision as a recognition of the state's emerging battery-technology cluster and ...
Tue, 27 Oct 09
Carbon market will do well but 'may run out of time.'
http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/index.php/business/41431-carbon-market-will-do-well-but-may-run-out-of-time
Straits Times: The global carbon industry is expected to perform well this year despite the global financial crisis -- but it is fast running out of time, a carbon expert said last week. What it needs is a clear signal from world leaders that there will be a firm price on carbon past the Kyoto agreement which expires in 2012, said fund manager Josh Carmody of the Asia-Pacific Carbon Fund under the Asian Development Bank (ADB). Under the global agreement to cut greenhouse gas emissions -- ...
Tue, 27 Oct 09
Coral 'cryobank' saves reef species
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,26259162-30417,00.html
Australian: SHOULD the Great Barrier Reef perish as a result of rising ocean temperatures and acidity levels, it appears scientists will have, at least, a small consolation prize. The Zoological Society of London is planning the world's first coral "cryobank", which would preserve hundreds of samples of each species in liquid nitrogen. Samples taken from the Great Barrier Reef would be included in the radical preservation effort, although none has so far been removed for this ...
Tue, 27 Oct 09
The plots thicken
http://www.nytimes.com/cwire/2009/10/26/26climatewire-the-plots-thicken-in-senate-climate-delibera-82154.html
ClimateWire: Now the real Senate bargaining begins on a climate bill. Late Friday night Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) released a complete draft of the global warming bill prepared by her Environment and Public Works Committee, with details on how emission allowances would be distributed around the economy in a mandatory cap on greenhouse gases. The latest version sets the stage for Boxer to move the measure through the committee quickly. But few say the new text changes the political ...
Tue, 27 Oct 09
Europeans dream of a 'supergrid,' but many wires need connecting
http://www.nytimes.com/cwire/2009/10/26/26climatewire-europeans-dream-of-a-supergrid-but-many-wire-17604.html
New York Times: European energy planners have a dream: an electricity grid spanning the continent and farther, one that seamlessly blends in the sharply rising but wildly fluctuating power coming from renewable sources and, at the same time, cuts transmission losses. From the wind and wave-rich north to the sun-soaked south, the goal is to make sure not only that the electricity is low-carbon as part of the battle against climate change but also that it gets to where it is needed, when it is needed. ...
Tue, 27 Oct 09
Should Europe run on Sahara sun?
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20427311.400-solar-superpower-should-europe-run-on-sahara-sun.html
New Scientist: EVERY two weeks, the sun pours more energy onto the surface of our planet than we use from all sources in an entire year. It is an inexhaustible powerhouse that has remained largely untapped for human energy needs. That may soon change in a big way. If a consortium of German companies has its way, construction of the biggest solar project ever devised could soon begin in the Sahara desert. When completed, it would harvest energy from the sun shining over Africa and transform it into clean, ...
Tue, 27 Oct 09
China: Powering the future
http://www.bjreview.com/quotes/txt/2009-10/26/content_225645.htm
Beijing Review: Only 10 years ago, the lithium ion battery was limited to the lab experiments of pioneering scientists. Today, the innovative cell is fast becoming the driving force to power the next generation of technology. After years of toiling, the first home-made commercially viable lithium battery pack was created in 1997 in a research lab of the Tianjin Institute of Power Sources. Breaking through the strong defensive line of its Japanese competitors, the innovative battery marked the ...
Tue, 27 Oct 09
United States: Study: Warmed NW forests may yield less timber
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2010135254_aporclimateforests1stldwritethru.html
Associated Press: A new study suggests warming temperatures predicted over the next century could boost tree growth on Northwest forests, but less so at lower elevations where most of the timber is and temperatures are already warm. Researchers from Oregon State University and the U.S. Forest Service calculated an increase in forest growth rates in Oregon and Washington of between 2 percent and 12 percent by the end of the century, when climate models predict temperatures to be between 0.9 degrees and ...
Tue, 27 Oct 09
Senate panel takes on climate bill
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125651235218207017.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLENexttoWhatsNewsThird
Wall Street Journal: The Senate debate over climate legislation is set to begin in earnest this week, with a key panel holding hearings on legislation that would curb U.S. greenhouse-gas emissions. The hearings by the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works mark the first phase in what is likely to be a months-long undertaking by Senate Democrats to try to pass a climate bill. Democratic Sens. Barbara Boxer and John Kerry, shown in Washington in September, unveiled a detailed version of ...
Tue, 27 Oct 09
Public finance can scale up climate investment - report
http://in.reuters.com/article/businessNews/idINIndia-43425220091026
Reuters: Public finance could help stimulate private investment in climate change solutions in developing countries, a report commissioned by the United Nations' Environment Programme showed on Monday. World leaders are grappling with how much funding should be provided for poor countries as part of a deal to tackle climate change which they hope to clinch in Copenhagen in December. "Today's report underlines a range of public policy options that reflect the varying circumstances ...
Tue, 27 Oct 09
Western states stress energy cooperation
http://cbs5.com/wireapnewsca/Western.states.stress.2.1270237.html
Associated Press: State lawmakers from around the West are gathering in the northern Wyoming resort town of Jackson over the next few days to figure out how to get better coordinated on energy issues. Many are also interested in showing a united front as Congress considers bills that could put a damper on the nation's longterm appetite for coal. Wyoming has put up more than $400,000 to fund the Western States Energy and Environment Symposium. Organizers say about 75 state lawmakers from around the West ...
Tue, 27 Oct 09
Plan B looms as hope for climate pact fades
http://www.theage.com.au/environment/plan-b-looms-as-hope-for-climate-pact-fades-20091026-hgrf.html
Age: THE chances of a climate change treaty being signed in Copenhagen are fading fast as it emerges that the US legislature is running out of time to agree on targets and that critical issues - including targets for the developed world, financing for the developing world and the agreement's legal language - remain unresolved. Although British Prime Minister Gordon Brown claimed this month that there was no plan B, the major participants have begun manoeuvring on how to stage-manage ...
Tue, 27 Oct 09
Maldives warns climate change more dangerous than terrorism
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2009%5C10%5C24%5Cstory_24-10-2009_pg7_39
Daily Times: Maldives President Mohammad Nasheed on Friday pleaded enlisting climate change issues on the agenda of UN Security Council, saying it was a bigger challenge than international terrorism. He said environmental challenges and conflict resolution were inter-related as global warming was affecting an estimated 300,000 people every year. "Climate change is going to affect a large number of people through flashfloods, diseases and massive human displacement due to sea (level) rise, besides ...
Tue, 27 Oct 09
US Chamber President: I don't know if climate change is real
http://www.wvpubcast.org/newsarticle.aspx?id=11768
West Virginia Public Broadcasting: In an interview with Politico.com, U.S Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue refused to say if he believes the science behind global warming. "Is the science right? Is science not right? I don't know," he told the political Web site. And when asked about what would happen if the EPA regulated carbon emissions, Donohue used a scatological term. "If we got the EPA one, then we are in deep sh-- as a country," he said. "You want to see unemployment? You will see ...
Tue, 27 Oct 09
Japan hints it could weaken emissions target
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2251936/japan-hints-weaken-emissions
Business Green: Japan hinted late last week that it could water down its ambitious goal of cutting emissions 25 per cent by 2020 if attempts to agree an international climate change deal at the forthcoming Copenhagen talks fall through. The country drew plaudits from environmental groups last month when newly elected prime minister Yukio Hatoyama announced he was upgrading its emissions 2020 target. However, speaking to Reuters on Friday, environment minister Sakihito Ozawa stressed that the ...
Tue, 27 Oct 09
United Kingdom: Government steps up policing effort for EU energy use law
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2251935/weights-measures-office-police
Business Green: The government announced last week that it has appointed the National Measurement Office (NMO), the body which polices weights and measures in the UK, to oversee and enforce the EU Energy Using Products (EuP) and Energy Labelling Framework Directives when they come into effect next year. The Department for Food, Environment and Rural Affairs also warned that non-compliance with the new energy-efficiency regulations could cost business up to £30m a year in fines. The EuP ...
Mon, 26 Oct 09
Palms grew in ice-free Arctic 50 million years ago: study
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20091025/lf_nm_life/us_climate_palms
Reuters: Palms flourished in the Arctic during a brief sweltering period about 50 million years ago, according to a study on Sunday that hints at big gaps in scientific understanding of modern climate change. The Arctic "would have looked very similar to the vegetation we now see in Florida," said Appy Sluijs of Utrecht University in the Netherlands who led an international study. Evidence of palms has never been found so far north before. The scientists, sampling sediments on a ridge ...
Mon, 26 Oct 09
Solar power gives Andean villages new lease on life
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20091025/lf_nm_life/us_argentina_solar_energy
Reuters: A pioneering solar energy project is using green technology to improve the lives of isolated villagers living beyond the reach of power lines on Argentina's windswept Andean plains. Llama-herding communities have relied on firewood to cook and to heat their mud-brick homes for centuries in this remote corner of the vast South American country, causing deforestation and soil erosion. Now residents of the village of Misa Rumi in Jujuy province are cooking their lunchtime soups ...
Mon, 26 Oct 09
Amazonian natives say they will defend tribal lands from Hunt Oil with "their lives"
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/1025-hance_huntoil.html
Mongabay: Indigenous natives in the Amazon are headed to the town of Salvacion in Peru with a plan to forcibly remove the Texas-based Hunt Oil company from their land as early as today. Peruvian police forces, numbering in the hundreds, are said to be waiting in the town. The crisis has risen over an area known as Lot 76, or the Amarakaeri Communal Reserve. The 400,000 hectare reserve was created in 2002 to protect the flora and fauna of the area, as well as to safeguard watersheds of ...
Mon, 26 Oct 09
Thousands gather worldwide on day of climate protests
http://www.grist.org/article/2009-10-24-thousands-gather-worldwide-on-day-of-climate-protests/
Agence France-Presse: Kicking off with thousands gathering on the steps of Sydney`s iconic Opera House, global warming protests took place around the world Saturday to mark 50 days before the UN climate summit. From Asia to Europe via the Middle East, activists staged lively events addressing world leaders and to mobilize public opinion around climate issues. Many waved placards bearing the logo 350, referring to 350 parts per million (ppm) of CO2 in the atmosphere which scientists say must not be ...
Mon, 26 Oct 09
China reschedules Three Gorges reservoir plan for drought-hit downstream
http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90776/90882/6792917.html
Xinhua: General Manager of China Three Gorges Corporation Li Yong'an said here Saturday the company has slowed down the pace to raise the water level in the gigantic reservoir to help relieve drought in the downstream areas. The Three Gorges reservoir's water level was expected to reach its peak at 175 meters for the first time in early November according to the current progress, Li said. The water level at the reservoir had been scheduled to peak at the end of October and the original ...
Mon, 26 Oct 09
Fleeing drought in the Horn of Africa
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-climate-refugees25-2009oct25,0,4396751.story?track=rss
LA Times: For centuries, Adam Abdi Ibrahim's ancestors herded cattle and goats across an unforgiving landscape in southern Somalia where few others were hardy enough to survive. This year, Ibrahim became the first in his clan to throw in the towel, abandoning his land and walking for a week to bring his family to this overcrowded refugee camp in Kenya. He's not fleeing warlords, Islamist insurgents or Somalia's 18-year civil war. He's fleeing the weather. "I give up," said the ...
Mon, 26 Oct 09
Nuclear energy becomes pivotal in climate debate
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091025/ap_on_go_co/us_nuclear_climate_7
Associated Press: Once vilified by environmentalists and its future dim, nuclear energy has become a pivotal bargaining chip as Senate Democrats seek Republican votes to pass climate legislation. The nuclear industry's long-standing campaign to rebrand itself as green is gaining acceptance amid the push to curtail greenhouse gases. Nuclear power still faces daunting challenges, including what to do with radioactive reactor waste. Reactors also remain a tempting target for terrorists. But 104 ...
Mon, 26 Oct 09
Australia: ETS demands 'a crazy wishlist'
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/10/25/2723435.htm
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: The Climate Institute has condemned the Federal Opposition's proposed changes to the Government's emissions trading scheme. A leaked copy of their demands show the Opposition wants a guarantee the coal industry will not bear any extra cost imposed on exports by overseas governments and the exclusion of a potent gas used in fridges and air conditioners. It also wants low end emission reduction targets locked in for 10 years instead of five and ministerial discretion in awarding ...
Mon, 26 Oct 09
Worldwide gatherings mark '350' number on climate change ahead of Copenhagen conference
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/091024/world/us_climate_action_1
Associated Press: Activists held events around the world Saturday to mark the number they say the world needs to reach to prevent disastrous climate change: 350. The number represents 350 parts per million of carbon dioxide emissions in the atmosphere that some scientists say is the safe upper limit. The atmosphere currently reaches about 390 parts per million, according to research by NASA climate scientist James Hanse cited by 350.org. Hundreds of events highlighted the number in different ...
Mon, 26 Oct 09
350.org climate actions sweeps world
http://www.greenleft.org.au/2009/815/41935
Green Left Weekly: More than 175 different climate change actions took place across Australia on October 24. The protests were part of the 350.org international day of climate action. Leading climate scientists say the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide must be drawn down below 350 parts per million to ensure a safe climate. But today, it has reached about 390ppm. It rises by 2ppm each year. In Sydney, Brianna Pike reported that 1500 people gathered at the Sydney Opera House and heard ...
Mon, 26 Oct 09
McKibben Versus Hedges' Clash of Worldviews: How Do We Solve the Environmental Crisis?
http://www.alternet.org/environment/143481/mckibben_versus_hedges%27_clash_of_worldviews%3A_how_do_we_solve_the_environmental_crisis_?page=entire
AlterNet: From Mt. Everest to the Maldives, people worldwide are turning an arcane number into a movement for a stable climate. Bill McKibben asks: Will you join them? Let's say you occasionally despair for the future of the planet. In that case, the place you need to be this week is the website for 350.org. Every few minutes, something new arrives at our headquarters, where young people hunched over laptops do their best to keep up with the pace. News that activists in ...
Mon, 26 Oct 09
United States: Climate change activists have their day
http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20091025/NEWS02/910250306/Climate-change-activists-have-their-day
Burlington Free Press:
Mon, 26 Oct 09
We Can Do It
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/26/opinion/26iht-edban.html?_r=5
New York Times: Every day, the critical December summit in Copenhagen grows closer. All agree that climate change is an existential threat to humankind. Yet agreement on what to do still eludes us. How can this be? The issues are complex, affecting everything from national economies to individual lifestyles. They involve political trade-offs and commitments of resources no leader can undertake lightly. We could see all that at recent climate negotiations in Bangkok. Where we needed progress, we saw ...
Mon, 26 Oct 09
Japan pledges $4 billion climate change loan to Indonesia
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE59O0JQ20091025
Reuters: Japan, the world's fifth-biggest air polluter, offered a $400 million yen-denominated loan Sunday to Indonesia, the world's third-largest air polluter, to help tackle global warming, Japanese officials said. The loan was part of the "Hatoyama Initiative" unveiled last month by Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, in which Tokyo will provide financial and technical assistance to developing countries to help address the problem of climate change. Hatoyama offered the loan ...
Mon, 26 Oct 09
Activists in SF rally against climate change
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/10/24/MNBD1AA9RT.DTL&tsp=1
San Francisco Chronicle: It may not have had as much cachet as scaling an Antarctic peak to make a point, but hundreds of people knelt or crouched in unison across from San Francisco's Ferry Building on Saturday to urge dramatic action against global warming. Their bodies formed the number 350 - the ambitious rallying cry for a global network of environmentalists. The San Francisco event was one of more than 5,200 coordinated demonstrations across 181 countries organized by 350.org, which draws its ...
Mon, 26 Oct 09
EU leaders seek treaty, climate change deals
http://www.reuters.com/article/GCA-GreenBusiness/idUSTRE59O0GW20091025
Reuters: European Union leaders hope to reach a deal at a summit this week removing the last obstacles to a treaty to give the bloc more global clout, but face a battle over funding for a global climate change agreement. Failure to break the deadlock would risk leaving the 27-country bloc looking impotent when it is trying to strengthen its role on the world stage and the influence of emerging powers such as China is growing following the economic crisis. EU leaders say publicly they ...
Mon, 26 Oct 09
World Bank Looks for the Cleaner Way
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48992
Inter Press Service: With new energy and environment strategies in the pipeline, the World Bank and its critics are going head to head on issues of fossil fuel funding and clean energy. The Bank will now call in outside experts to ensure that its coal power financing is justifiable, but critics would prefer it to go for truly clean energy. Kathy Sierra, World Bank vice-president for sustainable development, speaks of the new criteria for the bank to fund coal projects. "Because this is new I have decided ...
Mon, 26 Oct 09
Cambodia: Climate Fight an Uphill Battle, But All's Not Lost
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48988
Inter Press Service: As one of the world's poorest nations, Cambodia is by definition one of those least able to protect itself from the effects of climate change. As an agrarian society, it is one of those most susceptible to climate change. To compound the problem further, Cambodia is unlikely to get sufficient assistance from the rest of the world to meet those challenges. So says Dr Tin Ponlok, the national project coordinator in the Ministry of Environment's climate change office. But that ...
Sun, 25 Oct 09
Green Subsidies Aren't Working
http://www.newsweek.com/id/219295?from=rss
Newsweek: Climate change is the greatest new public-spending project in decades. Each year as much as $100 billion is spent by governments and consumers around the world on green subsidies designed to encourage wind, solar, and other -renewable-energy markets. The goals are worthy: reduce emissions, promote new sources of energy, and help create jobs in a growing industry. Yet this epic effort of lawmaking and spending has, naturally, also created an epic scramble for subsidies and regulatory favors. ...
Sun, 25 Oct 09
Danish PM says climate talks painfully slow
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE59N0TG20091024?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Denmark urged world leaders on Saturday to "lock in" a commitment to implement climate policy measures to be agreed in December from the beginning of next year rather than waiting for existing rules to expire. Governments are due to meet in the Danish capital Copenhagen on December 7-18 to try to reach a climate accord that would replace provisions of the Kyoto Protocol expiring in 2012. But time is running short in the climate negotiations. Danish Prime Minister Lars ...
Sun, 25 Oct 09
Betting the farm
http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2009/11/betting-farm
Mother Jones: You've heard the rumors that the Pentagon engineered 9/11. You know about the folks who think Barack Obama wasn't born in America. Last summer you learned every possible synonym for "death panel." But have you heard the one about the cow tax? Unless you're a farmer, probably not. This one goes back to the waning days of the Bush administration, when the EPA, after a long fight from environmentalists, grudgingly released a preliminary notice that outlined how the Clean Air Act could be used ...
Sun, 25 Oct 09
Energy's hidden costs
http://www.loe.org/shows/segments.htm?programID=09-P13-00043&segmentID=2
Living on Earth: YOUNG: The radiation health effects study is one attempt to uncover a hidden price of our energy choices. Economists call these "externalities" -- the public health and environmental costs that do not show up in our energy bills. But we do pay for them eventually, one way or another. The National Academy of Sciences, National Research Council has put a number on those hidden energy costs and it's a big one. Dan Greenbaum was on the Academies' study panel. He researches air pollution impacts ...
Sun, 25 Oct 09
Obama presses case for renewable energy
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/24/us/politics/24obama.html?_r=5&hp
New York Times: Taking aim at business interests that have lobbied against an energy and climate bill moving through Congress, President Obama urged lawmakers on Friday to rally around the push toward using more renewable energy. In a wide-ranging speech on energy and the environment at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Mr. Obama called for legislation that would make "the best use of resources we have in abundance, through clean coal technology, safe nuclear power, sustainably grown ...
Sun, 25 Oct 09
Clunkers leads to backlog
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/24/AR2009102400229.html
Associated Press: Trade-ins from the Cash for Clunkers program are piling up and auto recyclers are seeking more time to meet the deadline for disposing of all those vehicles. At some places, Ford Explorers, Chevy Blazers, Chrysler Town & Country minivans and other popular clunkers are parked bumper to bumper on several acres, many marked "C4C" on their windows, waiting to be drained of fluids, stripped of valuable parts and eventually flattened for scrap. "I've got a parking lot of almost ...
Sun, 25 Oct 09
China steps up, slowly but surely, to address emissions issue
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/23/AR2009102304075.html
Washington Post: At a gleaming new research center outside Beijing, about 250 engineers and researchers from the ENN Group are trying to figure out how to make energy use less damaging to the world's climate. In a large greenhouse, hundreds of tubes hold strains of algae being tested for how much carbon dioxide they can suck from the air. Outside, half a dozen brands of solar panels are being matched for performance against the company's own. Next door, large blocks of earth, carved out of Inner ...
Sun, 25 Oct 09
20,000 people, 192 countries. Welcome to the carbon circus
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/science/earth-environment/article6888246.ece
Times (UK): It has been billed as the last-chance saloon; a final opportunity for the world to seal a deal to prevent catastrophic climate change. With only 44 days to go until the meeting in Copenhagen, the world is waiting to see if its politicians can deliver, and live up to the hype. Whatever the outcome of the 15th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Copenhagen is braced for a carbon circus. Hotels in the Danish capital are ...
Sun, 25 Oct 09
Global warming math: 350 is as unlucky as 13
http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/latest/350-endangered-species-47102302
Daily Green: X
Sun, 25 Oct 09
Australia: New hope for viable clean coal projects
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,26252664-11949,00.html
Australian: AN unpublished government study has raised hopes that Australia will be able to develop commercially viable clean coal projects because prospective underground storage sites are close to power generation plants. Resources Minister Martin Ferguson said the assessment by Geoscience Australia showed Australia had several prospective sites in Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia. Mr Ferguson said transmission costs from power station to underground sites remained the greatest ...
Sun, 25 Oct 09
It's high time our leaders got the lead out on climate
http://www.theage.com.au/business/its-high-time-our-leaders-got-the-lead-out-on-climate-20091023-hdgo.html
Age: JAMES Cameron is seated at the conference table in his company's swish offices beside the Thames, smack bang opposite the architectural folly that is London's Tower Bridge. A key player in the feverish world of climate change politics, Cameron's manner exudes the easy confidence of the Cambridge-educated international lawyer and the passion of a pioneering environmental activist. Today, however, with the Copenhagen summit just around the corner, this Anglo-Australian is not in ...
Sun, 25 Oct 09
African leaders emphasise plight of 'environmental refugees'
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5j1hY2dYtNE2qjPKkthz_hWuN5KBg
Agence France-Presse: African leaders recognised climate change as a major cause of human displacement during a two-day summit on the plight of the continent's refugees which closed Friday in Kampala. Several African nations adopted a document on the rights of the continent's 17 million internally-displaced persons (IDP), refugees and returnees. "The important thing about this convention is that it applies to conflict and climate as causes of displacement," the United Nations High Commissioner for ...
Sun, 25 Oct 09
United States: Valley farmers look to solar power
http://www.fresnobee.com/170/story/1684482.html
Fresno Bee: A pair of solar farms proposed for the Panoche Hills of western Fresno County and eastern San Benito County could become the biggest installations of their kind in the world. Solargen Energy Inc., based in Cupertino, has submitted an application to Fresno County planners for its Panoche Ranch Solar Farm on 2,600 acres of rangeland near the Little Panoche Reservoir. Solar photovoltaic panels spread across the acreage would produce up to 250 megawatts of electricity. A few miles ...
Sun, 25 Oct 09
The price of cleanliness
http://www.economist.com/specialreports/displaystory.cfm?story_id=14678515
Economist: THE Taiyanggong Thermal Power Plant in north-east Beijing is delightfully green. Unlike most of China's smoke-belching power stations, it has such low emissions that luxury flats are being built next to it. They are fetching high prices. Owners will look out over something that looks more like a cluster of office buildings (apart from a couple of grey chimneys) than a power plant. The cooling towers, near a grove of date trees and an ornamental pool, look a bit like the Great ...
Sun, 25 Oct 09
Scientists struggle to protect Chesapeake Bay shoreline
http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-10-23-voa48.cfm
Voice of America: Every year erosion and sea level rise are claiming about two meters of shoreline along the Chesapeake Bay on the East Coast of the United States. There have been many efforts to control the loss of land over the years, with mixed results. Now, a new approach for restoration called "living shores" has scientists hopeful. This beach looks healthy and inviting. But until a month ago, none of this was here. All of it was man-made, with an open invitation to every living creature in the ...
Sun, 25 Oct 09
Canada: Oil sands get 'disproportionate' bad reputation
http://www.vancouversun.com/business/fp/sands%20disproportionate%20reputation%20Gary%20Doer/2117774/story.html
Vancouver Sun: Canada's new ambassador to the United States said Alberta's oil sands are facing a "disproportionate amount" of criticism in the climate-change debate -- arguing North America risks missing "the big picture" on global warming if Canadian oil is singled out as the chief carbon emissions culprit. "One of the concerns that I have is that it represents so little of the emissions in North America. It's getting a disproportionate amount of chatter," Gary Doer said in an interview Sunday ...
Sun, 25 Oct 09
Climate bill could add $100 a year for homeowners
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nation/6684011.html
Associated Press: A Senate plan to tackle global warming would add about $100 a year to the energy costs for a typical household, according to an analysis by the Environmental Protection Agency. The analysis released late Friday by the office of Sen. Barbara Boxer, who heads the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, generally mirrors the cost projected by the EPA when it examined similar legislation that the House passed in the summer. The Democratic bill calls for cutting greenhouse ...
Sun, 25 Oct 09
Lebanese don snorkels in world climate change protests
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091024/wl_mideast_afp/environmentclimatewarmingactionlebanon
Agence France-Presse: Hundreds of Lebanese, many wearing snorkels, held demonstrations Saturday in key archaeological sites nationwide to mark an international day of protests about global warming. Protesters gathered at Roman ruins in central Beirut, in the ancient eastern city of Baalbek and along the coast, carrying placards bearing the logo 350 to call for carbon emissions cuts to 350 parts per million (ppm). Organisers expect up to 800 people to take part in the day-long protests which are due ...
Sun, 25 Oct 09
Campaign to Reduce Carbon Dioxide Levels Picks a Number to Make a Point
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/25/science/earth/25threefifty.html?_r=5&partner=rss&emc=rss
New York Times: Campaigners against global warming have drawn on an arsenal of visually startling tactics over the years, from posing nude on a Swiss glacier to scaling smokestacks at coal-fired power plants. On Saturday, they tried something new with the goal of prodding countries to get serious about reaching an international climate accord: a synchronized burst of more than 4,300 demonstrations, from the Himalayas to the Great Barrier Reef, all centered on the number 350. For some prominent ...
Sun, 25 Oct 09
International day of demonstrations on climate change
http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/10/24/international.climate.change.demonstrations/
CNN: From seabeds to mountaintops, people around the world were staging a day of demonstrations Saturday to call for urgent action on climate change. The events were being coordinated by a group called 350.org, whose name refers to the parts per million of carbon dioxide it considers the safe upper limit for our atmosphere. The group said it wants to "inspire the world to rise to the challenge of the climate crisis" ahead of the United Nations climate change conference in ...
Sun, 25 Oct 09
Rich-poor divide could be Copenhagen climate 'deal-breaker'
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091024/sc_afp/climatewarmingenvironmentdevelopmenteuafrica
Agence France-Presse: World leaders could fail to reach a new climate deal at a UN summit in Copenhagen if rich countries refuse to financially help developing nations tackle climate change, government and NGO officials said at a development conference that wrapped up Saturday. With less than 50 days to go before it starts, the Copenhagen summit was a central topic of debate and discussion at the annual EU development conference, held in Stockholm. "We don't think they'll be a deal without the right ...
Sun, 25 Oct 09
Obama Likely to Skip Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/10/24/obama-likely-skip-climate-change-conference-copenhagen/
Fox News: President Obama is "leaning toward not going" to the U.N. climate change conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, in December, a senior administration official told Fox News. The current thinking in the administration is that since the conference is not a "head of state" event, Obama will not attend. Obama will be accepting the Nobel Prize in Oslo on the second day of the Copenhagen conference and may use that platform to address climate change issues. On big reason the Copenhagen ...
Sun, 25 Oct 09
The world demonstrates against climate change, but US public concern wanes
http://features.csmonitor.com/politics/2009/10/24/the-world-demonstrates-against-climate-change-but-us-public-concern-wanes/
Christian Science Monitor: Around the world Saturday, environmental activists touted the number "350" as a way to recognize the seriousness of global climate change. It's not a secret code. The number refers to the concentration of carbon in the atmosphere -- meeting a goal of 350 parts per million (ppm), which is considerably less than the current level of 387 ppm. The "International Day of Climate Action" includes more than 4,500 events in 173 countries. Everything from skiers in New Zealand spelling ...
Sun, 25 Oct 09
United States: Times Square rally held on climate change
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jH3lrToq0EzchJIbXXLNKGJngWWwD9BHMLN80
Associated Press: About 150 people have gathered for a rally in Times Square as part of a series of demonstrations around the world calling for action on global warming. The focus of Saturday's rallies was the number 350. Some scientists say that's the level to which atmospheric carbon dioxide emissions, measured in parts per million, should be lowered to prevent dangerous climate change. To drive the point home, the Times Square rally included a slideshow of photographs of similar events ...
Sun, 25 Oct 09
Freakonomics guys flunk science of climate change
http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/eric-pooley-%3Ci%3Efreakonomics-%3Ci%3Eguys-flunk-scienceclimate-change/374170/
Business Standard: Steven D Levitt and Stephen J Dubner are so good at tweaking conventional wisdom that their first book, Freakonomics, sold 4 million copies. So, when Dubner, an old friend, told me their new book would take on climate change, I was rooting for a breakthrough idea. No such luck. In "SuperFreakonomics', their brave new climate thinking turns out to be the same pile of misinformation the sceptic crowd has been peddling for years. "Obviously, provocation is not last on the list of ...
Sun, 25 Oct 09
Botswana: A Garden In the Heart of the Village
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48985
Inter Press Service: Look, there's no drama with the borehole in Mokobeng. And that's the way it should be. The village of Mokobeng has just fewer than 3,000 people staying here. Most people in Mokobeng, they are seasonal farmers. They are keeping livestock on the northern part of the village, while fields are to the south. This is to keep the animals from destroying the fields. The fields are fenced with tree branches. Those who have money, they use barbed wire. You will see mud houses with ...
Sun, 25 Oct 09
Activists to stage protests aimed at reducing carbon concentrations
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/23/AR2009102302671.html
Washington Post: Activists around the globe are staging thousands of demonstrations Saturday aimed at prodding policymakers to cut carbon concentrations to below their current levels, at a time when many U.S. officials and experts are trying to dampen expectations for international climate talks that culminate in Copenhagen in December. The more than 4,500 events in 173 countries include such activities as children racing through the main square in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to Chinese university students ...
Sun, 25 Oct 09
Obama urges Congress to pass climate bill
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/23/AR2009102302367.html?hpid=topnews
Washington Post: BOSTON -- President Obama touted the economic benefits of green technologies in a speech Friday at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, challenging Congress to pass comprehensive energy legislation and describing some critics of the effort as cynical or self-interested. Speaking after a tour of several high-tech laboratories dedicated to the creation of new and cheaper sources of energy, Obama said the work in Congress "must culminate" in passage of a climate change ...
Sun, 25 Oct 09
Largest solar panel plant in US rises in Fla
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_SOLAR_POWER_PLANT?SITE=TXDAM&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Associated Press: Greg Bove steps into his pickup truck and drives down a sandy path to where the future of Florida's renewable energy plans begin: Acres of open land filled with solar panels that will soon power thousands of homes and business. For nearly a year, construction workers and engineers in this sleepy Florida town of citrus trees and cattle farms have been building the nation's largest solar panel energy plant. Testing will soon be complete, and the facility will begin directly converting ...
Sun, 25 Oct 09
United Kingdom: Sandbanks acre to sell for £7.5 million despite flood risk
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/propertynews/6418256/Sandbanks-acre-to-sell-for-7.5-million-despite-flood-risk.html
Telegraph: The 0.84 acre land in Sandbanks, Dorset comes with planning permission for two new beachfront properties on "millionaires' row' -- the fourth most expensive real estate area in the world. But experts warn increasingly severe weather conditions and rising sea levels could soon see the spit of land at the entrance to Poole harbour -- parts of which are already two metres below sea level -- swallowed up by the ocean. Dr Edward Coombe, a consultant in geomorphology and former ...
Sun, 25 Oct 09
Oil spill off Australian coast poses major threat to marine life
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/oil-spill-off-australian-coast-poses-major-threat-to-marine-life-1808410.html
Independent (UK): Sea birds are dying and thousands of marine creatures are at risk from a massive oil spill in the Timor Sea, off north-west Australia, warn the first scientists to survey the isolated site. A ruptured drilling rig has been spewing oil, gas and concentrate into the ocean for the past nine weeks, but until yesterday the environmental impact was unclear because of the remoteness of the spot, 155 miles offshore. Now a World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) team has travelled there and returned ...
Sun, 25 Oct 09
China: Hope of cleaner skies as Beijing residents switch from coal to electricity
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/science/earth-environment/article6888175.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=3392178
Times (UK): The brick walls are grey, the sky is leaden, the alley is choked with dust and rubble as workmen fill in a long channel running along Tanggong Hutong, in the heart of old Beijing (Jane Macartney writes). The men have just finished laying an electricity cable as part of the sweeping campaign by China to clean up its act. Residents of this alley will no longer have to rely on filling their squat iron stoves with coal briquettes. Now their homes are equipped with electric ...
Sun, 25 Oct 09
President Obama won't talk climate change in Copenhagen
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article6888165.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=3392178
Times (UK): President Obama will almost certainly not travel to the Copenhagen climate change summit in December and may instead use his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech to set out US environmental goals, The Times has learnt. With healthcare reform clogging his domestic agenda and no prospect of a comprehensive climate treaty in Copenhagen, Mr Obama may disappoint campaigners and foreign leaders, including Gordon Brown and Ed Miliband, who have urged him to attend to boost the hopes of a ...
Sun, 25 Oct 09
Declining majority in US believe climate change is real
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/declining-majority-in-us-believe-climate-change-is-real-1808574.html
Independent (UK): The number of Americans who believe that climate change is real has declined in the last year, but a majority do see convincing evidence of global warming, according to a new poll. The Pew Research Center for the People and the Press found 57 percent of Americans see "solid evidence of warming," compared to 71 percent in April 2008, and 77 percent in August 2007. The poll, which surveyed 1,500 people between September 30 and October 4, also found a decline in the number of ...
Sun, 25 Oct 09
Senate Democrats set climate bill industry permits
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE59N0EV20091024?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Democrats in the U.S. Senate will push climate change legislation that would grant, initially at no cost, pollution permits to an array of industries, similar to legislation passed by the House of Representatives last June. Details unveiled by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee show the Democratic bill would allocate about 30 percent of the free pollution permits to local electric distribution companies and another 5 percent to merchant coal firms. The grants are ...
Sun, 25 Oct 09
Japanese firms to develop small nuclear reactors
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091024/bs_afp/japaneconomynuclearenergycompany
Agence France-Presse: Japan's major nuclear reactor manufacturers have begun developing small nuclear power systems for both developed and emerging countries, a report said on Saturday. Toshiba Corp. is developing an ultra-compact reactor with an output of about 10,000 kilowatts and has started procedures for approval in the United States, the Nikkei business daily said. The new reactor, the Toshiba 4S, is designed to minimise the need for monitoring and maintenance, with an automatic shutdown ...
Sun, 25 Oct 09
Hong Kong air pollution equals record high
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091024/sc_afp/hongkongenvironmentairpollution
Agence France-Presse: Hong Kong air pollution has equalled a record high registered in 2000, triggering a warning for people with heart or respiratory illnesses, according to the Environmental Protection Department. A pall of smog hung over the city, restricting views across the world famous Victoria Harbour as pollutants built up due to a lack of wind. Roadside air pollution readings reached a "very high" reading of 174 overnight in Central district, equalling a record set nine years ...
Sun, 25 Oct 09
Australians kick off world climate change protest
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091024/ts_afp/environmentclimatewarmingactionaustralia
Agence France-Presse: Climate activists gathered on the steps of Sydney's iconic Opera House Saturday and along the city's beaches to kick off an international day of protest about global warming. Along the famous sands of Bondi Beach and across the span of the Harbour Bridge protesters gathered with placards bearing the logo 350 to call for a cut in carbon emissions to 350 parts per million (ppm), organisers said. Thousands of people gathered on the steps of the Opera House for an outdoor concert ...
Sun, 25 Oct 09
Orangutans struggle to survive as palm oil booms
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/orangutans-struggle-to-survive-as-palm-oil-booms-1808700.html
Independent (UK): Cinta, a baby orangutan found lost and alone in a vast Borneo palm oil plantation, now clings to a tree at a sanctuary for the great apes, staring intently at dozens of tourists. She is one of the casualties of the boom in palm oil -- used extensively for biofuel and processed food like margarine -- which has seen swathes of jungle felled in Borneo, an island split between Malaysia and Indonesia. There are about 50,000 to 60,000 orangutans left in the wild, 80 percent of them ...
Sun, 25 Oct 09
Japan calls on India to make climate commitment
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20091024/india_nm/india434067
Reuters: Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama called on his Indian counterpart on Saturday to make an international commitment on climate change, saying it was vital for a U.N. deal due in Copenhagen in December. Hatoyama, who took office last month after a landslide election victory, has pledged Japan -- the world's fifth biggest emitter of greenhouse gases -- will cut emissions 25 percent by 2020 and hopes emerging nations like China and India will also sign up to an ambitious global ...
Sun, 25 Oct 09
Turkmen police arrest green activist: Rights Watch
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE59N0S120091024?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Police in the Central Asian state of Turkmenistan have arrested a prominent environmental activist in what appeared to be a politically motivated action, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said. Andrei Zatoka was arrested in the city of Dashoguz this week after being attacked by a stranger at a market, Rights Watch said in a statement on Friday. He was himself accused of causing bodily harm to a passer-by. "Zatoka's arrest appears to be a clear move by Turkmen authorities to stifle his ...
Sun, 25 Oct 09
Copenhagen 'backup' group meets
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8323006.stm
BBC: Legislators from 16 major economies will meet on Saturday to seek consensus on a raft of climate-related policies ahead of December talks in Copenhagen. The 120 delegates believe that the policies could address 70% of the emissions cuts necessary before 2020. A consensus, if reached, could ensure the policies are put into practice regardless of the outcome of the landmark climate talks in December. The group will present its results to the Danish PM who will host the ...
Sun, 25 Oct 09
South Florida counties to team up to combat climate change
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/miami-dade/story/1297730.html
Miami Herald: South Florida's three largest counties have competed -- for jobs, conventions, sports teams, cruise ships, federal funds and many other things -- as much as they have cooperated over the years. But Friday, Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach, joined by Monroe, agreed that they share a large, looming problem they better start working on together fast: global warming, which brings with it the scary prospect of waves washing against abandoned beachside hotels before the century is ...
Sun, 25 Oct 09
Morning bells to ring for climate change event
http://www2.dailyprogress.com/cdp/news/local/article/morning_bells_to_ring_for_climate_change_event/47959/
Charlottesville Daily Progress: Neighbors of St. Paul`s Memorial Episcopal Church will be hearing a lot of bell ringing Sunday morning as the church participates in a worldwide effort to bring attention to the climate change issue. The congregation will ring the church bell 350 times after the 10 a.m. service as a part of 350.org`s campaign through 4,000 simultaneous events to draw attention to their goal of reducing the amount of carbon dioxide in the world. Environmentalist Bill McKibben created the ...
Fri, 23 Oct 09
Fla. House panel discusses offshore drilling
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091022/ap_on_bi_ge/us_offshore_drilling
Associated Press: Texas and Alabama get far less money every year from offshore drilling in their state waters than advocates say Florida can expect, the state's environmental chief told a House panel Wednesday. Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Michael Sole said Texas gets about $45 million and Alabama anywhere from $50 million to $300 million. That compares to an estimate by the pro-drilling group Florida Energy Associates that Florida's treasury can expect to rake in $2.25 billion a ...
Fri, 23 Oct 09
OSU experts discuss sweet sorghum use in ethanol
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091022/ap_on_bi_ge/us_biofuels_okla
Associated Press: With demand growing for ethanol produced from sources other than corn, researchers at Oklahoma State University said Wednesday that state agriculture producers could someday grow sweet sorghum or switchgrass as cash crops. Division scientists and engineers from OSU's Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources spoke during a "biofuels field day" at the university's South Central Research Station in Chickasha about the potential of crops that could be grown by Oklahoma ...
Fri, 23 Oct 09
Britain's only polar bear moved north to escape climate change
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/wildlife/6407065/Britains-only-polar-bear-moved-north-to-escape-climate-change.html
Telegraph: Mercedes, a 27-year-old sow, has spent the last 25 years in a small enclosure at Edinburgh Zoo. But she had now been moved to a new four-acre enclosure at the Highland Wildlife Park outside Kingussie - one of the coldest parts of the country. The bear was brought to the UK after it was rescued in Canada where it was about to be shot for repeatedly roaming into a small town. The name came from Mercedes Benz, which funded the large mammal's flight to the UK in 1984, and ...
Fri, 23 Oct 09
Japan: Toshiba launches portable fuel-cell for mobiles
http://tech.yahoo.com/news/afp/20091022/tc_afp/lifestylejapantechnologyenergycompanytoshiba
Agence France-Presse: For people fed up with their mobile telephone or iPod batteries running out, Japan's Toshiba Corp. announced Thursday the launch of a portable fuel-cell that can power up digital gadgets on the move. With an injection of methanol, the fuel-cell generates electricity through a chemical reaction with oxygen to recharge mobile digital electronic devices via a USB cable. The high-tech giant, which sees a bright future for fuel cells, said battery exhaustion had become a "major ...
Fri, 23 Oct 09
United Kingdom: 'Day after tomorrow' map shows consequences of climate change
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/6407050/Day-after-tomorrow-map-shows-consequences-of-climate-change.html
Telegraph: The apocalyptic map was launched by Government ministers at the opening of a new exhibition at the Science Museum. 'Prove it -- everything you need to know to believe in climate change' is aimed at educating the public about the dangers of uncontrollable global warming. The 'Day After Tomorrow' map shows what the world will look like if temperatures rise beyond four degrees C (7 degrees F). It was produced by the Met Office, that predicts temperature rises may reach the ...
Fri, 23 Oct 09
United States: Schwarzenegger speeds up "green" football stadium
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE59L5IL20091022?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger put his muscle behind a "green" football stadium for Los Angeles on Thursday by signing a bill to accelerate construction for a private developer's proposed $800 million sports complex. The bill helps the project clear environmental hurdles for construction in the City of Industry in Los Angeles County, which hopes to attract a National Football League professional football franchise after losing the Los Angeles Rams to St. Louis in ...
Fri, 23 Oct 09
Study Predicts Future Consequences Of A Global Biofuels Program
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1773894/study_predicts_future_consequences_of_a_global_biofuels_program/index.html?source=r_science
redOrbit: A report examining the impact of a global biofuels program on greenhouse gas emissions during the 21st century has found that carbon loss stemming from the displacement of food crops and pastures for biofuels crops may be twice as much as the CO2 emissions from land dedicated to biofuels production. The study, led by Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) senior scientist Jerry Melillo, also predicts that increased fertilizer use for biofuels production will cause nitrous oxide emissions (N2O) ...
Fri, 23 Oct 09
Major Accounting Flaw In Kyoto Protocol, Other Climate Legislation
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1773896/major_accounting_flaw_in_kyoto_protocol_other_climate_legislation/index.html?source=r_science
redOrbit: An international team of top climate scientists has found a critical, but fixable, error in the accounting method used to measure compliance with carbon limits. The flaw, which centers on the measurement of CO2 emissions from the use of bioenergy, could undermine greenhouse gas reduction goals if not addressed. Current carbon accounting, used in the Kyoto Protocol and other climate legislation including the European Union's cap-and-trade law and the American Clean Energy and Security ...
Fri, 23 Oct 09
Researchers Make Key Step Towards Turning Methane Gas Into Liquid Fuel
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1773909/researchers_make_key_step_towards_turning_methane_gas_into_liquid/index.html?source=r_science
redOrbit: Researchers at the University of Washington and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have taken an important step in converting methane gas to a liquid, potentially making it more useful as a fuel and as a source for making other chemicals. Methane, the primary component of natural gas, is plentiful and is an attractive fuel and raw material for chemicals because it is more efficient than oil, produces less pollution and could serve as a practical substitute for ...
Fri, 23 Oct 09
Treaty To Limit CO2 Should Be Followed By Similar Limits On Other Greenhouse Pollutants
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1773905/treaty_to_limit_co2_should_be_followed_by_similar_limits/index.html?source=r_science
redOrbit: When world leaders meet in Copenhagen in December to hash out a treaty limiting carbon dioxide emissions, they should begin planning a future summit to address other pollutants – from soot to ozone – that don't remain in the atmosphere as long as carbon dioxide, but nevertheless are major contributors to global warming. That is the view of University of California, Berkeley, researcher Stacy C. Jackson, who presents her arguments in a policy piece appearing in the Oct. 23 issue of the ...
Fri, 23 Oct 09
Questions Linger Over Energy Star Ratings
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=114051506&ft=1&f=1025
National Public Radio: Energy Stars are those blue stickers that are supposed to help you choose the most energy-efficient appliances, TVs and other power-hungry gadgets. More than one-third of Americans use them to pick products, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, which runs the program with the Energy Department. The government says Energy Star is working so well that last year it helped Americans save the same amount of greenhouse gas pollution as is produced by 29 million cars. But ...
Fri, 23 Oct 09
India and China agree to united front on climate change
http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/1022/p06s01-woap.html
Christian Science Monitor: China's new climate change deal with India, signed Wednesday in New Delhi, serves two purposes, experts say. First, it binds the two largest CO2 emitters in the developing world to a common stance at upcoming international negotiations on climate change in Copenhagen, firming up the coalition of poor countries that will square off against industrialized nations. The five-year pact also points the way toward joint efforts to cut growth in CO2 emissions that the two Asian giants ...
Fri, 23 Oct 09
US social enterprise unveils $4 billion green home plan
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2251850/social-enterprise-unveils
Business Green: A US-based affordable housing developer plans to raise $4bn over the next five years to build and retrofit 750,000 residential, community and commercial buildings nationwide in a bid to make them more energy-efficient. The not-for-profit Enterprise Community Partners was founded by pioneering urban developer James Rouse, and has seen its profile boosted in recent years after Rouse's grandson, the actor Edward Norton, took a place on the organisation's board. The social ...
Fri, 23 Oct 09
Wind industry targets training for 60,000 green collar workers
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2251849/wind-industry-targets-training
Business Green: The British Wind Energy Association (BWEA) yesterday inked a deal with representatives from the government's skills programme, designed to provide training for up to 60,000 new wind energy technicians and engineers. The new Wind & Renewables Skills Sector Accord was signed by representatives of the wind energy industry, including Paul Cowling, UK managing director at RWE Npower Renewables and Chris Ehlers, the UK divisional managing director at industrial giant Siemens, as well as ...
Fri, 23 Oct 09
Renewables targets will hinder decarbonisation, warn business leaders
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2251848/renewables-targets-hinder
Business Green: The government yesterday came under fire from business leaders for sticking with its "ludicrous" target to source 32 per cent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2020. Earlier this year, a CBI-commissioned report from consultants McKinsey advised the government to downgrade the renewables target to 25 per cent and give the go-ahead for up to 15 nuclear reactors, rather than the eight reactors currently planned. The report warned that counter-intuitively the renewables ...
Fri, 23 Oct 09
Australian "Smart Village" promises to dial up home appliances
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2251759/australians-smart-village-dial
Business Green: Australians may one day use their mobile phones to remotely control their home electrical appliances, pending the results of a A$10m (US$9.2m, £5.5m) smart grid trial taking place in Sydney's former Olympic village. About 1,000 homes in the newly dubbed "Smart Village" are being fitted with technology that will enable residents to control air conditioning units, heaters and other appliances using iPhones and other internet-connected mobile devices. "On a hot day, a lot of ...
Fri, 23 Oct 09
Air New Zealand says winglets will enable fuel savings to take off
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2251760/air-zealand-wing-devices
Business Green: Air New Zealand says a new fuel-saving wing device installed on its passenger jets is expected to save the airline more than seven million litres of aviation fuel annually -- 19 per cent more than originally anticipated. Developed by Aviation Partners Boeing, the 3.4m devices -- called blended winglets -- are installed on the end of airplane wings, where they help to reduce wing tip drag, resulting in lower fuel consumption and carbon emissions. The airline installed winglets ...
Fri, 23 Oct 09
US performs hydrogen funding U-turn
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2251761/performs-hydrogen-funding-u
Business Green: The US Senate has overturned attempts by President Obama's administration to cut funding for hydrogen research by voting to commit nearly $200m (£121m) to hydrogen car development. Energy secretary Steven Chu had asked that no financing be allocated for hydrogen cars in his 2010-2011 Energy Department budget request on the grounds that fuel cell-based electric vehicles would not be commercially viable for another couple of decades. He instead recommended that funding be targeted on ...
Fri, 23 Oct 09
Q+A-Stances of China and the U.S. on climate change
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/PEK165059.htm
Reuters: Climate change officials and advocates from the United States and China have gathered this week in Beijing to try to reach a common understanding before high-profile negotiations later this year. The meeting of the world's top two greenhouse gas emitters precedes President Barack Obama's visit to China in November, and a key international conference in Copenhagen at the end of the year that aims to agree on a new pact to fight global warming. WHY ARE CHINA AND THE U.S. ...
Fri, 23 Oct 09
Windows 7's dubious energy claims
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/cif-green/2009/oct/21/microsoft-windows-7-greenwash
Guardian: You will have spotted the ballyhoo by now - Microsoft's new Windows 7 operating system is out today. And, rather as when Microsoft launched Vista three years ago, the company is trumpeting its energy-saving credentials. Windows 7 offers "more than just lip service" on eco-friendly features. Microsoft is not making any specific claims about how much power Windows 7 can save, though in a demo for journalists in California recently, a laptop playing a DVD achieved 20% more battery life ...
Fri, 23 Oct 09
Maldivians face life as 'climate refugees': president
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091022/sc_afp/maldivesenvironmentclimatewarming
Agence France-Presse: The people of the Maldives face the prospect of life in a "climate refugee camp," President Mohamed Nasheed warned Thursday as he urged rich countries to clinch an effective global warming treaty. Calling the South Asian island chain a "frontline state" in the fight against climate change, Nasheed said global warming threatened to submerge his low-lying country and "kill our people" unless action was taken urgently. "We have a written history of more than 2,000 years and we ...
Fri, 23 Oct 09
China, U.S. leaders push climate change cooperation
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE59K23220091022?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: A top Chinese official and senior U.S. politicians warned on Thursday that the world must deal with climate change urgently, but said if the two top emitting nations work more closely together they could spur rapid improvements. Vice Premier Li Keqiang, widely touted as the country's prime minister in-waiting, said China was keen to smooth the path to a new global deal on warming and willing to step up consultation ahead of a major summit to be held in Copenhagen in ...
Fri, 23 Oct 09
India PM seeks global hub for clean-tech research
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE59K2AF20091022?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: India's prime minister on Thursday called for a global center to coordinate research on clean-energy technology, saying innovations should be viewed as "public goods" that poorer countries could afford. Transferring clean energy technologies is a key issue being negotiated as part of a broader global pact to fight climate change that the United Nations hopes will be agreed in Copenhagen in December. Developing nations say wealthy states have grown prosperous by fuelling their ...
Fri, 23 Oct 09
Time to trim Fido's "eco pawprint", authors say
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE59L23B20091022?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: They're faithful, friendly and furry -- but under their harmless, fluffy exteriors, dogs and cats, the world's most popular house pets, use up more energy resources in a year than driving a car, a new book says. In their book "Time to Eat the Dog: The Real Guide to Sustainable Living," New Zealand-based architects Robert and Brenda Vale say keeping a medium-sized dog has the same ecological impact as driving 10,000 km (6,213 miles) a year in a 4.6 liter Land ...
Fri, 23 Oct 09
EU to toughen up carbon targets if Copenhagen succeeds
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2251781/eu-agrees-tighten-carbon
Business Green: The European Union yesterday sought to cement its position as a leader in the fight against climate change, pledging to sign up to more ambitious emission targets if an international treaty is agreed at the UN's Copenhagen climate change summit in December. European environment ministers meeting to finalise the bloc's negotiating position ahead of the historic talks reiterated the EU's commitment to upgrading its 2020 emission reduction target from 20 to 30 per cent in the event of a ...
Fri, 23 Oct 09
United Kingdom: Clarke retracts wind farm comments as Tories woo renewables industry
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2251789/clarke-retracts-wind-farm
Business Green: The Conservative Party moved swiftly to repair relations with the renewable energy industry, after shadow business secretary Ken Clarke contradicted the party's official position and said onshore wind farms were "not suitable" for the UK. Speaking at a conference hosted by the centre-right Policy Exchange think tank, Clarke said that he was broadly opposed to onshore wind farms. "My view is that those few wild and open spaces that we have left in Britain should not be used for wind ...
Fri, 23 Oct 09
Supermodel Lily Cole launches sky rainforest rescue
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/supermodel-lily-cole-launches-sky-rainforest-rescue-1807097.html
Press Association: Model Lily Cole launched a campaign yesterday to save one billion trees in the Amazon rainforest. The Cambridge University student, 21, was in Kew Gardens, south west London, to promote the Sky Rainforest Rescue campaign, a project aimed at preserving more than three million hectares of trees in Acre, north west Brazil. The three-year scheme, run by broadcaster Sky with the conservation body WWF, working with the state government of Acre, aims to provide economic incentives for ...
Fri, 23 Oct 09
ASEAN leaders urge rich nation over climate change
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091022/sc_afp/aseansummitclimate
Agence France-Presse: Southeast Asian leaders are to urge developed nations to make deeper cuts in carbon emissions, underscoring the rift between rich and poor countries on climate measures, it emerged Thursday. In a draft joint statement seen by AFP, heads of state from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) said rich countries had a "historical responsibility" to act as well as the economic power to do so. The document, to be endorsed at a summit that begins Friday in the ...
Fri, 23 Oct 09
China calls for developed countries to lead the way
http://www.scidev.net/en/climate-change-and-energy/china-calls-for-developed-countries-to-lead-the-way.html?utm_source=link&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=en_climatechangeandenergy
SciDev.Net: China expects developed countries to show leadership in the Copenhagen climate negotiations and commit to greater emissions reductions, says Jiahua Pan from the Institute for Urban and Environmental Studies, China. The developing world is unlikely to take serious action against climate change unless developed nations agree to cut their emissions by at least 40 per cent by 2020, says Pan. This means decarbonising at twice the rate needed to meet the G8's target cuts of 50 per ...
Fri, 23 Oct 09
Government tries to sweeten 10:10 rejection with £20m funding pledge
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2251802/government-attempts-sweeten
Business Green: The government today announced an additional £20m in funding to help cut emissions across Whitehall, despite yesterday voting down Liberal Democrat proposals that the public sector should sign up to the 10:10 campaign to slash emissions 10 per cent during next year. MPs voted by 297 to 226 votes to reject the Lib Dem proposals, although they secured significant cross-party support, with 63 MPs from other parties voting in favour of the move. The vote put the government in the ...
Fri, 23 Oct 09
Climate map shows world after 4C rise
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/interactive/2009/oct/22/climate-change-carbon-emissions
Guardian: A map launched at the Science Museum in London has been developed using the latest peer-reviewed science from the Met Office Hadley Centre and other leading impact scientists. It shows that the land will heat up more quickly than the sea, and high latitudes, particularly the Arctic, will have larger temperature increases
Fri, 23 Oct 09
Are GM Foods The Key To Feeding The World?
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1773394/are_gm_foods_the_key_to_feeding_the_world/index.html?source=r_science
redOrbit: In a somewhat controversial statement made on Wednesday, England's elite science academy, The Royal Society, said that world must utilize genetically modified crops in order to feed a rapidly growing global population and reduce the environmental damage of large-scale farming. The academy's report referred to the "grand challenge" of feeding an additional 2.3 billion people by 2050--a statement corroborated by a report issued earlier this month by the UN's Food and Agricultural ...
Fri, 23 Oct 09
Carbon Emissions Up Among Industrialized Nations In 2007
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1773393/carbon_emissions_up_among_industrialized_nations_in_2007/index.html?source=r_science
Various: Industrialized nations had a one-percent rise in carbon emissions in 2007, which is a point of concern as the December climate summit in Copenhagen approaches. The Bonn-based UN Climate Change Secretariat said Wednesday that 2007 emissions from 40 industrialized countries with reporting obligations under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) were about four percent less than 1990 levels. However, levels were up by three percent over the 2000-2007 period, AFP ...
Fri, 23 Oct 09
UK warns of lack of urgency over Copenhagen talks
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE59L38620091022?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: The world lacks a sense of urgency over the importance of the U.N. climate change talks in Copenhagen in preventing a "human emergency" affecting hundreds of millions of people, the British government said on Thursday. With United Nations talks on a new deal to combat global warming less than 50 days away, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said too many people still failed to grasp the scale and urgency of the problem. Climate change will deepen Middle East tensions, ...
Fri, 23 Oct 09
Africa: Boost for Carbon Offset Projects
http://allafrica.com/stories/200910220636.html
Business Day: A NEW project development facility, launched last night by Standard Bank and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), will give a boost to carbon offset projects in African countries. So far Africa has seen little benefit from the United Nations Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), although it is the continent most vulnerable to climate change, and this facility is designed to help rectify that. The announcement, made in Cape Town, coincides with a UNEP conference in Cape ...
Fri, 23 Oct 09
A day built around a data point goes viral
http://wwwp.dailyclimate.org/tdc-newsroom/2009/10/a-day-built-around-a-data-point-goes-viral
Daily Climate: Founder of 350.org, an environmental campaign aimed at holding atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations below 350 parts-per-million, McKibben set this Saturday as the day to take to the streets. The call went viral in ways far beyond anything McKibben and fellow organizers imagined: As of Thursday morning some 4,227 actions and rallies are planned in 170 countries, with 300 events in China, 1500 across the United States, 500-plus in Central and South America. Organizers credit ...
Fri, 23 Oct 09
Clean-tech firms gird for funding gap
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/clean-tech-firms-gird-for-funding-gap/article1333402/
Globe and Mail: Investors are returning to the clean technology sector but with a sharper eye for risk and more demanding appetite for reward. But as private investors move back into financing for renewable energy, efficiency and pollution-abatement companies, money is running out at the federal government's flagship program for financing startup companies whose technologies offer reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. Ottawa's Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) - a linchpin for ...
Fri, 23 Oct 09
Environmentalists divided over wind turbines
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/21/AR2009102101282.html
Washington Post: Workers atop mountain ridges are putting together 389-foot windmills with massive blades that will turn Appalachian breezes into energy. Retiree David Cowan is fighting to stop them. Because of the bats. Cowan, 72, a longtime caving fanatic who grew to love bats as he slithered through tunnels from Maine to Maui, is asking a federal judge in Maryland to halt construction of the Beech Ridge wind farm. The lawsuit pits Chicago-based Invenergy, a company that produces "green" ...
Fri, 23 Oct 09
An ecotopia for climate protection: Samso Island Is Face of Danish Green Revolution
http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,656325,00.html
Spiegel: The Danish island of Samso is a mecca for climate protection experts, because its residents generate more energy than they consume -- with wind turbines, solar panels, straw combustion and heat exchangers that extract heat from cow's milk. The small ecotopia will be held up as a model at the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen. Six years ago, Paul Erik Wedelgaard decided it was high time to set a new course for his future, even though he was already 70 at the time. The sun, the ...
Fri, 23 Oct 09
United States: State may push for TVs to use half the energy
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/10/22/MNIB1A8C5P.DTL&tsp=1
San Francisco Chronicle: California regulators, concerned over the proliferation of flat-panel television sets that guzzle electricity, could soon impose first-in-the-nation laws that restrict how much power televisions can consume. In some cases, televisions use more energy than refrigerators, regulators said during a legislative hearing Wednesday on a proposal to force television manufacturers to cut the power TVs use in California in half by 2013. The proposed regulation faces strong opposition by ...
Fri, 23 Oct 09
Hydropower industry braces for glacier-free future
http://www.reuters.com/article/GCA-GreenBusiness/idUSTRE59L05Z20091022
Reuters: Standing on the glacier at the source of the Rhone river, glaciologist Andreas Bauder poses next to a 3-meter high pole sticking out of the ice, and gestures above his head. "This is about the melt of one month," he says, as fellow scientists drill into the ice. "I'm about two meters tall." From the Himalayas to the Andes, faster-melting glaciers spell short-term opportunities -- and long-term risks -- for hydroelectric power and the engineering and construction industries it ...
Fri, 23 Oct 09
When the ice melts
http://www.nature.com/news/2009/091021/full/4611042a.html
Nature: Kaka Tshering loops a piece of frayed jute rope around a 150-kilogram boulder. A handful of his fellow workers line up on either end and pull the rope taught. "Shochi, Shoni," the workers call in unison, as they heave. Their voices are raspy from the 4,400-metre altitude and moist, cold air. "Put your strength together." After rocking a couple of times, the boulder rolls over and the labourers tumble backwards. Their cries are drowned out by the furious work around them as more ...
Fri, 23 Oct 09
Time running out for climate talks
http://www.nature.com/news/2009/091021/full/4611034a.html
Nature:
Fri, 23 Oct 09
Impacts of glacier retreat on hydropower
http://in.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idINIndia-43338920091022?sp=true
Reuters: Retreating glaciers from the Alps to the Andes are likely to disrupt hydropower generation in coming decades. Following are details of glaciers and the wider impacts of climate change on hydropower, the most widely used form of renewable energy: * WORLDWIDE More than a billion people live in river basins fed by glacier or snow-melt. Climate change will lead to a retreat of glaciers and cause wider disruptions to rain and snowfall patterns from tropical Monsoons to Arctic ...
Fri, 23 Oct 09
Canada: Tar sands get tripped up
http://www.environmentreport.org/story.php?story_id=4710
Environment Report: American gasoline refineries are expanding to process a dirtier kind of oil. Shawn Allee reports one company's plans hit a snag:
Fri, 23 Oct 09
UN: Greenhouse emissions increased for 7th year
http://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world/un-for-7th-year-168462.html
Associated Press: The industrialized world again in 2007 boosted, rather than reduced, its emissions of global-warming gases, the U.N. reported Wednesday, as international negotiators looked ahead to crucial climate talks in December. Emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases rose by 1 percent between 2006 and 2007 among 40 nations classified as industrialized under the 1992 U.N. climate treaty, the treaty secretariat reported, detailing data for the latest available reporting ...
Fri, 23 Oct 09
States invest more in energy efficiency
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125616727379000149.html
Wall Street Journal: States are backing big energy-efficiency programs, spurred by the belief that they could hold down heating and electricity bills, as well as cut greenhouse-gas emissions. The programs, usually funded by surcharges on utility bills, help customers weatherize their homes and install new lighting systems, among other things. Total annual spending on the efficiency programs is expected to rise from $3.1 billion in 2008 to $7.5 billion to $12.4 billion by 2020, according to a study ...
Fri, 23 Oct 09
United Kingdom: Britain publishes doomsday climate change vision
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091022/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_britain_climate_map
Associate Press: Thu Oct 22, 10:09 am ET LONDON -- Two British Cabinet ministers showed off a doomsday vision of disappearing cities and rising seas on Thursday, part of an effort to push nations to strike a new pact on curbing emissions of global warming gasses. Foreign Secretary David Miliband and his brother, Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband, published an online map detailing the predicted impact of a 4 degrees Celsius (7 degrees Fahrenheit) rise in global ...
Fri, 23 Oct 09
India: Climate deal can't sacrifice poor nations
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091022/ap_on_bi_ge/as_india_climate_change
Associated Press: Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Thursday that the world's poor nations will not sacrifice their development in negotiations for a new climate change deal. The issue of how to share the burden of fighting global warming has divided the developing and industrialized worlds as they prepare to negotiate a replacement to the 1997 Kyoto Protocol at a December summit in Copenhagen. "Developing countries cannot and will not compromise on development," Singh told an ...
Fri, 23 Oct 09
Green investment firm pulls off stellar IPO
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2251816/green-investment-firm-pulls
Business Green: The clean tech investment category's good health was highlighted today after one of the world's leading green investment firms pulled off a £104m IPO, blowing initial expectations out of the water and delivering the largest investment company IPO on the London Stock Exchange since July 2008. Impax Asset Management Group plc announced that it had completed the successful IPO of its Asian-focused subsidiary Impax Asian Environmental Markets plc, issuing 104,500,000 Ordinary Shares at a ...
Fri, 23 Oct 09
China hopeful about Copenhagen climate talks
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091022/ap_on_bi_ge/as_china_climate_change
Associated Press: China wants to increase cooperation with the U.S. and other nations to reach a deal at global climate talks in December, Vice Premier Li Keqiang said Thursday. Li's comments come less than two months ahead of the global climate conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, that seeks an international agreement on a treaty to cut greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. It would replace the U.N.'s Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012. Negotiations have been deadlocked for months amid rising ...
Fri, 23 Oct 09
Data shows US is no longer top emitter CO2
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/datablog/2009/oct/22/carbon-emissions-data-country-world
Guardian: Which country is number one in carbon emissions? Up until very recently, it was the US - now, it is indisputedly China, as shown by this data. These are the latest figures - up to 2007 - from the respected US Energy Information Administration. This has (literally) every country in the world on it and its emissions going back to 1980 -- plus we've put on some handy percentage change data and ranking information. The curious thing is, we've been here before. Last year we reported ...
Fri, 23 Oct 09
Poor may need to curb CO2 by 15 percent: U.N
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE59L3UM20091022?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Developing nations may need to slow projected growth in their carbon emissions by 15 percent by 2020 if rich countries agree to reduce theirs by up to 40 percent for a new global deal, a top U.N. official said on Thursday. Negotiations for a global deal to fight climate change, to be agreed in Copenhagen in December, have stumbled on the question of levels of emission cuts to be taken by rich states and developing nations. A U.N. climate panel report in 2007 said that cuts ...
Fri, 23 Oct 09
United Kingdom: Met Office unveils climate catastrophe map
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2251830/met-office-unveils-climate
Business Green: The Met Office has today unveiled a new interactive map designed to illustrate the impact of an average rise in global temperatures of four degrees Centigrade. The map, which was officially launched earlier today at an event at the Science Museum attended by foreign secretary David Miliband and chief scientist Professor John Beddington, is based on the latest peer-reviewed climate science and details the likely impact of rising temperatures on water supplies, sea levels, agricultural ...
Fri, 23 Oct 09
Climate change map unveiled at London museum
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091022/lf_afp/britainenvironmentclimate
Agence France-Presse: British Foreign Secretary David Miliband unveiled an interactive map Thursday demonstrating the impact of global warming in decades to come, to underline the looming threat. The map, presented at London's Science Museum, shows graphically how climate change could lead to water and food shortages, mass migration and conflict if action is not taken at a landmark summit in Copenhagen in December. "The reason for publishing this map is that for many people, not only in our own ...
Fri, 23 Oct 09
Government launches map to highlight global warming threat
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/government-launches-map-to-highlight-global-warming-threat-1807237.html
Independent (UK): A nightmare in the not-very-distant future: the map below shows the enormous temperature rises which British scientists believe the planet may be experiencing in as a little as 50 years from now if global warming remains unchecked. Released by the Government today, it illustrates a rise in global average temperature of four degrees Centigrade by 2060, and as such represents a dramatic acceleration of previous forecasts made as recently as 2007 by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on ...
Fri, 23 Oct 09
Adopt green tech by 2014 to avert climate calamity
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20427314.000-adopt-green-tech-by-2014-to-avert-climate-calamity-greenhouse-gas-emission-wind-photovoltaic-biodiesel.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=climate-change
New Scientist: GREEN technologies can prevent catastrophic climate change, but only if we commit to them by 2014. Miss the deadline and we risk runaway global warming and economic meltdown. That's the conclusion of a report published this week by the environment group WWF, which says green technologies will have to grow by 22 per cent each year for the next four decades. Such growth would be the "fastest industrial revolution witnessed in our history," says Kim Carstensen of WWF. The result would be ...
Fri, 23 Oct 09
U.N. suggests 2020 climate goals for poor
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20091022/india_nm/india433679
Reuters: A top U.N. official suggested a 2020 greenhouse gas goal for developing nations on Thursday as part of a new U.N. climate pact as China and the United States sought common ground to fight global warming. Many nations expressed worries about a lack of urgency in the negotiations, less than two months before 190 nations are meant to agree a new U.N. pact in Copenhagen to succeed the existing Kyoto Protocol. In New Delhi, Yvo de Boer, head of the U.N. Climate Change Secretariat, ...
Fri, 23 Oct 09
United Kingdom: 'Stealth' wind turbine deployed
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8320622.stm
BBC: A wind turbine blade that absorbs radar signals has been demonstrated at a wind farm in eastern England. Wind turbines confuse aviation radar signals, making aircraft in wind farms' vicinities difficult to track. Defence firm Qinetiq and turbine manufacturing firm Vestas are developing "stealth turbines", with radar-absorbing materials and coatings. The five-year effort may help many wind farm projects that are on hold because of so-called "radar clutter" ...
Fri, 23 Oct 09
GE: China leading UK and US on carbon capture technology
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2251843/china-leading-carbon-capture
Business Green: Chinese companies are more advanced in their development of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology than those in the EU or US, according to the executive director of General Electric (GE). Magued Eldaief told the CBI energy conference in London today that if it moved fast, the UK still had the opportunity to be a world leader in CCS technology, but that it was already showing signs of lagging behind Chinese firms. "Today China is in a much better position to export its ...
Fri, 23 Oct 09
36 football fields deforested each minute: WWF
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091022/sc_afp/environmentclimateargentinawwf
Agence France-Presse: The equivalent of 36 football fields are being stripped from the world's forests each minute, the environmental group World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) said in a statement released here on Thursday. The group, presenting its figures during a UN-organized World Forestry Congress held in the Argentine capital, called for "net deforestation of zero" by 2020. Rodney Taylor, in charge of the WWF's forestry program, said the call underlined the "urgency" of confronting deforestation ...
Fri, 23 Oct 09
Obama not doing enough on climate change - Pachauri
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20091022/india_nm/india433703
Reuters: U.S. President Barack Obama should do much more to ensure Congress passes a greenhouse emissions bill, giving global climate talks a major boost, the head of the U.N. Climate Change Panel said on Thursday. Rajendra Pachauri, whose panel shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with former U.S. vice president Al Gore, said legislation clarifying U.S. emissions targets would make all the difference to a climate conference in Copenhagen in December. "I personally feel that he ought to be ...
Fri, 23 Oct 09
Biofuels could increase greenhouse gases: US studies
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091022/ts_afp/climatewarmingusbiotech
Agence France-Presse: US experts warn that rules governing biofuel production encourage deforestation and mean the technology is therefore a "false" method of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. In a study to be published Friday in the US journal Science, a group of 13 scientists called for the rules, which contain a loophole exempting carbon dioxide emitted by bioenergy regardless of its source, to be overturned. "The error is serious, but readily fixable," said lead researcher Timothy Searchinger ...
Fri, 23 Oct 09
Advanced biofuels will stoke global warming: study
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE59L4V920091022?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: A new generation of biofuels, meant to be a low-carbon alternative, will on average emit more carbon dioxide than burning gasoline over the next few decades, a study published in Science found on Thursday. Governments and companies are pouring billions of research dollars into advanced fuels made from wood and grass, meant to cut carbon emissions compared with gasoline, and not compete with food as corn-based biofuels do now. But such advanced, "cellulosic" biofuels will ...
Fri, 23 Oct 09
Warming continues to affect far north
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091022/ap_on_sc/us_sci_state_of_the_arctic
Associated Press: Global warming is messing with the planet's thermostat. That warning came Thursday from Richard Spinrad, head of research at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, in releasing the annual update of science's Arctic report card. Warming temperatures continue in the polar north, changing wind patterns, melting sea ice and glaciers and affecting ocean and land life, the report said. The Arctic is a sort of natural regulator in terms of the amount of heat ...
Fri, 23 Oct 09
Obama 'ought to do a lot more' on climate: Pachauri
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091022/sc_afp/climatewarmingenvironmentnobelobamauspolitics
Agence France-Presse: US President Barack Obama should do more to push for a US climate deal, Rajendra Pachauri, the head of the Nobel Peace Prize winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, said Thursday. "I personally feel he ought to be doing a lot more," Pachauri told reporters after a debate on climate change in Stockholm, adding the president "really has to assert himself to see that the US passes legislation" prior to the Copenhagen summit. The high-stakes conference in the Danish ...
Fri, 23 Oct 09
'Critical Habitat' Set Aside For Polar Bear
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=114048770&ft=1&f=1025
Associated Press: The Obama administration is setting aside 200,000 square miles in Alaska and off its coast as "critical habitat" for polar bears, an action that could add restrictions to future offshore drilling for oil and gas. Federal law prohibits agencies from taking actions that may adversely modify critical habitat and interfere with polar bear recovery. Assistant Interior Secretary Tom Strickland called the habitat designation a step in the right direction to help polar bears stave off ...
Fri, 23 Oct 09
Poll: Americans' belief in global warming cools
http://www.usatoday.com/weather/climate/2009-10-22-climate-change-poll_N.htm?csp=34
Associated Press: The number of Americans who believe there is solid evidence the Earth is warming because of pollution is at its lowest point in three years, according to a survey released Thursday. The poll of 1,500 adults by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press found that only 57% believe there is strong scientific evidence the Earth has gotten hotter over the past few decades, and as a result, people are viewing the situation as less serious. That's down from 77% in 2006, and 71% ...
Fri, 23 Oct 09
Scientists Warn of Climate Accounting Glitch
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/23/science/earth/23biofuel.html?_r=5&partner=rss&emc=rss
New York Times: An accounting problem in the way some greenhouse gas emissions are calculated could critically hobble efforts to reduce them in coming years as nations move to combat global warming, scientists warn in a new report. The accounting irregularity even gives the impression that clearing the world's forests, which absorb and thereby diminish heat-trapping carbon dioxide, is good for the climate, the scientists write in an article published Friday in the journal Science. The problem ...
Fri, 23 Oct 09
India, China sign climate change deal
http://www.dailynews.lk/2009/10/23/wld01.asp
Daily News:
Fri, 23 Oct 09
Study: Impact of bioenergy crops on climate change underestimated
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/22/AR2009102202889.html
Washington Post: The world's policymakers and scientists have made a critical error in how they count biofuels' contribution to human-generated greenhouse gas emissions, according to a new paper published Thursday in the journal Science. While the article addresses a wonkish subject -- how to measure the environmental impact of energy sources such as ethanol and wood chips, which absorb carbon as they grow but release it back into the atmosphere when they're burned -- it has broad implications. The ...
Fri, 23 Oct 09
Number of Americans who believe in climate change drops, survey shows
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/oct/22/climate-change-us-pew-survey
Guardian: The number of Americans who believe in global warming has plummeted, falling 20% in two years, a survey said today. Only 57% of Americans believe there is solid scientific evidence that the Earth's atmosphere is warming, said the poll of 1,500 people by the Pew Research Centre for the People & the Press. That is a fall of 77% from 2007. The number of people who believe that human activity is causing global warming also fell to just 36%. The public uncertainty about ...
Fri, 23 Oct 09
Prepare for climate change, US report warns W.House
http://www.reuters.com/article/africaCrisis/idUSN22142154
Reuters: As Congress considers curbs on carbon dioxide pollution, a U.S. report on Thursday urged the White House to prepare now for flooding and other natural disasters brought by global warming. Federal agencies, working with Congress, state and local governments, should "develop a national strategic plan that will guide the nation's efforts to adapt to a changing climate," said a report by the Government Accountability Office, an investigative arm of Congress. John Stephenson, ...
Fri, 23 Oct 09
Southeast U.S. exposed to climate change impact: Oxfam
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE59K4PR20091021
Reuters: Poverty and climate hazards make the southeast United States the country's most vulnerable area to climate change impact, Oxfam America said on Wednesday. A report released by the relief organization identified high-risk "hotspots" across 13 southeast states from Arkansas to Virginia where poverty factors combined with high risk of drought, flooding, hurricanes and sea-level rise. "Social factors like income and race do not determine who will be hit by a natural disaster, but ...
Fri, 23 Oct 09
Is this a good time to spend on solar?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/oct/18/lucy-siegle-solar-power-energy-panels
Guardian: There are sunnier days ahead for solar power. Illustration: Rob Biddulph Real, gutsy solar power is as rare as hen's teeth in this country. By the real deal I mean photovoltaic (PV) systems that convert sunlight into electricity as opposed to rather prosaic solar thermal systems that heat water. Last year just 6MW of solar PV was installed in this country. Compare and contrast the situation in Germany, where more than 1,500MW was installed last year and one in 10 buildings has a solar ...
Fri, 23 Oct 09
Africa Readies United Front for Crucial Copenhagen Talks
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48959
Inter Press Service: As African leaders meet in Ethiopia to discuss the devastating impacts of climate change, the United Nations has released a report warning that the economically-troubled continent will be one of the hardest hit by the ravages of global warming. "Projected climatic changes for Africa suggest a future of increasingly scarce water, falling agricultural yields, encroaching deserts and damaged coastal infrastructure," says the 29-page report released here. Titled 'Climate Change and ...
Fri, 23 Oct 09
The Rising Tide of Environmental Refugees
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48958
Inter Press Service: Our early twenty-first century civilisation is being squeezed between advancing deserts and rising seas. Measured by the biologically productive land area that can support human habitation, the earth is shrinking. Mounting population densities, once generated solely by population growth, are now also fueled by the relentless advance of deserts and may soon be affected by the projected rise in sea level. As overpumping depletes aquifers, millions more are forced to relocate in search ...
Fri, 23 Oct 09
CLIMATE CHANGE: How Eco-Friendly Is Natural Gas?
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48957
Inter Press Service: Natural gas, a non-renewable yet plentiful energy source, is being promoted by the gas industry as part of the solution to climate change. But experts say that its contribution to global warming is only slightly less than that of coal and oil. Methane, the main component of natural gas, is a fossil fuel like crude and coal; when burned it produces carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, so called because they trap the heat of the sun's rays in the atmosphere, warming the earth's ...
Fri, 23 Oct 09
United States: Greatest of Lakes Hit by Climate Change
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48956
Inter Press Service: The weather was right for swimming this summer along the shores of Lake Michigan, but on many days, the only living things seen on the beach were gulls, picking away at zebra mussels ensnared in a thick, green slime that covered every rock, pebble and grain of sand for miles. The slime is Cladophora, a native algae that over the last few years morphed from a well-behaved algae into a green monster that fouls drinking water and beaches, and clogs industrial intake pipes in Lake ...
Fri, 23 Oct 09
United Kingdom: New nuclear plants must get go-ahead now, says CBI
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2251750/nuclear-plants-ahead-cbi
Business Green: The CBI yesterday stepped up its campaign for plans for new nuclear plant to be fast-tracked with the release of a new report warning the UK risks missing climate change targets and undermining energy security unless at least six new nuclear plants are built by 2030. The report states that 16GW of new nuclear power needs to be built on existing nuclear sites if the UK is to meet its legally binding target of cutting carbon emissions 80 per cent by 2050. A raft of existing ...
Fri, 23 Oct 09
UK defence firm reveals stealthy wind turbine
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2251748/uk-defence-firm-reveals
Business Green: UK defence technology specialist QinetiQ will today unveil a new "stealth turbine" design, which it claims could significantly reduce the interference wind farms can cause to radar and air traffic control systems. Working in partnership with wind turbine manufacturing giant Vestas, the company last month successfully trialled a 44m prototype turbine blade that had been coated with radar absorbing materials similar to those used in stealth bombers. Speaking to BusinessGreen.com, ...
Thu, 22 Oct 09
As Hybrid Buses Get Cheaper, Cities Fill Their Fleets
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/22/automobiles/autospecial2/22BUS.html?_r=5&partner=rss&emc=rss
New York Times: IF you wonder whether hybrid-electric vehicles will ever catch on, simply ask one of the millions of people who ride in them every day. Hybrid-electric buses, that is. Transit systems from New York to Taipei, and from Ames, Iowa, to Ann Arbor, Mich., are adding hybrid buses at a rapid clip. New York, by far, has the nation's biggest fleet of hybrid buses, which run on electricity and diesel fuel, with nearly 1,000 in all five boroughs, most in Manhattan. Although the ...
Thu, 22 Oct 09
Finding Ease, Efficiency and Fun on a Scooter
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/22/automobiles/autospecial2/22SCOOT.html?_r=5&partner=rss&emc=rss
New York Times: A FUNNY thing happened on the way to $4-a-gallon gas, financial collapse and gridlocked city traffic. Americans finally climbed off their Hogs and out of their Hummers and discovered scooters – the zippy, fashion-forward transpo-pods that have long filled the streets and sidewalks of Beijing, Paris, Rome, Shanghai and other cities throughout the world. American city dwellers, from Miami to Seattle, are being lured into Vespa and other scooter dealerships by the prospect of 70-plus ...
Thu, 22 Oct 09
Australia braces for severe bushfire season
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE59K12K20091021?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd warned the nation Wednesday to brace for a severe bushfire season as fire crews battled intense blazes stoking memories of infernos earlier this year which killed 173 people. With the fire season barely under way, firefighters from two Australian states have been battling huge blazes threatening the northeastern tropical city of Rockhampton and coastal hamlets further south in New South Wales. "I would urge all Australians to make sure they ...
Thu, 22 Oct 09
United Kingdom: The eco activists who are camping against climate change
http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/10/20/climate.eco.activism/
CNN: There was no mistaking the target: the eight huge cooling towers at Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station, sending plumes of steam high into the watery blue sky of the English Midlands. A mix of peaceful protest and direct action took place at Ratcliffe-on-Soar, England. Instead the question in the minds of an estimated 1,000 protestors gathered in the surrounding woods and scrubland was how could they get in and shut it down. Surrounded by electrified fences, coils of razor ...
Thu, 22 Oct 09
Philippines: Storm-weary Farmers Suffer Huge Losses
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48936
Inter Press Service: Caf̩ by the Ruins, a popular rustic restaurant situated in Baguio City, the Philippines' famed mountain city resort, usually caters to tourists and residents who enjoy sipping their cups of brewed coffee while appreciating the artworks displayed on the caf̩'s stone walls. These days, however, the quaint caf̩ is busy running a soup kitchen Рcoordinating about a dozen caf̩ staff and volunteers in cooking and delivering meals to evacuees whose homes and farms were destroyed by Typhoon ...
Thu, 22 Oct 09
New hope for climate talks as India takes small step towards deal
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article6883020.ece
Times (UK): India's climate change policy was in turmoil yesterday as its Environment Minister admitted that he had made a proposal to adjust the country's position that caps on greenhouse gases should apply only to rich countries. Jairam Ramesh denied suggesting that India abandon the Kyoto Protocol in a leaked letter to Manmohan Singh, the Prime Minister, before the UN climate change conference in Copenhagen in December. He also reaffirmed India's commitment to the protocol, which imposes ...
Thu, 22 Oct 09
Labor raises stakes for emissions horse trading
http://www.smh.com.au/environment/labor-raises-stakes-for-emissions-horse-trading-20091020-h6z0.html
Sydney Morning Herald: THE Federal Government has put more pressure on the Opposition by demanding that a vote on the emissions trading scheme be held this year, and the Coalition leadership has warned its MPs and senators to stop behaving like a rabble over the matter. During a routine party-room meeting yesterday, Malcolm Turnbull said the Coalition was languishing in the polls because of the public squabbling. If it continued, he said, it would jeopardise the party's prospects in the upcoming byelections ...
Thu, 22 Oct 09
Hopes Fade for Comprehensive Climate Treaty
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/21/science/earth/21treaty.html?_r=5&partner=rss&emc=rss
New York Times: With the clock running out and deep differences unresolved, it now appears there is little chance that the climate change negotiations in Copenhagen in December will produce a comprehensive and binding new treaty on global warming. The United States and a number of other major emitting countries have concluded that it is more useful to take incremental but important steps toward a global agreement rather than to try to jam through a treaty that is either too weak to address the ...
Thu, 22 Oct 09
Kenya digs in for funds to fight climate change risks
http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/Company%20Industry/-/539550/674780/-/u5x09pz/-/
Business Daily Africa: Kenya will join other African nations in demanding that the industrialised world pays for damages of climate change caused by decades of heavy carbon emissions. It will team up with the developing world in seeking financial compensation for bearing the greatest burden of climate change President Kibaki said, setting the tone for the delegation that will represent Kenya in the UN-sponsored climate change talks in Copenhagen in December. Poor nations have been piling pressure on ...
Tue, 20 Oct 09
The Field Narrows For Cover Crops In Biofuel Production
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091002101613.htm
ScienceDaily: An Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientist is looking for cover crop perennials that provide the best balance in biofuel production between agronomic success and environmental sustainability. This work is being supported by the Sun Grant Initiative, a national network of land-grant universities and federally funded laboratories working together to study, produce, and commercialize renewable, biobased energy technologies. ARS agronomist Jeremy Singer, who works at the National ...
Tue, 20 Oct 09
Electric cars don't deserve halo yet: study
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE59I5QH20091019?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Electric cars will not be dramatically cleaner than autos powered by fossil fuels until they rely less on electricity produced from conventional coal-fired power plants, scientists said on Monday. "For electric vehicles to become a major green alternative, the power fuel mix has to move away from coal, or cleaner coal technologies have to be developed," said Jared Cohon, the chair of a National Research Council report released on Monday called "Hidden Costs of Energy: Unpriced ...
Tue, 20 Oct 09
Climate treaty now 'more do-able'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8315573.stm
BBC: Agreeing a new global climate treaty looks more "do-able" after London talks between the big-emitting nations, UK Climate Secretary Ed Miliband has said. Talks between 17 countries producing about 80% of global emissions ended with a call for more funds to help poor nations adapt to climate change. The US president may attend December's UN summit if enough progress has been made by then, said US envoy Todd Stern. Mr Miliband said he would be going "all out" for an ...
Tue, 20 Oct 09
Activists snare media with Chamber of Commerce hoax
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE59I6CO20091019?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: An activist group seeking to draw attention to the debate over climate change policy staged a hoax on Monday, posing as representatives of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The Yes Men group issued a press release and held a news conference at the National Press Club, purporting that the business group had decided to support climate change legislation currently before the U.S. Congress. A spokesman for the Chamber of Commerce broke into the news conference, alerting media to the ...
Tue, 20 Oct 09
Popping The Cork On Biofuel Agriculture
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1771780/popping_the_cork_on_biofuel_agriculture/index.html?source=r_science
redOrbit: Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory have identified a novel enzyme responsible for the formation of suberin -- the woody, waxy, cell-wall substance found in cork. While effective at keeping wine inside a bottle, suberin's most important function in plants is to control water and nutrient transportation and keep pathogens out. Adjusting the permeability of plant tissues by genetically manipulating the expression of this enzyme could lead to ...
Tue, 20 Oct 09
U.N.'s de Boer sees no new treaty at Copenhagen: report
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE59I6DL20091019?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: The Copenhagen climate change conference will set out the political framework for cutting greenhouse gases, but will not result in a new international treaty, the Financial Times newspaper said on Monday, citing a top UN official. "A fully fledged new international treaty under the convention - I do not think that is going to happen," Yvo de Boer, the head of the U.N. Climate Change Secretariat, told the paper in an interview. "If you look at the limited amount of time that ...
Tue, 20 Oct 09
Some Hint at Progress on Climate Deal
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/20/science/earth/20climate.html?_r=5
New York Times: A two-day meeting of officials from countries responsible for the bulk of the world's greenhouse gas emissions ended Monday in London with hints that rich and developing nations might be able to bridge at least some of their differences on issues hobbling agreement on a new climate treaty. The session was the sixth in a string of informal meetings of "major economies" – 16 countries plus the European Union – initiated by the Obama administration last spring. The meetings, ...
Tue, 20 Oct 09
United Kingdom: Brown: Catastrophe Looming If Climate Deal Is Not Reached
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1771603/brown_catastrophe_looming_if_climate_deal_is_not_reached/index.html?source=r_science
redOrbit: British Prime Minister Gordon Brown warned on Monday that world leaders must place priority on meeting at this year's climate summit in Denmark in order to avoid a "catastrophe of unchecked climate change." At the Major Economies Forum in London, Brown urged other world leaders to join him in appearing at this year's climate summit in order to address a crucial need for cuts in carbon emissions. "We can't afford to fail. If we fail, we pay a heavy price," said ...
Tue, 20 Oct 09
Arctic lake undergoing unprecedented changes due to warming
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/1019-hance_sediment_core.html
Mongabay: The Arctic should be growing cooler, but a new sediment core taken from an Arctic lake reveals that the lake's ecology and chemistry has been transformed by unnatural warming beginning in the 1950s. The sediment core proves that changes happening in the lake during the Twentieth Century are unprecedented over the past 200,000 years. Headed by University of Colorado scientist Yarrow Axelford, the study retrieved the sediment core from the bottom of a thirty foot deep lake on Baffin ...
Tue, 20 Oct 09
Brazil seeks climate target for all Amazon nations
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE59I4TD20091019?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Brazil wants to forge a common position among all Amazon basin countries for a global climate summit later this year, the country's president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, said on Monday. Brazil has been seeking a growing role in climate talks designed to agree upon a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, which are blamed for global warming. Lula was considering inviting the presidents of all Amazon states to discuss the issue on November 26, he told reporters after a meeting in ...
Tue, 20 Oct 09
Britain, US insist global climate deal can be done
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091019/ts_afp/climatewarmingbritainusmef
Agence France-Presse: The United States and Britain insisted Monday they had not given up on securing a deal to tackle climate change at a crunch summit in December after a meeting of major polluting countries in London. British Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband told reporters afterwards that "nobody was talking about plan B", while the US special envoy for climate change Todd Stern insisted his country was "fully committed" to a deal. Earlier, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown warned that the ...
Tue, 20 Oct 09
U.S. Chamber Is Victim of Hoax Claiming Flip-Flop on Climate
http://news.yahoo.com/s/bloomberg/20091019/pl_bloomberg/axj7laajxyve
Bloomberg: The U.S. Chamber of Commerce's reported flip-flop on climate change, conveyed in a press release and a Washington news conference, was a hoax perpetrated by a group that stages stunts to satirize corporate positions. A New York-based group calling itself the Yes Men issued a phony press release and the text of a purported speech by Chamber President Thomas Donohue today under the chamber's letterhead, said Jacques Servin, a Yes Men member. The imposters also held a news conference at ...
Tue, 20 Oct 09
Recycling Goes From Less Waste to Zero Waste
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/20/science/earth/20trash.html?_r=5&partner=rss&emc=rss
New York Times: At Yellowstone National Park, the clear soda cups and white utensils are not your typical cafe-counter garbage. Made of plant-based plastics, they dissolve magically when heated for more than a few minutes. At Ecco, a popular restaurant in Atlanta, waiters no longer scrape food scraps into the trash bin. Uneaten morsels are dumped into five-gallon pails and taken to a compost heap out back. And at eight of its North American plants, Honda is recycling so diligently that the ...
Tue, 20 Oct 09
CEOs no longer refute climate change
http://www.reuters.com/article/GCA-GreenBusiness/idUSTRE59I52820091019
Reuters: U.S. chief executives no longer reject claims of human-caused climate change, putting to rest a dispute that has raged in boardrooms for decades, said the head of PG&E on Thursday. Members of the Business Council, a group of executives from the top 120 U.S. companies, have altered their beliefs about climate change significantly, said PG&E Chief Executive Officer Peter Darbee in an interview. Darbee was attending the Business Council's October gathering in Cary, North ...
Tue, 20 Oct 09
No change in Indian stand on climate change, says Jairam Ramesh
http://www.hindu.com/2009/10/20/stories/2009102050130100.htm
Hindu: Under criticism for a new proposal that suggests a shift in India`s climate change policy, Jairam Ramesh, Minister of State (independent charge), Environment and Forests said a recent communication of his to the Prime Minister had been totally distorted. "India`s interests alone should drive the negotiations, and legally binding emission cuts and international verification [of India] are non-negotiable. [But] there is no harm in having discussions on other issues," he told The Hindu ...
Tue, 20 Oct 09
In fighting coal plant, a dilemma
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/19/nyregion/19towns.html?_r=5
New York Times: A scheduled local council vote this week will be the first step in a review process that will likely take years, but that doesn't mean it's too early to get out the rhetorical artillery here in the heart of the Petro Belt off the New Jersey Turnpike. "This plant is a $5 billion environmental Ponzi scheme that not only won't work but will lead to environmental disaster," Jeff Tittel, director of the New Jersey Sierra Club, said last week. "This is a recipe for another Exxon ...
Tue, 20 Oct 09
Local assaults on the global climate problem
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/19/business/energy-environment/19iht-green19.html?_r=5
New York Times: This month, the mayor of Mesa, Arizona, a city of about 500,000 inhabitants in the American Southwest, became the 1,000th local leader to sign on to a climate change agreement under the United States Conference of Mayors. In signing the compact – initiated in 2005 by Greg Nickels, the mayor of Seattle and the president of the conference – local leaders commit to reducing their cities' carbon emissions in concert with the national goals laid out by the Kyoto Protocol: a 7 percent ...
Tue, 20 Oct 09
India's carbon fighters must wait
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/18/AR2009101802437.html
Washington Post: Giant mountains of smelly kitchen waste, bottles, coconuts, plastic and paper in the heart of New Delhi's industrial district are being transformed into rich, black organic fertilizer for farming. The treatment is good for the environment in more ways that one: It creates both fertilizer and carbon emission credits for a German company that is paying the Indian firm for treating the trash. It has been going on for only a year, but now there is fear that it may not last. In a ...
Tue, 20 Oct 09
Canada: The race is on to build a better electric-car battery
http://www.thestar.com/business/cleanbreak/article/712133--hamilton-race-is-on-to-build-a-better-electric-car-battery
Various: Ian Clifford must have a difficult time being patient when the package he's waiting to receive has the potential to change so much – the way we drive, how we generate and deliver electricity, and the pace of innovation around the electronic gadgets we've come to depend on. "We're in the same waiting game as everybody else," says Clifford, founder and chief executive of Toronto-based ZENN Motor Company Inc., during an early lunch at a downtown greasy spoon. ZENN, you may recall, ...
Tue, 20 Oct 09
Australians to fortify coast homes against climate
http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSSYD460390
Reuters: Australians living beside some of the country's finest beaches will allowed to fortify their beachfront homes against rising seas and storms, as climate change increasingly threatens the heavily-populated east coast. Many Australians live within a short car-ride of the coast and are feeling the impact of more frequent storms blamed in part on global warming, prompting national soul-searching over whether to adopt a "retreat or defend" approach to beach living. Environmentalists ...
Tue, 20 Oct 09
Enviro groups decry U.S. refusal to list spotted seals as endangered
http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2009/10/16/16greenwire-enviro-groups-decry-us-refusal-to-list-spotted-68658.html
Greenwire: The Obama administration rejected a proposed endangered species listing today for Alaska's spotted seals, saying the animals would adapt to climate change. Environmentalists, who had petitioned for the listing by citing threats to the seal from Arctic oil and gas development and melting sea ice, expressed outrage over the decision. "The Arctic is experiencing a rapid meltdown, and yet the Obama administration refuses to acknowledge that sea ice loss is jeopardizing the spotted ...
Tue, 20 Oct 09
Hints at more drilling fall short of wooing oil company support for climate bill
http://www.nytimes.com/cwire/2009/10/19/19climatewire-hints-at-more-drilling-fall-short-of-wooing-90401.html
ClimateWire: The suggestion from two key senators that climate change and energy legislation could allow expanded oil and gas drilling has failed to charm the fossil fuel industry that opposed the House bill. The biggest oil and gas companies and their trade group said they will have to hear a lot more than what Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) wrote in an Oct. 10 New York Times op-ed, which referenced additional drilling as part of a bipartisan approach. Oil and gas ...
Tue, 20 Oct 09
A Race to Win the Clean-Tech Market, or an Opportunity to Cooperate?
http://www.nytimes.com/cwire/2009/10/19/19climatewire-a-race-to-win-the-clean-tech-market-or-an-op-62139.html
New York Times: Water once ruled this teeming urban center, back when its most famous commodity was vegetables, when the farms outnumbered the apartments, and before the town's landmark 11-story building was surpassed by hundreds twice that size. Equipment manufacturing was a major part of the economy in this one-time agricultural center about 85 miles southwest of Beijing, but the region's water quality also made film production one of the city's top industries. Digital cameras put a swift end to ...
Tue, 20 Oct 09
Climate change refugees 'should seek relocation aid'
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,26229009-23109,00.html
Agence France-Presse: MANY Pacific islands in danger of being obliterated by rising sea levels should seek relocation aid at the UN climate change conference in Copenhagen, a Fiji-based scientist said. "By 2100, I don't see how many islands will be habitable,'' professor Patrick Nunn, a climate change researcher at the University of the South Pacific in Fiji said. Prof Nunn is chairing the Pacific Climate Change Roundtable meeting in the Marshall Islands capital Majuro opening today, where 14 ...
Tue, 20 Oct 09
Scarcity fueling mass migration
http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/225428/scarcity-fueling-mass-migration
Deutsche Presse Agentur: A predicted rapid rise in global population to 8 billion by 2030 is set to unleash a "perfect storm'' of food shortages, scarce water and energy crises that would fuel mass migration, conflict and unrest, British scientists have warned. "There are dramatic problems out there, particularly with water and food but energy also, and they are all intimately connected,'' said Professor John Beddington, the British government's chief scientist. "You can't think about dealing with one ...
Tue, 20 Oct 09
Greenpeace takes action over Spanish nuclear panel
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE59I2EJ20091019?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Environmental group Greenpeace says it took legal action on Friday against the government and the nuclear regulator for alleged delays in setting up a panel on nuclear safety with public participation. A Greenpeace statement said legislation provided for the Nuclear Safety Advisory Committee to be constituted by August 2008 in order to issue non-binding recommendations to the Nuclear Safety Council (CSN) watchdog. Some 20 people are due to sit on the committee, including ...
Tue, 20 Oct 09
World leaders told to seal climate deal in person
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSN1252318120091019?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Prospects for a new U.N. climate pact in December remained in the balance after talks among big emitters on Monday but with signs of action by Brazil, India and Australia. "It's more do-able today than yesterday," British energy and climate secretary Ed Miliband said at the close of a two-day meeting of 17 emitters that account for about 80 percent of world greenhouse gases. "It remains in the balance in my view." Todd Stern, Washington's climate envoy who co-hosted the ...
Tue, 20 Oct 09
US unveils plans for giant renewable energy hub
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2251507/unveils-plans-giant-renewable
Business Green: One of the largest barriers to the development of renewable energy in the US could soon be removed, thanks to an ambitious new project to more effectively link areas rich in solar and wind energy resources to population centres across the country. Unveiled last week, the Tres Amigas project in New Mexico aims to build a grid "super station" that will link the US three main energy grids - the East, West and Texas interconnections - providing them with the ability to transmit renewable ...
Tue, 20 Oct 09
United Kingdom: PM warns of climate 'catastrophe'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8313672.stm
BBC: "In Britain we face the prospect of more frequent droughts and a rising wave of floods," he told delegates. "The extraordinary summer heatwave of 2003 in Europe resulted in over 35,000 extra deaths. Grim warning "On current trends, such an event could become quite routine in Britain in just a few decades' time. And within the lifetime of our children and grandchildren the intense temperatures of 2003 could become the average temperature experienced throughout much of ...
Tue, 20 Oct 09
Leaders should take climate stage in Copenhagen: UK
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE59I3LB20091019?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: U.N. climate talks remained "in the balance" after a London meeting among the world's biggest polluters meant to drive a global deal in Copenhagen in December, Britain said on Monday. "It's more do-able today than yesterday," said Britain's energy and climate secretary Ed Miliband, at the close of the talks. "It remains in the balance in my view." The London meeting is the latest in a U.S.-instigated major economies forum (MEF) series separate from but meant to bolster momentum ...
Tue, 20 Oct 09
Halt to forest loss a key to stabilising climate
http://www.panda.org/what_we_do/footprint/climate_carbon_energy/climate_deal/news/?uNewsID=177201
WWF: WWF is challenging global leaders to back an ambitious target on stopping forest loss as a major element of efforts to avert the looming climate catastrophe. Buenos Aires, Argentina – WWF is challenging global leaders to back an ambitious target on stopping forest loss as a major element of efforts to avert the looming climate catastrophe. In his keynote address at the XIIIth World Forestry Congress on Monday, WWF International's Forests Director Rodney Taylor urged ...
Tue, 20 Oct 09
Pranksters stage Chamber of Commerce climate change event
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/19/AR2009101901651.html
Washington Post: Environmental activists held a hoax press conference Monday morning, pretending to be the business group -- and pretending to announce that the chamber was dropping its opposition to climate-change legislation now in Congress. The event, complete with fake handouts on chamber letterhead, at least a couple of fake reporters, and a podium adorned with the chamber logo, broke up when a spokesman from the real chamber burst in. What followed was a spectacle not usually seen in the ...
Tue, 20 Oct 09
Energy Firms Are Split on Bill to Battle Climate Change
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/19/business/energy-environment/19fuel.html?_r=5&bl
New York Times: As the Senate prepares to tackle global warming, the nation's energy producers, once united, are battling one another over policy decisions worth hundreds of billions of dollars in coming decades. Producers of natural gas are battling their erstwhile allies, the oil companies. Electrical utilities are fighting among themselves over the use of coal versus wind power or other renewable energy. Coal companies are battling natural gas firms over which should be used to produce ...
Tue, 20 Oct 09
Copenhagen: A new global deal for sustainable development?
http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/1019/p09s05-coop.html
Christian Science Monitor: Reaching a substantive global agreement in Copenhagen, Denmark, at the UN-sponsored climate-change conference this December on reducing greenhouse-gas emissions is a necessary step, but it is not sufficient. In order to avoid catastrophic tipping points, we need to effectively manage key Earth system processes, and we need to do it now. In the run-up to the climate negotiations in Copenhagen, it is easy to get the impression that as long as we reduce emissions of greenhouse gases we ...
Tue, 20 Oct 09
Ramesh stands by Kyoto Protocol on climate change
http://www.ptinews.com/news/338265_Ramesh-stands-by-Kyoto-Protocol-on-climate-change
Press Trust of India: With questions raised over his reported views on India's stand on climate change, Union Environment Minister Ramesh today stood by the Kyoto Protocol which seeks deeper emission cuts from developed nations. "The voluntary actions of developing countries could not be equated with the commitments of developed countries," Ramesh said in a meeting with his Japanese counterpart Sakihito Ozawa who is here to participate in the Climate Change Technology Conference to be held on ...
Tue, 20 Oct 09
Climate change the 'sin' of rich countries: Cambodian PM
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iu-zD3EIRqTsEEfikJr7RqdEU4wg
Agence France-Presse: Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on Monday urged rich countries to take more responsibility for causing climate change, saying poorer nations were the ones to suffer the fall-out. "All of us poor countries do not cause climate change. (We) would like rich countries to take a bit more responsibility than before," Hun Sen said, branding it a "sin". Hun Sen made his remarks at the first national forum to promote understanding of climate change in Cambodia, ahead of a key global ...
Tue, 20 Oct 09
Canada to push 'balance' in Copenhagen
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/18/20091017/tpl-canada-to-push-balance-in-copenhagen-ee974b3.html
Agence France-Presse: Canada aims to reestablish itself as an environmental defender at the UN climate talks in Copenhagen by calling on all major emitters to cut carbon emissions, but distrust lingers as its own emissions soar. Canada signed and ratified the Kyoto Protocol but has so far failed to meet its corresponding obligations. The December 7-18 meeting in Copenhagen aims to hammer out a pact to replace the treaty before it expires in 2012. Proof the government is mindful of its reputation as ...
Tue, 20 Oct 09
Australia: Just transition tour: cut emissions, create jobs
http://www.greenleft.org.au/2009/814/41886
Green Left Weekly: Climate change campaigners have ridiculed the Australian Coal Association's "cut emissions, not jobs" ad campaign, announcing their own campaign "to cut emissions, create jobs". In November, a bus tour of NSW coalmining communities will promote a transition to renewable energy in the state that would create tens of thousands of new jobs. Inspired by the historic Freedom Rides against racism, the Just Transition Tour will take a bus through the Hunter Valley, Gunnedah and ...
Tue, 20 Oct 09
Q&A: Political Will, Governance Crucial to Climate Change Issue
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48914
Inter Press Service: How countries can develop and provide key services to their citizens while acting responsibly in limiting emissions is a balancing act for many Asian countries, including those in the Mekong region. "You can't say no to infrastructure and good sanitation and water delivery systems," Geoffrey Blate, Greater Mekong climate change coordinator for the World Wildlife Fund, said in an interview on the sidelines of a consultation with stakeholders held by the Vientiane-based Mekong River ...
Tue, 20 Oct 09
For Mekong, Climate Change Is a Dev't Issue - Experts
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48913
Inter Press Service: Far from looking at climate change as a distant theoretical issue for scientists and environmentalists to dissect, countries that share the Mekong River would do well to realise that it is first and foremost a development issue that threatens to affect food, environment and everyday lives. This view was aired by experts from different backgrounds – whether hydrologists, diplomats, community workers or water experts -- at an Oct.16-17 meeting here of stakeholders in a development plan ...
Tue, 20 Oct 09
United Kingdom: Tesco unveils plans for biomass-powered facility
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2251456/tesco-unveils-plans-biomass
Business Green: Tesco plans to power its newly opened Teesport Distribution Centre in Middlesbrough entirely by biomass when a new plant comes on stream in the region in 2012. The supermarket giant has just signed a deal with MGT Power to provide the £50 million facility with 100 per cent of its electricity requirements. The Tees Renewable Energy Plant, which is sited next to Tesco's warehouse on the Teesport Estate, received the go-ahead from the UK government in July. Construction is ...
Tue, 20 Oct 09
Is threat of regulation delaying offset action?
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/comment/2251455/threat-regulation-delaying
Business Green: If companies believe that they will be caught in a regulatory trap and obligated to measure and reduce their emissions in the near future, will that prompt them to take voluntary action, or will they put everything on hold until they work out what their obligations are likely to be? As the Copenhagen Summit and the promise of tightening carbon regulations around the world move ever closer, that is the key question concerning many in the UK's offsetting industry. In the words of Lord ...
Sun, 18 Oct 09
Tribe teams with Google to make stand in Amazon
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/10/17/MN4O1A3I0E.DTL
San Francisco Chronicle: The chief of an endangered Amazon tribe will unveil today the product of an unusual partnership with Google Inc. that pairs high tech with indigenous knowledge in an effort to rescue ancient rain forests and a dying culture. Almir Surui, speaking at the 20th annual Bioneers Conference in San Rafael, plans to showcase Google Earth images years in the making that throw into sharp relief the rapid encroachment of illegal mining and logging onto his people's 600,000-acre ...
Sun, 18 Oct 09
Target 350: climate protests go global
http://www.greenleft.org.au/2009/814/41869
Green Left Weekly: What do a Jewish congregation in the Alaskan town of Fairbanks, the Browniz coffee shop in the port city of Salalah, Oman and a Shanghai primary school have in common? All will take part in what could be the world's biggest ever protest for a safe climate future on October 24. The protests will be part of the international day of action called by the 350.org campaign. Close to 2500 separate actions, in 157 countries, are organised for the day. In Australia, more than 160 ...
Sun, 18 Oct 09
Australia: Rudd abandons Australia's first solar power plant
http://www.greenleft.org.au/2009/814/41850
Green Left Magazine: More than 200 people rallied on October 11, supporting former employees of liquidating company Solar Systems and calling on the federal and state governments to rescue the company's solar power plant project in Mildura. Solar Systems went into administration after failing to find enough investors to continue the project. Former Solar Systems research engineer David Turner read a list of demands endorsed by the majority of former employees. Turner asked all supporters to ...
Sun, 18 Oct 09
Copenhagen: rich countries push dirty deal
http://www.greenleft.org.au/2009/814/41858
Green Left Weekly: Many have touted December's United Nations' sponsored climate talks in Copenhagen as a "make or break" chance to halt dangerous climate change. But the richest nations are on a warpath to make sure this "last chance" becomes a "no chance" event. Two weeks of climate talks in Bangkok were meant to lay the groundwork for a strong deal to cut emissions at Copenhagen. As talks finished on October 9, the poor nations denounced the wealthy nations for sabotaging negotiations. Rich ...
Sun, 18 Oct 09
A Bit of Bipartisanship
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/18/opinion/18sun2.html
New York Times: Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, who has long resisted climate change legislation, has joined the ranks of those pushing for a bipartisan agreement to limit greenhouse gas emissions. We welcome his change of heart. Mr. Graham has sensibly decided that it helps neither the planet, the country nor his party to block efforts to solve the problem of global warming. Mr. Graham has held extensive conversations in recent weeks with Senator John Kerry, one of the main ...
Sun, 18 Oct 09
Unlikely ally joins fight against climate change
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nation/6673241.html
Houston Chronicle: WASHINGTON -- Proponents of capping greenhouse gas emissions blamed for global warming may have just found an unexpected ally on Capitol Hill: Republican Lindsey Graham. The two-term senator from South Carolina drew the ire of conservative activists last week after he joined Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., in outlining the framework of a bipartisan plan for combating climate change that would tie greenhouse gas reductions with new nuclear power nationwide and expanded offshore ...
Sun, 18 Oct 09
General Electric looks to build £200m wind farm plant in UK
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/6359741/General-Electric-looks-to-build-200m-wind-farm-plant-in-UK.html
Telegraph: A GE briefing note seen by The Sunday Telegraph says that the firm is now looking for "targeted financial support for the development" and is in discussions with the Department of Business, Innovations and Skills and the Department for Energy and Climate Change. It is also considering sites in Germany and Scandinavia, and will make a decision on where to build the new plant by the end of the year. GE officials have also met Greg Barker, shadow climate change minister, who has assured ...
Sun, 18 Oct 09
London focus for climate change countdown
http://www.politics.co.uk/news/environment-and-rural-affairs/london-focus-for-climate-change-countdown-$1334625.htm
Politics.co.uk: There are 50 days to go until vital climate change negotiations begin in Copenhagen, with 17 of the world's biggest economies meeting in London this weekend. The latest meeting of the Major Economies Forum (MEF) follows previous summits in L'Aquila and Washington DC. Barack Obama established the MEF earlier this year in a bid to provide "a more informal discussion space" on a range of issues, including climate change. With crucial talks to replace the Kyoto treaty due in ...
Sun, 18 Oct 09
Book draws attention to climate change 'coverup' by fossil-fuel industry
http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Fossil+fuel+industry+denied+climate+change+book/2115696/story.html
Canwest News Service: Public relations executive James Hoggan says there's no doubt that his new book is provoking some angry reactions from people with its revelations about what is shaping public opinion on global warming. In fact, the Vancouver businessman says the point of the book, Climate Cover-Up: The Crusade to Deny Global Warming, was to shock people. The book examines the research organizations and academics who question whether human activity is causing dangerous global warming, and trace ...
Sun, 18 Oct 09
Wong offers December vote on carbon laws
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/10/18/2717106.htm
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: The Federal Government says it is willing to extend Parliament into December to allow the Opposition more time to debate the emissions trading legislation. The Coalition is meeting today to vote on amendments to the scheme. The Government wants a vote to be held next month, but some Coalition MPs say two weeks of Parliament is not enough time to debate the bill. Climate Change Minister Penny Wong has told Channel 10 the Parliament could sit in December to get the ...
Sun, 18 Oct 09
Nations gather for climate talks
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5glmykdIkkKiC8t7ZZ7MTqdyjFcVg
Press Association: Energy Secretary Ed Miliband has pledged to "throw everything" at securing a global climate change deal as leading nations gathered in London for talks. Representatives of 17 countries are in the UK for the Major Economies Forum with just 50 days to go until a crunch UN-sponsored summit in Copenhagen. Mr Miliband said the talks provided a vital forum to narrow the gaps between nations and avoid a catastrophic failure to cement a fresh agreement in December. "Today is the ...
Sun, 18 Oct 09
A carbon tax, not a cap and trade
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2009/10/18/a_carbon_tax_not_a_cap_and_trade/
Boston Globe: THE WAXMAN-MARKEY bill on climate change that recently passed the House is a train wreck waiting to happen. Intended to reduce global warming and achieve energy independence, it is totally inadequate in its reliance on a flawed cap and trade system, and the recently released Senate version called the Kerry-Boxer bill follows the same track. Like the House bill, the Senate version represents the further transfer of wealth from taxpayers to the nuclear and fossil-fuel industries - a result of ...
Sun, 18 Oct 09
'Climate refugees' in Bangladesh capital
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jK62TCytgtRBqP3l-qvJtz6oxFxQ
Agence France-Presse: When a cyclone destroyed her home two years ago, Shahana Begum joined the swelling ranks of Bangladeshi "climate refugees" who, experts say, could one day overwhelm the capital Dhaka. Shahana's family, like more than half a million people in the impoverished nation, lost her shanty home and all her belongings when cyclone Sidr slammed into southern Bangladesh in November 2007, claiming more than 3,500 lives. "I moved to Dhaka because there was nowhere else to go," said Shahana, ...
Sun, 18 Oct 09
Top Official: 'The EPA Is Back On The Job'
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=113884818
National Public Radio: The Environmental Protection Agency released a long-secret document last week that reveals the agency's conclusions on global warming while President Bush was in office. The December 2007 document says greenhouse gases are dangerous and need to be regulated under the Clean Air Act. "The Bush administration never accepted the need to regulate greenhouse gases," EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson tells Liane Hansen. "That's why the endangerment finding was never released." The ...
Sun, 18 Oct 09
Climate protest enters second day
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/nottinghamshire/8312918.stm
BBC: Seven men and three women - aged between 19 and 53 - were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit aggravated trespass before the protest began. Dozens more were held during the day and a force spokeswoman said: "Police have experienced concerted and determined efforts to tear down perimeter fencing. "Some officers at the fences have been assaulted and, while some protesters managed to enter the site, police remain in control of the site. "Protesters and the public ...
Sun, 18 Oct 09
Britain will starve without GM crops, says major report
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/6359130/Britain-will-starve-without-GM-crops-says-major-report.html
Telegraph: The study concluded that GM crops are needed to prevent a catastrophic food crisis by 2050. But the report has sparked a backlash from opponents of GM foods who say they present a threat to the livelihood of small farmers. They fear the Government will use the 100-page study, due to be published this week, to force the introduction of GM technology back on to the political agenda. Many in the Cabinet and Whitehall appear to be convinced that Britain can no longer resist its ...
Sun, 18 Oct 09
Australia 'must do something' to stop flow of asylum seekers
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/australia-must-do-something-to-stop-flow-of-asylum-seekers-20091018-h2oc.html
AAP: Prime Minister Kevin Rudd needs to stem the flow of asylum seekers instead of relying on Indonesia to do the heavy lifting, the federal opposition says. "The flow (of asylum seekers) is back on full strength and it is a deadly business," opposition immigration spokeswoman Sharman Stone told ABC Television today. "And that is why we are saying: 'Look, Prime Minister Rudd, look you do something right now other than just calling in Indonesia to do your heavy lifting'." Dr ...
Sun, 18 Oct 09
Tax carbon rather than trade in it
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,26219911-17803,00.html
Australian: WHEN the world was edging towards its first, imperfect treaty on climate change in the mid-1990s, the US put a proposal on the table that has set the framework for the debate on carbon reduction. Uncomfortable about taxing carbon dioxide emissions, the Clinton administration suggested letting market forces do the work through a scheme of tradeable permits now known as cap and trade. Ironically, the US has never ratified the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012, but its successor, ...
Sun, 18 Oct 09
Biggest economies try again to strike climate deal
http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2009/10/17/biggest_economies_try_again_to_strike_climate_deal/?rss_id=Boston.com+--+Latest+news
Associated Press: The world's 17 biggest and most polluting nations meet in London on Sunday in an attempt to break a deadlock on financing efforts to contain climate change and reducing harmful gases causing global warming. With a deadline looming, pressure was mounting on the United States to finalize its position before a decisive December conference in Denmark meant to cap two years of negotiations on a global climate change treaty. International negotiators showed little patience with ...
Sun, 18 Oct 09
UN study calls for more debate on biofuels
http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-10-16-voa33.cfm
Voice of America: UNEP's 'Assessing Biofuels' report cover A new report by the United Nations Environment Program says developing biofuels as a green energy option is beneficial only when countries adopt a sophisticated approach. The report has warnings for African countries, which are already struggling to cope with the loss of productive farmlands through drought and land degradation. The study, conducted by UNEP's International Panel for Sustainable Resource Management, concludes that while biofuel ...
Sun, 18 Oct 09
EU recommends winners of carbon capture project funding
http://www.reuters.com/article/GCA-GreenBusiness/idUSTRE59F2ZL20091016
Reuters: The European Union's executive Commission recommended the winners of EU funding for projects demonstrating capture and storage technology to the European Parliament on Friday, an EU Commission document showed. The first commercial-scale coal plants to be equipped with the technology, viewed as an important weapon in combating climate change, will be built in Germany, the Netherlands, Britain, Poland, Spain and Italy. The EU Commission recommended to the EU Parliament that five ...
Sun, 18 Oct 09
Ford's focus on electric cars
http://www.loe.org/shows/segments.htm?programID=09-P13-00042&segmentID=4
Various: YOUNG: It's Living on Earth, I'm Jeff Young. The Obama administration is making a big money bet on cleaner cars. The Department of Energy has loaned eight and a half billion dollars so far to help automakers retool for fuel efficiency and that's on top of the bailout money for Chrysler and GM. About two-point four billion went specifically toward electric vehicle research. So, just how are US carmakers doing in the electric car effort? Ford has a few electric and plug-in hybrid models in the ...
Sun, 18 Oct 09
Green consumerism can avert climate disaster, say top firms
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/oct/16/climate-change-green-business
Guardian: Climate change catastrophe can be averted by "greening" consumer behaviour rather than by curbing economic growth and mass consumerism, leaders of some of the world's biggest businesses including Tesco, Coca-Cola and Reckitt Benckiser argued today. They urged politicians to be braver at the Copenhagen talks on climate change in December, saying voters could be persuaded of the need to act. They were speaking, along with David Cameron and Professor Robert Puttnam, the sociologist and ...
Sun, 18 Oct 09
Republican senator says open to U.S. climate bill
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE59G1B120091017?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: A senior Republican in the United States Senate, conservative Senator Lisa Murkowski, said she would consider voting for a "cap and trade" climate change bill Democrats are pushing if it also contains a vigorous expansion of nuclear energy and domestic oil drilling. In an interview set to air on Sunday on the C-SPAN cable TV network, Murkowski said cap and trade legislation, which aims to mandate reductions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions, must protect consumers ...
Sun, 18 Oct 09
Maldives Cabinet Meets Below Waves to Highlight Climate Change Threat
http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-10-17-voa24.cfm
Voice of America: Maldivian President Mohammed Nasheed signs a document calling on all countries to cut down their carbon dioxide emissions, in Girifushi, Maldives, 17 Oct 2009In an effort to highlight climate change, the Cabinet of the government of the Maldives, an Indian island nation, has held a meeting under water. Meetings of government ministers can sometimes be a dry affair. That certainly was not the case during the latest gathering of the Cabinet of the Maldives. President Mohamed ...
Sun, 18 Oct 09
Climate change threatens rice production
http://www.physorg.com/news174911666.html
Physorg: Once-in-a-lifetime floods in the Philippines, India's delayed monsoon, and extensive drought in Australia are taking their toll on this year's rice crops, demonstrating the vulnerability of rice to extreme weather. Rice Today's October-December 2009 edition focuses on climate change and its potential impact on rice. It reveals that it is difficult to prove climate change is responsible for current weather events. However, by using advanced modeling techniques, the International ...
Sun, 18 Oct 09
New Study Says Arctic Could Become Emitter of Carbon Dioxide
http://aprn.org/2009/10/15/new-study-says-arctic-could-become-emitter-of-carbon-dioxide/
Alaska Public Radio Network: A study that looks at the Arctic's role in absorbing carbon dioxide finds that the job of storing CO2 could be over in coming decades and the Arctic may become an emitter of carbon dioxide and methane. David McGuire is a USGS and University of Alaska Fairbanks scientist who reviewed past studies and compiled the latest findings. He says since the end of the last ice age, the Arctic has absorbed about 800 million metric tons of global carbon.
Sun, 18 Oct 09
Global warming opens new Arctic shipping lane
http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/1015/p11s01-wogi.html
Christian Science Monitor: Mariners have dreamed for centuries of finding a commercially viable shortcut between Europe and Asia across the top of the world. Many have died trying, but none succeeded until late September, when two German freighters slipped quietly into Rotterdam Harbor after completing a historic month-long journey from Vladivostok, in Russia's Pacific far east, through the once-impassable Arctic route. The Bremen-based company that operates the two specially reinforced cargo ships, the Beluga ...
Sun, 18 Oct 09
Animals suffer as drought scorches Kenya
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?from=rss_Africa&set_id=1&click_id=68&art_id=nw20091016065430876C363308
Agence France-Presse: 'The drought has brought an increase in conflicts'Desperation has prompted the Turkana to overcome their initial reluctance to abandon any of their livestock. More than 16 000 animals, including 30 dromedaries, will be killed here before the end of the year as part of an aid programme set up by Vets without Borders Belgium and financed by the European Commission to the tune of 2.2 million euros (R24 million). The region, near the northern border with Uganda, Sudan ...
Sun, 18 Oct 09
The environment in the decade of climate change
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/oct/17/environment-decade-climate-change-vidal
Guardian: My, how things have changed! In 2000, scientists from the Worldwatch thinktank in Washington teamed up with the UN to spot the greatest threats to the planet over the coming years. Top of the list was ecosystem collapse, such as deforestation and the demise of corals; second were health and diseases, such as Sars and Aids; and third was global poverty. The world's top environmental analysts gave climate change only four paragraphs in an eight-page essay – little more than malaria, trade, air ...
Sun, 18 Oct 09
Copenhagen climate talks could fail: US special envoy
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091017/pl_afp/climatewarmingusbritainenvironment
Agence France-Presse: The crucial Copenhagen climate change summit could end without a deal, the US special envoy for climate change warned Saturday, while urging big developing economies to boost their efforts. Todd Stern spoke before the Major Economies Forum featuring politicians from 17 countries met in London on Sunday. This will help pave the way for a crunch summit in the Danish capital in December when nations will try to agree a new global climate treaty to replace the Kyoto Protocol which ...
Sun, 18 Oct 09
Doubt cast over REDD implementation
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2009/10/17/doubt-cast-over-redd-implementation.html
Jakarta Post: Experts and environmental activists raised their concerns and hopes Saturday over the unsettled implementation of Reducing Emission from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) scheme during a workshop on climate change and forest. Some of them expressed pessimism that REDD would deliver justice to indigenous people in forestry countries. Some others doubted the readiness of the government and regional administrations to adopt the scheme. Abdon Nababan of the Indonesian Alliance ...
Sun, 18 Oct 09
Canada: New US ambassador urges energy, environmental balance in oilsands projects
http://www.chroniclejournal.com/stories_national.php?id=218110
Canadian Press: The new U.S. ambassador to Canada says Alberta's oilsands needs to strike a balance between meeting energy needs and protecting the environment. David Jacobson, who was sworn in two weeks ago, got a first-hand look at the oilsands this week as part of his effort to focus on four priorities: trade, energy, the environment and foreign policy. "I think it's very important to acknowledge that Canada is and will continue to be a pillar in the energy security of the United States and ...
Sun, 18 Oct 09
Doctors seek plan to protect from climate change
http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/health1/doctors-seek-plan-to-protect-from-climate-change_100261885.html
Indo-Asian News Service: The World Medical Association (WMA) Saturday proposed a plan here to minimise the risk of increased malnutrition deaths, diseases and injuries due to climate change. The WMA, a conglomerate of medical associations around the world, in its general assembly adopted a declaration that warns: "Severe changes in weather patterns would lead to increased malnutrition and suffering from heat waves, droughts, fires and floods, and greater health inequalities throughout the world." The ...
Sun, 18 Oct 09
Maldives sends climate SOS with undersea cabinet
http://in.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idINIndia-43228020091017
Reuters: The Maldivian president and ministers held the world's first underwater cabinet meeting on Saturday, in a symbolic cry for help over rising sea levels that threaten the tropical archipelago's existence. Aiming for another attention-grabbing event to bring the risks of climate change into relief before a landmark U.N. climate change meeting in December, President Mohamed Nasheed's cabinet headed to the bottom of a turquoise lagoon. Clad in black diving suits and masks, Nasheed, ...
Sun, 18 Oct 09
Canada: U.S. efforts to abolish bear trade anger Inuit
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/711778--u-s-efforts-to-abolish-bear-trade-anger-inuit
Canadian Press: Canadian Inuit are outraged over a U.S. plan to use an international treaty to eliminate all trade in polar bears anywhere in the world. Saying it would cripple one of their few industries, they're calling on the federal government to step in. "We're fighting with Goliath here," said Gabriel Nirlungayuk, wildlife director of Nunavut Tunngavik Inc., which oversees the Nunavut land claim. "We want our government to defend us." On Friday, Tom Strickland, the U.S. assistant ...
Sun, 18 Oct 09
Global Surface Temperature Was Second Warmest For September
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091016140633.htm
ScienceDaily: The combined global land and ocean surface temperature was the second warmest September on record, according to NOAA's National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C. Based on records going back to 1880, the monthly National Climatic Data Center analysis is part of the suite of climate services NOAA provides. NCDC scientists also reported that the average land surface temperature for September was the second warmest on record, behind 2005. Additionally, the global ocean surface ...
Sun, 18 Oct 09
Maldives government dives for climate change
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5g9qWZja0fjVbZd01NOmyuEQG1rqwD9BCO3E80
Associated Press: Members of the Maldives' Cabinet donned scuba gear and used hand signals Saturday at an underwater meeting staged to highlight the threat of global warming to the lowest-lying nation on earth. President Mohammed Nasheed and 13 other government officials submerged and took their seats at a table on the sea floor -- 20 feet (6 meters) below the surface of a lagoon off Girifushi, an island usually used for military training. With a backdrop of coral, the meeting was a bid to draw ...
Sat, 17 Oct 09
Beijing's Air Is Steadily Getting Cleaner, but the War Is Far From Won
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/17/world/asia/17beijing.html?_r=5&partner=rss&emc=rss
New York Times: This city's network of arterials, five ring roads bisected by nine more freeways, is barely two decades old, but it already is sclerotic. Roughly four million vehicles clog Beijing roads, seven times the number about 15 years ago. On any given day, another 1,500 new vehicles join the crush. So it is no surprise that Beijing has some of the worst air pollution of any big city on earth. No, the surprise is this: Beijing's air is actually getting cleaner. China may have a ...
Sat, 17 Oct 09
Major Chinese Lead Smelter Admits Fault in Poisoning, Environmental Contamination
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/1017-ryking_china.html
Mongabay: The largest lead smelting company in China has recently admitted responsibility in contributing to pollution leading to poisoning in almost 1,000 children residing near lead factories. Out of 2,743 children tested for lead poisoning, 968 were determined to have excessive lead levels in their blood. Lead poisoning causes anemia, brain damage, and muscle atrophy, among other serious medical and environmental problems. Lead levels in blood samples from the children were 5 times higher than safe ...
Sat, 17 Oct 09
Maldives cabinet set to submerge
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8311838.stm
BBC: The government of the Maldives has held a cabinet meeting about five metres (16ft) underwater to highlight the threat of global warming. President Mohamed Nasheed and his cabinet signed a document calling for global cuts in carbon emissions. Ministers spent half an hour on the sea bed and communicated with white boards and hand signals. Officials from the low-lying island nation say the dive is "a bit of fun", intended to send a serious message. The Maldives stand ...
Sat, 17 Oct 09
Taking Forests into Account
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48900
Inter Press Service: What role can forests play in the fight against climate change? What impact do tree plantations have? What effect will the bioenergy craze have on forests? These are some of the questions that experts, government officials and business leaders from around the world will try to answer next week in Argentina. The 13th World Forestry Congress, which opens Sunday in Buenos Aires, will draw more than 4,000 participants. The international congress has been held since 1926, generally every ...
Sat, 17 Oct 09
US rejects nuclear plant over design of key piece
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/16/science/earth/16nuke.html?_r=5
New York Times: The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Thursday that it had rejected a design by Westinghouse for a new reactor because a key component might not withstand events like earthquakes and tornadoes. The rejection raises the possibility of delays in building 14 planned reactors in the United States, including two twin-reactor projects in Georgia and South Carolina that are leading the pack. Westinghouse, which is owned by Toshiba, promised to conduct tests as quickly as possible to try to ...
Sat, 17 Oct 09
Rising seas threaten cities
http://www.thewhig.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2132806
Associated Press: This city of 20 million rose from the sea and grew into a modern showcase, with skyscrapers piercing the clouds, atop tidal flats fed by the mighty Yangtze River. Now Shanghai's future depends on finding ways to prevent the same waters from reclaiming it. Global warming and melting glaciers and polar ice sheets are raising sea levels worldwide, leaving tens of millions of people in coastal areas and on low-lying islands vulnerable to flooding and other weather-related ...
Sat, 17 Oct 09
Canada: Allow increased oil sands emissions, CEO urges
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/allow-increased-oil-sands-emissions-ceo-urges/article1325369/
Globe and Mail: Alberta's oil sands producers should be allowed to significantly increase their greenhouse gas emissions, even if that means forcing other sectors to take on additional expensive obligations to meet Canada's climate change targets, an industry executive says. Marcel Coutu, chief executive officer of Canadian Oil Sands Trust, COS.UN-T travelled to Toronto Thursday to spread the industry's message about climate change. The oil industry stance highlights the dilemma facing the federal ...
Sat, 17 Oct 09
Poor nations fear empty climate deal
http://www.stabroeknews.com/2009/world/10/16/poor-nations-fear-empty-climate-deal/
Reuters: Poor nations are not blocking global climate talks but are simply demanding that rich nations meet existing commitments of financial help, a leading negotiator for the 77 poorest countries said. Bernarditas Muller said a rift that emerged in climate talks in Bangkok last week showed that rich nations want to dodge responsibility for global warming by their industries and to avoid existing commitments to provide climate funding. About 180 nations will meet in Copenhagen in ...
Sat, 17 Oct 09
Hybrid cars dominate EPA list of top 10 fuel sippers
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-hybrids16-2009oct16,0,6717957.story
LA Times: Love 'em or hate 'em, hybrids have gone mainstream. Nine of the top 10 vehicles in the government's fuel economy rankings for the 2010 model year are hybrids. And they come from six automakers and carry nine nameplates. "There's now a hybrid for everyone," the government said in releasing the latest findings. "It's not either a [Toyota] Prius or a [Honda] Insight anymore." The Prius hybrid was once again the leader, with its fuel economy of 51 miles per gallon in city ...
Sat, 17 Oct 09
As ice melts, species will die and new territorial fights emerge
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2009/1016/1224256787256.html
Irish Times: THE ARCTIC ice-cap is melting and there seems to be very little we can do about it. Global warming is, as ever, the assumed cause but what difference will it make to life on this planet? Probably a great deal. Losing all of the summertime Arctic ice will change the way the earth absorbs or reflects incoming energy from the sun. Energy balances will change, temperature-driven ocean currents, including the Gulf Stream so very central to our own mild climate, are likely to be ...
Sat, 17 Oct 09
India opens door to climate deal, EU stuck
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSN1252318120091016?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: India softened climate demands on Friday, helping bridge a rich-poor divide, but said a global deal may miss a December deadline by a few months. In contrast, European Union states struggled to agree a common stance for financing a U.N. climate pact, meant to be agreed in Copenhagen at a December 7-18 meeting. India wanted generous aid on advanced carbon-cutting technologies but dropped a core demand that industrialized countries cut greenhouse gases by 40 percent by ...
Sat, 17 Oct 09
United Kingdom: Environmental activist arrested ahead of protest
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/oct/16/ratcliffe-arrests
Guardian: An environmental activist has been arrested in advance of a protest planned at a Nottinghamshire coal power station this weekend. As the unnamed campaigner was arrested yesterday on suspicion of conspiracy to commit criminal damage, it also emerged that a total of four climate activists have been detained this week attempting to travel to Copenhagen. Climate activists including members of campaigning groups Climate Camp and Plane Stupid have pledged to shut down the Ratcliffe-on-Soar ...
Sat, 17 Oct 09
Maldives cabinet rehearses underwater meeting
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091016/wl_sthasia_afp/climatewarmingunmaldivesoffbeat
Agence France-Presse: Ministers in the Maldives dived in their final rehearsal Friday ahead of an underwater cabinet meeting this weekend aimed at drawing attention to the dangers of global warming for the island nation. Wearing full scuba gear, they held two practice dive sessions at a depth of six metres (20 feet) near Girifushi island, 25 minutes by speed boat from the capital Male, event coordinator Aminath Shauna said. "All arrangements are now in place and we are fully prepared to have ...
Sat, 17 Oct 09
UN cautions over biofuels green credentials
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091016/sc_afp/environmentenergyalternativebiofuelun
Agence France-Presse: The use of biofuels as a source of clean energy may lead to higher carbon emissions, but can also yield significant cuts if production is properly managed, the UN Environment Programme said Friday. As such, governments should assess energy needs, effects on climate, land and water use as well as agriculture if biofuel projects are to be beneficial. Citing a report by its Panel for Sustainable Resource Management, the UN body noted that Brazil's biofuel production can lead to ...
Sat, 17 Oct 09
United Kingdom: Carbon capture plant backed by EU
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/south_yorkshire/8311286.stm
BBC: Plans for Britain's first coal-fired power station equipped with carbon capture technology have been backed by the European Commission. The commission has recommended that a plant in Hatfield, near Doncaster, should receive £164m of EU funding. The sum would be matched by a similar sum from the UK government. If the plan gets the go-ahead it is thought 1,500 jobs will be created by the plant's construction. Work would begin in 2010, for completion in 2015. The ...
Sat, 17 Oct 09
Forecasting Climate Change Legislation
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=113870296&ft=1&f=1025
National Public Radio: IRA FLATOW, host: You're listening to SCIENCE FRIDAY from NPR News. I'm Ira Flatow. As President Obama likes to say, he has a lot on his plate at the moment with Iraq and Afghanistan and health care. But what about climate change? The clock is ticking down to December, when a major U.N. summit on climate change is said to take place in Copenhagen. And while the U.S. Congress - and will the U.S. Congress take any action regarding climate change policy before then? What ...
Sat, 17 Oct 09
US seeks tougher protections for polar bear
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091016/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_polar_bear_protections
Associated Press: With global warming shrinking Arctic sea ice that polar bears depend upon for survival, the United States is seeking to remove another major threat: international trade in the bears' fur and other parts. In a proposal filed this week, the Interior Department asked other countries to support a ban on the commercial trade of polar bears and to strictly regulate trophy hunting. The request, if approved, would give the bear the most stringent protection afforded under an international ...
Sat, 17 Oct 09
Impacts of Global Biofuel Boom Remain Murky
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=impacts-of-global-biofuel-boom
Scientific American: A U.N. panel said today that biofuels' effects on air and water have not been sufficiently explored despite growing global production. The U.N. Environment Programme's report concludes that so-called lifecycle assessments must go beyond calculating greenhouse gas emissions and consider how agricultural production of feedstocks affect the acidification and nutrient loading of waterways. "The available knowledge from life-cycle-assessments ... seems limited, despite the fact that ...
Sat, 17 Oct 09
Biofuel Development Requires Sophisticated Approach: UN
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1770914/biofuel_development_requires_sophisticated_approach_un/index.html?source=r_science
redOrbit: Governments should adopt a more sophisticated approach to developing biofuels, and should incorporate them into wider strategies for energy, climate, land-use, water and agricultural if their deployment is to be of maximum benefit to society, said the U.N. Environment Program (UNEP) in a report issued Friday. The report, entitled "Towards Sustainable Production and Use of Resources: Assessing Biofuels", is the first by UNEP's International Panel for Sustainable Resource Management, ...
Sat, 17 Oct 09
More US Aid Proposed for Climate Change
http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-10-16-voa34.cfm
Voice of America: Some U.S. senators are calling for bipartisan action in Congress on climate change, ahead of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December. On Thursday, a Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee took up the issue of how the United States and other developed countries should help poorer countries that are most vulnerable to the impact of climate change. Democratic Senator John Kerry and Republican Senator Lindsey Graham have joined forces to push Congress to pass ...
Sat, 17 Oct 09
Finding Broad Support for Energy Efficiency as a Solution for Climate Change
http://www.reuters.com/article/mnCarbonEmissions/idUS294234761920091016
Reuters: ABC News poll from mid August included questions on how the President is handling energy policy. The results showed very strong support for energy efficiency as a way to fight climate change. The accompanying published article, however did not mention efficiency and instead talked about solar, wind, nuclear (including the NIMBY issue) and transportation. Looking into the tabulated answers, the poll results show that efficiency has strong support that appears to be non-partisan. ...
Sat, 17 Oct 09
Television has less effect on education about climate change than other forms of media
http://www.physorg.com/news174911853.html
Physorg: Worried about climate change and want to learn more? You probably aren't watching television then. A new study by George Mason University Communication Professor Xiaoquan Zhao suggests that watching television has no significant impact on viewers' knowledge about the issue of climate change. Reading newspapers and using the web, however, seem to contribute to people's knowledge about this issue. The study, "Media Use and Global Warming Perceptions: A Snapshot of the Reinforcing ...
Sat, 17 Oct 09
Utilities split on climate legislation
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/utilities-split-on-climate-legislation-2009-10-16
MarketWatch: The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has a rebellion on its hands, led by a handful of utilities that have broken with the powerful lobbying group over its stiff opposition to the war on global warming. Their defection opens a rift between companies that fear billions of dollars in higher operating costs and those moving now to tackle the challenges posed by stricter laws against carbon emissions. Collectively, the climate change legislation that passed the U.S. House of ...
Sat, 17 Oct 09
Tech Sector Urged to Lead Green Economy
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48896
Inter Press Service: U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has appealed to the information and communications technology (ICT) community to help seal the deal at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December. "CEOs can help government officials to understand the power of information and communications technology to address the climate threat and usher in a new green economy," Ban Ki-moon said at a recent Telecom World 2009 conference in Geneva. The secretary-general urged ...
Fri, 16 Oct 09
Pacific islands meet over climate change plan
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091016/sc_afp/pacificclimatewarming
Agence France-Presse: Officials from Pacific island countries expected to be among the earliest victims of climate change will meet next week to devise a negotiating strategy for a crucial Copenhagen conference. The officials will meet in Majuro, the capital of the Marshall Islands, a nation where islands average less than one metre (three feet) above sea level and are among the most vulnerable in the world to rising sea levels caused by global warming. More than a dozen Pacific Island countries ...
Fri, 16 Oct 09
Green products join fight against climate change
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20091016/lf_nm_life/us_singapore_ecoproducts
Reuters: A radio made of wood. A bag crafted from recycled ring pulls from drink cans. And a stylish lamp made from old Vespa scooter parts. A figment of some designer's imagination, right? Wrong. They are actually among a range of eco-products showcased by social group Qi Global at Singapore's National Museum as part of its wider efforts to protect the planet. Qi says all the products are aimed at breaking the general perception that eco-products are inferior in quality and ...
Fri, 16 Oct 09
Don't water down climate bill
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2009/10/16/dont_water_down_climate_bill/
Boston Globe: THE HIGHLY anticipated Senate climate-change bill sponsored by Senators John Kerry and Barbara Boxer makes noteworthy improvements on the similar bill passed by the House last summer. The Senate bill sets higher goals for reducing carbon emissions. But its two Senate sponsors must now avoid what happened in the House, where contentious negotiations served to water down a bill that started out to be every bit as ambitious as its Senate cousin. Like the House bill authored by ...
Fri, 16 Oct 09
Arctic Ice Mostly Gone in Ten Years?
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/10/091015-arctic-ice-free-gone-video-ap.html
National Geographic: Data released this week by a team of explorers who trekked through the Arctic for three months this spring shows the North Pole will be an open sea during the summer months within 20 years. The Catlin Arctic Survey team, led by explorer Pen Hadow, measured the thickness of the ice as they sledged and hiked through the northern part of the Beaufort Sea in the geographic north Pole. Their findings show that most of the ice in the region is first-year ice that is only around six ...
Fri, 16 Oct 09
Clean energy helps economy, environment
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2009/10/15/obama_clean_energy_helps_economy_environment/?rss_id=Boston.com+--+Latest+news
Associated Press: President Barack Obama says it's time to do the right thing for the environment and at the same boost the economy by doing more to promote renewable energy and reduce the nation's dependence on foreign oil. At a town hall meeting Thursday in New Orleans, a participant asked Obama what can be done to make environmental policies more effective. Obama pointed to clean-energy programs already being financed by the economic stimulus package. He said renewable energy has the ...
Fri, 16 Oct 09
Warming threatens Canada's rivers and lakes: WWF
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091015/sc_afp/canadaenvironmentwaterwarmingwwf
Agence France-Presse: Canadian rivers are at risk from a variety of environmental challenges, including global warming, expanding agriculture, the construction of hydro-electric dams and increased urban consumption of water, a study said Thursday. Although Canada holds the world's largest freshwater reserves in thousands of lakes and rivers, this could quickly change as demands for water increase exponentially, warned the authors of the World Wildlife Fund report. The WWF examined 10 Canadian rivers ...
Fri, 16 Oct 09
Solar Cell Efficiency Increased By Incorporating Ionic Salts
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091013205958.htm
ScienceDaily: Within the Consolider HOPE project (projects funded by the Ministry of Innovation and Science), a group of scientists at Universidad Pablo de Olavide (UPO), headed by Juan Antonio Anta, are working on the optimisation of a type of photovoltaic cell (Grätzel cell) that artificially mimics photosynthesis. Grätzel cells are photovoltaic devices that take advantage of the interaction of a structured semiconductor less than nanometre in size and an organic dye that acts as a solar ...
Fri, 16 Oct 09
Feds deny protection for spotted seals near Alaska
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091015/ap_on_re_us/us_spotted_seals
Associated Press: Spotted seals off Alaska's coast do not merit endangered species protection despite losses of Arctic sea ice from global warming, a federal agency announced Thursday. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, however, will list as threatened a small population of spotted seals that live off the coasts of Russia and China. Doug Mecum, acting administrator for NOAA's Fisheries Service Alaska region, said spotted seals in two populations closest to Alaska exceed 200,000 ...
Fri, 16 Oct 09
Ed Miliband calls on Barack Obama to save Copenhagen climate summit
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article6877159.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=3392178
Times (UK): President Obama must intervene personally to rescue a proposed global deal on climate change that is hanging in the balance, the British Energy and Climate Change Secretary has told The Times. Ed Miliband said that there was a much greater chance of a successful deal being agreed in December if Mr Obama travelled to Copenhagen to lead the US delegation to the UN conference. Gordon Brown has said that he will attend the conference but Mr Obama and most other world leaders have ...
Fri, 16 Oct 09
Climate change priority falls with Australian public
http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/pacbeat/stories/200910/s2715858.htm
Radio Australia: A new poll shows that climate change is sliding down the priority of foreign policy issues most important to Australians. In 2007 an annual survey, conducted by the Lowy Institute, revealed that climate change was top of the list. Two years on, it's fallen to seventh - behind issues like job security, the strength of the economy, terrorism and the threat of nuclear weapons. Presenter: Danny Morgan Speaker: Dr Michael Wesley, Executive Director of Lowy Institute; Greg ...
Fri, 16 Oct 09
United Kingdom: Terror Act used on climate activist
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/terror-act-used-on-climate-activist-1803054.html
Press Association: Terror legislation was used to stop a British climate change activist from travelling to Denmark, it has emerged. Chris Kitchen, 31, said he was prevented from crossing the border on Tuesday at about 5pm when the coach he was travelling on stopped at the Folkestone terminal of the Channel Tunnel. Mr Kitchen told the Guardian that police officers boarded the coach and, after checking all passengers' passports, took him and another climate activist to be interviewed under ...
Fri, 16 Oct 09
Most Arctic sea ice 'gone in decade'
http://www.independent.co.uk/incoming/most-arctic-sea-ice-gone-in-decade-1803035.html
Press Association: The Arctic Ocean will be an "open sea" almost entirely free from ice within a decade, the latest data released today indicates. Ice cover during the summer months will have entirely disappeared within 20 years, but most of the decrease will happen before 2020, leaving the Arctic Ocean clear for marine transport. The Catlin Arctic Survey, completed earlier this year by a team led by explorer Pen Hadow, is the latest research into the condition of Arctic ice. Drilling and ...
Fri, 16 Oct 09
Arctic summer ice could disappear within decades
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/oct/15/arctic-survey-ice-melting
Guardian: Changes in Arctic sea ice coverage from 1978 to 2008 Link to this video A pioneering expedition to the north pole has confirmed that Arctic ice is thinner than expected, highlighting fears that the region could be free of ice in the summertime within a few decades. The Catlin Arctic Survey, led by polar explorer Pen Hadow, found that the area covered by their survey was covered almost entirely by ice less than one year old. The region, in the northern part of the Beaufort sea, ...
Fri, 16 Oct 09
China's carbon emissions could be cheaply buried underground, says study
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2251309/china-coal-plant-emissions
Business Green: China could bury its coal plant emissions underground as a cost-effective means of reducing global greenhouse gas levels, according to a study released yesterday. Research by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, a government lab of the US Department of Energy, estimates that China has enough deep rock layers with the capacity to store the country's carbon dioxide emissions for the next 100 years. "Conventional thinking had been that China did not have a lot of storage for ...
Fri, 16 Oct 09
United States: Governator shrinks from solar targets
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2251310/governator-shrinks-solar
Business Green: California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has vetoed a bill enshrining renewable energy targets in law, but has approved measures enabling both business and consumers to make money from solar installations that generate surplus electricity. Critics say that Schwarzenegger's decision to issue an executive order rather than legislate to ensure that the state generates 33 per cent of its power from renewable sources by 2020 means that the target is vulnerable to being overturned if there ...
Fri, 16 Oct 09
United Kingdom: Bremner adds his voice(s) to Prince Charles' rainforest SOS
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/bremner-adds-his-voices-to-prince-charles-rainforest-sos-1803163.html
Independent (UK): Bremner has been taking the proverbial out of David Attenborough, Billy Connolly and Antony Worral Thompson all in the name of upping awareness for the Prince's Rainforest Project's SOS campaign. Campaigners for are appealing to the public to add their names and SOS messages to a petition being collected online at www.rainforestSOS.org. A host of celebrities have endorsed the fight against deforestation which environmentalists say is a major cause of the rise in greenhouse gas and ...
Fri, 16 Oct 09
Supporters say summit won't reach climate deal
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE59E31820091015?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: An international meeting in December to create tough new goals for fighting global warming will fail to produce a deal, but more modest objectives can be achieved, supporters said on Wednesday. "I think it's impossible to really get to a binding international agreement" by mid-December in Copenhagen, said Eileen Claussen, president of the Pew Center on Global Climate Change. Speaking at a forum sponsored by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Claussen sketched out ...
Fri, 16 Oct 09
US steel-makers temper climate deal hopes
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20427304.300-us-steelmakers-temper-climate-deal-hopes.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=climate-change
New Scientist: AMERICA's giant steel-makers could be about to torpedo an international agreement on climate change. Following lobbying by heavy industries, the US Congress is considering imposing tariffs on imports from China and other developing nations. That could be a deal-breaker for poor nations at December's climate change talks in Copenhagen. If Congress passes laws imposing a limit on US greenhouse gas emissions, energy-intensive sectors such as steel-making and cement manufacture ...
Fri, 16 Oct 09
U.S. climate plan must spread costs evenly: experts
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE59D57M20091015?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: A U.S. cap-and-trade market on greenhouse gases should be designed carefully to avoid unfair economic pain in fossil fuel industries and other parts of the economy, experts told lawmakers on Wednesday. The aim of a cap-and-trade market on greenhouse gases at the center of the climate bill introduced by Senate leaders this month would transform the economy from being based on fossil fuels to more nuclear and renewable power. "The shifts will be significant," Douglas Elmendorf, ...
Fri, 16 Oct 09
Biofuels industry built from scratch
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/15/business/energy-environment/15biofuel.html?_r=5&hpw
New York Times: On one side of a factory here, workers dump 500-pound sacks of pine chips into a hopper. Deep inside the plant, an 8,000-degree blow torch roars like a jet engine as the chips are processed. At the far end, the workers turn a tap and out pours ethanol, ready for use as a motor fuel. The facility, built by a company called Coskata, is not quite proof that a new era is at hand for American transportation fuels. But with the company claiming it will be able to convert wood waste into ...
Fri, 16 Oct 09
Conflicting reviews on Canada's emissions fight
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/business/conflicting-reviews-on-canadas-emissions-fight-64345322.html
Winnipeg Free Press: The Alberta and federal governments have announced they will spend $779 million over 15 years to help kick-start a carbon-dioxide-capture project west of Edmonton -- the kind of effort that's been offered as the answer to international concerns over emissions from the province's energy sector. Prime Minister Stephen Harper attended Wednesday as the funding was announced for TransAlta Corp.'s project for its Keephills 3 coal-fired electricity generation plant near Wabamun Lake. Called ...
Fri, 16 Oct 09
Bolivia: Forests as carbon offsets fail to impress in first big trial
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/14/AR2009101403762.html
Washington Post: More than a decade ago in the northeast corner of Bolivia, a group of polluters and environmentalists joined forces in the first large-scale experiment to curb climate change with a strategy that promised to suit their competing interests: compensating for greenhouse gas emissions by preserving forests. The coalition of U.S. utility companies, two nonprofit groups and the Bolivian government had the common goal of making a dent in the worldwide deforestation that accounts for about 17 ...
Fri, 16 Oct 09
The trouble facing Canadian rivers
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/the-trouble-facing-canadian-rivers/article1323904/
Globe and Mail: The seasonal waxing and waning of rivers is one of nature's most crucial cycles, influencing everything from the success of salmon runs to having enough water during parched summers to irrigate crops. But by this measure, many of Canada's major rivers are in trouble, contends a new report that says many of the best known rivers have suffered major alterations in their natural flows due to hydro dams, irrigation schemes and withdrawals by industry, and could be further compromised by ...
Fri, 16 Oct 09
Arctic Ocean melting fast, researchers say
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/arctic-ocean-melting-fast-researchers-say/article1323859/
Globe and Mail: In less than two decades, the Arctic Ocean could be all but ice-free all summer, every summer, and a swiftly melting North would have potentially devastating implications for the rest of the planet, British researchers say. An on-the-ground observation sampling of ice thickness, the first of its kind, indicates the Arctic Ocean's frozen cover is rapidly thinning, according to the Polar Ocean Physics Group at the University of Cambridge. The area will be open and navigable during the ...
Fri, 16 Oct 09
Arctic ice cap to disappear in 20-30 years: study
http://www.terradaily.com/2007/091014230127.o1oktpxe.html
Agence France-Presse: The Arctic ice cap will disappear completely in summer months within 20 to 30 years, a polar research team said as they presented findings from an expedition led by adventurer Pen Hadow. It is likely to be largely ice-free during the warmer months within a decade, the experts added. Veteran polar explorer Hadow and two other Britons went out on the Arctic ice cap for 73 days during the northern spring, taking more than 6,000 measurements and observations of the sea ...
Fri, 16 Oct 09
Arctic Land, Seas Account For 25 Percent Of World's Carbon Sink
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1769931/arctic_land_seas_account_for_25_percent_of_worlds_carbon/index.html?source=r_science
redOrbit: In a new study in the journal Ecological Monographs, ecologists estimate that Arctic lands and oceans are responsible for up to 25 percent of the global net sink of atmospheric carbon dioxide. Under current predictions of global warming, this Arctic sink could be diminished or reversed, potentially accelerating predicted rates of climate change. In their review paper, David McGuire of the U.S. Geological Survey and the University of Alaska at Fairbanks and his colleagues show that the ...
Fri, 16 Oct 09
Maldives govt goes underwater for climate change
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE59E3D720091015?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: To bring attention the risk the Maldives face from rising sea levels and climate change, President Mohamed Nasheed is going to the bottom of the Indian Ocean. On Saturday, he and 12 cabinet ministers will don scuba gear and dive 3.5 meters (11 feet, 6 inches) under the surface of a turquoise lagoon to hold what is billed as the world's first underwater cabinet meeting. It is the latest of Nasheed's eye-catching moves to bring attention to the Maldives' plight before a landmark ...
Fri, 16 Oct 09
Winter weather split in U.S., El Nino lingers: NOAA
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE59E3S020091015?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: It will be a tale of two winters in the United States -- warmer and drier than average in the North and wetter and cooler in the South -- thanks to El Nino, government forecasters said on Thursday. In its winter outlook covering December through February, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said the El Nino phenomenon will be the dominant factor influencing weather across the United States. The impact of the weather anomaly in the Pacific Ocean is most evident during ...
Fri, 16 Oct 09
Canada refutes climate split with developing nations
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091015/sc_afp/climatewarmingununfccccanada
Agence France-Presse: Environment Minister Jim Prentice on Thursday refuted reports of a serious schism between Canada and the Group of 77 Developing Nations over how to combat climate change. He and his climate change envoy Michael Martin disputed media reports of a "walk-out" by representatives of the developing G77 countries at a UN climate change meeting in Bangkok last week to protest Canada's position. "An informal discussion was convened one evening among interested parties on the possible ...
Fri, 16 Oct 09
Energy ministers point way on climate change
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091015/sc_afp/ieaenergyclimatewarmingemerge
Agence France-Presse: Ministers attending the International Energy Agency (IEA) on Thursday agreed to work towards a low-carbon global economy at talks that included emerging giants China, India and Russia for the first time. "This is a historic moment," Dutch Economy Minister Maria van der Hoeven, who chaired the meeting in Paris, said in a statement. "Today, we chart a course to a low-carbon economy, adequate energy investment and greater global engagement," she said. Ministers recognised ...
Fri, 16 Oct 09
Carbon emissions must peak by 2015: UN climate scientist
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091015/sc_afp/unclimatewarmingpachauri
Agence France-Presse: The UN's top climate scientist on Thursday urged a key conference on global warming to set tough mid-term goals and warned carbon emissions had to peak by 2015 to meet a widely-shared vision. Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the Nobel-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), said the talks in Copenhagen in December must focus on 2020, a far more important target than mid-century. "Strong, urgent and effective action" is needed, Pachauri told a meeting of ...
Fri, 16 Oct 09
UK targets "all issues" at London climate meet
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSN1252318120091015?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Britain aims to break a deadlock in U.N. climate talks when it hosts the world's biggest emitters this weekend, as doubts grow that a summit in 50 days will agree a new pact. U.N. talks to widen the existing Kyoto Protocol still face wide open issues from funding and carbon emissions targets to legal basics such as how many new pacts countries must sign. "The deadline is concentrating minds," said British Energy and Climate Change Secretary, Ed Miliband on Thursday, of the ...
Fri, 16 Oct 09
US must help poor nations deal with climate change: experts
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5guewSeeEqkeHXpDnl8oZ3bZAP5gg
Agence France-Presse: Experts and aid groups called Thursday for the United States to help poor countries deal with the effects of global warming, as Congress considers key climate change legislation. Testifying before a Senate panel, humanitarian organizations called for US aid to help countries with "adaptation solutions" in response to the effects of climate change. "Congress has a unique opportunity to invest in adaptation solutions today that will pay off both immediately and in the future," ...
Fri, 16 Oct 09
Climate change deal must include targets for rich countries says Miliband
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/6336860/Climate-change-deal-must-include-targets-for-rich-countries-says-Miliband.html
Telegraph: The UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December is due to agree a replacement to the Kyoto Protocol. However so far the 190 countries involved in the deal have failed to agree on how the world can keep temperature rise below two degrees C (3.6 degrees F). In a last-ditch attempt to ensure an ambitious deal is met, the UK is hosting the Major Economies Forum (MEF) next week that will bring together ministers and officials from around the world. Mr Miliband said ...
Fri, 16 Oct 09
The Arctic will be ice-free in summer within 20 years, research says
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/science/earth-environment/article6875260.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=3392178
Times (UK): Ships will be able to sail in open water to the North Pole in the summer of 2020, according to a study that found a rapid acceleration in the loss of sea ice. The Arctic will be ice-free in summer within 20 years, the study found, while the Earth will lose the white cap that can be seen in photographs taken from space. The Polar Ocean Physics Group from Cambridge University compared measurements of ice thickness recorded by a Royal Navy nuclear submarine with those taken two ...
Fri, 16 Oct 09
Japanese firm plans zero-emission ferry
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091015/sc_afp/japantransporttechnologyenvironmentcompanyihi
Agence France-Presse: A Japanese shipmaker said Thursday it planned to launch the world's first large electric ferry -- the latest innovation aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions. A subsidiary of heavy machinery giant IHI Corp. has completed a basic design for a 30-metre (99-foot) long ferry that could carry 800 passengers, powered by rechargeable batteries, a company spokesman said. While smaller battery-powered boats are already in use, IHI's ferry would be "the world's first large plug-in ...
Fri, 16 Oct 09
Arctic to be ice-free in summer in 20 years: scientist
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE59E18W20091015?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Global warming will leave the Arctic Ocean ice-free during the summer within 20 years, raising sea levels and harming wildlife such as seals and polar bears, a leading British polar scientist said on Thursday. Peter Wadhams, professor of ocean physics at the University of Cambridge, said much of the melting will take place within a decade, although the winter ice will stay for hundreds of years. The changes will mean the top of the Earth will appear blue rather than white when ...
Fri, 16 Oct 09
Curbing Climate Change by Sealing Gas Leaks
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/15/business/energy-environment/15degrees.html?_r=5
New York Times: To the naked eye, there was nothing to be seen at a natural gas well in eastern Texas but beige pipes and tanks baking in the sun. But in the viewfinder of Terry Gosney's infrared camera, three black plumes of gas gushed through leaks that were otherwise invisible. "Holy smoke, it's blowing like mad," said Mr. Gosney, an environmental field coordinator for EnCana, the Canadian gas producer that operates the year-old well near Franklin, Tex. "It does look nasty." Within a ...
Fri, 16 Oct 09
Africa: Climate change victim number one
http://www.eturbonews.com/12272/africa-climate-change-victim-number-one
ETN: African governments, supported by the African Union (AU), are now in the process of drafting harmonized legislation in regard of the climate change presently sweeping the continent and giving Africa a common voice in the international arena of negotiations and compensations expected to come out of the Copenhagen Climate Change Summit in December. Regional meetings are now ongoing to formulate a common African position for Copenhagen, and the African delegations are expected to look at ...
Fri, 16 Oct 09
Cap-and-Trade Climate Bill Would Slow U.S. Economy, CBO Head Says
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/14/AR2009101404054.html
Washington Post: A House-passed bill that targets climate change through a cap-and-trade system of pollution credits would slow the nation's economic growth slightly over the next few decades and would create "significant" job losses from fossil fuel industries as the country shifts to renewable energy, the head of the Congressional Budget Office told a Senate energy panel Wednesday. CBO Director Douglas W. Elmendorf emphasized that his estimates contained significant uncertainties and "do not include ...
Fri, 16 Oct 09
Biggest Obstacle to Global Climate Deal May Be How to Pay for It
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/15/science/earth/15climate.html?_r=5
New York Times: As world leaders struggle to hash out a new global climate deal by December, they face a hurdle perhaps more formidable than getting big polluters like the United States and China to reduce greenhouse gas emissions: how to pay for the new accord. The price tag for a new climate agreement will be a staggering $100 billion a year by 2020, many economists estimate; some put the cost at closer to $1 trillion. That money is needed to help fast-developing countries like India and Brazil ...
Fri, 16 Oct 09
Brazil eyes capping emissions at 2005 levels
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE59C5N220091013?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Brazil is considering capping its greenhouse gas emissions at 2005 levels as it finalizes its proposals ahead of December's global climate summit, Environment Minister Carlos Minc said on Tuesday. Minc said he proposed the target during a meeting with President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and several other Cabinet members as Brazil seeks to define this month its final proposal for the United Nations climate summit in Copenhagen. The South American nation is expected to play a key ...
Fri, 16 Oct 09
Senators say U.S. climate bill making progress
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE59C6D120091013?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Democratic U.S. senators pushing legislation on global warming said on Tuesday they were making progress in winning support for the controversial measure, which is expected to begin moving through a key Senate committee sometime in November. "We will make our best effort and we will advance this ball and Copenhagen will know we're not fooling around," Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry told Reuters in an interview. In early December, an international meeting ...
Fri, 16 Oct 09
Setting sail in an ecological 'Earthship'
http://www.physorg.com/news174663218.html
Physorg: Could sustainable architecture address pollution, climate change and resource depletion by helping us build self-sufficient, off-grid, housing from "waste", including vehicle tires and metal drinks containers? That's the question researchers at the University of South Australia hope to answer in the International Journal of Sustainable Design. Martin Freney of the department of Art, Architecture and Design has taken a critical look at the work of architect, Michael Reynolds of Taos, ...
Fri, 16 Oct 09
Go to Copenhagen with Gandhi's teachings in mind, says Dr Pachauri
http://www.newkerala.com/nkfullnews-1-130855.html
New Kerela: Chairman of the Nobel prize winner Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change Dr R K Pachauri today called up on those going to Copenhagen for arriving at a deal on arresting global warming to take a leaf from the life and thoughts of Father of the Nation Mahatama Gandhi to succeed in their mission. ''Gandhiji was a great environmentalist, and if nations of the world followed his dictum 'Let us live a simple life so that other can simply live' they would not have difficulty in ...
Fri, 16 Oct 09
Human waste boosting crop yields
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/merseyside/8306261.stm
BBC: Human waste is being used as fertiliser across fields in Cheshire. United Utilities has spent two-and-a-half years attempting to turn sewage into odourless fertiliser pellets in a bid to boost crop yields. The technique has been developed in Ellesmere Port's waste water treatment works and is being used on maize and rape seed crops. Dr Son Le, of United Utilities, said: "We could be eating vegetables grown from our waste. That's sustainable." 'Easy to ...
Fri, 16 Oct 09
Earth's critical stabiliser on wane
http://www.odt.co.nz/opinion/opinion/78137/earth039s-critical-stabiliser-wane
Otago Daily Times: Earth's critical stabiliser on wane Published on Otago Daily Times Online (http://www.odt.co.nz) Earth's critical stabiliser on wane Created 15/10/2009 - 04:58 Click photo to enlarge [1] Alex Gough, of the University of Otago department of physics, takes notes as an oceanographic mooring is raised from beneath the sea ice in the Antarctic. Photo by Andy Mahoney. Andy Mahoney, a member of the sea-ice group at the University of Otago, submits the group's summary of the role of sea ice ...
Fri, 16 Oct 09
India's Floods in Retrospect
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48867
Inter Press Service: "For almost one full day, we were desperate, wet and hungry," said Raja Angamutthu. "Our house, farmland, utensils, everything was floating in a watery grave while we looked on helplessly!" The third-generation farmer in Andhra Pradesh's Cudappah district is one of tens of thousands of people that suffered the massive impact of the devastating floods -- caused by a deep depression in the Bay of Bengal -- that wreaked havoc in the southern states of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka early ...
Wed, 14 Oct 09
Australia: Britain rebuffed on carbon capture commitment
http://www.smh.com.au/environment/britain-rebuffed-on-carbon-capture-commitment-20091013-gvq9.html
Sydney Morning Herald: AUSTRALIA has turned down an approach by the British Government to pledge not to build any coal-fired power plants without ''significant'' carbon capture and storage technology built in. The British High Commission has been lobbying the Government for several months to make the commitment, but is understood to have been rebuffed in recent weeks by the Prime Minister's office. The pledge would have also meant all coal plants built in Australia would be required to have fully ...
Wed, 14 Oct 09
Memo calls for reversing law to phase out German nuclear plants
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/13/world/europe/13iht-germany.html?_r=5
New York Times: Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives want to prolong the life of Germany's nuclear reactors by overturning a law aimed at phasing out atomic energy by the 2020s, according to a party working document. In a country in which the public is deeply opposed to nuclear power but obsessed with climate protection, Mrs. Merkel will have to persuade even her supporters that prolonging the life of the 17 power plants is necessary until there are sufficient alternative sources of clean energy ...
Wed, 14 Oct 09
United States: Transforming clean-energy industry into a local one
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/12/AR2009101203097.html
Washington Post: From his desk at the local electricity cooperative, Bruce Gomm can see the looming black smokestacks of the city's aging coal-fired power plant. He can also see, on his office wall, framed photographs of sleek new wind turbines. Together, they are a changing world foretold. Gomm is placing a major bet on wind to produce the electrons that will power his customers' lights and run their dishwashers. He is at the forefront of a movement called community power, the idea that neighborhoods ...
Wed, 14 Oct 09
United Kingdom: Dr Rowan Williams: 'Dig for victory over climate change and grow your own food.'
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/science/earth-environment/article6872027.ece
Times (UK): The Archbishop of Canterbury has called for "unsustainable' air-freighted food to be replaced gradually by homegrown produce from thousands of new allotments. In an interview with The Times, Dr Rowan Williams said that families needed to respond to the threat of climate change by changing their shopping habits and adjusting their diets to the seasons, eating fruit and vegetables that could be grown in Britain. He said that the carbon footprint of peas from Kenya and other ...
Wed, 14 Oct 09
Australia: Brumby's dirty secret: Coal for export
http://www.theage.com.au/national/brumbys-dirty-secret-coal-for-export-20091013-gvnp.html
Age: VICTORIA'S massive brown coal reserves look set to be opened up to export for the first time - prompting claims the state is putting commercial opportunity ahead of its responsibility to curb greenhouse gas emissions. Confidential cabinet documents obtained by The Age show the Brumby Government is considering offering billions of tonnes of Latrobe Valley coal for tender next year. The tender process would be preceded by a green light for a $1.5 billion scheme by the company ...
Wed, 14 Oct 09
United Kingdom: Road pricing 'should be used to help meet carbon targets.'
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/news/6299944/Road-pricing-should-be-used-to-help-meet-carbon-targets.html
Telegraph: Ministers first floated the idea of a national road pricing scheme as a "stealth tax" to pay for upgrading roads and improving public transport. However it caused a massive backlash among motorists who were concerned the payments, that could be made at toll booths or through satellite technology, would make freedom of travel prohibitively expensive. Now the idea has reared its head again as part of a number of measures to help the UK meet ambitious climate change ...
Wed, 14 Oct 09
US Population Growth Will Make 2050 Emission Cuts Hard
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1768415/us_population_growth_will_make_2050_emission_cuts_hard/index.html?source=r_science
Various: The United States will have a much harder time meeting goals for 2050 greenhouse gas emission cuts than Russia and a number of other wealthy countries that have decreasing populations, according to the results of a Reuters survey. In July, those heading up the Group of Eight came to an agreement that they would make an expensive move to reduce emissions in developed nations by an average of 80 percent by 2050 by making the switch to renewable energies. They believe this goal could ...
Wed, 14 Oct 09
India says aims for green GDP alternative by 2015
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20091013/india_nm/india431279
Reuters: India aims to factor the use of natural resources in its economic growth estimates by 2015, environment minister Jairam Ramesh said on Tuesday, as New Delhi seeks to underscore the actions it is taking to fight global warming. The stand is likely to strengthen India's stance at crucial negotiations in Copenhagen in December on a treaty to succeed the Kyoto Protocol, which obliges 37 rich nations to cut emissions by an average of 5 percent below 1990 levels by 2008-12. India is ...
Wed, 14 Oct 09
United Kingdom: Miliband calls full steam ahead for CCS, despite Kingsnorth delay
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2251133/miliband-recommits-ccs-wake
Business Green: Ed Miliband today reaffirmed the government's commitment to the development of carbon capture and storage (CCS) plants in the UK, despite E.ON's announcement that it had shelved plans for a new coal plant at Kingsnorth in Kent, and confirmation yesterday from Danish power firm Dong Energy that it is pulling out of the project to build a 1.6GW coal-fired power station in Ayrshire, Scotland. The government is currently running a competition to completely fund a £1bn CCS plant in the UK. ...
Wed, 14 Oct 09
US carbon price to hit $15 a ton under Boxer-Kerry
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2251145/carbon-price-hit-tonne-under
Business Green: Carbon credits will cost just $15 (£9.44) per ton during the first phase of the cap-and-trade scheme proposed as part of the Boxer-Kerry climate change bill that is currently working its way through Senate committees. That is the conclusion of a new model devised by industry analyst firm Point Carbon, which predicts that the average price for emission allowances under the scheme during the initial 2012 to 2019 period will not rise above the average price floor set by the ...
Wed, 14 Oct 09
Growth Versus Global Warming
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1768681/growth_versus_global_warming/index.html?source=r_science
redOrbit: Houses on stilts, small scale energy generation and recycling our dishwater are just some of the measures that are being proposed to prepare our cities for the effects of global warming. A three-year project led by Newcastle University for the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research has outlined how our major cities must respond if they are to continue to grow in the face of climate change. Using the new UK Climate Predictions '09 data for weather patterns over the next ...
Wed, 14 Oct 09
Brazil's Lula vows to slow rate of Amazon deforestation
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091013/sc_afp/brazilenvironmentwarmingamazon
Agence France-Presse: President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said Tuesday he will offer to reduce the pace of deforestation in Brazil's Amazon rain forest by 80 percent by 2020 when he attends December's global climate talks in Copenhagen. Lula said his pledge will come during high-stakes talks in the Danish capital that aim to push 192 nations towards a climate deal to succeed the landmark Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012. "We're in the process of preparing our proposal for Copenhagen," Lula said ...
Wed, 14 Oct 09
Meet Lindsey Graham, the Next GOP Maverick on Climate Change
http://www.nytimes.com/cwire/2009/10/13/13climatewire-meet-lindsey-graham-the-next-gop-maverick-on-13485.html
ClimateWire: Sen. Lindsey Graham spent his summer testing out lines on global warming. As the Republican hit the town halls in South Carolina, a state with a major military presence and one of the country's highest unemployment rates, Graham would ask people if they thought climate change was a problem. Few did. But Graham quickly followed with another question, asking for a show of hands from those concerned about energy security. The response was strong, and Graham wasted little ...
Wed, 14 Oct 09
Stalemate On Climate Change Continues Ahead Of Copenhagen Summit
http://www.rttnews.com/Content/GeneralNews.aspx?Node=B1&Id=1091609
RTT News: head of the crucial Copenhagen summit in December, the stalemate over carbon emission cuts continued at the Bangkok Climate Change talks with developed countries refusing to abide by the Kyoto Protocol's greenhouse gas emission target. Su Wei, head of the Chinese delegation to the climate negotiations in Bangkok, said some developed countries adopted "passive attitude" in combating climate change at the talks. He said developed nations neither offered satisfactory plans on ...
Wed, 14 Oct 09
Earth's Life Support Systems Failing
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48844
Inter Press Service: The world has failed to slow the accelerating extinction crisis despite 17 years of national and international efforts since the great hopes raised at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. The last big promise to act was in 2003, when government ministers from 123 countries committed to reduce the rate of biodiversity loss by 2010. Experts convening an international meeting in South Africa this week agree that target will not be met next year, which is also the International ...
Wed, 14 Oct 09
Climate Change Worsening Farming's Trade-Related Woes
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48834
Inter Press Service: Numerous research institutes and international organisations agree that climate change will in the short and medium term worsen Africa's agriculture and food production capabilities, unless greenhouse gases emissions (GHE) are substantially reduced and adequate trade and investment policies put in place. Fresh studies on the effects of climate change on agriculture predict that, without proper mitigation and adaptation policies, sub-Saharan African countries will suffer the most in ...
Wed, 14 Oct 09
Taiwan: Experts warn rainfall may triple in 20 years
http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/national/national-news/2009/10/13/228363/Experts-warn.htm
China Post: Researchers monitoring climate change at the Academia Sinica suggested yesterday that the government and people of Taiwan take measures and precautions to avoid suffering devastation from natural disasters like typhoons and ensuing flooding. The researchers said the continuing global warming and climate change will not only increase the frequency of torrential rains and floods but will also escalate the extensive damages. They warned that heavy rains dumped on the island could ...
Wed, 14 Oct 09
Climate change gets a 'dangerous' makeover
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/breaking-news/climate-change-gets-a-dangerous-makeover/story-e6frf7kf-1225786308994
AAP: FEDERAL Environment Minister Peter Garrett has downplayed the Government's recent adoption of the phrase "dangerous climate change". "You are reading more into that than I would,'' he said in Hobart today after using the phrase that is also now being used by his Cabinet colleagues. "The fact of the matter is that our tourism industries, our fishing industries, our agriculture industries, all of our industries as well as the community, are affected by climate change,'' he ...
Wed, 14 Oct 09
United States: Assembly of peak oil experts look at shale gas
http://durangoherald.com/sections/News/2009/10/13/Assembly_of_peak_oil_experts_look_at_shale_gas/
Durango Herald: As a boy in Arizona, Randy Udall did a "science experiment' by putting a tarantula and a scorpion together in a Mason jar to see what would happen. He did the same kind of experiment Monday, pitting energy executives against each other in a debate over a large new source of natural gas. Udall is a co-founder of the Association for the Study of Peak Oil-USA and the brother of U.S. Sen. Mark Udall, D-Colo. At Monday's national peak oil conference in Denver, he tried to make sense ...
Wed, 14 Oct 09
Carbon capture plan mostly still hot air
http://www2.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/comment/story.html?id=c6f6ec2b-3be4-4909-a552-c5f7289f7501
Times Colonist: Carbon dioxide might be an invisible gas, but the Alberta government is doing its best to use it as a political smokescreen. Look no further than last week's announcement of $865 million in Alberta taxpayers' money for the province's first major pilot project for carbon capture and storage (CCS). At first glance it seems impressive -- major government funding; eager private partners; a potential solution to climate change through reductions of greenhouse gas emissions; a ...
Wed, 14 Oct 09
Canada's Kyoto view triggers a walkout
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/709146--canada-s-kyoto-view-triggers-a-walkout
Toronto Star: The government's push to abandon much of the Kyoto Protocol prompted dozens of developing countries to walk out on Canada's address during recent climate talks in Thailand, The Canadian Press has learned. The mass walkout came after the Canadian delegation suggested replacing the Kyoto Protocol with an entirely new global-warming pact, according to one of the negotiators and notes taken by others at the meeting. A widening and bitter rift between rich and developing countries ...
Wed, 14 Oct 09
India: Cut soot, slow climate change: Scientists
http://www.samaylive.com/news/cut-soot-slow-climate-change-scientists/662004.html
Indo-Asian News Service: Global warming is caused by excess of greenhouse gases, mainly carbon dioxide, but cutting down other pollutants such as soot can help slow climate change in a big way, say the world's leading scientists, including an Indian American. Nobel laureate Mario Molina of the University of California San Diego (UCSD), Veerabhadran Ramanathan, of Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UCSD and other leading climate scientists said in a new paper that black carbon soot, tropospheric ozone, and ...
Wed, 14 Oct 09
UN to seek tens of millions more aid for storm-hit Philippines
http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5hOjbF0u60RC9jUUomcauUfR4QKvw
Canadian Press: The U.N. will appeal for tens of millions in fresh aid for the Philippines in addition to $44 million already pledged for the Southeast Asian nation as it grapples with massive destruction from back-to-back storms, a top official said Tuesday. A typhoon on the heels of last month's tropical storm triggered landslides and widespread flooding in the northern Philippines, killing at least 669 people since Sept. 26. About 6 million people have been affected and the cost of damage is ...
Wed, 14 Oct 09
Kashmir glaciers shrinking at 'alarming' speed
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jyHFyBnaNmTx5CG8rap7tt2MqqNg
Agence France-Presse: Rising winter temperatures are shrinking Himalayan glaciers in Indian Kashmir at "alarming" speeds, threatening water supplies to vast tracts of India and Pakistan, according to a new study. The Kolahoi glacier, the largest in the region, has shrunk by 2.63 square kilometers (one square mile) in the past three decades to just over 11 square kilometers, said the study presented at a three-day international workshop on climate change that began Monday in the Kashmiri summer capital ...
Wed, 14 Oct 09
South Korea world's 9th-largest CO2 emitter: report
http://www.ptinews.com/news/328674_South-Korea-world-s-9th-largest-CO2-emitter--report
Press Trust of India: South Korea is ranked ninth worldwide in the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) gas released into the atmosphere in 2007, a government report has said. The report citing findings by the International Energy Agency (IEA) that showed the country's ranking unchanged from 2006 and standing in sixth place among Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) members, the Ministry of Knowledge Economy said. China is ranked at the top of the list, followed by the United ...
Wed, 14 Oct 09
Guyana risks losing 12% of GDP to climate change by 2030
http://www.stabroeknews.com/2009/stories/10/13/guyana-risks-losing-12-of-gdp-to-climate-change-by-2030/
Stabroek News: A recent report which seeks to provide a framework for countries to calculate and mitigate climate risks says Guyana is among countries which stand to lose between 1and 12 per cent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) annually to the effects of climate change. In the case of Georgetown, when other factors were added, the potential climate-related loss to the year 2030 rises to 19% of GDP. However, there are insurance solutions available to mitigate the risks. The ...
Wed, 14 Oct 09
Researchers determining the costs of climate change
http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/oct/13/researchers-determining-costs-climate-change/?education&zIndex=181737
San Diego Tribune: In an effort to pin down the costs of global climate change, one of the world's largest insurers announced yesterday that its research network is joining with San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography to study the effect of changes in the weather and sea level. Under the arrangement, Scripps will provide climate research to the Willis Group of London and its clients in the insurance industry, which could use the data to assess their exposure to financial risks from rising sea ...
Wed, 14 Oct 09
Australia: Global warming drops down list
http://www.theage.com.au/environment/global-warming-drops-down-list-20091012-gu1w.html
Age: Climate change is falling as a priority for Australians, the annual Lowy Institute poll has found - just as the Copenhagen conference approaches and Liberal leader Malcolm Turnbull is warning that the Opposition must have a credible policy. Australians have gone from ranking climate change in 2007 as the equal most important foreign policy goal for the Federal Government, to putting it seventh out of 10 possible goals. The issue fell 10 points since last year and 19 points from ...
Wed, 14 Oct 09
Australia: Nuclear power shunned for fear of political fallout
http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/editorial/nuclear-power-shunned-for-fear-of-political-fallout-20091012-gtx2.html
Age: IT HAS long been an anomaly that a country with almost 40 per cent of global uranium reserves should have shut the door on using that resource to meet its own energy needs. The Howard government thought so when it commissioned the Switkowski inquiry, which found in late 2006 that nuclear power should have a role in meeting Australia's energy needs. The then Labor opposition responded in the run-up to the 2007 election by exploiting the not-in-my-backyard mentality as it highlighted likely ...
Wed, 14 Oct 09
Warmer Climate Not The Cause Of Oxygen Deficiency In The Baltic Sea
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091012095533.htm
ScienceDaily: Oxygen deficiency in the Baltic Sea has never been greater than it is now. But it is not an effect of climate change but rather of increased inputs of nutrients and fertilisers. This is the finding of researchers at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, who have analysed the ocean climate of the Baltic Sea since the 16th century. 85 million people live in the drainage basin of the Baltic Sea. This population has a great impact on the marine environment of the Baltic. This is shown by ...
Wed, 14 Oct 09
Philippines: Climate change behind twin disasters in RP - UN official
http://www.gmanews.tv/story/174489/climate-change-behind-twin-disasters-in-rp-un-official
GMA News: Contrary to Filipino experts' diagnosis, climate change should be blamed for the two recent tropical cyclones that devastated the country, a top United Nations official said. UN Undersecretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator John Holmes said tropical storm "Ondoy" (Ketsana) and typhoon "Pepeng" (Parma) are the clearest manifestations that the problems of climate change are here. "Climate change is already causing more and more disasters and ...
Wed, 14 Oct 09
India: Need to tackle climate change in JK: Minister
http://www.ptinews.com/news/328624_Need-to-tackle-climate-change-in-J-K--Minister
Press Trust of India: Climate change is now visible in Jammu and Kashmir and the state should formulate policies to tackle it locally, a Jammu and Kashmir Minister said today. "There is an immediate need to take both preventive and corrective measures to save environment and natural resources," Jammu and Kashmir Forest and Environment Minister Mian Altaf Ahmad said while addressing a three-day International Conference on Climate Change, Glacial Recession and Livelihood. He said the effects of ...
Wed, 14 Oct 09
Solar Living, Without Compromising on Lifestyle
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/13/science/earth/13solar.html?_r=5&partner=rss&emc=rss
New York Times: John Hamilton paused from tinkering with the heat pumps, pipes and tanks arrayed before him, the mechanical heart of a small house assembled on the National Mall, to read the electric meter mounted off to the side. The digital display showed that over the previous two days, the pavilionlike structure, designed by architectural and engineering students from Virginia Tech, had drawn about 20 kilowatt-hours from the electric grid. But during the same period, double-sided photovoltaic ...
Wed, 14 Oct 09
A Tree's Response To Environmental Changes: What Can We Expect Over The Next 100 Years?
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091007091752.htm
ScienceDaily: The many environmental issues facing our society are prevalent in the media lately. Global warming, rainforest devastation, and endangered species have taken center stage. Our ecosystem is composed of a very delicate network of interactions among all species and the non-living environment. Predicting how each component of this complex system will respond to the many environmental changes sweeping the globe is a challenging problem today's scientists face. A recent article by Dr. ...
Tue, 13 Oct 09
United States: Cleansing the Air at the Expense of Waterways
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/13/us/13water.html?_r=5&partner=rss&emc=rss
New York Times: For years, residents here complained about the yellow smoke pouring from the tall chimneys of the nearby coal-fired power plant, which left a film on their cars and pebbles of coal waste in their yards. Five states – including New York and New Jersey – sued the plant's owner, Allegheny Energy, claiming the air pollution was causing respiratory diseases and acid rain. So three years ago, when Allegheny Energy decided to install scrubbers to clean the plant's air emissions, ...
Tue, 13 Oct 09
California Tries to Solve Water Woes
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/13/us/13calif.html?_r=5&partner=rss&emc=rss
New York Times: In a sign that a deal addressing California's longstanding water supply problems may be near, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger convened a special session of the Legislature on Monday to revisit a package of water bills. A three-year drought, federal environmental regulations restricting water flows and the fixation of Mr. Schwarzenegger – who has said he is determined to leave a mark on one of the state's most intractable problems before leaving office next year – have heightened the ...
Tue, 13 Oct 09
Indonesia: Dealing with climate change dangerous impacts
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2009/10/13/dealing-with-climate-change-dangerous-impacts.html
Jakarta Post: Climate change is a grave threat to the economies, societies and natural environment of all countries in the Asia-Pacific region, including Indonesia. Unless action is taken today to begin to stabilize and then reduce global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions - action including achieving an ambitious global climate agreement at Copenhagen - the impacts of climate change will become increasingly severe and irreversible. Climate change can lead to damage to natural, communal and ...
Tue, 13 Oct 09
Deadlock on climate change continues
http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/deadlockclimate-change-continues/75816/on
Business Standard: The stalemate over carbon emission cuts continues with the developed countries failing to deliver on issues like setting concrete targets for reduction even after the latest round of negotiations in Bangkok, according to a UN Climate Change team. Also Read Related Stories News Now -UN must change and reflect contemporary reality: Krishna-UN chief encouraged by India's approach towards climate change-UN chief urges world climate deal by year's end-Nair briefs UN about India's views on ...
Tue, 13 Oct 09
Climate talks bump up against old obstacles
http://www.carbonpositive.net/viewarticle.aspx?articleID=1686
Carbon Positive: In just two months from now, Copenhagen will be over. The long awaited conference that was to be the climax of international efforts to thrash out a new global climate agreement to replace or extend the Kyoto Protocol. But latest talks in the lead up to that event make it clear that last days of 2009 won't produce the final outcome that many have been hoping for over the past two years since the Bali roadmap was laid down. The second-last negotiating session before Copenhagen, in ...
Tue, 13 Oct 09
Australia: Public warms to nuclear
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/australians-warm-to-nuclear-power-20091013-gu6z.html
Age: AUSTRALIANS are warming to the idea of nuclear power, with almost one in two saying it should be considered as an alternative source of energy to help combat global warming. A Nielson poll found 49 per cent of Australians believed nuclear should be on the nation's list of potential power options, while 43 per cent were opposed outright. The finding marks a big shift of public opinion from 2006, when a Newspoll showed just 38 per cent in favour of nuclear power and 51 per cent ...
Tue, 13 Oct 09
NH's Stonyfield Farm lauded for cutting emissions
http://www.boston.com/news/local/new_hampshire/articles/2009/10/12/nhs_stonyfield_farm_lauded_for_cutting_emissions/?rss_id=Boston.com+--+Latest+news
Associated Press: New Hampshire's Stonyfield Farm yogurt company has won a national award for its efforts to cut carbon dioxide emissions and fuel consumption in its freight operations. The company is one of 37 organizations to receive the Environmental Protection Agency's "SmartWay Excellence Award." SmartWay is an EPA program aimed at addressing climate change by using clean vehicle technologies and managing freight logistics more effectively. Stonyfield also reworked its distribution system ...
Tue, 13 Oct 09
Obama's climate-change hopes get a boost
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSN1252318120091012?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Official Washington sounded more upbeat on Monday than it has for weeks in sizing up U.S. President Barack Obama's chances of progress on a climate-change bill in Congress this year. U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer predicted the committee she leads would approve a bill before a U.N. climate summit in Copenhagen in December while Obama's Energy Secretary Steven Chu said he hoped all of Congress would pass a law by then. Their positive comments contrasted with those of Carol Browner, ...
Tue, 13 Oct 09
United Kingdom: Tax motorists more to help save the planet, Government is urged
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article6870115.ece
Times (UK): Motorists should pay higher taxes in the form of a national road-pricing system to cut carbon dioxide emissions, according to the Government's climate change advisory body. The speed limit on all motorways should be strictly enforced and may have to be reduced to 60mph to help to meet the Government's legally binding carbon reduction targets. The Committee on Climate Change, which devised the targets and advises the Government on how to meet them, says that a "step change' is ...
Tue, 13 Oct 09
United Arab Emirates: World Bank warns of water shortage
http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091012/NATIONAL/710119855/1138
National: Water is the Middle East's most vulnerable resource, and will become dangerously scarce within decades unless it is radically better managed, the World Bank said in a report released here yesterday. In the Middle East and North Africa, the world's driest region, "per capita water availability is predicted to halve by 2050 even without the effects of climate change", said the Development and Climate Change study. It added that climate change would make the problem worse by ...
Tue, 13 Oct 09
Adding renewable power doesn't have to hurt poor, some say
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/2009/10/12/1012energyforum.html
Austin American-Statesman: State Rep. Eddie Rodriguez is organizing a community energy forum to hash out concerns raised by the Catholic Diocese of Austin that an Austin Energy plan to increase the use of renewable sources could hurt the poor. The forum Saturday will discuss plans to triple the amount of green energy used by the utility. Rodriguez and many of the city's environmental activists say the diocese raised a worthwhile point -- but also wrongly framed the issue as poor people versus green ...
Tue, 13 Oct 09
Parliament rooftop protesters arrested in London
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=parliament-rooftop-protes
Reuters: British police arrested 20 environmental protesters who climbed onto the roof of the Houses of Parliament, the latest in a series of security breaches at the London landmark. The demonstrators from Greenpeace, demanding more government action on climate change, were held on suspicion of trespassing on a protected site after they climbed down, the Metropolitan Police said Monday. They had used ladders to scale to the roof of the sprawling Parliament complex beside the river ...
Tue, 13 Oct 09
S.C. has swelling carbon footprint
http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2009/oct/12/sc-has-swelling-carbon-footprint/
Post and Courier: South Carolina is generating more hot air than ever. Fueled largely by gases from coal-fired power plants and vehicles, the state has increased its carbon dioxide emissions, the main contributor to global warming, by 45 percent since 1990, a Post and Courier analysis shows. Expansion of coal plants in South Carolina, such as Santee Cooper's massive complex in Cross, helped drive the state's 45-percent increase in carbon dioxide emissions since 1990. By some measures, only two ...
Tue, 13 Oct 09
Kenya's biofuel plan hits snags
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=113724507
National Public Radio: RENEE MONTAGNE, host: And there's a hardy bush that's been hailed as a great biofuel crop. Jatropha curcas is said to survive in harsh conditions and needs little care. Proponents predict a future in which jatropha oil will power commercial jets and cars. But in one place where the government has encouraged farmers to plant the bush, things aren't going so well. Nick Wadhams visited a drought-stricken area in Kenya. Unidentified Man: (Foreign language spoken) NICK ...
Tue, 13 Oct 09
Farmers facing ruin over climate change
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2009/1012/1224256435195.html
Irish Times: CLIMATE CHANGE is wreaking havoc in the world`s coffee and tea growing regions and the next decade is likely to see many of the areas in which these crops are grown rendered unsuitable for cultivation, according to experts. This bleak forecast has emerged from an initiative called AdapCC, a three-year collaborative project by Café Direct, the ethical hot drinks pioneer whose coffee beans are roasted and packaged in Ireland, and German Technical Co-operation. Focusing on four ...
Tue, 13 Oct 09
Chinese company hopes to make Hummers more efficient
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=113724476
National Public Radio: RENEE MONTAGNE, host: NPR's business news starts with a buyer for Hummer. (Soundbite of music) MONTAGNE: A little-known Chinese machinery manufacturer has begun to seek regulatory approval for its purchase of the distressed Hummer brand from General Motors. GM aims to close the deal by early next year. This is the first major foray by the Chinese into the struggling U.S. auto market. Sichuan Tengzhon Heavy Industrial Machinery hopes to turn Hummer into a more fuel ...
Tue, 13 Oct 09
On top of the world
http://www.newsweek.com/id/216989
Newsweek: Every 101 minutes or so, a Department of Defense imaging satellite circles the Earth, capturing images from the equator to the polar ice caps. It's that DOD drone (colorfully named the DMSPF-17) that monitors geologic changes, such as the decreasing size of the Arctic and Antarctic ice covers. The images it snaps are the ones most people see of the Earth's two white domes, which have been steadily diminishing for the past decade. But step closer to the Earth--about 250 miles ...
Tue, 13 Oct 09
United States: Graham joins Democrat John Kerry on climate change
http://www.greenvilleonline.com/article/20091012/NEWS/910120304/1004/NEWS01/Senator-Graham-joins-Democrat-John-Kerry-on-climate-change
Greenville News: U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina broke ranks with Republicans on Sunday, announcing that he is working with a Democratic colleague on climate change legislation. Graham co-authored an op-ed in The New York Times with Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts that said they believe they have found a "framework for climate legislation" that can pass Congress, despite conventional wisdom to the contrary. The senators warned that if Congress doesn't act, the Obama administration ...
Tue, 13 Oct 09
Kashmir's main glacier "melting at alarming speed"
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE59B35M20091012?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Indian Kashmir's biggest glacier, which feeds the region's main river, is melting faster than other Himalayas glaciers, threatening the water supply of tens of thousands of people, a new report warned on Monday. Experts say rising temperatures are rapidly shrinking Himalayan glaciers, underscoring the effects of climate change that has caused temperatures in the mountainous region to rise by about 1.1 degrees Celsius in the past 100 years. The biggest glacier in Indian Kashmir, ...
Tue, 13 Oct 09
Live from the roof of the Houses of Parliament
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/grace-boyle-live-from-the-roof-of-the-houses-of-parliament-1801658.html
Independent (UK): Yesterday afternoon, a group of fifty-five Greenpeace UK activists scaled the walls of the Houses of Parliament in Westminster to protest that the Government wasn't doing enough towards reaching an ambitious and fair deal at the Copenhagen climate talks. Twenty-nine year old activist Brikesh Singh (foreground, left) of Greenpeace India traveled from Bangalore to London to take part in the protest, and is one of the seven activists remaining on the highest section of roof nearly 24 hours ...
Tue, 13 Oct 09
Standards proposed for REDD-plus
http://www.carbonpositive.net/viewarticle.aspx?articleID=1685
Carbon Positive: A draft version of a new set of standards to cover the implementation of REDD, or avoided deforestation, programmes has been released by the Climate, Community & Biodiversity Alliance (CCBA), a carbon project design standard provider, has released. The CCBA offers the REDD+ Social & Environmental Standards to governments, NGOs, financing agencies and other stakeholders to inform the design of REDD and wider forest carbon projects in regard to indigenous rights, local ...
Tue, 13 Oct 09
'Big step' needed on UK landfill
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8303584.stm
BBC: Standing in a huge hole in the ground which is slowly being filled with thousands of tonnes of stinking rubbish it's easy to see why landfill gets a bad press. The site in Bury is one of dozens across the country - it is a giant sand quarry with a void in the middle which feels the size of a football stadium. And all day, every day that void is being filled by a fleet of heavy lorries which dump rubbish into the path of a bulldozer which compacts it down to make way for the ...
Tue, 13 Oct 09
United Kingdom: 'Urgent' probe into protest on roof of parliament
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091012/wl_uk_afp/britainpoliticsenvironmentprotest
Agence France-Presse: House of Commons authorities ordered an "urgent" probe Monday after dozens of climate change protestors scaled the roof of the parliament as lawmakers returned from their summer break. Twenty-three people were arrested and bailed by police after climbing up the landmark and unfurling a banner saying "Change the politics, save the climate". They want urgent action before the UN's crunch Copenhagen summit in December. House of Commons Speaker John Bercow told the first ...
Tue, 13 Oct 09
Energy Secretary Steven Chu hopeful about climate bill
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20091012/pl_nm/us_climate
Reuters: Energy Secretary Steven Chu said on Monday he was still hopeful President Barack Obama would be able to sign a domestic carbon-cutting bill before a crunch global climate meeting in Copenhagen in December. The prospective U.S. law is widely considered vital to allow the United States to take a firm stance in Copenhagen, and so unblock an impasse on targets to cut carbon emissions and funding to fight climate change at the United Nations-led talks. "Whether there will be a bill ...
Tue, 13 Oct 09
Belgium delays nuclear phase-out until 2025: minister
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091012/wl_afp/belgiumenergynuclearpolitics
Agence France-Presse: The Belgian government on Monday decided to delay the start of a progressive phasing out of nuclear power by 10 years until 2025, Energy and Climate Minister Paul Magnette said in a statement. "The government has decided to delay by 10 years the first stage of phasing out nuclear power," the statement said. Under a law passed in 2003, Belgium's seven reactors were scheduled to be shut down between 2015 and 2025. Three of the reactors, two at the Doel plant in northern ...
Tue, 13 Oct 09
Denmark's top climate negotiator quits ahead of talks
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE59B41T20091012?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Denmark's top climate policy negotiator has resigned with less than two months to go before the world meets in Copenhagen to agree on a new deal to curb the effects of climate change. Thomas Becker, who has been called the right hand man of Minister for Climate and Energy Connie Hedegaard, resigned last week and was replaced by senior diplomat Steffen Smidt, a ministry official said on Monday. The move so close to the December 7-18 meeting coincided with growing worries about ...
Tue, 13 Oct 09
Senator says panel to pass climate bill soon
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE59B3SW20091012?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: A key senator on Monday said the committee she leads should approve a bill to tackle global warming before a U.N. climate summit in December, and the U.S. energy secretary said he hoped the bill could be signed into law by then. "I believe we will get this bill out of my committee soon," Senator Barbara Boxer, who chairs the Environment and Public Works Committee, told reporters after a meeting with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. "Certainly before Copenhagen, and we're ...
Tue, 13 Oct 09
Will Congress chicken out on climate change
http://www.seattlepi.com/connelly/411017_joel12.html
Seattle Post Intelligencer: Once close-quarters combat over health care is ended, will Washington, D.C., have the stomach to move on climate change legislation? Deploying front groups and Gucci-wearing lobbyists, Big oil and big coal are already manning the barricades to stop it. The far-away debate in Congress is really close to home. The warming of the Earth is taking its toll on western North America and the Arctic. The impacts are out there for all to see, but global warming deniers refuse to look. ...
Tue, 13 Oct 09
African countries will speak with one voice at Copenhagen climate summit: AU chief
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-10/12/content_12218664.htm
Xinhua: African Union (AU) Commission Chairperson Jean Ping declared on Sunday in Ouagadougou that African countries had decided to adopt a common position and to speak in one voice during the UN climate summit scheduled for December in Copenhagen. Jean Ping made this declaration during the 7th world forum on sustainable development, held as from Oct. 9 to 11 in Ouagadougou under the theme "Climate Change: challenges and opportunities for sustainable development." While insisting that ...
Tue, 13 Oct 09
Kyoto Protocol Is a Lifeline for Island Nations
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48806
Inter Press Service: "It was a little bit scary," says Dessima Williams, describing how the two weeks of United Nations climate change negotiations ended here on Oct. 9. "Our concerns need to be heard more." Her assessment as the head of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), a group of 43 island nations spread across the oceans, amplifies the fear of a rise in sea levels from global warming. For some island nations, such as the Maldives, a rise in the Indian Ocean could see it wiped off the ...
Mon, 12 Oct 09
Food, famine & climate change: How we feed the world on 85p
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2009/oct/11/food-climate-change-famine-plumpy-nut
Guardian: Fatima Ibrahim was having two of her children weighed, measured and fussed over when we found her with 30 other mums and more than 50 hungry kids at an emergency feeding centre in northern Kenya. Barwaco came in at 12.8kg and her brother Mohamed at 8.1, and both were crying lustily as people crowded round Dida Jirma, a young community doctor. Jirma noted the children's weights and height and measured the circumference of their left upper arms. Some were ominously quiet and clearly ...
Mon, 12 Oct 09
Researcher says carbon dioxide levels have tripled
http://www.nctimes.com/news/national/backpage/article_c7b6c596-0140-5e06-ab64-9f6fdefde6ce.html
North County Times: A UCLA researcher has analyzed fossilized algae, and says the rocks prove that the level of carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere has not been this high for at least 1.5 million years. Aradhna Tripati, a UCLA assistant professor of Earth and space studies, published her findings Friday in the online edition of the journal Science. Current measurement techniques have used measurements of gases in trapped bubbles of air in Antarctic ice. But that has allowed scientists to measure ...
Mon, 12 Oct 09
Soros to Invest $1 Billion in Clean Energy, Form Advisory Group
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aMU3BkV3yqPU
Bloomberg: Billionaire George Soros, looking to address the "political problem" of climate change, said he will invest $1 billion in clean-energy technology and create an organization to advise policy makers on environmental issues. Soros, the founder of hedge fund Soros Fund Management LLC, announced the investment in Copenhagen yesterday at a meeting on climate change sponsored by Project Syndicate. The group is an international association made up of 430 newspapers from 150 ...
Mon, 12 Oct 09
Australia: Activists chained to coal mine conveyor belt
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,26194519-5006784,00.html
AAP: CLIMATE activists who chained themselves to a conveyor belt at a coal mine south of Sydney have been arrested. Four members of the Climate Camp, a three day protest, locked themselves on the belt at the Dendrobium mine at Mount Kembla this morning. Police said they arrested five people, four of whom allegedly had broken into the mine, and the fifth for helping them. They were taken to Wollongong Police Station and will likely be charged with trespass, a police ...
Sun, 11 Oct 09
Peru battles global warming
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2009/10/20091010224348536922.html
Al Jazeera: The inhabitants of South America's Andean mountains are seeing increasing instances of drought and disease, linked to warming temperatures. Peru began seeing cycles of El Nino - a warm pacific current that brings higher temperatures and rainfall - in 1998, and as the temperatures rose, diseases that were originally seen only in tropical areas spread to the mountains. Meanwhile, scientists predict that rising temperatures could spell the end for Andean glaciers, which provide ...
Sun, 11 Oct 09
CLIMATE CHANGE: New Financial Scheme Turns Heat on Rich Nations
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48802
Inter Press Service: A new financial mechanism to help the developing world deal with the challenges posed by climate change looms as a major hurdle on the road leading up to a United Nations summit in Copenhagen in mid-December. Negotiators from the developing world and the developed world have only five days of climate talks in Barcelona, Spain from Nov. 2 to 6 to bridge stark differences that have emerged between the developed and developing nations before they head to the Danish capital for the ...
Sun, 11 Oct 09
Guns, Climate Change Face New National Park Director
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=113697978&ft=1&f=1025
National Public Radio: SCOTT SIMON, host: John Jarvis is the new director of the nation's park. He'll be in a new role but not in unfamiliar territory. Mr. Jarvis started with the National Park Service more than three decades ago, handing out maps to tourists on the National Mall during bicentennial celebrations. He is a former park ranger who will now command a veritable army of park rangers. Mr. Jarvis joins us now from Oakland, California, where he's packing up his office as director of the Park ...
Sun, 11 Oct 09
Airlines set new fuel efficiency goals: IATA
http://www.reuters.com/article/businessNews/idUSTRE5991IM20091010?feedType=RSS&feedName=businessNews
Reuters: The world's airlines have agreed to new fuel efficiency and carbon emission targets which go much further than the levels required through regulation, an industry group said on Saturday. The International Air Transport Association (IATA), which represents 230 airlines, said that carriers, airports and aerospace firms had pledged to improve fuel efficiency by 1.5 percent a year annually until 2020. At a meeting in Montreal, they also set a goal of having carbon-neutral growth by ...
Sun, 11 Oct 09
Burkina farmers successful in fight against advancing desert
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091010/wl_africa_afp/africaburkinaclimatewarmingenvironment
Agence France-Presse: As African policy makers demand compensation for the effects of climate change at a forum in Burkina Faso's capital, the country's farmers fight a daily struggle to halt the advancing Sahara desert. "Because of the (advancing) dunes many villages have moved," Boubacar Diallo, a farmer in the village of Selbo, some 280 kilometers (174 miles) to the north of Ouagadougou, explained. "These dunes you see wanted to chase me away from here because the wind would blow the sand right ...
Sun, 11 Oct 09
10:10 can make a real impact
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/oct/10/10-10-kevin-mccloud
Guardian: There are two dirty words that circulate in the corridors of power, terrifying politicians. They are the same two words that befuddle local councils and baffle quangos. Those words are not Economic Meltdown, nor Peter Mandelson, but culture change. What's the big deal? Our culture has always changed; change is a necessary part of progress and improvement, of what maintains us as a civilised society. Why should we be scared of it? The answer is that we're beginning a journey now that ...
Sun, 11 Oct 09
India a climate change deal maker: Jairam
http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-a-climate-change-deal-maker-Jairam/H1-Article1-463731.aspx
Hindustan Times: Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh said on Saturday that India will come to Copenhagen in December as an "interested party" and a "deal maker, not a deal breaker". A global summit in Copenhagen in December will try to agree on a climate agreement to replace the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012. Speaking at a climate change conference here, the minister said that a lack of agreement in December would affect India as much as it would affect other ...
Sun, 11 Oct 09
Soros aims to invest $1 bln in green tech
http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE5992BJ20091010
Reuters: Billionaire George Soros said on Saturday that he would invest $1 billion in clean energy technology as part of an effort to combat climate change. The Hungarian-born U.S. investor also announced he would form and fund a new climate policy initiative with $10 million a year for 10 years. "Global warming is a political problem," Soros told a meeting of editors in the Danish capital where governments are scheduled to meet in December to try to hammer out a new global climate ...
Sun, 11 Oct 09
Orrin Hatch and global warming
http://www.sltrib.com/opinion/ci_13525346
Salt Lake Tribune: I recently received a letter from Sen. Orrin Hatch in response to concerns I expressed regarding his opposition to the cap-and-trade proposal. Hatch apparently believes that I have been misled by media accounts of the dire consequences of global warming and that I am unaware of the scientific evidence underlying his opposition. He notes that, "... I have serious concerns with any legislation that proposes a cap-and-trade system to reduce human carbon emissions, and I question whether ...
Sun, 11 Oct 09
Airlines set own emission targets
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5g0KVIf2AEoC705gdOyKz48Tqr5vA
Agence France-Presse: Members of the airline industry group IATA pledged Saturday to improve fuel efficiency by 1.5 percent a year until 2020, and called on governments worldwide to provide incentives to speed biofuel development. Representatives from the International Air Transport Association, which represents the world's largest airlines, also agreed to reduce carbon emissions by 50 percent from 2005 levels by 2050 during a meeting on climate change in Montreal. IATA director Giovanni Bisignani ...
Sun, 11 Oct 09
Food, famine & climate change: India's scorched earth
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2009/oct/11/food-climate-change-famine-india
Observer: In Andhra Pradesh, everyone we met had lost faith in the weather. "It is," said one woman, a groundnut farmer and a mother of five, "like a bad husband. You cannot understand his behaviour." Across the state and much of India the July monsoon had gone missing: it finally turned up 45 days late, and inadequate. "Scanty rain," we were told. "Maybe just five minutes one day. Raining on one field but not the next." No one had much idea why this had happened, and not many have heard the term ...
Sun, 11 Oct 09
China says rich countries undercut climate talks
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20091010/ts_nm/us_china_climate
Reuters: China accused rich countries of undermining key elements of an international climate change agreement that nations hope to agree by the end of 2009, adding to a chorus of discord over the negotiations. Su Wei, who led Beijing's delegation to climate treaty talks in Bangkok that ended on Friday, said splits over the framework for a new pact to fight global warming remained "quite large," just two months before negotiations culminate in Copenhagen. China, as both the world's ...
Sun, 11 Oct 09
Indian minister urges pared down climate deal
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE59910W20091010?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Nations should scale down ambitions for a global climate deal in Copenhagen in December rather than have "exaggerated expectations," India's minister of state for environment and forests said on Saturday. Jairam Ramesh said climate talks in Bangkok, which ended on Friday, had left a big gap in trust between developing and industrialized nations. "We have to be realistic, we have to be pragmatic," Ramesh said. "We should not derail Copenhagen by having exaggerated expectations. ...
Sun, 11 Oct 09
'Scary' climate message from past
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8299426.stm
BBC: A new historical record of carbon dioxide levels suggests current political targets on climate may be "playing with fire", scientists say. Researchers used ocean sediments to plot CO2 levels back 20 million years. Levels similar to those now commonly regarded as adequate to tackle climate change were associated with sea levels 25-40m (80-130 ft) higher than today. Scientists write in the journal Science that this extends knowledge of the link between CO2 and climate back ...
Sun, 11 Oct 09
Japan PM asks China for climate commitment
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE5991D720091010?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Japan's new prime minister, Yukio Hatoyama, said on Saturday he had asked his Chinese counterpart to make an international commitment on climate change and had been told China would do its best to help forge a global deal. Hatoyama, who took office on September 15, has pledged Tokyo will cut emissions 25 percent by 2020 and hopes emerging nations like China will also sign up to an ambitious global deal. China is now the world's top annual emitter of greenhouse gasses although ...
Sun, 11 Oct 09
United States: All's possible under the sun
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/09/AR2009100900027.html
Washington Post: A tidy village dedicated to the future of green, solar-powered living has taken over the heart of the National Mall, where 20 teams of college students are vying to see who can build the most appealing energy-efficient home. The teams, from universities in North America and Europe, are competing in the Department of Energy's biennial Solar Decathlon, which runs through next weekend. The challenge: design and build a prototype house that can provide the comforts of home while ...
Sun, 11 Oct 09
United Kingdom: Lethal gas may have to be stored under villages, says adviser
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article6868896.ece
Times (UK): Millions of tonnes of potentially lethal carbon dioxide may have to be stored deep under towns and villages to prevent climate change, according to a senior government adviser. The storage sites would have to be closely monitored to detect any leaks and an alarm system would be needed to warn nearby residents of the danger of asphyxiation. New bylaws might have to be passed prohibiting bedrooms on the ground floor because of the risk of CO2 poisoning as people slept. Nick ...
Sun, 11 Oct 09
Melting glaciers bring 1980s pollution revival
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17956-melting-glaciers-bring-1980s-pollution-revival.html
New Scientist: Bad hair and shoulder pads are not the only things from the 1980s that we'd rather not see again. Nasty chemicals banned in that decade are also on the list. Unfortunately, melting Alpine glaciers are generating a revival of toxic organic pollutants. Christian Bogdal and colleagues at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich studied levels of pollution in sediment at the bottom of the Oberaar lake in Bern, Switzerland. The flow of pollutants into the lake peaked in ...
Sun, 11 Oct 09
Big CO2 blast unlikely, but even slow leaks serious
http://www.edmontonjournal.com/blast_unlikely_even_slow_leaks_serious/2088883/story.html
Edmonton Journal: In the spirit of this holiday weekend, I'd like to say thank you to everyone who has written and phoned in response to my feature last weekend on carbon capture and sequestration. And I'd like to respond by answering some of your questions. The most common had to do with potential risks and hazards of pumping huge amounts of compressed carbon dioxide underground. Readers wanted to know if I had I heard of the Lake Nyos incident, where 1,700 people were asphyxiated in their ...
Sun, 11 Oct 09
How some individuals and organisations are reducing their carbon emissions for 10:10
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/oct/10/10-10-reducing-carbon-emissions
Guardian: Young Vic theatre Staging dozens of productions a year, from Chekhov's Uncle Vanya to (currently) Annie Get Your Gun with Jane Horrocks, London's Young Vic is an energy-hungry operation. "Lighting is number one for us," says Damian Ball, the facilities manager. "When we're 'teching' for a show, the lights are on morning, noon and night. So we'll be looking at turning them down wherever possible." Air-conditioning is another big drain: 450 people in the main auditorium take a lot of ...
Sun, 11 Oct 09
Climate change causing havoc to coffee and tea farmers
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/oct/10/climate-change-fairtrade-food
Guardian: Climate change is already wreaking havoc on the livelihoods of small-scale tea and coffee farmers in some of the world's poorest countries, according to a three-year research project by Fairtrade drinks producer Caf̩direct. Research across four countries РKenya, Mexico, Peru and Nicaragua Рcarried out with the state-funded German Technical Corporation, showed that growers are already being forced uphill to higher altitudes, at a rate of three to four metres a year on average, as ...
Sun, 11 Oct 09
Solar power outshining Colorado's gas industry
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091010/ap_on_re_us/us_energy_winners_losers
Associated Press: The sun had just crested the distant ridge of the Rocky Mountains, but already it was producing enough power for the electric meter on the side of the Smiley Building to spin backward. For the Shaw brothers, who converted the downtown arts building and community center into a miniature solar power plant two years ago, each reverse rotation subtracts from their monthly electric bill. It also means the building at that moment is producing more electricity from the sun than it ...
Sun, 11 Oct 09
SOS: Is Climate Change Suffocating Our Seas?
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1767833/sos_is_climate_change_suffocating_our_seas/
redOrbit: Yet another ecological scourge may earn a place on the ever-lengthening list of problems potentially caused by climate change: the formation of some so-called "dead zones"--huge expanses of ocean that lose virtually all of their marine life at depth during the summer. Possible connections between climate change and the relatively recent formation of dead zones in the Pacific Northwest's coastal waters are currently being studied by a research team that is funded by the National ...
Sun, 11 Oct 09
Japan PM: Climate Change Meeting In Copenhagen Shouldn't Fail
http://www.nasdaq.com/aspx/stock-market-news-story.aspx?storyid=200910100051dowjonesdjonline000003&title=japan-pmclimate-change-meeting-in-copenhagen-shouldnt-fail
Dow Jones: Japan Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said Saturday the December conference in Copenhagen to discuss global climate change issues is important and shouldn't fail. He made the comments at a three-way summit in Beijing with China Premier Wen Jiabao and South Korea President Lee Myung-bak. Nations around the world are trying to lay the framework for a global climate deal in Copenhagen later this year that would take over when the current provisions of the Kyoto Protocol run out in ...
Sun, 11 Oct 09
Genome Sequence Published For Important Biofuels Yeast
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091006173544.htm
ScienceDaily: A strain of yeast that thrives on turning sugar cane into ethanol for biofuel has had its genome completely sequenced by researchers at Duke University Medical Center. "Understanding this microbe may enable more efficient biofuel production, and also will produce even more robust industrial organisms that are versatile and capable of producing advanced biofuels from non-food crops like switchgrass," said Lucas Argueso, Ph.D., lead author and research scholar in the Duke Department of ...
Sun, 11 Oct 09
Climate change cited as reason for Nobel Prize to Obama despite inaction
http://www.examiner.com/x-25061-Climate-Change-Examiner~y2009m10d9-Climate-change-cited-as-reason-for-Nobel-Prize-to-Obama-despite-inaction
Examiner: At least in part, President Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize due to his efforts to combat manmade climate change. The citation in part says, "Thanks to Obama's initiative, the USA is now playing a more constructive role in meeting the great climatic challenges the world is confronting.' However, like much of the rest of the citation, the Nobel Committee seems to pin the statement on potential rather than action on the part of the United States to combat climate change. The news ...
Sun, 11 Oct 09
United States: Climate change feared to blame as dead zones suffocate Pacific Ocean life
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article6868505.ece
Times (UK): When lobsters swarm up the beach and octopuses try to clamber up fishing lines to get out of the water, you know that something has gone badly wrong in the ocean. Oxygen-starved dead zones have been appearing with increasing frequency around the world, with some 400 identified so far. While most are caused by sewage or fertiliser leaching into the ocean, a possible new driver has appeared in the northwest Pacific: climate change. Just as land animals need oxygen in the air to ...
Sat, 10 Oct 09
EU boosts builders with green renovation plan
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE5981CG20091009?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Fifteen million European buildings should have eco-friendly renovations over the next decade to cut energy use, with builders and architects re-educated to do the lucrative job, a draft EU report says. The European Union should also make mandatory its goal of cutting energy use by a fifth over the next decade, creating about 2 million new jobs, says a draft of the EU's "energy efficiency action plan" obtained by Reuters. The proposal for a binding energy efficiency target is ...
Sat, 10 Oct 09
U.N. urges leaders to take charge in climate talks
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE59617A20091009?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: The shape of a broader climate pact is clearer after marathon talks in the Thai capital, the United Nations said on Friday, as rich nations were urged not to ditch the Kyoto Protocol or dodge tough emissions cuts. Speaking near the end of two-week U.N. talks on ways to draw all nations into the fight against climate change, the world body said leaders had little time left to show more ambition on a deal to brake the rapid growth of planet-warming carbon emissions. "All the ...
Sat, 10 Oct 09
UN climate talks split on treaty
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8298553.stm
BBC: The latest round of UN climate talks in Bangkok has ended with deep divisions over the shape of a new global treaty. Developing countries want an extension of the Kyoto Protocol; but developed nations are arguing for a completely new agreement. Poorer countries and environment groups accuse the west of lacking ambition. There are now only five negotiating days left until the opening of the UN summit in Copenhagen in December that is supposed to finalise the new ...
Sat, 10 Oct 09
UN insists chance remains for Copenhagen breakthrough
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2250926/un-talks-chances-copenhagen
Business Green: The UN today attempted to close its latest round of climate change negotiations in Bangkok on an upbeat note, insisting that progress towards a deal has been made over the past two weeks, despite the ongoing row over emissions targets and financing mechanisms. Speaking at the end of the Bangkok meeting, Yvo de Boer, the UN's top climate change official, told reporters that a deal could yet be reached at the Copenhagen meeting in December, but warned it will require increased ...
Sat, 10 Oct 09
India's strategy to fight global warming
http://business.rediff.com/column/2009/oct/09/indias-strategy-to-fight-global-warming.htm
rediff: With a new United Nations climate treaty due to be discussed in Copenhagen in December, the developed world and the emerging economies are trying to bridge their differences on how to curb greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming. The United States wants developing countries like India and China to agree to control the emissions being produced by their rapidly galloping economies by setting specific targets. India argues that this would hurt its economic growth and ...
Sat, 10 Oct 09
States not meeting energy goals
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/2009-10-08-altenergy_N.htm
USA Today: Across the USA, states are falling short of their goals to increase the use of renewable energy as Congress weighs a national renewable-energy standard. Thirty-five states have set goals to use more electricity from solar panels, windmills and other renewable forms of energy, according to a database funded by the Energy Department. There is no central clearinghouse of states' compliance records, but USA TODAY research and interviews with state and power company officials found nine ...
Sat, 10 Oct 09
United Kingdom: Gov't TV advert hits skeptics
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article6867046.ece
Times (UK): Climate change sceptics are to be targeted in a hard-hitting government advertising campaign that will be the first to state unequivocally that Man is causing global warming and endangering life on Earth. The £6 million campaign, which begins tonight in the prime ITV1 slot during Coronation Street, is a direct response to government research showing that more than half the population think that climate change will have no effect on them. Ministers sanctioned the campaign ...
Sat, 10 Oct 09
Rare tropical fish caught in British waters for first time
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/wildlife/6276002/Rare-tropical-fish-caught-in-British-waters-for-first-time.html
Telegraph: Neil McDonnell, 37, is the first angler on record to use a rod and line to catch an almaco jack -- a fish normally found in the Caribbean. Experts say the fish could be a sign of global warming and hotter seas as the species usually stay in much milder waters off Florida. Mr McDonnell has sent proof of his catch to the British Records Fish Committee who say it is the first caught with a rod and line. Mr McDonnell, a keen fisherman, said: "It's definitely a jack It's very ...
Sat, 10 Oct 09
U.N. calls for greater use of IT in new green economy
http://www.reuters.com/article/GCA-GreenBusiness/idUSTRE5974A120091008
Reuters: Two months ahead of the United Nations climate change conference in Copenhagen, the world body's telecoms arm urged governments and companies to use information technology to fight global warming. "Information technologies contribute 2 to 3 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. But they can also reduce emissions in other sectors by at least 15 percent," said Ban Ki-Moon, United Nations Secretary-General, at a telecoms industry event in Geneva. "This means they can be ...
Sat, 10 Oct 09
States have the wind at their backs in the offshore debate
http://www.nytimes.com/cwire/2009/10/08/08climatewire-states-have-the-wind-at-their-backs-in-the-o-69324.html
Climate Wire: Eastern states advanced their commitment this week to quell the fierce competition around building the nation's first offshore wind farm and cooperate toward creating and pushing a web of ocean-based turbine facilities. States from Maine to Maryland are exploring ways to share potential infrastructure, like strings of underwater transmission lines, and know-how about siting, permitting and building fields of turbines off their coastlines. The states met in New Jersey early this ...
Sat, 10 Oct 09
Maldives officials prep for watery future
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=113650663
National Public Radio: The world's lowest-lying nation fears it will disappear beneath the Indian Ocean by the end of the century, and the Maldives is preparing. The Maldives president is holding next week's Cabinet meeting on the ocean floor. Cabinet ministers will confer using special underwater gestures, then sign a document calling on countries to cut their carbon emissions. Copyright (c) 2009 National Public Radio(r). For personal, noncommercial use only. See Terms of Use. For other uses, prior ...
Sat, 10 Oct 09
Pacific Ocean 'dead zone' in Northwest may be irreversible
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-oregon-ocean9-2009oct09,0,4615320.story
LA Times: An oxygen-depleted "dead zone" the size of New Jersey is starving sea life off the coast of Oregon and Washington and will probably appear there each summer as a result of climate change, an Oregon State University researcher said Thursday. The huge area is one of 400 dead zones around the world, most of them caused by fertilizer and sewage dumped into the oceans in river runoff. But the dead zone off the Northwest is one of the few in the world -- and possibly the only one in ...
Sat, 10 Oct 09
Wake up to meaning of forests accord, EU is told
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2009/1009/1224256260065.html
Irish Times: THE EU has been accused of colluding with the logging industry to downgrade the protection of forests -- the world`s most important "carbon sinks" -- and allow them to be replaced by timber plantations under the guise of "sustainable forest management". According to Greenpeace and other environmental groups, the risk is contained in a "small but extremely important" change in the text of the REDD (Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation) agreement being worked on by ...
Sat, 10 Oct 09
Alberta announces 15-year $850M carbon capture and storage project
http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5hjsQ7qr503xF2HyqBgG3ZNPYRWeQ
Canadian Press: The Alberta and federal governments promised $865 million in funding for a carbon capture and storage project near Edmonton on Thursday, but officials acknowledge that it will be years before any greenhouse gas emissions are piped underground. "We have to start somewhere," said federal Natural Resources Minister Lisa Raitt. "We start today, and we think - we know - we're on the right path." The two levels of government have teamed up with Shell Canada, Chevron Canada and ...
Sat, 10 Oct 09
Canada invests in carbon capture for oil sands
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091009/sc_afp/canadaenvironmentenergyoil
Agence France-Presse: Canada will invest 865 million Canadian dollars (821 million US) to capture carbon emissions from its vast oil sands, reviled by environmentalists as hugely polluting, officials said Thursday. "The most viable emission-reducing technology for fossil fuels is carbon capture and storage," said Canadian Energy Minister Lisa Raitt. "The government of Canada is backing up our support for carbon capture and storage with substantial investments... (to) reduce greenhouse gas emissions ...
Sat, 10 Oct 09
Obama's Nobel win should spur climate commitment: UN
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091009/sc_afp/nobelpeaceobamaclimatewarmingun
Agence France-Presse: US President Barack Obama's winning of the Nobel Peace prize should encourage him to commit to an international treaty on global warming, the UN climate chief said Friday. As two weeks of UN climate talks concluded in Bangkok, there were fears of time running out for 192 countries to reach an agreement ahead of a December showdown in Copenhagen, the deadline for a deal to tackle global warming. The UN's top climate official, Yvo De Boer, said he hoped Obama's win would be "an ...
Sat, 10 Oct 09
British energy sector must invest massively: watchdog
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091009/sc_afp/britainenergysectorinvestregulatepriceclimate
Agence France-Presse: Britain must invest between 95 billion and 200 billion pounds in power plants and other infrastructure over the next decade to secure energy supplies and meet climate change targets, watchdogs said on Friday. Energy regulator Ofgem said that the vast amounts, equivalent to investment of between 103 and 217 billion euros or 152 and 320 billion dollars, would push domestic energy bills up sharply. "The need for this investment arises at a time of volatile world energy prices and ...
Sat, 10 Oct 09
Africa wants $65 bln to meet climate change
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091009/wl_africa_afp/climatewarmingunafrica
Agence France-Presse: Two months before a crucial UN climate summit African leaders on Friday said the continent needs 65 billion dollars (44 billion euros) to deal with the effects of global warming. "We think 65 billion dollars are needed to deal with the effects of climate change on a continental scale. That is to say that our expectations are very high," Salifou Sawadogo, Burkina Faso's environment minister said at the opening of a special forum on climate change. The seventh World Forum on ...
Sat, 10 Oct 09
Bipartisan Coalition Calls For US to Lead Fight on Climate Change
http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-10-09-voa12.cfm
Voice of America: A bipartisan advocacy group is calling on the United States to lead the effort to protect tropical forests around the world as a way to combat global warming. The Commission on Climate and Tropical Forests is pushing for the Senate to make deforestation a centerpiece of its climate bill. Carbon dioxide pollution also comes from forests converted to farmsTropical forests are home to more than half of all the animal and plant life on the planet. But 17 percent of the world's ...
Sat, 10 Oct 09
Climate Change Conference Gets Mixed Reviews
http://www.voanews.com/english/Africa/2009-10-09-voa34.cfm
Voice of America: UN Framework Convention on Climate ChangeAfter two weeks of talks, presentations and debates, the Bangkok Climate Change Talks ended Friday to mixed reviews. The talks are a prelude to a major climate change summit in Copenhagen in December called Cop15. The chief of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change says "significant advances" have been made. Yvo de Boer says they can be used as a foundation for a new climate-change protocol in Copenhagen. U.S. delegation head ...
Sat, 10 Oct 09
Enviros Waging 'Orchestrated Pressure Campaign' on Climate Bill -- US Chamber CEO
http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2009/10/09/09greenwire-enviros-waging-orchestrated-pressure-campaign-28715.html
Greenwire: U.S. Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Tom Donohue charged today that recent defections of high-profile companies from his group are part of an "orchestrated pressure campaign" by environmental groups and signaled that his influential business association won't shift its stance on climate change policy. "We're sorry to see them go," Donohue said. "But it is sort of interesting that we have turnover all of the time and these four companies sort of woke up one morning and all ...
Sat, 10 Oct 09
Four Degrees of Devastation
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48791
Inter Press Service: The prospect of a four-degree Celsius rise in global average temperatures in 50 years is alarming - but not alarmist, climate scientists now believe. Eighteen months ago, no one dared imagine humanity pushing the climate beyond an additional two degrees C of heating, but rising carbon emissions and inability to agree on cuts has meant science must now consider the previously unthinkable. "Two degrees C is already gone as a target," said Chris West of the University of Oxford's ...
Sat, 10 Oct 09
U.S. Blocks Oil Drilling at 60 Sites in Utah
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/09/science/earth/09leases.html?_r=5&partner=rss&emc=rss
New York Times: The Department of the Interior has frozen oil and gas development on 60 of 77 contested drilling sites in Utah, saying the process of leasing the land was rushed and badly flawed. The 77 government-owned parcels, covering some 100,000 acres in eastern and southern Utah, were leased in the last weeks of the Bush administration. But the leases were immediately challenged by conservation groups, and in January a federal judge blocked drilling on the ground that the Interior Department ...
Sat, 10 Oct 09
UN talks to end without deal on crucial issues
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091009/ap_on_re_as/as_thailand_un_climate_talks
Associated Press: U.N. climate talks ended in a whimper Friday without progress on the pressing issues of emission cuts for wealthy nations or financing for the developing ones, both of which are crucial to reaching a global warming pact. Negotiations have been deadlocked for months and delegates have raised doubts whether a new climate pact to rein in greenhouse gases can be reached by the time world leaders gather in Copenhagen in December. The pact would replace the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in ...
Sat, 10 Oct 09
Climate talks fail to break deadlock
http://news.theage.com.au/breaking-news-national/climate-talks-fail-to-break-deadlock-20091009-gqiy.html
AAP: International talks which aim to break the deadlock on climate change have largely failed. Two weeks of UN-sponsored climate talks in Bangkok will wrap up on Friday night, Australian time, without the breakthrough negotiators were seeking. The talks aimed to make progress ahead of the crucial UN summit in Copenhagen in December, at which a new climate pact is due to be signed. Will McGoldrick, who works for the Australian-based Climate Institute and has been at the ...
Sat, 10 Oct 09
Africa meet to discuss development, climate change
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5isnO1Phqjxjam-BRZTwM9-V15NQg
Agence France-Presse: African policy makers meet in Ouagadougou Friday to discuss climate change just two months before a critical UN summit where African countries are poised to seek billions in compensation for the effects of global warming. Experts say Sub-Saharan Africa is one of the regions most affected by global warming. The World Bank estimates that the developing world will suffer about 80 percent of the damage of climate change despite accounting for only around one third of greenhouse gases in ...
Sat, 10 Oct 09
Developing Nations Refuse to Ditch Kyoto Protocol
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48784
Inter Press Service: As the countdown continues towards a United Nations climate change summit in Copenhagen in December, a seemingly intractable tussle between negotiators from the developing and developed world has begun to take shape over international commitments to slash greenhouse gas (GhG) emissions. At the heart of this dispute is the fate of the Kyoto Protocol, a global environmental treaty aimed to slow down the pace of a rapidly heating planet. In December 2007, the hopes offered through the ...
Sat, 10 Oct 09
Back to Traditional Farming to Beat Climate Change
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48783
Inter Press Service: When organisers of an international conference on climate change and the food crisis first scheduled the event here for late September, little did they realise the event would be sandwiched by two typhoons buffeting the region. Ironically, the first typhoon, 'Ketsana', delayed the arrival of conference delegates from the Philippines. A week after Ketsana struck the Philippines on Sep. 26 and then Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, it was the turn of Typhoon Parma to wreak havoc in the ...
Sat, 10 Oct 09
NASA flies to Antarctica for largest airborne polar ice survey
http://www.physorg.com/news174245200.html
Physorg: NASA begins a series of flights Oct. 15 to study changes to Antarctica's sea ice, glaciers and ice sheets. The flights are part of Operation Ice Bridge, a six-year campaign that is the largest airborne survey ever made of ice at Earth's polar regions. Researchers will work from NASA's DC-8, an airborne laboratory equipped with laser mapping instruments, ice-penetrating radar and gravity instruments. Data collected from the mission will help scientists better predict how changes to the ...
Sat, 10 Oct 09
Climate change threat needs solutions, not rhetoric
http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/articles/17bad/Article/index_html
New Straits Times: "BAD science is influencing policy," says Claude Allegre, former French minister of education and research. He said there was no absolute truth on climate change, and the premises for policy decisions were inaccurate. That means the policies are wrong and the outcomes will necessarily be misplaced and will not address the issues at hand. Leaders, policymakers, scientists, special-interest groups and non-governmental organisations are busy making their point on what ails the world and ...
Sat, 10 Oct 09
U.S. Chamber of Commerce president shrugs off defections
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-chamber-climate9-2009oct09,0,1686806.story
LA Times: The head of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on Thursday brushed off decisions by a string of high-profile companies to break with the nation's leading business organization over what they considered its backward-looking position on global warming. The companies, which included Pacific Gas & Electric Co. and computer giant Apple Inc., announced they were leaving the chamber after one of its officials said it planned to stage the environmental equivalent of the "Scopes monkey trial" -- a ...
Sat, 10 Oct 09
Government deploys climate shock tactics to drive carbon cuts
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2250891/government-deploys-climate
Business Green: The government will today launch a new climate change public information campaign, which for the first time confirms the existence of climate change and its man-made origins. It presents a stark warning that children alive today will face dire consequences as a result of unchecked global warming. The campaign will be launched this evening with the broadcast of a new advert. This shows a father reading his daughter a bedtime story about "a very, very strange" world where sea ...
Sat, 10 Oct 09
United Kingdom: New study to look at CO2 offshore storage capacity
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2250857/study-look-co2-offshore-storage
Business Green: The Energy Technologies Institute will today launch a £3.5m project to evaluate the potential of sites around the UK for storing carbon dioxide. The Department of Energy and Climate Change has made carbon capture and storage (CCS) a key part of its commitment to tackling emissions, but while it is assumed depleted North Sea oil and gas fields will represent an ideal storage site for capture CO2, estimates on the scale of those fields vary and little detailed work has been undertaken ...
Thu, 8 Oct 09
United Kingdom: New coastland map could help strengthen sea defenses
http://www.physorg.com/news174078072.html
Physorg: The 'Coastland Map' produced by scientists from Durham University and published in the Journal GSA Today, charts the post Ice-Age tilt of the UK and Ireland and current relative sea-level changes. According to the map, the sinking effect in the south could add between 10 and 33 per cent to the projected sea-level rises caused by global warming over the next century. The projections are less than previous estimations for subsidence and could help local authorities to save money on sea ...
Thu, 8 Oct 09
New Zealand: Cutting Carbon, Feeding the World
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703298004574455911537211256.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
Wall Street Journal: Over the next few decades, food security will become an increasingly urgent problem. At the same time, people will demand action on climate change. But how can we feed humanity while still responding to the imperatives of climate change? Each year, agriculture contributes about 14% of all human-induced greenhouse gases--about as much as running every car, boat and plane on the planet. Yet agriculture's role in mitigating climate change has received little attention and very little ...
Thu, 8 Oct 09
United Kingdom: It is time for a change in the balance of power
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/leading-articles/leading-article-it-is-time-for-a-change-in-the-balance-of-power-1798633.html
Independent (UK): Privatisation of the energy sector 20 years ago was intended to deliver great benefits to consumers. Out would go the monolithic nationalised industry and in would come a vibrant collection of competing independent providers. Competition would hold down prices and drive improvements in customer service. That was the theory. But it has not worked out like that in practice. The number of suppliers has fallen from more than 20 in the late 1990s to six dominant conglomerates today. ...
Thu, 8 Oct 09
India: Prices set to soar as crucial crops are lost in floods
http://www.ndtv.com/news/india/prices_set_to_soar_as_crucial_crops_are_lost_in_floods.php
NDTV: First the drought and then devastating floods. There seems to be no end to the Indian farmers' misery. Crucial paddy, onion, sugarcane and horticulture crops have been lost in the floods in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra. Agriculture commissioners of the affected states are assessing the situation and the loss. Paddy and sugarcane production may plunge further than the post-drought estimates due to floods and just ahead of the festival season, prices may sky ...
Thu, 8 Oct 09
India floods trigger food fears
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8294255.stm
BBC: Heavy floods in southern India have damaged hundreds of millions of dollars worth of crops and could lead to severe food shortages, aid agencies say. More than 250 people have died and millions have been displaced in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka after the worst floods in decades. Authorities in Karnataka have warned against the outbreak of water-borne diseases in camps for flood victims. The rains came on the back of one of the worst droughts in ...
Thu, 8 Oct 09
China comes out in public support of Indian idea in climate talks
http://www.newkerala.com/nkfullnews-1-126536.html
Indo-Asian News Service: "Each person is entitled to his fair share of global atmospheric space," China's chief climate negotiator Yu Qingtai said Wednesday, publicly placing for the first time Chinese support to this concept formulated by India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. As the Sep 28-Oct 9 talks here in preparation for this December's climate summit in Copenhagen threatened to get nowhere due to acrimony between developed and developing countries, Yu said: "The (greenhouse gas) emission aggregate of a ...
Thu, 8 Oct 09
Health 'forgotten' in climate talks
http://www.euractiv.com/en/health/health-forgotten-climate-talks/article-186161
EurActiv: Doctors and environmentalists believe the impact of climate change on public health has been largely ignored by policymakers as global leaders step up talks ahead of December's Copenhagen summit. Background: The health impact of climate change has been well-documented amid serious concerns that changing temperature and rainfall could lead to increases in cholera and diarrhoeal diseases, as well malaria, dengue fever and other infections carried by vectors. The World ...
Thu, 8 Oct 09
Q&A: "We Can't Afford to Let the Planet Get Much Hotter"
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48758
Inter Press Service: Lester Brown says his views sometimes appear extreme - because the mainstream media largely doesn't understand the urgency and challenges in avoiding catastrophic climate change. The founder and president of the Washington-based Earth Policy Institute, he is also considered by many to be one of the world's most influential thinkers. "It looks like I'm a radical because the mainstream media aren't reflecting the reality of our situation," Brown says. A farmer from the ...
Thu, 8 Oct 09
Cuba: Raising an Environmentally Conscious Generation
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48757
Inter Press Service: Every summer in Cuba, the complaint is heard over and over again: "These beaches are filthy!" Empty beer and soft drink bottles, plastic bags and cups, the remains of someone's picnic lunch, and innumerable cigarette butts are strewn on the sand every day, despite the threat of fines and the pleas of ecologists. Quoted in an article published by a Cuban newspaper, Julio Olivera, a resident of Guanabo, 30 km east of Havana, blames local residents themselves for 90 percent of the ...
Thu, 8 Oct 09
Novel Tribunal Gives Voice to Climate Change Victims
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48756
Inter Press Service: Shorbanu Khatun flew into the Thai capital to share her pain about being a victim of a natural disaster. In May, Cyclone Aila tore through her community along the coast of Bangladesh, adding another layer of misery to the 36-year- old's already impoverished life. "We have no food, no clean water," the single mother of four children said, fighting back tears. "I am here to tell you that there is nothing left in our village after the cyclone." It has meant her family being forced ...
Thu, 8 Oct 09
Maldives cabinet meets underwater to stress threat from rising sea levels
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/maldives-cabinet-meets-underwater-to-stress-threat-from-rising-sea-levels-1798730.html
Independent (UK): The president of the Maldives is desperate for the world to know how seriously his government takes the threat of climate change and rising sea levels to the survival of his country. He wants his ministers to know as well. To this end, Mohamed Nasheed has organised an underwater cabinet meeting and told all his ministers to get in training for the sub-aqua session. Six metres beneath the surface, the ministers will ratify a treaty calling on other countries to cut greenhouse ...
Thu, 8 Oct 09
Climate Change Triggered Dwarfism In Soil-dwelling Creatures Of The Past
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091006155913.htm
ScienceDaily: Ancient soil-inhabiting creatures decreased in body size by nearly half in response to a period of boosted carbon dioxide levels and higher temperatures, scientists have discovered. The researchers' findings are published in the October 5, 2009, early online edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). Jon Smith, a scientist at the Kansas Geological Survey, and Stephen Hasiotis, a geologist at the University of Kansas, have demonstrated that ...
Wed, 7 Oct 09
New report details costs of cutting greenhouse gas emissions
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/06/AR2009100600018.html
Washington Post: With enough technological advances, the world could get to a dramatically lower level of greenhouse gas emissions at a cost of between one and three percent of global GDP per year, according to a report issued Tuesday by a group of economists. That price tag is in line with previous economic estimates aimed at meeting more modest climate goals. Frank Ackerman, an economist at the Stockholm Environment Institute and Tufts University and the report's lead author, said the study looked ...
Wed, 7 Oct 09
Apple leaves U.S. Chamber over its climate position
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/05/AR2009100502744.html
Washington Post: Apple is pulling out of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce because of the organization's strident criticism of plans to reduce U.S. greenhouse-gas emissions, the computer giant said Monday. In a letter to the Chamber's president, Apple Vice President Catherine Novelli wrote, "Apple supports regulating greenhouse gas emissions, and it is frustrating to find the Chamber at odds with us in this effort." As a result, Novelli said, "we have decided to resign our membership effective ...
Wed, 7 Oct 09
Captain Cook's weather logs help scientists predict climate changes
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/science/article6862384.ece
Times (UK): Captain James Cook's weather reports, which he logged meticulously at noon each day on his voyages to unknown lands, are helping scientists to predict changes in the climate. Ships' logs from Cook's Discovery and Resolution, William Bligh's Bounty and 300 other 18th and 19th-century explorers' vessels are being transcribed and digitised in a project that will allow climatologists to trace changing weather patterns. The records, stored in the National Archives at Kew, contain a ...
Wed, 7 Oct 09
In case of sea change, dismantle house and go
http://www.smh.com.au/environment/in-case-of-sea-change-dismantle-and-go-developers-environment-clause-20091005-gjfc.html
Sydney Morning Herald: A DEVELOPER planning 200 beachfront homes where three houses have already been lost to the sea will make new owners truck their homes away if the water gets closer than 50 metres. In what may be a model for beachfront developments in the global warming era, Olmwood Pty Ltd has told Greater Taree Council it will make it a legal requirement for new buyers to take their houses with them if they are forced to flee rising sea levels. A development application the company has just ...
Wed, 7 Oct 09
Australia: Dust was blooming marvellous for harbour
http://www.smh.com.au/environment/dust-was-blooming-marvellous-for-harbour-20091005-gjfd.html
Sydney Morning Herald: THE thick blanket of red dust that settled on Sydney two weeks ago caused the harbour to bloom. Nutrient-rich topsoil from the city's worst dust storm in about 70 years led to a tripling in the number of microscopic plants, or phytoplankton, in the upper layers of water, Sydney scientists have found. They also calculate this invisible explosion in photosynthetic life in the harbour and Tasman Sea would have soaked up an amount of carbon dioxide equivalent to a month's emissions ...
Wed, 7 Oct 09
Europe to invest $73 billion in clean energy research
http://www.reuters.com/article/GCA-GreenBusiness/idUSTRE5942I920091005?sp=true
Reuters: Europe will this week launch a campaign to triple funding for energy research to 8 billion euros ($11.7 billion) a year in a technology race with Japan and the United States, a draft document shows. Solar power should get 16 billion euros over the next decade and up to 30 energy-sipping "Smart Cities" should be built with the backing of around 11 billion euros, added the report by the European Union's executive, the European Commission. In total, at least 50 billion euros of ...
Wed, 7 Oct 09
Ireland: Report warns of threat to beaches from climate change
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2009/1006/1224255984155.html
Irish Times: DRAMATIC CHANGES in climate could have an adverse effect on Irish tourism and heritage later this century, with popular beaches rendered inaccessible by rising sea levels, a new report has concluded. The report, Climate Change, Heritage and Tourism, investigates how the changes in temperature and climate will affect the heritage of Ireland`s coastlines, and inland waterways. Its authors, Marty Stack of Fáilte Ireland and Beatrice Kelly of the Heritage Council, have found that ...
Wed, 7 Oct 09
China says rich need to honor climate commitments
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE5953KM20091006?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: China hit out at rich nations on Tuesday, saying failure to honor past climate commitments was undermining U.N.-led efforts to try to seal a broader pact in December to fight global warming. Speaking on the sidelines of climate talks in the Thai capital, Yu Qingtai, China's special envoy for climate change, said some nations needed to do some "deep soul-searching." "What is happening right now in these negotiations is not very encouraging to say the least," Yu said, repeating a ...
Wed, 7 Oct 09
Diplomat: US needs to embrace renewable energy
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Diplomat-US-needs-to-embrace-apf-848585461.html?x=0&.v=1
Associated Press: Americans need to be more aggressive in adopting renewable energy, conserving electricity and embracing global efforts to solve climate change, the Danish ambassador to the U.S. said. Acknowledging that he was toeing a fine line as a foreign diplomat, Friis Arne Petersen on Monday told Kansas City-area business leaders during an energy policy symposium that the issues transcend borders. "This isn't health, this is climate and energy policy that are global issues and are all ...
Wed, 7 Oct 09
Russian Arctic tribe at risk from Yamal gas projects
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE5953ZB20091006?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: The Nenets tribespeople of Russia's frozen Yamal peninsula have survived the age of the Tsars, the Bolshevik revolution and the chaotic 1990s, but now confront their biggest challenge -- under their fur-bundled feet is enough gas to heat the world for five years. "For them it is fortune, for us terror," said 20-year-old herder Andrei Yezgini, dressed from head to toe in reindeer skin, referring to ambitious plans by state gas giant Gazprom to drill the region Prime Minister Vladimir ...
Wed, 7 Oct 09
Australian government strengthens position ahead of climate bill vote
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2250693/australian-government
Business Green: The chances of Australia introducing an emission-trading scheme look to have increased significantly, after a new poll revealed the Labour government would almost certainly win if continued attempts by the opposition to block the legislation force it to hold a snap election. The government is expected to hold a second vote on its proposed climate bill later this month, after the proposals were defeated in a a Senate vote this summer. If they are blocked for a second time, the ...
Wed, 7 Oct 09
Going Green On Hold: Human Activities Can Affect 'Blue Haze,' World's Weather
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091006112846.htm
ScienceDaily: "Blue haze,' a common occurrence that appears over heavily forested areas around the world, is formed by natural emissions of chemicals, but human activities can worsen it to the point of affecting the world's weather and even cause potential climate problems, according to a study led by a Texas A&M University researcher. Renyi Zhang, professor of atmospheric sciences who has studied air chemistry for more than 20 years, says blue haze (tiny particles or aerosols suspended in the ...
Wed, 7 Oct 09
Group sues to force greenhouse gas regulation
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6654829.html
Houston Chronicle: An environmental group is suing the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to force the agency to regulate emissions of gases blamed for global warming. Public Citizen's lawsuit, which was filed in Travis County District Court today, accuses the agency of violating the state's Clean Air Act by refusing to issue standards for controlling the emissions of carbon dioxide and five other heat-trapping gases. The suit follows a 2007 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court that found the ...
Wed, 7 Oct 09
New polar bear rule sent to White House
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE5955XH20091006?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Protection for polar bears' shrinking icy habitat is the subject of a proposed rule sent to the White House by the Interior Department. The proposed rule, "Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Critical Habitat Designation for the Polar Bear" is the latest step in a long process aimed at shielding the big white bears from the effects of climate change. Details of the proposed rule were not immediately made public, but it was filed on Monday with the White ...
Wed, 7 Oct 09
U.S. economy could worsen climate bill prospects
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE5955W520091006?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Global warming legislation, already facing difficult odds in the Senate, looks even tougher to achieve because key lawmakers fear taking big steps on the environment when the economy is still shedding jobs. "I think standing in a deep economic hole is a difficult time to do big policy things that cause uncertainty," said Democratic Senator Byron Dorgan. Dorgan, who is up for re-election next year, is one of a few dozen undecided senators who will be courted by Democratic ...
Wed, 7 Oct 09
Apple leaves US Chamber of Commerce over climate clash
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091006/pl_afp/climateuswarmingcompanyapple
Agence France-Presse: Computing giant Apple has decided to leave the US Chamber of Commerce in protest over the organization's opposition to tough climate change rules, according to a letter published on Tuesday. The firm "supports regulating greenhouse gas emissions, and it is frustrating to find the Chamber at odds with us in this effort," according to Apple vice president Catherine Novelli. "We would prefer the chamber take a more progressive stance on this critical issue and play a constructive ...
Wed, 7 Oct 09
Clean-tech investment flowing to California because of climate change policies
http://www.mercurynews.com/opinion/ci_13497367
San Jose Mercury News: Over the past year in California, multinational corporations, private investment firms and even the Department of Defense have pumped more than a billion dollars into, of all things, algae. This recent influx of funds for research and development of this humble organism is also one of the clearest indicators to date that California is headed in the right direction when it comes to fighting climate change. Algae, it turns out, can produce hydrocarbons and shows great promise as a source of ...
Wed, 7 Oct 09
Energy Efficiency Ranks High in China's Plans; CO2 Is Seldom Discussed
http://www.nytimes.com/cwire/2009/10/06/06climatewire-energy-efficiency-ranks-high-in-chinas-plans-76298.html
New York Times: A guide shows off row after row of gleaming, black, chrome-coated tubes used in the millions of solar thermal water heaters Himin Solar Energy Group produces each year. The corporate building alone saves 1 million kilowatt-hours by using solar heating, the guide informs his group. But when he is asked how many tons of carbon dioxide emissions the average solar water heater saves, silence fills the hall. "Normally, in China, we just calculate energy efficiency," the guide offers ...
Wed, 7 Oct 09
Brazil: Putting (Human) Waste to Work
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48747
Inter Press Service: Biodigester technology, which originated in Asia as a natural process for treating sewage waste, is reemerging in Latin America as an integrated system providing cheap energy, improved sanitation, and even attractive landscaping. It is hard to imagine that beneath a delicate flower floating on a tank full of crystal-clear water, there is a hidden biodigester treating waste from a family home. Even more difficult is to imagine that a small two-ring cooker, where a mother ...
Wed, 7 Oct 09
Q&A: Desertification and Climate Change Go Hand in Hand
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48741
Inter Press Service: "The entire social fabric of an area is compromised when soils are depleted," says Italian expert Massimo Candelori, whose fight against desertification is increasingly linked to global efforts to combat climate change. As head of the facilitation, coordination and monitoring of implementation unit of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), Candelori is in charge of ensuring that countries comply with soil preservation efforts, practically without ...
Wed, 7 Oct 09
Resource Crunch Signals Larger Ecological Crisis
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48739
Inter Press Service: How would development programmes look if viewed from the position of scarcity, especially the scarcity of food, water, and energy? And with a growing deficit between the demand for these resources and their supply, do policymakers have the tools needed to foster resilience in resource-strapped developing countries? These were among questions posed by participants at a recent Washington-based forum on Global Resource Security. Hosted by the Centre for Strategic and International ...
Wed, 7 Oct 09
EU calls for trebling of green energy research funding
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2250627/eu-calls-trebling-green-energy
Business Green: The EU will this week launch a campaign to treble public and private-sector funding for energy research to EUR8bn (£7.35bn), as part of its wider efforts to cut carbon emissions 80 per cent by 2050. According to reports from the Reuters news agency, European Commission officials will tomorrow release a major new study detailing the level of additional funding required to ensure the EU meets its goal of cutting emissions 20 per cent by 2020 and 80 per cent by 2050. The study, a ...
Wed, 7 Oct 09
U.S. chamber a dinosaur on climate change
http://www.dailydemocrat.com/editorial/ci_13496387
Daily Democrat: California's future, and the nation's, will rely on clean technology. The news last week that venture investments in clean tech rose 10 percent from the previous quarter, and that the U.S. government has invested $60 billion in the sector, make that clear. But the U.S. National Chamber of Commerce, which purports to be the voice of the nation's businesses, has turned into a dinosaur when it comes to clean energy. The chamber's strong opposition to climate change legislation makes ...
Wed, 7 Oct 09
Thai villagers in bid to halt disappearing coast
http://www.reuters.com/article/asiaCrisis/idUSBKK155667
Agence France-Presse: Some villagers use bamboo fencing. Others plant mangroves. And some do both to fight back against erosion transforming centuries-old communities on the Gulf of Thailand. Only a half hour drive south of Bangkok, coastal regions already show alarming signs of erosion: electricity poles, once on land, are submerged in parts of Bang Khun Thien, a district on the outskirts of Bangkok. Kongsak Lerkngam, who lives in Bang Khun Thien and works on an erosion protection initiative in six ...
Wed, 7 Oct 09
Global CO2 emissions could fall by three pct: IEA
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hfyWeEve4ccKSImFxtXOMfI7DvVg
Agence France-Presse: Carbon dioxide emissions, the main driver of global warming, could fall three percent worldwide in 2009 due to the global economic crisis, the International Energy Agency said Tuesday. This would be the steepest drop in CO2 emissions for 40 years, chief IEA economist Fatih Birol said at a press conference in Bangkok, adding that the average annual growth in global carbon output until now has been three percent. Birol said this silver-lining drop in carbon pollution was a ...
Wed, 7 Oct 09
Recession Eases Effort to Preserve Climate, IEA Says
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601082&sid=aPktdmq4Z9pI
Bloomberg: The economic crisis has made it easier to halt the growth in greenhouse gases released by power plants, factories and cars, the International Energy Agency said in a report that revised its forecasts from November. Yearly emissions from energy use may peak at 30.9 billion tons "just before" 2020, the Paris-based agency said today in a report presented to United Nations climate negotiators in Bangkok. That's 4.9 percent less than the IEA's previous estimate of a 32.5 billion-ton peak ...
Wed, 7 Oct 09
Australia: Wong warns against delaying ETS vote
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/871817/wong-warns-against-ets-filibuster
AAP: The federal government has warned the opposition against delaying a vote on emissions trading through lengthy Senate debates. The opposition says it does not plan to filibuster - use up time by talking - when the emissions trading scheme (ETS) comes before the Senate for two weeks in late November. But opposition Senate leader Nick Minchin has promised an "exhaustive" debate and says there will be a raft of amendments to the 11 bills which set up the ETS. Climate ...
Wed, 7 Oct 09
Greenhouse gas issue pushes Apple out
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/6653905.html
Houston Chronicle: Apple resigned from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Monday over the business group's opposition to government efforts to limit greenhouse gases. "Apple supports regulating greenhouse gas emissions, and it is frustrating to find the chamber at odds with us," Catherine Novelli, an Apple vice president, wrote in a letter to the chamber. At issue is the chamber's opposition to the Environmental Protection Agency's efforts to limit greenhouse gases, Novelli said. The group ...
Wed, 7 Oct 09
Road to Copenhagen: The arithmetic of climate change: Local and global reality
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2009/10/06/road-copenhagen-the-arithmetic-climate-change-local-and-global-reali.html
Jakarta Post: It's possible. We know we can avoid dangerous climate change if we decide to. The arithmetic of climate change mitigation centers on three main questions: How much greenhouse gas can we emit each year and still avoid dangerous climate change (the annual global carbon budget)? Who gets to emit what portion of that annual global carbon budget? And who pays the financial and behavioral costs of changing from our current high-carbon global economy to the necessary low- or no-carbon ...
Wed, 7 Oct 09
South India floods a result of climate change: Red Cross
http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/enviornment/south-india-floods-a-result-of-climate-change-red-cross_100256671.html
Indo-Asian News Service: The floods in south India that have killed at least 350 people and made millions homeless are a result of climate change, said an expert in the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre. The sudden shift from "extreme drought" to "extreme floods" in the region was in consonance with the last report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), head of the climate centre Madeleen Helmer said here Tuesday. In its 2007 fourth assessment report, the IPCC had said that one of ...
Wed, 7 Oct 09
Obama: Government to set global warming example
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gh2cPbRUBVxde6RSSBThZUn4jylwD9B5EP300
Associated Press: President Barack Obama wants the federal government to set the example when it comes to global warming. In an executive order signed Monday, Obama required all agencies to do what he wants companies operating power plants, running refineries and making automobiles to do: reduce heat-trapping gases. Each federal agency will have to set the first targets for reducing climate-altering pollution from its buildings, fleets and workers' commutes. The agencies will have 90 days ...
Mon, 5 Oct 09
Green roofs save on carbon overheads
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17906-green-roofs-save-on-carbon-overheads.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=climate-change
New Scientist: Green roofs are not just a load of greenwash. That's according to a new study which has measured the amount of carbon absorbed by 13 different green roofs. "I can't imagine why anyone wouldn't want a green roof," says Kristin Getter, who carried out the research with colleagues at Michigan State University in East Lansing. Getter's team examined 12 existing green roofs and grew their own Sedum-covered roof. They found that the roofs absorbed up to 375 grams per square metre ...
Mon, 5 Oct 09
Carbon storage new factor for timber
http://www.modbee.com/local/story/880464.html
Modesto Bee: About 20,000 acres of Tuolumne County timber are part of an effort to capture some of the carbon dioxide believed to be changing the climate. Sierra Pacific Industries, a major lumber producer, announced last week that it will manage the land in a way that increases carbon stored in trees over the next 100 years. The goal is to keep the gas from wafting into the atmosphere, where it could trap the sun's heat and warm the planet. The people involved said it is the largest ...
Mon, 5 Oct 09
Using algae to make fuels, he's thinking beyond pond scum
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-himi4-2009oct04,0,5794568.story
LA Times: The gig: Chief executive of Sapphire Energy Inc., a San Diego biofuels company that develops algae-based fuel that has been used experimentally to power airplanes and, recently, a car that was driven across the country. The serial entrepreneur has had a hand in starting several companies in industries including medical engineering and biotechnology. Sapphire hopes to produce 1 million gallons of algae diesel and jet fuel each year in the next two years, and up to a massive 1 billion ...
Mon, 5 Oct 09
Arctic seas turn to acid, putting vital food chain at risk
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/oct/04/arctic-seas-turn-to-acid
Guardian:
Mon, 5 Oct 09
Soot clouds pose threat to Himalayan glaciers
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/oct/04/climate-change-melting-himalayan-glaciers
Guardian: Glaciers in the Himalayas and the Tibetan plateau that feed the river systems of almost half the world's people are melting faster because of the effects of clouds of soot from diesel fumes and wood fires, according to scientists in India and China. The results, to be announced this month in Kashmir, show for the first time that clouds of soot – made up of tiny particles of "black carbon" emitted from old diesel engines and from cooking with wood, crop waste or cow dung – are ...
Mon, 5 Oct 09
Arrests end Shell oil plant protest in Canada
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE59225R20091004?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Canadian police broke up an occupation by environmental activists of an oil-sands processing facility under construction in Alberta, majority owned by Royal Dutch Shell Plc, arresting 16 activists over the weekend. Environmental group Greenpeace and the company said on Sunday that the protest began on Saturday at an expansion of Shell's Scotford facility in Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta. It was the third such action in recent weeks to target facilities linked to oil sands ...
Mon, 5 Oct 09
Global warming is 'big threat to London's wildlife'
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/global-warming-is-big-threat-to-londons-wildlife-1797761.html
Press Association: Global warming will threaten London's wildlife habitats by increasing the risk of flooding in the winter and drought in the summer, according to a report published today. Despite being one of the world's largest and most densely populated cities, the capital boasts a wide diversity of habitats that are hugely important to the wildlife that depend on them. The report by the London Climate Change Partnership warned that a global increase in temperature could expose London's ...
Mon, 5 Oct 09
16 arrested in Canada Greenpeace protest
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091004/wl_canada_afp/canadaenvironmentenergygreenpeace
Agence France-Presse: Authorities arrested 16 people Sunday after Greenpeace activists scaled three smoke stacks at a Shell operation in their latest action protesting the exploitation of Canada's vast oil sands. Activists from Canada, France, Australia and Brazil occupied part of an upgrader machine Shell is building at its Scotford site in Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta to convert oil sands into fuel, the group said in a statement. By the time the protest ended Sunday authorities detained 16 members, ...
Mon, 5 Oct 09
Hurdles Remain on Climate Change Goals
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2009/10/04/ST2009100402531.html
Washington Post: Like most members of President Obama's climate team, David Sandalow was one of President Bill Clinton's negotiators in Kyoto. And he carries an indelible lesson from the experience of signing off on the international climate pact there 12 years ago: "Only agree abroad to what you can implement at home." He had been elated at the deal by more than 180 nations in December 1997. But within months, a television ad appeared, decrying the agreement for not including developing nations such ...
Mon, 5 Oct 09
Political Alliances Shift in Fight Over Climate Bill
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125469865112162911.html
Wall Street Journal: The flurry of companies quitting the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is highlighting how the climate-change issue is straining traditional alliances in Washington, as some businesses seek to profit from overhauling the energy market and others try to cut deals to head off tougher regulation. Some companies and industry groups that have in the past worked with Republicans to fight efforts to curb the use of fossil fuels -- such as Detroit's auto makers -- are now expressing support for action ...
Mon, 5 Oct 09
China prudent over tapping combustible ice
http://en.ce.cn/Industries/Energy&Mining/200910/03/t20091003_20143257.shtml
Xinhua: China will put environmental concerns as top priority in tackling ways to exploit combustible ice, a kind of natural gas hydrate, in the permanent tundra in its northwest plateau region, said a combustible ice project leader. "We do not need to drill very deep to get the flammable frozen compound from tundra here in Muli Prefecture in Qinghai province. However, as the sample is taken out, methane gas is easily released into the atmosphere," said Wen Huaijun, chief engineer of the ...
Mon, 5 Oct 09
Protesters unfurl 'Climate SOS' banner in Alberta
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2009/10/03/11273901-cp.html?cid=rssnewscanada
Canadian Press: After spending 24 hours chained high up on smokestacks and a construction crane, nine Greenpeace protesters were arrested at an oilsands expansion project northeast of Edmonton. Mike Hudema, a Greenpeace activist, says around 5:30 a.m., police moved in to the Shell Scottford upgrader expansion near Fort Saskatchewan, Alta., to make the arrests. He says it's believed the Greenpeace protesters are facing charges of mischief and break and enter. Over a dozen protesters from ...
Mon, 5 Oct 09
Canada: Mighty caribou herds dwindle, warming blamed
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hyzFbQDrEIO0lW9HfktjfyN4KOXQD9B4BRSO0
Associated Press: Here on the endlessly rolling and tussocky terrain of northwest Canada, where man has hunted caribou since the Stone Age, the vast antlered herds are fast growing thin. And it's not just here. Across the tundra 1,500 kilometers (1,000 miles) to the east, Canada's Beverly herd, numbering more than 200,000 a decade ago, can barely be found today. Halfway around the world in Siberia, the biggest aggregation of these migratory animals, of the dun-colored herds whose sweep across ...
Mon, 5 Oct 09
United Kingdom: Greg Clark: Global warming is not on our back burner
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/greg-clark-global-warming-is-not-on-our-back-burner-1797308.html
Independent (UK): Back in April 2006, David Cameron handed out silver birch saplings to journalists at a press conference in which he urged voters to "vote blue, go green". The next day, the Tory leader of four months was photographed perched on the melting Svalbard glacier in Norway, his hair windswept, an arm wrapped around a huskie which was nuzzling Cameron's North Face jacket. These were the 24 hours in which Cameron imposed his environmental credentials on the world. They were followed by a pledge to ...
Mon, 5 Oct 09
Nations Urged to Share Low Carbon Development Costs
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48713
Inter Press Service: Following a strict global carbon budget is the only way to ride out climate change -- and this is as much the responsibility of developing countries as it is of developed ones. Globally, all countries need to have reduced their total greenhouse gas emissions by at least 80 percent by 2050 below 1990 levels for the world to stay below two degrees Celsius warming of the earth's surface. There is a growing international consensus that this target is essential to avoid the most dangerous ...
Mon, 5 Oct 09
Climate change hits poor countries worst: World Bank
http://www.busrep.co.za/index.php?from=rss_Business%20Report&fArticleId=5189828
Agence France-Presse: The developing world will suffer about 80 percent of the damage from climate change despite accounting for only around a third of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, the World Bank said on Sunday. "The damage of climate change, about 75 to 80 percent, will be suffered by developing countries although they only contribute about one third of greenhouse gases," World Bank chief economist Justin Lin told reporters. Lin spoke in Istanbul, host city of the World Bank and ...
Mon, 5 Oct 09
Australia: Green groups tell Rudd to toe their ETS line or they will walk
http://nqr.farmonline.com.au/news/nationalrural/agribusiness-and-general/general/green-groups-tell-rudd-to-toe-their-ets-line-or-they-will-walk/1640322.aspx
North Queensland Register: Green groups tell Rudd to toe their ETS line or they will walk - National Rural News - Agribusiness and General - General - North Queensland Register North Queensland Register News Skip directly to: Search Box, Section Navigation, Content. News National Rural News Agribusiness and General General Green groups tell Rudd to toe their ETS line or they ... Green groups tell Rudd to toe their ETS line or they will walk STEPHANIE PEATLING 4/10/2009 6:30:00 PM THE only ...
Mon, 5 Oct 09
Divisions in U.S. Over Emissions
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/05/business/energy-environment/05iht-green05.html?_r=5
New York Times: If anyone in the global community was still straining to see where the fault lines lay in the American debate over climate change, last week will have provided some clarity. The very public departure of several large businesses from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which describes itself as "the world's largest business federation representing three million businesses of all sizes," was punctuated Wednesday with an announcement by the shoe manufacturer Nike that it, too, had found itself ...
Mon, 5 Oct 09
Will California become America's first failed state?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/oct/04/california-failing-state-debt
Guardian: California has a special place in the American psyche. It is the Golden State: a playground of the rich and famous with perfect weather. It symbolises a lifestyle of sunshine, swimming pools and the Hollywood dream factory. But the state that was once held up as the epitome of the boundless opportunities of America has collapsed. From its politics to its economy to its environment and way of life, California is like a patient on life support. At the start of summer the state ...
Mon, 5 Oct 09
EPA proposes permits for large polluters
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2250552/epa-proposes-permits-large
Business Green: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) yesterday proposed a groundbreaking rule that would hold large permitting producers to account for their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. EPA administrator Lisa Jackson made the announcement in a keynote address earlier this week. The proposal calls for large facilities emitting at least 25,000 tonnes of GHGs to obtain construction and operating permits. To receive the permits, the facilities would have to show that they were using the ...
Sun, 4 Oct 09
Obama Aide Concedes Climate Law Must Wait
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/03/us/politics/03climate.html?_r=5&partner=rss&emc=rss
New York Times: President Obama's top climate and energy official said Friday that there was virtually no chance Congress would have a climate and energy bill ready for him to sign before negotiations on a global climate treaty begin in December in Copenhagen. The remarks by the official, Carol M. Browner, during an onstage interview in Washington, were the first definitive statement by the administration that it saw little chance of Congressional passage this fall. Lawmakers and environmental ...
Sun, 4 Oct 09
Obama adviser says no climate change law this year
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091003/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_climate_bill_obama
Associated Press: President Barack Obama's top energy adviser says there is no way Congress will be able to pass a bill on climate change this year. "That's not going to happen," the adviser, Carol Browner, said Friday. Browner made the statement at a conference organized by The Atlantic magazine, just days after Senate Democrats introduced a major bill on climate change. In a video posted on the magazine's Web site, Browner was asked about the prospects of enacting climate legislation by the ...
Sun, 4 Oct 09
U.N.'s Ban urges Olympic support for climate deal
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE5920S020091003?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on world sports and Olympic officials on Saturday to lend support to a global climate deal which he called a "race against time." Promising to "sprint like an Olympian" himself to secure a climate deal among nations in December, Ban urged International Olympic Committee members and other sports leaders at a three-day Olympic Congress, to help reach that goal. World leaders will meet in Copenhagen in December to try to make a deal on ...
Sun, 4 Oct 09
Palm oil industry pledges wildlife corridors to save orangutans
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/1003-hance_colloquium.html
Mongabay: In an unlikely--and perhaps tenuous--alliance, conservationists and the palm oil industry met this week to draw up plans to save Asia's last great ape, the orangutan. As if to underscore the colloquium's importance, delegates on arriving in the Malaysian State of Sabah found the capital covered in a thick and strange fog caused by the burning of rainforests and peat lands in neighboring Kalimantan. After two days of intensive meetings the colloquium adopted a resolution which included ...
Sun, 4 Oct 09
Weak levels of king salmon hurt Alaskan fishing community
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/03/business/03salmon.html?_r=5&pagewanted=print
New York Times: Just a few years ago, king salmon played an outsize role in villages along the Yukon River. Fishing provided meaningful income, fed families throughout the year, and kept alive long-held traditions of Yup'ik Eskimos and Athabascan Indians. But this year, a total ban on commercial fishing for king salmon on the river in Alaska has strained poor communities and stripped the prized Yukon fish off menus in the lower 48 states. Unprecedented restrictions on subsistence fishing have left ...
Sun, 4 Oct 09
United Kingdom: Climate scheme forces office workers to go green
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article6859432.ece
Times (UK): Your boss summons you to a meeting to discuss your poor performance. Your offence was far worse than absenteeism or being rude to clients. You have been detected wasting the company's, and the planet's, resources: last night you went home without switching off your computer monitor. This is the reality for hundreds of staff working at the London headquarters of Land Securities, Britain's largest property company. Each night all monitors are checked and a yellow card is placed ...
Sun, 4 Oct 09
United Kingdom: Most people in denial over climate change, according to psychologists
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/6253912/Most-people-in-denial-over-climate-change-according-to-psychologists.html
Telegraph: The Met Office has warned that if the world continues to burn fossil fuels at the current rate temperatures will rise above four degrees C in the next fifty years. This will cause sea level rise, droughts, floods and mass collapse of eco-systems. However Clive Hamilton, Professor of public ethics at the Australian National University, said the majority of the population is still in denial about the risks of climate change. He compared the situation to the psychology of ...
Sun, 4 Oct 09
India's thirst is making us all wet
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20427285.300-indias-thirst-is-making-us-all-wet.html
New Scientist: ONE nation's thirst for groundwater is having an impact on global sea levels. Satellite measurements show that northern India is sucking some 54 trillion litres of water out of the ground every year. This is threatening a major water crisis and adding to global sea level rise. Virendra Tiwari from the National Geophysical Research Institute in Hyderabad, India, and colleagues used gravity data from the GRACE satellite to monitor the loss of continental mass around the world since ...
Sun, 4 Oct 09
$39.95 for an energy-efficient light bulb? It's a deal, says maker Lemnis Lighting
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-lightbulb3-2009oct03,0,3065254.story
LA Times: Didn't think so. But what if it used 90% less electricity than a standard incandescent bulb, cut greenhouse gas emissions and saved you about $280 over its 25-year life span? That's the challenge facing Dutch start-up Lemnis Lighting, which on Friday began selling the American version of what apparently is the world's first dimmable LED bulb compatible with home light fixtures. LEDs -- light-emitting diodes -- are semiconductors that glow and are considered one of the great ...
Sun, 4 Oct 09
The great drought: Disaster looms in East Africa
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/the-great-drought-in-east-africa-1797003.html
Independent (UK): On the plains of Marsabit the heat is so intense the bush seems to shiver. The leafless scrub, bleached white by the sun, looks like a forest of fake Christmas trees. Carcasses of cattle and camels are strewn about the burnt red dirt in every direction. Siridwa Baseli walks out of the haze along a path of the dead and dying. He passes a skeletal cow that has given up and collapsed under a thorn tree. A nomad from the Rendille people, he is driving his herd in search of water. He marks ...
Sun, 4 Oct 09
Only 10 days left for climate deal, U.N.'s Ban says
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE59224920091003?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Saturday negotiators had just 10 days left to secure a global climate deal and governments must not be hindered by domestic troubles. The United Nations hopes to bring 190 governments together in early December in Copenhagen to finalize a deal on greenhouse gas emissions to replace provisions of the Kyoto Protocol expiring in 2012. "There are just 10 negotiating days left until we come to Copenhagen," Ban said, referring apparently to ...
Sun, 4 Oct 09
Activists occupy Shell upgrader site in Alberta
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE59225R20091003?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Environmental activists have occupied an expansion site at an upgrader majority owned by Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Greenpeace and the company said on Saturday, the third such protest in recent weeks to target facilities linked to oil sands production. Greenpeace said 19 activists scaled an under-construction upgrader at Shell's Scotford facility in Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta to protest "the climate crimes of the tar sands." A statement from the environmental group said two ...
Sun, 4 Oct 09
Biogas brings 'green revolution' to rural Nepal
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/biogas-brings-green-revolution-to-rural-nepal-1797415.html
Agence France-Presse: Nepalese villager Khinu Darai used to have to walk about five kilometres (three miles) every day to collect firewood so she could cook meals for her family. Then two years ago, she bought a biogas plant under a government scheme to encourage villagers to convert to greener energy -- an event the 30-year-old mother of three says transformed her life. "Biogas is a blessing for my family. These days I don't have to go into the jungle to collect wood," she told AFP outside her ...
Sun, 4 Oct 09
New Script for India on Climate Change: Altering Its Tactics to Protect Its Interests
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/04/world/asia/04climate.html?_r=5
New York Times: When the United Nations convened its summit meeting on climate change last month, China and the United States, the two most important countries at the negotiating table, hewed to mostly familiar scripts, making promises without making too many specific commitments. Less familiar was the script followed by the third most important country at the table, India. India's public stance on climate change is usually predictable – predictably obstinate and unwilling to compromise, at least ...
Sun, 4 Oct 09
Global leaders vow to tackle climate change
http://www.ptinews.com/news/311898_Global-leaders-vow-to-tackle-climate-change
Press Trust of India: Ahead of the key Copenhagen meet in December to tackle global warming, leading Indian environmentalist R K Pachauri and 29 other global leaders have inked a declaration vowing to jointly work to pursue clean transportation and back national climate change legislations. "Addressing the problems caused by climate change is the greatest environmental challenge of our time," California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who was among the signatories of the declaration, said after a climate ...
Sat, 3 Oct 09
1000 mayors agree to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-mayors-climate3-2009oct03,0,4137038.story
LA Times: When Greg Nickels became Seattle's mayor in 2002, global warming was hardly at the top of the municipal agenda. New York's World Trade Center had been attacked, and officials had to figure out how to protect their own city from terrorism. Boeing was laying off 30,000 machinists, so there was the declining regional economy to deal with. Surely the federal government would worry about climate change. Then came the winter of 2004, when the Cascade Mountains snowpack was so ...
Sat, 3 Oct 09
No US climate bill before December talks: Obama aide
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5i--U7J5yYSNoLgPHGsCwYujioeJw
Agence France-Presse: A top aide to US President Barack Obama said there was virtually no chance Congress would have a climate and energy bill ready for him to sign before negotiations on a global climate treaty begin in December in Copenhagen, The New York Times reported Saturday. The newspaper said the prediction was offered by Carol Browner, director of the White House Office of Energy and Climate Change Policy, during an onstage interview in Washington. It was the first definitive statement by ...
Sat, 3 Oct 09
Walruses Suffer Substantial Losses as Sea Ice Erodes
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/03/science/earth/03walrus.html?em
New York Times: Half a century after Pacific walruses began recovering from industrial-scale hunting, marine biologists are growing worried that they face a mounting threat from global warming. Masses of lumbering walruses have been crowding on beaches and rocks along the Russian and American sides of the Bering Strait in the absence of the coastal sea ice that normally serves as a late-summer haven and nursery. While the retreats in sea ice around the Arctic this summer were not as extensive ...
Sat, 3 Oct 09
India wants less 'evangelical' climate talks
http://www.zeenews.com/news567976.html
Indo-Asian News Service: Assuring the developed world that India would not be the deal-breaker in Copenhagen, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh has asked the rich nations to be less "evangelical" and less "polemical" in their push for a deal. "India has not caused the problem of global warming but we want to make sure we're part of the solution," Ramesh said at a breakfast meeting hosted by the US-India Business Council (USIBC) in partnership with Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). "I would say ...
Sat, 3 Oct 09
Algae And Pollen Grains Provide Evidence Of Remarkably Warm Period In Antarctica's History
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091001081305.htm
ScienceDaily: Last year, as Warny was studying samples sent to her from the latest Antarctic Geologic Drilling Program, or ANDRILL AND-2A, a multinational collaboration between the Antarctic Programs of the United States (funded by the National Science Foundation), New Zealand, Italy and Germany, one sample stood out as a complete anomaly. "First I thought it was a mistake, that it was a sample from another location, not Antarctica, because of the unusual abundance in microscopic fossil cysts of ...
Sat, 3 Oct 09
Report: USFS ordered Calif. firefighters reduced
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091002/ap_on_re_us/us_wildfire_investigation
Associated Press: The U.S. Forest Service ordered its supervisors to reduce the use of state and local firefighters three weeks before a deadly Los Angeles County wildfire erupted, the Los Angeles Times reported Thursday. An internal memorandum obtained by the Times instructed forest supervisors in the Pacific Southwest region to replace non-federal crews "as appropriate" and with the service's own personnel and equipment "as quickly as possible," the newspaper reported. The memo, from Regional ...
Sat, 3 Oct 09
Rich countries 'must slash living standards' to fight climate change
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article6858326.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=3392178
Times (UK): Living standards in Britain and other rich countries must fall sharply over the next decade if the world is to avoid catastrophic global warming, according to a leading climate research centre. Consumption of energy-intensive goods and services should be cut and remain capped until low-carbon alternatives are available, said the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research. The study says that Britain's carbon dioxide emissions need to fall twice as fast as planned by the ...
Sat, 3 Oct 09
Obama in Copenhagen: will he come again for climate?
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE5911Z520091002?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: U.S. President Barack Obama came to Denmark to promote Chicago's Olympic bid, but will he come back to push for a treaty to save the world from climate change? That's the question environmentalists asked on Friday as he made a five-hour stop in Copenhagen where he was rebuffed in his bid to get the International Olympic Committee to pick his adopted hometown of Chicago to host the 2016 summer Games. The activist group Greenpeace said it had hung a banner with the words "Right ...
Sat, 3 Oct 09
Lily Allen and Duran Duran record climate change song
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/6253847/Lily-Allen-and-Duran-Duran-record-climate-change-song.html
Telegraph: The world's first musical petition is a re-recording of the Midnight Oil song Beds are Burning. Mark Ronson, Jamie Cullum and Fergie of the Black Eyed Peas also took part. The song has been launched to raise awareness of global warming in the run up to the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December. Lyrics include: "How can we dance when our world is turning? How can we sleep when the beds are burning?" Every download will count as support for the "Tck, Tck, ...
Sat, 3 Oct 09
IMF assesses ways to raise money from banks
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091002/ap_on_bi_ge/world_economy_imf_taxing_banks
Associated Press: The International Monetary Fund is considering how the world's banks can pay more to help insure the financial system from another crisis and possibly assist poorer countries in the battle against climate change. In a press briefing ahead of the upcoming annual meeting of the IMF and the World Bank, the fund's managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said it was only right that the financial world contributed more. He said his deputy John Lipsky was heading a taskforce to look ...
Sat, 3 Oct 09
West is outsourcing, not reducing emissions
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2250514/west-outsourcing-emissions
Business Green: The UK's apparent reduction in carbon emissions since 1990 is merely an "illusion', because manufacturing has been outsourced to developing countries, according to the UK government's new chief energy scientist. Professor David MacKay said the presence of these "embedded' greenhouse gas emissions means that the UK has probably generated twice the levels suggested by official figures. His comments are likely to increase the pressure on the UK government to improve its stance on ...
Sat, 3 Oct 09
Sweden calls for more carbon taxes
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091002/ap_on_re_eu/eu_eu_carbon_tax
Associated Press: Sweden urged other European nations on Friday to follow its lead in linking new taxes to greenhouse gas emissions as governments seek additional sources of income in the wake of the financial crisis. Denmark, Finland and Slovenia already have taxes on household carbon emissions that can add costs to heating and electricity use. France is planning to plug part of its swelling budget gap with a new carbon tax that could bring in an extra euro1.5 billion next year. Swedish Finance ...
Sat, 3 Oct 09
Study links water shortages in Southeast to population, not global warming
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/02/science/earth/02drought.html?_r=5
New York Times: The drought that gripped the Southeast from 2005 to 2007 was not unprecedented and resulted from random weather events, not global warming, Columbia University researchers have concluded. They say its severe water shortages resulted from population growth more than rainfall patterns. The researchers, who report their findings in an article in Thursday's issue of The Journal of Climate, cite census figures showing that in Georgia alone the population rose to 9.54 million in 2007 from ...
Sat, 3 Oct 09
Canada: Alberta aims to streamline permit process
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/alberta-aims-to-streamline-permit-process/article1309365/
Globe and Mail: The Alberta government and Canada's oil sands industry are working on a controversial new plan to make it easier for companies to get environmental permission for certain types of projects. Under a major new rule change being considered by Alberta's Environment Ministry, an impact assessment - a massive document that looks at a project's effects on forests and wildlife and other environmental factors - may no longer be required for most new in situ oil sands projects. Instead, ...
Sat, 3 Oct 09
US bill could pave way for hybrid taxi fleets
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2009/10/02/us_bill_could_pave_way_for_hybrid_taxi_fleets/
Boston Globe: A bill before Congress would give local governments the authority to set fuel efficiency standards for taxicabs, allowing cities like Boston to overcome federal court rulings that struck down their ambitious efforts to require all taxis to be hybrids. The Green Taxis Act of 2009, part of an overall climate change bill introduced Wednesday in part by Senator John F. Kerry, would amend existing federal laws so that cities such as Boston, New York, and Seattle, which have failed in ...
Sat, 3 Oct 09
First Darwin, now global warming reaches Galapagos
http://planetark.org/enviro-news/item/54922
Reuters: Climate change could endanger the unique wildlife of the Galapagos Islands, and scientists are trying to figure out how to protect vulnerable species such as blue-footed boobies and Galapagos Penguins. Some 175 years after the wildlife of the Galapagos helped inspire Charles Darwin to develop his theory of evolution, scientists are measuring the impact of global warming on the rich but fragile biodiversity of the islands. The volcanic archipelago, about 600 miles west of the ...
Sat, 3 Oct 09
Predicting volatile wind, sun
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125443333547957485.html
Wall Street Journal: For more than a century, producing power has been a matter of flipping a switch. Need more electricity? Fire up some fuel. Need less? Dial the flame back down. Things won't be that easy in a world that gets much of its energy from renewable sources, which come and go at nature's whim. Wind tends to blow hardest at night -- a problem, since people use electricity mostly during the day. Sunshine can lose its intensity in seconds if eclipsed by a cloud -- inconvenient for people who like ...
Sat, 3 Oct 09
Australia: Mining giant backs govt emissions scheme
http://news.brisbanetimes.com.au/breaking-news-business/mining-giant-backs-govt-emissions-scheme-20091002-gg7p.html
AAP: The federal government's proposed emissions trading scheme has been endorsed by an unlikely ally - one of the world's largest mining companies, Newmont Mining Corporation. Newmont chief executive Richard O'Brien said nations had an obligation to reduce their carbon footprint and he was so far supportive of the government's moves towards dealing with the issue. "I think the focus on having sort of users pay is probably a good thing to focus on," Mr O'Brien told journalists in ...
Sat, 3 Oct 09
Zambia: Climate extremes already costing millions every year
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=86377
IRIN: Ongoing extreme changes in Zambia's climate could bring losses of more than US$4 billion in agricultural income in the next 10 years, driving hundreds of thousands into poverty and food insecurity. Agriculture contributes 21 percent to the gross domestic product (GDP) of $14.3 billion. These projections were based on a new study of 10-year climate patterns over the past 30 years, including the best and worst 10-year rainfall periods, by the International Food Policy Research Institute ...
Sat, 3 Oct 09
Kerry gives Dems chance to frame climate debate around security
http://www.nytimes.com/cwire/2009/10/02/02climatewire-kerry-gives-dems-chance-to-frame-climate-deb-85649.html
New York Times: Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) both say there is little to read into the fact that Kerry is listed as the lead sponsor of the global warming bill (pdf) the pair unveiled Wednesday. But perceptions are another thing, and there are certainly reasons for why Kerry got top billing ahead of Boxer, the chairwoman of the committee with lead jurisdiction over the climate change agenda. The decision also leaves some observers asking who will be in charge moving ...
Sat, 3 Oct 09
U.S. prepares more regulatory moves in case climate bills stall
http://www.nytimes.com/cwire/2009/10/01/01climatewire-us-prepares-more-regulatory-moves-in-case-cl-90466.html?pagewanted=all
New York Times: The Obama administration holds several potential trump cards if Congress ultimately deadlocks over climate legislation, current and former officials said yesterday. They cited existing powers of the federal government to push forward parts of the climate and clean energy agendas on its own. A large and obvious stick in the closet is U.S. EPA's ability to regulate greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act. EPA is completing an "endangerment finding" that serves as a basis for ...
Sat, 3 Oct 09
Goats killed for food aid in drought-hit Kenya
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE59131620091002?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Villagers in northwest Kenya squat in the sparse shade of an acacia tree and watch as aid workers slaughter their prized goats before distributing the meat to hungry people waiting for relief food. Goats are the economic lifeblood of the minority Turkana tribe, who live around Kenya's second biggest lake and whose homeland is being ravaged by drought for a fifth year running. Their misery is part of a broader disaster that aid agencies say is driving more than 23 million people ...
Sat, 3 Oct 09
Galapagos Islands Affected By Global Warming
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1763660/galapagos_islands_affected_by_global_warming/index.html?source=r_science
Various: The unique wildlife of the Galapagos Islands is being threatened by climate change, and scientists are seeking a way to protect its vulnerable species. The Galapagos wildlife was what helped Charles Darwin develop his thoughts on evolution about 175 years ago. Scientists are now trying to see how global warming is affecting the spectacular yet fragile biodiversity of the islands. About 600 miles west of the Ecuadorian coast sits the volcanic archipelago, which hosts a number of ...
Sat, 3 Oct 09
Cyprus unveils mammoth wind farm
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE59134920091002?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Cyprus has moved closer to reaching the European Union's renewable energy target by 2020, with the birth of the first wind park on the island. Expected to be operational by the summer of 2010, the 200 million euro ($290.7 million), 82 megawatt (MW) wind farm will be the largest of its kind in the Mediterranean region. "It is a very big project. Normally in Europe - especially in Greece and Spain - they consider 20 to 30 MW a huge project, so 82 MW is a massive project. It is ...
Sat, 3 Oct 09
Europe presses Washington to do more on climate
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE59133P20091002?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: The European Union increased pressure on the United States on Friday to do more to secure a global deal on fighting climate change this year as talks have stalled. The EU's 27 finance ministers, meeting in Sweden, believe President Barack Obama's administration should show more leadership to convince poor countries to sign up to climate agreement that would replace the Kyoto Protocol after 2012. "We need U.S. support. We need stronger U.S. action on climate change," Swedish ...
Sat, 3 Oct 09
World needs "CO2 budget" to limit warming: WWF
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE5913AE20091002?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: The world is in danger of spending its "carbon budget" by about 2025 and risks temperatures rising beyond 2 degrees Celsius unless nations adopt a flexible carbon accounting system, conservation group WWF says in a report. The report by Dutch energy consultancy Ecofys and commissioned by WWF, says rich nations must cut emissions by 80 percent by 2050 and global emissions of greenhouse gases must be cut by 30 percent from 1990 levels by 2030. Failure to do so would lead to rapid ...
Sat, 3 Oct 09
Development as China's environmental solution
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/6255147/Development-as-Chinas-environmental-solution.html
Telegraph: China has faced a continuous shift of challenges over the past 50 years: from poverty in the 1950s, ecological degradation in the 1970s, environmental pollution in the 1990s, to global warming in the new century. Before the founding of the People's Republic in 1949, China was trapped in poverty. Agricultural development was therefore one of the first priorities. But there was only a partial success because traditional technologies were unable to increase agricultural ...
Sat, 3 Oct 09
Greenpeace blocks Arctic coal mine in Svalbard
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE5913QT20091002?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Environmental activist group Greenpeace blocked on Friday a coal mine in Norway's Svalbard archipelago deep in the Arctic, protesting plans for more coal production in one of the world's northernmost regions. More than a dozen protesters stopped a conveyor belt at the Svea mine carrying coal to a ship due to sail to Portugal with 70,000 tons this weekend. "Coal is a huge climate change factor yet Norway wants new mines in one of the most pristine regions in the world," ...
Sat, 3 Oct 09
Europe bids to tax personal fuel consumption
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091002/sc_afp/eufinanceeconomyenvironmentwarmingenergytax
Agence France-Presse: A Europe-wide tax on personal or household fuel consumption was proposed on Friday as EU finance ministers met to discuss who should pay what in the fight against global warming. Detailed European Commission plans will be put before member states next year but an outline proposal was raised by the EU's taxation and customs union commissioner Laszlo Kovacs at the Gothenburg gathering. Revenues "should be used for climate change purposes (and) to finance the climate change ...
Sat, 3 Oct 09
Obama vows to push ahead on climate talks
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091002/pl_afp/denmarkusclimatewarmingobama
Agence France-Presse: US President Barack Obama said Friday he wanted to push forward on the pressing issue of global warming, a little more than two months ahead of the Copenhagen world summit on climate change. "Something that obviously is pressing now is the issue of climate change... We are keenly interested in it," Obama said ahead of a meeting with Danish Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen. The talks took place shortly before the president's departure from the Danish capital. Obama was in ...
Sat, 3 Oct 09
Could Climate Change Topple Modern Civilization?
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=113435511&ft=1&f=1025
National Public Radio: Lester Brown, president and founder of the Earth Policy Institute, argues for an aggressive increase in renewable energy production, better energy-efficiency standards and a return to human-centered urban design in his latest book, Plan B 4.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization.
Sat, 3 Oct 09
Saving Bats From Wind-Farm Deaths
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=113435504&ft=1&f=1025
National Public Radio: Reporting in The Journal of Wildlife Management, researchers write about a strategy for protecting migratory bats from fatal encounters with wind farms. Study author Robert Barclay discusses the method, which halves bat fatalities without significantly reducing energy production – or profits.
Sat, 3 Oct 09
Climate change wiping out walruses
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/6255415/Climate-change-wiping-out-walruses.html
Telegraph: Conservation charity WWF said it had obtained footage more than 100 walrus carcasses spotted by US Geological Survey (USGS) researchers flying near Icy Cape, Alaska, after a massive herd of walruses congregated on the shore. A preliminary report by experts in the US concluded 131 carcasses, mostly of calves and young walruses, found in the area had been trampled to death by other walruses. WWF said the reduction in Arctic sea ice cover was forcing the animals to take refuge on ...
Sat, 3 Oct 09
US senators introduce new climate bill
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2250545/senators-introduce-climate-bill
Business Green: US senators Barbara Boxer and John Kerry have introduced a new piece of environmental legislation into the senate known as the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act (PDF) in an effort to get some environmental legislation passed before the Copenhagen climate talks in December. The Act looks to impose tighter caps than the US Clean Energy and Security Act, currently stalled before the Senate, that was introduced earlier this year setting a mandate of 20 per cent below 2005 levels by ...
Sat, 3 Oct 09
Obama unlikely to sign climate bill ahead U.N. meet
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20091002/pl_nm/us_climate_browner
Reuters: U.S. President Barack Obama is unlikely to sign climate legislation ahead of a U.N. global warming meeting in Copenhagen that starts in early December, the White House's top climate and energy coordinator said on Friday. "We'd like to be (finished with) the process. That's not going to happen," Carol Browner said at a conference called the First Draft of History. She said the administration is committed to passing comprehensive energy and climate legislation "on the most aggressive ...
Sat, 3 Oct 09
Another Inconvenient Truth: The World's Growing Population Poses a Malthusian Dilemma
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=growing-population-poses-malthusian-dilemma
Scientific American: By 2050, the world will host nine billion people--and that's if population growth slows in much of the developing world. Today, at least one billion people are chronically malnourished or starving. Simply to maintain that sad state of affairs would require the clearing (read: deforestation) of 900 million additional hectares of land, according to Pedro Sanchez, director of the Tropical Agriculture and Rural Environment Program at The Earth Institute at Columbia University. The bad ...
Sat, 3 Oct 09
Food prices may rise 121% by 2050 due to climate change
http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/food-prices-may-rise-121-by-2050-due-to-climate-change/372030/
Business Standard: This, coupled with decreased yields of these crops, will threaten food security of some 1.6 billion people in South Asia and render 25 million more children malnourished by 2050. This has been revealed by a comprehensive assessment of the impact of climate change on agriculture made by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). The report was released on Wednesday to coincide with an international meeting on climate change in Bangkok. It has estimated that an ...
Sat, 3 Oct 09
Climate talks stall on targets, finance
http://www.reuters.com/article/internal_ReutersNewsRoom_BehindTheScenes_MOLT/idUSTRE58R05820091002
Reuters: Efforts to convince rich nations to toughen emissions cuts have failed to make much headway at climate talks in the Thai capital, the U.N. said on Friday. Delegates from about 180 nations are meeting in Bangkok to try to narrow differences on ways to broaden and deepen the fight against climate change. The September 28-October 9 talks are the last major negotiating session before environment ministers meet in Copenhagen to try to seal a tougher global pact to replace the Kyoto ...
Sat, 3 Oct 09
Climate change threatens Brazil's rich agriculture
http://www.reuters.com/article/homepageCrisis/idUSN18203584._CH_.2400
Reuters: A freak tornado and floods last month may be a harbinger of a troubled future for Brazilian farmers, who worry that climate change could severely disrupt production in one of the world's breadbaskets. Rising temperatures, a shift in seasons, and extreme weather in coming decades are likely to cut output in some areas and wipe out crops entirely in others, experts say. "Brazil is vulnerable. If we don't do anything, food production is at risk," says Eduardo Assad, an agronomist ...
Sat, 3 Oct 09
Study reports Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore threatened by climate change
http://www.chestertontribune.com/Environment/10294%20study_reports_indiana_dunes_nati.htm
Chesterton Tribune: Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore is one of 25 national parks identified as being most threatened by climate change in a study conducted jointly by the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Rocky Mountain Climate Organization. The study, released on Thursday, characterizes the National Lakeshore as "vulnerable to a loss of ice and snow, a loss of water, more downpours and floods, a loss of plant communities, a loss of wildlife, more crowding, a loss of fishing, and more air ...
Sat, 3 Oct 09
Food Supply Hangs in the Balance
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48689
Inter Press Service: Rocketing food prices and hundreds of millions more starving people will be part of humanity's grim future without concerted action on climate change and new investments in agriculture, experts reported this week. The current devastating drought in East Africa, where millions of people are on the brink of starvation, is a window on our future, suggests a new study looking at the impacts of climate change. "Twenty-five million more children will be malnourished in 2050 due to ...
Sat, 3 Oct 09
Authorities May Sue Geothermal Energy Firm
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48682
Inter Press Service: The Council for the Defense of the State (CDE), the Chilean government's legal watchdog, is considering bringing a suit for environmental damages against an Italian-Chilean consortium carrying out geothermal studies a few kilometres away from the El Tatio geyser field, a tourist attraction in the northern region of Antofagasta. In early September a water vapour plume spouting to a height of between 30 and 60 metres erupted from one of the exploration wells drilled by the Geotérmica ...
Sat, 3 Oct 09
IT industry to finalise global carbon footprinting standard
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2250472/industry-finalise-global-carbon
Business Green: The global IT and communications industry is on track to release a new methodology for measuring the carbon footprint of a vast array of IT products designed to provide a standardised approach for tracking the sector's carbon emissions. The International Telecommunications Union (ITU), the UN agency that represents the global IT and communications industry, will next month host a meeting of one of its standardisation study groups where it expects to finalise the new ...
Fri, 2 Oct 09
What Could 4 Degree Warming Mean For The World?
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090930174655.htm
ScienceDaily: A leading climate scientist has presented new research findings on the increasing potential for a 4 degrees Celsius rise in global temperatures if the current high emissions of greenhouse gases continue. The conference at Oxford University is the first to consider the global consequences of climate change beyond 2 degrees Celsius, and is jointly sponsored by University's Environmental Change Institute, the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research and the Met Office Hadley ...
Fri, 2 Oct 09
Planet's Nitrogen Cycle Overturned By 'Tiny Ammonia Eater Of The Seas'
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090930132656.htm
ScienceDaily: It's not every day you find clues to the planet's inner workings in aquarium scum. But that's what happened a few years ago when University of Washington researchers cultured a tiny organism from the bottom of a Seattle Aquarium tank and found it can digest ammonia, a key environmental function. New results show this minute organism and its brethren play a more central role in the planet's ecology than previously suspected. The findings, published online September 30 in the journal ...
Fri, 2 Oct 09
EU moves to tackle carbon trading fraud
http://www.euractiv.com/en/climate-change/eu-moves-tackle-carbon-trading-fraud/article-185933?Ref=RSS
EurActiv: The European Commission has presented measures to fight VAT fraud in carbon permits to regain the credibility of its emissions trading scheme ahead of crunch climate talks in December. The EU executive proposed on 29 September an express solution to stop "carousel fraud," which has seen criminals steal billions from EU governments by means of VAT receipts for items like mobile phones and computer chips. These criminals have recently moved to the EU carbon market (see EurActiv ...
Fri, 2 Oct 09
State Issues Rules on Upstate Natural Gas Drilling Near City's Water
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/01/nyregion/01drill.html?_r=5&partner=rss&emc=rss
New York Times: After months of deliberations, state environmental regulators on Wednesday released long-awaited rules governing natural gas production in upstate New York, including provisions to oversee drilling operations near New York City's water supplies. The regulations, in a report requested last year by Gov. David A. Paterson, do not ban drilling near the watersheds, as many environmental advocates had urged. But the report sets strict rules on where wells can be drilled and requires ...
Thu, 1 Oct 09
World Bank warns annual climate adaptation bill to hit $100bn
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2250402/world-bank-warns-annual-climate
Business Green: The annual cost of adapting to climate change in developing economies will reach between $75bn and $100bn over the next 40 years, according to preliminary findings from a major new study by the World Bank. Funded by the governments of the Netherlands, Switzerland and the UK, the Economics of Adaptation to Climate Change (EACC) report uses new economic models to estimate the likely cost to the developing world of adapting to climate change. The draft version of the report, ...
Thu, 1 Oct 09
Senate Democrats Unveil Bill to Curb Climate Change, Create Jobs
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/sep2009/2009-09-30-02.asp
Environment News Service: Senate Democrats Unveil Bill to Curb Climate Change, Create Jobs Environment News Service (ENS) Senate Democrats Unveil Bill to Curb Climate Change, Create Jobs WASHINGTON, DC, September 30, 2009 (ENS) - The United States today took a big step towards enacting legislation to combat global climate change. U.S. Senators John Kerry of Massachusetts and Barbara Boxer of California, both Democrats, introduced the Kerry-Boxer bill, formally known as the Clean Energy Jobs ...
Thu, 1 Oct 09
Senate climate bill drops "cap and trade" term
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2009/09/30/senate_climate_bill_drops_cap_and_trade_term/?rss_id=Boston.com+--+Latest+news
Associated Press: Senate Democrats tried out a new catch phrase Wednesday to sell their global warming bill: pollution reduction and investment, or PRI. But it's just another name for cap and trade, a term derided by Republican critics as "cap and tax" because it will increase energy prices and which Democratic polls have shown faring poorly with voters. The rebranding is an indication of the uphill battle the climate bill -- which would cap greenhouse gases and also allow industries to buy ...
Thu, 1 Oct 09
Hopi, Navajos say environmentalists not welcome
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090930/ap_on_re_us/us_tribes_environmentalists
Associated Press: The leader of the country's largest Indian reservation threw his support behind the neighboring Hopi Tribe, whose lawmakers declared environmental groups unwelcome on the reservation. Navajo President Joe Shirley Jr. and Hopi lawmakers say environmentalists' efforts could hurt the tribes' struggling economies by slowing or stopping coal mining. Shirley said Wednesday that he will stand in solidarity with the Hopi Tribe, and joined Hopi lawmakers in encouraging other tribes to ...
Thu, 1 Oct 09
Boxer unveils sweeping climate change bill
http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_13455739
San Jose Mercury News: WASHINGTON -- U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer unveiled ambitious legislation Wednesday to slash the nation's use of carbon-emitting fossil fuels and reduce the country's dependence on foreign oil. But the measure, which could emerge as a test of the three-term Democrat's leadership skills as she girds for a tough reelection fight next year, faces long odds to gain the 60 votes it needs to get through the Senate and on to the president's desk. Boxer and co-author Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., ...
Thu, 1 Oct 09
Senate Climate Plan to Cut Greenhouse Emissions 20%
http://news.yahoo.com/s/bloomberg/20090930/pl_bloomberg/adlf0kaz3q14
Bloomberg: Democratic Senators John Kerry and Barbara Boxer offered a plan to limit greenhouse-gas emissions that scientists blame for global warming, saying they will work to get it enacted by December. At a campaign-style rally on the Capitol lawn today, the senators cast climate change as a pressing national security issue that threatens to depress the economy and bring social upheaval. "Unless we act decisively, climate change could become a threat multiplier, a lit match on the ...
Thu, 1 Oct 09
Obama says deeply committed to passing climate bill
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE58T59F20090930?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: President Barack Obama welcomed on Wednesday a Senate bill to cut carbon emissions and said he was "deeply committed" to passing it even as the White House played down chances that it would happen this year. Obama, whose international credibility on global warming is largely tied to the Senate's effort, called the draft a major step forward in his plans to revamp U.S. energy policy. Representatives from about 190 nations are set to meet in Copenhagen in December to forge a U.N. ...
Thu, 1 Oct 09
Post-human Earth: How the planet will recover from us
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20427281.300-posthuman-earth-how-the-planet-will-recover-from-us.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=climate-change
New Scientist: WHEN Nobel prize-winning atmospheric chemist Paul Crutzen coined the word Anthropocene around 10 years ago, he gave birth to a powerful idea: that human activity is now affecting the Earth so profoundly that we are entering a new geological epoch. The Anthropocene has yet to be accepted as a geological time period, but if it is, it may turn out to be the shortest - and the last. It is not hard to imagine the epoch ending just a few hundred years after it started, in an orgy of global ...
Thu, 1 Oct 09
No rainforest, no monsoon: get ready for a warmer world
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17864-no-rainforest-no-monsoon-get-ready-for-a-warmer-world.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=climate-change
New Scientist: BY 2055, climate change is likely to have warmed the world by a dangerous 4 °C unless we stop pumping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere the way we do now. This is the startling conclusion of a study by the UK Met Office, unveiled at a conference in Oxford this week. Why so soon? Because temperature rises caused by greenhouse gas emissions are expected to trigger dangerous feedback loops, which will release ever increasing amounts of greenhouse gases. The nature and scale of these ...
Thu, 1 Oct 09
$100bn proposal is 'only first offering'
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/sep/30/climate-change-finance
Guardian: The $100bn from rich countries proposed by Gordon Brown to compensate developing countries and help them adapt to climate change is a first offering in the world climate negotiations, international development secretary Douglas Alexander told a meeting at the Labour party conference in Brighton today. The final offer could be greater, he said. But he admitted that other rich countries had so far not backed Britain and many needed convincing that a settlement on the funding was ...
Thu, 1 Oct 09
United States: Forest Service to probe LA wildfire response
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090930/ap_on_re_us/us_wildfire_investigation
Associated Press: The U.S. Forest Service is reviewing why firefighters initially scaled back efforts on a massive wildfire that eventually burned 250 square miles on the edge of Los Angeles. Agency Chief Thomas Tidwell says the review will examine the way the Forest Service worked with other agencies and decisions that were made on how to fight the fire. The blaze destroyed 89 homes and caused the deaths of two firefighters. Residents have been calling for a federal probe into what they say was ...
Thu, 1 Oct 09
'Planned recession' could avoid catastrophic climate change
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/6248257/Planned-recession-could-avoid-catastrophic-climate-change.html
Telegraph: At the moment the UK is committed to cutting greenhouse gases by a third by 2020. However a new report from the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research said these targets are inadequate to keep global warming below two degrees C above pre-industrial levels. Related Articles US ignorant about climate change, expert claims Met Office: catastrophic climate change in 50 years The report says the only way to avoid going beyond the dangerous tipping point is ...
Thu, 1 Oct 09
Greenpeace blocks second Canada oil sands operation
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090930/wl_canada_nm/canada_us_suncor_oilsands_greenpeace
Associated Press: Environmental activists said on Wednesday they canoed into Suncor Energy Inc's Alberta oil sands operation, blocking equipment in a second protest action in as many weeks aimed at disrupting crude production. Greenpeace said 23 of its activists entered Canada's second-largest oil sands operation, stopping conveyor belts that carry bitumen from the mine to an upgrading plant that processes the tar-like crude into light oil. The move, part of a long-running campaign against ...
Thu, 1 Oct 09
Clean technology top U.S. venture investment: group
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE58T5T020090930?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Clean technology has for the first time become the top category in U.S. venture capital investment, eclipsing biotech and software, as private money follows the government's lead, the Cleantech group reported. "Governments are having an effect -- emboldening private capital to get back in the game," said Dallas Kachan, managing director of Cleantech Group, a research and advisory firm which issued its third quarter report on Wednesday. Solar was the leading category in $1.59 ...
Thu, 1 Oct 09
Greenpeace protests Canada's oil sands
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090930/wl_canada_afp/canadaenvironmentenergygreenpeace
Agence France-Presse: Activists on Wednesday occupied two conveyor belts used to transfer bitumen from an open pit mine to a processing plant, demanding the closure of Canada's vast oil sands. Greenpeace members from Canada, France, Germany and Brazil occupied the site owned by Canadian oil giant Suncor, the second-biggest emitter of greenhouse gas emissions in the oil sands, to denounce their exploitation as a "climate crime." "The continued development of the tar sands threatens to derail ...
Thu, 1 Oct 09
Empire State Building Goes Green — For Good?
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=113349177&ft=1&f=1025
National Public Radio: The Empire State Building seems to be grappling with a color problem -- specifically the color of its upper levels. Building management got into hot water this week over plans to illuminate the top floors with red lights -- in honor of the 60th anniversary of the People's Republic of China. Tibet-issues activists and other protesters turned out to denounce the recognition. But it turns out the color the building's owners really want associated with the Manhattan landmark is ...
Thu, 1 Oct 09
U.S. group urges strong patent rights in climate deal
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE58T61320090930?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: The United States could lose 1 million green jobs by 2020 if it gives into demands by poor countries to loosen patent protections on climate-friendly technologies, a U.S. business leader said on Wednesday. Tom Donohue, president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said U.S. manufacturers would not invest in "alternative fuels and energy-saving devices and emission-reducing technologies if somebody is going to rip it off." He spoke as countries struggled to work out a new treaty on ...
Thu, 1 Oct 09
WWF Survey Seeks Forest Scheme On Any Carbon Emissions Deal
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1762289/wwf_survey_seeks_forest_scheme_on_any_carbon_emissions_deal/index.html?source=r_science
redOrbit: Delegates at UN climate talks in Bangkok on Tuesday were urged to include plans to reward nations for saving their forests in any deal on global warming, AFP reported. The survey, released by WWF International, a leading environmental group, said that investors showed "significant support " for a carbon market mechanism, which would address the estimated 20 percent of global carbon emissions due to deforestation. Thailand is hosting the meeting of officials from 192 countries ...
Thu, 1 Oct 09
Judge dismisses lawsuit over oil pipeline
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090930/ap_on_bi_ge/us_pipeline_ruling
Associated Press: A judge has dismissed a lawsuit brought by an environmental group that claimed a permit that allows the construction of an oil pipeline between the U.S. and Canada violated federal law. U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon ruled Tuesday that the Natural Resources Defense Council did not have the authority to challenge the permit issued for the TransCanada Keystone Pipeline by the State Department. The council claimed the State Department violated the National Environmental ...
Thu, 1 Oct 09
Obama hails Senate climate bill
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8283937.stm
BBC: US President Barack Obama has welcomed the publication of a bill to combat climate change. The bill, sponsored by leading Democratic senators, would establish a "cap and trade" scheme to cut greenhouse gas emissions. It is similar to a bill that was narrowly passed by the House of Representatives earlier this year. After healthcare reform, passing a climate change law is Mr Obama's biggest legislative priority this year. The intention is to get a bill through ...
Thu, 1 Oct 09
EPA holds up coal-mining permits as firms fume
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE58T67T20090930?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: Mining companies accused the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday of ignoring America's need for affordable energy and hurting workers in a poor region of the country by delaying permits for proposed surface, or "mountaintop," mines in Appalachia. The decision that all 79 pending permits must undergo additional evaluation by the EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers, because they pose a potential hazard to water, threatens job security in parts of Kentucky, West Virginia ...
Thu, 1 Oct 09
Farmed Out: How Will Climate Change Impact World Food Supplies?
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=how-will-climate-change-impact-world-food-supplies
Scientific American: The people of East Africa once again face a devastating drought this year: Crops wither and fail from Kenya to Ethiopia, livestock drop dead and famine spreads. Although, historically, such droughts are not uncommon in this region, their frequency seems to have increased in recent years, raising prices for staple foods, such as maize. This scenario may simply be a taste of a world undergoing climate change in the mid--21st century, according to a new report from the International Food ...
Thu, 1 Oct 09
Climate control debate heats up in Senate
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE58S5X320090930?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: President Barack Obama's drive to fight global warming got a boost on Wednesday as Democrats in the U.S. Senate unveiled a bill aimed at slashing greenhouse gas emissions in the next four decades. The plan aims to cut emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases over the next decades by encouraging broader use of solar, wind and other renewable fuels in place of more polluting ones such as oil. It also would invest U.S. funds in finding cleaner ways to burn coal and ...
Thu, 1 Oct 09
EPA to delay 79 coal mining permits in 4 states
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090930/ap_on_bi_ge/us_mining_epa
Associated Press: President Barack Obama's administration put the brakes on 79 applications for surface coal mining permits in four states Wednesday, saying they would violate the Clean Water Act. The action is the administration's latest attempt to curb environmental damage from a highly efficient but damaging mining practice known as mountaintop removal. Each permit likely would cause significant damage to water quality and the environment, the Environmental Protection Agency said in a ...
Thu, 1 Oct 09
Rift at U.S. Chamber of Commerce over climate change
http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE58S5XH20090930?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
Reuters: The fight over climate change has spread to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, where prominent members of the American big-business lobby -- including Nike, Johnson & Johnson and Exelon -- are publicly disputing the group's stance on global warming legislation. The most recent critic, Exelon Corp, announced on Monday it would not renew its membership in the chamber. The decision by the largest nuclear operator in the United States followed moves by California utility PG&E Corp and ...
Thu, 1 Oct 09
US Senate begins climate change battle
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090930/pl_afp/climateuspolitics
Agence France-Presse: A pitched battle over climate change took off Wednesday in the US Senate, as leading Democratic lawmakers unveiled a bill unlikely to be completed before a key international conference in December. "We need to act now and get the job done," Democratic Senator John Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, told a crowd of over 300 environmental activists who gathered on the Capitol lawn. "Our security and our economy will both be strengthened. We can't afford not ...
Thu, 1 Oct 09
EPA moves to regulate smokestack greenhouse gases
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090930/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_epa_greenhouse_gases
Associated Press: The Environmental Protection Agency took steps Wednesday to control the emissions blamed for global warming from power plants, factories and refineries for the first time. The EPA proposal would require polluters to reduce six greenhouse gases by installing the best available technology and improving energy efficiency whenever a facility is significantly changed or built. The rule applies to any industrial plant that emits at least 25,000 tons of greenhouse gases a year. These ...
Thu, 1 Oct 09
E.P.A. Moves to Curtail Greenhouse Gas Emissions
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/01/science/earth/01epa.html?_r=5&partner=rss&emc=rss
New York Times: The Environmental Protection Agency announced a proposed rule Wednesday to begin regulating greenhouse gas emissions from thousands of power plants and large industrial facilities. The proposal, long anticipated and highly controversial, marks the first government move toward controlling the emissions blamed for the warming of the planet from stationary sources. The E.P.A. has already proposed an ambitious program to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks, expected to ...
Thu, 1 Oct 09
How will climate change affect agriculture?
http://features.csmonitor.com/environment/2009/09/30/how-will-climate-change-affect-agriculture/
Christian Science Monitor: "Agriculture is extremely vulnerable to climate changes," notes a new study from the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) that looks at how climate change will affect food production around the world by 2050. "Developing countries are likely to be hardest hit by climate change and will suffer bigger declines in crop yields," said Gerald Nelson, lead author of the study and an IFPRI research fellow, in a conference call with journalists on Tuesday. Temperatures ...
Thu, 1 Oct 09
Many support $100 billion a year on climate change
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jqJmnNVzfiUOeSlVG4f8nQMbwQYQD9B1ENMG0
Associated Press: Many world leaders have expressed support for a proposal that would earmark $100 billion a year for the next decade for concrete actions to curb greenhouse gases and help countries cope with the impact of climate change, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said. Ban said he had sent letters to leaders of the 20 leading economies initially proposing $250 billion annually. But after talks with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and European Commission President Jose Manuel ...
Thu, 1 Oct 09
Philippines urges rich nations to act on climate change
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hXIs6918g2Xy4cHwhIF8e3eOpL0Q
Agence France-Presse: The Philippines strongly urged developed countries Wednesday to cut greenhouse gas emissions to stem the impact of climate change in the wake of its worst flooding in decades. Tropical storm Ketsana dumped the heaviest rain in more than 40 years on Manila and its neighbouring areas over the weekend, killing 246 people and affecting more than two million. It continued to leave a trail of destruction across Southeast Asia Wednesday, killing at least 49 people in Vietnam and ...
Thu, 1 Oct 09
US Playing Spoilsport at International Climate Negotiations?
http://www.reuters.com/article/mnCarbonEmissions/idUS63059969520090930
Reuters: Just as it seemed that differences over contentious issues regarding the next climate treaty were ironing out and all parties moving ahead with a common agenda, the developed countries, US in particular, threatened to stall negotiations until developing countries pledge equal emission reduction measures. According to new reports, American negotiators demanded that there should be similar mitigation obligations for developed as well developing countries. The demand was strictly against ...
Thu, 1 Oct 09
Advocates Fight Mountaintop Removal
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48668
Inter Press Service: Environmental groups across the southeast United States, from Georgia to the Appalachia region, are stepping up their opposition to a controversial but widespread practice by coal companies of removing the tops of mountains with explosives. Atlanta-based activist Darci Rodenhi recently organised an ad hoc group called Mountain Justice GA, which lobbied the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Atlanta regional office to reject 79 new permits for mountaintop removal. The EPA ...
Thu, 1 Oct 09
Synergies in Fight Against Desertification, Climate Change
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48667
Inter Press Service: Climate change aggravates soil degradation, but sustainable use of land resources can, in turn, mitigate global warming, according to participants at the United Nations conference on desertification in the Argentine capital. Ahead of the Climate Summit to be held in Copenhagen in December, representatives of 193 governments are meeting this week in Buenos Aires for the Ninth Session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 9) to the U.N. Convention to Combat Desertification ...
Thu, 1 Oct 09
Dominican Republic: No More Blackouts In This Village
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48665
Inter Press Service: Travel through any Dominican town and you are likely to hear someone yell out, "llegó la luz" - the lights are back on! The country is notorious for its faulty and expensive electric service, which is more often dead than live. But in the remote mountain village of Los Calabazos no one bothers to sound the cry. The lights are on round the clock, thanks to the energy and vision of a singular woman, aptly named Doña Esperanza, Lady Hope. She and her band of independent-minded ...
Thu, 1 Oct 09
Sri Lanka: Mixed Hopes amid Unpredictable Weather Shifts
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48655
Inter Press Service: As the world awaits with bated breath the much-anticipated outcome of the upcoming Copenhagen Climate Change Summit in December, the impact of which will reverberate across the globe, Sri Lanka, like many other countries, has been reeling under sharply contrasting weather conditions. That is, parts of the island have been experiencing high rainfall, especially on the western side, while others, towards the southeast, are still baking under the stress of over six months of ...
Thu, 1 Oct 09
Could Food Shortages Bring Down Civilisation?
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48650
Inter Press Service: In early 2008, Saudi Arabia announced that, after being self-sufficient in wheat for over 20 years, the non-replenishable aquifer it had been pumping for irrigation was largely depleted. In response, officials said they would reduce their wheat harvest by one-eighth each year until production would cease entirely in 2016. The Saudis would then import virtually all the grain consumed by their Canada-sized population of nearly 30 million people. The Saudis are unique in being so ...