Climate Change

Main

Science

Beeb Science
Climate Change
Eco News
Science Daily
Random Feeds

Archives

| Feb 2012 | Jan 2012 | Nov 2011 | Oct 2011 | Sep 2011 | Aug 2011 | Jul 2011 | Jun 2011 | May 2011 | Apr 2011 | Mar 2011 | Jan 2011 | Dec 2010 | Nov 2010 | Oct 2010 | Sep 2010 | Aug 2010 | Jul 2010 | Jun 2010 | May 2010 | Apr 2010 | Mar 2010 | Feb 2010 | Jan 2010 | Dec 2009 | Nov 2009 | Oct 2009 | Sep 2009 | Aug 2009 | Jul 2009 | Jun 2009 | May 2009 | Apr 2009 | Mar 2009 | Feb 2009 | Jan 2009 | Dec 2008 | Nov 2008 | Oct 2008 | Sep 2008 | Aug 2008 | Jul 2008 | Jun 2008 | May 2008 | Apr 2008 | Mar 2008 | Feb 2008 | Jan 2008 | Dec 2007 | Nov 2007 |

Thu, 24 Jun 10
Oil Spill Provokes Questions On Human Health
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128008826&ft=1&f=1025
National Public Radio: Medical researchers are meeting this week in New Orleans to discuss the health effects of the ongoing oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. But most of the discussion is about what's NOT known. The workshop was pulled together in a matter of days by the Institute of Medicine, a prestigious independent body chartered by Congress. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius asked for the review. Even though oil spills are fairly common, scientists at the two-day workshop say ...

Thu, 24 Jun 10
Climate determines the pecking order of birds: study
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE65M14220100623?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29
Reuters: Birds use their bills to regulate body heat, meaning climate plays a role in the size of their beaks, scientists say. Scientists from the University of Melbourne in Australia and Canada's Brock University, examined bill sizes of birds from around the world and found that birds with larger bills tend to be found in hot environments. Those living in colder climates had evolved smaller bills. "Unlike humans they don't sweat but can use their bills to help reduce their body ...

Thu, 24 Jun 10
Feds, oil firms exploring new idea to capture oil
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100622/ap_on_bi_ge/us_gulf_oil_spill_containment
Associated Press: Government and industry leaders are exploring a new way to capture oil gushing from the blown-out well at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico. Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen said Tuesday they're looking into whether pipelines could be extended from the leaking well to several production platforms elsewhere in the Gulf where the flow could be captured or sent down to a different reservoir. The idea emerged during a meeting in Washington last week and is still in the early stages. If ...

Thu, 24 Jun 10
Fierce Recycling Effort in Fighting Oil's Spread
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/23/us/23boom.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
New York Times: Pete Parker's not-so-small frame radiates purpose. Striding around a dockside yard where his "decontamination unit' works, he keeps an eye on 11 workers who are stooped over drills, bolts and iron mallets to repair oil-containment booms damaged by waves and strong currents in the gulf. Pete Parker, center, leads the unit that works on the Gulf Coast to make damaged oil-containment booms seaworthy again. Like a cobbler in a town where no new shoes are to be had, Mr. Parker, 60, ...

Thu, 24 Jun 10
Reducing CO2: Vietnam stands at the forefront
http://english.vietnamnet.vn/Environment/201006/Reducing-CO2-Vietnam-stands-at-the-forefront-917766/
Vietnam News: Developing and developed countries that attended the December 2009 United Nations climate summit in Copenhagen expressed strong commitment for a mechanism that creates incentives for the reduction of emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, for conservation, sustainable forest management and the enhancement of forest carbon stocks (REDD+). While a technical REDD+ decision was adopted in Copenhagen, the REDD+ decision that would have provided guidance on the incentive framework ...

Thu, 24 Jun 10
Investment round proves solar torch is no joke
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2265277/fresh-investment-round-proves
Business Green: Along with the chocolate teapot and the inflatable dart-board, the solar-powered torch is an oft-quoted example of inherently daft design. But while the idea might have elicited mirth in playgrounds through the years, the concept of a torch recharged by sunlight is one that is now proving highly successful. Silicon-valley start-up D.Light Design recently claimed to have improved the lives of over a million individuals thanks to the 220,000 solar lanterns it has sold in the ...

Thu, 24 Jun 10
United Kingdom: Tesla's IPO chances rests with plan for mainstream electric cars
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2265276/successful-tesla-ipo-rests
Business Green: The success of the upcoming initial public offering (IPO) from electric car manufacturer Tesla Motors rests on the company's ability to break out of its sports car niche into wider automotive market. That appears to be to the consensus from commentators and analysts following the announcement by the company last week that it will launch its long-anticipated IPO on June 29. The Californian-based company expects to sell 11.1 million shares at between $14 and $16 a share raising ...

Wed, 23 Jun 10
UK leads the world in wind technology in a bid to be carbon neutral by 2030
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/uk-leads-the-world-in-wind-technology-in-a-bid-to-be-carbon-neutral-by-2030-2007047.html
Independent (UK): The UK currently the world leader in offshore wind technology and ranked 8<sup>th</sup> in the world amongst users of wind power, bids to be carbon neutral by 2030 by stressing the importance of wind power. The recent publication of the zero carbon Britain report outlines a path for carbon neutral transition by 2030. The report highlights the key role of wind technology in reducing the UK's carbon emissions. The UK is currently the world leader in offshore wind technology with more ...

Wed, 23 Jun 10
Australia Will Maintain 20% Renewable Energy Target, Wong Says
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-06-22/australia-will-maintain-20-renewable-energy-target-wong-says.html
Bloomberg: The Australian government will keep a target of generating 20 percent of the nation's energy from renewable sources by 2020 while amending planned legislation, Climate Change Minister Penny Wong said. "The amendments will ensure the long-term, sustainable growth of both the small-scale and large-scale renewable energy sector and will support new jobs and investment,' Wong said in an e-mailed statement today after putting the amendments to the upper house Senate. With an ...

Wed, 23 Jun 10
Australia probes U.S. biodiesel dumping
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE65L0S220100622?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29
Reuters: Australia is investigating complaints of U.S. dumping of biodiesel on the domestic market, the nation's customs agency said on Tuesday, a move that could see Canberra follow Europe in imposing anti-dumping duties. U.S. subsidies of biodiesel, commonly made from food crops and sold as a green alternative to petroleum, have boosted cheap global supplies of the fuel, leading the European Union last year to slap importers with duties. The Australian Customs and Border Protection ...

Wed, 23 Jun 10
BP oil spill: Larry King rides to the rescue
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/22/gulf-oil-spill-larry-king
Guardian: The combined might of the US federal government and the world's top engineers appear powerless to stem the raging Gulf of Mexico oil spill, but last night in New York and Los Angeles help was finally at hand: celebrities came rushing to the rescue. Larry King, who has made a career out of celebrating celebrity for celebrity's sake, explained the purpose of his CNN telethon in characteristically eloquent fashion. "Remember bureaucracy is slow; you can hear about billions being donated ...

Wed, 23 Jun 10
Oil firms challenge US drilling freeze
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100622/ts_alt_afp/usoilenvironmentpollution
Agence France-Presse: A US judge was to decide as early as Tuesday whether to lift a six-month freeze on deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, which officials here complain is strangling an economy already devastated by the massive oil spill. Some 32 US firms, whose crews and equipment have been left idle since US President Barack Obama imposed a moratorium on deepwater drilling in the Gulf, appealed in court Monday to federal judge Martin Feldman to ease the ban. "There's an ecosystem of ...

Tue, 22 Jun 10
United Kingdom: Edinburgh experts to monitor how trees absorb CO2
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/scotland/edinburgh_east_and_fife/10369243.stm
BBC: Scientists from Edinburgh University are to take to the skies to gain a clearer picture of how the world's forests could alleviate climate change. They will skim the treetops in northern Finland in a specially modified aircraft, measuring how much carbon dioxide is absorbed by the forests. The boreal forest is a band of woodland as big as the Amazonian rainforest which surrounds the Arctic Circle. The flight path will mirror that of a Nasa satellite in orbit ...

Tue, 22 Jun 10
Alaska emerges as unlikely renewable energy pioneer
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2265145/alaska-emerges-unlikely
Business Green: Alaskan politicians have done little to endear themselves to environmentalists in recent years, what with Sarah Palin leading calls for a massive expansion of US oil drilling and Senator Lisa Murkowski doing everything in her power to strip the Environmental Protection Agency of the right to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. But anyone tempted to dismiss America's state as a basket case when it comes to environmental policy was forced into a rethink last week when Governor Sean ...

Tue, 22 Jun 10
Solar researchers hail "hot electron" efficiency breakthrough
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2265144/solar-researchers-point
Business Green: A breakthrough in solar cell design that could dramatically improve the efficiency of the technology to more than 60 per cent has US researchers hot under the collar. A team from the University of Texas claims to have found a way to tap the energy wasted by solar cells through so-called "hot electrons". Led by professor of chemistry Xiaoyang Zhu, the Austin team reported its findings in last week's edition of Science. The researchers say they have discovered a method to utilise ...

Tue, 22 Jun 10
British Gas inks logistics deal to support smart meter rollout
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2265129/british-gas-inks-logistics-deal
Business Green: The high-profile plans of British Gas to roll out smart meters to all of its customers edged closer to reality yesterday when the energy giant confirmed it has hired logistics giant DHL to implement a national supply chain system to support the installation programme as part of a Â£17m deal. The new five-year project appears to be designed to ensure that the rollout of smart meter technologies designed to help curb carbon emissions does not result in a large carbon footprint ...

Tue, 22 Jun 10
Poll Finds Deep Concern About Energy and Economy
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/22/us/22poll.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
New York Times: Overwhelmingly, Americans think the nation needs a fundamental overhaul of its energy policies, and most expect alternative forms to replace oil as a major source within 25 years. Yet a majority are unwilling to pay higher gasoline prices to help develop new fuel sources. The poll, which examines the public's reaction to the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico, highlights some of the complex political challenges the Obama administration faces. For instance, despite intense news coverage ...

Tue, 22 Jun 10
Recycling: Profit that takes a lot of bottle
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/recycling-profit-that-takes-a-lot-of-bottle-2006775.html
Independent (UK): We wear it, we drink from it, we sit on it -- recycled plastic is turning up everywhere. Now, it's even on the backs of the World Cup players. Nike's World Cup 2010 kits -- worn by England fans and Ronaldinho alike -- are being made from plastic bottles sourced from Japanese and Taiwanese landfill sites. And Nike isn't the only big hitter using recycled plastic in its products. Coca-Cola uses recycled plastic in its bottles and Marks & Spencer has made fleeces from it. But is this just some ...

Tue, 22 Jun 10
Gulf Coast Residents Demand Clean Energy
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127985057&ft=1&f=1025
National Public Radio: Nearly a hundred Gulf Coast residents went to Washington last week to tell Congress that a clean energy bill is needed right now. Guest host Tony Cox speaks with Ann Costello, a small business owner, and resides in Pensacola, FL about her visit with members of Congress.

Tue, 22 Jun 10
Regulators Failed to Address Risks in Oil Rig Fail-Safe Device
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/21/us/21blowout.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
New York Times: It was the last line of defense, the final barrier between the rushing volcanic fury of oil and gas and one of the worst environmental disasters in United States history. Its very name – the blind shear ram – suggested its blunt purpose. When all else failed, if the crew of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig lost control of a well, if a dreaded blowout came, the blind shear ram's two tough blades were poised to slice through the drill pipe, seal the well and save the day. Everything else ...

Tue, 22 Jun 10
U.S. climate bill backers enter critical week
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/6/22/worldupdates/2010-06-22T034707Z_01_NOOTR_RTRMDNC_0_-495129-1&sec=Worldupdates
Reuters: With time running out for the U.S. Senate to debate complicated and controversial climate change legislation, key players will huddle this week to try to come up with a plan for passing an energy/environment bill this year. A finished wind turbine complex is shown in southern Wyoming on July 21, 2009. (REUTERS/Ed Stoddard/Files) On Wednesday, President Barack Obama holds a meeting at the White House with Democratic and Republican senators who either have been active on ...

Tue, 22 Jun 10
Study questions credentials of climate-change skeptics
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Study+questions+credentials+climate+change+skeptics/3183069/story.html
Canwest News Service: The hundreds of academics who sign warnings for politicians to delay action on slashing greenhouse gas emissions do not have the same expertise as those who say human activity is causing global warming, says a new study to be released Tuesday in the Proceedings of the U.S. National Academy of Scientists. "Despite media tendencies to present both sides in (the causes of global warming) debates, which can contribute to continued public misunderstanding regarding (human-caused climate ...

Tue, 22 Jun 10
Climate trial balloon proves explosive
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0610/38821.html
Politico: The latest trial balloon for passing climate change legislation appears to be just as explosive as the others. Electric utilities are divided over the prospect of a bill that caps their heat-trapping emissions while shunning mandatory limits on transportation and heavy domestic manufacturers, like pulp and paper mills and chemical plants. Environmentalists also are concerned about the prospect of a more limited global warming bill than what they first envisioned, fearful it ...

Tue, 22 Jun 10
Sub Makes Unexpected Find Under Floating Ice Shelf
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127927527&ft=1&f=1025
National Public Radio: A robot submarine has made a surprising discovery under the floating ice shelf of a West Antarctic glacier that recently has been disappearing into the sea with alarming speed. The yellow submarine found a small underwater mountain range that probably once acted as a speed bump, slowing the flow of the glacier from the West Antarctic ice sheet into the sea. Pine Island Glacier has been flowing down faster in recent decades, which means more ice is melting. That's of concern ...

Tue, 22 Jun 10
Environmentalists say Red Sea oil spill continuing
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100621/ap_on_bi_ge/ml_egypt_oil_spill
Associated Press: Environmental activists said Monday that an oil spill off the coast of Egypt's Red Sea is continuing even after the government said it had been contained, leaving turtles and sea birds covered in oil. Government spokesman Magdy Rady told the state news agency Monday that the spill, which began last week, was "limited" and has now largely been contained. It was one of the first government acknowledgments that the spill was even taking place. An environmental group based in the ...

Tue, 22 Jun 10
Panel Is Unlikely to Lift Drilling Ban This Year
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/22/us/politics/22panel.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
New York Times: The bipartisan commission named by President Obama in May to study the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and the future of American offshore drilling will hold its first formal meeting in mid-July at the earliest, most likely delaying the delivery of its final report into next year, a co-chairman of the panel said in an interview. The co-chairman, William K. Reilly, who served as administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency under the first President Bush, also said it was unlikely ...

Tue, 22 Jun 10
A Drill Ship Crew Labors to Sink a Well to Kill a Well
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/21/science/21boat.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
New York Times: ABOARD DEVELOPMENT DRILLER II, off Louisiana – The first thing that greets visitors to the Development Driller II is a large official sign that bears the name pencil pushers have given the well being drilled by this mammoth floating rig: OCS-G 32306. But the rig's tool pushers and other workers – and, by now, the rest of the world – know that this is not just another deepwater oil well in the Gulf of Mexico. It is one of two relief wells meant to put an end, once and for all, to the ...

Tue, 22 Jun 10
New Study Reaffirms Scientific Consensus on Climate Change
http://news.google.com/news/url?fd=R&sa=T&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ucsusa.org%2Fnews%2Fpress_release%2Fstudy-scientific-consensus-climate-change-411.html&usg=AFQjCNGW7zek5J5-AaTC8V4bAN6IyEQOFg
Union of Concerned Scientists: paper published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) underscores the widespread consensus among climate scientists that human activity is driving climate change. The paper will be available by the end of the day online and is available by emailing the PNAS staff. The paper, written by William Anderegg, James Prall, Jacob Harold and Stephen Schneider, surveyed the work of 1,372 climate researchers. They found that nearly all published climate scientists ...

Tue, 22 Jun 10
Sour Showers: Acid Rain Returns--This Time It Is Caused by Nitrogen Emissions
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=acid-rain-caused-by-nitrogen-emissions
Scientific American: FROM SULFURIC TO NITRIC: Sulfuric acid rain has been responsible for dissolving some limestone and marble statues, but more importantly, be it sulfuric or nitric acid rain, it can kill fish and other living things. The acid rain scourge of the '70s and '80s that killed trees and fish and even dissolved parts of statues on Washington, D.C.'s National Mall is back. But unlike the first round, in which sulfur emissions from power plants mixed with rain to create sulfuric acid, the ...

Tue, 22 Jun 10
Tropical storm could develop in Caribbean
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE65K5DK20100621?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29
Reuters: A tropical wave spawning a large area of thunderstorms in the eastern Caribbean Sea could develop into a tropical cyclone over the next couple of days, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said on Monday. The NHC gave the system a medium 30 percent chance of developing, up from 20 percent earlier Monday. Specifically, the NHC said, "Although there is no evidence of a surface circulation ... this system is showing some signs of organization and environmental conditions appear ...

Tue, 22 Jun 10
Green Marines: Camp Lejeune Buys Into Solar Power
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127985314&ft=1&f=1025
National Public Radio: On the Camp Lejeune Marine Corps base in North Carolina, large, reflective rectangles line the rooftops of some of the homes. But they're not some high-tech military gadget or even a satellite dish to get the latest TV channels: They're solar panels for heating water. So many of these panels have gone up in one neighborhood that the community is quickly becoming the largest in the continental U.S. to heat water with solar energy. 'A Milestone' An American flag ...

Tue, 22 Jun 10
Africa told to lead climate change war
http://www.nation.co.ke/News/Africa%20told%20to%20lead%20climate%20change%20war/-/1056/943936/-/15c8srlz/-/
Daily Nation: Water Resources minister Charity Ngilu said at the Deutsche Welle global media forum in Bonn, Germany, on Monday that Africans were the worst affected by climate change. She said climate change should not be left to governments and civil society only. "Climate change should be in the school curriculum as our children know nothing about it," she said. "It is strange that in Kenya, only the Prime Minister is doing something about climate in the government," she added. The ...

Tue, 22 Jun 10
Kenya hopes to become Africa's carbon trade hub
http://www.scidev.net/en/agriculture-and-environment/kenya-hopes-to-become-africa-s-carbon-trade-hub.html?utm_source=link&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=en_agricultureandenvironment
SciDev.Net: Kenya has announced plans to establish a regional carbon emissions trading scheme to steer Africa's carbon market. This would hopefully position the country as the continent's carbon credit trade hub, finance minister Uhuru Kenyatta said in his budget speech to parliament earlier this month (10 June). Kenyatta said a framework for carbon trading -- in which polluters buy and sell the right to emit carbon -- would be set up to outline how to register to participate in the ...

Tue, 22 Jun 10
Climate change will have 'mixed' effect on Asian rivers
http://www.scidev.net/en/agriculture-and-environment/climate-change-will-have-mixed-effect-on-asian-rivers.html?utm_source=link&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=en_agricultureandenvironment
SciDev.Net: Two of Asia's 'water towers', the Brahmaputra and Indus river basins, are likely to be severely affected by climate change while others will be less affected and could even benefit, research on Asia's rivers shows. One-fifth of the world's population is dependent on water from the Brahmaputra, Indus, Ganges, Yangtze and Yellow rivers – often referred to as Asia's water towers – which are fed by melt water from the Himalayas. Until now it was thought that all the Asian river basins ...

Tue, 22 Jun 10
BP 'was told of fault on oil rig'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/us_and_canada/10362139.stm
BBC: A Deepwater Horizon rig worker has told the BBC that he identified a leak in the oil rig's safety equipment weeks before the explosion. Tyrone Benton said the leak was not fixed at the time, but that instead the faulty device was shut down and a second one relied on. BP said rig owners Transocean were responsible for the operation and maintenance of that piece of equipment. Transocean said it tested the device successfully before the accident. Meanwhile, BP has ...

Tue, 22 Jun 10
Obama's Carbon Plans May Be Scaled Back to Electricity Sector
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-06-21/obama-s-carbon-plans-may-be-scaled-back-to-electricity-sector.html
Bloomberg: President Barack Obama, who meets with lawmakers at the White House this week to discuss energy legislation, may have to abandon a pollution-reduction program for the whole U.S. economy and push instead for new laws that target the electricity-producing companies. A plan to cap carbon-dioxide emissions from nearly every sector, favored by Obama and many Democrats, is stalled in the Senate and there isn't enough time this year to get it passed, Eileen Claussen, president of the ...

Tue, 22 Jun 10
BP: 23,290 barrels of leaking oil captured Sunday
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100621/ts_nm/us_oil_spill_cap
Reuters: BP Plc said on Monday that its oil-capture systems at the massive Gulf of Mexico leak collected or burned off 23,290 barrels (978,180 gallons/3.7 million liters) of crude on Sunday. The British energy company is using two different systems to capture some of the oil spewing into the ocean from the deep-sea offshore well that ruptured on April 20. Its containment cap system, installed on June 3, collected 14,570 barrels on Sunday, BP said. A second system, started up on June 16, ...

Tue, 22 Jun 10
Rainforest slaughter continues in Madagascar despite "ban" on timber exports
http://news.mongabay.com/2010/0621-madagascar_logging.html
Mongabay: New eyewitness reports indicate continued logging of Madagascar's Masoala National Park for rosewood despite a government "moratorium" on logging and timber exports. A source near Marofinaritra, a town between Masoala and Antalaha, reports heavy night-time movement of trucks carrying illegally logged timber from the park. The wood is believed to be destined for Antalaha, a regional hub for the rosewood trade. "Logs are going out every night from the Masoala National Park," said ...

Tue, 22 Jun 10
At least 24 die in Ghana floods
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE65K45920100621?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29
Reuters: Flooding caused by heavy rains killed at least 24 people, destroying homes and washing out roads, emergency officials in the West African country said on Monday. Eleven bodies were found in around the capital Accra and another 13 elsewhere in the country, said Kofi Portuphy, coordinator of the National Disaster Committee. Many others were feared dead as search and rescue crews continued getting reports of missing people following two days of downpours, He said. Police in ...

Tue, 22 Jun 10
Aquamarine Power waves hello to Â£6m investment
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2265125/aquamarine-waves-hello
Business Green: Wave energy specialist Aquamarine Power today announced it has secured another Â£6m in funding, which will go towards the Â£50m required to complete its second-generation Oyster 2 generator. Aquamarine confirmed earlier today that it had raised the funding, but is staying tight-lipped on where the money originated. A spokesperson for the company would only name-check existing investors, including Scottish and Southern Energy, Scottish Enterprise, a number of Norwegian investors ...

Tue, 22 Jun 10
Egypt confirms oil leak from rig on Red Sea coast
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100621/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_egypt_oil_spill
Associated Press: Egypt's government confirmed Monday that oil has leaked from one of several rigs operating off the coast of the Red Sea resort Hurghada. Government spokesman Magdy Rady said the amount was "limited," but he did not say how much. He said the spill was detected last week and has now been largely contained, according to comments carried by the official Middle East News Agency. Oil company officials in the port city of Suez said the spill was caused by a leak from an offshore oil ...

Tue, 22 Jun 10
Judge hears first challenge to Obama drilling ban
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100621/ts_nm/us_oil_spill_moratorium_hearing
Reuters: The federal judge overseeing an oil industry lawsuit challenging the Obama administration's decision to place a six-month moratorium on deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico said on Monday he will rule on the case by Wednesday. The lawsuit -- originally filed by Louisiana-based Hornbeck Offshore Services LLC and joined by more than a dozen companies involved in offshore drilling operations -- is the first legal action seeking to reverse the drilling ban imposed by the Department of ...

Tue, 22 Jun 10
Millions face starvation in west Africa, warn aid agencies
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jun/21/millions-face-starvation-west-africa
Guardian: Starving people in drought-stricken west Africa are being forced to eat leaves and collect grain from ant hills, say aid agencies, warning that 10 million people face starvation across the region. With food prices soaring and malnourished livestock dying, villagers were turning to any sources of food to stay alive, said Charles Bambara, Oxfam officer for the west African region. "People are eating wild fruit and leaves, and building ant hills just to capture the tiny amount of ...

Tue, 22 Jun 10
United Kingdom: BP's Tony Hayward to give speech to oil conference
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/jun/21/bp-tony-hayward-speech-to-oil-conference
Guardian: BP's heavily criticised chief executive will tomorrow make his first public appearance in London since the Deepwater Horizon disaster struck two months ago and security is expected to be tight. Tony Hayward will give a keynote speech at the World National Oil Companies Congress, a gathering of senior executives across the industry. He is pressing ahead with the long-scheduled engagement despite the furore over the environmental disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. This speech is ...

Tue, 22 Jun 10
Canada moves to deliver world's first CCS standard
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2265115/canada-moves-deliver-world
Business Green: In a move that could have major implications for the emerging carbon capture and storage (CCS) industry, the Canadian government last week announced plans to develop the first industry-wide standard for the underground storage of captured carbon emissions. The government has appointed certification firm CSA Standards and the International Performance Assessment Centre for Geologic Storage of Carbon Dioxide (IPAC-CO2 Research) to work together on the development of a CCS standard for ...

Tue, 22 Jun 10
Judge to hear bid to overturn halt on drilling
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100621/ap_on_bi_ge/us_gulf_oil_spill_drilling_moratorium
Associated Press: Several oil service companies are asking a federal judge to block the Interior Department from enforcing a six-month moratorium on new deepwater drilling projects in the Gulf of Mexico. U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman is scheduled to hear arguments Monday in New Orleans on Hornbeck Offshore Services' bid for lifting the moratorium. A lawsuit filed by the company claims the government arbitrarily imposed the moratorium and suspended drilling at 33 existing exploratory wells ...

Tue, 22 Jun 10
United Kingdom: Sunday Times 'correction' was a giant climbdown
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/greenslade/2010/jun/21/sundaytimes-scienceofclimatechange
Sunday Times: The Sunday Times carried a rather large "correction" yesterday that, once read alongside the original offending article, amounted to a complete retraction. In fact, it was a giant climbdown. In The Sunday Times and the IPCC: Correction, the paper refers to a news page story on 31 January headlined "UN climate panel shamed by bogus rainforest claim" (removed from the Sunday Times site, but available, disgracefully, on this site). The article stated that the 2007 ...

Tue, 22 Jun 10
BP estimates of Gulf oil spill range up to 100,000 bpd
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100621/ts_nm/us_oil_spill
Reuters: An internal BP document released by a U.S. lawmaker estimated that a worst-case scenario rate for the Gulf of Mexico oil spill could be about 100,000 barrels per day, far higher than the current U.S. figure. Shares in the oil giant, which have nearly halved in value since an explosion at an oil well in the Gulf of Mexico on April 20, slid 4.3 percent in early trade. The group said the cost of its response to the spill had hit $2 billion and it had paid out $105 million in ...

Mon, 21 Jun 10
Nations rethink drilling in wake of BP oil spill
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100620/ap_on_bi_ge/us_gulf_oil_spill_global_fallout
Associated Press: Britain has doubled rig inspections. Bulgaria scrapped plans for a new oil pipeline. Chinese and French oil giants are upgrading equipment and procedures designed to prevent spills. As oil continues to gush into the Gulf of Mexico, nations around the globe are taking a cue from this cautionary tale and ratcheting up their oversight of the petroleum industry. "We must also deal with the possibility of an accident near our shores," EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso told the ...

Mon, 21 Jun 10
Methane and Climate Change: From the Amazon to the Gulf of Mexico
http://news.mongabay.com/2010/0620-kozloff_methane.html
Mongabay: In surveying the environmental damage unleashed from the BP oil spill, could we be missing the 800-pound gorilla in the closet? While oil poses undeniable ecological risks, methane (CH4) could prove daunting as well. As it turns out, crude which is destroying the Gulf of Mexico contains about 40 percent methane which may suffocate marine life and create vast "dead zones" where oxygen becomes so depleted that nothing is allowed to live. Methane is a colorless, odorless and flammable ...

Mon, 21 Jun 10
Document shows BP estimates spill up to 100,000 bpd
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100620/ts_nm/us_oil_spill_markey
Reuters: An internal BP Plc document released on Sunday by a senior U.S. congressional Democrat shows that the company estimates that a worst-case scenario rate for the Gulf of Mexico oil spill could be about 100,000 barrels of oil per day. The estimate of 100,000 barrels (4.2 million gallons/15.9 million liters) of oil per day is far higher than the current U.S. government estimate of up to 60,000 barrels (2.5 million gallons/9.5 million liters) per day gushing from the ruptured offshore well ...

Mon, 21 Jun 10
Yellow sub finds clues to Antarctic glacier's thaw
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE65J25V20100620?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29
Reuters: A yellow submarine has helped to solve a puzzle about one of Antarctica's fastest-melting glaciers, adding to concerns about how climate change may push up world sea levels, scientists said Sunday. The robot submarine, deployed under the ice shelf floating on the sea at the end of the Pine Island Glacier, found that the ice was no longer resting on a subsea ridge that had slowed the glacier's slide until the early 1970s. Antarctica is key to predicting the rise in sea levels ...

Mon, 21 Jun 10
Gulf oil spill: Mr. President, the problem isn't just MMS
http://www.csmonitor.com/Money/ThinkMarkets/2010/0620/Gulf-oil-spill-Mr.-President-the-problem-isn-t-just-MMS
Christian Science Monitor: One can understand why Mr. Obama wants to confine government failure to this little bureaucracy – long reported to be corrupt – inside the Interior Department. It is a slick move, but the hypocrisy is breathtaking and corrosive of what confidence there is in the government. Just weeks before the Deepwater Horizon rig imploded, the entire administration and Congressional Democrats demonstrated casual disregard for the environment. In effect, they provided evidence that wheeling and ...

Mon, 21 Jun 10
United Kingdom: Tonnes of radioactive waste casts doubt over London's Olympic stadium legacy
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/jun/20/radioactive-waste-olympic-site
Guardian: The development of the Olympic site in east London after the Games have finished could be in jeopardy because of radioactive waste buried beneath the site, experts have warned. According to a Guardian investigation, any development of the site risks unearthing a hundred tonnes of radioactive waste dumped at the former landfill site decades ago. Documents obtained under Freedom of Information (FOI) rules reveal that, contrary to government guidelines, waste from thorium and radium has ...

Mon, 21 Jun 10
BP rejects Markey charge underestimated oil spill
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100620/ts_nm/us_oil_spill_markey_bp
Reuters: BP Plc on Sunday rejected a charge by U.S. Representative Ed Markey that the British company had understated the size of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. "I don't think there's been any underestimating," BP spokesman Toby Odone told Reuters after Markey released a document that the congressman said shows BP has been deceptive. The internal BP document released by Markey on Sunday shows that the company estimates that a worst-case scenario rate for the Gulf of Mexico oil spill ...

Mon, 21 Jun 10
Gulf oil spill: BP accused of lying to Congress
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/20/gulf-oil-spill-bp-lying
Guardian: BP has been accused by a senior US politician of lying to Congress to reduce its liabilities, after an internal company document showed that the oil giant's own worst-case assessment of the size of the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico was 20 times its public estimate. In the document, BP attempts to put a figure on the rate of oil spewing into the ocean. It notes that if the condition of the well bore deteriorates to the extent that crucial parts fall off, the rate could reach 100,000 ...

Mon, 21 Jun 10
United Kingdom: Peter Loscher believes green technology is key to Siemens' future
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/7841977/Peter-Loscher-believes-green-technology-is-key-to-Siemens-future.html
Telegraph: Amid the hysteria of Amercia's worst environmental disaster on record, Siemens chief executive Peter LÃ¶scher will likely be looking at the longer game. LÃ¶scher is far too guarded to say it, but green technology companies will be waiting with keen expectation to see the results of the Deepwater Horizon spill. As the backlash against big oil builds, there will be winners. Siemens is already in Barack Obama's good books. The US President visited the German company's new wind ...

Mon, 21 Jun 10
Ridge clue to Antarctic ice loss
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science_and_environment/10354118.stm
BBC: The discovery of an underwater ridge in West Antarctica could help explain why there has been an acceleration in the ice flowing from a glacier in the area. Researchers suggest that the base of Pine Island Glacier once sat on the ridge, but recently became detached from the feature. The team made the discovery during surveys that used a unmanned submarine to examine waters under the glacier. The findings have been published in the journal Nature Geoscience. "We ...

Mon, 21 Jun 10
Philippines: Climate change to impact on sugar plantations
http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=586234&publicationSubCategoryId=67
Philippine Star: The vast tracts of sugar plantations in the so-called sugar capital of the country might not escape the harsh impact of the escalating climate change. Climate Change Commission (CCC) vice chairman Heherson Alvarez issued this warning yesterday, as he asked local government units on Negros Island to start implementing policies to promote environmental conservation to combat the effects of global warming. Speaking at the culmination of the 10th City Environment Week celebration ...

Mon, 21 Jun 10
President of Change Unwilling to Tackle US Oil Addiction
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,701025,00.html
Spiegel: US President Barack Obama addressed the American public from the Oval Office on Tuesday evening. US President Barack Obama has taken the fight to BP. But it is time that he picks a fight with the American public. American energy consumption is at the root of the Gulf of Mexico disaster, but Obama preferred to sidestep the issue in his Tuesday speech. The Oval Office in the White House is more than an office. It is also the nation's living room. When the most important man in ...

Mon, 21 Jun 10
United States: Officials Increase Efforts To Test Seafood
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127965144&ft=1&f=1025
National Public Radio: With the spill in the Gulf captivating the country, Louisiana's $3 billion seafood industry is trying to convince consumers that they're still open for business. State and federal officials are stepping up inspections, in part to demonstrate that fish, shrimp and oysters are safe to eat.

Mon, 21 Jun 10
Guyana: Govt looking seriously at ethanol from molasses project - Jagdeo
http://www.stabroeknews.com/2010/stories/06/20/govt-looking-seriously-at-ethanol-from-molasses-project-jagdeo/
Stabroek: President Bharrat Jagdeo said more land may be made available for sugar cane cultivation since his administration is now "seriously" looking at producing ethanol from molasses, in keeping with the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) which promotes the use of biofuels. Jagdeo said the government was now considering converting some of its molasses into ethanol, which could then be used to blend with fossil fuel as it attempts to reduce emissions in the transport sector. "We have to ...

Mon, 21 Jun 10
China devastated by floods
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jun/20/china-devastated-floods
Guardian: Huge floods in southern China have killed at least 132 people and displaced 800,000 others, the government said today as the annual storm season picked up ferocity. Local media showed images of people abandoning their homes in rubber dinghies in Nanchang, Jiangxi province, one of the worst hit areas. Many carried small bundles of possessions salvaged from the rising waters that turned the streets into rivers. More than 10 million people have lost property, been injured or ...

Mon, 21 Jun 10
Egypt oil spill threatens Red Sea marine life
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100620/wl_africa_afp/egyptenvironmentpollutionoil
Agence France-Presse: An oil spill off the Egyptian Red Sea coast of Hurghada threatening to damage marine life in the area has prompted environmental agencies to demand tighter regulation of offshore oil platforms. Large quantities of oil have appeared in recent days around the resorts of Hurghada which draw millions of tourists who come to dive or snorkle, according to the Hurghada Environmental Protection and Conservation Agency. "It started four or five days ago and the companies responsible ...

Mon, 21 Jun 10
United Kingdom: Huge offshore wind farm unveiled
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/kent/10319105.stm
BBC: A Swedish energy giant is gearing up to launch the world's biggest wind farm off the Kent coast. Vattenfall is putting the last few turbines into place, but the project has been delayed by weeks because of high winds and rough seas. The wind farm is expected to generate enough electricity for 240,000 homes. With more than 90 of the planned 100 wind turbines installed, Thanet Wind Farm supplied power to the National Grid for the first time on 16 May. The project, ...

Mon, 21 Jun 10
New Wind Capacity Keeps Pace with Natural Gas in Europe, Group Says
http://e360.yale.edu/content/digest.msp?id=2459&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+YaleEnvironment360+%28Yale+Environment+360%29
Yale Environment 360: In 2010, for the third consecutive year, new wind power installations in the European Union will have roughly the same amount of electricity-generating capacity as newly built natural gas power plants, according to the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA). About 10 gigawatts of new wind power capacity is expected to be added in 2010, which would boost total installed capacity to about 85 gigawatts, according to the trade organization. Natural gas remains the EU's leading source of ...

Mon, 21 Jun 10
Is New Environmentalism the Answer or the Problem?
http://www.alternet.org/environment/146837/is_new_environmentalism_the_answer_or_the_problem/?utm_source=feedblitz&utm_medium=FeedBlitzRss&utm_campaign=alternet_environment
AlterNet: Take your well-disciplined strengths and stretch them between two opposing poles. Because inside human beings is where God learns. –Rainer Maria Rilke There is a battle going on for the soul of environmentalism. How it plays out will determine our ability to respond to a whole host of environmental dilemmas, especially climate change. All of us are partners in this struggle, since battle lines are being drawn not simply on the street or in policy debates ...

Mon, 21 Jun 10
How climate change and pollution affect ocean chemistry
http://sify.com/news/how-climate-change-and-pollution-affect-ocean-chemistry-news-scitech-kgukOcciccb.html
Asian News International: In a new study, researchers have evaluated the total impact of climate change, carbon dioxide, pollution and other human-related phenomena on the world's oceans. The study, led by a marine geochemist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), has also predicted what the future might hold for oceans. "What we do on land-agriculture, fossil fuel combustion and pollution-can have a profound impact on the chemistry of the sea. A whole range of these factors have been ...

Mon, 21 Jun 10
Journalists should not forget climate change, say experts
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,5710039,00.html
Deutsche Welle: It's been a difficult few months for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, one of the foremost bodies charged with evaluating the risk climate change. Since the unearthing of an embarrassing error in the most recent IPCC report - the statement that the Himalayan glaciers might be gone by 2035 - the hunt for further IPCC blunders has been on, drawing in scientists, bloggers and journalists from all over the world. Yet some experts argue that, the occasional scandal ...

Mon, 21 Jun 10
Clear-Cutting Declines in Brazil's Rainforest, but Fires Are on the Rise
http://www.aaas.org/news/releases/2010/0607sp_amazon.shtml
AAAS: Although the Brazilian Amazon has recently experienced a decline in deforestation rates, researchers writing in Science say that forest fires in the region are on the rise--and that the benefits of decreased deforestation could be partially offset by increased carbon dioxide emissions from those fires. The growing incidence of forest fires appears to be primarily linked to human agricultural activities near re-forested areas or forest edges. As a result, the researchers report, a ...

Mon, 21 Jun 10
United States: Sweet Hall marsh offers evidence on water levels
http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/state_regional/article/CLIM20S1_20100619-204602/352193/
Richmond Times-Dispatch: WEST POINT In Sweet Hall marsh, the ghosts tell tales. Dead, bone-white trunks known as ghost trees say the marsh along the Pamunkey River is changing. Scientists suspect the trees were exposed to too much water, and possibly salt water, because the sea level -- and hence, the river level -- is rising. The rising sea is a well-documented effect of global warming. When water warms, it expands. The sea level is rising faster in southeastern Virginia than any other place on ...

Mon, 21 Jun 10
Who will cross the aisle?
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/opinion/20100620_Editorial__Who_will_cross_the_aisle_.html#axzz0rOD55aSp
Philadelphia Inquirer: Maybe Joe Barton finally did it. Maybe the Texas congressman's rash rush to hold BP's hand will wake up Americans to the daunting reality of today's ultrapartisan politics, where nothing is good if it bears the other team's brand. Most Americans are likely pleased that President Obama's measured belligerence led BP to announce a $20 billion escrow fund to aid victims of the Gulf oil spill. Barton, though, had the gall to call the deal a "shakedown," casting the Britons as poor ...

Mon, 21 Jun 10
NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden under fire for potential conflict of interest on biofuel project
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/breakingnews/os-nasa-administrator-scandal-20100620,0,7111152,full.story
Orlando Sentinel: While millions of barrels of spilled oil choke the Gulf of Mexico, NASA is working on an ocean-based biofuels venture that could revolutionize clean-energy production at sea and treat wastewater at the same time. The scientist running the $10 million experiment, called Project OMEGA, uses words such as groundbreaking and exciting to describe his baby. But there's a hitch. NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden doesn't believe in OMEGA -- and has sought to slow it down. The ...

Mon, 21 Jun 10
To kill, but not pollute
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=51883
Inter Press Service: European Union subsidies earmarked for reducing air travel's contribution to climate change may help develop deadlier warplanes than those already found in the world's arsenals, Brussels officials have admitted. Some 1.6 billion euros (2 billion dollars) has been allocated to the EU's "Clean Sky" project, which aims to develop aircraft engines that emit half as much carbon dioxide as those now in use. With the funding being divided between industry and the European taxpayer, plane and ...

Mon, 21 Jun 10
Driving alone still rules in car-happy Vermont as sarpooling awaits a new surge
http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20100620/LIVING09/100618019/Driving-alone-still-rules-in-car-happy-Vermont-as-sarpooling-awaits-a-new-surge
Burlington Free Press: Here's the peculiar thing about carpooling: It's been around forever. It's easier to arrange than ever, thanks to digital matching of drivers and riders. People have more good reasons to do it than ever, as public efforts to raise energy efficiencies and reduce carbon footprints assume a new urgency. And yet carpooling still enlists a small minority of the car-dependent population, both nationally and in Vermont. In fact, carpooling is less popular today -- by a long shot -- than it ...

Sun, 20 Jun 10
Dispute Over Pesticide for California Strawberries Has Implications Beyond State
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/20/us/20strawberries.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
New York Times: Even as the sweet strawberry harvest reaches its peak here, a bitter disagreement has erupted between the State Department of Pesticide Regulation and a scientific review committee over the approval of a new chemical, the outcome of which could affect farmers across the country. In a report and in public testimony Thursday before the State Senate Food and Agriculture Committee, members of the review committee said the state's decision to approve the new pesticide, methyl iodide, was ...

Sun, 20 Jun 10
BP CEO attends yacht race, sparks new controversy
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100620/ts_nm/us_oil_spill_hayward
Reuters: BP Plc CEO Tony Hayward watched a yacht race off the English coast on Saturday, sparking new controversy in the United States as his company struggles to plug its huge Gulf of Mexico oil leak. Sheila Williams, a spokeswoman for the British energy giant, said Hayward was spending time with his teenage son at the Isle of Wight boat race after devoting most of the past two months to the oil spill away from his family. Hayward was lambasted by angry U.S. lawmakers at a ...

Sun, 20 Jun 10
Big Oil's Hazardous Path to Repeal California's Clean Energy Law
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/warner-chabot/big-oils-hazardous-path-t_b_618349.html
Huffington Post: The tragic Gulf oil spill is now 'spilling over" into California's politics. It now threatens to undermine an oil industry funded proposition on the November ballot to kill California's landmark clean energy and air pollution law. When Texas oil refiners Valero and Tesoro were contemplating whether to buy their way onto the California ballot last winter, they envisioned a ripe environment for their proposition to repeal the state's clean energy and air standards: skyrocketing ...

Sun, 20 Jun 10
APEC agrees to promote renewable energy: reports
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100619/sc_afp/apecenergyjapan
Agence France-Presse: Asia-Pacific ministers and officials agreed on Saturday to promote renewable sources and nuclear power in a bid to maintain energy security and cut greenhouse gas emissions in the region. Japan hosted the one-day energy meeting of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum (APEC), in Fukui, ahead of a summit scheduled for November in Yokohama, southwest of Tokyo. In a statement adopted at the meeting, the forum agreed that the deployment of renewable energy, nuclear energy and ...

Sun, 20 Jun 10
Where Gulf Spill Might Place on the Roll of Disasters
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/19/science/earth/19enviro.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
New York Times: From the Oval Office the other night, President Obama called the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico "the worst environmental disaster America has ever faced.' Senior people in the government have echoed that language. Four families, with 15 children among them, at an impromptu overnight road camp during the Dust Bowl in Texas. The motive seems clear. The words signal sympathy for the people of the Gulf Coast, an acknowledgment of the magnitude of their struggle. And if this is ...

Sun, 20 Jun 10
Net Benefits of Biomass Power Under Scrutiny
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/19/science/earth/19biomass.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
New York Times: Matthew Wolfe, an energy developer with plans to turn tree branches and other woody debris into electric power, sees himself as a positive force in the effort to wean his state off of planet-warming fossil fuels. "It's way better than coal," Mr. Wolfe said, "if you look at it over its life cycle." Not everyone agrees, as evidenced by lawn signs in this northwestern Massachusetts town reading "Biomass? No Thanks." In fact, power generated by burning wood, plants and other ...

Sun, 20 Jun 10
China Has Indirect Stake in U.S. Reactor Fuel Maker
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/19/business/global/19nuke.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
New York Times: A company here that is partly owned by the Chinese government has quietly purchased a 5.1 percent stake in the only American-owned provider of enriched uranium for use in civilian nuclear reactors. The company that bought the stake, the Noble Group, is the world's second-largest commodities trading and logistics company after Cargill and is based here. One of its minority owners is the Chinese government's sovereign wealth fund. The American company is USEC, which is based in ...

Sun, 20 Jun 10
Electric driver experiment across Europe: reminder
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/electric-driver-experiment-across-europe-reminder-2004992.html
Independent (UK): A small team of reporters from British broadcaster the BBC has embarked on a month-long all-electric journey across Europe to highlight to consumers the dawning reality of electric vehicles. The team of reporters and producers is aiming to share their experience with listeners to give consumers a picture of electric vehicle culture in Western Europe, investigating the technology, infrastructure and political will behind the growth of EV culture. The programs they make will be ...

Sun, 20 Jun 10
BP oil spill caused by 'negligence or misconduct', says drilling partner Anadarko
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/19/gulf-oil-spill-anarkdo-petroleum-blames-bp
Guardian: BP has come under further pressure after one of its partners said the oil giant should foot the entire bill for the damage caused by the Gulf of Mexico spill. Anadarko Petroleum, which owns a quarter of the ruptured Deepwater Horizon well, refused to accept any blame for the explosion that killed 11 workers and led to the US's worst environmental disaster. The company's chairman and chief executive, Jim Hackett, said in a statement BP's actions probably amounted to "gross ...

Sun, 20 Jun 10
Obama's liberal critics find their voice
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/jun/17/barack-obama-liberal-critics
Guardian: Until President Obama's first ever Oval Office address-to-the-nation the other night BP's chief executive Tony Hayward was winning the booby prize as "America's most clueless man" for his gaffe-prone TV interviews. But Obama is gaining fast. His self-exonerating speech, full of sparkling generalities and with no hint of frank accountability for his administration's culpability in the nation's worst environmental disaster, was like the man himself, bloodless and emotionally detached from the ...

Sun, 20 Jun 10
Australia: Taking a punt on endangered species
http://www.smh.com.au/environment/taking-a-punt-on-endangered-species-20100618-ymu4.html
Sydney Morning Herald: PROFESSOR Hugh Possingham's idea is simple - it is called endangered species lottery. First, the government creams off $20 million from taxes on gambling revenues as a prize. The names of Australian endangered species are written on balls and put in a barrel. On Melbourne Cup day the environment minister draws a ball from the barrel live on television just before the big race. Landholders who have populations of the winning species on their property are given a slice of the $20 ...

Sun, 20 Jun 10
Senate running out of energy
http://www.scrippsnews.com/node/54633
Scripps News: In his Oval Office address, President Barack Obama termed the Gulf oil spill "the most painful and powerful reminder that the time to embrace a clean-energy future is now." He urged lawmakers to "seize the moment" to enact a comprehensive energy and climate-change law. Predictably, the Republicans accused the president of exploiting the crisis, in the words of House GOP leader John Boehner, to "impose a job-killing energy tax." Environmentalists and many Senate Democrats probably ...

Sat, 19 Jun 10
Anadarko points finger at BP on Gulf oil spill
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100618/ap_on_bi_ge/us_anadarko_oil_spill
Associated Press: Anadarko Petroleum Corp., which owns a quarter of BP PLC's blown-out oil well in the Gulf of Mexico, late Friday blasted BP "reckless decisions and actions" that led to the well's explosion. Anadarko Chairman and CEO Jim Hackett's statement came after some elected officials said Anadarko should help pay for the massive cleanup and spill-related claims. Company spokesman John Christiansen said the comments were in response to "a week's worth of testimony" and other information and data ...

Sat, 19 Jun 10
BP Moves Hayward to Lesser Role in Spill Response
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/19/us/19spill.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
New York Times: A day after he came under relentless attack at a Congressional hearing, BP chief executive Tony Hayward was displaced as the man in charge of the company's response to the spill. "It is clear Tony has made remarks that have upset people,' Carl-Henric Svanberg, the chairman of BP's board of directors, told the British television network Sky News on Friday. Mr. Svanberg reiterated an earlier announcement that Robert Dudley, an American who joined BP as part of its acquisition of ...

Sat, 19 Jun 10
Scientists: Gulf oil spill threatens breeding ground for bluefin tuna
http://news.yahoo.com/s/mcclatchy/20100618/sc_mcclatchy/3541060
McClatchy Newspapers: Near the end of a 12-day cruise in the Gulf of Mexico to study the habitat of just-hatched Atlantic bluefin tuna, scientist Jim Franks came upon fields of oil sheen as far as he could see. Mixed with the oil were large amounts of sargassum, the golden brown alga that drifts at the whim of winds and tides and shelters the quarter-inch-long bluefin tuna larvae. How the young will fare and what will happen to the population of bluefin tuna will affect a wide range of people, ...

Sat, 19 Jun 10
Gulf oil spill: A hole in the world
http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/2010/jun/19/naomi-klein-gulf-oil-spill
Guardian: Everyone gathered for the town hall meeting had been repeatedly instructed to show civility to the gentlemen from BP and the federal government. These fine folks had made time in their busy schedules to come to a high school gymnasium on a Tuesday night in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, one of many coastal communities where brown poison was slithering through the marshes, part of what has come to be described as the largest environmental disaster in US history. "Speak to others the ...

Sat, 19 Jun 10
BP actions before blowout were "reckless": Anadarko
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100618/ts_nm/us_oil_spill_anadarko
Reuters: Anadarko Petroleum Corp, part owner of the well gushing oil into the Gulf of Mexico, joined in the torrent of criticism of BP Plc as it seeks to escape the huge financial liability. Anadarko said on Friday that BP's behavior before the blowout was "reckless" and likely represented "gross negligence or willful misconduct," which would affect the obligations of the well owners under their operating agreement. BP, the well's operator and 65 percent owner, said it "strongly ...

Sat, 19 Jun 10
Sierra Club to fight Southern Co coal project
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE65H5W320100618?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29
Reuters: The Sierra Club has appealed a state utility commission vote that allows a Southern Co utility to build an expensive advanced coal-fired plant. The Sierra Club, an environmental group that is working to stop construction of all new coal plants, called the commission vote "an unprecedented flip-flop." The Sierra Club said on Thursday it filed an appeal in chancery court in Harrison County, Mississippi, on the need certificate issued by the Mississippi Public Service Commission ...

Sat, 19 Jun 10
United States: Chevron vows to pay for Salt Lake City oil spill
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100618/ap_on_bi_ge/us_oil_leak_utah
Associated Press: Salt Lake City attorneys expect Chevron Corp. will quickly agree to a financial settlement related to last weekend's pipeline spill that dumped 33,000 gallons of crude oil into city waterways, a spokeswoman for Mayor Ralph Becker said Friday. Becker has vowed to make Chevron pay for the cleanup, and the company has repeatedly pledged to cover the city's expenses, as well as damage or reimbursement claims from others. A deal could be announced next week, said Lisa Harrison ...

Sat, 19 Jun 10
Federal approval still flowing for flawed Gulf drilling plans
http://news.yahoo.com/s/mcclatchy/20100618/sc_mcclatchy/3540942
McClatchy Newspapers: Despite President Barack Obama's promises of better safeguards for offshore drilling, federal regulators continue to approve plans for oil companies to drill in the Gulf of Mexico with minimal or no environmental analysis. The Department of Interior's Minerals Management Service has signed off on at least five new offshore drilling projects since June 2 , when the agency's acting director announced tougher safety regulations for drilling in the Gulf, a McClatchy review of public ...

Sat, 19 Jun 10
British press starts to turn on Hayward, with plenty of anti-Obama rage thrown in for good measure
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/20100618/ts_ynews/ynews_ts2721
Yahoo!: Many in the British press have slammed the U.S. government lately for demonizing BP, instead of simply holding the company accountable for the Gulf oil spill. But that sentiment's shifted noticeably since BP CEO Tony Hayward's testimony before the House Energy and Commerce committee yesterday. Hayward's inability (or unwillingness) to answer a number of direct questions about the decision-making that preceded the spill cost him many of his job responsibilities today--together with a ...

Sat, 19 Jun 10
Buncefield fire: Oil storage firm found guilty of safety breaches
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/jun/18/buncefield-fire-oil-company-guilty
Guardian: A company controlled by Total and Chevron has been found guilty of host of grave safety failures that led to the Buncefield oil depot explosion and the largest fire in peacetime Europe. Hertfordshire Oil Storage Limited (HOSL), which was owned by the oil conglomerates, was found guilty of failing to prevent major accidents and limit their effects, it was revealedtoday. The guilty verdict followed one of the most complex corporate criminal trials of its kind and is a major blow ...

Sat, 19 Jun 10
Korn urges artists to boycott BP with tour buses
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100618/ap_en_ot/us_music_bp_boycott
Associated Press: Korn's Jonathan Davis is urging artists to boycott troubled oil giant BP over the oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. In a statement issued Friday, the rock singer says he has gathered a coalition of artists, including Lady Gaga, Creed and the Backstreet Boys, and they have agreed not to use fuel sold by BP or their affiliates on their tours this year. Tens of millions of gallons of oil have gushed into the Gulf Coast since an April explosion of an oil rig off the coast ...

Sat, 19 Jun 10
Embattled BP CEO Removed From Spill Oversight
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127939238&ft=1&f=1025
Associated Press: BP removed Chief Executive Tony Hayward from day-to-day oversight of the Gulf oil spill crisis a day after he was pummeled by lawmakers in an appearance on Capitol Hill, the company's chairman said Friday. Carl-Henric Svanberg told Britain's Sky News television that Hayward "is now handing over the operations, the daily operations to [BP Managing Director] Bob Dudley," overshadowing news that after many setbacks BP was finally making real progress in siphoning and burning off oil from ...

Sat, 19 Jun 10
Government: Drilling moratorium vital to safety
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100618/ap_on_bi_ge/us_gulf_oil_spill_moratorium_suit
Associated Press: The federal government claims the deepwater drilling ban in the Gulf of Mexico is vital to avoid more well blowouts and oil spills, rejecting the argument from some offshore service companies that their business will be harmed. The contention, entered in court records late Thursday, is at the heart of the Interior Department's answer to a federal lawsuit challenging the legality of the six-month moratorium filed by a group of offshore service companies June 9. U.S. District ...

Sat, 19 Jun 10
BP: Hayward to be relieved of day-to-day duties
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100618/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_britain_gulf_oil_spill
Associated Press: The chairman of BP says embattled chief executive Tony Hayward is being relieved of day-to-day responsibility for managing the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, a day after he angered U.S. lawmakers with his refusal to answer many of their questions. Company chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg said Hayward "is now handing over the operations, the daily operations to (BP Managing Director) Bob Dudley," according to the transcript of an interview with Sky News television released Friday. The ...

Sat, 19 Jun 10
Environment worries to lift electric car sales: report
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE65H4VP20100618?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29
Reuters: Global sales of electric vehicles are set to rise this year due to worries about security of oil supply, the environment and fuel costs, UK consultancy J.D. Power said on Friday. Global sales of electric cars are expected to reach 940,000 units this year compared with 732,000 units last year, with the number jumping to 3 million in 2015, J.D. Power analysts said in a report. The uptake of battery powered cars is seen as key to fighting climate change by cutting carbon ...

Sat, 19 Jun 10
BP's British shareholders to join US class actions over oil spill
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/jun/18/bp-class-action-oil-spill-damages
Guardian: British shareholders are to join a US class action lawsuit pursuing BP for alleged securities fraud over the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster, the Guardian has learned. American lawyers have already filed more than 180 lawsuits related to the spill, mostly against the company over the environmental and economic damage caused across the region. BP shareholders – the majority of them based outside the more litigious US – have been slower to table their own claims. But Robert ...

Sat, 19 Jun 10
CEO safe for now, heat on chairman: BP investors
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100618/bs_nm/us_bp_investors
Reuters: BP CEO Tony Hayward may cling on after Thursday's mauling by U.S. lawmakers over the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, investors and analysts said, while chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg looked less secure. BP shares gained in London after Chief Executive Hayward managed to fend off attacks by a congressional committee, and as hopes rose its $20 billion oil spill compensation and clean-up fund would cool investor anger. The oil giant has also said it will suspend dividends for the rest of the ...

Sat, 19 Jun 10
Greenhouse Gas Increase Linked To Changes In Ocean Currents
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1881540/greenhouse_gas_increase_linked_to_changes_in_ocean_currents/index.html?source=r_science
redOrbit: By examining 800,000-year-old polar ice, scientists increasingly are learning how the climate has changed since the last ice melt and that carbon dioxide has become more abundant in the Earth's atmosphere. For two decades, French scientist JÃ©rÃ´me Chappellaz has been examining ice cores collected from deep inside the polar ice caps of Greenland and Antarctica. His studies on the interconnecting air spaces of old snow -- or firn air -- in the ice cores show that the roughly 40 percent ...

Sat, 19 Jun 10
BP aims to raise cash as it struggles to plug well
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100618/ts_nm/us_oil_spill
Reuters: BP Plc was seeking $7 billion in loans from banks on Friday, trying to raise more cash as it struggled to plug its gushing Gulf of Mexico well and contain the worst oil spill in U.S. history. Banking sources told Reuters the British energy giant was seeking $1 billion in loans from each of seven banks. Earlier this week, BP bowed to President Barack Obama's demand to set up a $20 billion fund to handle damage claims. As the crisis entered its 60th day, the U.S. Coast Guard ...

Sat, 19 Jun 10
Take the political heat out of climate scepticism
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20627645.300-take-the-political-heat-out-of-climate-scepticism.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=climate-change
New Scientist: CLIMATE scepticism is on the rise, boosted in large part by the hacked emails originating from the "climategate" scientists at the University of East Anglia (UEA) in the UK, and by the carelessness of fact checkers for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The damage to the public standing of climate science has been substantial. In the UK in February, a BBC poll of 1001 people found that just 26 per cent believed human-made climate change was an established scientific fact, ...

Sat, 19 Jun 10
United Kingdom: SeaEnergy Renewables puts up 'for sale' sign
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2265047/sale-seaenergy-renewables
Business Green: UK offshore wind company SeaEnergy has decided to sell its project development arm after concluding it will not be able to raise the money to build a planned series of wind farms off the coast of Scotland. The UK's only "pure play" offshore wind farm developer said in its annual report today that a number of unnamed parties have already expressed an interest buying all or part of SeaEnergy Renewables Limited (SERL) -- the firm's project development arm, which makes up 80 per cent of ...

Sat, 19 Jun 10
New Film Investigates 'Fracking' For Natural Gas
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127932770&ft=1&f=1025
National Public Radio: IRA FLATOW, host: You're listening to SCIENCE FRIDAY from NPR. I'm Ira Flatow. What would be your reaction if you opened up your tap for a drink of water and discovered not only was the murky fluid that came out unsafe to drink, but if you held a match to the tap, you could make the rushing water catch fire? That's exactly what happened to people across the country who say they were victims of a process of drilling for natural gas called fracking. Fracking is short for ...

Sat, 19 Jun 10
Argentina: Turning Wasteland into Woodland
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=51876
Inter Press Service: In Santiago del Estero, one of the Argentine provinces hit hardest by deforestation and desertification, an oasis of native tree species is being created to restore the soil and entice back farmers who were forced to leave their land. "It's not easy, it's very costly and takes time, but it's possible to rehabilitate degraded land," Sonia RamÃrez, head of the reforestation project underway around the village of Colonia El Simbolar, tells IPS. In that area, 1,150 km northwest of ...

Sat, 19 Jun 10
United Kingdom: Climate Committee urges government to extend CCS to cover gas plants
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2264999/climate-committee-urges
Business Green: The Independent Climate Change Committee has called on the government to extend plans to fit carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology to coal-fired power stations to cover gas-fired power stations. In a letter this week to energy and climate change secretary Chris Huhne, the committee warned that the UK would not be able to meet its long-term target of cutting greenhouse gas emissions 80 per cent by 2050 unless it acts urgently to tackle emissions from gas-fired power ...

Sat, 19 Jun 10
Democrats remain cagey over climate bill plans
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2265011/democrats-remain-cagey-climate
Business Green: The debate surrounding how best to move forward with US climate change legislation appears no closer to a resolution after Democrat senators met yesterday to discuss a range of competing proposals. The hour-long meeting assessed a number of plans for passing climate change legislation this year, including the draft bill put forward by Democrat senator John Kerry and independent senator Joe Lieberman. Kerry and Lieberman made the case for moving forward with their bill, arguing ...

Sat, 19 Jun 10
Scottish farms to test carbon-cutting techniques
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2265012/scottish-farms-test-carbon
Business Green: The Scottish Government has this week launched a Â£350,000 demonstration project to help farms develop new techniques designed to curb their greenhouse gas emissions. The government and the Scottish Agricultural College (SAC) announced the three year project, which will see four " climate change focus farms" trial a range of carbon reduction techniques. Once the trial is completed the most effective ideas will be rolled out across the country as part of the government's Farming ...

Sat, 19 Jun 10
Back to the future on energy
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2010/06/18/back_to_the_future_on_energy/
Boston Globe: ALL OF a sudden, it seems like we`re back in 1977. That was the year Jimmy Carter delivered his national call for energy independence. Disinflate for Carter`s melodrama -- "this difficult effort will be the moral equivalent of war`` -- and on first glance, Barack Obama could have been reading from the same script when he spoke to the nation on Tuesday. "Now is the moment for this generation to embark on a national mission to unleash American innovation and seize control of our own ...

Sat, 19 Jun 10
Climate change deniers doing a disservice to legitimate science
http://www.vancouversun.com/technology/Climate+change+deniers+doing+disservice+legitimate+science/3169693/story.html
Vancouver Sun: There was cheering news last week no matter which side you take in the climate change "debate." Self-styled skeptics couldn't help but be encouraged by a BBC report that just 71 per cent of people in the U.K. believe in climate change, way down from 92 per cent in 2005. At the same time, the Boston Globe reported that, in the U.S., acceptance of the scientific evidence of global warming is on the rise: While the number of Americans who believe in climate change had dropped to 57 per ...

Sat, 19 Jun 10
Health Tip: Do Your Part to Reduce Air Pollution
http://news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20100618/hl_hsn/healthtipdoyourparttoreduceairpollution
HealthDay: Emissions from cars and power plants are major contributors to air pollution, which can cause burning eyes and nose, itchy throat and problems breathing. The National Women's Health Information Center suggests how you can use less energy, helping to cut down on air pollution and the creation of greenhouse gases: If you use incandescent light bulbs, swap them for compact fluorescents. When you're not using lights or appliances, turn them off. Recycle and reuse ...

Sat, 19 Jun 10
CO2 is The Missing Link To Past Global Climate Changes
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1881430/co2_is_the_missing_link_to_past_global_climate_changes/index.html?source=r_science
redOrbit: Increasingly, the Earth's climate appears to be more connected than anyone would have imagined. El NiÃ±o, the weather pattern that originates in a patch of the equatorial Pacific, can spawn heat waves and droughts as far away as Africa. Now, a research team led by Brown University has established that the climate in the tropics over at least the last 2.7 million years changed in lockstep with the cyclical spread and retreat of ice sheets thousands of miles away in the Northern ...

Sat, 19 Jun 10
Corals living on edge could escape climate change
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn19057-corals-living-on-edge-could-escape-climate-change.html
New Scientist: The fringes of communities are hotbeds of creativity "" even for corals. A new study shows that Caribbean corals living on the outskirts of a reef evolve novel traits much faster than those at its heart. The findings suggest that conservation efforts for endangered corals might be missing a trick. The study is one of the few to consider the rate of evolution as a factor for conservation, rather than simply the number of species in an ecosystem. "Evolution is the key to survival for ...

Fri, 18 Jun 10
Drilling Moratorium Means Hard Times for Gulf Rig Workers
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/18/business/18rig.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
New York Times: In addition to the fishermen and hoteliers whose livelihoods have been devastated by BP's hemorrhaging undersea oil well, another group of Gulf Coast residents is beginning to suffer: the tens of thousands of workers like Ronald Brown who run the equipment or serve in support roles on deepwater oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico. Lawrence R. Dickerson, upper right, chief executive of Diamond Offshore Drilling, which owns the Ocean Monarch oil rig, speaks to rig crew members about their ...

Fri, 18 Jun 10
Nuclear Dumps Argue Over Diluting Waste for Burial
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/18/business/energy-environment/18nuke.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
New York Times: A competition between nuclear waste dumps has pulled the Nuclear Regulatory Commission into an unusual reconsideration of its rules to allow moderately radioactive materials to be diluted into a milder category that is easier to bury. At issue is whether a site in Utah that is licensed to accept only the mildest category of radioactive waste, called Class A, could accept far more potent materials, known as Class B and C wastes, by blending the three together. Even low-level ...

Fri, 18 Jun 10
E.P.A. Delays Ruling on Ethanol in Gas
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/18/business/energy-environment/18ethanol.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
Associated Press: The Environmental Protection Agency said on Thursday that it would wait until September to decide whether car engines can handle higher concentrations of ethanol in gasoline. The agency had been expected to decide by this month whether to increase the maximum blend to 15 percent, from 10 percent. A decision will come after the Energy Department completes testing of the higher blend on vehicles built after 2007. The refining industry, small engine manufacturers and some ...

Fri, 18 Jun 10
BP oil spill: Tony Hayward's stonewalling approach before Congress
http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20100618/ts_csm/309085
Christian Science Monitor: BP CEO Tony Hayward stonewalled his way through more than seven hours of grilling from a congressional panel Thursday on the decisions his company made in the days and hours leading up to the BP oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. "I fully grasp the terrible reality of the situation," he told lawmakers, pledging that BP will "do what we can to make certain that an incident like this does not happen again." But members on both sides of the aisle left the hearing frustrated ...

Fri, 18 Jun 10
Senate Democrats struggle with climate change legislation
http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/06/17/senate.dems.climate.change/index.html?eref=rss_latest&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_latest+%28RSS%3A+Most+Recent%29
CNN: Senate Democrats Thursday seized on the environmental disaster in the Gulf of Mexico as a reason to pass climate-change and energy legislation, but internal policy differences will not be easy to overcome and may also leave many disheartened. Members of the Democratic caucus met behind closed doors to discuss various legislative proposals, telling reporters afterward that no single vision has emerged as the way forward. The difficulty is that any policy change needs 60 votes to be ...

Fri, 18 Jun 10
Gulf spill could swing Obama's power play on energy policy
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/20100617/pl_ynews/ynews_pl2693_4
Yahoo!: Will the Gulf oil spill finally lead to a more aggressive energy policy to wean America from oil -- or to more far-reaching measures to reduce the risks of climate change? A bill that would do both has been stalled before Congress for months, as Republicans and even some Democrats claim it would raise energy costs and lead to lost jobs. But outrage over the black tendrils of oil spewing from BP's broken well in the Gulf is creating new opportunities for the once moribund ...

Fri, 18 Jun 10
Scientists call for a new strategy for polar ocean observation
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-06/mbl-scf061710.php
EurekAlert: In a report published in this week's issue of Science, a team of oceanographers, including MBL (Marine Biological Laboratory) Ecosystems Center director Hugh Ducklow, outline a polar ocean observation strategy they say will revolutionize scientists' understanding of marine ecosystem response to climate change. The approach, which calls for the use of a suite of automated technologies that complement traditional data collection, could serve as a model for marine ecosystems worldwide and help ...

Fri, 18 Jun 10
BP boss blasted over Gulf of Mexico oil spill
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100618/ts_alt_afp/usoilpollutionenvironment
Agence France-Presse: Angry US lawmakers have skewered BP boss Tony Hayward, accusing him of stonewalling as he dodged a barrage of hostile questions seeking to lay bare the causes of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. "I can't pass judgment on those decisions," Hayward told openly disbelieving members of a key House panel investigating the worst environmental disaster in US history. "I think it's too early to reach conclusions." Just a day after BP won praise for bowing to White House demands to set up ...

Fri, 18 Jun 10
Oceans choking on CO2, face deadly changes: study
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE65H0LI20100618?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29
Reuters: The world's oceans are virtually choking on rising greenhouse gases, destroying marine ecosystems and breaking down the food chain -- irreversible changes that have not occurred for several million years, a new study says. The changes could have dire consequences for hundreds of millions of people around the globe who rely on oceans for their livelihoods. "It's as if the Earth has been smoking two packs of cigarettes a day", said the report's lead-author Australian marine ...

Fri, 18 Jun 10
Climate change damaging marine ecosystems
http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2010/s2930352.htm
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: TONY EASTLEY: Australian scientists are warning that rising concentrations of greenhouse gases are dramatically changing the way our oceans function. In a paper published today, a leading Australian marine scientist pulls together research from the past decade, and he says it's not a pretty picture. Meredith Griffiths reports. MEREDITH GRIFFITHS: Oceans cover more than 70 per cent of the Earth's surface and a new study says they are changing ...

Fri, 18 Jun 10
Five crucial moves by BP: Did they lead to Gulf oil spill disaster?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20100617/ts_csm/308930
Christian Science Monitor: BP made five crucial decisions in the name of saving money that may have contributed to the catastrophic Deepwater Horizon oil spill, according to top Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Prior to the April 20 disaster, the Deepwater Horizon rig was behind schedule in drilling BP's Macondo well, according to internal e-mails and documents examined by committee staff. This may have increased pressure on executives to take shortcuts so the well would be producing as ...

Fri, 18 Jun 10
EPA decision on ethanol blend put off until Sept.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100618/ap_on_bi_ge/us_epa_ethanol
Associated Press: The Environmental Protection Agency says it will wait until this fall to decide whether U.S. car engines can handle higher concentrations of ethanol in gasoline. The agency had been expected to decide by this month whether to increase the maximum blend from 10 to 15 percent. The EPA said Thursday that initial tests "look good" and should be completed by the end of September. A decision will come after the Energy Department completes the testing of the higher blend on vehicles ...

Fri, 18 Jun 10
MMS blasted for lax offshore drilling scrutiny
http://news.yahoo.com/s/mcclatchy/20100617/sc_mcclatchy/3539886
McClatchy Newspapers: The Minerals Management Service, the beleaguered regulator caught in the crosshairs over its faulty scrutiny of BP's runaway oil well in the Gulf of Mexico , has been lax in its inspections of deep-sea drilling, an independent watchdog said Thursday. Mary Kendall , the Interior Department's acting inspector general, told a congressional committee that the MMS has been historically lenient on enforcing regulations, has an undertrained staff and has a "dearth" of regulations on how to ...

Fri, 18 Jun 10
Congress's key accusations against BP
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/jun/18/tony-hayward-congressional-committee
Guardian: 1 Well design Charge BP dangerously cut corners on the cementing and casing of the Macondo well to save money as its Deepwater Horizon drilling operation ran over budget and behind schedule. Phil Gingrey, a Republican from Georgia, wanted to know whether Hayward, if he had been on the doomed platform, would have made the same decisions as his engineers. Hayward's response The BP chief executive said he had virtually no personal involvement in the operation of the well. "The ...

Fri, 18 Jun 10
Hayward estimates size of oil field at 2B gallons
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100617/ap_on_bi_ge/us_gulf_oil_spill_how_much_left
Associated Press: BP CEO Tony Hayward says the reservoir that feeds the gushing well in the Gulf of Mexico probably still holds about 2 billion gallons of oil. Appearing before a House subcommittee, Hayward estimated that the reservoir tapped by the out-of-control well holds at least 50 million barrels of oil. At 42 gallons per barrel, that's 2.1 billion gallons. According to government estimates of daily flow figures, anywhere from 73.5 million to 126 million gallons gushed from the breached ...

Fri, 18 Jun 10
In China's Energy Plan, Security Tops Environment
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/18/business/global/18yuan.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
New York Times: When President Obama called this week for a "national mission" to expand the use of clean energy and increase American energy independence, Chinese officials might have nodded knowingly. The government here is already far along in drafting energy legislation with similar goals for China, according to Chinese officials and executives. Like the energy future that President Obama briefly described in his Oval Office address on Tuesday, the Chinese proposal calls for more reliance ...

Fri, 18 Jun 10
BP oil spill: Tony Hayward stonewalls Congress
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/17/bp-oil-spill-tony-hayward-congress
Guardian: Tony Hayward felt the full-on wrath of a powerful committee of the US Congress today, determined to bring the BP chief executive to account for what it called an astonishing culture of "corporate complacency" that has led to America's worst environmental catastrophe. In the 59 days since the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico, Hayward has been transformed into one of the most hated men in the US, and the ferocity of the encounter between him and the House of Representatives committee on ...

Fri, 18 Jun 10
Iceland: Storing Carbon Dioxide Deep Underground In Rock Form
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1881220/storing_carbon_dioxide_deep_underground_in_rock_form/index.html?source=r_science
redOrbit: As carbon dioxide continues to burgeon in the atmosphere causing the Earth's climate to warm, scientists are trying to find ways to remove the excess gas from the atmosphere and store it where it can cause no trouble. Sigurdur Gislason of the University of Iceland has been studying the possibility of sequestration of carbon dioxide (CO2) in basalt and presented his findings today to several thousand geochemists from around the world at the Goldschmidt Conference hosted by the ...

Fri, 18 Jun 10
GOP lawmaker apologizes for apologizing to BP exec
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100617/ap_on_bi_ge/us_gulf_oil_spill_bp_s_ally
Associated Press: Who's sorry now? Rep. Joe Barton, that's who. The Texas Republican, the House's top recipient of oil industry campaign contributions since 1990, apologized Thursday for apologizing to the chief of the British company that befouled the Gulf of Mexico with a massive oil spill. His double mea culpa plus a retraction, executed under pressure from fuming GOP leaders, succeeded in shifting attention from the tragedy, BP's many missteps and the stoic British oil chief at the witness ...

Fri, 18 Jun 10
British-Run Climate Projects Take Root in Chinese Schools
http://www.nytimes.com/cwire/2010/06/17/17climatewire-british-run-climate-projects-take-root-in-ch-65821.html
ClimateWire: China may have emerged from the climate change summit in Copenhagen, Denmark, last December as a target for recrimination over targets, timetables and historic and future responsibilities, but back home the picture is somewhat different. Foreign nongovernmental organizations and even home-grown civil society groups have had a notoriously difficult relationship with Chinese authorities. For example, Chinese colleges were ordered in February to sever all ties with Oxfam, which was ...

Fri, 18 Jun 10
GEF backs 'Great Green Wall' with 119 million dollars
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100617/wl_africa_afp/chadafricasummitforestsdroughtenvironment
Agence France-Presse: The Global Environment Facility announced Thursday at a summit in Chad that it will fund a "Great Green Wall" to reforest northern Africa to the tune of 119 million dollars (96 million euros). "We will make an allocation to each of your countries," GEF chief executive officer Monique Barbut told leaders from 11 nations in Ndjamena. "The size of the allocation will depend on the country. (...) The cumulative total of aid from the GEF comes to about 119 million dollars." The ...

Fri, 18 Jun 10
Why the BP Spill is Bigger Than You Think
http://news.yahoo.com/s/usnews/20100617/ts_usnews/whythebpspillisbiggerthanyouthink
U.S. News and World Report: Americans are notoriously bad at math, so it may come as a shock to learn that the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is 42 times bigger than many people might have believed. It's not just because of the ballooning guesstimates of the size of the spill. It's also because the standard unit of measurement for oil makes the volume of goo sound smaller than it is, at least to the untutored ears of anybody who doesn't pump or process oil for a living. The oil industry measures crude ...

Fri, 18 Jun 10
Ancient ice ages 'linked' to CO2
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science_and_environment/10342318.stm
BBC: Science reporter, BBC News CO2 could have caused Ice Ages in the Northern Hemisphere to intensify A "global pattern" of change in the Earth's climate began 2.7 million years ago, say scientists. Researchers found that, at this point, temperature patterns in the tropics slipped into step with patterns of Ice Ages in the Northern Hemisphere. They report in the journal Science that atmospheric CO2 could be the "missing link" to explain this global pattern. The ...

Fri, 18 Jun 10
EU set to ban illegal timber by 2012
http://news.mongabay.com/2010/0617-hance_euban.html
Mongabay: In two years the EU will begin a ban on importing illegal timber products, reports the BBC. The ban will require companies to have proof that their products do not come from illegally logged sources. The EU has been debating the issue for the past two years, but recently arrived at a provisional agreement. The deal will affect most timber products in 2012 including floors and furniture, but printed materials, such as books, will have until 2017 to comply. The US has already ...

Fri, 18 Jun 10
Lawmakers slam BP's Hayward over Gulf spill
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100617/bs_nm/us_oil_spill
Reuters: Angry U.S. lawmakers hammered BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward at a congressional hearing on Thursday, accusing his company of taking "extreme risks" that triggered the worst oil spill in U.S. history. In his first appearance before Congress since the start of the 59-day-old crisis in the Gulf of Mexico, a tired-looking Hayward sat alone and hunched over the witness table as lawmakers took turns to lambaste the energy giant. "Under your leadership BP has taken the most extreme ...

Fri, 18 Jun 10
Cameron urges 'sensible dialogue' on BP spill
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100617/wl_uk_afp/usoilpollutionenvironmentbritaincameron
Agence France-Presse: Prime Minister David Cameron called Thursday for "sensible dialogue" on the BP oil spill as the energy giant's boss faced a grilling in the US Congress over the environmental disaster. "It's up to congressmen to make their own views heard," Cameron told reporters in Brussels when asked about the tough comments directed at BP chief executive Tony Hayward in Washington over Gulf of Mexico spill. "Our view is that what happened is clearly an environmental catastrophe and we need ...

Fri, 18 Jun 10
Africa push for 'great tree wall'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/africa/10344622.stm
BBC: African leaders are meeting in Chad to push the idea of planting a tree belt across Africa from Senegal in the west to Djibouti in the east. The Great Green Wall project is backed by the African Union and is aimed at halting the advancing Sahara Desert. The belt would be 15km (nine miles) wide and 76,775km (47,705 miles) long. The initiative, conceived five years ago, has not started because of a lack of funding and some experts worry it would not be maintained ...

Fri, 18 Jun 10
United Kingdom: Gas power stations 'should have carbon capture'
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/jun/17/gas-power-carbon-capture
Guardian: Britain will miss its legal target to cut emissions by 80% by the middle of the century unless action is taken to cut greenhouse pollution from gas-powered stations, influential government advisers warned today. In a letter to Chris Huhne, the climate secretary, the climate change committee said the government's existing pledge to fit new coal power stations with expensive carbon capture and storage equipment should be extended to new gas generators as well. Such a move could see the ...

Fri, 18 Jun 10
Investors in BP Hard Hit as Shares Lose Value
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/17/business/energy-environment/17investors.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
New York Times: That is roughly how much money investors have lost on paper as the oil giant's share price has plunged. And, in the grim calculus of the spill -- the lives and livelihoods lost, the barrels of oil spewing into the Gulf of Mexico -- the financial toll keeps mounting, too. BP is so big, and its stock is so widely held, that its troubles are being felt throughout the investment world. Large insurance companies in Britain, big money management companies in the United States, ...

Fri, 18 Jun 10
Cutting greenhouse gases will be no quick fix for our weather, scientists say
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/17/cutting-emissions-not-fix-water-cycle
Guardian: Global warming will continue to bring havoc to the world's weather systems for decades after reductions are made in greenhouse gas emissions, a new study shows. Scientists at the Met Office Hadley Centre in Exeter say climate change could bring greater disruption to the planet's water cycle than previously thought. The research suggests that increased floods and droughts could continue long after future efforts to stabilise temperature may succeed. Vicky Pope, head of ...

Fri, 18 Jun 10
Climate bill teetering
http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/103737-climate-bill-teetering
The Hill: Climate change legislation appears dead after two setbacks in quick succession -- first from the Oval Office and then from Congress. Sen. Scott Brown (Mass.), a crucial Republican swing vote, met with President Barack Obama on Wednesday and told him he would not support a cap-and-trade plan or carbon fee to limit greenhouse gas emissions. But this blow came after Obama delivered the first setback Tuesday night. In his primetimes speech, he called for comprehensive energy reform ...

Fri, 18 Jun 10
BP boss 'deeply sorry' for Deepwater Horizon disaster
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/jun/17/bp-deeply-sorry-deepwater-horizon
Guardian: BP chief executive Tony Hayward will tell US politicians today that he is "deeply sorry" that the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, and admit that the disaster should never have happened. In his opening remarks to a congressional committee, Hayward will speak about the sadness he feels about the ongoing environmental disaster, in which 11 oil workers were killed. He will also pledge that BP will repair the damage caused by the huge, ongoing oil leak, and learn ...

Fri, 18 Jun 10
BP Agrees To $20 Billion Fund To Help Gulf Victims
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127897665&ft=1&f=1025
National Public Radio: President Obama and BP's chairman have announced the creation of a $20 billion escrow fund that will be used to compensate victims of the Gulf oil spill. BP also announced it is canceling 2010 dividend payments.

Fri, 18 Jun 10
BP chief Tony Hayward's statement in full
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/jun/17/bp-tony-hayward-oil-spill-statement
Guardian: BP chief executive Tony Hayward will appear before the US house energy and commerce subcommittee on oversight and investigations at 10am EST (3pm BST) to answer questions on the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. This is his prepared testimony, released before the hearing: Chairman Stupak, ranking member Burgess, members of the subcommittee. I am Tony Hayward, chief executive of BP plc. The explosion and fire aboard the Deepwater Horizon and the resulting oil spill in the Gulf of ...

Fri, 18 Jun 10
US wrests $20bn in compensation from BP
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2264904/bp-wrests-20bn-compensation-bp
Business Green: BP yesterday agreed to hand over $20bn (Â£13.5bn) in compensation for those affected by the Gulf oil spill and officially cancelled its dividend payments for the first three quarters of this year, following a meeting between senior executives and president Obama at the White House. The company said it will pay $5bn per year into an escrow fund, starting this year, which will be managed by Kenneth Feinberg, the Washington lawyer who administered the compensation fund for the 9/11 World ...

Fri, 18 Jun 10
Japan pledges to pass delayed climate bill this year
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2264909/japan-pledges-pass-delayed
Business Green: Japan's government has run out of time to enact its proposed climate bill ahead of the country's elections to be held next month, but has promised to pass the legislation before the COP16 climate talks in Mexico later this year. The ruling Democratic Party had hoped to enact the bill -- which will lay the foundations for an emissions cap-and-trade scheme -- by the end of the current session of parliament on Wednesday. The lower house passed the climate bill last month, but the ...

Fri, 18 Jun 10
United Kingdom: Plane Stupid protesters did not create life-threatening impact, court told
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/17/plane-stupid-protesters
Guardian: Nine climate protesters who occupied Aberdeen airport did not create any "financial or life-threatening impact" to an emergency air ambulance flight, a court heard yesterday. The Plane Stupid protesters have been accused of delaying the emergency flight when they allegedly chained themselves to a cage on the asphalt and clambered on to the roof of the main terminal building in March last year. The campaigners, four women and five men, deny that they caused a breach of the peace ...

Fri, 18 Jun 10
Report: German solar cuts decision expected within weeks
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2264910/reports-german-solar-cuts
Business Green: The German parliamentary mediation committee, tasked with reaching a decision on proposed cuts to the country's solar incentive scheme, is expected to announce its conclusions early next month, according to sources familiar with the matter. Parliamentary sources told news agency Reuters that the first meeting of the committee had failed to reach a conclusion on whether to approve or reject the proposed cuts to feed-in tariffs for solar installations. However, they added that ...

Fri, 18 Jun 10
EPA gives thumbs up to affordable Senate climate bill
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2264916/epa-gives-thumbs-affordable
Business Green: The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) this week released initial findings from its economic analysis of the potential impact of the climate bill proposed by senators John Kerry and Joe Lieberman, concluding that it would have only a modest impact on household costs. The EPA said that if enacted, the bill would actually lead to a small reduction in consumer energy costs over the next decade, before driving up prices slightly in the coming decades. It predicted that ultimately ...

Fri, 18 Jun 10
United States: TerraCycle: The Google of garbage?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/businessandecology/recycling/7832655/TerraCycle-The-Google-of-garbage.html
Telegraph: Tom Szaky wants to be the rag-and-bone man to the world, collecting the rubbish no one else wants -- cigarette butts, razors, expired pills and plastic food wrappers -- and turning an enormous profit by finding new uses for it. His US-based company TerraCycle already has rubbish collecting and recycling operations in six countries and expects to launch in 11 more (including Japan, Australia and Sweden) in the next year. He launched TerraCycle in Britain last September and in ...

Fri, 18 Jun 10
Conservatives Work to Tar Cap-And-Trade Bill With BP Connection
http://www.nytimes.com/cwire/2010/06/17/17climatewire-conservatives-work-to-tar-cap-and-trade-bill-42785.html
ClimateWire: Earlier this year, senators crafting a climate and energy bill were happy to have BP PLC and other oil industry giants at the table. Now, with the Gulf of Mexico oil spill nearing its third month, Republicans are taking aim at this "inconvenient truth." The White House and its allies on Capitol Hill are using BP as a political villain in their effort to jump-start Senate energy legislation, perhaps including limits on greenhouse gas emissions proposed by Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and ...

Fri, 18 Jun 10
Rain impacts of warmth to persist
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science_and_environment/10335587.stm
BBC: Impacts of man-made greenhouse warming on rainfall would endure long after temperatures fell, a study suggests. UK Met Office scientists constructed a hypothetical future in which carbon dioxide levels rise and then fall, and modelled what might happen to rainfall. Their computer simulation showed temperature falling decades after CO2's decline, with changed rainfall going on for several more decades after that. The study is published in the journal Geophysical Research ...

Fri, 18 Jun 10
Who has pole position in the hydrogen vehicle race?
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/analysis/2264931/pole-position-hydrogen-vehicle
Business Green: Against a backdrop of large investments in hybrid and electric cars, you could be forgiven for thinking that automotive firms have moved the development of hydrogen fuel cell-powered cars right down their list of priorities. But while it is undoubtedly true that hydrogen continues to lag behind electric vehicles in the publicity race, many firms remain convinced that hydrogen could win out in the end and as such are continuing to invest millions in the development of new hydrogen fuel ...

Fri, 18 Jun 10
Film challenges safety of U.S. shale gas drilling
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE65G2OC20100617?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29
Reuters: A new documentary purporting to expose the hazards of onshore natural gas drilling illustrates its point with startling images of people setting fire to water flowing from faucets in their homes. "GasLand," which premiers on cable's HBO on June 21, fuels the debate over shale gas and the extraction process known as hydraulic fracturing, which involves blasting millions of gallons of water, sand and diluted chemicals into shale rock, breaking it apart to free the gas. It comes ...

Fri, 18 Jun 10
China to take lead in utilizing green technology
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/bizchina/2010-06/17/content_9982315.htm
China Daily: China has taken a leading role in utilizing many green technologies and is expected to be a major market for carbon capture and storage technologies, said industry leaders. Both research institutes and companies have shown great enthusiasm for the technology, but commercialization will take time due to high costs and safety issues, said analysts. "Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is a tough issue but there's an opportunity. If it can make sense in any place, China can take the ...

Fri, 18 Jun 10
Nuclear Power Important For Reducing CO2 Emissions
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1880815/nuclear_power_important_for_reducing_co2_emissions/index.html?source=r_science
redOrbit: Nuclear power is vital to reducing carbon dioxide emissions, and a report Wednesday said that nearly 25 percent of global electricity could be generated by the power source by 2050. A study by the International Energy Agency and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development described the target as "ambitious but achievable." "Nuclear is already one of the main sources of low-carbon energy today," said Luis Echavarri of the OECD's Nuclear Energy Agency. "If we ...

Thu, 17 Jun 10
BP to set up 20-billion-dollar oil spill fund
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100617/ts_alt_afp/usoilpollutionenvironment
Agence France-Presse: BP agreed to pay 20 billion dollars into a fund to meet mounting oil spill claims, as US President Barack Obama won key concessions from company bosses in high-stakes talks. Flanked by somber looking BP executives on the White House steps, chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg said no more shareholder dividends would be paid this year as the company tries to meet the bill from the Gulf of Mexico disaster. The Swede insisted BP did care about the "small people" most affected by ...

Thu, 17 Jun 10
Gulf oil spill: Will Obama regret his '90 percent' promise?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20100617/ts_csm/308625
Christian Science Monitor: President Obama's declaration that he'd like to see "up to 90 percent" of the Gulf oil spill geyser contained in the next few weeks is a best-case scenario in a worst-case kind of disaster. From the beginning, BP has failed to meet expectations either to kill the well or contain the oil flowing from it. The containment dome clogged. The "top kill" failed. The "junk shot" accomplished nothing. Even the relatively successful "top cap" operation is apparently still leaking as much as ...

Thu, 17 Jun 10
BP chief: 'Unprecedented' string of failures led to spill
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100617/wl_uk_afp/usoilpollutionenvironmentpoliticsbp
Agence France-Presse: BP chief executive Tony Hayward blamed Wednesday an unprecedented series of failures for the Gulf of Mexico oil spill and said he was "personally devastated" by the catastrophe. "I understand people want a simple answer about why this happened and who is to blame," Hayward said in testimony prepared for delivery in his first appearance Thursday before angry US lawmakers. "The truth, however, is that this is a complex accident, caused by an unprecedented combination of failures. ...

Thu, 17 Jun 10
BP says it's sorry - and guarantees $20B for Gulf
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100617/ap_on_bi_ge/us_gulf_oil_spill
Associated Press: President Barack Obama wrested a $20 billion compensation guarantee and an apology to the nation from British oil giant BP Wednesday, announcing the company would set up a major claims fund for shrimpers, restaurateurs and others whose lives and livelihoods are being wrecked by the oil flooding into the Gulf of Mexico. Applause broke out during a community meeting in Orange Beach, Ala., on the news. "We asked for that two weeks ago and they laughed at us," Mayor Tony Kennon ...

Thu, 17 Jun 10
BP agrees to $20 billion spill fund, cuts dividend
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN1416392020100617?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29
Reuters: Under intense pressure from President Barack Obama, BP Plc agreed on Wednesday to set up a $20 billion fund for damage claims from its huge Gulf of Mexico oil spill and suspended dividend payments to its shareholders. The deal gave Obama his most tangible success since the crisis began 58 days ago and came after weeks of criticism of his handling of the disaster. It also eased U.S. pressure on BP, whose share price has withered amid uncertainty over the spill's cost to the British ...

Thu, 17 Jun 10
United Kingdom: Engineers warn neglected infrastructure is jeopardising green goals
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2264882/engineers-warn-neglected
Business Green: The UK's infrastructure is in a perilous state that will seriously undermine the government's ability to meet its environmental targets, according to a major audit of the country's energy, water, waste and transport networks undertaken by the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE). The report, which will be released later today, examined the current state of key infrastructure set against the context of the urgent need to shift towards a low carbon economy and the reality of government ...

Thu, 17 Jun 10
Trials reveal drivers adapt seamlessly to electric vehicles
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2264879/trials-reveal-difference
Business Green: Initial results from a long-term study of electric vehicle use has revealed that drivers use the cars in a similar way to their petrol equivalents and have shown little evidence of falling victim to much-feared "range anxiety". In fact, the study revealed the majority of journeys taken by electric vehicle owners were less than five miles and also confirmed that when they do take longer journeys usage patterns allow plenty of time for recharging. The research, which was released ...

Thu, 17 Jun 10
Goldcrest numbers plummet after harsh winter conditions
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/goldcrest-numbers-plummet-after-harsh-winter-conditions-2002629.html
Independent (UK): Britain's smallest bird, the tiny goldcrest, may have suffered a population crash after being hit extremely hard by the harsh conditions of last winter, the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) said yesterday. Confirming fears that the species, which had been increasing in number because of the warmer winters of the past two decades, would suffer a serious reverse in the freeze, the BTO said the number of gardens in which goldcrests were spotted had fallen by almost half. Across ...

Thu, 17 Jun 10
More than 32 million watch Obama oil spill address
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100616/en_nm/us_obama
Reuters: More than 32 million Americans watched U.S. President Barack Obama address the nation on the Gulf of Mexico oil spill on Tuesday -- a 33 percent drop in audience size for his first State of the Union speech in January. Figures from TV tracker Nielsen on Wednesday showed that 11 network and cable channels carried Obama's national address live from the Oval office, drawing an overall audience of 32.05 million people. In comparison, just over 48 million Americans watched Obama's ...

Thu, 17 Jun 10
BP will pay for its costly disaster
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/jun/16/bp-disaster-obama-oil
Guardian: It's not an oil spill so much as an oil spew. The ugly brown liquid has been gushing into the Gulf of Mexico for eight weeks. The latest estimate now has the well spewing as much as 60,000 barrels a day – that's 100,000 gallons an hour – with no end in sight. No wonder people are frustrated and angry. When Barack Obama went on national television last night to talk about the disaster, he started by assuring the country that he's on top of things, and that the government is not sitting ...

Thu, 17 Jun 10
BP and Barack Obama: Knee-deep in oil
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jun/17/bp-barack-obama-oil
Guardian: No words, even those uttered in Churchillian tones from the Oval Office, can compete with the live feed of oil gushing in ever bigger quantities into the Gulf of Mexico. For 57 days. The American people want to know just two things: when is it going to stop and who is to blame. President Barack Obama could not answer the first in his address to the nation on Tuesday night and the real answer to the second is a lot more uncomfortable than any of his viewers are willing to admit. To get ...

Thu, 17 Jun 10
Afganistan: New survey points to major water problems in Kabul
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE65F75H20100616?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29
Reuters: Afghanistan's capital Kabul could face water shortages in the next 50 years, with wells likely to dry up due to rising temperatures associated with climate change, said a U.S. study released on Wednesday. The U.S. Geological Survey study estimated drinking water needs in the Kabul basin area could rise six-fold in the next five decades because of rising population as refugees return and an increase in per capital water usage . Future water resources -- some already subject to ...

Thu, 17 Jun 10
BP chief's gaffe adds fuel to the fire ahead of congressional hearing
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/jun/17/bp-svanberg-gulf-resident-gaffe
Guardian: The chief executive and chairman of BP will face hostile questioning from Congress today after the oil company's efforts to co-operate with White House demands were marred by another public relations gaffe as the company's chairman referred to Gulf coast residents as "small people". BP bosses agreed in full to the US government's demands after a four-hour meeting with Barack Obama, and agreed to suspend dividend payouts to shareholders until next year and to set up a $20bn fund over ...

Thu, 17 Jun 10
Disaster is making US think again about cleaner energy
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/disaster-is-making-us-think-again-about-cleaner-energy-2002682.html
Independent (UK): The Deepwater Horizon oil spill is making Americans think more about a clean energy future -- but not yet to the extent of having to pay for it, or to tackle climate change, one of the leading US thinkers on global warming policy said yesterday. US citizens are "horrified" by the pollution in the Gulf of Mexico, and are starting to think more about cleaner energy sources such as wind and wave power, said Eileen Clausen, president of America's foremost climate think-tank, the ...

Thu, 17 Jun 10
United Kingdom: Region faces drought order as water supply falls
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/region-faces-drought-order-as-water-supply-falls-2002651.html
Independent (UK): The threat of a summer drought is hanging over seven million people in the North West of England, it emerged yesterday. United Utilities, the company which supplies water from Cheshire to the Scottish border, is facing low supplies in its reservoirs and said that if there was no significant rainfall over the weekend, it would apply to the Environment Agency for a drought order. That would allow it to take emergency steps in abstracting water from rivers and lakes, to conserve ...

Thu, 17 Jun 10
Why saving sperm whales is more important than ever
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/why-saving-sperm-whales-is-more-important-than-ever-2002592.html
Independent (UK): When the International Whaling Commission meets in Morocco next week to discuss lifting the moratorium on commercial whaling, delegates might pause to consider an unexpected fact: the faeces of sperm whales is helping to save the planet. Australian researchers have found that the iron-rich faeces of sperm whales living in the Southern Ocean boosts the growth of phytoplankton, marine plants which suck in carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. They estimate that the whales are responsible ...

Thu, 17 Jun 10
Some progress in global climate change talks in Germany
http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/pacbeat/stories/201006/s2929254.htm
Radio Australia: Negotiations to get a new global agreement to replace the Kyoto protocol on climate change are at a curious stage. Confidence was deflated when last year's Copenhagen conference failed to seal a binding international deal. But Copenhagen did produce a political agreement with key commitments including limiting global temperature rise to below two degrees Celsius as well as adaptation financing for poor nations and non-binding mitigation targets. Officials are now in the ...

Thu, 17 Jun 10
Drilling Poses Risk To Pennsylvania Water Supplies
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127887773&ft=1&f=1025
National Public Radio: Two years ago, Pennsylvania opened the door to a natural gas drilling technique that's caused controversy in some Western states. At the time, environmentalists worried that high-volume hydrofracking could contaminate water supplies, but the state and industry insisted that fracking was safe. Now, after a spate of accidents, Pennsylvania regulators are tightening up the rules governing fracking.

Thu, 17 Jun 10
BP Officials Meet With Obama, Agree To $20B Fund
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127887769&ft=1&f=1025
National Public Radio: President Obama and BP executives met Wednesday at the White House in their first face-to-face meeting since the spill began almost two months ago. It produced a big result: The president and BP agreed that the oil giant would put $20 billion in an escrow fund to pay the claims of Gulf residents hurt by the spill.

Thu, 17 Jun 10
Air Pollution Tied to Breathing Problems in Sleep
http://news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20100616/hl_hsn/airpollutiontiedtobreathingproblemsinsleep
HealthDay: A new study has found a link between air pollution and breathing-related disruptions during sleep. Conducted by the Harvard School of Public Health and Brigham & Women's Hospital, the authors say this the first attempt to document a link between exposure to pollution and sleep-disordered breathing. Breathing-related sleep disruptions come in several forms, of which the best known is sleep apnea. It causes people to repeatedly wake up when their airways constrict and ...

Thu, 17 Jun 10
Dogs plus pollutants may raise asthma risk in kids
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100616/hl_nm/us_dogs_pollutants
Reuters: Kids who grow up with a dog in the house may be at higher risk of developing asthma if they're also exposed to secondhand smoke or nitrogen dioxide, new research shows. Children exposed to the toxic gas and to dog allergen during their first year of life were nearly five times as likely to have asthma at age 7 compared to kids with neither exposure, while dog allergen plus secondhand smoke nearly tripled the risk. Most studies of asthma in children have looked at single risk ...

Thu, 17 Jun 10
BP to fund $20bn oil spill payout
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/us_and_canada/10335114.stm
BBC: Oil giant BP is to put $20bn (Â£13.5bn) in a compensation fund for victims of the Gulf oil spill and will not pay shareholders a dividend this year. Barack Obama announced the compensation deal after talks at the White House with senior BP executives. Shortly afterwards, BP chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg said dividends would not be paid for the rest of this year. The payout fund is to be run by Kenneth Feinberg, a lawyer who oversaw compensation after the 9/11 ...

Thu, 17 Jun 10
Warming Up to Climate Change
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704002104575290850451836696.html?mod=WSJ_latestheadlines
Wall Street Journal: Business school faculty and students are applying their management skills to one of the world's knottiest problems: climate change. IMD Business School worked with conservation group WWF on case studies about how companies reduced greenhouse-gas emissions. Several years after global warming first became a big topic in B-school classrooms and cafeterias, schools are now digging into the issue in a far more detailed way. There are new faculty posts dedicated to environmental ...

Thu, 17 Jun 10
US congress to question BP chairman and chief executive over oil spill
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/16/bp-oil-spill-chairman-congress
Guardian: The ritual flogging will shortly commence. After intensive coaching in crisis communications, BP's chairman and chief executive will face hostile questioning tomorrow from 35 members of a congressional committee about the catastrophic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. BP's low-profile Swedish chairman, Carl-Henric Svanberg, and much-maligned chief executive, Tony Hayward, would be well-advised to adopt a supine posture according to experts, who say that such hearings are more of a ...

Thu, 17 Jun 10
Obama says BP creating $100 M fund for oil workers
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100616/ap_on_bi_ge/us_gulf_oil_spill_rig_workers
Associated Press: President Barack Obama says BP has agreed to establish a $100 million fund to compensate unemployed oil rig workers affected by a six-month moratorium on deepwater drilling imposed in the wake of the Gulf oil spill. Obama said the fund is in addition to $20 billion the company will set aside to pay victims of the massive Gulf spill, the nation's worst environmental disaster. Obama imposed a six-month moratorium on new deepwater drilling last month while a commission reviews the ...

Thu, 17 Jun 10
BP agrees to suspend quarterly dividend
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100616/ap_on_bi_ge/us_gulf_oil_spill_bp_dividend
Associated Press: The chairman of BP's board said Wednesday that the oil company will suspend its quarterly dividend as part of its commitments to compensate victims of the Gulf oil spill. BP Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg made the announcement Wednesday after emerging from the White House where he and other BP executives met for four hours with President Barack Obama. BP shares jumped as Svanberg spoke and were up 3.6 to $32.53 in afternoon trading in New York. BP said in a statement that it has ...

Thu, 17 Jun 10
BP Chairman apologizes to Americans for oil spill
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100616/us_nm/us_oil_spill_bp_apology
Reuters: BP Plc's chairman apologized on Wednesday to the American people for the catastrophic oil spill on the Gulf coast. The company also said it would forgo paying dividends to its shareholders this year. Emerging from a meeting with President Barack Obama, BP Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg promised to look after people affected by the spill and to repair damage to the environment. "We have agreed today with the president a framework that should assure the American people that ...

Thu, 17 Jun 10
Chemicals That Eased One Environmental Problem May Worsen Another
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1880557/chemicals_that_eased_one_environmental_problem_may_worsen_another/index.html?source=r_science
redOrbit: Chemicals that helped solve a global environmental crisis in the 1990s -- the hole in Earth's protective ozone layer -- may be making another problem -- acid rain -- worse, scientists are reporting. Their study on the chemicals that replaced the ozone-destroying chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) once used in aerosol spray cans, air conditioners, refrigerators, and other products, appears in ACS' Journal of Physical Chemistry A, a weekly publication. Jeffrey Gaffney, Carrie J. Christiansen, ...

Thu, 17 Jun 10
White House fact sheet details agreement with BP
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100616/ap_on_bi_ge/us_gulf_oil_spill_fact_sheet
Associated Press: Text of White House fact sheet on claims process for the cleanup of the Gulf Coast oil spill and compensation to victims: INDEPENDENT CLAIMS FACILITY _A new, independent claims process will be created with the mandate to be fairer, faster and more transparent in paying damage claims by individuals and businesses. _To assure independence, Kenneth Feinberg, who previously administered the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund, will serve as the independent claims ...

Thu, 17 Jun 10
Hayward 'devastated' by spill
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100616/ap_on_bi_ge/us_gulf_oil_spill_hayward_on_the_hill
Associated Press: BP CEO Tony Hayward says he has been "personally devastated" by the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig and understands the anger Americans feel toward him and his company. In testimony to be delivered to a House panel on Thursday, Hayward says BP does not yet have answers to important questions about the oil spill, which has dumped as many as 118 million of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. But Hayward says he hears the concerns, fears, frustrations and anger ...

Thu, 17 Jun 10
Despite spill, most Americans back offshore drilling
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100616/ts_nm/us_oil_spill_survey
Reuters: Most Americans still support offshore drilling and believe it is critical to making the U.S. competitive, despite the growing oil spill along the Gulf coast, a new poll showed on Wednesday. In response to the oil spill, the Obama administration has canceled leasing offshore tracts for drilling that was planned off Virginia and the western Gulf of Mexico, and imposed a six-month moratorium on drilling exploratory and development wells in waters deeper than 500 feet. In a ...

Thu, 17 Jun 10
BP cuts dividend, capex, assets for oil spill
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100616/bs_nm/us_bp_dividend
Reuters: Oil giant BP said it would cut three quarters of dividends, significantly reduce its investment program and sell $10 billion of assets to fund a planned $20 billion fund to pay for its Gulf of Mexico oil spill. The commitments, outlined in a statement on Wednesday, are harsher penalties than most investors had expected and follow BP chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg's meeting with President Obama on Wednesday. Investors had expected the suspension of BP's dividend, or payment in ...

Thu, 17 Jun 10
Barack Obama's pound of flesh: $20bn compensation and no BP dividends
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/16/barack-obama-bp-dividends-compensation
Guardian: Barack Obama wrung an apology from BP and an agreement for the oil company to make a $20bn down payment into a special compensation fund for victims of the Gulf oil spill today after a four-hour meeting at the White House. The payout is only the start of BP's pain. The White House was insistent that the $20bn (Â£13.5bn) was not a cap, and the company's chairman, Carl-Henric Svanberg, announced that BP would not be paying dividends this year. Svanberg's appearance at the White House was ...

Thu, 17 Jun 10
Freak floods in US predicted by 2009 climate change report
http://news.mongabay.com/2010/0616-hance_freakfloods.html
Mongabay: A rash of flash floods has struck the US during this spring: Rhode Island, Tennessee, Arkansas, and most recently Oklahoma have all faced devastating floods that have resulted in the loss of property and in some cases tragic deaths. While flash floods have occurred throughout US history, the number of big floods this year appears abnormal at best, but not unexpected by researchers. Climatologists warned last year that an increase in floods and severe storms is very probable as the world ...

Thu, 17 Jun 10
BP bosses arrive at White House for crucial talks with Barack Obama
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/16/obama-bp-spill-compensation-fund
Guardian: BP executives entered the White House for their hour of reckoning with Barack Obama today, 58 days after the explosion in the Gulf put the future of the oil company and the president in peril. The stakes of the meeting with the BP chairman, Carl-Henric Svanberg, chief executive, Tony Hayward, and two other company officials are high for Obama after the near-universal panning of his Oval Office address on the crisis last night. The outcome is equally critical to BP. Television ...

Thu, 17 Jun 10
Warmer weather bodes well for reservoirs
http://www.vancouversun.com/technology/Warmer%20weather%20bodes%20well%20reservoirs/3158781/story.html
Vancouver Sun: BC Hydro's main reservoirs will perform better as a result of climate change, even as counterparts in the United States veer toward a water-supply crisis, a forum on energy and climate heard Tuesday. University of Washington researcher Alan Hamlet, a civil engineer, said warmer weather will increase the volume of water flowing into B.C.'s Peace and Columbia hydro electric systems -- including greater availability of water during winter months of peak power demand. Hamlet made ...

Thu, 17 Jun 10
Pakistan: Snouts in place, Kashmir glaciers lose thickness
http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=245236
The News: The footprints of climate change are becoming increasingly visible in Jammu and Kashmir – a phenomenon borne out by a scientific investigation which concludes that glaciers are melting due to average temperature increase in this Himalayan region. The situation is particularly of deep concern for Pakistan, the lower riparian on Indus, Jhelum and Chenab rivers fed by glaciers in Kashmir. Interestingly, the glaciers are showing a differential response to increase in temperature even in ...

Thu, 17 Jun 10
Brown sets far-reaching renewable-energy goals
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/06/15/BAP51DVPH8.DTL
San Francisco Chronicle: When he was California's governor in the 1970s, Jerry Brown won plaudits - and mockery in some quarters - for being one of the first politicians to champion renewable sources of energy like solar and wind. Now Brown is pitching a new round of clean-energy goals as part of his current run for governor - and himself as a wizened political veteran who knows how to slice through the bureaucracy to make them happen and bring what he estimated to be 500,000 jobs to California over the next ...

Thu, 17 Jun 10
Obama tells Congress to 'seize the moment' on climate legislation
http://www.nytimes.com/cwire/2010/06/16/16climatewire-obama-tells-congress-to-seize-the-moment-on-61289.html
ClimateWire: President Obama challenged the country last night to unify behind a "national mission" to reduce its reliance on oil and coal, using his first Oval Office address to pressure Congress into acting quickly on clean energy legislation. The primetime speech sought to confront stinging criticism around the president's handling of the wayward oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, an ongoing catastrophe that has stretched on for nearly two months, with crude still pouring from the open BP ...

Thu, 17 Jun 10
Green machine: Recycled batteries boost electric cars
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn19047-green-machine-recycled-batteries-boost-electric-cars.html
New Scientist: Green machine is our weekly column on the latest advances in environmental technologies It's a common complaint: we'd like to be greener, but the cost is exorbitant. When it comes to plug-in hybrids and all-electric cars, it's an argument that has some justification "" largely because of the cost of the powerful lithium-ion batteries they run on. So how can we reduce the cost of batteries without curtailing their performance? Let's rule out just waiting: battery costs are ...

Thu, 17 Jun 10
'Green taxes required for green growth.'
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/biz/2010/06/123_67744.html
Korea Times: Environmental tax reform, also known as a ``green tax,'' is crucial in efforts to solve the world's environmental problems, particularly climate change. Paul Ekins, a professor of energy and environment policy at University College London, said environmental tax reform shifts taxes from income and social security to carbon use and pollution. ``What happens is people who use less energy and carbon end up better off because their income and labor taxes have gone down, and people ...

Thu, 17 Jun 10
Tribes prepare for impacts of climate change
http://www.indiancountrytoday.com/national/southeast/96146654.html
Indion Country Today: "Let's clear up some misconceptions about global climate change,' Lara Whitely Binder, of the Climate Impacts Group, told tribal representatives gathered at a climate change adaptation training course. Take weather versus climate. Weather refers to day-to-day changes like temperature and precipitation in specific locations. Climate refers to the average of these variables over long time periods. Individual weather events do not prove, or disprove, climate change. Earth's ...

Thu, 17 Jun 10
COA lists 7 strategies for climate change, agriculture
http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/national/national-news/2010/06/16/260861/COA-lists.htm
China Post: The Council of Agriculture (COA) yesterday held the first meeting dedicated to addressing the adverse effects of climate change on agriculture and came up with seven strategies, including the construction of food safety systems and improving industrial technology. The meeting, attended by 300 experts from different industries at the National Taiwan University (NTU) International Conference Hall, was successful in generating cross-field dialogue on strategies that can help reduce ...

Thu, 17 Jun 10
Alps to Become More Dangerous in Warming World
http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20100616/sc_livescience/alpstobecomemoredangerousinwarmingworld
LiveScience.com: Heat waves, floods, avalanches and other deadly natural disasters could become more common in mountainous regions thanks to climate change, a new study suggests, making the famous peaks more dangerous for mountaineers and skiers. Extreme weather events are predicted to become more frequent on a warmer Earth. In the Eastern European Alps, two such events - the 2003 heat wave and the 2005 flood - gave researchers a preview of how similar events could pose a threat to alpine regions and ...

Thu, 17 Jun 10
France: Renewable Energy Exhibition opens in Paris: focus on solar
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/renewable-energy-exhibition-opens-in-paris-focus-on-solar-2002310.html
Independent (UK): Wednesday was the opening day of the 8th annual Renewable Energy Exhibition (The Salon des Energies Renouvelables), which this year takes place in Paris Porte de Versailles from June 16 to 18. The exhibition, which began in 2001 and has been held seven times since, is dedicated to professionals from across the renewable energy sector. Exhibitors this year include French energy provider EDF, which last year formed a joint venture with First Solar Inc to build France's largest solar ...

Thu, 17 Jun 10
David King: No cause for climate despair
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20627652.900-david-king-no-cause-for-climate-despair.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=climate-change
New Scientist: THE prospect of an international agreement to halt dangerous climate change may seem more remote than ever following the talks that ended last week in Bonn, Germany. The delegates there appeared to be more interested in being cordial than in delivering on science-based targets (see "Is it time to say goodbye cool world?"). Despite this, I believe progress has been made, and existing international agreements contain an important and hitherto overlooked mechanism that can do much to ...

Thu, 17 Jun 10
Boehner added BP stock, others dropped oil company
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100616/ap_on_bi_ge/us_financial_disclosure_leaders
Associated Press: House Republican leader John Boehner bought BP and other oil company stock last year while other lawmakers were a little more fortunate, getting rid of BP stock before the oil spill caused the environmental disaster in the Gulf. Annual financial disclosure reports released Wednesday revealed that Boehner last December sold a retirement plan in the company he once ran in Ohio, taking in between $1,000,001 and $5 million. The next day he purchased dozens of blue chip stocks, including ...

Thu, 17 Jun 10
No gushing over Obama's oil spill speech
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/jun/16/barack-obama-oil-spill-oval-office
Guardian: They're feeling frisky today at National Review, the magazine and website founded by the late conservative godfather William Buckley. "Obama Has Lost MSNBC," declares a home-page teaser, referring to the cable news channel built on liberal politics and Obama-worship. It links to a 10-minute video of MSNBC's Keith Olbermann, Chris Matthews and Howard Fineman trashing the president's Oval Office speech on the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster. Olbermann: "I don't think he aimed low, I ...

Thu, 17 Jun 10
Obama set for talks with BP chiefs
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100616/bs_afp/usoilpollutionenvironment
AFP: US President Barack Obama was to meet with senior BP officials for the first time on Wednesday, a day after vowing to make the firm pay for the "recklessness" that led to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Obama has summoned BP chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg to the White House for talks at 10:15 am (1415 GMT), with BP chief executive Tony Hayward also expected to attend. The meeting comes a day after Obama's debut Oval Office address, in which he sought to reassure Americans he was ...

Thu, 17 Jun 10
Michigan Drives For A Battery-Powered Recovery
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127856666&ft=1&f=1025
National Public Radio: On Monday, Vice President Joe Biden will attend the groundbreaking ceremony of a new $600 million advanced battery production plant. For people who have been following the growth of this industry -- and tracking the billions of dollars the federal government has devoted to promoting it -- it comes as no surprise that Biden will be heading to Michigan. Thanks to a combination of federal and state incentives for private companies, Michigan is suddenly emerging as a major center of ...

Wed, 16 Jun 10
Obama: 'We will make BP pay'
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100616/ap_on_bi_ge/us_gulf_oil_spill_bp_pays
Associated Press: President Barack Obama says the nation will continue to fight the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico for "as long as it takes," but he vows that BP will pay for the damage it's caused. In his Oval Office address Tuesday night, Obama said his administration will do whatever is necessary to help the Gulf Coast and its people recover from the spill. Obama said officials will make BP pay for all costs associated with cleaning up the oil spill, the nation's worst environmental ...

Wed, 16 Jun 10
Obama says spill has tested limits of technology
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100616/ap_on_bi_ge/us_gulf_oil_spill_capturing_oil
Associated Press: President Barack Obama says the unprecedented scope of the devastating oil spill in the Gulf has tested the capacity of human technology, but that more oil is being captured from the blown-out well all the time. Obama said his government has directed the BP oil company to mobilize more equipment and technology. He said that in the coming weeks, stepped-up effort will result in the capture of 90 percent of the oil spewing out of the well. The president said the completion of a ...

Wed, 16 Jun 10
Obama: Spill is worst US environmental disaster
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100616/ap_on_bi_ge/us_oil_spill_worst_disaster
Associated Press: President Barack Obama called the Gulf of Mexico oil spill "the worst environmental disaster America has ever faced" and will take years to combat. Obama in a speech Tuesday night from the Oval Office said that "unlike an earthquake or a hurricane, it is not a single event that does its damage in a matter of minutes or days." He said the millions of gallons of crude oil that have gushed into Gulf waters from a broken well "are more like an epidemic, one that we will be fighting ...

Wed, 16 Jun 10
Obama calls for action on 'clean' energy
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100616/ap_on_bi_ge/us_gulf_oil_spill_dependence
Associated Press: President Barack Obama says the Gulf Coast oil spill is a reminder that the days of cheap and easy-to-get oil are numbered. In his Oval Office address Tuesday night, Obama said the tragedy unfolding in the Gulf should spark Congress to embrace a "clean energy" future that eases dependence on oil and other fossil fuels. Obama hailed a bill passed in the House last year to curb pollution blamed for global warming, but he stopped short of directly calling for the Senate to pass a ...

Wed, 16 Jun 10
BP says it shares Obama's goal of stopping spill
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100616/ap_on_bi_ge/us_gulf_oil_spill_bp_obama
Associated Press: BP says it shares President Barack Obama's goal of shutting down the gushing oil well at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico as quickly as possible. BP PLC released a statement on Tuesday night after Obama accused BP of "recklessness" during an Oval Office address to the country. In the statement, BP said it also shares Obama's goal of cleaning up the oil and helping the people and environment affected by the spill. The company also said it looks forward to meeting with ...

Wed, 16 Jun 10
Obama's Oval Office address on the Gulf oil spill
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100616/ap_on_re_us/us_gulf_oil_spill_text
Associated Press: Text of President Barack Obama's Oval Office address Tuesday on the Gulf oil spill, as transcribed by CQ Transcriptions: Good evening. As we speak, our nation faces a multitude of challenges. At home, our top priority is to recover and rebuild from a recession that has touched the lives of nearly every American. Abroad, our brave men and women in uniform are taking the fight to al-Qaida wherever it exists. And tonight, I've returned from a trip to the Gulf Coast to speak with ...

Wed, 16 Jun 10
Whale poo helps offset carbon footprint
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE65F0HA20100616?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29
Reuters: Southern Ocean sperm whales offset their carbon footprint by defecating, scientists said on Wednesday, releasing tonnes of iron a year that stimulates the growth of phytoplankton which in turn absorb carbon dioxide. Each whale releases about 50 tonnes of iron a year, their natural fertilization stimulating the process of photosynthesis. An estimated 12,000 sperm whales that inhabit the Southern Ocean absorb about 400,000 tonnes of carbon each year, twice the amount they release ...

Wed, 16 Jun 10
La. Parish President Reacts To Obama Speech
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127868284&ft=1&f=1025
National Public Radio: Charlotte Randolph, president of Lafourche Parish, talks to Michele Norris about President Obama's address to the nation on the oil spill.

Wed, 16 Jun 10
A Preview Of Obama's Meeting With BP Executives
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127868288&ft=1&f=1025
National Public Radio: NPR's John Ydstie talks to Michele Norris about President's Obama's speech tonight, and about his Wednesday meeting with the chairman and CEO of BP.

Wed, 16 Jun 10
Reaction To President Obama's Oil Speech
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127868300&ft=1&f=1025
National Public Radio: NPR's Scott Horsley and Elizabeth Shogren talk to Michele Norris about the oil spill in the Gulf and President Obama's address to the nation on Tuesday night.

Wed, 16 Jun 10
Obama: BP will pay for its "recklessness"
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN1416392020100616?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29
Reuters: President Barack Obama vowed on Tuesday to compel BP Plc to pay the price for its "recklessness" in the Gulf of Mexico oil spill and sought to harness public outrage over the disaster for a "national mission" to cut U.S. dependence on fossil fuels. "We will fight this spill with everything we've got for as long as it takes. We will make BP pay for the damage their company has caused," Obama said in a televised address aimed at restoring confidence in his handling of the crisis before ...

Wed, 16 Jun 10
Carbon Trust launches new footprinting guide
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2264808/carbon-trust-launches
Business Green: The Carbon Trust yesterday launched a new guide designed to provide businesses with clear instructions on how to calculate the carbon footprint of their operations and products. The free publication, entitled Carbon Footprinting: The next step to reducing your emissions, outlines the key steps firms should take to measure their carbon emissions and ensure their carbon data is independently verified. It also provides an introduction on how to measure an individual product's ...

Wed, 16 Jun 10
Dong Energy opens UK's latest offshore wind farm
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2264806/dong-energy-opens-uk-latest
Business Green: The UK's offshore wind energy revolution continued yesterday with the official opening of the 172MW Gunfleet Sands offshore wind farm in the Thames Estuary off the Essex coast. The wind farm, which has been fully operational since March, was formally inaugurated by Danish energy company Dong Energy at a ceremony at the site attended by energy minister Charles Hendry. Hendry hailed the 48 turbine development as a forerunner for a host of new large-scale offshore wind ...

Wed, 16 Jun 10
Concerned scientists call for cellulosic biofuel sweeteners
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2264805/concerned-scientists-calls
Business Green: The US government should step up support for the emerging cellulosic biofuels industry with a new tax credit regime that would reward firms based on the performance and quality of the biofuels they produce. That is the central recommendation of a new report this week from the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), which warns that the focus on first-generation biofuels such as ethanol has put a strain on agricultural resources while doing little to curb greenhouse gas ...

Wed, 16 Jun 10
Super-Yeast Generates Ethanol From Energy Crops And Agricultural Residues
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1879920/superyeast_generates_ethanol_from_energy_crops_and_agricultural_residues/index.html?source=r_science
redOrbit: A new type of baker's yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) has been developed which can efficiently ferment pentose sugars, as found in agricultural waste and hardwoods. Researchers writing in BioMed Central's open access journal Biotechnology for Biofuels describe the creation of the new S. cerevisiae strain, TMB3130, which demonstrated significantly improved aerobic growth rate and final biomass concentration on sugar media composed of two pentoses, xylose and arabinose. Marie ...

Wed, 16 Jun 10
Faecal attraction: Whale poop fights climate change
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100615/sc_afp/specieswhalesclimateoffbeat
Agence France-Presse: Southern Ocean sperm whales are an unexpected ally in the fight against global warming, removing the equivalent carbon emissions from 40,000 cars each year thanks to their faeces, a study found on Wednesday. The cetaceans have been previously fingered as climate culprits because they breathe out carbon dioxide (CO2), the commonest greenhouse gas. But this is only a part of the picture, according to the paper, published in the British journal Proceedings of the Royal Society ...

Wed, 16 Jun 10
EPA analysis: Senate energy bill would lower electric bills
http://news.yahoo.com/s/mcclatchy/20100615/sc_mcclatchy/3537213
McClatchy Newspapers: The energy and climate bill that Republicans call a light-switch tax would lower electricity bills, at least in its early years, the Environmental Protection Agency reported Tuesday. The EPA study of the proposed American Power Act, sponsored by Sens. John Kerry , D- Mass. , and Joe Lieberman , a Connecticut independent, said that energy bills for the average household -- not including gasoline -- would decrease by 10 percent by 2020, rise by 1 percent in 2030 and rise by 16 percent ...

Wed, 16 Jun 10
U.S. significantly increases flow estimate of BP spill
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE65E5Z620100615?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29
Reuters: A team of U.S. scientists significantly increased its estimate of how much oil is gushing into the Gulf of Mexico from BP's blown-out well on Tuesday. The team said the "most likely flow rate of oil today" ranges from 35,000 to 60,000 barrels per day.

Wed, 16 Jun 10
Scientists: Oil leaking up to 2.52M gallons daily
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100615/ap_on_bi_ge/us_gulf_oil_spill_flow
Associated Press: Scientists provided a new estimate for the amount of oil gushing from the ruptured well in the Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday that indicates it could be leaking up to 2.52 million gallons of crude a day. A government panel of scientists said that the ruptured well is leaking between 1.47 million and 2.52 million gallons daily of oil. The figures move the government's worst-case estimates more in line with what an independent team had previously thought was the maximum size of the ...

Wed, 16 Jun 10
Senator: Oil companies must dig relief wells
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100615/ap_on_re_us/us_gulf_oil_spill_relief_wells
Associated Press: A U.S. Senator has introduced a bill that would require oil companies to dig emergency relief wells at all new drilling sites off the U.S. coast. Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., said Tuesday that the rig explosion that unleashed millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico proves that pre-emptive drilling is needed. The measure was introduced days after The Associated Press reported that BP and the government rushed through environmental reviews, permits and other plans ...

Wed, 16 Jun 10
EPA: Climate bill costs less than postage stamp
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100615/ap_on_bi_ge/us_gulf_oil_spill_climate_bill_2
Associated Press: A climate and energy bill being pushed in the Senate would cost American households 22 to 40 cents a day -- less than the cost of a first-class postage stamp, the Obama administration said Tuesday. An analysis by the Environmental Protection Agency concluded that the Senate bill, sponsored by Sens. John Kerry, D-Mass., and Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., would cost households an average of $79 to $146 per year. A first-class postage stamp costs 44 cents. The bill, dubbed the American ...

Wed, 16 Jun 10
May 2010 was warmest on record: U.S. government data
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE65E63F20100615?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29
Reuters: Last month was the warmest May on record, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said on Tuesday. It was also the 303rd consecutive month that was hotter than the 20th century global average for that month, according to Deke Arndt, chief of the climate monitoring at NOAA's National Climatic Data Center. "Since February 1985, every single month has been warmer than its 20th century average," Arndt said by telephone from Asheville, North Carolina. The ...

Wed, 16 Jun 10
Rep. Waxman: BP 'Could Have Avoided' Oil Disaster
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127861430&ft=1&f=1025
National Public Radio: Congressional investigators released documents this week showing that BP made a series of money-saving shortcuts and blunders that dramatically increased the danger of a destructive spill. In one document, an engineer described the well as a "nightmare" just six days before the April blowout. Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, says memos, e-mails and documents illustrate the risks BP took that lead to the disaster. "There were ...

Wed, 16 Jun 10
EPA: Climate bill costs less than postage stamp
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100615/ap_on_bi_ge/us_gulf_oil_spill_climate_bill
Associated Press: The Obama administration says a climate and energy bill being pushed in the Senate would cost American households 22 to 40 cents a day, less than the cost of a postage stamp. The Environmental Protection Agency said in a new analysis released Tuesday that a bill sponsored by Sens. John Kerry and Joe Lieberman would cost households an average of $79 to $146 per year. The EPA analysis comes as President Barack Obama prepares an Oval Office speech Tuesday night on efforts to ...

Wed, 16 Jun 10
EPA tells 2 more to bypass Texas air permitting
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100615/ap_on_bi_ge/us_epa_vs_texas
Associated Press: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has told two more companies to bypass Texas and apply directly to the federal government for clean-air permits for refineries. The EPA sent a letter Tuesday to ChevronPhillips and Garland Power & Light, a utility in north Texas. It says the companies have until Sept. 30 to reapply for the permits directly with the federal agency. The EPA rejected 40 permits issued by Texas late last year, saying the state's process violates the ...

Wed, 16 Jun 10
United Kingdom: Plane Stupid protest 'delayed take-off for air ambulance' at Aberdeen airport
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/15/plane-stupid-protesters-air-ambulance-aberdeen
Guardian: A protest by climate activists on the asphalt at Aberdeen airport delayed an emergency ambulance flight from taking off, a court heard today. Nine climate protesters are accused of causing a breach of the peace and vandalism after several activists allegedly clambered on to the airport's main terminal roof and the others chained themselves to a cage they built on the taxiway. The charges allege that the actions of the five men and four women led to the airport being shut down ...

Wed, 16 Jun 10
Oil companies under attack
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/15/oil-companies-under-attack
Guardian: ExxonMobil Market capitalisation: $282bn Revenue: $337bn Net income: $21bn The oil giant environmentalists love to hate, Exxon has drawn flak in recent years for its stance on global warming and financial support for groups on the lunatic fringe of the climate debate. Officially its view has softened in recent years but the company, one of the biggest and most profitable in the world, remains very much an oil man's oil firm. The BP spill looks likely to relieve it ...

Wed, 16 Jun 10
Lake Michigan climate change studied
http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2010/06/15/Lake-Michigan-climate-change-studied/UPI-47551276622324/
United Press International: A robotic submarine is being deployed in Lake Michigan, along with other specialized tools, to determine how young fish might cope with future climate change. Purdue University scientists say they are correlating larval fish growth with various factors, including water temperatures near the lakeshore, where wind patterns might be altered by climate change and threaten fish populations. "These larval fish are very vulnerable because they are not fully developed and cannot swim ...

Wed, 16 Jun 10
Swiss firm touts oil-absorbing fabric for US oil spill
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100615/bs_afp/usoilpollutionenvironmenttechnologyswitzerland
Agence France-Presse: A Swiss company which produces an oil absorbing fabric said Tuesday that it had received a visit from US officials, as it claimed that it could help tackle the Gulf of Mexico oil slick. Carlo Centonze, chief executive of HeiQ Materials, said US army and consular officials came to visit last Thursday to evaluate the fabric to protect the US coastline. "Our product is being presented today (Tuesday) in Washington and we are waiting for the green light from authorities to deploy ...

Wed, 16 Jun 10
Scientists: Greenhouse emissions only at high end of climate projections
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/sciencefair/post/2010/06/greenhouse-emissions-meet-high-end-of-projections/1
USA Today: Despite some recent reports that global fossil fuel emissions of greenhouse gases were exceeding expectations, climate scientists Sunday reported they fall within past projections captured in climate models. In the current Nature Geoscience journal, an international team led by New Zealand's Martin Manning of the University of Wellington, counters what they see as emissions analyses that have led some to "incorrectly conclude that current emissions are higher than the values used in ...

Wed, 16 Jun 10
EPA finds Senate climate bill affordable
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE65E53G20100615?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29
Reuters: U.S. environmental regulators said on Tuesday the climate and energy bill in the Senate would only add slightly to average household costs, but the finding was not expected to boost chances for the legislation that would cap greenhouse gas emissions. The climate bill unveiled last month by Senators John Kerry, a Democrat, and Joseph Lieberman, an independent, would cost households an average of $79 to $146 per year through 2050, the Environmental Protection Agency said in an economic ...

Wed, 16 Jun 10
White House to name new oil agency head
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100615/ap_on_bi_ge/us_gulf_oil_spill_agency_chief
Associated Press: President Barack Obama has selected a former federal prosecutor to take over the troubled government agency that oversees oil and gas development and has been accused of lax oversight. The White House announced Tuesday that Michael R. Bromwich, a former assistant U.S. attorney and Justice Department inspector general, will lead a reorganization of the Minerals Management Service. The administration plans to break the MMS into three separate entities to eliminate conflicts of ...

Wed, 16 Jun 10
US greens say climate overhaul means massive jobs boost
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100615/ts_alt_afp/usclimatepoliticsemployment
Agence France-Presse: New rules to cap US carbon emissions and promote clean energy could create as many as 540,000 US jobs a year, a green group claimed Tuesday, as the BP oil spill fueled debate over reform. With the massive Gulf of Mexico slick pushing energy reform to the top of the US political agenda, ClimateWorks -- a climate lobby group -- said reforms could also help the struggling US economy. Offering lawmakers the tantalizing prospect of curbing emissions while helping the economy, the ...

Wed, 16 Jun 10
Oval Office speech: Obama's 'take charge' moment in Gulf oil spill
http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20100615/ts_csm/307468
Christian Science Monitor: President Obama will address the nation from the Oval Office for the first time Tuesday night in a bid to convince the American public that, in his response to the Gulf oil spill, he is more Lyndon Johnson than George W. Bush. For weeks, Americans have been clamoring for Mr. Obama to show more outward resolve and leadership in facing the crisis. In short, it has been asking him to be more like President Johnson, who did not merely respond to hurricane Betsy in 1965, he became ...

Wed, 16 Jun 10
BP executive says US cannot do without Gulf oil
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100615/ap_on_bi_ge/us_gulf_oil_bp
Associated Press: The head of BP America is telling Congress that despite the catastrophic oil spill, the U.S. cannot do without oil from the Gulf of Mexico. BP America chairman and president Lamar McKay told a House panel in prepared testimony that America's economy, security and standard of living "significantly depend upon domestic oil and gas production." He said that companies have operated in the Gulf safely and reliably. The Associated Press obtained a copy of his remarks prior to ...

Wed, 16 Jun 10
'Too Big To Succeed' May Be Our Biggest Problem
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127853402&ft=1&f=1025
National Public Radio: Speaking from the Oval Office on Tuesday night, President Obama will tell us how Big Government is going to tackle another Big Problem in a Big Way. The Gulf Coast oil gusher is like a big boxcar in a big runaway freight train of big, big problems: the financial industry, the health care industry, immigration policies -- a linked chain of vast worriments hurtling through the contemporary landscape, seemingly out of control. Consider these Big Numbers from the Deepwater Horizon ...

Wed, 16 Jun 10
Obama: stop baying for BP blood. Nationalise oil instead
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/jun/15/obama-bp-nationalise-oil
Guardian: Barack Obama's crude comparison of the Deepwater spill to 9/11 marks a new low in the political grandstanding over the Gulf of Mexico disaster. While the president might be right to haul BP over the coals for the company's apparent negligence prior to the explosion, the distancing of the US government from the private sector is a cynical way to exploit the tragedy. If Obama's post-spill proclamations are to be believed, the US administration bears no responsibility for the ...

Wed, 16 Jun 10
Oil bosses grilled as nation awaits Obama address
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100615/ts_alt_afp/usoilpollutionenvironment
Agence France-Presse: A top oil executive admitted Tuesday that companies are ill-equipped to tackle major spills, as President Barack Obama readied for a solemn Oval Office address on the Gulf of Mexico catastrophe. In a stunning admission, ExxonMobil chief executive Rex Tillerson acknowledged in a series of testy exchanges with US lawmakers that oil giants are hamstrung once it comes to dealing with a major spill. "When these things happen, we are not well equipped to handle them," he said, as ...

Wed, 16 Jun 10
Swiss giant orders investigation into its largest palm oil supplier
http://news.mongabay.com/2010/0615-migros.html
Mongabay: Migros, Switzerland's largest supermarket chain, will lodge a formal complaint against Malaysia's IOI Group after the palm oil grower was linked to illegal forest-clearing and encroachment on indigenous lands, reports the Bruno Manser Fund. Migros said it would ask IOI's conduct to be investigated by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), a certification body that sets standards for greener palm oil production. IOI is Migros' largest palm oil supplier. "This matter must ...

Wed, 16 Jun 10
Oil prices above $76 as stocks, euro rise
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100615/ap_on_bi_ge/oil_prices
Associated Press: Crude prices rose on Tuesday as stock markets gained ground and investors awaited word on what BP would do about future dividends and the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. At the gas pump, the drop in prices over the past six weeks has slowed. Pump prices edged lower Tuesday, falling 0.2 cent to a national average of $2.696 per gallon, according to AAA, Wright Express and Oil Price Information Services. Prices have fallen 2.2 cents in the past week and 17.6 cents in the past month and ...

Wed, 16 Jun 10
BP America chief: 'Sorry' for Gulf disaster
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100615/wl_afp/usoilpollutionenvironmentpoliticsbpmckaysorry
Agence France-Presse: BP America chief executive Lamar McKay told angry lawmakers Tuesday that the embattled energy giant was "sorry" for the impact of a disastrous oil spill on the Gulf of Mexico.

Wed, 16 Jun 10
String of floods raise climate change questions
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/capitalweathergang/2010/06/arkansas_flood_raises_climate.html
Washington Post: Call it the spring of flash floods. Rare and deadly flash flooding events have struck several parts of the south-central U.S. from Tennessee to Oklahoma this spring, with two remarkable events occurring in just the past five days: the astounding six-to-ten-inch gully washer that resulted in numerous swift-water rescues in Oklahoma City yesterday morning, and the tragic deluge in rural Arkansas late last week. Cars are stranded and submerged by flood water in Oklahoma City after heavy ...

Wed, 16 Jun 10
Climate change increases hazard risk in alpine regions
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/06/100615105241.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Latest+Science+News%29
ScienceDaily: Climate change could cause increasing and unpredictable hazard risks in mountainous regions, according to a new study from the University of Exeter and Austrian researchers. The study analyzes the effects of two extreme weather events -- the 2003 heatwave and the 2005 flood -- on the Eastern European Alps. It demonstrates what impact events like these, predicted to become more frequent under a changing climate, could have on alpine regions and what implications these changes might have for ...

Wed, 16 Jun 10
Restating the IPCC's reason for being
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8740049.stm
BBC: As the latest meeting of the InterAcademy Council's review into the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change convenes in Montreal, IPCC chairman R K Pachauri says the past year has been "momentous" for the organisation, and not always for the right reasons. In this week's Green Room, he sets out how and why the panel was established, and argues that it plays a vital role in the global climate policy debate. I would like to start by saying that I am not deaf to those who do not agree ...

Wed, 16 Jun 10
For BP, a Toll Likely to Extend Beyond the Cleanup
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/15/business/15bp.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
New York Times: On the face of it, BP can easily afford to pay the short-term costs of the oil well that is leaking millions of gallons into the Gulf of Mexico. Last year, the company earned $17 billion, and it ended the year with more than $8 billion in cash. But concerns about BP's ability to meet all its obligations over the long haul – or even survive the crisis intact – are rattling the government, Gulf Coast residents and investors. The ultimate cost of the disaster remains uncertain. ...

Wed, 16 Jun 10
United Kingdom: Pay hill farmers to protect water supply and carbon sinks, report urges
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/15/rural-communities-water-supply-carbon-sinks
Guardian: The government faces a new call on its diminished resources today with a recommendation from rural experts that hill farmers should be subsidised to safeguard water catchments and protect huge carbon-storing wildernesses of peat. But the Commission for Rural Communities has softened its request by suggesting that Whitehall target European funding for much of the proposed scheme, taking advantage of pending reforms in the EU's common agricultural policy. The lengthy inquiry into ...

Wed, 16 Jun 10
United Kingdom: Caroline Spelman calls for 'zero-waste' society to end landfill
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/15/caroline-spelman-zero-waste
Press Association: Throwing rubbish such as drinks cans and leftover food into landfill wastes money and should not continue, the environment secretary, Caroline Spelman, said today. Announcing a new government review of England's waste strategy, Spelman said putting recyclable and biodegradable rubbish in the ground threatened the environment and wasted valuable natural resources. She said there was a need to go further and faster in boosting recycling rates in England, and that driving forward ...

Wed, 16 Jun 10
Climate change sparks political ads
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/greenhouse/post/2010/06/climate-change-political-ads-/1
USA Today: Campaign ads are attacking U.S. senators for their positions on energy and climate change as the 2010 election season intensifies and President Obama pushes a broad climate bill. Americans United for Change, a group promoting progressive causes, announced a $400,000 TV ad campaign this week criticizing GOP Sens. Scott Brown of Massachusetts, Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Richard Burr of North Carolina. You can watch one above or by clicking here. The Republicans voted last week ...

Wed, 16 Jun 10
Government launches full waste policy review
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2264782/government-launches-waste
Business Green: The government has today unveiled plans for a wholesale review of waste policy in England designed to accelerate improvements in recycling rates and maximize the economic benefits associated with waste management. The review, the terms of which will be confirmed within the next few weeks, was announced by Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman at the Futuresource waste and sustainability conference in London's Docklands. "There is an economic and environmental urgency to ...

Tue, 15 Jun 10
Indonesia's plan to save its rainforests
http://news.mongabay.com/2010/0614-indonesia_purnomo_saloh.html
Mongabay: An interview with Agus Purnomo and Yani Saloh, Special Assistants to the President of the Republic of Indonesia for Climate Change. Late last year Indonesia made global headlines with a bold pledge to reduce deforestation, which claimed nearly 28 million hectares (108,000 square miles) of forest between 1990 and 2005 and is the source of about 80 percent of the country's greenhouse gas emissions. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said Indonesia would voluntarily cut emissions 26 ...

Tue, 15 Jun 10
High-yield agriculture slows pace of global warming, say researchers
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/06/100614160209.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Latest+Science+News%29
ScienceDaily: Advances in high-yield agriculture over the latter part of the 20th century have prevented massive amounts of greenhouse gases from entering the atmosphere -- the equivalent of 590 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide -- according to a new study led by two Stanford Earth scientists. The yield improvements reduced the need to convert forests to farmland, a process that typically involves burning of trees and other plants, which generates carbon dioxide and other greenhouse ...

Tue, 15 Jun 10
Americans angry at BP, not Britain
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100614/us_nm/us_oilspill_usa_britain
Reuters: Americans are angry with BP because of the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, but most do not associate the company with its British origins and do not believe the accident should harm relations with the close U.S. ally. Some British business leaders, politicians and newspapers worry that their country is being attacked by the White House over the ruptured deep-sea well that has allowed millions of gallons of crude oil to gush into Gulf for nearly two months. But some ...

Tue, 15 Jun 10
The rise and fall of BP
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/14/rise-fall-of-bp
Guardian: As names go, the First Exploitation Company sounds like an inspired slight dreamed up by an angry anti-oil campaigner. In fact, it was the original title, coined in 1903, of the troubled company we now know as BP. But then, public relations have never been its strong point. Over the course of a century BP, in its various guises, has managed to outrage everyone from revolutionary nationalist leaders in the Middle East to Britain's supposedly closest ally. Now Barack Obama has ensured ...

Tue, 15 Jun 10
Gulf oil spill: BP faces $34bn in fines as Senate smashes estimates
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/14/gulf-oil-spill-34bn-fines
Guardian: BP is facing a bill of up to $34bn from the Gulf of Mexico disaster after US senators demanded the oil company deposited $20bn into a ring-fenced account to meet escalating compensation costs. The sum dwarfs many analysts' previous estimates, shared by BP, that put the cost of the clean-up effort and payment of damages to affected communities, such as fishermen, closer to a total of $5bn. Shares in BP nose-dived by more than 9% today as investors took fright at the demand by ...

Tue, 15 Jun 10
BP survival fears as predicted cost of oil spill soars
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/14/bp-survival-fears-oil-spill
Guardian: The Gulf of Mexico disaster was always going to hit BP in the pocket. But as the costs of the spill keep rising, it could end up finishing off the British oil giant . Until now, the City has fretted over the fate of BP's dividend, supposed to be $10bn, due this year. Tony Hayward, BP's chief executive, has stuck to the line that the company is able to meet all its obligations to its shareholders and to the clean-up effort. Even last week, the question had been not whether BP ...

Tue, 15 Jun 10
Thailand rejects climate draft
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/38772/thailand-rejects-climate-draft
Bangkok Post: Thailand has rejected a new draft negotiating text for long-term cooperation on climate change. Its stance was in line with major developing countries under G77, plus China. The text, tabled here in talks on the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) which ended on Friday, was seen as "imbalanced" by developing countries including Thailand. They felt the mitigation burden was being shifted to fall on their shoulders. Their decision not to adopt ...

Tue, 15 Jun 10
BP took shortcuts on blown-out well: lawmakers
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100614/ts_nm/us_oil_spill_probe
Reuters: BP Plc took risky shortcuts in drilling its Macondo well that "increased the danger of a catastrophic well failure," two U.S. lawmakers probing the well's blow-out and the worst U.S. oil spill said on Monday. "It appears that BP repeatedly chose risky procedures in order to reduce costs and save time and made minimal efforts to contain the added risk," said Representatives Henry Waxman and Bart Stupak, the top Democrats on the House of Representatives Energy and Commerce ...

Tue, 15 Jun 10
Barack Obama to illustrate scale of oil disaster with first Oval Office address
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/14/barack-obama-oil-spill-speech
Guardian: President Barack Obama will tomorrow night make his first address to the American people from the Oval Office, underlining the scale of the catastrophe now unfolding in the Gulf of Mexico and vowing to hold BP to account for the environmental damage wrought by its eight-week-old oil spill. His prime-time broadcast comes at the start of a crucial week in the response to the crisis. Senior politicians from the Obama administration and the Democratic hierarchy in Congress are lining up ...

Tue, 15 Jun 10
Intensive farming 'massively slowed' global warming
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn19042-intensive-farming-massively-slowed-global-warming.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=climate-change
New Scientist: Fertilisers, pesticides and hybrid high-yielding seeds saved the planet from an extra dose of global warming. That, at least, is the conclusion of a new analysis which finds that the intensification of farming through the green revolution has unjustly been blamed for speeding up global warming. Steven Davis of the Carnegie Institution of Washington in Palo Alto, California, and colleagues calculated how much greenhouse gases would have been emitted over the past half-century if the ...

Tue, 15 Jun 10
New UN panel to focus on saving life on Earth
http://news.mongabay.com/2010/0614-hance_unpanel.html
Mongabay: In South Korea last week 230 delegates from 85 nations approved a new UN science panel focusing on saving life on Earth, known as the Intergovernmental Science Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). The panel, which is to be modeled off of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), is meant to bridge the gap between scientific understanding of biodiversity loss and the policy decisions necessary to stop it. "IPBES represents a major breakthrough in ...

Tue, 15 Jun 10
Visiting Gulf, Obama Vows to Press BP on Spill Claims
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/15/us/15spill.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
New York Times: President Obama made his fourth trip to the battered Gulf Coast on Monday, assuring residents and state officials in Mississippi that the federal government will push hard to make sure that the British oil giant BP will reimburse businesses and individuals for lost income from the oil spill. Mr. Obama, after meeting with Gov. Haley Barbour of Mississippi and Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, said that one of the most important things that ordinary Americans could do to help residents of ...

Tue, 15 Jun 10
Canada: Tories put climate change on G8 agenda after pressure from world leaders
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/tories-put-climate-change-on-g8-agenda-after-pressure-from-world-leaders/article1603818/
Canadian Press: Canada has added climate change to the G8 agenda after coming under pressure from world leaders and environmentalists. A spokesman for Prime Minister Stephen Harper confirmed Monday that climate change will be on the table at both the G8 and G20 summits. "We anticipate that climate change will come up, in fact, at both summits,' Andrew MacDougall said. "Actually, the prime minister was on (the telephone) with Chancellor (Angela) Merkel this morning of Germany and they ...

Tue, 15 Jun 10
Low-cost solar solution could empower off-grid poor
http://www.scidev.net/en/climate-change-and-energy/low-cost-solar-solution-could-empower-off-grid-poor.html?utm_source=link&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=en_climatechangeandenergy
SciDev.Net: A low-cost, plastic solar lamp could provide affordable lighting for millions living in rural off-grid areas across Africa. The lamp is made from polymer solar cells and although it is not as efficient as similar technologies, it could prove more affordable, according to its developers. "There are many technologies out there already that are established and better performing ... but perhaps these do not have the potential to go much lower in cost," said lead researcher Frederik ...

Tue, 15 Jun 10
Borneo's lush forests are an illusion: trees grow on deserts
http://news.mongabay.com/2010/0614-borneo_soils_dubman.html
Mongabay: The lush green rainforests of Central Kalimantan (Indonesian Borneo) grow on a desert. The illusion of organic richness and bounty is nowhere stronger than in these coastal jungles and mangroves, swamps and heath forests. The soaring trees and dizzying diversity of flora and fauna suggest that there are reserves of energy and life stored somewhere in the land, and all the living organisms draw on this infinite reserve. Nothing could be further from the truth. Borneo, the world's third ...

Tue, 15 Jun 10
W.House confident BP will set up big escrow account
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100614/ts_nm/us_oil_spill_whitehouse
Reuters: The White House is confident BP Plc will agree to set up a multibillion-dollar escrow account to pay mounting claims relating to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, a spokesman said on Monday. "We feel confident that this is going to be able to move forward," White House spokesman Bill Burton told reporters traveling with President Barack Obama for a two-day visit to the Gulf region. He declined to comment specifically on the size of the account beyond saying that it would be in the ...

Tue, 15 Jun 10
European wind industry predicts bumper 2010
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2264726/european-wind-industry-predicts
Business Green: Europe is set to see its installed wind energy capacity increase by 13 per cent as the sector continues to defy the economic downturn, according to new figures from the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA). The latest update, released to coincide with tomorrow's Global Wind Day, predicts that European wind farm developers will add 10GW of new capacity this year, increasing total installed capacity by 13 per cent to almost 85GW. "We predict another strong year for wind ...

Tue, 15 Jun 10
Inga alley cropping: a sustainable alternative to slash and burn agriculture
http://news.mongabay.com/2010/0614-barber_inga.html
Mongabay: It has been estimated that as many as 300 million farmers in tropical countries may take part in slash and burn agriculture. A practice that is environmentally destructive and ultimately unstable. However, research funded by the EEC and carried out in Costa Rica in the late 1980s and early 1990s by Mike Hands offers hope that it is possible to farm more successfully and sustainably in these tropical regions. Slash and burn agriculture is in some ways merely an intensification of a ...

Tue, 15 Jun 10
Indonesia: Scientists on hunt for climate-change clues explore rare tropical glacier
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-Pacific/2010/0614/Scientists-on-hunt-for-climate-change-clues-explore-rare-tropical-glacier
Christian Science Monitor: Indonesia's towering Puncak Jaya mountain on the island of Papua straddles one of the world's richest and most inaccessible gold and copper mines. But the scientists currently prospecting on the 16,000-ft peak are digging for a different kind of treasure: fragile ice cores that can yield clues to the climatic past and give pointers on the future. Puncak Jaya, a patch of ice on a barren peak that juts from the jungle-clad southern shores of western Papua, is one of only a handful of ...

Tue, 15 Jun 10
Barack Obama compares oil spill to 9/11
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/14/barack-obama-oil-spill-911
Guardian: Barack Obama today risked the wrath of September 11 victim's families by comparing the BP oil spill to the 2001 terrorist attacks, as pressure intensified on the White House to show greater urgency over the crisis. Ahead of a trip to Louisiana and his first televised address to the nation tomorrow, Obama said the spill – the worst environmental disaster in US history – would, like the 2001 terror attacks, continue to influence the country for decades to come. "In the same way ...

Tue, 15 Jun 10
BP engineer called doomed rig a 'nightmare well'
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100614/ap_on_bi_ge/us_gulf_oil_spill_washington
Associate Press: Six days before the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, a BP drilling engineer called the rig a "nightmare well" that had caused the company problems in the past. The comment by BP engineer Brian Morel came in an e-mail April 14. On April 20, the Deepwater Horizon rig explosion killed 11 people and sent tens of millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf in the nation's worst environmental disaster. The e-mail was among dozens of internal documents released ...

Tue, 15 Jun 10
Global carbon capture plans lag climate target
http://news.alibaba.com/article/detail/energy/100329580-1-global-carbon-capture-plans-lag.html
Reuters: The world is failing to meet goals to develop carbon capture technology, the energy watchdog to industrialised economies said on Monday as it reported back to G8 countries on their past promises. At a summit in Japan two years ago, eight of the world's leading economies backed an International Energy Agency goal to launch 20 large-scale projects to demonstrate carbon capture and storage technology by 2010. In fact there were only five such projects in operation, all ...

Tue, 15 Jun 10
United Kingdom: Biomass plant to use waste in its fuel
http://www.thecourier.co.uk/output/2010/06/14/newsstory15217760t0.asp
Courier: FORTH ENERGY, the company behind plans to build a biomass plant at Dundee's waterfront, has confirmed that it will seek a permit allowing it to burn waste materials in the fuel mix. That would put the plant on the same footing as the city's waste-to-energy incinerator at Baldovie, although the company has said that it will stick to recovered timber for the extra material. The bulk of the fuel that would be used to power the plant would be in the form of imported virgin wood ...

Tue, 15 Jun 10
Australia: Calls to get ETS back on agenda
http://www.theage.com.au/environment/climate-change/calls-to-get-ets-back-on-agenda-20100613-y5yc.html
Age: MALCOLM Turnbull has challenged the major parties' rationale for delaying action on climate change by arguing other countries are promising "very substantial" cuts in greenhouse gas emissions. The former opposition leader said the justification for delaying emissions trading was flawed for many reasons, and argued that the Copenhagen Accord agreed last December was a significant step in tackling climate change. Quoting an analysis by Reserve Bank board member Warwick McKibbin ...

Tue, 15 Jun 10
Delray Beach considers applying for grant for natural gas stations and trolleys
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/fl-delray-natural-gas-20100611,0,417212.story
Sun-Sentinel: Looking toward a cleaner future, this city wants to get in on the ground floor of a green energy trend: Compressed natural gas-fueled vehicles. The City Commission is expected Tuesday to give the OK to move forward with a federal grant application that would provide money to purchase vehicles -- starting with trolleys -- and build a natural gas service station. And one day the city could sell the natural gas for profit. To get what could be a $2.5 million grant, the city is ...

Tue, 15 Jun 10
Sestak, Toomey on opposite sides of energy debate
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10165/1065472-84.stm
Post-Gazette: The spotlight on energy issues, from the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf to the debate over development of Marcellus Shale gas wells, illuminates the clear philosophical differences between Pennsylvania's Senate candidates. From drilling to the overall debate on global warming, Republican Pat Toomey and Democrat Joe Sestak take contrasting positions. In keeping with his general hostility toward big government, Mr. Toomey is skeptical of proposals to expand federal ...

Tue, 15 Jun 10
Bill Gates on the future of American energy
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127817677
National Public Radio: GUY RAZ, host: This is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News. I'm Guy Raz. It's now being estimated that every eight days, a spill the size of the Exxon Valdez is leaking into the Gulf of Mexico. If that's accurate, the Gulf oil spill so far is seven times larger than that spill, and it's still flowing. President Obama will take a two-day trip to visit the Gulf Coast starting Monday. And on Tuesday night, he'll address the nation from the Oval Office. Meantime, the ...

Tue, 15 Jun 10
Aust interest in NZ carbon credits
http://www.nbr.co.nz/article/aust-interest-nz-carbon-credits-124545
National Business Review: The implementation of the government's emissions trading scheme (ETS) at the end of this month means that companies will be able to generate carbon credits to be sold domestically or overseas, says the chairman of a Maori commercial development company working with an Australian operator. Tukia Group chairman Lennie Johnson said he had formed a partnership with New Zealand-based investment and advisory firm Carbonamp;Energy Partners (CEP) and with Australian environmental services ...

Tue, 15 Jun 10
EU car groups warn about carbon tax
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/cd2b46f4-7732-11df-ba79-00144feabdc0,Authorised=false.html?_i_location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ft.com%2Fcms%2Fs%2F0%2Fcd2b46f4-7732-11df-ba79-00144feabdc0.html_i_referer=
Financial Times: European carmakers have vowed to oppose a new carbon tax if it were to result in higher prices for diesel oil ndash; complicating policymakers' efforts to press ahead with the idea. ACEA, the car industry trade group, says a carbon tax could punish European manufacturers, who are world leaders in diesel engine technology, while making it difficult for them to meet binding targets on greenhouse gas emissions. quot;We are against it,quot; said Ivan Hodac, ACEA secretary-general. quot;We need a ...

Tue, 15 Jun 10
Chesapeake bay acid affected oysters
http://www.enn.com/wildlife/article/41420
Environmental News Network: The Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the United States. It lies off the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by Maryland and Virginia. In its waters are abundant marine life but the environment is changing. The shells of young oysters in Chesapeake Bay are not getting as thick as they've been in the past, and higher acidity levels seem to be to blame. The bay is mostly known for its great seafood production, especially blue crabs, clams and oysters. The plentiful oyster harvests led to ...

Tue, 15 Jun 10
Developed countries to be blamed for climate change
http://www.dailynews.lk/2010/06/14/news29.asp
Daily News: Unprecedented consumption levels of resources by developed countries have contributed heavily towards global environmental and climate change, which has posted a great challenge to the world, Deputy Environment Minister Faizer Musthapa said. Minister Faizer Musthapa The first regional summit consultation session and workshop leading to United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (RIO +20) to be held in Rio de Janeiro in 2012, was held at the Galle Face Hotel ...

Tue, 15 Jun 10
Rise of temperature in Singapore due to many factors: URA
http://www.chinapost.com.tw/life/environment/2010/06/14/260666/Rise-of.htm
China Post: Martha Stewart, the popular American lifestyle guru who visited Singapore recently, commented on the quot;cruelquot; heat. Singaporeans who feel their country has become hotter over the years are not wrong. According to figures from the National Environment Agency (NEA), the average temperature last year was 27.9 deg C, or about 1 deg C higher than the average temperature over the last 50 years. The NEA said last year that it was difficult to determine how much of the upward ...

Tue, 15 Jun 10
Turnbull assault on climate of fear
http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news/local/news/general/turnbull-assault-on-climate-of-fear/1857287.aspx
Canberra Times: The Rudd Government has been forced to defend its position on climate change after former Liberal leader Malcolm Turnbull unleashed a vitriolic attack on its political cowardice over its emissions trading scheme. The Government also had to quell further speculation about its leadership and whether Prime Minister Kevin Rudd would keep the top job given Labor's parlous state in the polls, or whether his deputy Julia Gillard should lead the party to the next election. Mr Turnbull, ...

Tue, 15 Jun 10
Harnessing the sun's rays
http://www.amherstdaily.com/News/Local/2010-06-13/article-1274711/Harnessing-the-suns-rays/1
Amherst Daily: An Amherst area firm is receiving financial assistance from the province to support an emerging technology that uses the sun's rays to heat water. Solartron Energy Systems Inc. is receiving just over $50,000 through the province's ecoNova Scotia Fund for Clean Air and Climate Change to help with its manufacturing of SolarBeam Concentrators. quot;Our system is a solar concentrator that produces energy from the sun. It's one of the most advanced technologies on the market,quot; Solartron ...

Tue, 15 Jun 10
Chinese taxi drivers test new green machines
http://www.canada.com/technology/Chinese%20taxi%20drivers%20test%20green%20machines/3149319/story.html
Canwest News Service: In a bid to get a fully electric car on the road with appeal beyond the quot;green market,quot; China's BYD, Build Your Dreams, has taken one big step ahead of most of its competitors. In May, the small automotive company, which U.S. financial wizard Warren Buffett put on the map when he bought a 10 per cent stake, watched the first 30 of its e6 purely electric models roll onto the streets of Shenzhen and begin cruising the city as taxis. By the end of June, BYD expects to have 100 e6 taxis ...

Tue, 15 Jun 10
Pumping up the heat for a climate-friendly future
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/06/100611085354.htm?utm_source=feedburnerutm_medium=feedutm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Latest+Science+News%29
ScienceDaily: Making ground-source heat a cost-effective alternative to fossil fuels has long been a dream for countries that depend on energy imports and need to cut their carbon dioxide emissions. A team of businesses and researchers in Slovenia and Serbia set out to develop the heat pump technology that would make this dream a reality. The chaos caused by a volcanic eruption in Iceland April 2010 and the dispersal of its ash cloud across European airspace was a reminder of the tremendous forces ...

Tue, 15 Jun 10
Barren land barter for carbon market
http://www.kuenselonline.com/modules.php?name=Newsfile=articlesid=15692
Kuensel Newspaper: Land that has become barren by slash and burn cultivation may be a potential area, where the REDD (reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation) mechanism could be used to bring back forest. quot;Such land could be given to REDD+ as per the land act,quot; said chief forest officer, Karma Tshering, department of watershed management (DoWM). quot;REDD+ potential in Bhutanquot; was discussed during a two-day seminar in Thimphu that began on June 3. UN-REDD+ is the United ...

Tue, 15 Jun 10
New U.N. climate text omits deepest 2050 carbon cuts
http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE6596C220100610?loomia_ow=t0:s0:a49:g43:r1:c0.153846:b34800330:z0
Reuters: Negotiators from 185 nations end two weeks of talks on a new climate treaty on Friday with a new blueprint for a pact that omits the most draconian options for greenhouse gas cuts by 2050. Environment The streamlined 22-page draft also cuts all references in a previous text to quot;Copenhagen,quot; the host city for a U.N. summit in December that fell short of a binding deal to slow a rise in temperatures blamed for heatwaves, floods and rising sea levels. The May 31-June 11 ...

Tue, 15 Jun 10
Initiative wont thwart states emissions fight
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/jun/14/initiative-wont-thwart-states-emissions-fight/
Sandiego Union -Tribune: California's aggressive campaign to curb global warming will probably not come to a screeching halt even if voters eventually apply the brakes. An initiative that appears all but certain to qualify for the November ballot would suspend the state's landmark law to gradually reduce greenhouse gas emissions linked to global warming until there's a sustained economic recovery. The initiative narrowly targets the law passed as Assembly Bill 32 in 2006 and its subsequent regulations ...

Tue, 15 Jun 10
BP says Gulf oil spill costs reach $1.6 billion
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100614/bs_afp/usoilpollutionenvironmentcompanybp
Agence France-Presse: British energy group BP said Monday that its costs of sorting out the Gulf of Mexico oil spill had risen to about 1.6 billion dollars (1.3 billion euros). quot;The cost of the response to date amounts to approximately 1.6 billion dollars, including the cost of the spill response, containment, relief well drilling, grants to the Gulf states, claims paid, and federal costs,quot; BP said in a statement. The figure is up from an estimated 1.43 billion dollars announced by BP on Thursday. ...

Tue, 15 Jun 10
What's wrong with the sun?
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20627640.800-whats-wrong-with-the-sun.html?DCMP=OTC-rssnsref=climate-change
New Scientist: SUNSPOTS come and go, but recently they have mostly gone. For centuries, astronomers have recorded when these dark blemishes on the solar surface emerge, only for them to fade away again after a few days, weeks or months. Thanks to their efforts, we know that sunspot numbers ebb and flow in cycles lasting about 11 years. But for the past two years, the sunspots have mostly been missing. Their absence, the most prolonged for nearly a hundred years, has taken even seasoned sun watchers ...

Tue, 15 Jun 10
Wellington welcomes appointment of Kiwi to key climate post
http://www.radioaustralianews.net.au/stories/201006/2926477.htm?desktop
Radio Australia News: Wellington has welcomed the appointment of a New Zealander to a key international climate change post. The Stuff NZ website reports the country's climate change ambassador, Adrian Macey, has been awarded the post of vice-chairman for the Kyoto Protocol negotiations. His appointment has been welcomed by New Zealand's International Climate Change Negotiations Minister, Tim Groser, and the international conservation group Greenpeace. The appointment follows two weeks of ...

Tue, 15 Jun 10
DoE pumps fresh funds into geothermal and CCS
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2264672/doe-pumps-fresh-funds
Business Green: The US environmental community's attention may currently be split between the Gulf oil spill and the progress of the Senate's climate bill, but in the meantime the Department of Energy (DoE) is quietly getting on with dishing out hundreds of millions of dollars in stimulus funding to low-carbon projects. The geothermal and carbon capture and storage (CCS) sectors became the latest to benefit from the department's largesse late last week, when it announced that it was to provide a ...

Tue, 15 Jun 10
Chinese wind turbine giant postpones IPO plan
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2264673/chinese-wind-turbine-giant
Business Green: Chinese wind turbine maker Xinjiang Goldwind Science amp; Technology Co has shelved its $1.2bn (Â£817m) Hong Kong initial public offering (IPO) because of volatile market conditions, Dow Jones newswires reported yesterday. The company was scheduled to list on 22 June in what was billed as the city's second-largest IPO this year after Russian metals giant UC Rusal raised $2.2bn in January. The proceeds of the IPO were due to be spent on building manufacturing plants, with just ...

Tue, 15 Jun 10
Households to get green makeover
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/7824635/Households-to-get-green-makeover.html
Telegraph: The 'pay as you save' scheme will allow people to book a free consultation with an 'energy doctor' at the local supermarket to assess where heat is leaking from a home, like a drafty loft or badly insulated boiler. After the 'energy audit' a package will be drawn up for the household that recommends the measures that need to be taken up to a cost of Â£10,000. But rather than having to incur debt, householders will only have to pay off the debt when they make savings on their ...

Tue, 15 Jun 10
White-tailed eagle reintroduction plan falls victim to spending cuts
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/14/white-tailed-eagles
Guardian: Plans to reintroduce white-tailed eagles to England have fallen victim to public spending cuts, as the government's conservation agency said it was withdrawing as lead partner in the scheme. Natural England, along with conservation charity the RSPB, had been leading the project examining the possibility of releasing the enormous birds of prey, known as quot;flying barn doorsquot;, in Suffolk. The eagles have already been reintroduced into Scotland and the Suffolk coast was identified ...

Tue, 15 Jun 10
Hard to kill
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science_and_environment/10297884.stm
BBC: Programmable proteins could soon be revealing how cancer cells survive attempts to kill them. Built by UK researchers, the chemically engineered molecules are made to resemble key proteins that control the longevity of cancer cells. The tiny proteins, known as biophotonic nanoswitches, adopt an active form when hit with a pulse of light. The researchers hope the activated proteins will shut off the processes that keep tumour cells growing. Protein ...

Mon, 14 Jun 10
US orders BP to set up fund for oil spill claims
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100614/ts_alt_afp/usoilpollutionenvironment
Agence France-Presse: US officials have demanded that BP set up a special fund to pay oil spill claims and said President Barack Obama will give a rare White House address next week, in a sign of the seriousness of the disaster both for the country and his presidency. As Obama prepared to tour stricken states on his fourth visit to the Gulf of Mexico since the disaster, top aides ordered BP to set up an escrow account to pay legitimate claims and let an independent panel oversee the process. The ...

Mon, 14 Jun 10
United States: Ottawa to study effects of climate change on coasts
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/ottawa-to-study-effects-of-climate-change-on-coasts/article1602775/?cmpid=rss1&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheGlobeAndMail-Front+%28The+Globe+and+Mail+-+Latest+News%29
Canadian Press: The federal government is trying to come up with ways to protect millions of dollars worth of vulnerable infrastructure and coastline, years after it was urged to adapt to the effects of climate change. Ottawa has solicited a study on how some of the 1,000 small craft harbours that are critical to the fishing industry could be affected by rising sea levels, storm surges and a loss of shorefast ice -- all linked to climate change. The call for proposals from the Department of ...

Mon, 14 Jun 10
Mood thaws on climate change
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2010/0614/1224272437597.html
Irish Times: IT WAS never going to be easy for the representatives of 184 countries meeting in Bonn last week to deal with the debris left scattered after the inconclusive result of last December`s UN climate change summit in Copenhagen. The drafting of its rather non-committal "accord" by the chosen few and its presentation at the eleventh hour on a take-it-or-leave-it basis generated enormous mistrust, especially among developing countries, and even threatened to undermine the United Nations ...

Mon, 14 Jun 10
United Kingdom: Tipping point: The throwaway society
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/tipping-point-the-throwaway-society-1999536.html
Independent (UK): The new government has a fair bit on its plate, you might think. There's the Â£6bn in public spending cuts to find. The eurozone is in a spin. And foreign policy priorities, like the war in Afghanistan, are being nudged by a wobble in the special relationship with America over the BP oil spill. The one thing to which you might expect they wouldn't have time to turn their minds is wheelie bins. But you would be wrong. Last week, David Cameron announced that he is throwing into ...

Mon, 14 Jun 10
Oil spill casts doubts on deep water exploration: analysts
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100613/bs_afp/usoilenvironmentpollutionenergydrilling
Agence France-Presse: The disaster caused by the Gulf of Mexico oil spill has cast doubts over the future of deep water exploration and is likely to have the long-term effect of raising oil prices, analysts say. British oil giant BP has struggled to stem the crude gushing from a ruptured underwater pipe after the Deepwater Horizon rig it leased exploded before sinking into the sea on April 22, causing a major environmental disaster. "The benefits of being able to drill and produce in deep and ...

Mon, 14 Jun 10
Wind turbines set out to conquer Sweden's great north
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100613/sc_afp/swedengermanyenvironmentenergywind
Agence France-Presse: While community opposition often blocks or hampers new wind power projects, Sweden has managed to break ground for Europe's largest wind park counting more than 1,000 giant turbines, with barely a whisper of protest. The secret? The giant Markbygden wind farm -- covering more than 500 square kilometres, or the equivalent of five times the size of Paris -- is being built in a virtually uninhabited, desolate stretch of Sweden's great north. "If I were to try the same thing in ...

Mon, 14 Jun 10
A Deepwater dividend
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jun/13/deepwater-dividend-post-oil-economy
Guardian: It is no accident that the government has seemed paralysed in responding to the Deepwater Horizon crisis, not knowing whether or not to defend BP in the face of politicians' and public opprobrium. The reason is that it is unable to understand that the root causes of the crisis are ideological. o blame or not blame BP is really not the point. BP must take its share of responsibility along with other US private companies involved. But the deeper lessons of the oil spill concern the ...

Mon, 14 Jun 10
Environmentalists Use Oil Spill as a Rallying Cry
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/14/business/energy-environment/14green.html
New York Times: The oil spill spreading through the Gulf of Mexico has been declared the worst environmental catastrophe ever in the United States. But for American environmentalists, the distress may also bring opportunity. Environmentalists are using the oil spill as a backdrop for fund-raising and to focus attention on related issues. "As Rahm Emanuel says, a disaster is a terrible thing to waste,' said Zygmunt J.B. Plater, a law professor at Boston College, paraphrasing a 2008 comment by ...

Mon, 14 Jun 10
Obama's Gulf oil spill ultimatum: Clock is ticking, what can BP do?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20100613/ts_csm/307664
Christian Science Monitor: Sun Jun 13, 8:36 am ET According to the Obama administration playbook, this is what keeping its boot on the neck of BP in the Gulf oil spill looks like. By the end of today, the administration has warned BP, the company must have a new and better plan for collecting more of the oil leaking from the well and into the Gulf of Mexico. The ultimatum was sent to BP in a letter Friday. Currently, BP is collecting 650,000 gallons of oil a day with its containment cap on the ...

Mon, 14 Jun 10
The BP oil spill's cruel toll of wildlife
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/jun/13/bp-spill-animals-cruelty-gulf
Guardian: BP has certainly shone an international spotlight on British business, but no one is applauding. In the US, it has more than the loss of human life, livelihoods and tourism to answer for. And so do the government inspectors who allowed the corporation to put profit before safety. If the criminal investigation of BP and those who signed off on the drill-site inspection sheets and safety assurances shows wilful fraud and deception, dereliction of duty, bribes or who knows what else, ...

Mon, 14 Jun 10
Canada: Harper pressured to put climate change on G8, G20 agenda
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Harper+pressured+climate+change+agenda/3149140/story.html
Vancouver Sun: It was described by Prime Minister Stephen Harper as a "sideshow," but international leaders are mounting pressure on the Canadian government to include climate change as a major issue on the agenda at upcoming G8 and G20 economic summits in Huntsville, Ont., and Toronto. "We are actively consulting our guests to prepare the agenda," Harper said last week in the House of Commons. "Obviously, a lot of subjects will be discussed, including some issues surrounding climate change. ...

Mon, 14 Jun 10
The Ahab Parallax: 'Moby Dick' and the Spill
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/13/weekinreview/13kennedy.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
New York Times: A specially outfitted ship ventures into deep ocean waters in search of oil, increasingly difficult to find. Lines of authority aboard the ship become tangled. Ambition outstrips ability. The unpredictable forces of nature rear up, and death and destruction follow in their wake. "Some fell flat on their faces," an eyewitness reported of the stricken crew. "Through the breach, they heard the waters pour." The words could well have been spoken by a survivor of the doomed oil rig ...

Mon, 14 Jun 10
NZ ambassador gets climate change job
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/3807302/NZ-ambassador-gets-climate-change-job
Stuff: New Zealand is one of the few countries to take a positive out of international climate change negotiations in Germany. Two weeks of talks concluded in Bonn on Friday. They were the first major United Nations event on climate change since last year's disappointing Copenhagen conference. Small steps were made to find a successor to the Kyoto Protocol agreement, which expires in 2012. New Zealand climate change ambassador Adrian Macey was elected vice-chairman of the Kyoto ...

Mon, 14 Jun 10
Spill relief well draws scrutiny
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100613/ap_on_bi_ge/us_gulf_oil_spill_relief_wells
Associated Press: In the chaotic days after the oil rig explosion, BP engineers and federal regulators desperate to plug the blown-out well scrambled to complete plans for a pair of deepwater relief wells that represent the best chance to end the disastrous spill in the Gulf of Mexico. But BP didn't begin drilling the relief well until 12 days after the start of the disaster as the company and government rushed through environmental reviews, permits and other plans. The government does not require oil ...

Mon, 14 Jun 10
Senators call on BP to set up $20B special account
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100613/ap_on_bi_ge/us_gulf_oil_spill_fund
Associated Press: Democratic senators want BP to set aside $20 billion to pay for cleanup and other costs from the Gulf oil spill. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., plans to send BP a letter on Monday proposing the account. That's two days before BP executives meet with President Barack Obama and three days before chief executive Tony Hayward testifies at a House hearing. A copy of the letter was released Sunday by Reid's office. BP has promised to pay for damages. But Obama also ...

Mon, 14 Jun 10
Malaysia: Fishermen express doubts about coal plant overlooking their fishing grounds
http://news.mongabay.com/2010/0613-hance_coal_fishermen.html
Mongabay: Local fishermen in the Malaysian state of Sabah are uncertain of their future, if the government pushes ahead to build a 300 megawatt coal power plant. They have been told they will be moved from their current seaside village to one deeper inland, and while the coal plant will provide manual labor work in its building stages, the fishermen express doubt about the impacts over the long-term effects of the coal plant on their livelihood. "Someone mentioned that maybe we have to move to ...

Mon, 14 Jun 10
The environment: Further clouded
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/f9e7e574-7716-11df-ba79-00144feabdc0,Authorised=false.html?_i_location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ft.com%2Fcms%2Fs%2F0%2Ff9e7e574-7716-11df-ba79-00144feabdc0.html&_i_referer=
Financial Times: Christiana Figueres startled delegates when she addressed the United Nations climate conference in Bonn last week: "I do not believe we will ever have a final agreement on climate change, certainly not in my lifetime," the Costa Rican diplomat told them. "If we ever have a final, conclusive, all-answering agreement, then we will have solved this problem. I don't think that's on the cards." Addressing the issue successfully would "require the sustained effort of those who will be here ...

Mon, 14 Jun 10
Hail the 21st-century Enlightenment. Ideas don't come much bigger
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jun/13/21st-century-enlightenment-revolution-mind
Guardian: We've had months of discussion (and confusion) about the Big Society, years of entertainment from Big Brother, so perhaps it's only timely that this week will see the launch of some Big Ideas. It makes a change to lift eyes from the detail of coalition agreements or the chances in the World Cup and take on board an analysis of the grand sweep of human history, new scientific insights into human nature, and how we can ensure our survival. This is the territory explored in a pamphlet calling ...

Mon, 14 Jun 10
Indonesian government's promise up in smoke: fires rise by 59 percent
http://news.mongabay.com/2010/0613-hance_indonesia_fire.html
Mongabay: The Indonesian government failed to live up to its promises to reduce fires across the tropical nation last year. Instead a 2009 State Environment Report showed a 59 percent rise of fire hotspots from 19,192 in 2008 to 32,416 last year, as reported by The Jakarta Post. Officials say land clearing was the primary cause of the fire increase in the tropical nation. Unlike temperate forest, rainforests rarely burn naturally. "Illegal land clearing with fires by local people in ...

Mon, 14 Jun 10
Australia: Labor needs aa practical, not a moral, approach to climate change
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/labor-needs-a-a-practical-not-a-moral-apporach-to-climate-change/story-e6frg6zo-1225879194778
Australian: NOW may seem a strange time for progressives to talk about renewing the climate change debate. With Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's abandonment of ETS legislation, climate change has ceased to be an urgent political concern. Those who hoped a Rudd government would deliver decisive action may justifiably feel frustration, if not despair. Little wonder there has been a surge of support for the Greens. Rebuilding the case for progressive climate change politics will naturally take ...

Mon, 14 Jun 10
Canada: Forum to explore Island's growing energy needs
http://www.timescolonist.com/technology/Forum%20explore%20Island%20growing%20energy%20needs/3148818/story.html
Times Colonist: Vancouver Island produces only a third of the electricity it uses, but becoming self-sufficient would require billions of dollars and controversial development of local power projects. However, few Islanders think about the source of power as they turn up the heat or switch on another light, says Lawrence Pitt, associate director of the University of Victoria-led Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions, which is hosting a two-day energy forum in Vancouver this week. "We all ...

Mon, 14 Jun 10
A new, improved outlook for biofuels
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/investment-ideas/a-new-improved-outlook-for-biofuels/article1598835/
Globe and Mail: The mania over ethanol as fuel didn't play out so well for investors last time, but there might be a new way to profit from the renewable energy industry as companies rush to commercialize what is being dubbed second-generation biofuel production. The big winners are expected to be enzyme makers, forest companies, and the agricultural sector. That's the view of a team of analysts at investment bank UBS, who have picked a handful of firms they believe will benefit if, as they ...

Mon, 14 Jun 10
Low-hanging fruit in the garden of evil environmentalism
http://www.stabroeknews.com/2010/features/06/13/forest-carbon-offsets-low-hanging-fruit-in-the-garden-of-evil-environmentalism/
Stabroek: Last week's column noted that the unprecedented and spectacular growth of the global carbon market in the space of a few years makes it one of the most dazzling symbols of the awesome power of market expansion contained in globalization. However, like its counterparts in financial, credit, and money markets, there are deep flaws embedded in the carbon market. As a result these threaten market rupture/failure, which could in turn provoke a crisis of such enormity as to put at risk the very ...

Mon, 14 Jun 10
Energy, climate woes won't be solved by cutting, burning trees
http://www.sacbee.com/2010/06/13/2817033/another-view-energy-climate-woes.html
Sacramento Bee: Re "We can harness green energy by managing California forests" (Viewpoints, June 6): In their May 17 letter to congressional leaders, 90 prominent scientists confirm that biomass energy can cause harm to our forests and our climate, showing that claims of benefits from biomass energy are false claims. Biomass energy production will cost more energy and produce more damage to the forests and climate. Forestry regulations and tax policies that encourage biomass energy will only ...

Mon, 14 Jun 10
Time to prepare for climate change
http://www.post-trib.com/news/opinion/2382894,hellmann0613.article
Post-Tribune: When it comes to climate change, the spinning -- by talking heads, politicians, and vested interests on all sides of the issue -- is enough to make anyone dizzy. It's easy to get bogged down in the politics of the moment and miss the big picture, especially when it comes to the scientific research that forced the whole debate in the first place. The scientific bottom line is this: Climate change is happening now, and human activity is causing it. We're already seeing the ...

Mon, 14 Jun 10
Parties point fingers over shelved climate scheme
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/06/13/2925889.htm
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: The Federal Government and the Greens are arguing over who is to blame for the failure of the emissions trading scheme (ETS) legislation. The decision to shelve the ETS has coincided with a dip in the polls for Labor and a lift for the Greens. But Labor MPs say they will use the election campaign to remind voters that Australia could have had an ETS in place if the Greens had supported the Government late last year. Government frontbencher Anthony Albanese says the ...

Mon, 14 Jun 10
How Obama decided to expand offshore oil drilling
http://www.kansascity.com/2010/06/13/2013244/how-obama-decided-to-expand-offshore.html
McClatchy Newspapers: Weeks before the world had ever heard of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, President Barack Obama stood in the Roosevelt Room of the White House poring over maps of oil drilling sites in the Gulf of Mexico, Alaska and elsewhere. Satisfied that he knew all he needed to know and confident that it was safe, he decided to propose expanded offshore drilling. "This is not a decision that I've made lightly," he said when he unveiled his proposal on March 31. "Oil rigs today ...

Mon, 14 Jun 10
US-British row over BP closed, ties 'excellent': Hague
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100613/wl_uk_afp/usoilpollutionenvironmentbpbritain
Agence France-Presse: British Foreign Secretary William Hague insisted on Sunday that relations with the United States were "excellent" as he sought to draw a line under strains over BP and the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. US President Barack Obama spoke to Prime Minister David Cameron on Saturday about his criticism of the British oil giant and assured him it had "nothing to do with national identity", amid fears it could stoke an anti-British backlash. Asked in a BBC interview on Sunday whether the ...

Mon, 14 Jun 10
Australia: Top insulators breached safety
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/politics/top-insulators-breached-safety/story-e6frgczf-1225878690610
Australian: THE top 100 businesses that received about $360 million from the government's insulation program had among the highest incidence of safety breaches, damning new figures reveal. The data, released under freedom of information laws to the Australia Institute, shows more than 70 per cent of the top firms, which insulated more than 270,000 homes, had fire safety problems.Only 2 per cent were fully compliant with safety and quality standards. The figures were gathered in an audit of 12,913 ...

Mon, 14 Jun 10
Australia: Insulation plan inspections may need to double
http://www.theage.com.au/national/insulation-plan-inspections-may-need-to-double-20100612-y4rr.html
Age: THE Federal Government has conceded it could have to examine up to twice as many homes for dodgy insulation as first thought amid suggestions its original estimate of 150,000 inspections is too low. Documents obtained by the Australia Institute under freedom of information laws reveal that the Government was told in a consultant's report in late February that it would need to inspect at least 212,000 houses to be 70 per cent confident of identifying non-compliant ...

Mon, 14 Jun 10
United Kingdom: Does money grow in wind farms?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/7823681/Does-money-grow-in-wind-farms.html
Telegraph: From the summit of Plynlimon, in the deep country of the Cambrian Mountains, there is a 70-mile panorama of the Cader range, hill after green-blue hill stretching into the distance, from the peaks around Bala to the shores of Cardigan Bay. It was a view that caught the breath. It still does, in a different way. The view from Plynlimon now is of more than 200 wind turbines, nearly a tenth of Britain's onshore total, stretching across ridge-lines, dominating near and far horizons. The ...

Mon, 14 Jun 10
India: Climate change to hit the poor most in Orissa
http://www.orissadiary.com/ShowOriyaColumn.asp?id=19083
Orissa Diary: The Climate change has been taking place throughout the country in the last one decade. It has been specially intensified in the past three years. It's pace has been faster in the mineral rich states like Odisha and Jharkhand due to various reasons. Due to the climate change, we have witnessed advancement or post-ponement of all the seasons and the seasonal characteristic has been intensified. The winter has become more colder and the summer has become more hotter while abnormal rains ...

Mon, 14 Jun 10
Gulf spill helps revive left-for-dead energy legislation
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-energy-congress-20100613,0,3636824.story
LA Times: Passing a major energy bill seemed virtually impossible a few weeks ago, but Democrats, bolstered by public anger over the gulf oil spill, are pushing for legislation with renewed hope of success. A new energy bill could be shorn of its most controversial feature -- the costly and complex "cap-and-trade" system, which would set a declining limit on emissions from power plants and factories and force emitters to buy permits for the release of heat-trapping gases. But even ...

Mon, 14 Jun 10
Homes waste watts of power, study finds
http://www.jsonline.com/business/96229054.html
Journal Sentinel: In one of the first studies of its kind, energy researchers in Madison have uncovered a simple way that most consumers can save on their electric bills: pull the plug. The researchers set up more than 700 in-home metering devices in about 50 homes to monitor the proliferation of electronic devices in our homes, and how they affect our energy use. Thirty years ago, federal data shows, a typical home had about three plugged-in devices. The new study shows our wall sockets are ...

Mon, 14 Jun 10
Oil spill is good argument for better mileage, vehicles
http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20100613/EDIT05/306139946/1147/EDIT07
Journal Gazette: What do we do after BP fixes the gusher in the Gulf of Mexico -- days, weeks or months from now? We tell them what to do with the rest of their oil: Keep it in the ground. The Gulf spill is an environmental disaster that will happen again until we cut our addiction to oil. How do we wean ourselves? We toughen our fuel-economy and emissions standards so that automakers move beyond cars that depend on oil. President Obama was right to suspend new drilling. He should make that a ...

Mon, 14 Jun 10
Cape lobster industry faces crisis
http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100613/NEWS/6130340/-1/NEWSMAP
Cape Cod Times: In what could be the first major economic blow to local fisheries pinned on global warming, regulators are contemplating shutting down the lobster industry from Buzzards Bay to Long Island Sound for five years due to a drastic population drop brought on by temperature changes of just a few degrees in inshore waters. Lobstermen south of Cape Cod have seen their catches nosedive for the past decade, from more than 20 million pounds in 1997 to less than 5 million last year. In the past, ...

Mon, 14 Jun 10
United Kingdom: Housebuyers shun extra Â£50,000 bill for zero carbon
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/construction_and_property/article7148904.ece
Times (UK): CHRIS ENDSOR has a problem. His firm, Miller Homes, has just built some of Britain's greenest houses, stacked to the rafters with environmental gadgets and gizmos. Now that he is trying to sell them, however, he is on course to make a loss. The four bedroom properties for sale at Merton Rise in Basingstoke look much like any other new homes. But inside they are loaded with insulation and equipped with a boiler that is powered by biomass. The roofs are fitted with 35 square metres of ...

Sun, 13 Jun 10
Obama heads to disaster zone, Coast Guard warns BP
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100613/ts_alt_afp/usoilpollutionenvironment
Agence France-Presse: US and British leaders sought to ease tensions amid sharpened rhetoric over the expanding oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, as President Barack Obama readied to take matters into his own hands. As political pressure mounts over his handling of the worst environmental disaster in US history, Obama will make his fourth visit to the disaster zone Monday with a two-day trip to Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. The US Coast Guard meanwhile piled pressure on BP giving the embattled ...

Sun, 13 Jun 10
Coast Guard to BP: Speed it up, stop the spill
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100613/ap_on_bi_ge/us_gulf_oil_spill
Associated Press: The Coast Guard has demanded that BP step up its efforts to contain the oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico by the end of the weekend, telling the British oil giant that its slow pace in stopping the spill is becoming increasingly alarming as the disaster fouled the coastline in ugly new ways Saturday. The Coast Guard sent a testy letter to BP's chief operating officer that said the company urgently needs to pick up the pace and present a better plan to contain the spill by the time ...

Sun, 13 Jun 10
Tide of anger may turn an ecological tragedy into a political nightmare
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/13/ecological-tragedy-political-disaster
Guardian: The anger is palpable in the southern Louisiana towns where livelihoods are being slowly and inexorably choked by oil. Pickup trucks with "BP sucks" scrawled on their panels bounce along the roads. Anti-BP rallies are planned this weekend in communities too small to rate a petrol station but which now sport giant billboards advertising law firms touting for people who want to sue the oil giant for compensation. Locals in Plaquemines, a long spit of marshy land between the Gulf of Mexico and ...

Sun, 13 Jun 10
BP is just a symptom of a dangerous addiction to oil
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/jun/13/bp-britishness-not-most-important-issue
Guardian: President Obama's attacks on "British Petroleum" and its chief executive, Tony Hayward, are deeply unedifying. Not because of the hypocrisy and misinformation involved, though there is plenty of that: BP has not been called British Petroleum for years and its controversial dividend is denominated in US dollars. Nancy Pelosi, the House Speaker, conjured up images of pound notes flowing into pinstriped pockets in the City when she suggested shareholders had "deeper pockets" than ...

Sun, 13 Jun 10
We must abandon oil before it's too late
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jun/13/bp-energy-oil-recession-economy
Guardian: How much should we worry about running out of oil? Of late, there have been disparate predictions for our oil reserves, with some claiming that oil will last us for decades. In fact, the question is not so much: "When will there be no more oil left for us to take?" but, rather: "When will demand outstrip production?" And that could happen sooner than most people realise. This is an issue that governments around the world, including our own, are ignoring despite the potential risk to our ...

Sun, 13 Jun 10
UN climate talks ends with some progress amid rifts on "imbalanced text"
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2010-06/13/c_13347669.htm
Xinhua: "Imbalance" became the key word on the last day of the UN (the United Nations) climate talks in Bonn, as delegates criticized a new blueprint for a UN legally- binding climate treaty on Friday. However, the split could not cover some progress made during the past 12 days, even it might be just a little. Although a widely-accepted treaty still seemed unlikely this year and debates among parties were heated as usual, a positive atmosphere is restored in the two-week conference, the ...

Sun, 13 Jun 10
A Vital River Is Withering, and Iraq Has No Answer
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/13/science/earth/13shatt.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
New York Times: The Shatt al Arab, the river that flows from the biblical site of the Garden of Eden to the Persian Gulf, has turned into an environmental and economic disaster that Iraq's newly democratic government is almost powerless to fix. Withered by decades of dictatorial mismanagement and then neglect, by drought and the thirst of Iraq's neighbors, the river formed by the convergence of the Tigris and the Euphrates no longer has the strength the keep the sea at bay. The salt water of ...

Sun, 13 Jun 10
India: Gujarat fails to submit action plan on climate change
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Gujarat-fails-to-submit-action-plan-on-climate-change/633084
Indian Express: Gujarat has failed to submit the state action plan on climate change to the Centre despite being granted two quarterly extensions. The revelation came during a media discussion with Srikanta Panigrahi, Advisor to the Prime Minister on National Strategic Knowledge and Missions on Climate Change. Panigrahi was in the city for a seminar on investment opportunities in urban infrastructure in Gujarat under the aegis of Confederation of Indian Industry and six municipal corporations here on ...

Sun, 13 Jun 10
Florida Skips Offshore Oil Binge but Still Pays for It
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/13/us/13florida.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
New York Times: When rigs first started drilling for oil off Louisiana's coast in the 1940s, Floridians scanned their shoreline, with its resorts and talcum-white beaches, and said, No thanks. Go ahead and drill, they told other Gulf Coast states; we'll stick with tourism. Now that invisible wall separating Florida from its neighbors has been breached. The spreading BP oil spill has already reached the Panhandle, and if it rides currents to the renowned reefs and fishing holes on both Florida ...

Sun, 13 Jun 10
U.S. tells BP to devise better leak response in 48 hours
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100612/ts_nm/us_oil_spill_watson
Reuters: A top U.S. Coast Guard official has told BP Plc the company's plans to contain the gushing oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico do not go far enough or contain enough back-up measures. "BP must identify in the next 48 hours additional leak containment capacity that could be operationalized and expedited," Coast Guard Rear Admiral James Watson said in a letter to BP dated June 11. Watson, the federal on-scene coordinator for spill response, noted estimates of the amount of oil ...

Sun, 13 Jun 10
United States: Brown continues to be criticized on climate resolution
http://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/2010/06/brown_continues.html
Boston Globe: A liberal non-profit is continuing to hammer away at Senator Scott Brown for supporting an effort to limit federal regulation of greenhouse gases. Americans United for Change is launching a new TV ad, which will air this weekend in the Boston market, including during Game 5 of the NBA Finals when many in Massachusetts will be tuning in for the Celtics-Lakers game. The $50,000 spot, called "Flow," will also air on CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, ESPN, and USA. "Even with disaster on our ...

Sun, 13 Jun 10
Companies Cut Costs With Sustainable Policies
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/12/business/energy-environment/12sustain.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
New York Times: As the world's greatest soccer players take to the fields at the FIFA World Cup in South Africa, many are wearing jerseys made almost entirely from plastic bottles rescued from landfills in Japan and Taiwan. It is, if nothing else, good publicity for Nike, the maker of the jerseys and the official sponsor of nine teams, including the United States, Brazil and Portugal. Yet what many might view as a gimmick is also part of a broadening effort by the company to incorporate ...

Sun, 13 Jun 10
EPA comes under increased fire from Texas
http://www.star-telegram.com/2010/06/11/2258981/epa-comes-under-increased-fire.html
Star-Telegram: The war between Texas and the Environmental Protection Agency escalated on dual fronts Friday as two prominent industry groups announced plans to sue the agency and Texas ranchers warned of a devastating economic backlash because of the EPA's polices on greenhouse gases. The latest developments expanded a state-federal confrontation that pits Gov. Rick Perry and state environmental regulators against ramped-up air quality enforcement by EPA's Dallas-based regional administrator, Al ...

Sun, 13 Jun 10
GM plans to focus on greener engines
http://www.shanghaidaily.com/sp/article/2010/201006/20100612/article_439925.htm
Shanghai Daily: GENERAL Motors Corp yesterday announced plans to introduce more fuel efficient models into China with the aim of reducing fuel consumption by 15 percent over the next five years. Following a similar plan launched in 2008, the 2011-2015 Green Product Strategy launched by GM's Chinese venture will include 12 new engines, focusing on small displacements, such as a 1.5-liter VVT engine and 1.4-liter turbocharged engine. Shanghai GM said its goal is to reduce fuel consumption and ...

Sun, 13 Jun 10
Trees shift upward as climate warms, data show
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/06/11/BAVN1DRUGU.DTL
San Francisco Chronicle: The world's warming climate is forcing trees and the plant life around them into new territories where the environment is more like the areas where they normally thrive, scientists report from a new global survey. Some forests and groups of vegetation have begun moving upward to higher elevations, or northward to higher latitudes to meet the climate change, while others in areas that are drying are shifting southward toward greater sources of moisture, the researchers say. In ...

Sun, 13 Jun 10
Europe, US to see snowy, cold winters
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iQqpr0spiRO2CJ42iV5GHv-1Ox4Q
Agence France-Presse: Europe, North America and east Asia can expect more cold, moist and snowy winters such as the one just passed, a top scientist said Friday. While it may seem counter-intuitive, warmer Arctic climes caused by climate change influence air pressure at the North Pole, shifting wind patterns in such a way as to boost cooling over adjacent swathes of the planet. "Cold and snowy winters will be the rule rather than the exception," said James Overland of the US National Oceanic and ...

Sun, 13 Jun 10
Brussels seeks to tighten rules on biofuels
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/816a6222-748f-11df-b3f1-00144feabdc0,Authorised=false.html?_i_location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ft.com%2Fcms%2Fs%2F0%2F816a6222-748f-11df-b3f1-00144feabdc0.html&_i_referer=
Financial Times: The European Commission on Thursday sought to tighten standards for biofuels, amid concerns that their production may be contributing to the environmental degradation they were supposed to ease. Under a plan proposed by GÃ¼nther Oettinger, the energy commissioner, biofuels will require certification to ensure that their production does not result in the felling of tropical rainforests, draining of wetlands or would damage the environment or result in excessive greenhouse gas ...

Sun, 13 Jun 10
West Africans rue rising seas as climate talks stall
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE65A29720100611
Reuters: When the ocean swallowed up their homes, it also divided the people of this sleepy Ivorian fishing village -- half of them moved inland, the other half stayed to brave the waves. Picking through the decaying, algae-caked shell of a concrete house that was ruined years ago by the advancing Atlantic, fisherman Jack Baueur said he had no regrets. "It would have been too hard to leave," he said. "We were born here. We don't want to start a life somewhere else. We're going to stay ...

Sun, 13 Jun 10
United States: Emission study undercuts biomass benefits
http://www.pressherald.com/news/emission-study-undercuts-biomass-benefits_2010-06-12.html
Portland Press Herald: Maine's nine wood-fired power plants may be threatened by a new study that concludes that cutting trees to generate electricity can release more greenhouse gases than burning coal. The study says the net emissions of greenhouse gases from biomass would be 3 percent greater than from coal by 2050. The conclusion is based on the amount of carbon dioxide released from harvesting and burning the wood, and the amount of the gas that's absorbed from the atmosphere by living ...

Sun, 13 Jun 10
Pa. quietly pulls back solar tax credit
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/front_page/20100612_Pa__quietly_pulls_back_solar_tax_credit.html#axzz0qdTIavIg
Philadelphia Inquirer: For a state that says it's trying to encourage more alternative-energy use, this is not an especially proud development. Which may explain why Pennsylvania put out no news releases and held no news conferences about it. In fact, physician Mark Lounsbury said it was his own phone call to the state Department of Revenue a few weeks back that led him to a disheartening discovery: The state tax credit approved for a $75,000 photovoltaic system he added to his Chadds Ford home would not be ...

Sun, 13 Jun 10
Hope for Cancun only if nations sort out issues, says Yvo de Boer
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics/nation/Hope-for-Cancun-only-if-nations-sort-out-issues-says-Yvo-de-Boer/articleshow/6039241.cms
Economic Times: A successful outcome at the climate change conference in Cancun will only be possible if there is full fledged agreement on issues like adaptation, mitigation, technology and finance. This is what the outgoing UNFCCC chief Yvo de Boer would like countries to focus on "" agreements that are "actionable"Â and "operational in the context of shared vision."Â Addressing his final press conference at Bonn, the climate chief said, "For Cancun to succeed we need to get our heads around ...

Sat, 12 Jun 10
The Spill, The Scandal and the President
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/17390/111965?RS_show_page=0
Rolling Stone: President Obama in Port Fourchon, Louisiana, May 28, 2010. McNamee/Getty By Tim Dickinson Jun 08, 2010 4:30 PM EDT This article originally appeared in RS 1107 from June 24, 2010. On May 27th, more than a month into the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history, Barack Obama strode to the podium in the East Room of the White House. For weeks, the administration had been insisting that BP alone was to blame for the catastrophic oil spill in the Gulf – and the ongoing ...

Sat, 12 Jun 10
UN's 'IPCC for nature' to fight back against destruction of natural world
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/11/un-ipcc-for-nature-biodiversity
Guardian: World governments voted last night to set up a major new international body to spearhead the battle against the destruction of the natural world. With growing concern about the human impacts of destruction of habitats and species from around the world, from riots over food shortages and high prices, to worsening floods, and global climate change, more than 80 governments voted to take action in the final hours of a week-long conference in Busan, South Korea. The ...

Sat, 12 Jun 10
Campaigners urge Huhne to stand by contraction and convergence pledge
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2264654/campaigners-urge-huhne-stand
Business Green: A group of climate scientists and campaigners has this week written to Energy and Climate Change Secretary calling him to stand by Liberal Democrat manifesto pledges to push for an ambitious international climate treaty based on the contraction and convergence emission reduction model. The letter was orchestrated by former MP and chair of the all party climate change parliamentary group Colin Challen, and signed by a host of leading scientists and campaigners, including chair of the ...

Sat, 12 Jun 10
Critics slam new climate change proposal in Bonn
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5i9TuMrvrknh-ZXwqmZ2N-48kff3wD9G954MO0
Associated Press: Developing nations on Friday sharply criticized a new document put forth by negotiators at U.N. climate talks, and environmentalists said it did not reflect much progress in efforts to battle global warming. As two weeks of talks in Bonn drew to a close, the chair of a negotiating group, Margaret Mukahanana-Sangarwe, published her proposal for a new compromise text. While it mentions all issues relevant to keeping Earth from overheating -- from cutting greenhouse gases to ...

Sat, 12 Jun 10
Can Senate get climate change bill done?
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/06/11/climate.change.legislation/
CNN: A key Republican senator, instrumental in climate change negotiations in the Senate, has indicated that getting a bill passed this year with bipartisan support is a priority. But with a sharply divided Senate and other issues such as financial reform and jobs likely to take up the rest of this year's agenda, getting the legislation through the chamber could prove difficult. Sen. Lindsey Graham, though, is holding out hope. "What I don't want to do is leave the Congress ...

Sat, 12 Jun 10
54% - Post Spill, Still Drill?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/pew/20100611/ts_pew/54postspillstilldrill
PEW: Most Americans (55%) consider the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico to be a major environmental disaster, but a majority (54%) also favors increasing offshore drilling in U.S. waters. In the wake of the spill, however, support for more offshore drilling is down. Fully 68% favored increased drilling in April 2009 and 63% wanted to drill more in February 2010. The drop off in support has come from Democrats and independents; pro-drilling sentiment feel by 13 points among both groups, and is now ...

Sat, 12 Jun 10
Obama survives test vote on climate change authority
http://www.hindustantimes.com/Obama-survives-test-vote-on-climate-change-authority-/Article1-556134.aspx
Indo-Asian News Service: The US Senate Thursday voted down a Republican-led effort to strip President Barack Obama of the ability to regulate greenhouse-gas emissions blamed for global warming. But the narrow 53-47 vote, which attracted the support of some prominent Democrats, sent a signal to Obama over how difficult it will be to get major climate and energy reforms through Congress. The Senate resolution would have overturned a so-called "endangerment finding" by the Environmental Protection Agency ...

Sat, 12 Jun 10
Peter Gorrie: How to get climate change on the G20 agenda
http://www.thestar.com/news/insight/article/821965--peter-gorrie-how-to-get-climate-change-on-the-g20-agenda
Toronto Star: Reporters tapping out G20 stories beside beautiful Lake Harper will devote little, if any, of their word count to climate change. Since our Prime Minister has virtually excised the issue from the summit agenda, any mention of it will concern absence rather than progress. Meanwhile, the latest United Nations talks on reducing greenhouse gas emissions -- and somehow reviving the corpse of the Kyoto Protocol -- are limping to a close in Bonn, Germany, with the body continuing to ...

Sat, 12 Jun 10
Global warming spells doom for Asia's rivers
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/global-warming-spells-doom-for-asias-rivers-1997571.html
Agence France-Presse: The livelihood of thousands of Tibetans living on China's highest plateau is under threat as global warming and environmental degradation dry up water sources for three mighty Asian rivers, experts say. Dwindling glaciers and melting permafrost in the mountains surrounding the fragile Qinghai-Tibet plateau are leading to erosion of grasslands and wetlands, threatening the watershed of the Yangtze, Yellow and Mekong rivers. One prominent US environmental campaigner has even ...

Sat, 12 Jun 10
Plenty of Gulf volunteers, not enough work to do
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100611/ap_on_bi_ge/us_oil_spill_volunteers
Associated Press: The Gulf of Mexico oil spill has brought out thousands of people who just want to help -- though there isn't much for them to do unless they own a Hazmat suit. Directors of charities and BP PLC -- the company responsible for cleaning up the spill unleashed after the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded April 20 -- say the outpouring has been huge among people with vivid memories of Hurricane Katrina five years ago. However, cleaning oiled birds and tar-stained beaches isn't ...

Sat, 12 Jun 10
New Oil Estimates Show Spill Rate Much Higher
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127760703&ft=1&f=1025
National Public Radio: The federal government has come up with a new estimate of the size of the Gulf oil spill. The figures indicate the blown-out well may have spewed as much as 2.1 million gallons of oil per day. The estimate indicates the leak already has put 4 to 8 times more oil into the water than the Exxon Valdez spill.

Sat, 12 Jun 10
World Takes 'Baby Steps' Toward Treaty at UN Talks in Bonn
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-06-11/world-takes-baby-steps-toward-treaty-at-un-talks-in-bonn.html
Bloomberg: Climate change envoys inched toward an eventual treaty, narrowing gaps between industrialized and developing nations during two weeks of global-warming talks that conclude today in Bonn. The draft negotiating text limits alternatives from a document published in May. The proposal seeks to limit warming since industrialization began to 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) or 1.5 degrees, eliminating a prior option of 1 degree. Options on emissions cuts were also eliminated. The document, ...

Sat, 12 Jun 10
Asian rivers face mixed futures
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science_and_environment/10288943.stm
BBC: Melting glaciers in the Himalayas will have varying impacts on the region's five major river basins, a study says. Changes to the flow of meltwater as a result of global warming is likely to have a "severe" impact on food security in some areas, say scientists. Yet people living elsewhere are likely to see food productivity increase, they added in a paper published in Science. Overall, the food security of 4.5% of 1.4bn people in the region is threatened, the researchers ...

Sat, 12 Jun 10
Senate trashes Murkowski resolution
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2264605/senate-trashes-murkowski
Business Green: Alaskan senator Lisa Murkowski's resolution to stop the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from regulating carbon emissions died on the Senate floor yesterday, after congressional leaders voted 53-47 against the controversial proposal. However, in a blow to the administration's authority six Democrats voted for the controversial resolution, which would have prevented the EPA using the Clean Air Act as a tool to regulate carbon emissions. The agency was instructed by the ...

Sat, 12 Jun 10
Japan unfurls solar sail in orbit
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science_and_environment/10293284.stm
BBC: Japanese scientists are celebrating the successful deployment of their solar sail, Ikaros. The 200-sq-m (2,100-sq-ft) membrane is attached to a small disc-shaped spacecraft that was put in orbit last month by an H-IIA rocket. Ikaros will demonstrate the principle of using sunlight as a simple and efficient means of propulsion. The technique has long been touted as a way of moving spacecraft around the Solar System using no chemical fuels. The mission team will be ...

Sat, 12 Jun 10
Indonesia: RI to receive first $200 million grant from Norway
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/06/11/ri-receive-first-200-million-grant-norway.html
Jakarta Post: Indonesia will receive the first US$200 million in grants from Norway between 2010 and 2011, as part of the $1 billion grant to reduce emissions from deforestation, a minister said. In the agreement, Norway has pledged to disburse the money in three phases: Capacity building, in which the government will set up an oversight agency; a pilot project, in which the government will select one forest; and nationwide, in which the government will reduce emissions from forests ...

Sat, 12 Jun 10
Protected forests burn more
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn19030-protected-forests-burn-more.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=climate-change
New Scientist: Here is a paradox for those trying to save the rainforests. Reducing the rate of deforestation often makes the number of forest fires go up. Yes, up. The finding came from a study of satellite images of Amazonia by Luiz AragÃƒÂ£o of the University of Exeter, UK, and Yosio Shimabukuro at the National Institute of Space Research in SÃƒÂ£o Paulo, Brazil (Science, vol 328, p 1275). Pristine forests and farmed areas are largely fire-free. But fires proliferate in half-destroyed forests, where ...

Sat, 12 Jun 10
United Kingdom: Climate change scepticism is on the rise
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2010/06/11/climate-change-scepticism-is-on-the-rise-91466-26631180/
Western Mail: CLIMATE change scepticism is on the rise as people grow suspicious of scientists` forecasts and motives, Welsh researchers have found. In a major study published today, the team of Cardiff University academics discovered that 22% of the population either did not know or did not believe the world`s climate is changing. Five years ago, that figure stood at just 9%. The findings pose a problem for environmentalists wanting to hit home the message that climate change poses a ...

Sat, 12 Jun 10
Can whiter clouds reduce global warming?
http://www.usatoday.com/weather/research/2010-06-10-cloud-whitening_N.htm
USA Today: The U.S. must triple its investment in clean energy research to compete in the new global industry, a group of business executives including Bill Gates said Thursday. Gates said his work as co-chairman of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which focuses on education and health initiatives for the world's poorest people, has led him to clean energy. "The climate impact will wholly fall on them" and will be measured "in deaths," he said. The group, the American Energy ...

Sat, 12 Jun 10
Coral islands left high and dry
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/features/coral-islands-left-high-and-dry/story-e6frg6z6-1225878132101
Australian: THE globetrotting leaders of Pacific islands who have attained international celebrity - especially in Europe - over the slow drowning of their homelands, are in a state of shock. The latest research indicates that most of the Pacific's low-lying islands are growing, not shrinking. And this week leaders of Tuvalu and Kiribati, the nations most often cited as the victims of inundation, struggled to respond to these findings: good news for their countrymen but an awkward message ...

Sat, 12 Jun 10
Amid oil leak, business leaders urge clean energy investment, research
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/environment/jan-june10/oil2_06-10.html
PBS: Transcript JUDY WOODRUFF: Well, joining us now are two business executives who met with the president this afternoon, John Doerr, a venture capitalist known for his investments in Silicon Valley and companies like Google, Amazon and Sun Microsystems. He's a partner with the firm of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. And Chad Holliday, former chair and CEO of DuPont, he is now chairman of the board of directors of Bank of America. And, for the record, the bank is an ...

Sat, 12 Jun 10
Oil spill alters climate change bill
http://phoenix.bizjournals.com/phoenix/stories/2010/06/07/daily58.html
Phoenix Business Journal: The catastrophic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has given new momentum to climate change legislation, but capping carbon emissions still faces a difficult road in the Senate. President Barack Obama pointed to the "inherent risks to drilling 4 miles beneath the surface of the Earth' as a reason to "aggressively accelerate' the nation's transition to a "clean energy economy.' The only way to do this, he said, is "putting a price on carbon pollution' so that "capital comes off the ...

Fri, 11 Jun 10
U.S. doubles upper estimate for BP oil leak
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE65965T20100610?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29
Reuters: U.S. scientists on Thursday doubled their high-end estimate of the amount of crude oil flowing from BP Plc's stricken Gulf of Mexico well. They said between 20,000 and 40,000 barrels (840,000 and 1.7 million gallons/3.2 million and 6.4 million liters) of oil flowed from the well before June 3, when BP's remotely operated robots sawed through an underwater pipe to clear the way for a capping procedure. The cutting of the pipe likely increased the flow, but BP says it has ...

Fri, 11 Jun 10
UK grows more skeptical on climate change: poll
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE65968620100610?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29
Reuters: Britain has become more skeptical about climate change, more supportive of nuclear power, and more worried about depending on energy imports, a poll by Cardiff University on Friday showed. Although the majority still believed climate change was happening, the percentage slipped compared to a similar study conducted five years ago, while worries about energy security and power costs were high, according to the report. "The results do show a rise in those who hold doubts about ...

Fri, 11 Jun 10
Resolution on greenhouse gases fails, could boost energy bill
http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20100610/ts_csm/307288
Christian Science Monitor: Democrats and environmentalists took satisfaction in the defeat in the US Senate Thursday of a resolution that would have stripped the Environmental Protection Agency of its authority to regulate greenhouse gases. The defeat – 47 votes to 53 – was a boost for supporters of comprehensive energy-climate legislation. Sens. John Kerry (D) of Massachusetts and Joseph Lieberman (I) of Connecticut have floated such legislation, but it won't be considered until next month. "The Senate ...

Fri, 11 Jun 10
New U.N. climate text omits deepest 2050 carbon cuts
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6596C220100610?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29
Reuters: Negotiators from 185 nations end two weeks of talks on a new climate treaty on Friday with a new blueprint for a pact that omits the most draconian options for greenhouse gas cuts by 2050. The streamlined 22-page draft also cuts all references in a previous text to "Copenhagen," the host city for a U.N. summit in December that fell short of a binding deal to slow a rise in temperatures blamed for heatwaves, floods and rising sea levels. The May 31-June 11 talks are the biggest ...

Fri, 11 Jun 10
Climate campaigners win police payout
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/climate-campaigners-win-police-payout-1997472.html
Independent (UK): Police have agreed to compensate three people, including 13-year-old twins, who were unlawfully stopped and searched during a climate camp demonstration two years ago. The brother and sister, then 11, were awarded more than Â£1,000 for being confronted by officers as they protested against plans to build replacement coal-fired units at Kingsnorth power station in Kent in August 2008. Police also apologised to 3,500 activists who were stopped and searched at airport-style checkpoints ...

Fri, 11 Jun 10
Senate defeats bid to limit EPA authority to regulate emissions
http://news.yahoo.com/s/mcclatchy/20100611/sc_mcclatchy/3532467
McClatchy Newspapers: The Senate Thursday defeated 53-47 an effort to limit the Environmental Protection Agency's authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, and President Barack Obama said the vote was a reminder of the need to pass more comprehensive climate change legislation. Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski's measure was backed by six Democrats and all 41 Republicans. Had Congress passed it, the White House said earlier this week that Obama would have vetoed it anyway, adding that the ...

Fri, 11 Jun 10
Obama's greenhouse gas rules survive Senate vote
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100611/ap_on_bi_ge/us_greenhouse_gases
Associated Press: In a boost for the president on global warming, the Senate on Thursday rejected a challenge to Obama administration rules aimed at cutting greenhouse gas emissions from power plants and other big polluters. The defeated resolution would have denied the Environmental Protection Agency the authority to move ahead with the rules, crafted under the federal Clean Air Act. With President Barack Obama's broader clean energy legislation struggling to gain a foothold in the Senate, the vote ...

Fri, 11 Jun 10
U.S. doubles Gulf oil spill estimate
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6573FD20100611?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29
Reuters: U.S. government scientists on Thursday doubled their estimate of the amount of oil gushing out of a ruptured Gulf of Mexico oil well as British energy giant BP scrambled to stem the leak. The news that the flow rate may be as high 40,000 barrels (1.68 million gallons/6.36 million liters) per day came after U.S. markets closed. BP shares closed 6.65 percent down in London at 365.50 pence while in New York they rebounded from 14-year lows to end 12.3 percent higher at ...

Fri, 11 Jun 10
Solomon Islands appeals for climate agreement in time for Cancun
http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/pacbeat/stories/201006/s2924543.htm
Radio Australia: It's the last day of the UN Climate Change Forum talks in Bonn, Germany and hopes are fading of having a legally binding agreement in time for the next, major meeting in Cancun, Mexico next December. This latest gathering was expected to iron out some of the outstanding issues from the Copenhagen meeting. However, much of the dialogue has stalled over the part of the text dealing with land use and forestry. Speaking at the close of the second last day of negotiation ...

Fri, 11 Jun 10
UK steps up calls for EU to embrace tougher carbon target
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2264590/uk-steps-calls-eu-embrace
Business Green: Energy and climate change secretary Chris Huhne will today attend his first meeting of EU environment ministers where he is expected to reiterate the UK government's view that Europe should sign up to more ambitious emission reduction targets. The ministerial meeting in Luxembourg is scheduled to discuss new research from the European Commission, which suggests that the recession means that the cost of increasing the EU's emission reduction target for 2020 from 20 per cent to 30 per ...

Fri, 11 Jun 10
Governments look to ape IPCC model with biodiversity panel
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2264589/governments-look-ape-ipcc-model
Business Green: The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change may have had a rough ride in the press following the so-called "climategate" affair, but the model could yet be replicated by the UN as it looks to urgently improve biodiversity protection. An international meeting in South Korea is this week looking to wrap up the debate on the creation of an Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), which would follow the model laid down by the Intergovernmental Panel on ...

Fri, 11 Jun 10
Cheap solar cells scoop million-dollar prize
http://www.scidev.net/en/climate-change-and-energy/cheap-solar-cells-scoop-million-dollar-prize.html?utm_source=link&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=en_climatechangeandenergy
SciDev.Net: A flexible solar cell that could provide cheap energy for everyone has been awarded a prize worth EUR800,000 million (US$970,000). The Millennium Technology Prize, which recognises "technological innovation that is significantly improving the quality of human life today and in the future", was awarded to inventor Michael GrÃ¤tzel from the Lausanne Federal Polytechnic, Switzerland yesterday (9 June). "GrÃ¤tzel cells are likely to have an important role in low-cost, large-scale ...

Fri, 11 Jun 10
Never let a good oil spill go to waste
http://money.cnn.com/2010/06/10/news/economy/oil_spill_waste/index.htm?section=money_latest
CNN: That's paraphrasing White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel's supposed argument for sweeping reforms to the American economy amid the financial meltdown. Now many say lawmakers are doing just that with the oil spill: failing to enact sweeping energy reform to wean the nation off fossil fuels while the public is fixated on events in the Gulf. "This incident is a punctuation point," said Joseph Stanislaw, an independent energy adviser at Deloitte & Touche. "We've never had an ...

Fri, 11 Jun 10
EPA goes to industry to fix faulty Texas permits
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100610/ap_on_re_us/us_epa_vs_texas
Associated Press: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency offered on Thursday to work directly with Texas' petrochemical industry in an effort to fix permits it says have long violated the Clean Air Act. The EPA's offer is the latest in a drawn-out, public and politicized battle between the federal agency and Texas. The dispute evolved last month from a debate over pollution permitting into a pitched battle over states' rights, reaching the tipping point when the EPA threatened to remove Texas' ...

Fri, 11 Jun 10
Many Americans Still Believe In Global Warming: Poll
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1877674/many_americans_still_believe_in_global_warming_poll/index.html?source=r_science
redOrbit: Three out of four Americans believe that the Earth has been gradually warming as the result of human activity and want the government to institute regulations to stop it, according to a new survey by researchers at the Woods Institute for the Environment at Stanford University. The survey was conducted by Woods Institute Senior Fellow Jon Krosnick, a professor of communication and of political science at Stanford, with funding from the National Science Foundation. The results are ...

Fri, 11 Jun 10
Plastic's Future May Not Be In The Bag
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127600685&ft=1&f=1025
National Public Radio: Plastic bags may have become victims of their own success. Their very ubiquity -- an estimated 90 billion plastic bags are used in the United States each year -- has led to a small but growing number of jurisdictions discouraging their use through fees or outright bans. Last week, the California Assembly voted to approve the first statewide ban on both plastic and paper "single-use" bags. Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has said he'll sign the bill if it makes it to his desk. ...

Fri, 11 Jun 10
United Kingdom: Residents grill energy firm over wind farm
http://www.oxfordtimes.co.uk/news/8210181.Residents_grill_energy_firm_over_wind_farm/
Oxford Times: RESIDENTS were able to grill an energy company over its plans to build a windfarm on their doorstep. Green electricity company Ecotricity is considering building nine 79-metre-high turbines at Four Winds Farm, Upper Arncott, next to the M40. At an open meeting at Arncott Village Hall, people were given a peek at the proposals, which could see the turbines provide for more than 5,600 homes. Residents got the chance to find out facts about windfarms, ask questions of the ...

Fri, 11 Jun 10
Survival of poor nations at risk of climate is paramount
http://businessmirror.com.ph/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=26337:survival-of-poor-nations-at-risk-of-climate-is-paramount&catid=23:topnews&Itemid=58
Business Mirror: While many developed-country governments are scaling back expectations on clinching a comprehensive deal by the end of this year on tackling climate change, leaders of developing countries pressed their appeal for unity and urgent actions to mitigate the adverse effects of climate change to which their nations are most vulnerable. "Our survival is not negotiable. We need political will, and we should act now," said Collin Beck of the Solomon Islands and vice chairman of the Alliance ...

Thu, 10 Jun 10
BP takes Gulf oil spill heat, but what about other companies?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20100609/ts_csm/306991
Christian Science Monitor: In headlines and among the public, the environmental disaster in the Gulf of Mexico typically is referred to as "the BP oil spill." But, the oil giant will not be the only company facing legal battles, and it may not be the sole entity found responsible. So, why is BP taking all the heat for what has become the largest offshore oil spill in US history? The company has claimed full responsibility for both the spill and for whatever is necessary to clean up the oil that continues ...

Thu, 10 Jun 10
United Kingdom: WWF says government could save Â£100m by cutting flights
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2264494/wwf-government-save-100m
Business Green: Campaign group WWF will today advise the government that it could slash carbon emissions and save up to Â£100m by cutting the number of flights taken by civil servants over the next three years. The prediction forms the centrepiece of a new report, Excess Baggage: The case for reducing government flying, which argues that if the government followed its own recommendation that people avoid short haul flights that could be replaced by rail, it could cut the number of flights by 600,000, ...

Thu, 10 Jun 10
United Kingdom: Exclusive: Wind turbine firms slam certification "shambles"
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2264493/exclusive-wind-turbine-firms
Business Green: Small-scale wind turbine manufacturers have expressed growing frustration over delays to the government-backed certification scheme that is meant to underpin the newly introduced feed-in tariff incentive regime. Under the rules governing the feed-in tariff scheme, only wind turbines that have been independently approved by the government's Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) can qualify for feed-in tariff payments. However, despite the feed-in tariffs having been in the ...

Thu, 10 Jun 10
US senator offers scaled-back climate bill
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100609/pl_afp/usclimatewarmingcongress
Agence France-Presse: A Republican senator Wednesday offered a scaled-back plan to fight global warming, saying it was politically unrealistic for the United States to mandate cuts on carbon emissions in tough economic times. The proposal by Senator Richard Lugar would not create a "cap-and-trade" system requiring curbs in carbon -- a signature part of European efforts and a Democratic-led bill backed by President Barack Obama. Instead, the bill would focus on cutting US dependence on foreign oil by ...

Thu, 10 Jun 10
Two Canadian premiers back offshore drilling
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100609/wl_canada_nm/canada_us_offshore_premiers
Reuters: Two Canadian premiers still back offshore drilling despite the catastrophic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, arguing that tighter rules can prevent a repeat of the disaster. Danny Williams, the premier of Newfoundland and Labrador -- the only Canadian province that has offshore oil projects -- said on Wednesday that he has no plans to impose a moratorium on offshore drilling Indeed, provincial regulators allowed Chevron Corp to begin drilling a deepwater well in the North ...

Thu, 10 Jun 10
United Kingdom: Deep-water oil drilling: banned in America, allowed here
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/deepwater-oil-drilling-banned-in-america-allowed-here-1996227.html
Independent (UK): Oil companies have been given the go-ahead to press on with the hunt for oil and gas in the deep waters off the coast of Britain despite the environmental disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. BP, whose Deepwater Horizon rig has been spilling up to a million gallons of oil a day into the fragile waters off the southern United States, is leading the drive to exploit the North Sea's remaining hydrocarbons. The British Government has said it has no plans to follow the United States and Norway ...

Thu, 10 Jun 10
BP faces a new nightmare as oil causes Florida swimming ban
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/bp-faces-a-new-nightmare-as-oil-causes-florida-swimming-ban-1996127.html
Independent (UK): The environmental nightmare unleashed by the crippled BP oil well in the Gulf of Mexico crept further into the white-sand paradises of Florida yesterday with officials announcing a swimming ban along a six-mile stretch of popular lido while researchers warned of mass lay-offs in the state's all-important tourism sector this year. The damage being inflicted on BP itself meanwhile continued to worsen as shares in London fell another 4 per cent in nervous trading that reflected the ...

Thu, 10 Jun 10
Energy Secretary welcomes Republican climate bill
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6586TM20100609?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29
Reuters: Energy Secretary Steven Chu on Wednesday gave limited support to a Republican senator for introducing an alternative climate bill that would limit emissions by less than President Barack Obama wants to, but would also take steps to reduce U.S. dependence on oil. "In particular, I appreciate your ideas for reducing America's oil dependence -- which has taken on greater urgency as a result of the BP oil spill," Chu wrote in a letter to Senator Richard Lugar, who introduced the bill on ...

Thu, 10 Jun 10
Somalia: Charcoal Production Wreaks Environmental Havoc in Somalia
http://allafrica.com/stories/201006091119.html
MediaGlobal: For centuries Somali culture has been shaped by the weather. Forecasters, called "Xidaars," are the most respected members of communities. Using an ancient combination of Persian and African astronomy to herald the rain and warn of oncoming drought, they define the crop and livestock cycles for pastorally based Somali communities. Although Somalis are no strangers to devastating droughts, uncertainty about weather patterns are rising with the temperature. As the climate changes and ...

Thu, 10 Jun 10
Rich nations could increase emissions under pledge loopholes, UN data shows
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/09/rich-nations-increase-emissions-bonn
Guardian: Developing countries were today shocked by new UN data showing that rich nations will be able to increase their carbon emissions by up to 8% if they take advantage of a series of major loopholes in their pledges. Instead of reducing emissions by a minimum of 30-40% by 2020 and holding temperatures to a rise of 2C – as many campaigners hoped the Copenhagen climate summit in December would achieve – many rich countries would not need to make any domestic cuts to stay within the legal ...

Thu, 10 Jun 10
We're all to blame for the oil spill
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/jun/09/deepwater-horizon-oil-spill-responsibility-bp
Guardian: Who's to blame for the Gulf oil spill? Many commentators point the finger at BP and the United States government. This focus is understandable – but gives an incomplete picture of how moral responsibility is distributed in this kind of case. Getting a better idea of distribution is important for blame and punishment but also for prevention: we don't want this to happen again. Ascribing responsibility here can be knotty, owing to the wide range of actors involved in oil ...

Thu, 10 Jun 10
World at risk of "red card" over climate-de Boer
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE65843320100609?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29
Reuters: Climate negotiators gave a standing ovation to the outgoing head of the U.N. climate change secretariat Wednesday even after he told them they would be at risk of a red card in a soccer match for wasting time. Dutchman Yvo de Boer, who steps down from July 1 after four years in the job, said governments were doing too little to stick to a promise to limit a rise in world temperatures to below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 F) above pre-industrial times. In a farewell address at ...

Thu, 10 Jun 10
Swiss wins million-dollar prize for low-cost solar cells
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100609/sc_afp/finlandswitzerlandsciencetechnologyprize
Agence France-Presse: A Swiss professor who developed a low-cost solar power cell using cheap materials such as dye squeezed from berries won a million-dollar technology prize in Finland on Wednesday. Michael Graetzel, 66, won the Millennium Technology award for process of "artificial photosynthesis" to capture the sun's energy without need for an elaborate manufacturing process. The so-called "Graetzel's cell" is made from a layer of titanium dioxide nanoparticles, covered with a molecular dye that ...

Thu, 10 Jun 10
Biofuels from deforested land to fail EU standards
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6584FQ20100609?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29
Reuters: Palm oil grown on recently deforested land is unlikely to be acceptable for use in European biodiesel, a draft report from the European Commission shows. The decision aims to curb any environmental damage from biofuels and could limit future export markets for Asian producers such as Indonesia's PT SMART, Singapore's Wilmar and Malaysia's Sime and IOI Corp. The European Union aims to get 10 percent of its road fuels from renewable sources by 2020, and 7 percentage points are ...

Thu, 10 Jun 10
Lawmakers press Interior on drilling ban length
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100609/ts_nm/us_oil_spill_moratorium
Reuters: Lawmakers grilled Interior Secretary Ken Salazar on Wednesday about his department's six-month ban on deepwater drilling, a decision they said may cost the already battered Gulf of Mexico region thousands of jobs. The Obama administration halted exploratory drilling at depths of more than 500 feet and instituted more stringent safety rules in response to the April explosion of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig and subsequent oil spill. Lawmakers at a Senate Energy and Natural ...

Thu, 10 Jun 10
Cutting fuel subsidies will cut CO2 emissions: OECD
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100609/sc_afp/oecdenvironmentwarming
Agence France-Presse: Phasing out fossil fuel subsidies should cut greenhouse gas emissions by 10 percent from levels they would otherwise reach in 2050, the OECD said Wednesday. "Many governments are giving subsidies to fossil fuel production and consumption that encourage greenhouse gas emissions at the same time as they are spending on projects that promote clean energy," Angel Gurria, head of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, said in a statement. "This is a wasteful use ...

Thu, 10 Jun 10
Attack on climate scientist just latest in a long line
http://www.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/06/07/oreskes.climate.change/
CNN: Climate scientists are getting desperate. After years of enduring politically motivated attacks, they are still scrambling to defend their findings. In a letter last month to Science, 255 of the nation's most prominent scientists -- all members of the National Academy of Sciences, including 11 Nobel laureates -- repeat conclusions that by now should be entirely familiar, even tedious, to anyone who has followed the science at all. Our planet is warming because of increased greenhouse ...

Thu, 10 Jun 10
Oil spill ripples through Florida economy
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100609/us_nm/us_oil_spill_florida
Reuters: Gary Chernekoff doesn't own a restaurant, isn't a charter boat captain and doesn't work for a hotel or resort. But he is hurting. A plumber by trade, the Pensacola, Florida resident expected to have a busy and profitable summer. He had three big jobs lined up -- vacation homes being built in this summer tourist haven on the coast of the Florida Panhandle. It was more than enough work for a one-man operation. But the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico that began in ...

Thu, 10 Jun 10
Reporting on deforestation, pollution is dangerous
http://news.mongabay.com/2010/0609-rsf_deforestation_reporting.html
Mongabay: Journalists who report on deforestation and pollution are increasingly at risk of violence, imprisonment, or persecution, finds a new report released last week by Reporters Without Borders. High Risk Subjects: Deforestation and Pollution [PDF] reports on incidents involving journalists and bloggers who expose illegal logging, industrial pollution, and other environmental transgressions in Indonesia, Argentina, El Salvador, Gabon, India, Azerbaijan, China and Morocco. The attacks were ...

Thu, 10 Jun 10
American Concerns About Climate Change Climb
http://news.discovery.com/earth/american-concerns-about-climate-change-climb.html
Discovery News: To read the comments section of this blog and others, and to listen to the bitter vitriol routinely spewed by folks who seem to revel in arguing about global warming, you might think Americans are divided on what to do about it. Not so, at least according to a new poll of 1,024 adults in the U.S. performed by Yale University's Yale Project on Climate Change Communication. Even as climate legislation sits gathering dust in Congress, Americans appear to strongly favor moving forward ...

Thu, 10 Jun 10
Abu Dhabi to build 'world's largest' solar plant
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100609/wl_mideast_afp/francespainuaealternativesolarcompanytotalabengoa
Agence France-Presse: French oil firm Total and Spain's Abengoa Solar will partner with Abu Dhabi's alternative energy company Masdar to build "the world's largest" concentrated solar power plant, Masdar announced on Wednesday. The state-owned firm said it has selected a "consortium of Total and Abengoa Solar as a partner to own, build and operate Shams 1, the world's largest concentrated solar power plant and the first of its kind in the Middle East." "We are moving on the right path to make Abu ...

Thu, 10 Jun 10
BP under pressure as U.S. probes Gulf spill
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100609/us_nm/us_oil_spill1
Reuters: British energy giant BP Plc's stock price tumbled on Wednesday as it faced more U.S. government and congressional scrutiny over its handling of the massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill. BP shares fell around 6 percent in London, following a 5 percent drop on Tuesday, on worries that the company will have to suspend its dividend payment under pressure from U.S. politicians who say it should go to pay for legal claims and environmental damage in the Gulf. The cost of protecting BP ...

Thu, 10 Jun 10
Drilling moratorium challenged by company
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100609/ap_on_re_us/us_gulf_oil_spill_moratorium_suit
Associated Press: The government's ban on deepwater petroleum drilling in the Gulf of Mexico is being challenged by a Louisiana petroleum service company. Hornbeck Offshore Services Inc. filed suit in U.S. District Court in New Orleans, claiming the Interior Department recommended the six-month moratorium to President Barack Obama without any legal justification. Hornbeck operates a fleet of vessels that haul people and supplies to offshore drilling rigs and production platforms. The company ...

Thu, 10 Jun 10
No quick fix on warming, says new UN climate chief
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100609/sc_afp/unclimatewarming
Agence France-Presse: The UN's incoming chief on climate change cautioned on Wednesday it could take until 2050 to build the machinery that will ultimately tame greenhouse gases. In an interview with newswire reporters on the sidelines of UN talks in Bonn, Christiana Figueres said she was approaching her new job with optimism tempered by hard-edged realism. "I continue to be confident that governments will meet this challenge, for the simple reason that humanity must meet the challenge. We just ...

Thu, 10 Jun 10
Global warming concerns rising in U.S
http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2010/06/09/globalwarming-americans.html?ref=rss
CBC: Global warming is once again becoming a hot topic for Americans, new data suggests. A U.S. national survey released Tuesday finds that public concern about global warming is increasing, with public belief that it is occurring rising to 61 per cent, up from 57 per cent since January. And 50 per cent of Americans believe the phenomenon is caused by people -- an increase of three points. Fifty-three per cent of respondents now worry about the impact global warming will have (an ...

Thu, 10 Jun 10
United States: The next drilling disaster?
http://www.thenation.com/article/next-drilling-disaster
Nation: A tour of Dimock, Pennsylvania, with Victoria Switzer is a bumpy ride over torn-up roads, around parking lots filled with heavy machinery and storage tanks, and past well pads that not long ago were forests. The winter here was quiet, but with the thawing ground came the return of the rigs, the trucks, the constant noise and lights of a twenty-four-hour-a-day gas drilling operation. "It's a modern-day Deadwood out here," Switzer says, likening the activity to the gold rush. "No rules, no ...

Thu, 10 Jun 10
Australia: Emphasis shifts to limiting effects of global warming
http://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/emphasis-shifts-to-limiting-effects-of-global-warming-20100608-xtuq.html
Sydney Morning Herald: THERE is little sense of urgency about climate change in the budget, and the more muscular rhetoric about cutting greenhouse gases in recent budget papers has been replaced by talk of "minimising" the impact of global warming. About $170 million will be directed to energy- and water-saving programs that had been previously announced, including household rebates, while the establishment of many national parks meant a funding boost for the parks sector. The energy-saving schemes ...

Thu, 10 Jun 10
China fossil fuel CO2 jumps as global total falls
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=china-fossil-fuel-co2-jum
Reuters: China will face increasing pressure in U.N. climate talks after data released on Wednesday showed the country's carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel rose by 9 percent in 2009, bucking a global downtrend. See related table China's CO2 from fossil fuels grew to 7.52 billion tonnes, even though global emissions dropped for the first time since 1998 as industrial production and fuel consumption fell amid a global recession, BP data showed. China was the first nation ...

Thu, 10 Jun 10
Australia: Seals track impact of climate change on reef
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/06/09/2923032.htm?section=justin
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: In a bid to find out how the Great Barrier Reef will be affected by climate change, scientists are using elephant seals to collect data from the ocean around Antarctica. The seals have sensors glued to their heads that collect information about changes to temperature and salinity in the Southern Ocean. The information is sent back to Hobart via satellite, where researchers at the CSIRO will make the link between what is happening in the cold waters of the Southern Ocean and ...

Thu, 10 Jun 10
Energy bill still stuck in neutral
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0610/38292.html
Politico: So far, the worst oil spill in American history hasn't jump-started climate change legislation in a gridlocked, shell-shocked Senate, as many Democrats had hoped it would. There is a powerful will on the Hill to punish BP by eliminating a cap on the company's liability. But that fervor isn't translating into support for the comprehensive energy reform bill unveiled by Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and John Kerry (D-Mass.) earlier this year, despite President Barack Obama's vow to ...

Thu, 10 Jun 10
Airlines Protest German Plan to Tax Tickets
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/09/business/global/09greentax.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
New York Times: Germany's plan to introduce an environmental tax of 1 billion euros a year on air travel tickets met with fierce resistance on Tuesday from airlines, which accused Berlin of making a shortsighted "cash grab' at the expense of an industry still struggling to return to profitability. Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany is seeking 1 billion euros from a tax on airline tickets. "This tax is a body blow to the weak economy and a fragile industry,' said Giovanni Bisignani, chief ...

Thu, 10 Jun 10
Snakes on the wane at 'alarming' rate, say scientists
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/09/scientists-alarm-snakes
Guardian: The widespread disappearance of snakes will be one impact of climate change that some people may find it hard to regret. But as vital predators in sensitive habitats such as rice fields, their decline will have wider ecological consequence, say scientists. The first major study of the problem, published today, will also be seen as another powerful sign of the worldwide destruction of the natural world, which is causing growing concern about the loss of vital services from rainfall to ...

Thu, 10 Jun 10
7 of 10 Americans feel carbon dioxide regulation is a must
http://sify.com/news/7-of-10-americans-feel-carbon-dioxide-regulation-is-a-must-news-international-kgjnkdhebfg.html
Asian News International: An expert on climate change has revealed that seven out of ten Americans feel that the United States should take action to power the nation with clean energy. According to Edward Maibach, Director, Centre for Climate Change Comunication, a majority of Americans surveyed feel that carbon dioxide regulation is a must. "The stabilization and slight rebound in public opinion is occurring amid signs the economy is starting to recover, along with consumer confidence, and as memories ...

Thu, 10 Jun 10
Rich nations backtracking on new climate aid, development watchdog warns
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/09/rich-nations-backtrack-climate-aid
Guardian: <figure> <figcaption>A villager walks on an embankment amid the rising waters of the Sundarbans, India. Rich countries have pledged financial aid to help developing countries tackle climate change. Photograph: Bikas Das/AP</figcaption> </figure> Rich countries will raid existing aid budgets, double-count promises and convert grants to loans to avoid paying the $30bn (Â£21bn) they pledged last year to poor countries to help them adapt immediately to the climate change they did not ...

Thu, 10 Jun 10
United Kingdom: Why are taxis king of the road when they carry so few passengers
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/09/travel-and-transport-transport
Guardian: <figure> <figcaption>Cyclist in front of heavy traffic in Trafalgar Square, downtown London city centre. Photograph: Tim Graham/Getty Images</figcaption> </figure> "Black cab drivers are a pampered minority". That rather provocative statement comes in a post about taxis on the Crap cycling and walking in Waltham Forest blog yesterday. Now, almost all of us uses taxis from time to time but do black cabs really require the special privileges they currently enjoy: use of bus ...

Thu, 10 Jun 10
Scotland debuts "visionary" zero waste plan
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2264420/scotland-debuts-visionary-zero
Business Green: Scotland today become one of the first countries in the world to set out plans to become a "zero waste society", announcing a series of new initiatives and targets designed to ultimately reclassify waste as a valuable resource. The plan includes a range of new targets, including a commitment to ensure only five per cent of waste is sent to landfill by 2025 with 70 per cent of waste being recycled and the remaining 25 per cent reused or employed by waste-to-energy plants. An ...

Thu, 10 Jun 10
Gambling with global warming
http://www.thenation.com/video/gambling-global-warming
Nation: Noam Chomsky and environmentalist Bill McKibben discuss how the mainstream media's portrayal of climate change is distorting the gravity of global warming. Because the media gives equal time to Rush Limbaugh and the very small group of scientists who deny the existence of global climate change as they do to the vast majority of scientists who are in consensus that global warming is a reality that must be faced, the media is doing the American public a great disservice. Furthermore, if we ...

Wed, 9 Jun 10
PJ Hahn: 'BP has lied to us from day one. We could have stopped the oil'
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-expert-bp-has-lied-to-us-from-day-one-we-could-have-stopped-the-oil-1995015.html
Independent (UK): "Hell," says PJ Hahn, the man at the very tip of the sharp end of America's oil spill disaster, "we're under siege here. If somebody was breaking into your house, would you get on the phone to friends and neighbours to discuss it? You'd shoot the sonofabitch. It's that simple." Blond-haired, blue-eyed, cowboy-booted -- and very direct -- PJ has what may be the toughest job of all in the Gulf of Mexico right now. He is personally responsible for preventing the oil that is pouring out ...

Wed, 9 Jun 10
Climate groups call on FTSE to remove BP from ethical stock market indices
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/climate-groups-call-on-ftse-to-remove-bp-from-ethical-stock-market-indices-1994913.html
Independent (UK): Environmental groups are calling for BP's removal from stock market indices tracking socially and environmentally responsible companies. The oil major, which is battling to contain the Gulf of Mexico spill, is listing on the FTSE4Good indices, which select companies based on their progress towards "environmental management", "climate change mitigation and adaptation" and other criteria. BP is also part of the FTSE4Good Environmental Leaders Europe 40 index, which lists European ...

Wed, 9 Jun 10
Support for U.S. climate regulation growing: poll
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE65765U20100608?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29
Reuters: A growing number of Americans want the United States to regulate greenhouse gas emissions as the largest oil spill in U.S. history helps boost interest in petroleum alternatives, a poll by two universities found on Tuesday. About 77 percent of 1,204 Americans polled support regulating carbon dioxide as a pollutant, up 6 percentage points from January, according to the poll by researchers at Yale and George Mason universities. The oil catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico that ...

Wed, 9 Jun 10
Canada: Imperial Oil official says Gulf spill won't help oilsands reputation
http://www.financialpost.com/Imperial+official+says+Gulf+spill+help+oilsands+reputation/3128047/story.html
Financial Post: The unfolding ecological disaster off the Gulf of Mexico could damage the reputation of the entire oil industry model, without necessarily benefiting Alberta's oilsands sector, says Imperial Oil Ltd's president. Speaking to a lunchtime business crowd in Ottawa Tuesday, Bruce March, the chairman, president and chief executive officer of Imperial Oil, said he could see "nothing good" coming out of the British Petroleum offshore drilling accident for the oilsands ...

Wed, 9 Jun 10
BP says it will burn off some oil captured in Gulf
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100608/ap_on_bi_ge/us_gulf_oil_spill_burn
Associated Press: BP PLC says it will get rid of some of the oil being recaptured from a spill in the Gulf of Mexico by burning it off. BP spokesman Max McGahan told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the company will process some of the flow by sending it to a burner that turns it into a combustible fog and ignites it. McGahan says the rig carrying the burner will be moved away from the main leak site so flames and heat do not endanger other vessels. BP spokesman Robert Wine says the ...

Wed, 9 Jun 10
Feds knew of Gulf spill risks in 2000, document shows
http://news.yahoo.com/s/mcclatchy/20100608/sc_mcclatchy/3529538
McClatchy Newspapers: A decade ago, U.S. government regulators warned that a major deepwater oil spill could start with a fire on a drilling rig, prove hard to stop and cause extensive damage to fish eggs and wetlands because there were few good ways to capture oil underwater. The disaster scenario -- contained in a May 2000 offshore drilling plan for the Shell oil company that McClatchy has obtained -- is now a grim reality in the Gulf of Mexico . Less predictably, perhaps, the author of the document was ...

Wed, 9 Jun 10
BP: Hayward to testify at House hearing July 17
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100608/ts_nm/us_oil_spill_hearing
Reuters: BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward will testify before a U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee June 17, a company spokesman confirmed on Tuesday. The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee invited Hayward to testify at the hearing, which would focus on BP Plc's role in the April 20 Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion and the continued oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico. It will be Hayward's first appearance at a congressional hearing on the disaster. BP America President Lamar ...

Wed, 9 Jun 10
American opinion on climate change warms up
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/06/100608151052.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Latest+Science+News%29
ScienceDaily: Public concern about global warming is once again on the rise, according to a national survey released June 8 by researchers at Yale and George Mason Universities. The results come as the U.S. Senate prepares to vote this week on a resolution to block the EPA from regulating carbon dioxide as a pollutant. Since January, public belief that global warming is happening rose four points, to 61 percent, while belief that it is caused mostly by human activities rose three points, to 50 ...

Wed, 9 Jun 10
Bhopal, BP Oil Spill: Two Disasters, Different Justice
http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20100608/wl_time/08599199502900
Time Magazine: As BP struggles to contain the damage the Deepwater Horizon oil spill has caused to the Gulf of Mexico and to the people whose livelihoods depend on its waters, a legal judgment in the worst industrial catastrophe in history highlights how wrong the aftermath of such disasters can go - not just in terms of a cleanup but in the matter of justice. It is a terrifying lesson in how a corporation can evade full responsibility for one of the most heinous accidents in human history. On ...

Wed, 9 Jun 10
Texas Governor Perry Declares War On the EPA
http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20100608/us_time/08599199482500
Time Magazine: Texas Governor Rick Perry has not had much to say about the Deepwater Horizon oil-spill debacle in the Gulf of Mexico, except to note that Texas is prepared should the oil head toward its shores, that he hopes no hasty decisions are made about shutting down offshore drilling and that he is not inclined to get into the blame game. But while the federal government, neighboring states and BP grapple with the spill, Perry has opened up his own front in the Gulf Coast environmental wars as part ...

Wed, 9 Jun 10
Utah Gov. Herbert outlines energy initiative goals
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Utah-Gov-Herbert-outlines-apf-554994336.html?x=0&.v=2
Associated Press: Gov. Gary Herbert on Tuesday announced the formation of a working group to develop the state's 10-year energy plan and outlined a broad strategy that doesn't call for limiting carbon emissions blamed for global warming. The group's creation comes as the U.S. projects its greenhouse gases will grow by 4 percent through 2020, but Herbert isn't convinced that humans affect global temperatures. He had planned to hold what he called the first legitimate debate on the topic this spring, ...

Wed, 9 Jun 10
Canada: Manitoba's polar bears could disappear in 30 years
http://www.windsorstar.com/technology/Manitoba%20polar%20bears%20could%20disappear%20years%20Scientists/3122881/story.html
Winnipeg Free Press: Northern Manitoba's celebrated polar bear population is set to vanish in just a few short decades, if research by two of the world's top experts proves right. The Western Hudson Bay subpopulation of polar bears, estimated at 935 animals in 2004, is expected to decline over the next 25 to 30 years to the point where there are not enough bears to sustain a breeding population, predicts University of Alberta biologist Ian Stirling, who's been studying polar bears for 37 years. The ...

Wed, 9 Jun 10
Reactions to Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement
http://www.dominionpaper.ca/articles/3453
Dominion: The announcement of the Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement has sparked a mix of sweeping pronouncements and passionate reactions. Below, we have compiled a small sampling. See also Dawn Paley's analysis of the agreement itself, published today. Readers are invited to post additions in the comments sections at the bottom of the page. "The Ontario government is encouraged to see environmental groups and forest companies working together to help develop a plan that would lead to ...

Wed, 9 Jun 10
Japan can seek deeper cuts in CO2 by 2030: panel
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6571PQ20100608?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29
Reuters: Japan, the world's fifth-biggest greenhouse gas emitter, can target deeper cuts in carbon dioxide emissions than first thought, a trade ministry panel said on Tuesday. It said emissions could be cut by 30 percent or more by 2030 from 1990 levels, greater than a figure of 21 percent the government had mentioned last August in its long-term energy outlook. Japan has said it will target a cut in greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent by 2020 if all major emitters, such as China ...

Wed, 9 Jun 10
Obama has strong words as Gulf spill spreads
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100608/ts_nm/us_oil_spill
Reuters: President Barack Obama said he wanted to know "whose ass to kick" over the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, adding to the pressure on energy giant BP Plc as it sought to capture more of the leak from its gushing well. "I don't sit around just talking to experts because this is a college seminar. We talk to these folks because they potentially have the best answer so I know whose ass to kick," Obama said in an interview with NBC News' "Today" to air on Tuesday. They were the angriest ...

Wed, 9 Jun 10
UK to double inspections of drilling rigs
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2b2449ce-7286-11df-9f82-00144feabdc0,Authorised=false.html?_i_location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ft.com%2Fcms%2Fs%2F0%2F2b2449ce-7286-11df-9f82-00144feabdc0.html%3Fftcamp%3Drss&_i_referer=&ftcamp=rss
Financial Times: The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is transforming the regulation of deep water drilling worldwide, Chris Huhne, UK energy secretary, said on Monday as he announced the doubling of environmental inspections of rigs operating in UK waters. He called the April 20 Deepwater Horizon explosion and the subsequent oil spill "devastating and enduring". "What we are seeing will transform the regulation of deep water drilling worldwide," he said. Even in the UK, which has some of ...

Wed, 9 Jun 10
Climate Change - 'Perhaps We Should Just Sign'
http://allafrica.com/stories/201006080002.html
Inter Press Service: Countries are quietly signing up to the Copenhagen Accord, but commitments on emissions cuts and funding remain unclear. "We have to decide by this Sunday whether we sign the Copenhagen Accord, or not. If we don't, we have no access to the 30 billion dollar quick startup fund," Namibian Prime Minister Nahas Angula told a gathering of businessmen in Windhoek at the end of January. "Perhaps we should just take it.' Angula was wrong on the first point: faced with a less than ...

Wed, 9 Jun 10
Critics: BP Needs To Stand For Bills Paid
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127551098&ft=1&f=1025
National Public Radio: The massive spill in the Gulf of Mexico has devastated much of the region's tourism and fishing industries. BP says it will have dolled out more than $80 million in compensation by the end of June. But federal officials along with many local business owners say the company is paying too little money, using a process that's too slow and bureaucratic. A lot of people affected by the spill don't think the company will ever pay them what they believe they are owed. The white ...

Wed, 9 Jun 10
UK to boost safety inspections after BP oil spill
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6570WV20100608?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29
Reuters: Britain said it would increase its inspection of North Sea drilling rigs and monitoring of offshore practices in the light of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Energy and climate change minister Chris Huhne said in a statement posted on his department's website on Tuesday that he had also asked an oil industry group to investigate the UK's ability to prevent and respond to oil spills. "The Deepwater Horizon gives us pause for thought and, given the beginning of ...

Wed, 9 Jun 10
Australia green lights first smart grid
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2264313/australia-green-lights-first
Business Green: Australia's first commercial-scale smart grid was given the go-ahead late yesterday, in a project that the government says will help Australians to save power and connect domestic renewable energy to the grid. The AU$100m (Â£46.3m) Smart Grid, Smart City demonstration project will commence later this year in Newcastle and parts of Sydney, running until 2013. Minister for Climate Change Penny Wong said Smart Grids could give Australian households and businesses the tools to ...

Wed, 9 Jun 10
Canada slashes emission reduction ambitions
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2264326/sierra-club-slams-canada
Business Green: The Canadian branch of the Sierra Club environmental group has launched a blistering attack on the Canadian federal government, after it last week slashed official emission reduction targets for 2010 by over 90 per cent. In a new report entitled A Climate Change Plan for the Purposes of the Kyoto Protocol Implementation Act, the minority Conservative government announced that greenhouse gas emissions would be reduced by just five million tonnes this year. The report, which was ...

Tue, 8 Jun 10
U.S. rules for new drilling permits may be ready Tuesday
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE65664G20100607?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29
Reuters: The U.S. Interior Department may issue new safety and environmental requirements as soon as Tuesday for oil companies that want to drill in shallow waters, a department official said. Officials at the department's Minerals Management Service worked over the weekend on the requirements that were drawn up in response to the BP oil spill. Companies must implement the safety and environmental checks before they can be approved for any new drilling permits for shallow Gulf waters ...

Tue, 8 Jun 10
Yvo de Boer says climate change agreement unlikely before 2020
http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/pacbeat/stories/201006/s2920956.htm
Radio Australia: The chances of an agreement at the U-N Climate Change Forum in Bonn being reached in time to be signed in Cancun next December seem increasingly slim. The UN's main negotiator, Yvo de Boer has come out and said he thinks it may take 10 years for the world to reach an agreement on cutting greenhouse gases. Delegates from 182 countries are meeting in the German city until June 11th to thrash out the details of an agreement to replace the Kyoto Protocol. Mr de Boer says ...

Tue, 8 Jun 10
United Kingdom: North Sea oil rigs face tougher scrutiny after BP spill
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/jun/08/huhne-environment-checks-oil-bp-deepwater
Guardian: The new energy and climate secretary Chris Huhne will announce plans today to beef up environmental inspections of North Sea oil rigs in the wake of the BP Gulf of Mexico disaster, but is increasing the numbers from just six to nine staff. The current six government inspectors, based in Aberdeen, are responsible for investigating and enforcing environmental standards on the 24 drilling rigs and an estimated 280 oil and gas production installations in the UK's part of the North Sea. ...

Tue, 8 Jun 10
Report: Renewables revolution to provide 95 per cent of global electricity by 2050
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2264307/report-renewables-revolution
Business Green: The world could produce 95 per cent of the electricity it needs from renewable sources by 2050, cutting greenhouse emissions from the energy and transport sectors by 80 per cent without jeopardising economic growth. That is the conclusion of a major new 260-page report from a coalition of environmental groups that has been orchestrated by Greenpeace. It aims to show that it is economically and technically feasible to cut global greenhouse gas emissions in line with the latest ...

Tue, 8 Jun 10
United Kingdom: London unveils first zero emission black cab
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2264306/london-unveils-first-zero
Business Green: London's deputy mayor Kit Malthouse yesterday unveiled two hydrogen fuel cell-powered Black Cabs as part of the latest efforts to cut carbon emissions and air pollution in the capital. The team behind the project said the installation of the fuel cells meant the two Hackney carriages were indistinguishable from standard black cabs, the only difference being that the vehicles now only emit water vapour from their tail pipes. The pilot project marks the first phase in an ...

Tue, 8 Jun 10
Oil Spill Fuels New Energy Bill Push
http://news.yahoo.com/s/cq/20100607/pl_cq_politics/politics3677856
CQPolitics.com: Comprehensive energy and climate change legislation may get new life thanks to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Taking a page from the playbook he used to assemble a health care overhaul bill that passed the Senate in December, Majority Leader Harry Reid is asking committee chairmen for ideas that he can pull together into an energy bill. Reid said he plans to meet this week with his chairmen and wants proposals by the Fourth of July break. While various factions in both parties ...

Tue, 8 Jun 10
Murkowski seeks to rein in EPA regulation
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jF8bCLiz2mn97wkL5G5C71VfBlXAD9G6JO7G0
Associated Press: U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski is the leading sponsor of a resolution that would prevent the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act. The Alaska Republican said the EPA regulation of carbon dioxide would have a negative economic impact on her constituents by threatening projects such as the construction of a natural gas pipeline. "There has been a great deal of misinformation spread about my effort by groups -- almost all of which are ...

Tue, 8 Jun 10
Sen. Schumer Sees Climate Bill Reaching Floor as Amendment to Energy-Only Measure
http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2010/06/07/07greenwire-sen-schumer-sees-climate-bill-reaching-floor-a-44556.html
Greenwire: A Senate proposal setting up a cap-and-trade program to curtail greenhouse gas emissions likely will be offered on the floor later this summer as an amendment to a smaller, energy-only approach, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said today. Appearing on MSNBC, Schumer said he expects Senate Democratic leaders to use legislation from Energy and Natural Resources Chairman Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) as the base proposal to launch the floor debate. "It's going to be a good strong energy bill, and I ...

Tue, 8 Jun 10
Brazil: REDD alert for forest climate change policy
http://www.scidev.net/en/agriculture-and-environment/redd-alert-for-forest-climate-change-policy.html?utm_source=link&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=en_agricultureandenvironment
SciDev.Net: Carbon dioxide emissions from an unexpected rise in the number of forest fires in the Brazilian Amazon may be cancelling out emission reductions from efforts to preserve rainforests. Researchers analysed satellite data on deforestation and fires from the region between 1998 and 2007 and found that fires increased in 59 per cent of the areas where deforestation rates were reduced. In a study published in Science last week (4 June), they warn that reducing emissions from ...

Tue, 8 Jun 10
Thursday Is High Noon for Sen. Murkowski's Climate Resolution
http://www.nytimes.com/cwire/2010/06/07/07climatewire-thursday-is-high-noon-for-sen-murkowskis-cli-11487.html
ClimateWire: In a vote that could be a precursor to a summer debate on climate and energy legislation, the Senate is set to vote Thursday on whether to unravel U.S. EPA's authority to issue climate rules. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) is planning to call for a vote on a resolution to upend EPA's "endangerment" finding for greenhouse gases, a determination that paves the way for agency climate rules. Murkowski last month reached an agreement with Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to call for the ...

Tue, 8 Jun 10
Ending Fossil-Fuel Subsidies Will Reduce Oil Demand, IEA Says
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?sid=auQsooe_4Lco&pid=20601087
Bloomberg: Fatih Birol, the International Energy Agency's chief economist, called on leaders of the Group of 20 Nations to fulfill their pledge to end fossil-fuel subsidies, a move he said will cut oil demand and greenhouse-gas emissions. Stopping aid by 2020 would reduce global oil demand by 6.5 million barrels a day, he said, or about a third of the current U.S. use. Subsidies that promote consumption, such as below- market gasoline prices, totaled $557 billion in 2008, he said. Nations that ...

Tue, 8 Jun 10
Russia dusts off old plans to open the Northeast Passage
http://www.vancouversun.com/opinion/Russia%20dusts%20plans%20open%20Northeast%20Passage%20trade%20with%20Asia/3121114/story.html
Vancouver Sun: The plague of pirates preying on Asia's sea links to Europe and the prospects of opportunities presented by global warming have prompted Russia to dust off some old plans that have been lying in filing cabinets since the collapse of the Soviet Union. The shortest route by some 3,000 nautical miles between the throbbing workshops of the Far East and Southeast Asia and the hypermarkets of Europe is not the current course through the traffic jams of the Malacca Straits and the high-risk ...

Tue, 8 Jun 10
In drastic green energy proposal, US pays most
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6561GK20100607?type=domesticNews&feedType=RSS&feedName=domesticNews
Reuters: The world could generate 95 percent of electricity from renewable energies by 2050 in a drastic shift from fossil fuels, with the United States paying about a third of a giant bill, green lobby groups said on Monday. The report, by Greenpeace and the European Renewable Energy Council (EREC), representing Europe's main renewable energy companies, is one of the most detailed to work out the nuts and bolts of a near-total shift to green energy such as wind or solar power. Such proposals ...

Tue, 8 Jun 10
China carbon market prospects not optimistic - official
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6551H220100606
Reuters: Although China has supplied massive volumes of carbon credits to the global market, prospects for CO2 trade within the country itself are not optimistic, a senior climate official said on Sunday. Lu Xuedu, influential vice-head of China's National Climate Center and former member of the United Nations Executive Board responsible for approving clean development mechanism (CDM) projects, told a conference in Beijing that carbon transaction volumes within China were likely to remain ...

Tue, 8 Jun 10
Using primeval methods to fight modern abuses of agricultural lands
http://www.nytimes.com/cwire/2010/06/07/07climatewire-using-primeval-methods-to-fight-modern-abuse-51190.html
ClimateWire: Allan Savory's project, titled "Operation Hope," is an ongoing effort to reverse the desertification that is spreading across the world's savannas and grasslands like a disease. It is rapidly changing farmland into deserts. What makes the effort unusual for Savory, a biologist, is his use of what he called "the most universally condemned tool in the world" -- livestock. Farming is perhaps the oldest means by which humans have affected the world's climate. The destruction of ...

Tue, 8 Jun 10
Surging food costs hit poor nations hard; Biofuels compound problem
http://www.cleveland.com/world/index.ssf/2010/06/surging_food_costs_hit_poor_na.html
Associated Press: Families from Pakistan to Argentina to Congo are being battered by surging food prices that are dragging more people into poverty, fueling political tensions and forcing some to give up eating meat, fruit and even tomatoes. Scraping to afford the next meal is still a grim daily reality in the developing world even though the global food crisis that dominated headlines in 2008 quickly faded in the U.S. and other rich countries. With food costing up to 70 percent of family income ...

Tue, 8 Jun 10
Taiwan outlying islands to lead emissions cut effort
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6561LD20100607?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29
Reuters: Taiwan aims to transform several of its outlying islands into models of green energy production as part of a 10-year effort to cut its overall greenhouse gas emissions, the government said on Monday. Industrialized Taiwan, a major semiconductor, chemicals and steelmaker, will invest heavily in wind power on the Penghu islands in the Taiwan Strait. The aim is to raise renewable energy production to half total consumption of the 90,000 population, officials said. On the Kinmen ...

Tue, 8 Jun 10
Pakistan's heatwave and a deadly lack of energy policy
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jun/07/pakistan-energy-policy-proving-deadly
Guardian: <figure> <figcaption>Pakistan's president, Asif Ali Zardari, and his administration have been forced to scramble for an energy solution. Photograph: Athar Hussain /Reuters</figcaption> </figure> From the whitewashed mansions of Clifton, Karachi, to the dusty village shacks in Gujar, Punjab, the two words heard most regularly on the lips of Pakistanis right now? Load-shedding, the political euphemism that is used by everyone – be they state official, liberal intellectual or housemaid – ...

Tue, 8 Jun 10
United Kingdom: Environment Agency bans short-haul flights for staff
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2264263/environment-agency-bans-short
Business Green: The Environment Agency has become the first government-backed body to effectively ban staff from taking domestic and short haul flights wherever there is a lower carbon alternative. The Agency said that it has already reduced business car mileage by 24 per cent over the past four years, but has now moved to beef up its green travel policy by barring staff from taking flights within England and Wales, or to destinations in Northern Europe served by Eurostar. The policy, which ...

Tue, 8 Jun 10
Green design missing some hues, group says
http://wwwp.dailyclimate.org/tdc-newsroom/2010/06/green-design
Daily Climate: The gold standard for certifying "green" buildings fails to place enough emphasis on human health and needs to be upgraded, according to a new report from an environmental health group. The standard - Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED - is weighted more heavily toward energy conservation and not enough toward health protection, skewing green-design criteria, concluded Environmental and Human Health, Inc., a Connecticut-based nonprofit dedicated to protecting human ...

Tue, 8 Jun 10
Radical plan to combat global warming 'may raise temperatures'
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/radical-plan-to-combat-global-warming-may-raise-temperatures-1993281.html
Independent (UK): A controversial proposal to create artificial white clouds over the ocean in order to reflect sunlight and counter global warming could make matters worse, scientists have warned. The proposed scheme to create whiter clouds over the oceans by injecting salt spray into the air from a flotilla of sailing ships is one of the more serious proposals of researchers investigating the possibility of "geoengineering" the climate in order to combat global warming. Geoengineering -- ...

Tue, 8 Jun 10
Honeybee collapse: Stung from behind
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/07/honeybee-collapse-stung-from-behind
Guardian: <figure> <figcaption>A colony of honeybees at the US Department of Agriculture's research laboratory. Photograph: Haraz Ghanbari/AP</figcaption> </figure> Beekeeper Eric Olson has lost so many bees in the past few years, he's had to consider closing shop. But nothing prepared him for what he found when he went out early one November morning to do a final check on "his girls," as he calls them. The first hive was dead -- completely empty. So was the second one. And the third. He began ...

Tue, 8 Jun 10
BP shares jump on first major oil spill progress
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100607/bs_nm/us_oil_rig_manifold
Reuters: Shares in oil major BP Plc rose on Monday after the company said it was capturing most of the oil gushing from its leaking Gulf of Mexico well, and that an additional capture system would be ready in mid-June. BP said on Sunday its lower marine riser package (LMRP) containment cap had captured 10,500 barrels on June 5 -- compared with an estimated daily flow of 12,000 to 19,000 barrels. BP shares opened up 3 percent before falling back to trade up 2.24 percent at 1029 GMT ...

Tue, 8 Jun 10
Guyana: Channel for Norway $$ posed difficulties - Jagdeo
http://www.stabroeknews.com/2010/stories/06/04/channel-for-norway-posed-difficulties-%e2%80%93-jagdeo/
Stabroek: Following difficulties in agreeing a mechanism through which money from the Guyana-Norway forest protection agreement will flow to this country, President Bharrat Jagdeo is optimistic that the issue will be resolved soon. The two countries have chosen the World Bank as the agency through which the money will be channelled. "We have worked for a very long time on this and we had grave difficulties, significant difficulties", the Head of State said in an interview with Stabroek News in ...

Tue, 8 Jun 10
Damage Will Go On After Well Is Plugged, Admiral Says
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/07/us/07spill.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
New York Times: The Coast Guard commander in charge of the federal response to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico warned on Sunday that even if the flow of crude was stopped by summer, it could take well into autumn – and maybe much longer– to deal with the slick spreading relentlessly across the gulf. The assessment came as the sheer volume of oil gushing from the out-of-control well forced BP to temporarily halt its attempts to close all four vents on a capping device designed to capture the oil. ...

Tue, 8 Jun 10
BP sucking up half of oil leaking from Gulf well
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100607/ts_alt_afp/usoilpollutionenvironment
Agence France-Presse: Engineers hoped Monday to make more headway in their bid to contain a massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico after energy giant BP announced it was now capturing about half of the oil gushing from its ruptured well. Amid the largest environmental disaster in US history, BP's chief executive Tony Hayward said a cap fitted on the leaking pipe a mile (1,600 meters) down on the sea bed appeared to be working. "As we speak, the containment cap is producing around 10,000 barrels of ...

Tue, 8 Jun 10
Sen. Murkowski invokes rarely used law in attempt to rein in EPA regulation
http://newsminer.com/bookmark/7821597-Sen-Murkowski-invokes-rarely-used-law-in-attempt-to-rein-in-EPA-regulation
Fairbanks Daily News-Miner: The U.S. Senate will vote this week on a resolution that would stop the EPA from regulating greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act. Alaska's senior senator, Lisa Murkowski, is the leading sponsor of the resolution, called a disapproval resolution, which is scheduled for 10 hours of debate Thursday on the Senate floor. Murkowski, a Republican, said she is chiefly concerned with the negative economic impact EPA regulation of carbon dioxide could have on Alaska, a position that ...

Tue, 8 Jun 10
UK to rule out waste charges
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/politics/10251696.stm
BBC: Communities Secretary Eric Pickles is expected to rule out "pay as you throw" charges for household waste. Plans to let English councils pilot schemes which would charge or reward people according to the waste thrown out had been drawn up by Labour. But no councils signed up for the trials, aimed at reducing landfill. Last year the Conservatives said they were "dead in the water". Mr Pickles will say the coalition backs rewarding people for recycling instead. The ...

Tue, 8 Jun 10
Norway's Stoltenberg replaces Brown on UN climate finance group
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2264246/norway-stoltenberg-replaces
Business Green: David Cameron has lost out in the race to replace his predecessor Gordon Brown as co-chair of the UN group investigating climate financing options, after it was confirmed yesterday that Norway's prime minister Jens Stoltenberg has been appointed to the influential role. Stoltenberg will now co-chair the group, officially titled the High-level Advisory Group on Climate Change Financing, alongside his Ethiopian counterpart Meles Zenawi. The two leaders will be tasked with overseeing the ...

Mon, 7 Jun 10
Amazon forest fires 'on the rise'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science_and_environment/10228989.stm
BBC: The number of fires destroying Amazon rainforests are increasing, a study has found. A team of scientists said fires in the region could release similar amounts of carbon as deliberate deforestation. Writing in Science, they said fire occurrence rates had increased in 59% of areas with reduced deforestation. As a result, the rise in fires could jeopardise the long-term success of schemes to reduce emissions from deforestation, they added. The researchers - from ...

Mon, 7 Jun 10
Two new frogs discovered in Panama amidst amphibian plague
http://news.mongabay.com/2010/0606-hance_frogs_panama.html
Mongabay: Researchers working to save Panama's frogs from a fatal disease have stumbled on two species unknown to science. In Omar Torrijos National Park they found a bigger version of a common species, which is now known to be a unique species, and near the Colombian border they discovered a new frog that has been named after Spanish for DNA (see photos below). Both frogs were discovered while researchers searched for frog populations in chytridiomycosis-infected areas. The highly contagious ...

Mon, 7 Jun 10
Does climate change make you sick?
http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/does-climate-change-make-you-sick-20100606-xnac.html
Sydney Morning Herald: Not long ago, I was diagnosed with a new type of mental illness. So were you. It happened at the TED conference in Sydney, a festival of ideas where white people try to save the world with their laptops. A philosopher there said we were all at risk for what he called ''solastalgia'', ''the sense of sadness provoked by environmental change''. Climate change was resulting in a new kind of melancholy, he said. He had previously diagnosed solastalgia in a woman who had an open-cut coalmine put ...

Mon, 7 Jun 10
BP sucking up 10,000 barrels daily from US oil leak
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100606/wl_uk_afp/usoilpollutionenvironment
Agence France-Presse: BP said Sunday it was capturing some 10,000 barrels of crude a day from the ruptured Gulf of Mexico well, raising hopes it could be containing most of the worst oil spill in US history. With an environmental catastrophe unfolding on the shores of Louisiana and fears for neighboring southern states, BP chief's executive Tony Hayward said a cap fitted on the leaking pipe 1,600 meters down on the sea bed appeared to be working. "As we speak, the containment cap is producing around ...

Mon, 7 Jun 10
United States: Environmental activists go up against Massey mining
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-massey-mine-20100604,0,2572105.story
LA Times: In just eight words, James "Guin" McGuinness, a veteran environmental activist, summed up the fight being waged against Massey Energy Co.'s mountaintop removal mining here in the Coal River Valley. "They draw a line," he said. "We step over it." Although public scrutiny of Massey has focused on the April 5 mine explosion that took 29 lives -- a congressional committee grilled company executives last month -- the battle between the company and activists has largely escaped ...

Mon, 7 Jun 10
Containment Cap Shows Hopeful Signs
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127511058&ft=1&f=1025
Associated Press: A containment cap that sucked some of the oil from a blown-out well in the Gulf of Mexico offered a small sign of progress for a region that has seen its wildlife coated in a lethal oil muck, its fishermen idled and its beaches tarnished by the nation's worst oil spill. BP chief executive Tony Hayward told the BBC on Sunday that over the last 24 hours, the cap placed on the gusher near the sea floor trapped about 420,000 gallons of oil. It's not clear how much is still escaping -- an ...

Mon, 7 Jun 10
A Gulf Full Of Oil Can't Beat A Tank Full Of Gas
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127511500&ft=1&f=1025
National Public Radio: A lot of BP's oil eventually winds up in the gas tanks of American cars, so you'd think the current crisis on the Gulf Coast might make people think twice at the pump. Brian Mann of North Country Public Radio sets out to talk to customers at a gas station and find out what they think about the spill, and the decisions they make as consumers. It's mid-morning, and I'm out driving in my truck. On the radio, of course, it's 24/7 about the Gulf oil spill. Everybody's talking about it, and ...

Mon, 7 Jun 10
United States: BP funds search for green fuels at UC Berkeley
http://www.sacbee.com/2010/06/06/2801531/bp-funds-search-for-green-fuels.html
Sacramento Bee: A picture of an oiled bird is taped to the wall above Charlie Anderson's desk inside a UC Berkeley lab. The cormorant, drenched in reddish-brown oil, lies limp on a Louisiana shore, water rippling around its splayed wings. On a hook next to the picture hangs Anderson's white lab coat, embroidered with the words "Energy Biosciences Institute." The connection between the crisp lab coat in Berkeley and the oiled bird more than 2,000 miles away is BP, the petroleum company ...

Mon, 7 Jun 10
Babcock & Wilcox: New nukes?
http://www.roanoke.com/business/wb/249225
Roanoke Times: The current calculation seems to yield disaster -- fossil fuels plus national dependency equals big trouble. An oil spill leads to environmental catastrophe. Twenty-nine coal miners die in a West Virginia mine. Fly ash from a coal-fired power plant escapes a failed dike in Tennessee. Lynchburg-based Babcock & Wilcox has high hopes for an alternative that would involve a sort of Mini Cooper version of a nuclear reactor housed underground in a concrete bunker. As ...

Mon, 7 Jun 10
Mr. President, lead now on fossil fuels
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-mckibben-global-warming-20100606,0,393201.story
LA Times: Here's the president on March 31, announcing his plan to lift a longstanding moratorium on offshore drilling: "Given our energy needs, in order to sustain economic growth and produce jobs and keep our businesses competitive, we are going to need to harness traditional sources of fuel even as we ramp up production of new sources of renewable, homegrown energy." And here he is on May 26, as political pressure started to really build over BP's hole in the bottom of the sea: "We're not ...

Mon, 7 Jun 10
Kenya: Professor urges media to seek knowledge on climate change
http://www.kbc.co.ke/story.asp?ID=64412
Kenya Broadcasting Corporation: Climate change adaptation is key to ensuring that the African continent saves itself from the serious effects arising from the distortion in climatic patterns. Prof Charles Basalirwa of Makerere Universities department of Geography however says, the current flurry of organisations that have sprung up to try and address the dangers of climate change are causing more confusion than helping the situation. Basalirwa who spoke at media meeting on Climate Change at the Hotel Africana ...

Mon, 7 Jun 10
Liberia literally hopes to find money growing on trees
http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=366263&version=1&template_id=39&parent_id=21
Agence France-Presse: Conserve the rainforests and we will pay you ... so goes the gist of an ambitious plan by the West to protect forests in developing countries including Liberia. And it could earn Africa billions of dollars. With its lush forests vulnerable to miners and loggers, Liberia is well-placed to join the scheme, through which African nations would earn money while at the same time helping the West to meet its climate change goals. Simply put, the scheme would see developing nations ...

Mon, 7 Jun 10
Set a standard for renewables
http://www.denverpost.com/opinion/ci_15223763
Denver Post: The calamitous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has emerged in Washington, D.C., as an opportunity to push a recently introduced energy bill. During the past two weeks, President Obama has on several occasions urged the Senate to take up a climate change bill crafted by Sen. John Kerry, a Democrat of Massachusetts, and Sen. Joseph Lieberman, independent of Connecticut. Unfortunately, while the bill supports renewable-energy development, it does not include a renewable-energy ...

Mon, 7 Jun 10
United States: Defending Boston from the sea
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2010/06/06/defending_boston_from_the_sea/
Boston Globe: For 400 years the sea has been kind to Boston. Maritime trade fed the city`s early economic rise, and countless cod laid down their lives to feed its inhabitants. With the exception of boatloads of occupying redcoats, the Atlantic hasn`t given the city much to complain about. When the area has flooded -- as it did this spring -- it hasn`t been because of the mighty Atlantic, but the placid Charles. But when Boston`s planning visionaries think about the future, increasingly, it`s the ...

Mon, 7 Jun 10
United Kingdom: Buncefield verdict to renew focus on oil safety
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/jun/06/oil-buncefield-verdict
Guardian: <figure> <figcaption>Smoke rises from the fire at the Buncefield fuel depot on December 11, 2005 in Hemel Hemstead Photograph: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images</figcaption> </figure> The safety practices of oil companies operating in Britain will be highlighted on Tuesday in the conclusion of a criminal case following the 2005 Buncefield oil storage explosion, in which 40 people were injured and 250,000 litres of petrol spilled less than 30 miles from central London. A joint ...

Mon, 7 Jun 10
Earth's Climate Used to Weigh Chances of Alien Life
http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20100606/sc_space/earthsclimateusedtoweighchancesofalienlife
Space.com: Greenhouse gases have a bad reputation because of the role they're playing in global warming on Earth today. However, scientists say we also owe our lives to greenhouse gases because they might have allowed life to take hold in the first place. A new study of how these and other climate conditions have affected the origin and evolution of life on Earth could provide clues to understanding how climates on alien planets might affect their potential life. Greenhouse gases heat the ...

Mon, 7 Jun 10
Government set to scrap Labour's 'pay as you throw' rubbish schemes
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/06/scrap-pay-as-you-throw
Guardian: <figure> <figcaption>Eric Pickles, the communities secretary. Photograph: Martin Godwin</figcaption> </figure> Ministers are expected to announce that they are scrapping Labour plans to introduce "pay as you throw" rubbish schemes. Eric Pickles, the communities secretary, and Caroline Spelman, the environment secretary, will confirm that they will end schemes in which people are charged for household waste collections or for producing too much rubbish. On Wednesday the Con-Lib ...

Mon, 7 Jun 10
Activists still challenge estimate of Exxon Valdez oil spill size
http://news.yahoo.com/s/mcclatchy/20100606/sc_mcclatchy/3526853
McClatchy Newspapers: As debate rages over the amount of oil pouring into the Gulf of Mexico from deepwater well leak BP can't stop, plenty of oil spill watchdogs in Alaska think that the Exxon Valdez tanker spill in 1989 was nearly three times its official size of 11 million gallons. At one time, state lawyers pushed to verify the size of the spill, which killed thousands of birds and otters, hundreds of seals and eagles and damaged the livelihoods of many fishermen. However, the state's interest in the ...

Mon, 7 Jun 10
BP capturing '10,000 barrels of oil' a day from Gulf of Mexico
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/jun/06/bp-oil-spill-chief-executive
Guardian: <figure> <figcaption>BP chief executive Tony Hayward said he would not be quitting over the oil spill. Photograph: Sean Gardner/Reuters</figcaption> </figure> BP's containment cap is capturing 10,000 barrels of oil a day from the leak in the Gulf of Mexico, the company's chief executive said today. The rate is about half a day's flow from the leaking oil well, estimated to be 19,000 barrels a day, but represents the first significant progress in almost seven ...

Mon, 7 Jun 10
BP chief vows to stay
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100606/ts_nm/us_oil_spill
Reuters: BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward said he did not plan to quit over the massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill, as the energy giant's bid to contain the crude appeared to reach a turning point. Public and political pressure has been mounting on London-based BP to cap its gushing seabed oil well and take full financial responsibility for the cleanup and damage caused to Gulf coast fisheries, wildlife and tourism. Hayward became a lightning rod for Americans' anger with BP when he told ...

Mon, 7 Jun 10
A Movement Prepares: Goodbye, Limitless Oil. Hello, Primitive Dystopia
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/06/us/06peak.html
New York Times: For Mrs. Wilkerson, 33, a moderate Democrat from Oakton, Va., who designs computer interfaces, the spill reinforced what she had been obsessing over for more than a year -- that oil use was outstripping the world's supply. She worried about what would come after: maybe food shortages, a collapse of the economy, a breakdown of civil order. Her call was part of a telephone course about how to live through it all. In bleak times, there is a boom in doom. Americans have long been ...

Mon, 7 Jun 10
Cap Slows Loss of Oil, but Engineers Move Cautiously
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/06/us/06spill.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
New York Times: Oil continued to gush from a runaway oil well in the Gulf of Mexico on Saturday as engineers worked to close the vents on a capping device they successfully lowered onto the gushing riser pipe late Thursday night. Adm. Thad Allen of the Coast Guard, who is in charge of the federal response to the oil spill, at the staging and decontamination area in Theodore, Ala., on Saturday. "The vents remain open,' Adm. Thad Allen of the Coast Guard, who is in charge of the federal response ...

Sun, 6 Jun 10
New BP Ads Don't Make Things Right With Locals
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127495645&ft=1&f=1025
National Public Radio: BP's CEO promised once again this week that the company would be on the Gulf Coast for the long haul -- to stop the oil leak and clean up the aftermath. His comments come as the firm launched a series of ads with him apologizing and saying "we will make this right." But BP's latest public relations push is falling flat with some coastal residents who are feeling the impact of the spill.

Sun, 6 Jun 10
United States: Record warmth, lack of snow give wildlife a jump
http://lacrossetribune.com/news/local/article_56883e7c-7056-11df-8d75-001cc4c03286.html
LaCrosse Tribune: National Weather Service radar captured a hatch of mayflies May 29 along the Mississippi River. Flowers bloomed in a month better known for showers. Sap stopped flowing in March, and mayflies hatched in May. It was the second-warmest meteorological spring on record for La Crosse and the driest since 1996, according to the National Weather Service. It also was the first spring without snow in 127 years of modern observation. "It's been a very strange spring," said Karl ...

Sat, 5 Jun 10
BP Hopes Cap Will Keep Oil From Escaping
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127468382&ft=1&f=1025
National Public Radio: BP has placed a cap on the well gushing oil at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico. It's still too early to tell if the latest attempt to stop the leak has been successful.

Sat, 5 Jun 10
United Kingdom: EU air pollution warning is 'disappointing': Defra
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100604/wl_uk_afp/eubritaincourtpollution
Agence France-Presse: The European Commission's final warning to Britain over its failure to comply with EU air quality rules has been described as "disappointing" by the government department responsible for the environment. Brussels issued the notice after dangerous PM10 particles were found to have exceeded EU limits in the Greater London urban area and Gibraltar. Britain faces court action and up to Â£300 million in fines if it fails to comply with regulations. ?It?s disappointing that the ...

Sat, 5 Jun 10
United Kingdom: Get down off your Dark Mountain: you're making matters worse
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/04/dark-mountain-douglas-adams
Ecologist: <figure> <figcaption>The Pontcysyllte aqueduct in Llangollen, where the Dark Mountain festival was held. Photograph: Don McPhee/Guardian</figcaption> </figure> 'The End of the Universe is very popular', said Zaphod... 'People like to dress up for it...gives it a sense of occasion.' In Douglas Adams' The Restaurant at the End of the Universe diners enjoyed watching the obliteration of life, the universe and everything, whilst enjoying a nice steak. When I first discovered The ...

Sat, 5 Jun 10
Stopping A Spill? There's Always The Nuclear Option
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127473704&ft=1&f=1025
National Public Radio: Capping out-of-control oil wells and snuffing gas leaks has been a challenge since humans began tapping underground energy resources. Robots a mile beneath the surface of the Gulf of Mexico positioned a "top hat" device over the main pipe on the leaking BP well Thursday night. But it was unclear how much oil could be captured by this latest attempt. How to stop the oil pouring into the Gulf of Mexico? The Soviets nuked several out-of-control gas wells, according to ...

Sat, 5 Jun 10
Veteran of Russian operation heads BP's new disaster management unit
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/jun/04/bp-deepwater-horizon-crisis-new-unit
Guardian: <figure> <figcaption>BP managing director, Robert Dudley, will lead the new BP unit set up to manage Deepwater Horison rig disaster. Photograph: Alexander Natruskin/Reuters</figcaption> </figure> BP is handing operational control of its clean-up operation in the Gulf of Mexico to its most senior American executive, following mounting criticism of its conduct since the environmental catastrophe began. In a conference call with analysts and investors, chief executive Tony Hayward ...

Sat, 5 Jun 10
Morocco: Renault Tanger announces eco-friendly factory
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100604/sc_afp/moroccofranceautoenvironment
Agence France-Presse: The Renault factory at Tangiers in Morocco will reduce its carbon dioxide emissions by 98 percent and become the first car factory in the world to use renewable energy, a Moroccan minister said Friday. "Operational in 2012, this factory will be a zero carbon industrial site, with zero liquid industrial waste, thanks to a partnership between Morocco, Renault and the French environmental firm Veolia," Industry Minister Ahmed Chami told a press conference. The Moroccan national ...

Sat, 5 Jun 10
BP's battered brand draws consumer opposition
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100604/us_nm/us_oil_rig_opposition
Reuters: U.S. consumers are venting frustration over the BP oil spill, demonstrating at gas stations and corporate offices, drumming up support on Facebook and waging a mock public relations campaign on Twitter. But their opposition to BP's handling of the crisis has yet to achieve critical mass, and any attempt to dissuade customers from fueling their cars with BP is likely to hurt the small business owners who run the stations with little or no effect on the British oil giant's ...

Sat, 5 Jun 10
BP establishes escrow fund for La. sand berms
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100604/ap_on_re_us/us_gulf_oil_spill_sand_berms
Associated Press: BP is establishing a $360 million escrow account to fund a project to build six sand berms that Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal hopes will protect the state's wetlands from the growing Gulf of Mexico slick. The company said late Thursday it approved the accounts. The announcement came hours after Jindal urged the British oil giant to start doling out the payments immediately. The governor appeared at a Grand Isle government center with a demand for BP: "Sign your own contract and ...

Fri, 4 Jun 10
Could German solar incentives enjoy a reprieve?
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2264092/german-solar-incentives-enjoy
Business Green: Proposals to enforce deep cuts in feed in tariff incentives for solar panel installations in Germany could be delayed, according to government sources. Senior officials told news agency Reuters this week that Germany's Bundesrat upper house of parliament looks unlikely to approve the proposed cuts to solar incentives in a vote on Friday, amidst fears they would lead to a slump in sales in Europe's largest solar market. The cuts have already been approved by the lower house, the ...

Fri, 4 Jun 10
Gulf Oil Slick Drifts Closer To Florida's Beaches
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127398038&ft=1&f=1025
National Public Radio: Florida has been working hard to remind potential visitors that it's still a good vacation destination, despite the Gulf oil spill. The state's tourism bureau has been running ads saying its beaches are "oil-free." But with the increasing likelihood that oil could appear off the panhandle by this weekend, Gov. Crist says the state may have to "rebrand."

Fri, 4 Jun 10
Oil, Fishing Co-Exist In Mississippi River Delta
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127398010&ft=1&f=1025
National Public Radio: The fishing off the Mississippi River Delta was, until recently, some of the best in the world. The oil spill has shut down most of the delta fisheries. Despite the serious hardships caused by the spill, President Obama's moratorium on off-shore drilling and tighter restrictions on the oil industry are not going over well on the Delta. Oil is every bit as important as fishing is there, and the two industries have a long worked together.

Fri, 4 Jun 10
Fitch cuts BP rating on oil spill risks
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100603/bs_afp/usoilenvironmentpollutioncompanybpratings
Agence France-Presse: International ratings agency Fitch on Thursday lowered BP's rating from "AA+" to "AA" and placed it on negative watch, citing risks arising from the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster. "Fitch Ratings has today downgraded BP plc's Long-term Issuer Default Rating and senior unsecured rating to 'AA' from 'AA+', respectively, and placed the ratings on Rating Watch Negative," the agency said in a statement. Fitch added that the ratings of senior unsecured issues from BP's capital markets ...

Fri, 4 Jun 10
Memo reveals Copenhagen climate talks blame game
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20627632.700-memo-reveals-copenhagen-climate-talks-blame-game.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=climate-change
New Scientist: AS UN climate negotiators meet in Bonn, Germany, this week to pick up the pieces of last year's failed climate talks in Copenhagen, outgoing UN climate chief Yvo de Boer has said that the chances of a deal this year were virtually nil. Speaking last week, he said the best that could be hoped for was a new international climate agreement in South Africa at the end of 2011. Meanwhile, an inside account of the Copenhagen talks reveals that de Boer blamed the collapse of the talks on the ...

Fri, 4 Jun 10
BP credit rating downgraded
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/jun/03/bp-credit-rating-downgraded
Guardian: <figure> <figcaption>The site of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Photograph: Jae C. Hong/AP</figcaption> </figure> BP came under further pressure from the City today when its credit rating was downgraded, hours after its chief executive admitted the company had not been properly prepared to fight the Deepwater Horizon oil leak. Credit ratings agency Fitch cut the rating on BP's long-term debt by one notch to AA from AA+. It also lowered its outlook on ...

Fri, 4 Jun 10
Maersk says checking North Sea oil slick sightings
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6521SG20100603?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29
Reuters: Danish shipping and oil group A.P. Moller-Maersk said on Thursday it was investigating sightings of an oil slick near three of its North Sea fields but that it could not identify any spill. Oil on the surface of the sea was observed by Danish and German reconnaissance aircraft on Tuesday and Wednesday near the Dan, Halfdan and Kraka fields in the North Sea, Maersk Oil said in a statement on Wednesday. An official at the Danish Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said the ...

Fri, 4 Jun 10
Corporate Greenwash at EU Environment Meet?
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=51702
Inter Press Service: Coca-Cola, recently indicted for causing serious damage to water and soil in India, might seem like an odd champion of environmental protection. Yet the global beverages giant was given a platform to present itself as ecologically progressive by one of the European Union's (EU) most powerful bodies. The public relations exercise on Jun. 2 did not go unchallenged. As Salvatore Gabola, a representative of Coca-Cola Europe, started to address 'Green Week', an annual EU conference, ...

Fri, 4 Jun 10
Fouls and Goals for Climate Change at World Cup
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=51686
Inter Press Service: South Africa, where the FIFA Football World Cup is to kick off Jun. 11, has introduced cleaner transportation, while Brazil is planning ecological stadiums for the championship it will host in 2014. But these and other initiatives clash with the countries' overall environmental performance. The first FIFA (International Federation of Association Football) World Cup to take place on the African continent will leave a carbon footprint more than eight times greater than the 2006 World ...

Fri, 4 Jun 10
United Kingdom: BT on track to cut carbon intensity 80 per cent by 2020
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2264084/bt-track-cut-carbon-intensity
Business Green: British Telecom (BT) is making progress on its ambitious goal of reducing its greenhouse gas intensity 80 per cent by 2020. The company said in its 2010 Sustainability report that it has managed to reduce its carbon intensity by 54 per cent between fiscal year (FY) 2010 and 1997, putting it on track for an 80 per cent cut by 2020, a goal it set in 2008. It reduced its absolute global greenhouse gas emissions 51 percent bet ween 1997 and 2010. BT also has a goal of cutting its ...

Fri, 4 Jun 10
England squad turns to Brazil for help... offsetting carbon emissions
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2264085/england-squad-turns-brazil-help
Business Green: The England World Cup squad has kicked their carbon footprint into touch after the FA announced it has offset the carbon emissions from the team's flights to the World Cup in South Africa and their pre-tournament training camp in Austria. The move represents a major endorsement for the carbon offset industry in general and the government's Quality Assurance Scheme (QAS) in particular, which certified the carbon credits purchased by the FA. The offsets were acquired from a small ...

Fri, 4 Jun 10
Spill threatens Florida's beaches and tourism
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100603/wl_afp/usoilpollutionenvironmenttourism
Agence France-Presse: The Gulf of Mexico oil spill approached the sandy white beaches of Pensacola Thursday, threatening Florida's tourist industry just ahead of its prime summer season. Some oil stains have been spotted in the sea about 10 miles (16 kilometers) from Pensacola and were expected to come ashore over the next two days, Florida Governor Charlie Crist said Wednesday. "The shifts, the winds and the currents are projecting weathered oil from the leading edge (which) could impact the ...

Fri, 4 Jun 10
Mexico refuses to bow to climate treaty pessimism
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2264075/mexico-refuses-bow-climate
Business Green: Mexico's top climate change negotiator has this week accused top UN and EU diplomats of undermining the chances of progress towards an international climate change deal this year by being unduly pessimistic about the prospects for November's annual UN climate summit in Cancun. Wary of a repeat of the stratospheric expectations ahead of last year's Copenhagen Summit that left many observers branding the event a failure, senior officials from many of the most influential negotiating ...

Fri, 4 Jun 10
India, US officials discuss agriculture, trade, climate change
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics/nation/India-US-officials-discuss-agriculture-trade-climate-change/articleshow/6006534.cms
Economic Times: Setting the tone for the first Indo-US Strategic Dialogue, top officials of the two countries have held a series of brainstorming sessions here during which they discussed bilateral ties and issues like counter- terrorism, education, agriculture, trade and climate change. The meetings came on the eve of the Cabinet-level Strategic Dialogue, which would be co-chaired by External Affairs Minister S M Krishna and his US counterpart Hillary Clinton at the Foggy Bottom headquarters of the ...

Fri, 4 Jun 10
Pacific islands 'are not sinking'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/asia_pacific/10222679.stm
BBC: A new geological study has shown that many low-lying Pacific islands are growing, not sinking. The islands of Tuvalu, Kiribati and the Federated States of Micronesia are among those which have grown, because of coral debris and sediment. The study, published in the magazine the New Scientist, predicts that the islands will still be there in 100 years' time. However it is still unsure whether many of them will be inhabitable. Prognosis 'incorrect' In recent ...

Fri, 4 Jun 10
Catastrophe in the Gulf: How Bad Could It Get?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20100603/us_time/08599199366400
Time Magazine: When Captain James Peters kicks his three engines into high gear, hold on to your hat - and your body too, if you don't want to end up overboard in the Mississippi Delta. Ordinarily on a clear June day like this one, Peters would be taking out a pack of eager sport fishermen from his home port in the southeastern Louisiana town of Venice, a community that proudly bills itself as the fishing capital of the world. But since the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded on April 20 - triggering a ...

Fri, 4 Jun 10
Over 100 VA Faith Leaders Urge Legislators to Pass Climate Bill
http://www.publicnewsservice.org/index.php?/content/article/14296-1
Public News Service: Pastors, rabbis and imams from across the Commonwealth have come together for one cause: the climate. More than 100 of Virginia's diverse faith leaders signed a letter addressed to Sens. Webb and Warner that urges the passage of a comprehensive climate bill. The letter, which was hand delivered to the senators' offices on Wednesday, states that the religious leaders see the issue of climate change as a moral one. Among the signers is Rabbi Robert Nosanchuk of the Northern Virginia ...

Fri, 4 Jun 10
Itochu breezes into US wind energy market with GE deal
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2264071/itochu-breezes-wind-energy
Business Green: Shares in Japanese manufacturing firm Itochu rose five per cent today on news that the company will jointly take a majority stake in a 30bn yen ($326 million) 152MW wind power project in Oklahoma alongside US engineering giant GE. The two firms will also cooperate in another undisclosed wind energy project being planned in the United States, and will jointly look for further wind energy investment opportunities around the world, Itochu said in a statement. "Both companies ...

Fri, 4 Jun 10
Director James Cameron says BP turned down help offer
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100603/en_nm/us_oil_spill_cameron
Reuters: Film director and deep-sea explorer James Cameron said on Wednesday that BP Plc turned down his offer to help combat the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. "Over the last few weeks I've watched, as we all have, with growing horror and heartache, watching what's happening in the Gulf and thinking those morons don't know what they're doing," Cameron said at the All Things Digital technology conference. Cameron, the director of "Avatar" and "Titanic," has worked extensively ...

Fri, 4 Jun 10
Spill panel may look at energy needs
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100603/ap_on_bi_ge/us_gulf_spill_commission
Associated Press: The new presidential commission investigating the Gulf oil spill will include two experts who have been active on the subject of global warming, including one who wrote just last month that the country should redouble efforts to lessen its dependence on oil, The Associated Press has learned. The two will join former Florida Sen. Bob Graham and former Environmental Protection Agency chief William Reilly, whose roles as co-chairmen of the seven-member panel were previously ...

Fri, 4 Jun 10
Pacific islands adapt to climate change
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100603/wl_asia_afp/pacificclimatewarmingislands
Agence France-Presse: New research has cast doubt on warnings that rising sea levels caused by climate change are slowly inundating low-lying Pacific islands. Scientists have studied 27 low-lying Pacific islands, comparing aerial photos from 60 years ago with modern satellite images, according to an article published Wednesday in The New Scientist. Paul Kench of the University of Auckland in New Zealand and Arthur Webb at the South Pacific Applied Geoscience Commission in Fiji found only four of ...

Fri, 4 Jun 10
China 'not optimistic' on emissions cuts
http://www.boston.com/news/world/asia/articles/2010/06/03/china_not_optimistic_on_emissions_cuts/?rss_id=Boston.com+--+Latest+news
Associated Press: China, the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, faces serious challenges to its efforts to cut environmental pollution, with one key pollutant increasing for the first time in three years, a senior Chinese official said Thursday. Sulfur dioxide emissions increased by 1.2 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2010, the first increase since 2007, Zhang Lijun, vice minister for environmental protection, told a news conference. "This sounded the alarm for our ...

Fri, 4 Jun 10
2009-10 set global warming record, NASA report says
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/nation/stories/DN-warming_03nat.ART.State.Edition1.29c1a33.html
Bloomberg: The global temperature this year reached its warmest on record based on a 12-month rolling average, James Hansen, the top climate change scientist at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, said Wednesday. The mean surface temperature in the year through April was about 1.17 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than the 1951 to 1980 mean, according to a draft paper on the website of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies. That makes it a fraction warmer than the previous peak, in ...

Fri, 4 Jun 10
United States: Faith leaders push climate-change legislation in letter to senators
http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/state_regional/state_regional_govtpolitics/article/CLIM03_20100602-221004/348650/
Richmond Times Dispatch: Leaders of faith communities urged Virginia Sens. Jim Webb and Mark R. Warner yesterday to endorse far-reaching climate change legislation as a moral imperative. The 100 clergy members from Virginia, representing various faiths, said legislation pending in the Senate should call for reducing greenhouse gas emissions by at least 25 percent below 1990 levels by 2020 and by 80 percent by 2050. The Senate may not take up the legislation this year. "In affirming the moral need for ...

Fri, 4 Jun 10
Nuclear Option on Gulf Oil Spill? No Way, U.S. Says
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/03/us/03nuke.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
New York Times: The chatter began weeks ago as armchair engineers brainstormed for ways to stop the torrent of oil spilling into the Gulf of Mexico: What about nuking the well? Decades ago, the Soviet Union reportedly used nuclear blasts to successfully seal off runaway gas wells, inserting a bomb deep underground and letting its fiery heat melt the surrounding rock to shut off the flow. Why not try it here? The idea has gained fans with each failed attempt to stem the leak and each new ...

Fri, 4 Jun 10
Obama Says He'll Push for Clean Energy Bill
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/03/us/politics/03obama.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
New York Times: President Obama said Wednesday that it was time for the United States "to aggressively accelerate' its transition from oil to alternative sources of energy and vowed to push for quick action on climate change legislation despite almost unanimous opposition from Republicans and continued skepticism from some Democrats. Seeking to harness the deepening anger over the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico to the advantage of his legislative agenda, Mr. Obama promised to find the lagging votes ...

Fri, 4 Jun 10
In California, a Step Toward B.Y.O.B. (Bring Your Own Bag)
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/03/science/earth/03bags.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
New York Times: Paper or plastic? Neither. The bagging options for store clerks could be severely limited after Wednesday's vote in the California State Assembly to not only ban plastic bags from pharmacies, groceries, convenience stores and liquor stores, but also to make retailers charge at least a nickel for paper bags -- which must include recyclable content. The goal is to prompt 21st-century shoppers in California to do what 20th-century shoppers in Moscow did routinely -- keep an ...

Fri, 4 Jun 10
United Kingdom: Thames Water flicks the switch on UK's first desalination plant
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2264056/thames-water-flicks-switch-uk
Business Green: Thames Water yesterday cut the ribbon on the UK's first mainland desalination plant, promising that it would provide much-needed backup supply for the " seriously water-stressed" capital in the event of drought conditions. Powered by biodiesel from used cooking oil, the Â£270m Thames Gateway Water Treatment Works in east London will be able to turn a mixture of seawater and river water from the Thames into drinking water. Thames expects the Gateway to produce 150 million litres ...

Fri, 4 Jun 10
China ties with US as top location for renewable investment
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2264054/china-ties-top-location
Business Green: China has officially tied with the US as the most attractive location to invest in renewable energy projects in the latest edition of Ernst & Young's Renewable Energy Country Attractiveness Indices, which is to be launched later today. According to the 30-page report, China has climbed two points in the indices after recent figures showed that it has invested $34.6bn (Â£23.7bn) in clean energy projects in the past 12 months, delivering almost double the US level of ...

Thu, 3 Jun 10
Scientists study the thin ice of Greenland
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2010/06/02/scientists-study-the-thin-ice-of-greenland-91466-26568263/
Western Mail: AN EXPEDITION led by a Welsh scientist is examining whether the Greenland ice sheet is collapsing Data from Dr Alun Hubbard and his team from Aberystwyth University will help study the impact of climate change in the region. Aberystwyth-born Dr Hubbard has already spent three years researching the effects of climate change on Greenland, the land of polar bears, the least densely populated country in the world and the planet`s largest non-continental island. There are ...

Thu, 3 Jun 10
US airlines mount legal challenge to EU emission cuts
http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_round_up/493887/us_airlines_mount_legal_challenge_to_eu_emission_cuts.html
Ecologist: American aviation sector accused of using 'every trick in the book' to block the European Union's efforts to reduce carbon emissions US airlines have begun legal action in an attempt to exempt themselves from a European carbon emissions trading scheme, due to come into force in 2012. From that date, all airlines flying into EU airports will be required to submit carbon credits for both the inward and outward legs of their journey. However, leading American airlines, ...

Thu, 3 Jun 10
United States: Report finds delta among most vulnerable rivers
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/06/02/MNRH1DO5SS.DTL
San Francisco Chronicle: Japan politics shaken by PM Hatoyama's resignation 06.02.10 Israel to expel all activists by day's end 06.02.10 Stocks rise after pending home sales top forecasts 06.02.10 Tax credits fuel 6 pct. rise in April home sales 06.02.10 The river system that makes up the backbone of the state's economy ranks as one of the most imperiled watersheds in the nation, putting at risk drinking water for millions of Californians as well as billions of dollars worth of crops and urban infrastructure, ...

Thu, 3 Jun 10
Home solar arrays help stabilize the grid
http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/post.cfm?id=how-home-solar-arrays-can-help-to-s-2010-06-01
Scientific American: In the first installment of this post, Arnold Mckinley of Xslent Energy Technologies described how "reactive power" -- that is, power stored momentarily by electrical appliances and then released -- destabilizes the electrical grid. Here he explains how home solar arrays can help. Electricity has traditionally been distributed using a wheel and spoke grid: power travels from a large central generator to loads distributed around it. In some cases, energy travels very long distances, ...

Wed, 2 Jun 10
Oil spill sparks criminal probe
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6430AR20100602?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29
Reuters: BP Plc faced a grim future on Tuesday as its failure to stop a Gulf of Mexico oil spill prompted a plunge in the energy giant's shares and the Obama administration said it opened a criminal investigation. President Barack Obama, struggling to get on top of the worst oil spill in U.S. history, vowed an overhaul of U.S. laws and regulations needed to prevent a repeat of the April 20 rig explosion that killed 11 people and triggered the spill. A mile below the ocean surface, BP ...

Wed, 2 Jun 10
'Bus stop mentality' killing villages
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/countryside/7710214/Bus-stop-mentality-killing-villages.html
Telegraph: By Louise Gray, Environment Correspondent Published: 9:00PM BST 01 Jun 2010 The Country Land and Business Association (CLA) said planning policy under the Labour government "throttled" the countryside by introducing so much red tape. The 20 page report said rural areas are unfairly expected to meet a huge number of "sustainability criteria" that makes it impossible to develop new businesses or build affordable homes in the countryside. One of the main problems are the ...

Wed, 2 Jun 10
BP oil spill could make Gulf hurricane season 'devastating'
http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20100601/ts_csm/305256
Christian Science Monitor: The 2010 Atlantic hurricane season opens today, and with it concerns over the effect the BP oil spill could have on coastal ecosystems if a major storm moves into the northern Gulf of Mexico and reaches land. On one hand, hurricane forecasters and federal emergency officials say the first concern in any hurricane that makes landfall will be people. Yet healthy wetlands along the Gulf Coast – mainly west of the Mississippi Delta – are widely seen as a first line of defense against the ...

Wed, 2 Jun 10
Could Gulf oil spill bankrupt BP?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20100601/ts_csm/305324
Christian Science Monitor: Though the BP oil spill continues unabated, it is too early to write BP's corporate obituary, say industry analysts. Yes, the company's value in the stock market has shrunk by $70 billion since the incident. On Tuesday alone, the company's stock sank by $19 billion. But the company has some of the deepest pockets in the world. And the greatest concern to BP "" the possible litigation "" might stretch on for decades, defraying the costs, as happened in the Exxon Valdez oil ...

Wed, 2 Jun 10
Gulf oil spill: parallels with Ixtoc raise fears of ecological tipping point
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/01/gulf-oil-spill-ixtoc-ecological-tipping-point
Guardian: <figure> <figcaption>Sanderlings feed as workers search the beach for oil debris in Grand Isle, Louisiana. Photograph: Lee Celano/Reuters</figcaption> </figure> Juan Antonio Dzul was a teenager when the Ixtoc 1 oil rig collapsed in June 1979 in the Gulf of Mexico, 70 miles from the fishing town of ChampotÃ³n where he grew up and still lives. The memory of the huge spill that followed is etched on his mind. "The oil covered the reefs and washed up on the shore. Fish died and the ...

Wed, 2 Jun 10
UN climate change chief hopeful of progress in Bonn
http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/pacbeat/stories/201006/s2915791.htm
Radio Australia: Closed door meetings on an international agreement to tackle climate change are now underway in Bonn, Germany. Over the next week, delegates from 182 countries will iron out the outstanding issues from the last United Nations talks in Copenhagen. The aim is to prepare a text in time for the next major Climate Change talks in Cancun, Mexico next December.

Wed, 2 Jun 10
NASA satellite image reveals record low snow for the United States
http://news.mongabay.com/2010/0601-hance_snowcover.html
Mongabay: According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, snow cover retreated to its lowest extent ever recorded in North America by the end of this April. Snow cover was 2.2 million square kilometers below average. With records of snow extent beginning in 1967, this is the lowest in 43 years and the largest negative anomaly in the past 521 months. A new image released by NASA shows just how little snow cover remained in April. Almost the entirety of Eastern and Midwestern ...

Wed, 2 Jun 10
First:utility mulls partnership with waste-to-fuel start-up
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2263974/first-utility-eyes-novel
Business Green: Independent electricity company first:utility is looking to make its first energy generation investment and is considering teaming up with a UK-based biofuel specialist, BusinessGreen.com has learned. Company chief executive Mark Daeche revealed he is looking at investing in a number of renewable energy projects, and is also looking at some form of partnership with energy-from-waste start-up New Fuel Technology (NFT). "We have had discussions with several renewable generators ...

Wed, 2 Jun 10
Indonesia: Children's books about rainforests linked to rainforest destruction
http://news.mongabay.com/2010/0601-hance_childrens_books.html
Mongabay: Purchasing a children's book may be directly causing deforestation of biodiverse and carbon-heavy rainforests, according to a new report by the Rainforest Action Network (RAN). In a discovery that highlights the irony of the issue, RAN even found children's books about protecting rainforests contained fiber from Indonesian forests. Testing paper fiber from 30 children's books, RAN found that overall 18 books were directly linked to paper products from Indonesia, and four of these had ...

Wed, 2 Jun 10
Obama Vows Thorough Oil Spill Probe
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127352126&ft=1&f=1025
National Public Radio: President Obama met Tuesday with the co-chairs of the BP oil spill commission, and said that an independent commission will thoroughly examine all aspects of the disaster. Meanwhile, he's dispatched Attorney General Eric Holder to the Gulf Coast. Holder said Tuesday that federal authorities have opened criminal and civil investigations into the spill.

Wed, 2 Jun 10
Esa chief set to continue in role
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science_and_environment/10210022.stm
BBC: Jean-Jacques Dordain, the boss of the European Space Agency (Esa), could be heading for another period in office. It is understood both Germany and France, the organisation's leading member-states, are proposing he should carry on in the post beyond 2010. The Frenchman assumed the role of director general in 2003, and is coming to the end of his second term. During his time at the helm, Esa has launched a swathe of Earth observation spacecraft and interplanetary ...

Wed, 2 Jun 10
'First' Neanderthal tool evidence
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science_and_environment/10206677.stm
BBC: Archaeologists have found what they say is the earliest evidence of Neanderthals living in Britain. Two pieces of flint unearthed at motorway works in Dartford, Kent, have now been dated to 110,000 years ago. The finds push back the presence of Neanderthals in Britain by 40,000 years or more, said Dr Francis Wenban-Smith, from Southampton University. A majority of researchers believe Britain was uninhabited by humans at the time the flint tools were made. An ...

Wed, 2 Jun 10
United Kingdom: Chris Huhne warns of Â£4bn black hole in nuclear power budget
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/jun/01/chris-huhne-black-hole-nuclear-power-budget
Guardian: <figure> <figcaption>Chris Huhne, the new energy secretary, said: 'What we are effectively paying for here is decades of cheap nuclear electricity.' Photograph: Matt Cardy/Getty Images</figcaption> </figure> Britain is facing a Â£4bn black hole in unavoidable nuclear decommissioning and waste costs, Chris Huhne, the energy and climate change secretary disclosed tonight. The decommissioning costs over the next four years revealed by officials to Huhne are so serious that he has ...

Wed, 2 Jun 10
Five factors to watch in the 2010 hurricane season
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ygreen/20100601/sc_ygreen/fivefactorstowatchinthe2010hurricaneseason
Yahoo Green: All forecasters agree that the 2010 Atlantic hurricane season is likely to be very active, with an above-average number of tropical storms (sustained winds of 39 mph), hurricanes (sustained winds of 74 mph), and major hurricanes (sustained winds of 111 mph). Though all forecasts are subject to the error that comes with trying to predict complex systems, there are several factors that give researchers confidence in their predictions. The number and strength of storms is one factor that ...

Wed, 2 Jun 10
Gibbs: BP not forthcoming on spill
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100601/ap_on_bi_ge/us_gulf_oil_spill_white_house
Associate Press: White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs says BP was not forthcoming about the possibility oil could leak faster as a result of the latest attempt to contain the Gulf spill. White House Energy Adviser Carol Browner said over the weekend that cutting and capping the damaged oil riser could result in a temporary 20 percent increase in the flow, a figure Gibbs repeated Tuesday. BP has said it didn't expect a significant increase in flow from the cutting and capping plan. Gibbs ...

Wed, 2 Jun 10
Biologists says oil spill won't wipe out shrimp
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100601/ap_on_re_us/us_oil_spill_shrimp
Associate Press: Wildlife scientists think shrimp can survive the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Martin Bourgeois of the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries says brown shrimp spawn offshore in January, February and March. Once the eggs hatch, the larva count on prevailing winds and currents to carry them to the Louisiana marsh, where they grow until it's time for them to swim back offshore to spawn. May is the peak fishing season for brown shrimp. White shrimp season begins ...

Wed, 2 Jun 10
US projects 4 percent emissions rise by 2012 to UN
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hzCCtJ0IP6GsZTHlOKnFl5i7spqgD9G2LH180
Associated Press: In its first major climate report to the United Nations in four years, the United States reported Tuesday that its projected climate-warming greenhouse gases will grow by 4 percent through 2020. The first such report submitted under the Obama administration includes a 1.5 percent rise in carbon dioxide emissions, the main gas from fossil fuel burning blamed for global warming. But it's the culpability of hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs -- promoted worldwide to replace chemicals ...

Wed, 2 Jun 10
Stocks turn sharply lower in late trading
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100601/ap_on_bi_st_ma_re/us_wall_street
Associate Press: Stocks took another late-day dive Tuesday after the government said it was starting criminal and civil investigations into the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 112. Its plunge came shortly before the close and minutes after Attorney General Eric Holder made the announcement. Stocks in energy companies and oil service providers tumbled on the news, and other stocks followed. Holder would not say which companies or individuals might be under ...

Wed, 2 Jun 10
Oil Effects on Endangered Species May Be 'Mind-Boggling'
http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20100601/sc_livescience/oileffectsonendangeredspeciesmaybemindboggling
LiveScience.com: The massive oil slick that is spreading throughout the waters of the Gulf of Mexico threatens the existence of a critically endangered sawfish, as well as other already threatened species that dwell there, scientists say. Louisiana's state bird is among the species that could take a hit from the oil. "You don't have to be a marine biologist to know that the Gulf oil spill is an environmental disaster of the first order," said Gerald Weissmann, editor-in-chief of the FASEB ...

Wed, 2 Jun 10
EU Grants Three Nations 14.5 Million Euros To Fight Climate Challenges
http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v5/newsworld.php?id=502562
Bernama: Three least developed nations has been pledged by European Union (EU) a grant of 14.5 million euros to implement the nations' strategic action plan for tackling climate change, a local media reported Tuesday. The three nations namely Bangladesh, Maldives and Cambodia signed a joint declaration with the EU here, after the two-day Global Climate Change Alliance (GCCA) conference culminated. The conference kicked off on Monday. Other nations attending the conference are ...

Wed, 2 Jun 10
United Kingdom: Cities to get hotter at night
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/7792212/Cities-to-get-hotter-at-night-predicts-Met-Office.html
Telegraph: Global warming and the increasing size and density of cities could cause the number of nights when the temperature does not dip below 68F (20C) to rise dramatically, the Met Office found. In a process known as the urban heat island effect, cities can be up to 18F (10C) warmer at night than the surrounding countryside. This is because they absorb more heat in the day, which is released from roads, pavements and buildings at night; and because there is more heat being generated ...

Wed, 2 Jun 10
As speculative fever rages, China bursts bean bubble
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6500U720100601?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29
Reuters: Germany has banned naked short-selling and the United States may block banks from proprietary trading. But China has taken rules aimed at ensuring market stability to new, tastier lengths. It has launched a strike-hard campaign against speculators driving up vegetable prices. Investors are no strangers to Chinese produce, as witnessed last year when garlic was the country's top-performing asset. While soaring garlic prices troubled those looking to spice up their meals, ...

Wed, 2 Jun 10
'Noise pollution' threatens fish
http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8708000/8708318.stm
BBC: Sound matters to cichlids Fish are being threatened by rising levels of man-made noise pollution. So say scientists who have reviewed the impact on fish species around the world of noises made by oil and gas rigs, ships, boats and sonar. Rather than live in a silent world, most fish hear well and sound plays an active part in their lives, they say. Increasing noise levels may therefore severely affect the distribution of fish, and their ability to reproduce, ...

Wed, 2 Jun 10
Indonesia: Shock and Uncertainty Over Forest-Clearing Moratorium
http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/business/shock-and-uncertainty-over-forest-clearing-moratorium/378003
Jakarta Post: Business leaders and even top government officials have been left surprised by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's announcement last week that the country would impose a two-year moratorium on the clearing of natural forests. Meanwhile, the government added on Monday that even some existing licenses held by palm oil and timber firms would be revoked as part of the moratorium. The developments have left many wondering what comes next for a range of development products, from a ...

Wed, 2 Jun 10
Tension up as badger cull looms
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/wales/10199015.stm
BBC: Tensions are increasing in north Pembrokeshire as the Welsh Assembly Government's plans for a badger cull create anger and fear. For the past two years, the authorities have been battling against the spread of bovine TB in cows. They are moving towards trapping and shooting badgers, as they are known to carry the disease. The assembly government will not say when the cull is to start, but it is believed to be imminent. The badger cull has been ordered as part of a ...

Wed, 2 Jun 10
BP plunges 15 percent as oil spill costs soar
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100601/bs_afp/usblastoilenvironmentpollutionstockscompanybp
AFP: BP revealed Tuesday that the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico had cost it almost a billion dollars, sparking a 13-percent plunge in its shares after the latest attempt to fix the leaking well failed. At its lowest point, the British energy giant's share price dropped nearly 17 percent on the day, but it recovered slightly to close at 430 pence, down 13.1 percent. The sell-off wiped more than 12 billion pounds (14.4 billion euros, 17.6 billion dollars) off its market value -- its ...

Wed, 2 Jun 10
Governments avoid, not deny, climate change
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/technology/Governments+avoid+deny+climate+change/3095106/story.html
Ottawa Citizen: When columnist Dan Gardner descries climate deniers as "zealous, dogmatic, self-righteous, and absolutely unyielding" many deniers are certainly that. Further to seizing on the slightest pretext to condemn scientific evidence, some have taken to declaring climate change a gigantic hoax perpetrated by governments and their meteorological research departments. Thinking about that for a moment, I have to ask why would governments even want to contemplate a hoax over climate ...

Wed, 2 Jun 10
Companies look to spend more 'green' money
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/sc-biz-0601-climate--20100601,0,7309955.story
Chicago Tribune: Seventy percent of major companies plan to boost spending on climate-change efforts in the next two years, according to a study from Ernst & Young. Of the 300 corporate executives surveyed this spring, 89 percent said their green activities were driven by changing customer demands, while 92 percent also pointed to energy costs as a driver. In addition, 43 percent of those surveyed said that equity analysts will soon consider climate-change actions when valuing ...

Wed, 2 Jun 10
Suzlon predicts strong recovery despite loss-making quarter
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2263921/suzlon-predicts-strong-recovery
Business Green: India's largest wind turbine manufacturer Suzlon Energy yesterday reported a consolidated loss of 1.88bn rupees (Â£28.3m) for the first quarter of the year, blaming weak demand from Europe and the US for the performance. Shares in the company fell by almost eight per cent on the news of the unexpected loss, which compared unfavourably with the 3.15bn rupee profit that had been recorded for the same period in 2009. Sales volumes for the full year to March fell to 1,460MW from ...

Wed, 2 Jun 10
Presence of world leaders "paralysed" climate summit, UN letter claims
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2263922/presence-world-leaders
Business Green: A leaked letter from the United Nations' climate chief suggests the Copenhagen climate summit failed because the presence of 130 world leaders paralysed decision-making and the Danish presidency backed the US and other western nations over the interests of the poor. The revelations -- made as the UN climate talks resume in Bonn today -- come in Yvo de Boer's candid letter, written to colleagues days after the summit broke up in acrimony in December. More than 130 world leaders ...

Wed, 2 Jun 10
Diversity the Best Option for Cuban Farmers
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=51660
Inter Press Service: Cuban biodiversity scientist Humberto RÃos, one of the six recipients of the 2010 Goldman Environmental Prize, probably won't be able to collect the 150,000 dollars in prize money, though that setback is unlikely to cause him to lose any sleep -- or keep him from singing. "I'm preparing my second album, with my children," he told IPS in this interview. In his April trip to the United States to receive the award, widely known as the "Green Nobel", RÃos visited the White House and the ...

Wed, 2 Jun 10
North-South Conservation Divide: "Show Me the Money"
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=51652
Inter Press Service: Developing countries rich in plants and animals but poor in financial and technical resources refused to make binding commitments to halt the unraveling of the planet's biological infrastructure at the close of a major meeting Friday at the U.N.'s African headquarters in Nairobi. For their part, rich countries balked at a 50-fold increase in funding to support efforts to slow and reverse the loss of species and ecosystems. "Anything to do with finance has been a big problem ...

Wed, 2 Jun 10
Temperatures reach record high in Pakistan
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jun/01/pakistan-record-temperatures-heatwave
Guardian: <figure> <figcaption>A Pakistani boy cools off in a park in Multan, as temperatures reached record highs in a continuing heatwave. Photograph: MK Chaudhry/EPA</figcaption> </figure> Mohenjo-daro, a ruined city in what is now Pakistan that contains the last traces of a 4,000-year-old civilisation that flourished on the banks of the river Indus, today entered the modern history books after government meteorologists recorded a temperature of 53.7C (129F). Only Al 'Aziziyah, in Libya ...

Wed, 2 Jun 10
Fast-expanding Zipcar files for $75m IPO
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2263966/fast-expanding-zipcar-files-75m
Business Green: US-based car-sharing firm Zipcar has become the latest green company to file for an IPO, revealing plans to raise an estimated $75m (Â£51m) by listing on the Nasdaq. The company said in a statement that it had not yet determined the number of shares that will be issued or the price range, but reports said that it is expected to try to raise up to $75m. Zipcar confirmed in its SEC filing that it plans to use the proceeds from the IPO to "pay down certain indebtedness" and use any ...

Wed, 2 Jun 10
Climate change to hurt Egypt farming, tourism
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6504YW20100601?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29
Reuters: Egypt's farming and tourism sectors could be hurt as climate change takes its toll on the country, fuelling food security concerns in what is already the world's largest wheat importer, an environment official said. Climate change in Egypt threatens to cut key agricultural crops, force millions to migrate, flood or alter tourism destinations, and dramatically cut water supplies, head of the climate change unit of the environmental affairs agency said. "We are looking at an ...

Wed, 2 Jun 10
EU pledges 8.5m euros for Bangladesh to fight climate change
http://nation.ittefaq.com/issues/2010/06/02/news0182.htm
New Nation: The two-day Asia Regional Conference of Global Climate Change Alliance (GCCA) ended here on Monday adopting a joint declaration to help least developed countries (LDCs) and Small Island Developing Countries (SIDS) in Asia to cope with the climate change. Bangladesh, Cambodia and the Maldives signed the joint declaration at a city hotel. Under the agreement, the European Union (EU) will provide 13.5 million euros of which Bangladesh will get 8.5 million euros and the remaining amount ...

Wed, 2 Jun 10
Persistent organic pollutants in large concentrations in Arctic areas: Fires spread environmental toxi
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/06/100601072630.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Latest+Science+News%29
ScienceDaily: Persistent Organic Pollutants in Large Concentrations in Arctic Areas: Fires Spread Environmental Toxins Over the Arctic Forest fires and straw and stubble burning in North America and Eastern Europe are leading to record-high concentrations of the environmental toxin PCB over Svalbard. As a result of climate change, airborne pollution is thus becoming an increasing problem in the Arctic. For the last decades, persistent organic pollutants (POPs) have been found in large ...

Wed, 2 Jun 10
Wind power a concern for some ccmmunities
http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/36569/
Epoch Times: In Australia this month, Epuron's 73-turbine Gullen Range wind farm in New South Wales was approved, providing, however, that 14 landholders are compensated. The case had centered around complaints of visual impact, "shadow flicker' and the need for a buffer. According to Epuron's website, based on an 84-turbine layout, the Gullen Range Wind Farm could supply clean, renewable energy for up to 73,500 average homes and reduce gas emissions by up to 588,000 tons (of CO2 equivalent) per ...

Wed, 2 Jun 10
Sales of European green goods set to double by 2015
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2263953/sales-green-goods-five-years
Business Green: The emerging European market for green consumer goods is set to double in value to EUR114bn (Â£95bn) during the next five years as the price premium on sustainable products begins to fall. That is the conclusion of a new study commissioned by the Centre for Retail Research on behalf of online comparison site Kelkoo.co.uk, which found that while sales of green goods currently account for just 2.5 per cent of the entire European retail market, the sector is set to expand ...

Tue, 1 Jun 10
President decides on allocation of Norway monies
http://www.kaieteurnewsonline.com/2010/05/31/president-decides-on-allocation-of-norway-monies/
Kaieteur News: On Monday last, President Bharrat Jagdeo revealed another draft for his Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS). Two days later he jetted off to Oslo, Norway, where a $4B US fund was signed into existence for the implementation of Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD+) initiatives. Before President Jagdeo left, he spoke of how the first installment of monies from Norway would be spent. In fact, he even looked at allocation of the next two years' worth of ...

Tue, 1 Jun 10
Relief for Gulf is 2 months away with another well
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100601/ap_on_bi_ge/us_gulf_oil_spill
Associated Press: The best hope for stopping the flow of oil from the blown-out well at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico has been compared to hitting a target the size of a dinner plate with a drill more than two miles into the earth, and is anything but a sure bet on the first attempt. Bid after bid has failed to stanch what has already become the nation's worst-ever spill, and BP PLC is readying another patchwork attempt as early as Wednesday, this one a cut-and-cap process to put a lid on the ...

Tue, 1 Jun 10
World Cup teams brace for climate change as they head to South Africa
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/31/AR2010053102202.html
Washington Post: The French have been biking through the snow-capped Alpine resort of Tignes. The Italians have been sprinting in Sestriere, the posh enclave that hosted skiing events for the 2006 Winter Olympics. And England, at least for a time, pondered whether its players should sleep in specially designed low-oxygen tents. All three have won a World Cup. And in pursuit of another title, their national soccer teams have taken extraordinary measures to gird for the nearly mile-high ...

Tue, 1 Jun 10
Canada: Wind: B.C.'s untapped power source
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/WIND%20untapped%20power%20source/3090760/story.html
Vancouver Sun: A line of wind turbines stands near the windy Alberta town of Pincher Creek on the eastern side of the Rocky Mountains. B.C.'s more promising wind power generating area is the province's northeastern corner where the last ranges of the Rockies veer westward. Photograph by: Ted Rhodes, Canwest News Service Files, Vancouver Sun There is a motherlode of wind energy resources in northeastern British Columbia, and developers are standing by. Now, this largely unknown and ...

Tue, 1 Jun 10
Dire warning by scientists
http://www.thestar.com.my/columnists/story.asp?file=/2010/5/31/columnists/globaltrends/6370748&sec=globaltrends
Malaysian Star: As the global climate talks resume today, an article by prominent scientists has warned that the pledges made under the Copenhagen Accord are 'paltry' and will increase rather than decrease emissions. AS the UN Climate Change Convention resumes its meetings today, a new article by prominent scientists has warned that recent pledges made by countries under the Copenhagen Accord are amazingly unambitious and could lead to a 20% emissions increase by 2020. It will be the first ...

Tue, 1 Jun 10
Pakistan among worst victims of transboundary pollution
http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=242234
News: Experts have raised the fear that Pakistan is likely to be one of the worst victims of climate change despite the fact that it has a meagre share of just 0.5 per cent in the total global emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2). Pakistan's situation is quite contrary to China and the United States that alone contribute 41.7 per cent of the overall global carbon emissions in the world. Over the past century, the Earth has its temperature increased by five degrees Celsius and many ...

Tue, 1 Jun 10
New round of climate talks kicks off in Germany
http://www.kentucky.com/2010/05/31/1287130/new-round-of-climate-talks-kicks.html
Associated Press: A new round of climate negotiations kicked off in Germany on Monday with squabbling over money and procedural questions that could threaten progress at the two-week U.N. conference. U.N. climate chief Yvo de Boer and activists from groups including Oxfam, Greenpeace, and WWF pressured industrial nations to live up to their promises of financial aid to poor countries as about 4,500 participants from 182 countries gathered in Bonn. Concrete financial contributions must "show that ...

Tue, 1 Jun 10
United States: Energy bill veto means eclipse for solar
http://www.hartfordbusiness.com/news13384.html
Hartford Business: Gov. Jodi Rell's veto of the Energy Reform Bill last week wasn't the death knell for solar power in Connecticut, but the fading industry will have to struggle to thrive in the state. With all incentives for commercial solar projects under the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund gone, companies hoped the provisions in the energy bill would bring back work shipped off to solar-friendly states. "There is absolutely zero opportunity in Connecticut without the energy bill,' said Mike ...

Tue, 1 Jun 10
United States: Road tolls could help in climate-change fight, Ontario commissioner says
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/ontario/road-tolls-could-help-in-climate-change-fight-ontario-commissioner-says/article1586560/?cmpid=rss1&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheGlobeAndMail-Front+%28The+Globe+and+Mail+
Canadian Press: Ontario's environmental commissioner is recommending road tolls and other charges to help the province cut the greenhouse gases it produces. In his annual progress report on greenhouse gas reductions, Gord Miller calls for a comprehensive assessment of how road pricing can help in the battle against climate change. Mr. Miller says the transportation sector is the single largest producer of greenhouse gas emissions in Ontario, and steps must be taken to make public transit a ...

Tue, 1 Jun 10
Rich-poor rifts stall progress at U.N. climate talks
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE64U3ID20100531?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29
Reuters: U.N. climate talks opened on Monday, exposing familiar rifts between rich and poor countries which delegates said were likely to delay a re-start of formal negotiations. The 185-nation Bonn conference, which will run until June 11, is the biggest international meeting on climate change since a summit last December in Copenhagen failed to agree a new pact. Several countries said they could not give a green light to formal negotiations on a new text published in mid-May and which ...

Tue, 1 Jun 10
The Gulf oil spill in context: US oil consumption
http://news.mongabay.com/2010/0531-hance_consumption.html
Mongabay: The US government has now confirmed that the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is the United States' largest oil spill and perhaps the nation's worst environmental disaster. While poor government oversight and negligence by oil giant BP certainly contributed to the disaster, the fact that the US is drilling over a mile below the surface in one of its most important marine ecosystems is directly related to US consumption of oil: the highest in the world. In 2007 the United States ...

Tue, 1 Jun 10
Indonesia to revoke palm oil concession licenses under forest deal
http://news.mongabay.com/2010/0531-indonesia_forest_deal.html
Mongabay: Indonesia will revoke existing forestry licenses to cut down natural forests under the billion dollar deal climate deal signed with Norway last week, reports Reuters. Agus Purnomo, head of the secretariat of Indonesia's National Climate Change Council, told Sunanda Creagh of Reuters that part of the billion dollars pledged by Norway would be used to compensate palm oil developers and timber companies that would lose forest concessions under the emissions mitigation program. ...

Tue, 1 Jun 10
Gulf oil spill threat widens
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100531/bs_nm/us_oil_rig_leak
Reuters: Oil from BP's out-of-control Gulf of Mexico oil spill could threaten the Mississippi and Alabama coasts this week, U.S. forecasters said on Monday, as public anger surged over the country's worst environmental disaster. Government and BP officials are warning that the blown-out deepwater well feeding the catastrophic spill may not be shut off until August as the company begins preparations on a new but uncertain attempt to contain the leaking crude. On Tuesday, President Barack ...

Tue, 1 Jun 10
United Kingdom: Night-time temperatures could rise above 25C because of climate change
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article7141432.ece
Times (UK): The number of sweltering nights when the temperature in cities stays above 20C (68F) and the elderly become vulnerable to heat exhaustion will increase fivefold because of climate change, a Met Office study has found. Opening the windows will make no difference because the outside temperature will be too warm for the heat in homes to escape. The "urban heat island effect', in which buildings and roads absorb heat during the day and release it at night, could result in the temperature ...

Tue, 1 Jun 10
BP's Top Kill Fails as Gulf Coast Oil-Spill Worries Grow
http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20100601/us_time/08599199289400
Time Magazine: Glenn Dufrene has lived his whole life on the Louisiana bayou, and he treasures its boggy natural beauty. When he got the chance this month to work with a crew protecting the coast from the massive Deepwater Horizon oil-rig spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the 47-year-old truck and airboat driver headed for the Mississippi River delta town of Venice, on Louisiana's southwestern tip. Dufrene says it was sad enough this week to see the oil slick, about two inches thick in some places, arrive at ...

Tue, 1 Jun 10
Ukraine: Climate camp targets RBS in Edinburgh
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/01/climate-camp-rbs-edinburgh
Guardian: This summer's Edinburgh fringe festival could be hijacked by climate change protesters after they decided to hold their annual camp in the city at the same time. The four-day Climate Camp will target Royal Bank of Scotland, whose headquarters are on the edge of Edinburgh, because of its links to the oil industry and in particular tar sands. RBS is also sponsoring the fringe festival. Action against the bank is planned for Monday 23 August. Organisers said the precise location ...