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Tue, 31 Aug 10
Judge quashes Cuccinelli subpoena of U-Va. records
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/virginiapolitics/2010/08/judge_quashes_cuccinelli_subpo.html
Washington Post: An Albemarle County Circuit Court judge has set aside a subpoena issued by Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli to the University of Virginia seeking documents related to the work of climate scientist and former university professor Michael Mann. Judge Paul M. Peatross Jr. ruled that Cuccinelli can investigate whether fraud has occurred in university grants, as the attorney general had contended, but ruled that Cuccinelli's subpoena failed to state a "reason to believe" that Mann ...

Tue, 31 Aug 10
Bad weather delays retrieval BP blowout preventer: US gov't
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100830/ts_nm/us_oil_spill_allen
Reuters: BP Plc delayed retrieval of the failed blowout preventer atop its ruptured Gulf of Mexico oil well this week because of bad weather, the top U.S. official overseeing the oil spill said on Monday. "We are in a weather hold right now," Retired Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen, noting seas were 6 to 6 feet high at the site of the Macondo well. He said bad weather is expected to last two to three days. The blowout preventer retrieval had been slated for Tuesday or Wednesday.

Tue, 31 Aug 10
Canada: New Findings on Toxic Pollutants and Oil Sands Mining
http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/30/new-findings-on-toxic-pollutants-and-oil-sands-mining/
NYT: Native Canadians living downstream from the oil sands mines in Alberta have long contended that their high cancer rates were related to the expanding excavation of bitumen for the production of synthetic crude. Their assertions have been disputed by the reports of a joint oil industry-government research panel that concluded that natural causes -- and not mining -- were responsible for the high levels of various metals in the sub-Arctic Athabasca River. But now a new study in the ...

Tue, 31 Aug 10
Angela Merkel risks Germans' ire with fresh commitment to nuclear energy
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/30/angela-merkel-commits-nuclear-energy
Guardian: German chancellor Angela Merkel has announced an extension to the nation's nuclear power plant operations for up to 15 years beyond a scheduled phase-out, in a move critics fear might signal that atomic power is here to stay. The decision comes after a panel of experts advised that keeping the plants open was the only way of ensuring climate protection and economic goals were met and that electricity prices did not soar out of control. Merkel, who spent last week touring some ...

Tue, 31 Aug 10
Dramatic Climate Change Is Unpredictable
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1909948/dramatic_climate_change_is_unpredictable/index.html?source=r_science
redOrbit: The fear that global temperature can change very quickly and cause dramatic climate changes that may have a disastrous impact on many countries and populations is great around the world. But what causes climate change and is it possible to predict future climate change? New research from the Niels Bohr Institute at the University of Copenhagen shows that it may be due to an accumulation of different chaotic influences and as a result would be difficult to predict. The results have just been ...

Tue, 31 Aug 10
New nuclear tech 'could benefit developing countries'
http://www.scidev.net/en/climate-change-and-energy/new-nuclear-tech-could-benefit-developing-countries--1.html?utm_source=link&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=en_climatechangeandenergy
SciDev.Net: The world is on the brink of a nuclear power renaissance, and developing countries may also benefit, according to researchers. In a study published in Science this month (12 August) British researchers outlined a vision for flexible and more user-friendly nuclear technologies, as worries over the climate change, energy supply security, and depletion of fossil fuels, are overturning decades of hesitancy over the safety of nuclear power plants. Robin Grimes, materials researchers ...

Tue, 31 Aug 10
UN climate panel needs to 'fundamentally reform'
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100830/wl_afp/unclimatewarmingipcc
AFP: A UN-ordered review said Monday that the global panel on climate change needed to "fundamentally reform" how it operates after embarrassing errors in a landmark report dented its credibility. The five-month probe recommended an overhaul of the position of Rajendra Pachauri, chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), who said he would accept whatever fate member-states decide for him. The United Nations ordered the review by the InterAcademy Council, which ...

Tue, 31 Aug 10
Report: Climate science panel should be better run
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100830/ap_on_sc/us_sci_warming_report
AP: An international panel of scientists says the acclaimed committee studying global warming needs stronger leadership and fundamental changes. Representatives of the world's science academies have released their report on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a body that won a Nobel Prize in 2007. Last year, a series of errors embarrassed the authors of the climate report. For example the report erred in how fast the Himalayan glaciers are melting. The InterAcademy ...

Tue, 31 Aug 10
UN climate body 'needs reforms'
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11131897
BBC: The UN's climate science body needs "fundamental" reforms, including a shorter term for its chairperson, an international review has concluded. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has faced mounting pressure over errors in its last major assessment of climate science in 2007. The review commends the IPCC on the way it carried out previous assessments. But the report recommends changes to the way the body is run and the way science is ...

Tue, 31 Aug 10
U.N. climate panel urged to reform, stick to science
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE67T2X120100830?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29
Reuters: The U.N. climate panel should only make predictions when it has solid evidence and should avoid policy advocacy, scientists said in a report on Monday that called for thorough reform of the body. The U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was widely criticized after admitting its 2007 global warming report wrongly said Himalayan glaciers would vanish by 2035 and that it had overstated how much of the Netherlands is below sea level. Such firm forecasts should be ...

Tue, 31 Aug 10
Climate change predictions must be based on evidence, report on IPCC says
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/climatechange/7971780/Climate-change-predictions-must-be-based-on-evidence-report-on-IPCC-says.html
Telegraph: The IPCC was hit with a wave of criticism after acknowledging in January that its 2007 global warming report had exaggerated the pace of Himalayan glaciers melting. It had previously said the report had overstated how much of the Netherlands is below sea level. "Qualitative probabilities should be used to describe the probability of well-defined outcomes only when there is sufficient evidence," said the review group, which was supported by the academies of science from the United ...

Tue, 31 Aug 10
Pakistan floods: Thousands return to historic city as levees keep water at bay
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/30/pakistan-floods-levees-thatta
AP: Thousands of people returned to the historic southern city of Thatta in Pakistan today after levees built from clay and stone held back the floodwaters that have ravaged large areas of the country. Thousands who fled as the floods inundated nearby towns complained about a shortage of food and water as they camped in a graveyard on a hill near the city. People ran after vehicles distributing food and water near the graveyard – a chaotic distribution system that left many flood ...

Tue, 31 Aug 10
Review Finds Flaws in UN Climate Panel Structure
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/31/world/31nations.html?_r=5
NYT: The scientists involved in producing the periodic United Nations reports on climate change need to be more open to alternative views and more transparent about their own possible conflicts of interest, an independent review panel said Monday. Those were among numerous recommendations made by the panel appointed last March to assess how a few glaring errors – including a prediction that the Himalayan glaciers would disappear by 2035 – made it into the last such United Nations report, ...

Tue, 31 Aug 10
U.S. to propose labeling greenhouse gases from cars
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100830/us_nm/us_epa_cars_emissions
Reuters: The United States will propose on Monday new labels for passenger vehicles detailing for the first time their greenhouse gas emissions, while also changing measurements of fuel economy. The labeling proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Transportation would allow consumers to compare cars in terms of emissions blamed for warming the planet and to see how far they could drive on new technologies and traditional gasoline engines. "New fuel economy ...

Tue, 31 Aug 10
Oil sands polluting Alberta river system: study
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE67T3H920100830?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29
Reuters: Oil sands operations are polluting the Athabasca River system, researchers said on Monday, contradicting the Alberta government's assertions that toxins in the watershed are naturally occurring. In a study likely to add more fuel to the environmental battle over oil sands development, researchers said mercury, arsenic, lead and cadmium are among the toxins being released into the Athabasca, which flows north through the region's major oil sands operations. The findings of the ...

Tue, 31 Aug 10
UN hopes science review eases climate skepticism
http://www.torontosun.com/news/world/2010/08/29/15177961-reuters.html
Toronto Sun: A review due on Monday can help restore public faith in the U.N. panel of climate scientists and its finding that global warming is man-made despite errors in a 2007 report, the U.N.`s environment chief said. Achim Steiner also told Reuters on Sunday that extreme weather in 2010 such as floods in Pakistan or Russia`s heat wave were a "stark warning""of the need to act to slow global warming -- as outlined by the U.N. panel. He said he would be surprised if Monday`s review, ...

Tue, 31 Aug 10
State must adapt to change
http://www.themercury.com.au/article/2010/08/30/169441_tasmania-news.html
Mercury News: FROM mountain tops to coastal waters, a new report says Tasmania has a lot to lose if the state does not act to adapt to climate change. The report released yesterday, Vulnerability of Tasmania's Natural Environment to Climate Change: An Overview, is the State Government's first assessment of the potential impact of climate change on Tasmania. It will be used to formulate policy in response to climate change. Environment, Parks and Heritage Minister David O'Byrne said it ...

Tue, 31 Aug 10
Merkel wants to extend nuclear power plant lifespans
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,714580,00.html
Spiegel: An anti-nuclear power protest in front of the Emsland plant in Lingen, Germany, on Thursday. Chancellor Angela Merkel says she wants to extend the lifespans of Germany's nuclear plants by 10 to 15 years. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has for the first time provided concrete numbers in her vision of the future of nuclear power in the country. Members of the opposition have accused her of being a pawn of the nuclear lobby. For months, a bitter debate has raged within German ...

Tue, 31 Aug 10
Solar power shines; extended forecast?
http://www.ocbj.com/news/2010/aug/29/solar-power-shines-extended-forecast/
Orange County Business Journal: A boom is playing out in the solar power industry here. In the past year or so hundreds of people have been hired locally by a maker of solar panels and at solar panel installers for homes and businesses. Installation startups are getting into the market every month. Established companies are touting aggressive expansion plans. For some idled construction workers--hit hard in the downturn here with 10,000 jobs lost in the past 12 months--jobs installing panels on ...

Tue, 31 Aug 10
Data suggests Iowa really is getting wetter
http://www.kcrg.com/news/local/Data-Suggests-Iowa-Really-is-Getting-Wetter-101755388.html
KCRG: Muddy rivers, moldy classrooms, swarming mosquitoes, blighted tomatoes and effulgent quack grass will be mere annoyances in Iowa's new era of serial cloudbursts. Unless Iowans adjust dramatically to more extreme precipitation and flooding, they can expect more swamped crops, failed dams, subÂmerged cities and monolithic public institutions turned into indoor swimÂming pools, said Gov. Chet Culver, who recently dubbed the chronically wet conditions plaguing Iowa as 'the new ...

Tue, 31 Aug 10
People want climate action: Bandt
http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/people-want-climate-action-bandt-20100830-143om.html
Sydney Morning Herald: New Greens MP Adam Bandt says the election shows people want action on climate change and want it soon. Mr Bandt said four or five of those on the cross benches wanted a price on carbon. He said that presented a significant opportunity not only to reform parliamentary procedures but also to address climate change. "What's clear from this election is that a number of people want action on climate change and they want it soon and it's not just people in inner city ...

Tue, 31 Aug 10
Activists call for a block on biofuel stations in bid to protect forests
http://news.scotsman.com/environment/Activists-call-for-a-block.6501385.jp
Scotsman: ENVIRONMENTALISTS have called for a block on biofuel power stations in Scotland to avert the destruction of African forests. Friends of the Earth Scotland said proposed projects on the west and east coasts should not go ahead because of the potential environmental damage, branding the developed world's approach as a "neo-colonial land grab". The environmental campaign group has released research that looked at 11 African countries and found at least five million hectares of land - an ...

Tue, 31 Aug 10
Biofuel demand driving Africa land grab - report
http://af.reuters.com/article/nigeriaNews/idAFCOC97828720100830
Reuters: Biofuel demand is driving a new "land grab" in Africa, with at least 5 million hectares (19,300 sq miles) acquired by foreign firms to grow crops in 11 countries, a study by an environmental group said on Monday. The contracts by European and Asian companies for land to grow sugar cane, jatropha and palm oil to be turned into fuel will involve clearing forests and vegetation, taking land that could be used for food and creating conflicts with local communities, Friends of the Earth ...

Tue, 31 Aug 10
Kangaroo Valley winning the carbon challenge
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/08/30/2997609.htm?section=business
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: A community in New South Wales is aiming to become one of the most eco-friendly tourist destinations in the world. Three years ago tourist operators in Kangaroo Valley, 150 kilometres south of Sydney, agreed to lower their carbon footprint and the latest figures show they are on track. Geoff Fearon runs a trail-riding business and accommodation on 230 acres backing onto the Morton National Park. He says one of the biggest issues for his business is dealing with the ...

Tue, 31 Aug 10
Record heat may be our new normal
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7177184.html
Houston Chronicle: Boiling, blazing and blistering are all words one might apply to this August, which likely will end Tuesday as Houston's warmest month ever. Here's one more: foreshadowing. Although careful not to attribute any particular weather event to climate change, scientists say that Houston's sultry summer fits the pattern of what to expect in a warmer world. "Temperatures 4 to 5 degrees above normal and near-normal precipitation -- it sounds like a typical summer around about ...

Tue, 31 Aug 10
Biofuels firms buy up African land, cause deforestation, food output loss
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-08-29/biofuels-firms-buy-up-african-land-cause-deforestation-food-output-loss.html
Bloomberg: Biofuels companies from the U.K. to Brazil and China are buying up large swaths of Africa, causing deforestation and diverting land from food to fuel production, the environmental group Friends of the Earth said. Across the continent almost 5 million hectares of land, an area bigger than the Netherlands, have been sold to cultivate crops for biofuels since 2006, Friends of the Earth's Brussels- based European division said today in a 36-page study. European companies including ...

Tue, 31 Aug 10
Few air travellers offset carbon emissions, study finds
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/aug/30/carbon-emissions-offset-civil-aviation-authority
Guardian: Only 7% of flyers are funding green energy projects to offset the carbon emitted on their flights, according to a survey. A study of passengers at Stansted airport revealed that 93% of those questioned did not offset their flights. Ignorance cannot be blamed: 56% of those questioned by the Civil Aviation Authority knew what the practice meant. Asked if they had taken fewer flights over the previous year on environmental grounds, only 9% of those asked said yes. Most of this 9% ...

Tue, 31 Aug 10
Reaping rewards from protecting forests
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/regions/view/20100824-288563/Reaping_rewards_from_protecting_forests
Philippine Daily Inquirer: FOR DECADES, they have regarded the forests as their lifeblood, and have never lusted for the big volume of logs and lumber they could extract. Instead, they have harvested only fruits and other edibles from the wild to be processed for selected markets. As responsible stewards, they get just enough to help keep the balance in the ecosystem. This is the way of the indigenous Ikalahan (population: 49,000). Home to most tribal members is the forested community of Imugan village ...

Tue, 31 Aug 10
Go with the flow
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-10914462
BBC: The engineer at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in the US is currently finalising designs for a series of turbines that could be used to harness the immense energy of the Gulf Stream, flowing deep in the Atlantic Ocean. The underwater stream roughly contains around 21,000 times more energy than the Niagara Falls and by some estimates, could potentially provide up to one-third of Florida's electricity needs. "Hydrokinetic power from the Gulf Stream can provide enough power ...

Tue, 31 Aug 10
For green movement, a change in climate
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/29/AR2010082903879.html
Washington Post: On Thursday, some of the country's most respected environmental groups - in the midst of their biggest political fight in two decades - sent a group of activists to Milwaukee with a message. We're losing. They put on what they called a "CarnivOil" - a fake carnival with a stilt-wearing barker, free "tar balls" (chocolate doughnuts), and a suit-wearing "oil executive" punching somebody dressed like a crab. It was supposed to be satire, but there was a bitter message underneath: ...

Tue, 31 Aug 10
Colorado scientists study ptarmigans as bellwethers of climate change
http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_15936268
Denver Post: Amid concerns that climate change will reshape Colorado's high country, Colorado State University ecologist Greg Wann is on a tough mission: tracking ptarmigans, the elusive mountain birds known for their camouflage. The conditions he faces trudging after them here at 12,100 feet -- sharp rocks, icy wind, a merciless sun -- are daunting even during summer. "It can be difficult getting around," Wann says. "It's harder to breathe." Cold, snow-packed terrain above tree ...

Tue, 31 Aug 10
Japan plans to bind large firms to CO2 caps: draft
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE67T1CC20100830?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29
Reuters: Japan's compulsory emissions trading scheme is set to start in April 2013 and cover large CO2 emitting companies, a draft of the government's proposals showed on Monday, but several issues are still open to debate. The draft, obtained by Reuters, will be presented on Tuesday to an expert committee at the Environment Ministry, which aims to finalize its proposal for Japan's cap-and-trade scheme by the end of this year. Issues to be discussed later include how CO2 emission quotas ...

Tue, 31 Aug 10
A climate for change
http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/a-climate-for-change-20100830-147aj.html
Sydney Morning Herald: LAST week we saw Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott as rivals performing genteel courting dances to win over the independents. This week it gets deadly serious, as the four independents must decide who to support. Of the six MPs on the crossbenches, three are crucial. Tony Crook, the West Australian National who unseated Wilson Tuckey, plans to sit on his own but surely will back the Coalition on confidence issues. Melbourne's Green, Adam Bandt, says he will support Labor. And neither side would ...

Tue, 31 Aug 10
RI should maintain sovereignty in forest cooperation with Norway
http://www.antaranews.com/en/news/1282565287/ri-should-maintain-sovereignty-in-forest-cooperation-with-norway
Antara News: An Indonesian NGO has reminded the government to make sure Indonesia`s sovereignty in managing its own forests in its forest preservation cooperation with Norway. Executive Director of Greenomics Indonesia Elfian Effendi here Monday said the management of funds for REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) projects by the third party might cause Norway`s significant intervention. "In fact, Indonesia`s sovereignty over its forests is at stake in the ...

Tue, 31 Aug 10
Namibia: Harness Technology to Combat Climate Change
http://allafrica.com/stories/201008300791.html
AllArica: There is hardly any country in the world with climatic conditions similar to those of Namibia, said Harald Schütt of the Renewable Energy and Efficiency Institute (REEEI) at the Polytechnic of Namibia. And thus Namibians should stop complaining and take the bull by the horns "to show the world they can run the whole country on renewable energy and make lots of money out of it". He made these remarks at the publicization of a joint-venture initiative on energy efficiency ...

Tue, 31 Aug 10
Carbon project market leads with REDD methodology
http://www.carbonpositive.net/viewarticle.aspx?articleID=2090
Carbon Positive: The landmark approval of a carbon accounting methodology to underpin REDD projects in Asia shows the project-based voluntary carbon market leading the way in the development of mechanisms to halt the destruction of climate-critical tropical forests. Last week, project proponents announced they had won the first approval for a project methodology under the Voluntary Carbon Standard for REDD activities, or reduced emissions from deforestation and degradation. The methodology for ...

Sun, 29 Aug 10
Probe Seeks Climate-Panel Changes
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703418004575455860620171290.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
Wall Street Journal: A group investigating the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change will recommend in a report Monday that the scientific organization beef up its capacity to ferret out errors in its scientific assessments, a member of the investigating body said. But the group, appointed by the InterAcademy Council, a consortium of national scientific academies, won't pass judgment in its report on the state of knowledge about global warming and its causes. It also won't address ...

Sat, 28 Aug 10
Carbon Dioxide Release Speeds Up Ice Age Melting
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1909374/carbon_dioxide_release_speeds_up_ice_age_melting/index.html?source=r_science
redOrbit: Radiocarbon dating is used to determine the age of everything from ancient artifacts to prehistoric corals on the ocean bottom. But in a recent study appearing in the Aug. 26 edition of the journal, Nature, a Lawrence Livermore scientist and his colleagues used the method to trace the pathway of carbon dioxide released from the deep ocean to the atmosphere at the end of the last ice age. The team noticed that a rapid increase in atmospheric CO2 concentrations coincided with a ...

Sat, 28 Aug 10
Hurricane Danielle upgraded to Category 3 storm
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE67Q0X520100827?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29
Reuters: Hurricane Danielle strengthened into a Category 3 storm on Friday, becoming the Atlantic season's first major hurricane, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said. Danielle churned over the Atlantic located about 585 miles southeast of Bermuda and was moving northwest at 12 miles per hour (19 km per hour). It had top sustained winds of 120 mph. Any storm packing winds of at least 111 mph is ranked as "major" by the Miami-based hurricane center. Computer models show ...

Sat, 28 Aug 10
South Africa: Snail may be extinct due to climate change
http://www.dispatch.co.za/article.aspx?id=429100
Daily Dispatch: CLIMATE change could have killed off a rare Southern African snail that somehow managed to survive for more than 95 million years. Discovered in 1929 high in the Lesotho mountains -- and not seen since -- a month long search by a Rhodes University student still could not find the elusive mollusk. "It may have already been wiped out by climate change," Janine Fearon explained yesterday. Although the MSc student found and studied two other endangered snails from the ...

Sat, 28 Aug 10
Russia halts forest highway construction as opposition grows
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-russia-khimki-forest-20100827,0,7449308.story
LA Times: Reporting from Moscow -- Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Thursday announced that he had ordered highway work crews to stop cutting down trees in a renowned nature preserve outside Moscow. The statement came just hours after leaders of the ruling United Russia Party had urged him to reexamine the controversial project. Despite previous government and judicial approval of the construction effort, the project "demands additional analysis," Medvedev said in the statement on his video ...

Sat, 28 Aug 10
Russia: Kremlin Relents, for Now, to Foes of Highway
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/27/world/europe/27russia.html?_r=5&partner=rss&emc=rss
NYT: For years, environmentalists have risked arrests and sometimes beatings by the police and masked plainclothes thugs in their efforts to halt the construction of a highway linking Moscow to St. Petersburg that they say would destroy the Khimki Forest, one of the few remaining in the Moscow region. Typically in Russia, such efforts lead to little but holding cells or worse for proponents of a cause. But supporters of the Khimki Forest were handed a surprising victory on Thursday when ...

Sat, 28 Aug 10
Anaerobic digestion offers farmers food for thought
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2268817/anaerobic-digestion-boom-fuels
Business Green: The UK's emerging anaerobic digestion (AD) industry was thrust into the limelight this week after two major new projects that promise to demonstrate the viability of the waste-to-energy technology were unveiled. First up, energy firm Farmgen broke ground on the first in a wave of anaerobic digestion plants, designed to provide farmers with an additional revenue stream from "energy farming". The Â£2.5m project at Carr Farm in Warton, Preston will be the first AD plant built under ...

Sat, 28 Aug 10
Microsoft opens up about Windows 7 energy savings
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2268816/exclusive-microsoft-opens
Business Green: Microsoft has revealed that it is working on a major project with Reading University designed to highlight the energy savings that companies can realise by switching to its latest Windows 7 operating system. According to the company, Windows 7 operates using about 30 per cent less energy that its previous operating system Windows XP -- savings that when multiplied globally are likely to lead to significant cuts in carbon emissions. "IT accounts for somewhere between three and ...

Fri, 27 Aug 10
The world economy: Getting resource-ful
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/aug/26/editorial-fertiliser-resources-global-economy
Guardian: For the first time since 2007, the big business story of this summer has got nothing to do with banks. Nor does it feature state-of-the-art financial wizardry. No, the real runner on the business pages this month, the major news that has got people in the City and on Wall Street talking, concerns fertiliser. Whichever astute equity analyst came up with the one about how where there's muck there's brass probably did not estimate that it would involve Â£25.8bn worth of brass. But that is ...

Fri, 27 Aug 10
United Kingdom: Dramatic fall in number of plastic bags given out by supermarkets
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/dramatic-fall-in-number-of-plastic-bags-given-out-by-supermarkets-2062255.html
Independent (UK): The number of "single-use" plastic bags given to customers by leading UK supermarkets has fallen for the fourth year in a row. The total has dropped from 10.6 billion in 2006 to 6.1 billion in the year to May, a reduction of 43 per cent, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) said. That compares with a reduction of 37 per cent in the year to May 2009. Over the same period the total weight of material used has more than halved. The BRC said the figures were "a ringing endorsement" ...

Thu, 26 Aug 10
Former Chief of Drilling Agency Says New Inspection System Needed
http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/25/with-the-benefit-of-hindsight/
NYT: S. Elizabeth Birnbaum, the former head of the Minerals Management Service who resigned under pressure a month after the blowout of BP`s well in the Gulf of Mexico, said Wednesday that the offshore drilling oversight agency needed a thorough overhaul of its regulations, inspection procedures and culture. Testifying publicly for the first time since her resignation, Ms. Birnbaum told the presidential panel investigating the accident that the minerals service -- since reorganized and ...

Thu, 26 Aug 10
Quotebox: U.S. spill panel probes offshore drilling
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100825/ts_nm/us_oil_spill_commission_quotebox
Reuters: The White House oil spill commission on Wednesday examined offshore drilling policies and reviewed regulatory practices. Following are some quotes from the panel's second meeting: RET. ADMIRAL JAMES ELLIS, PRESIDENT AND CEO OF INSTITUTE OF NUCLEAR POWER OPERATIONS (INPO) "We operate independently of the industry and we avoid any conflicts of interest... We specifically, legally and philosophically cannot act as an advocate for the nuclear power industry, that is not our ...

Thu, 26 Aug 10
BP frozen out of Arctic oil drilling race
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/aug/25/bp-arctic-greenland-oil-drilling
Guardian: BP has been forced to abandon hopes of drilling in the Arctic, currently the centre of a new oil rush due to its tarnished reputation following the Gulf of Mexico spill. The company confirmed tonight that it was no longer trying to win an exploration licence in Greenland, despite earlier reports of its interest. "We are not participating in the bid round," said a spokesman at BP's London headquarters who declined to discuss its reasons for the reverse. The setback, which ...

Thu, 26 Aug 10
In Alaska, climate change skeptic leads GOP race for Senate
http://www.grist.org/article/2010-08-24-climate-change-skeptic-alaska-primary-joe-miller-lisa-murkowski/
Grist Magazine: Not that Murkowski is a hero of enviros. She's been doing her darnedest to stifle the EPA on the public health dangers of greenhouse gas emissions, hardly a surprise given the fact that Big Oil has sent almost $500,000 her way since she joined the Senate in 2002. But at least Murkowski acknowledges the human role in heating up the planet. Miller, a Tea Partier backed by Sarah Palin, holds fast to the notion that it's nature's way: I think it's undeniable, that anyone who has ...

Thu, 26 Aug 10
Former offshore drilling chief expresses regret
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100825/ap_on_bi_ge/us_gulf_oil_spill_agency_chief
AP: The head of the agency overseeing offshore drilling at the time of the BP oil spill says she deeply regrets that the accident occurred when she was in charge. The comments Wednesday at a hearing of the presidential commission investigating the spill are the first from Elizabeth Birnbaum since she resigned under pressure from her position in May. She headed the Minerals Management Service for 10 months, and was replaced by a former federal prosecutor, Michael R. Brownwich, in ...

Thu, 26 Aug 10
With Hill Hopes for Climate Bill Dashed, Advocates Circle Wagons at EPA
http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2010/08/25/25greenwire-with-hill-hopes-for-climate-bill-dashed-advoca-50989.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
Greenwire: With global warming legislation sidelined, advocates are bracing for battle over U.S. EPA climate rules, the only game in town for curbing emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases. Environmentalists were left reeling this summer when the Senate retreated on climate legislation, and while a few die-hards say a climate bill is still possible this year, most advocates are shifting their focus to upholding EPA's authority to limit greenhouse gas emissions. "Obviously, the ...

Thu, 26 Aug 10
Obama Admin Urges Supreme Court to Vacate Greenhouse Gas 'Nuisance' Ruling
http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2010/08/25/25greenwire-obama-admin-urges-supreme-court-to-vacate-gree-42072.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
Greenwire: The Obama administration has urged the Supreme Court to toss out an appeals court decision that would allow lawsuits against major emitters for their contributions to global warming, stunning environmentalists who see the case as a powerful prod on climate change. In the case, AEP v. Connecticut, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with a coalition of states, environmental groups and New York City. The decision, handed down last year, said they could proceed with a lawsuit ...

Thu, 26 Aug 10
UK's nuclear reactor programme falls behind as designs await safety approval
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/aug/25/nuclear-reactors-behind-schedule
Guardian: The schedule for the UK's nuclear reactor building programme has slipped behind already, the safety regulator has admitted, reinforcing concerns that the first reactor will not be built on time. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) said it would probably have to issue an "interim" decision on the safety of the two new proposed reactor designs next June, the deadline for its assessment programme. The regulator expects significant chunks of extra work will remain before it can finally ...

Thu, 26 Aug 10
Shell shuts Nigeria oil flow-station due to protest
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE67O56H20100825?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29
Reuters: Royal Dutch Shell said on Wednesday it had been forced to shut down an oil flow-station in Nigeria's Niger Delta due to a protest by a group of local women over a lack of development in their community. The Anglo-Dutch giant said it had shut down the Otumara-Escravos flow-station in Delta state because of the demonstration but was in talks with the local community and the state government to try to end the stand-off. It did not say whether production was ...

Thu, 26 Aug 10
Japan to see warmer weather in Sept-Nov -forecaster
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE67O55W20100825?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29
Reuters: Japan will see warmer-than-average weather from September to November, the country's official forecaster said on Wednesday. All four of the main regions in Japan will have a 50 percent chance of warmer-than-average temperatures for the period, the Japan Meteorological Agency said in its monthly three-month forecast.

Thu, 26 Aug 10
Honeywell spent $1.7 million on 2Q lobbying
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100825/ap_on_bi_ge/us_honeywell_lobbying
AP: Honeywell International Inc. spent $1.7 million in the second quarter to lobby the federal government on biofuels to power aircraft, the budget and other bills. That was even with the amount the company spent in the same quarter last year and in the prior quarter. The defense industry faces uncertainty over the direction of Pentagon weapons spending. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has taken steps to tighten budgets and hold contractors more accountable for cost overruns. The ...

Thu, 26 Aug 10
Malaysia: Allegations abound: are nepotism and corruption behind the Sabah coal plant?
http://news.mongabay.com/2010/0825-sabah_coal_corruption_alex_oxley.html
Mongabay: Allegations of government corruption and corporate kick-backs are swirling around a planned 300 MW Chinese coal plant in the Malaysian state of Sabah. While the plan to build the coal plant in Lahad Datu Bay has come up against strong and unrelenting grassroots opposition, the federal government continues to largely turn a deaf ear to opposition, arguing that the energy plant is necessary to power Sabah and stop blackouts. However, critics say the coal plant--which is to be built on ...

Thu, 26 Aug 10
Time to blame climate change for extreme weather?
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20727754.200-time-to-blame-climate-change-for-extreme-weather.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=climate-change
New Scientist: IT IS time to start asking the hard questions. Countless people in flood-stricken Pakistan have lost families and livelihoods. Who can they hold responsible and turn to for reparations? Less than a decade ago, these questions would have been dismissed outright. "Many scientists at the time said that you can never blame an individual weather event on climate change," says Myles Allen of the University of Oxford. But a small meeting of scientists in Colorado last week - organised by the ...

Thu, 26 Aug 10
United Kingdom: Yes, we broke the law as climate change activists. And this is why
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/libertycentral/2010/aug/25/climate-change-activists-broke-law
Guardian: In June 2010, nine climate change activists who had broken into Aberdeen airport in protest against the soaring CO2 emissions caused by aviation were convicted of a breach of the peace. On 25 August, after taking our urgent message on climate change seriously, the judge and court imposed on us very modest fines, ranging from Â£300 to Â£700 each and adding up to a total of Â£4,000-Â£5,000. This was the first climate trial in Scotland's history. Here's why it's unlikely to be the last. Like ...

Thu, 26 Aug 10
Spill panel probes Obama's decision to drill more
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100825/ap_on_bi_ge/us_gulf_oil_spill_drilling
AP: The chairmen of the presidential panel investigating the Gulf oil spill are expressing disappointment that the Obama administration didn't consult with senior U.S. environmental officials before announcing plans to expand offshore drilling before the accident. The exchange during a hearing Wednesday suggests that a focus of the federal investigation will be the degree to which federal scientists were consulted in oil and gas decisions. Both the chairwoman of the Council on ...

Thu, 26 Aug 10
United Kingdom: What next for the floundering war on plastic bags?
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/analysis/2268743/plastic-bag-stats-leave-door
Business Green: When is a target not a target? When it's voluntary. The government-backed Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) has today attempted to paint an upbeat picture of British supermarkets efforts to curb the use of plastic bags, highlighting figures that show the total number of bags used has fallen by 41 per cent since 2006. But while supermarkets have clearly made headway in slashing the number of bags handed out, a closer look at WRAP's statistics reveals that efforts to ...

Thu, 26 Aug 10
United Kingdom: Plastic bag use plummets in supermarkets since 2006
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/aug/25/plastic-bag-use-plummets-supermarkets
Guardian: Customers at the UK's leading supermarkets used 43% fewer carrier bags in 2009-10 than they did in 2006, when figures were first recorded, with 6.1bn single-use bags used in 2009-10 against 10.7bn four years earlier. According to the Waste & Resources Action Programme (Wrap), the amount of material used to make carrier bags has reduced by 39,700 tonnes per year in the past four years, but figures for May 2010 alone indicate that we may be seeing a return to greater ...

Thu, 26 Aug 10
Federal Investigators Probe Gulf Blowout
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129418016&ft=1&f=1025
National Public Radio: Executives and workers from BP, Transocean and Halliburton are giving testimony in Houston this week about the April 20th blowout of an oil well in the Gulf of Mexico. Some witnesses have offered different accounts about what happened and who is to blame.

Thu, 26 Aug 10
Egypt picks site for its first nuclear power plant
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100825/ap_on_bi_ge/ml_egypt_nuclear
AP: The Egyptian president announced plans Wednesday to start building the country's first nuclear power plant at a site on the Mediterranean coast, ending a year of controversy over its possible location. The decision also puts an end to attempts by business tycoons with strong ties to the ruling family to build sea resorts on the el-Dabaa site selected for the plant. The whole coast is known for its attractive beaches. President Hosni Mubarak reached the decision after ...

Thu, 26 Aug 10
UN report relies too heavily on Shell data
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/cif-green/2010/aug/25/un-nigeria-oil-spill-shell
Guardian: The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is preparing to issue a report announcing that 90% of the oil spills in Ogoniland, Nigeria, are caused by the locals stealing crude from pipelines – and that Shell's aged pipelines and ill maintained installations account for a mere 10% of the spills. Why so little, we might ask? The UNEP has now admitted this figure is based on data from the oil industry and the Nigerian government. It's not surprising that this is in line with what ...

Thu, 26 Aug 10
Carnivore Species Shrank During Global Warming Event
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1908442/carnivore_species_shrank_during_global_warming_event/index.html?source=r_science
redOrbit: A new University of Florida study indicates extinct carnivorous mammals shrank in size during a global warming event that occurred 55 million years ago. The study, scheduled to appear in the December print edition of the Journal of Mammalian Evolution and now available online, describes a new species that evolved to half the size of its ancestors during this period of global warming. The hyena-like animal, Palaeonictis wingi, evolved from the size of a bear to the size of a ...

Thu, 26 Aug 10
Poorer nations hit with 'exorbitant' consultancy fees for carbon offset projects
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/aug/25/carbon-offset-consultancy-fees
Guardian: The UN-certified scheme that allows developed nations to pay for carbon reductions abroad instead of making domestic cuts has come under fire for paying high fees to consultants from rich countries. The Guardian has learned that the Nepalese government has so far paid a Norwegian company EUR150,000 to verify a greenhouse gas reduction programme for which it is seeking carbon credits. That sum would pay for 340 of the small-scale carbon cutting projects the government is trying to set ...

Thu, 26 Aug 10
Scotland throws down gauntlet in race to become offshore wind hub
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2268730/scotland-sets-case-offshore
Business Green: Scotland could emerge as one of the world's leading developers of offshore wind energy within the next decade, according to a new report that predicts the industry has the potential to create up to 28,000 jobs by 2020. The report, entitled Scottish Offshore Wind: Creating an Industry, was commissioned by Scottish Renewables and Scottish Enterprise and aims to map out a series of scenarios for the future of the sector based on varying levels of private and public investment. It ...

Thu, 26 Aug 10
Fossilized Creek Beds Offer Up Ancient Climate Change Clues
http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20100825/sc_livescience/fossilizedcreekbedsofferupancientclimatechangeclues
LiveScience.com: An ancient, fossilized landscape is slowly rising up from the fields of sugar beets and barley in England's Fens, an agricultural hub near the country's central eastern coast. Generations of farmers have had to contend with these puzzling, gently sloping embankments ever since 17th-century Dutch workers drained the Fens, an area of low-lying wetlands. It turns out these burgeoning hills are archaic waterways that dried up thousands of years ago. Locally, they're known as ...

Thu, 26 Aug 10
United Kingdom: Nine Plane Stupid activists fined for Aberdeen airport stunt
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/aug/25/plane-stupid-activists-fined
Guardian: Nine climate activists who occupied the tarmac at Aberdeen airport in the name of tackling climate change have each been fined between Â£300 and Â£700 after being convicted of breach of the peace. The nine members of Plane Stupid, some dressed up as the property tycoon Donald Trump, were arrested in March last year after chaining themselves to a makeshift cage on the tarmac and clambering on to the terminal roof. They targeted Aberdeen because of its close links to the North Sea ...

Thu, 26 Aug 10
Solar panels approved for Charles residence
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/solar-panels-approved-for-charles-residence-2061812.html
Independent (UK): The Prince of Wales was granted permission today to install dozens of solar panels on his home at Clarence House in the latest move to cut his carbon footprint. The 32 solar photovoltaic panels, which produce electricity, can now be installed on the south-east roof of the central London residence, which has been a home to royalty for 170 years. The panels are expected to produce around 4,000 kilowatt hours of green electricity a year - equivalent to the electricity used by the ...

Thu, 26 Aug 10
Shell edges towards $12bn Brazilian biofuel venture
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2268736/shell-beefs-biofuel-clout-12bn
Business Green: Shell has today taken a major step towards completing its long-awaited $12bn (Â£7.7bn) deal with Brazilian ethanol giant Cosan, which should see the two companies team up to create one of the world's largest biofuel firms. The companies announced that they have signed binding agreements to create the new joint venture, which was first proposed in February. The planned venture still requires regulatory approval, but it looks increasingly likely that the new firm will emerge as a ...

Thu, 26 Aug 10
Energy Use Dips Due to Recession and Tech Advances
http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20100825/sc_livescience/energyusedipsduetorecessionandtechadvances
LiveScience: In perhaps some good news for the environment, Americans are using less energy overall and making more use of renewable energy resources, scientists report today. The United States used significantly less coal and petroleum in 2009 than in 2008, and significantly more wind power, according to energy flow charts released by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), a government national security laboratory in Livermore, Calif. There also was a decline in natural gas use and ...

Thu, 26 Aug 10
Indian parliament's lower house approves nuclear bill
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100825/wl_nm/us_india_nuclear
Reuters: India's lower house of parliament on Wednesday approved a landmark bill to open up the country's $150 billion nuclear power market, after the government agreed to tougher provisions that an industry group said would hamper the sector's growth. The bill is needed for the entry of firms such as U.S.-based General Electric and Westinghouse Electric, a subsidiary of Japan's Toshiba Corp, who are reluctant to step in without clarity on accident compensation. The passage of the bill ...

Thu, 26 Aug 10
China's heavy rains blamed on unusual climate patterns
http://www1.voanews.com/english/news/Chinas-Heavy-Rains-Blamed-on-Unusual-Climate-Patterns--101458654.html
VOA: Helicopters were crucial in evacuating more than 250,000 people in China's northeastern Liaoning province days ago. Torrential rains battered the area and led to severe flooding along the border with North Korea. Weather experts and Chinese officials attribute the heavier than usual rainfall to unusual climate patterns and global warming. This was the latest of what has become a summer of natural disasters for China. Official media call it the country's worst flooding in a decade, ...

Thu, 26 Aug 10
Homeowners band together to go solar
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20100825/solar25_st.art.htm
USA Today: Nancy Arntson spent a year thinking about installing solar panels at her home. It wasn't until her neighbors decided to take the plunge together -- generating significant savings -- that she made up her mind to do it. "It takes the right financial incentive to make it happen," Arntson said. The group of neighbors, called "Solarize Salem," is the latest in a wave of grass-roots efforts around the country to connect homeowners interested in solar power. The ...

Thu, 26 Aug 10
India: Erratic rains spark climate debate
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1100825/jsp/bihar/story_12853097.jsp
Telegraph (India): Puzzling Bihar peasants over the past two years, the erratic rains have triggered a debate on if the state has undergone a climate change. The jury is divided. Agriculture experts have suggested changes in cropping pattern due to the irregular rainfall. But the Met department believes it is premature to take any decision on climate change without data of at least 30 years. In the past two years, rainfall was deficient in June and July, when majority of the farmers sow paddy. ...

Thu, 26 Aug 10
Declining trees spell gloom for planet
http://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/declining-trees-spell-gloom-for-planet-20100824-13qfn.html
Sydney Morning Herald: LESS rainfall and rising global temperatures are damaging one of the world's best guardians against climate change: trees. A global study, published in the journal Science, shows that the amount of carbon dioxide being soaked up by the world's forests in the past decade has declined, reversing a 20-year trend. It diminishes hopes that global warming can be seriously slowed down by the mass planting of trees in carbon sinks. Although plants generally grow bigger as a result of ...

Thu, 26 Aug 10
Brazil taps small farmers for biofuels campaign
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE67N6GK20100824
Reuters: With its biofuels business increasingly dominated by giant corporations, Brazil is seeking to extend its biofuels sector to include farmers like Lucas Scariot, who makes around $10,000 per year from selling grain. For the past three years, Scariot has sold soy beans at a premium over market prices to a biofuels company under a government program aimed at supporting small farms and creating jobs in the countryside while cutting fuel imports. This year Scariot planted canola for ...

Thu, 26 Aug 10
Wave power line jacks into the grid
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn19356-green-machine-wave-power-line-jacks-into-the-grid.html
New Scientist: Surfers, bodyboarders and dolphin-spotters at the English seaside resort of St Ives were mostly unaware of a techno drama being played out about a kilometre beyond the breakers this month. Since 1 August, engineers on the cable ship Nordica have been trying to begin deployment of Wave Hub, an undersea extension cord that could make harnessing wave energy more viable. The first part of the roll-out hasn't gone at all smoothly, however. So just what is Wave Hub? Essentially, it's a ...

Thu, 26 Aug 10
Brother, can you spare some volts?
http://www.mercurynews.com/green-living/ci_15884227?nclick_check=1
Mercury News: The Bay Area is expected to soon become one of America's hottest markets for the first mass-produced electric cars, the Nissan Leaf and the Chevy Volt. But in the rush to drive electric, one thing is missing -- places to charge up. Concerned that the next generation of green drivers not be left stalled by the roadside, air officials have approved a $5 million plan to install 5,000 electric car chargers around the nine-county Bay Area in the next five years at homes, apartments, ...

Thu, 26 Aug 10
Groups plan to sue over Wash. refinery pollution
http://www.kirotv.com/news/24748438/detail.html
Associated Press: Two environmental groups said Tuesday they intend to sue the Washington Department of Ecology and two clean air agencies for not limiting global warming pollution from oil refineries. The Washington Environmental Council and the Cascade chapter of the Sierra Club said the agencies have violated the federal Clean Air Act by failing to require the state's five oil refineries to install technology or take other measures to control greenhouse gases. "There are reasonable things ...

Thu, 26 Aug 10
UN says 800,000 cut off by Pakistan floods
http://www.abc-7.com/Global/story.asp?S=13032744
AP: Floods have isolated about 800,000 people in Pakistan who are now only reachable by air and aid workers need at least 40 more helicopters to ferry lifesaving aid to the increasingly desperate people, the United Nations said. The appeal Tuesday was an indication of the massive problems facing the relief effort in Pakistan more than three weeks after the floods hit the country, affecting more than 17 million people and raising concerns about possible social unrest and political ...

Thu, 26 Aug 10
Climate change impacts ecosystems, social life in poor nations
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/indepth/2010-08/25/c_13461518.htm
Xinhua Net: The natural effect could be felt in slow but sustained reduction of tropical glaciers, reduction of rains, rise of the sea level, increase of sea surface's temperature, and effects on agricultural production, according to Grinia Avalos with Peru's Meteorology and Hydrology National Service (Senamhi). Moreover, in poor countries like Peru, the level of development goes down because the exacerbated climate variations reduce agricultural production and food security, and cause ...

Thu, 26 Aug 10
Egypt announces site of first nuclear power plant
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100825/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_egypt_nuclear
AP: Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak has instructed the government to start building the country's first nuclear power plant at a site on the Mediterranean coast, ending a year of controversy. Mubarak's decision puts an end to attempts by business tycoons with strong ties to the ruling family to build sea resorts on the el-Dabaa site. The whole coast is known for its attractive beaches. Presidential spokesman Suleiman Awwad said in a Wednesday statement that Mubarak reached the ...

Thu, 26 Aug 10
Rare 'fire tornado' filmed in Brazil
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-11086299
BBC: A 'fire tornado' has been caught on camera in the Brazilian municipality of Aracatuba, caused by strong, dry winds that fanned wildfires. A whirlwind of flames spiralling several metres high danced across fields, bringing traffic to a halt on a nearby road, before it disappeared. The phenomenon followed weeks of drought which have sparked brush fires across the country.

Thu, 26 Aug 10
Biden: US renewables policy is working
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2268703/biden-renewables-policy-working
Business Green: The US economic stimulus package will result in a doubling of renewable energy capacity by 2012 while slashing the cost of solar panels and electric car batteries, according to a new report released yesterday by the White House. Speaking alongside energy secretary Steven Chu, vice president Joe Biden said the government's $787bn stimulus package was helping to accelerate the development of innovative new low-carbon industries across the US. "The government plants the seeds, the ...

Thu, 26 Aug 10
Supermarkets miss plastic bag goal for a second time
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2268708/supermarkets-continue-cut
Business Green: The UK's leading supermarkets have once again missed a voluntary goal to halve the number of single use carrier bags handed out, despite cutting usage since last year, new figures have shown. The government-backed Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) confirmed today that the total number of carrier bags issued by the UK's leading supermarkets has fallen 41 per cent since figures were first recorded in 2006. Moreover, the number of "single-use" carrier bags issued has ...

Thu, 26 Aug 10
TVA shutters old coal units
http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2010/aug/25/tva-shutters-old-coal-units/
Chattanooga Times Free Press: Four days after TVA decided to revive work on its unfinished Bellefonte Nuclear Plant, the federal utility announced Tuesday it will begin next year to idle its oldest coal units at the nearby Widows Creek Fossil Plant. "It's bad news, but last week was great news," said James Rickey Steele, the mayor of Stevenson, Ala., who lives in the shadow of the Widows Creek plant and only 15 miles from Bellefonte. TVA announced Tuesday it will shutter nine of its 59 coal-fired units by ...

Thu, 26 Aug 10
How to get prompt payback from an aging icon that guzzles energy
http://www.nytimes.com/cwire/2010/08/24/24climatewire-how-to-get-prompt-payback-from-an-aging-icon-52142.html?ref=earth
New York Times: <NYT_CORRECTION_TOP> </NYT_CORRECTION_TOP> NEW YORK -- Most Manhattan office buildings are designed for paper pushers, but there is a new factory running at the end of a long dim corridor on the fifth floor of the Empire State Building. Here machines are whirring, a furnace is roaring, and dozens of blue-collar workers are bustling about. They are setting up to dismantle the building's 6,514 double-hung window frames, to reuse the glass and make them anew. It is part of one of ...

Thu, 26 Aug 10
United States: TVA to idle nine coal-fired units
http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2010/aug/25/tva-to-idle-nine-coal-fired-units/
Knoxville News Sentinel: TVA plans to idle nine coal-fired electric power generating units at its Shawnee, John Sevier and Widows Creek fossil plants to reduce its use of coal-generated power by 1,000 megawatts over the next five years. In an online press conference Tuesday, TVA President and CEO Tom Kilgore said none of the plants will be closed and although idling the units will affect about 200 employees out of 700 at the three plants, the agency plans to reduce those positions through attrition and by ...

Thu, 26 Aug 10
South Africa: Climate change policy ignores women farmers
http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/nota.asp?idnews=52593
IPS: When asked if they have already felt the effects of climate change, Mary-Anne Zimri and Katrina Scheepers eagerly nod their heads. The two small-scale farmers say lack of rain this winter has foiled their planting season, ruined their harvest – and drastically slashed their income. "We have been hit on all sides," says Zimri, who together with Scheepers belongs to a farming cooperative in Wuppertal, a small hamlet in South Africa's Western Cape province. The coop specialises in ...

Thu, 26 Aug 10
US mounts global push for shale gas
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5i8Ydn8HAIv7-HLsCr7xpRBANW1Yw
AFP: The United States on Tuesday offered to help major economies such as China and India develop shale gas, a rapidly growing sector in North America which US officials bill as a clean alternative. Twenty nations held two days of talks in Washington in first-of-a-kind shale gas talks initiated by the United States, where some forecast that shale -- a miniscule presence a decade ago -- could dominate the gas market by 2030. Shale gas comes from deep reserves that were thought ...

Thu, 26 Aug 10
Climate change a security issue, veterans coalition says
http://hamptonroads.com/2010/08/climate-change-security-issue-veterans-coalition-says
Virginian-Pilot: Robin Eckstein deployed to Iraq as an Army truck driver shortly after the U.S. invasion in 2003. Her job: hauling supplies to U.S. bases from the Baghdad airport. "Every day it was a roll of the dice as far as what we were going to encounter," she said. "Was it going to be IEDs? Sniper fire? Was anybody going to be shot or killed? This was my life while I was there. "I really thought: Why are we doing things the way we're doing?" One of the primary cargoes for those ...

Wed, 25 Aug 10
Pakistan disease threat 'serious'
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-11068259
BBC: Pakistan's prime minister says the government is "seriously concerned" about the potential spread of epidemic diseases in the flood-hit country. Yousuf Raza Gilani was speaking during high-level talks aimed at preventing a mass health crisis. Doctors in many areas are reportedly struggling to cope with the spread of diseases such as diarrhoea and cholera. The UN says more than 17 million people have been affected by the floods, with about 1.2 million homes ...

Wed, 25 Aug 10
Moldova seizes smuggled uranium
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11074645
BBC: Moldovan police have seized 1.8kg of uranium-238 in the capital, Chisinau, officials say. Three members of the group, which included former police officers, were arrested, they said. The smugglers had reportedly been trying to sell the material on the European black market for 9m euros (Â£7.4m). A nuclear expert has told the BBC that this form of uranium is of no use for making nuclear weapons. He told BBC News that the amount was "trivial", and could safely be ...

Wed, 25 Aug 10
Summary Box: Greenpeace warns on Greenland gas
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100824/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_greenland_deepwater_drilling_summary_box
AP: ADDING FUEL TO THE FIRE: Scotland's Cairn Energy PLC has found gas off the west coast of Greenland, a discovery that environmental group Greenpeace warns could lead to a damaging rush for hydrocarbons in "vulnerable" Arctic waters. THE POSITION: Greenpeace says Cairn should have followed the example of oil companies that suspended deepwater drilling after the spill in the Gulf of Mexico. REBUTTAL: Greenland officials say the drilling was conducted in accordance with very high ...

Wed, 25 Aug 10
Undersea Oil Plume Vanishes in Gulf, Degraded by Previously Unknown Bug
http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2010/08/24/24greenwire-undersea-oil-plume-vanishes-in-gulf-degraded-b-87391.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
Greenwire: The Gulf of Mexico's undersea oil plume is no more. For nearly a month, scientists sampling the site of a deepwater plume stretching southwest from BP PLC's failed well in the Gulf have been foiled. Their sensors have gone silent. Where once a vibrant -- if diffuse -- cloud of oil stretched for miles, 3,600 feet below the surface, there is now only ocean, and what seems to be the debris of a bacterial feeding frenzy. "For the last three weeks, we haven't been able to detect the ...

Wed, 25 Aug 10
United States: Little Hope, Help for DOE's Displaced Yucca Mountain Contract Workers
http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2010/08/24/24greenwire-little-hope-help-for-does-displaced-yucca-moun-27266.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
Greenwire: Steve Hommel has had a difficult year by almost any standard: He lost his job on the Yucca Mountain project, uprooted his family to South Carolina and sold his Las Vegas-area house for a third of the price he paid for it. But Hommel still considers himself "one of the lucky ones." Unlike many of his former Yucca co-workers, he found a new job and was able to settle his home mortgage with the bank. At 30, he is relatively young; he can start over and learn new skills. "It was ...

Wed, 25 Aug 10
In Hawaii, the sun shines on green cars
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ygreen/20100824/sc_ygreen/inhawaiithesunshinesongreencars
Y! Green: Hawaii is green, or so its boosters tell you incessantly. Of course, you have to ignore the thick smoke from the sugarcane-field-burning operations and the runoff chemicals used to control roadside plants, mountains of tourism-generated waste, plus a huge complement of invasive species. An encouraging sign is the 30-megawatt wind farm visible from most parts of Maui, providing 10% of the island's electricity. Unfortunately, most of the rest is from diesel oil. But during a ...

Wed, 25 Aug 10
Pakistan's Climate Change Floods, Seen From Above
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/08/pakistan-flood-pictures/
Wired News: A series of satellite photographs conveys the epic scale of the floods sweeping through Pakistan, leaving millions homeless and the world aghast at an extreme weather disaster that experts consider the new normal. Above at left is the central Pakistan city of Hyderabad on July 31. At right is the city on August 19, as floodwater swelled the Indus River. In coming days the water will reach the coast, joining tidal waters and inundating the floodplain. An estimated four million people ...

Wed, 25 Aug 10
On Our Radar: Coal Plant Construction
http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/23/on-our-radar-44/?partner=rss&emc=rss
NYT: More than 30 new coal-fired power plants have been built since 2008 or are under construction, representing the coal power industry`s largest expansion in decades. "Building a coal-fired power plant today is betting that we are not going to put a serious financial cost on emitting carbon dioxide," an energy policy expert says. [Associated Press] Russia`s Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin takes heat from scientists for expressing doubts on human-driven global warming. "Does climate ...

Wed, 25 Aug 10
Norway divests from Malaysian logging company after rainforest destruction
http://news.mongabay.com/2010/0824-samling_norway.html
Mongabay: The Norwegian Government's pension fund sold all its 16 million shares of Samling Global, a Malaysian timber company, after concluding the firm had committed "serious transgessions" in logging outside of concession areas and destroying protected rainforests, reports the Bruno Manser Fund. The sale, worth a total of $1.2 million, represents about 0.3 percent of the company's outstanding shares based on today's closing market price in Hong Kong. The decision to sell the shares follows ...

Wed, 25 Aug 10
US motorists warm to electric car invasion
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2268651/drivers-already-keen-evs-finds
Business Green: Four out of 10 US adults are keen to test-drive an electric vehicle (EV), a new study has found, suggesting manufacturers in the emerging sector could be pushing against an open door. The online study by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) found 40 per cent of American adults were likely to test-drive an electric vehicle, lured by promises of improved environmental quality and potential cost savings. More than three quarters of those surveyed were impressed by the ...

Wed, 25 Aug 10
India rejects Vedanta mining plan on green worries
http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE67N3GF20100824
Reuters: India on Tuesday rejected a plan by UK-based mining group Vedanta Resources Plc to mine bauxite in an eastern state over environmental concerns, a blow to the firm already facing hurdles to a planned $9.6 billion (6.2 billion pound) energy deal in the country. The decision comes after about four years of a global campaign against Vedanta's (VED.L) plan to mine in Orissa state that the government says could affect large swathes of forested hills considered sacred by indigenous ...

Wed, 25 Aug 10
Pakistani Officials Seek Funds, Debt Relief in Washington
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=52588
Inter Press Service: Pakistani officials continued their quest for help in light of the floods that have affected 20 million people in their country by meeting with officials at the International Monetary Fund here Monday. The country has expressed hope that the IMF would loosen terms attached to a 10.66-billion-dollar loan granted in 2008 due to the economic impact of the floods. The loan terms would require deficit and inflation targets Pakistan is not sure it will be able to meet with a post-flood ...

Wed, 25 Aug 10
Crazy climates will continue the rest of 2010
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2010-08/24/content_11191645.htm
China Daily: The country will likely experience abnormally low temperatures and freezes this winter, warned a senior official with the China Meteorological Administration. The country might face the La Nina in the second half of the year, which could cause abundant rainfall in autumn, and little rainfall and low temperatures in winter, Jiao Meiyan, deputy director of China Meteorological Administration (CMA), said on Sunday in an interview with Xinhua News Agency. La Nina refers to a large ...

Wed, 25 Aug 10
India Bars Company From Mining Bauxite
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/25/business/global/25vedanta.html?src=busln
AP: India on Tuesday refused permission to a London-based company to mine bauxite for its alumina refinery in the country's east, citing violations of environmental and human rights laws. The company, Vedanta Resources, set up an alumina refinery in Orissa state in 2008 hoping it would be allowed to extract three million metric tons of bauxite annually from mines in the Niyamgiri Hills. It has been getting bauxite from neighboring Chhattisgarh state. But the environment minister, ...

Wed, 25 Aug 10
Environment, World Food Supply Linked
http://allafrica.com/stories/201008240409.html
AllArica: Food scientists should follow the lead of climate scientists and petition the United Nations (UN) to safeguard the environment so the world can produce enough food to feed its rapidly growing population, the UK's former chief scientific adviser Sir David King told delegates to the 15th world congress of food science and technology yesterday. The world's population, which stands at 6,86-billion according to the US Census Bureau, is projected to reach 9-billion by 2050. The ...

Wed, 25 Aug 10
Climate change, capitalism and war produce disaster in Pakistan
http://rabble.ca/news/2010/08/climate-change-capitalism-and-war-produce-disaster-pakistan
rabble.ca: The massive floods in Pakistan that affect 20 million people are far from a random "natural disaster." Rather, they are a predictable result of global warming, capitalist development, and US-backed war. There have been 12 major floods in Pakistan since 1973, and three years ago the United Nation's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warned of worse flooding to come due to global warming. This year is the hottest year in recorded history, which has brought Russia's worst ...

Wed, 25 Aug 10
UK green energy college breaks ground following government grant
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2268629/uk-green-energy-college-breaks
Business Green: Construction work is finally kicking off on the UK's first Green Energy Training Centre on Merseyside, which is aiming to boost the number of skilled contractors qualified to install microgeneration technologies. Builders will this week start converting a warehouse owned by renewable technology manufacturer Stiebel Eltron into the new Â£280,000 Green Energy Training Centre (GETC). Government and industry accredited training courses are expected to start in November. GETC had ...

Wed, 25 Aug 10
Mitsubishi and GE face off over anti-trust accusations
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2268634/mitsubishi-ge-face-anti-trust
Business Green: The legal battle between Mitsubishi and General Electric over the US engineering giant's alleged attempts to monopolise the US market for wind turbines escalated yesterday after both companies attempted to declare victory following the latest court ruling in the long-running case. US District Judge J. Leon Holmes in Fayetteville, Arkansas, rejected GE's request that he dismiss an antitrust lawsuit launched earlier this year by Mitsubishi. However, he did agree to stay the case until a ...

Wed, 25 Aug 10
Geoengineering won't curb sea-level rise
http://www.nature.com/news/2010/100823/full/news.2010.426.html
Nature: Climate engineering methods such as space mirrors in Earth orbit would fail to work in isolation.VICTOR HABBICK VISIONS/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY Unless they involve extreme measures, geoengineering approaches to offset the effects of human-driven climate changes won't do much to combat rising sea levels, an international team of scientists reports in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences1. That is because sea levels respond slowly to changes in Earth's temperature, ...

Wed, 25 Aug 10
Report warns of man-made threats to Grand Canyon National Park
http://www.cnn.com/2010/TRAVEL/08/23/grand.canyon.threats/?hpt=C2
CNN: The majestic views overlooking the Grand Canyon make it one of America's favorite destinations, but a new report finds several man-made threats are contributing to the deterioration of Grand Canyon National Park. Scientists and park staff working on the "State of the Parks" Grand Canyon report highlight areas and resources in the park that are threatened, the history of those threats and what can be done to correct them. What they found is a national park that continues to ...

Wed, 25 Aug 10
Future generations are depending on today's climate decisions
http://www.semissourian.com/story/1658853.html
Southeast Missourian: We have not heard much about climate change lately, but it hasn't gone away. According to NASA, March through July this year were each globally the hottest such months on record. This year may well exceed 2005 as the hottest year recorded. Although wildfires in Russia, floods in Pakistan, floods and landslides in China, severe winter storms in the eastern U.S. earlier this year and our summer temperatures this year cannot unequivocally be ascribed individually to climate change, the ...

Wed, 25 Aug 10
The bike manufacturer that aims to be greener than the rest
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/green-living-blog/2010/aug/24/racer-rosa-bicycles-bike
Guardian: A new small British bike maker claims to craft ethical and environmentally friendly bicycles. But what's wrong with the rest of the manufacturers? "Just because you're green on one side of your life, that doesn't justify just ignoring another part. You should be as green as you can be," says Diego Lombardi, co-owner of new start-up cycle maker Racer Rosa Bicycles. While bicycles are undeniably a green and pleasant form of transport, their production is largely tainted. If ...

Wed, 25 Aug 10
Prius gets sound option to protect pedestrians
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100824/ap_on_hi_te/as_japan_unquiet_hybrids
AP: Toyota's Prius hybrid is becoming a little less quiet with a new electronic humming device that is the automaker's answer to complaints that pedestrians can't hear the top-selling car approaching. The 12,600 yen ($148) speaker system that goes under the hood of the third-generation Prius sets off a whirring sound designed to be about the same noise level as a regular car engine so that it isn't annoying, Toyota Motor Corp. said Tuesday. It goes on sale Aug. 30 in Japan, and ...

Wed, 25 Aug 10
UN nuke watchdog chief to meet Israeli ministers
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100824/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_israel_nuclear
AP: Israeli officials say the U.N.'s atomic watchdog chief will meet key Israel ministers in a visit ahead of important international gatherings on nuclear power next month. Israel refuses to confirm it possesses a nuclear arsenal, but is widely considered a nuclear power. That makes the country a hot topic for the International Atomic Energy Agency as Arab nations push for more scrutiny of Israel's nuclear capability. Israeli officials say Yukiya Amano is to hold talks with ...

Wed, 25 Aug 10
Vedanta mine plan halted by Indian government
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/aug/24/vedanta-mine-plan-halted-indian-government
Guardian: Controversial plans to develop a bauxite mine on sacred tribal land in India have been scuppered as India's environment ministry has rejected a proposal by Vedanta Resources to mine the aluminium ore in the eastern state of Orissa. Campaigners, who have been backed in their fight against the mining giant's plans by Joanna Lumley and Michael Palin, described the move as a "stunning victory". Monty Python star turned professional traveller Palin expressed "absolute delight" in the news ...

Wed, 25 Aug 10
Australian king-makers mull climate change demands
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2268610/australian-king-makers-mull
Business Green: Independent MPs are today meeting to discuss whether action on climate change should be a condition of any king-making deal with Labor or the Liberal-led coalition as horse-trading begins in the wake of Saturday's inconclusive Australian election. Rob Oakeshott, Bob Katter and Tony Windsor are aiming to decide what demands should be presented to the two parties in the likely event of a hung parliament. Climate change policy is reportedly a key part of their agenda. At the ...

Wed, 25 Aug 10
Can tar sands ever be sustainable?
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2268616/tar-sands-really-green
Business Green: The Canadian government could be set to try to "green" the country's tar sands, as it prepares for a wide-ranging consultation exercise designed to curb the environmental impact of Alberta's controversial tar sand developments. According to comments made last week by Alberta's sustainable resource development minister Mel Knight, at least a fifth of tar sands land could be set aside for conservation under recommendations that are due to feature in the consultation. He added ...

Wed, 25 Aug 10
UN Carbon Offsets Jump the Most Seven Months in Regulatory Clampdown
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-08-19/un-carbon-offsets-jump-the-most-seven-months-in-regulatory-clampdown.html
Bloomberg: United Nations carbon offsets rose the most in 17 months after regulators said they are reviewing projects that cut hydrofluorocarbons, fueling speculation that the supply of credits will plunge. UN Certified Emission Reductions for December 2010 gained as much as 5.8 percent, the most since March 9, 2009, to 13.29 euros a metric ton in London. CERs, awarded to projects that lower emissions in developing nations, can be used to comply with the European Union's emissions trading ...

Wed, 25 Aug 10
Beijing plans $3B on alternative energy, trees
http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90776/90882/7109828.html
English People Daily: Beijing has worked out a plan to invest up to 20 billion yuan (US$3 billion) in the next decade on forestation and develop alternative energies. Wu Jian, a senior engineer with the State Forestry Administration, said at a news conference that the trees will fight climate change by absorbing carbon and will produce material for bio-diesel and ethanol fuels by 2020. The plan aims to have 23 percent of the country covered with forests in 10 years, up 3 percent increase from the ...

Wed, 25 Aug 10
Cairn Energy discovers gas in offshore Greenland
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100824/wl_uk_afp/britainindiaoilenergyearningscompanycairn
AFP: Scottish explorer Cairn Energy said Tuesday it had discovered gas in offshore Greenland, amid environmental protests by Greenpeace to stop its oil operations near the nation's fragile coast. Cairn revealed the discovery alongside news of a return to profit in the first half of 2010, and uncertainty over its recent deal to sell a majority stake in its Indian unit, Cairn India, to mining group Vedanta. Profits after tax stood at 27.7 million dollars (21.0 million euros) in the ...

Wed, 25 Aug 10
Humans affect climate change
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/humans-affect-climate-change/story-fn59niix-1225906508258?from=public_rss
Australian: THE Australian Academy of Science has pitted its expertise against the greenhouse sceptics in a report stating that humans are changing our climate. The statement expresses for the first time the consensus among Australia's top climate scientists on the evidence for human-caused global warming. In it, nine eminent climate scientists declare that global average temperatures has risen during the past century, and that increased greenhouse gas levels due to human activity are ...

Wed, 25 Aug 10
Ruling Due in Virginia Climate Change Case
http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/24/ruling-due-in-virginia-climate-change-case/
NYT: A ruling is expected within a week on a demand by Virginia's attorney general that the University of Virginia release the research records of a well-known climate change researcher. Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli has demanded that the university produce information relating to grant applications by Michael E. Mann, a prominent climate scientist who produced the widely publicized "hockey stick" graph showing a sharp increase in global average temperatures in the industrial ...

Wed, 25 Aug 10
Greenpeace warns of oil rush risk to Greenland
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100824/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_greenland_deepwater_drilling
AP: A Scottish energy company's discovery of hydrocarbons off Greenland's coast could spark an oil rush that "would threaten the fragile environment," Greenpeace warned Tuesday. Greenpeace spokesman Ben Stewart said Cairn Energy PLC should have followed the example of oil companies that suspended deep-water drilling after the spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Edinburgh-based Cairn on Tuesday reported "early indications of a working hydrocarbon system" off western Greenland, a ...

Wed, 25 Aug 10
Police arrest 12 Climate Camp protesters
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/aug/24/police-arrest-climate-camp-protesters
Guardian: Police arrested 12 climate campaigners during yesterday's protests in Edinburgh against the Royal Bank of Scotland's funding of the oil and mining industries. One man was charged with assault. Lothian and Borders police said the 12 were arrested at five protests during the day, including incidents at the RBS headquarters on the outskirts of Edinburgh and at four RBS and energy industry sites in the city. The protests culminated in a physical confrontation between scores of ...

Wed, 25 Aug 10
Analysis: Australia's "green" poll may accelerate climate action - Reuters
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE67N1PH20100824
Reuters: Australia could accelerate action on climate change, possibly resurrecting an emissions trading scheme, after independent and Greens MPs won the balance of power in elections that left a hung parliament. Businesses like power retailer AGL and leading electricity provider Origin Energy have repeatedly said they need regulatory clarity on carbon pricing as they look to invest billions of dollars in energy infrastructure. Now a deadlock that saw emissions trading laws stall in ...

Wed, 25 Aug 10
UK can halve maritime CO2 emissions
http://www.carbonpositive.net/viewarticle.aspx?articleID=2087
Carbon Positive: A new study into how Britain might aim for a carbon-neutral transport sector by 2050 estimates CO2 emissions in the shipping industry could be halved by employing a range of available measures for maximum impact. The study, 'Towards a Zero Carbon Vision for UK Transport' by the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI), estimates that GHG emissions from UK shipping would increase 217 per cent over the next four decades under a business-as-usual (BAU) scenario. This compares to a 60 per ...

Wed, 25 Aug 10
Twelve climate activists arrested
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/twelve-climate-activists-arrested-2060139.html
Press Association: A day of mass action by climate protesters led to 12 arrests and caused disruption in Scotland's capital today. An estimated 500 activists set up a Camp for Climate Action behind the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) headquarters in Edinburgh five days ago to protest against its funding of fossil fuel companies which they say are destroying the planet. RBS had advised many of its staff to work from home today. The bank is almost wholly owned by the Government, which has an 84 per ...

Tue, 24 Aug 10
Feingold criticizes Johnson for 'sunspot' remark
http://www.wfrv.com/news/wisconsin/101324244.html
AP: Sen. Russ Feingold is criticizing his likely GOP challenger's views on climate change. Feingold's comments Monday came after Oshkosh businessman Ron Johnson said the science of human-caused climate change hasn't been proven. Johnson says climate change might be due to sunspots. Feingold told reporters at the Milwaukee Press Club that Johnson's explanation is "not credible." Feingold says Johnson is distorting the problem with unscientific claims. Sara Sendek is a ...

Tue, 24 Aug 10
More air monitors planned for Texas drilling area
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100823/ap_on_bi_ge/tx_gas_drilling_pollution
AP: Eight new air monitors are planned for one of the nation's largest natural gas fields, where drilling has raised questions about emissions effects, state lawmakers said Monday. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has not determined sites or funding sources for the monitors and does not know when they might be in place, although December is a goal, said agency chairman Bryan W. Shaw. The new monitors would be like seven others -- including four already running -- in ...

Tue, 24 Aug 10
All-out geoengineering still would not stop sea level rise
http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/post.cfm?id=all-out-geoengineering-still-would-2010-08-23
Scientific American: Mimicking volcanoes by throwing particles high into the sky. Maintaining a floating armada of mirrors in space. Burning plant and other organic waste to make charcoal and burying it--or burning it as fuel and burying the CO2 emissions. Even replanting trees. All have been mooted as potential methods of "geoengineering"--"deliberate large-scale manipulation of the planetary environment," as the U.K.'s Royal Society puts it. The goal, of course, is to cool the planet by remove ...

Tue, 24 Aug 10
Exclusive: Will wind farms pick up the tab for new nuclear?
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2268599/exclusive-wind-farms-pick-tab
Business Green: Wind farm operators could see their overheads increase by millions of pounds a year as a direct result of plans to upgrade and reinforce the grid to cope with a new fleet of nuclear reactors. A number of renewable energy developers are angry at National Grid's decision to retain the current charging regime it operates for providing backup power, despite the fact costs are expected to soar when new nuclear power plants come online towards the end of the decade. National Grid ...

Tue, 24 Aug 10
Offshore wind farms reject "seal-killer" tag
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2268598/windfarms-reject-seal-killer
Business Green: Offshore wind farm developers implicated in a mysterious spate of seal deaths have vigorously denied allegations their construction vessels could be to blame. Scientists investigating the killings believe the deaths were caused by a vessel with a ducted propeller that has caused "corkscrew-style" mutilations on the seals' bodies. Callan Duck, a senior research scientist at St Andrews University Seal Mammal Research Unit, told BusinessGreen.com that vessels operating between ...

Tue, 24 Aug 10
Welcome to the world's worst traffic jam
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2010/aug/23/worlds-worst-traffic-jam
Guardian: When you next find yourself gnawing on your steering wheel as the vehicles ahead of you concertina into a wall of metal, spare a thought for the drivers currently stuck in one of the longest traffic jams in history. Thousands of drivers on the Beijing-Tibet Expressway just outside the Chinese capital have been snared by roadworks ever since 14 August – and the disruption is expected to last a further month. The tailbacks now stretch for a mind-boggling 100km and 400 police officers ...

Tue, 24 Aug 10
Geoengineering won't undo sea levels rises
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn19353-geoengineering-wont-undo-sea-levels-rises.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=climate-change
New Scientist: Almost all the technologies for geoengineering our way out of climate change fail a key test: they can't stop the sea from rising and swamping low-lying countries. "You can't slap the brakes on sea levels now," says John Moore of Beijing Normal University in China. "There's too much inertia in the system." Moore and colleagues modelled the effects of deploying five different geoengineering techniques during the 21st century, and combined each one with three scenarios for ...

Tue, 24 Aug 10
For deniers, politics beats the science. Handouts beat both
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cif-green/2010/aug/23/deniers-climate-change-rightwing-handout
Guardian: It was Australia's second climate change election. Climate change deposed the former leaders of both main parties: Kevin Rudd (Labor) because his position was too weak, Malcolm Turnbull (Liberal) because his was too strong. When Julia Gillard, the new Labor leader, also flunked the issue, many of her supporters defected to the Greens. Labor's collapse began when the senate rejected Rudd's emissions trading scheme. Faced with a choice of dissolving parliament and calling an election or ...

Tue, 24 Aug 10
How Will Climate Change Impact Bread? Part 2
http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=how-will-climate-change-impact-brea-10-08-23
Scientific American: Climate change may have begun to hit humans where it hurts--in the stomach. Research has shown how changing temperatures have influenced wheat yields in Montana over the last 60 years. And now catastrophic fires sweeping Russia give a taste of what climate change may bring to that bread basket. Millions of hectares of this year's wheat crop have been lost to the heat, drought and fires this summer in Russia--prompting U.S. wheat prices to double in a matter of days. Fears of a ...

Tue, 24 Aug 10
Compensation Czar Takes Over BP Fund
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129370683&ft=1&f=1025
National Public Radio: LINDA WERTHEIMER, host: Today, the man who managed the fund for 9-11 victims and pay packages for executives at bailed out companies officially takes over the BP claims process. Kenneth Feinberg will administer the $20 billion fund set to compensate oil-spill victims. And as NPR's Wendy Kaufman reports, the process is already under fire for being unfair. WENDY KAUFMAN: Kenneth Feinberg says he will make interim payments to eligible individuals within 48 hours. ...

Tue, 24 Aug 10
Putin ponders climate change in Arctic Russia
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE67M3G920100823?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29
Reuters: Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin traveled beyond the Arctic Circle on Monday to look into evidence for climate change after a record heatwave ravaged central Russia this summer. Putin, who has in the past displayed a light-hearted approach to global warming by joking Russians would have to buy fewer fur coats, flew to a scientific research station in the Samoilovsky island at the delta of Siberia's Lena River. "The climate is changing. This year we have come to understand ...

Tue, 24 Aug 10
Danes block Greenpeace vessel in Arctic
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/danes-block-greenpeace-vessel-in-arctic-2059971.html
Press Association: A Danish warship today confronted a Greenpeace ship which is on a mission to target "dangerous" deep sea oil drilling sites, the environmental group claimed. The incident happened in the freezing seas off Greenland as the protest ship Esperanza approached one of the world's most controversial oil drilling projects operated by the British company Cairn Energy, said Greenpeace. The Greenpeace ship left London 12 days ago vowing to challenge the oil industry at the site of a ...

Tue, 24 Aug 10
United Kingdom: Historic buildings may be better protected from climate change with new forecast method
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/08/100823113422.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Latest+Science+News%29
ScienceDaily: Researchers at the University of Edinburgh have devised a method of forecasting damage caused by the weather to stone buildings -- including statues, monuments and other historic sites, as well as modern masonry buildings. The development allows conservationists to estimate the likely impact of long-term climate change on stonework and brickwork to determine the most suitable plan for preservation. Studies show that a changing climate could have a significant impact on the ...

Tue, 24 Aug 10
Greenpeace in Arctic to stop British group drilling for oil
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100823/wl_uk_afp/denmarkgreenlandbritainarcticoilgreenpeace
AFP: Greenpeace said Monday its activists had arrived in the Arctic on board one of its ships to pressure Britain's Cairn Energy to stop oil operations off Greenland's fragile coast. Cairn Energy is drilling two wells off the west coast of Greenland and plans to drill two more before the end of October, the watchdog said. If the British group's prospecting is successful, the Arctic "could be flooded with oil companies, all trying to operate in hazardous polar conditions," Greenpeace ...

Tue, 24 Aug 10
Danish warship blocks Greenpeace Arctic oil protest
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/aug/23/danish-warship-greenpeace-protest
Guardian: A Greenpeace ship protesting against deep sea drilling by a British oil firm in the Arctic has been confronted by a Danish warship, and its captain threatened with arrest. The Danish navy has warned Greenpeace that the Esperanza will be boarded by armed personnel if it breaches a 500-metre exclusion zone around two wells drilled off Greenland by the Edinburgh-based oil firm Cairn Energy. The confrontation came as scores of climate protesters targeted Cairn Energy's headquarters ...

Tue, 24 Aug 10
White House, Critics Reach Stalemate in Dispute Over Oil Budget in Gulf
http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2010/08/23/23greenwire-white-house-critics-reach-stalemate-in-dispute-71881.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
Greenwire: Neither the White House nor critics of an Obama administration report is crying uncle in a dispute over a government report suggesting that three-fourths of the oil in the Gulf of Mexico is "gone." After being blasted by lawmakers, scientists and environmentalists in recent weeks, the administration is standing behind its claims that all but 26 percent of the oil is accounted for, despite widespread criticism that such a claim paints too rosy a picture of the situation in the ...

Tue, 24 Aug 10
Report: Director James Cameron calls climate change skeptics 'swine'
http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/677-e2-wire/115433-report-director-james-cameron-calls-climate-change-skeptics-swine
The Hill: James Cameron, director of the eco-tinged smash film Avatar, on Sunday called global warming skeptics "swine" at a renewable energy conference in Aspen, Colo., according to a news report. "I think they're swine," he said at the American Renewable Energy Day Summit, the Aspen Times reported. Here's more from their story about Cameron's appearance at the conference: [...] Cameron and a host of other climate-change activists said there needs to be a broad educational ...

Tue, 24 Aug 10
Australia's electorate sends climate-change message
http://www.nature.com/news/2010/100823/full/news.2010.425.html
Nature: Although Australia's national election has failed to produce a clear winner, the result is pushing climate change up the political agenda once more. Both the incumbent Labor party and the Liberal–National opposition failed to secure an overall majority after this weekend's vote. That means that the Australian Greens, who now have a record 11% of the vote and advocate aggressive action on climate change, could become key players. Along with a handful of conservative rural independents, ...

Tue, 24 Aug 10
If a Country Sinks Beneath the Sea, Is It Still a Country?
http://www.nytimes.com/cwire/2010/08/23/23climatewire-if-a-country-sinks-beneath-the-sea-is-it-sti-70169.html
ClimateWire: Rising ocean levels brought about by climate change have created a flood of unprecedented legal questions for small island nations and their neighbors. Among them: If a country disappears, is it still a country? Does it keep its seat at the United Nations? Who controls its offshore mineral rights? Its shipping lanes? Its fish? And if entire populations are forced to relocate -- as could be the case with citizens of the Maldives, Tuvalu, Kiribati and other small island states ...

Tue, 24 Aug 10
Revenue & Customs to restore VAT on carbon credits
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2268587/revenue-customs-restore-vat
Business Green: HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has announced that it will reintroduce VAT charges on carbon credits from November after removing the levy last year in response to a multi-billion Euro tax fraud. British officials approved a zero VAT rating on trades of EU allowances (EUAs) in July last year after a pan-European investigation revealed that criminal gangs were using carbon credits to commit a widespread VAT fraud known as "carousel fraud". Nearly 30 arrests have now been made in ...

Tue, 24 Aug 10
Putin roasted over global warming doubt
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100823/sc_afp/russiagermanyheatwavefiresclimateputin
AFP: Prime Minister Vladimir Putin queried Monday whether man is to blame for climate change only to spark a heated response from a German scientist., during a visit to a remote Russian Arctic zone. Putin, known for his tough-guy visits to his country's most far-flung areas, went by helicopter to a Russian-German research station on an island at the mouth of the Lena River in the Far Eastern Yakutia region on the Arctic Ocean. Wearing a heavy black jacket to protect against the wind ...

Tue, 24 Aug 10
United Kingdom: Statoil reaffirms renewables commitment
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2268588/statoil-reaffirms-green
Business Green: Statoil has today distanced itself from reports suggesting it could scale back investment in renewable energy, insisting the company currently has "no plans" to offload its high-profile alternative energy projects. Over the weekend Norwegian newspaper Stavanger Aftenblad reported comments from the firm's chief executive Helge Lund suggesting that the company is reviewing its current investment in renewable energy projects, which includes plans for two UK offshore wind farms and the ...

Tue, 24 Aug 10
Experts urge faster and more relevant U.N. climate reports
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE67M30320100823
Reuters: The U.N. panel of climate scientists should be more nimble at highlighting global warming trends and at fixing mistakes, experts said ahead of the planned August 30 release of a review of the group's work. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon asked for an independent review of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) after the group came under fire for errors such as wrongly saying Himalayan glaciers could all melt by 2035 and overstating the amount of the Netherlands below ...

Tue, 24 Aug 10
Dept of Energy earmarks additional $120m for weatherization program
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2268591/dept-energy-earmarks-additional
Business Green: The US Department of Energy (DoE) last week extended its weatherization program, announcing that it has awarded almost $120m in fresh funding to around 120 organisations across the country currently working on domestic energy efficiency projects. The announcement came as Energy Secretary Steven Chu released new figures revealing that as of June the government's weatherization programme had carried out energy efficiency improvements on over 31,600 homes. The weatherization ...

Tue, 24 Aug 10
Disaster at the Top of the World
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/23/opinion/23homer-dixon.html?_r=5&partner=rss&emc=rss
NYT: STANDING on the deck of this floating laboratory for Arctic science, which is part of Canada's Coast Guard fleet and one of the world's most powerful icebreakers, I can see vivid evidence of climate change. Channels through the Canadian Arctic archipelago that were choked with ice at this time of year two decades ago are now expanses of open water or vast patchworks of tiny islands of melting ice. In 1994, the "Louie," as the crew calls the ship, and a United States Coast Guard ...

Tue, 24 Aug 10
Wildfires Ravaging Swaths of Russia
http://www10.nytimes.com/2010/08/07/world/europe/07russia.html?_r=5&ref=forests_and_forestry
NYTimes: Wildfires that have overwhelmed Russia's firefighting services and burned freely through large areas of the heat-seared countryside have claimed 52 lives, clouded Moscow in smoke and on Friday forced the military to transfer rockets away from a garrison near the capital. More than 800 wildfires had been reported by the end of the week. Most were in western and central parts of the country, which is in its worst heat wave since record-keeping began here more than 130 years ...

Tue, 24 Aug 10
United States: Indian Point Nuclear Plant's Toll on River Stirs Debate
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/23/science/earth/23cooling.html?_r=5&partner=rss&emc=rss
NYT: Just beneath the wind-stippled surface of the Hudson River here, huge pipes suck enough water into the Indian Point nuclear plant every second to fill three Olympic swimming pools. And each second they take in dozens of organisms – fish and crabs, but mostly larvae – that are at the center of a $1.1 billion debate: should the plant have to put in cooling towers that would vastly reduce the intake of water? Yes, says New York State, which puts the annual death toll at nearly a ...

Tue, 24 Aug 10
Sean Meenan, Restaurateur, Spreads Eco-Friendly Fun
http://www10.nytimes.com/2010/08/23/nyregion/23meenan.html?_r=5&partner=rss&emc=rss
New York Times: With a white Kangol cap tipped on his shaved head just so on a recent swampy morning, Sean Meenan led a group of girls, ages 11 to 14, around the cobalt blue, lime green and Sunkist orange outdoor patio of Habana Outpost, the ecologically conscious restaurant he owns in Fort Greene, Brooklyn. He showed off the solar panels, a rainwater-collection system that feeds the toilets, a recycling and composting station, wheat-board wall paneling and corn-based plastic cups. There was even a ...

Tue, 24 Aug 10
Russian Wildfires Retreat, but Economic Drivers Remain
http://www.ecosystemmarketplace.com/pages/dynamic/article.page.php?page_id=7685§ion=news_articles&eod=1
Variety: The wildfires that choked Moscow over the past two months were fueled primarily by peat bogs that were drained to make way for farms and houses. Peatlands around the world could accelerate climate change by unleashing more carbon dioxide than any single industrial sector. Ecosystem Marketplace examines the role that carbon offsets can play in heading off the disaster. Cool winds and rain have dampened the wildfires that filled Moscow with smog and filled our newspapers with images ...

Tue, 24 Aug 10
Sarawak Supports REDD Initiatives
http://www.malaysiandigest.com/news/38-health/7408-sarawak-supports-redd-initiatives.html
Malaysian Digest: Sarawak supports the implementation of Reducing Emission from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) initiatives, Sarawak Forestry Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Datuk Len Talif said today. "Sarawak is interested in REDD. "Even parts of Anap Muput Forest Management Unit (FMU) was considering, during our discussion with Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) Malaysia, to examine the potential of REDD in these areas," he said in a speech read out by Acting ...

Tue, 24 Aug 10
Insuring REDD Projects: Questions and Answers
http://www.ecosystemmarketplace.com/pages/dynamic/article.page.php?page_id=7687§ion=news_articles&eod=1
Ecosystem Marketplace: Forest Carbon is in the Climate Bill, but How do we Insure it? With Trees! Just a few weeks of actual negotiating time remain before the year-end summit in Cancun, and climate talks are a mess. Sure, most parties agree it's a good idea to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by saving trees, but that's about all they agree on. This all highlights the amount of risk that investors take when paying for something today that won't be delivered for decades -- and the role that insurers could ...

Tue, 24 Aug 10
Norway to soon disburse $30m of $1b forestry fund
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/08/21/norway-soon-disburse-30m-1b-forestry-fund.html
Jakarka Post: Norway has agreed to start the implementation of a bilateral climate deal worth US$1 billion by disbursing an initial fund worth $30 million in September, a senior official says. "The initial fund will be disbursed next month through the UN-REDD program," Forestry Ministry Director General of Production Forest Development Hadi Daryanto told The Jakarta Post on Friday at his office. The UN's reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) program had been ...

Tue, 24 Aug 10
Countries take first steps to implement their partnership to combat deforestation
http://www.norway.or.id/Norway_in_Indonesia/Environment/Norway-finances-establishment-and-start-up-activities-of-Indonesian-REDD-Agency-with-USD-30-million-contribution/
Norway: The government of Norway has agreed to transfer an initial contribution of USD 30 million through an international financing mechanism to finance Phase I of the Indonesia-Norway partnership on REDD+ (reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation) in Indonesia. The two sides signed a Letter of Intent in Oslo in May of this year outlining the framework for a USD 1 billion partnership to combat deforestation and forest degradation. President Yudhoyono stated in Oslo that ...

Tue, 24 Aug 10
Heavy rain brings floods and road chaos to southern England
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/aug/23/floods-heavy-rain-southern-england
Guardian: Heavy rain has brought localised flooding and transport disruption to southern England, with forecasters warning of further heavy rainfall to come. Up to 4cm (1.5in) of rain – more than half the normal monthly total – fell on parts of the south in just a few hours overnight, and there were also gale force winds in places. The average August rainfall in southern England is 6-7cm. The Met Office issued severe weather warnings affecting six regions – Grampian, central ...

Tue, 24 Aug 10
China lays ground work for electric car charging grid
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2268553/china-lays-ground-work-electric
Business Green: China plans to issue new regulations in October governing its proposed charging infrastructure for electric vehicles. According to reports in the Shanghai Securities News, the government intends to introduce three new standards covering technical requirements for electric vehicle charging points. Citing an unnamed source at the State Electricity Regulatory Commission, the newspaper said that the regulator is also talking with power grid operators and crude oil producers about ...

Tue, 24 Aug 10
UK government held secret peak oil talks
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2268554/uk-government-held-secret-peak
Business Green: The UK government has been holding secret talks to assess the potential impact of peak oil, according to reports, suggesting that it is seriously concerned about the issue. According to reports in the Observer newspaper, the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC), the Bank of England, and the Ministry of Defence participated in talks over the issue. Documents, obtained by the newspaper under the Freedom of Information Act, revealed that the departments believe the ...

Tue, 24 Aug 10
UN official attacks international response to Pakistan floods crisis
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/blog/2010/aug/23/pakistan-floods-response-united-nations
Guardian: The British public is "shaming politicians across the world" with the generosity of its response to the devastating floods in Pakistan, the UK Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) said today. The committee – the umbrella organisation for British aid agencies – said the crisis caused by huge monsoon rainfall in the last three weeks combined the scale of the Asian tsunami, the destruction of the earthquake in Haiti and the complexity of the Middle East. Its chief executive, ...

Tue, 24 Aug 10
ALLAFRICA.COM: South Africa: Renewable Energy 'Will Boost Jobs, Manufacturers'
http://allafrica.com/stories/201008230351.html
AllArica: ENVIRONMENTAL campaigners want the government to adopt ambitious targets on renewable energy. This would help SA secure global funds for climate mitigation, cut greenhouse gas emissions, create jobs, and create a secure energy supply, say the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and Greenpeace. By 2030, at least half of SA's electricity should come from renewable resources, according to a WWF report released last week. By contrast, Greenpeace wants SA to produce 36% of its ...

Tue, 24 Aug 10
Greens enjoy kingmaker role as Australia heads for hung parliament
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2268560/greens-enjoy-kingmaker-role
Business Green: Australia's climate change policy is resting on a knife edge after both leading parties failed to secure a working majority in Saturday's election, leaving the future make up of any government in the hands of a small band of Green and independent MPs. With just a small number of seats yet to declare both the ruling Labor Party and the opposition Liberals are expected to fall short of the 76 seats they need to form a working majority -- resulting in the first hung parliament in the ...

Tue, 24 Aug 10
Coral doctor sounds the alarm about more acidic seas
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/aug/23/coral-acidic-seas
Guardian: The ocean has been our savior. Besides generating about two thirds of the oxygen we breathe, oceangoing phytoplankton -- those floating microscopic plants that form the base of the aquatic food chain -- absorb about a third of all the carbon dioxide we pump into the atmosphere. In this way, the oceans have managed to slow the buildup of heat-trapping greenhouse gases and stave off even more dramatic warming of the planet. But John Guinotte and colleagues are discovering that ...

Tue, 24 Aug 10
Why Greens Are the Winners in Australia's Elections
http://ecocentric.blogs.time.com/2010/08/23/why-greens-are-winners-in-australia%E2%80%99s-elections/
TIME: Exactly a month ago, I was driving down a long, empty stretch of road in eastern Australia, swerving around kangaroo carcasses and listening on the radio to Prime Minister Julia Gillard give a policy speech on climate change ahead of the August 21 national elections. It was a stunning day in rural Queensland, with blue skies stretching out over the eucalyptus trees, and almost no other cars on the two-lane country road. Coming from Hong Kong, I felt like I was getting the most peace, quiet ...

Tue, 24 Aug 10
Home efficiency
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11041247
BBC: Scientists at the University of Salford plan to use the mock home to test the effectiveness of a wide range of energy saving technologies. The house is being built inside a three-storey laboratory, which will allow a team of researchers to control heat, light and humidity levels. The house is set to be ready to begin experiments in December. The first brick was laid on Monday, and the university's Energy Hub team hopes the project will shed light on the best ways to ...

Tue, 24 Aug 10
Ecuador: Yasuni and the New Economics of Climate Change
http://www.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/08/23/oped.yasuni/
CNN: YasunÃ is both a place and a metaphor. The place is a UNESCO Biopshere Reserve in the Ecuadorian Amazon where two indigenous communities, the Tagaeri and the Taromenane, live in voluntary isolation. Below the biosphere lie the oil fields Isphingo, Tambococha and Tiputini, abbreviated to ITT. YasunÃ the metaphor is the initiative for paying to keep that oil underground and leave the biological and cultural diversity undisturbed. Upon learning of just these bare-bone ...

Tue, 24 Aug 10
EU quietly continues renewables revolution
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2268582/eu-quietly-continues-renewables
Business Green: European efforts to accelerate the development of low carbon energy supplies are working. That is the central conclusion to be drawn from new figures from the EU's statistics agency, Eurostat, revealing that almost a fifth of energy production in the EU came from renewable sources last year. The data-rich report, entitled Statistical aspects of the energy economy in 2009, concluded that renewable energy accounted for 18.4 per cent of energy production in the European Union, putting ...

Tue, 24 Aug 10
Hearings into cause of oil spill begin in Houston
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100823/ap_on_bi_ge/us_gulf_oil_spill_investigation
AP: Federal investigators are hearing testimony from BP executives in a joint probe into the cause of the explosion that led to the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. BP's Gulf of Mexico marine authority official Neil Cramond was testifying Monday in Houston. Two officials from Transocean, the owner of the rig, are set to testify later Monday. The hearings will continue through Friday. The U.S. Coast Guard and the Bureau of Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement ...

Tue, 24 Aug 10
Warming could endanger Va.'s mountain wildlife
http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/virginia-news/2010/aug/23/clim23-ar-466984/
Times Dispatch: In a fragrant forest near the top of Virginia's second-highest mountain, Kevin Hamed flipped some birch bark and found a living treasure. Hamed turned up a rare Weller's salamander, a 3-inch, lizard-like creature with a golden back flecked with black. "It's an awesome animal, in my opinion," said Hamed, a 36-year-old biologist. "You don't see gold that often in nature." If the climate warms too much, you might not see this animal, either. The Weller's salamander ...

Sun, 22 Aug 10
Australia: Oz: a climate change hotspot
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10667887
New Zealand Herald: Irrigated by one of the world's mightiest river systems, the Murray-Darling Basin yields almost half of Australia's fresh produce. But the basin is ailing and scientists fear that as climate change grips the driest inhabited continent its main food bowl could become a global warming ground zero. The signs are ominous. In the Riverland, one of the nation's major horticulture areas, dying vines and parched lemon trees attest to critical water shortages. Farmers have had their ...

Sun, 22 Aug 10
United Kingdom: Govt. repeats concern over Iranian nuclear drive
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100821/wl_uk_afp/irannuclearpoliticsbritain
AFP: Britain acknowledged Iran's right to build nuclear power stations Saturday as it began loading fuel into the first plant, but warned that concerns remain about the Islamic republic's atomic programme. "We have always respected Iran's right to develop an exclusively civil nuclear power programme," Foreign Office minister Alistair Burt said, as engineers began loading fuel into Iran's Russian-built Bushehr plant. "The problem is Iran's continued refusal to satisfy the IAEA ...

Sun, 22 Aug 10
Gov't: 23K workers affected by Gulf oil drill ban
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100821/ap_on_bi_ge/us_gulf_oil_spill_moratorium
AP: A six-month ban on deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico would directly put more than 9,000 people out of work and indirectly affect another 14,000 jobs, according to a memo from the nation's top drilling regulator. The federal document, which weighed the economic impact and alternatives to the ban, was sent to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar on July 10 by Michael Bromwich. Salazar issued a moratorium in June, but it was struck down by a federal judge in New Orleans after oil ...

Sun, 22 Aug 10
Alaska leaders must unite on climate change
http://www.thedutchharborfisherman.com/article/1033alaska_leaders_must_unite_on_climate_change
Dutch Harbor Fisherman: It is simply incredulous that as leaders and policymakers of the free world that our United States Senate could not come to a general understanding of the seriousness of the issues related to climate change. How many Alaska coastal villages most we lose, retreating glaciers or diminished fisheries must we suffer, in Alaska before our elected policymakers realize that our accelerated use of carbon in the last 100 years is placing all of our Alaskan environment in jeopardy? This past ...

Sun, 22 Aug 10
Eyewitness: Food drop for flood victims
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/picture/2010/aug/21/pakistan-flood-aid
Guardian: X

Sun, 22 Aug 10
United States: Baldacci touts renewable power in Maine
http://www.boston.com/news/local/maine/articles/2010/08/21/baldacci_touts_renewable_power_in_maine/?rss_id=Boston.com+--+Latest+news
AP: Maine Gov. John Baldacci says the state is moving in the right direction with tidal and wind power development. Baldacci used his weekly radio address to tout the success of Ocean Renewable Power Company, which last week reported that its underwater turbine generator is producing grid-compatible electricity in Cobscook Bay. The company hopes to connect to the grid next year. He says the state must continue to "support the development of homegrown, renewable sources of energy" ...

Sun, 22 Aug 10
Spill bound BP, feds together
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100821/ap_on_bi_ge/us_gulf_oil_spill_unlikely_partners
AP: For months, the U.S. government talked with a boot-on-the-neck toughness about BP, with the president wondering aloud about whose butt to kick. But privately, it worked hand-in-hand with the oil giant to cap the runaway Gulf well and chose to effectively be the company's banker -- allowing future drilling revenues to potentially be used as collateral for a victim compensation fund. Now, with a new round of investigative hearings set to begin Monday on BP's home turf and the ...

Sun, 22 Aug 10
Thinking green? It's not just black and white
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/20/AR2010082000026.html
Washington Post: Can a big house be green? Yes, but a smaller house will always be greener because fewer resources were used in its construction and less energy is needed to heat and cool it. This critical distinction is little understood by the general public, but in the world of green building, prudent use of resources, also called "sustainability," is a cornerstone. It means using resources to meet our needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. From a ...

Sun, 22 Aug 10
United States: TVA to shutter coal plants, turn to nuclear
http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2010/aug/21/tva-shutter-coal-plants-turn-nuclear/
Chattanooga Times Free Press: TVA will shutter part of its aging fleet of coal power plants and turn to nuclear power and energy conservation to power the Tennessee Valley under a 10-year plan adopted Friday. Tennessee Valley Authority President Tom Kilgore outlined a vision that calls for the nation's biggest government utility to idle at least 1,000 megawatts of coal generation -- or more than 7 percent of its biggest source of power -- by 2015. TVA directors approved plans here Friday to move ahead with ...

Sun, 22 Aug 10
United Kingdom: Climate protester breaches RBS Gogarburn security and glues herself to desk
http://www.scotsman.com/news/Climate-protester-breaches-RBS-Gogarburn.6487098.jp
Scotsman: A CLIMATE change protester managed to breach security at the headquarters of the Royal Bank of Scotland by making an appointment to speak to an adviser and then glued herself to a desk. The woman dressed in bank worker-style clothes to avoid detection by police and bank security guards before the stunt yesterday. An hour later, shortly before noon, up to 150 protesters managed to get past security guards and into the bank's grounds at Gogarburn. They danced round the ...

Sun, 22 Aug 10
Worldwide slowdown in plant carbon uptake
http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/62396/title/Worldwide_slowdown_in_plant__carbon_uptake
ScienceNews: Droughts stifled carbon storage in vegetation in many regions during the last decade, satellite images reveal. Declines in carbon storage from 2000 through 2009 are depicted in shades of red; green denotes increases in vegetation for the same period. Stronger trends are depicted in darker colors.Zhao and Running/University of Montana Deep and extended droughts are responsible for a recent slowdown in the amount of carbon dioxide that land plants pulled from the atmosphere as they ...

Sun, 22 Aug 10
UN board could rein in $2.7 billion carbon market
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jzMOK7aEvtFyMshOfRo-x9_4nwSQD9HNL0P80
AP: An obscure U.N. board that oversees a $2.7 billion market intended to cut heat-trapping gases has agreed to take steps that could lead to it eventually reining in what European and U.S. environmentalists are calling a huge scam. At a meeting this week that ended Friday, the executive board of the U.N.'s Clean Development Mechanism said that five chemical plants in China would no longer qualify for funding as so-called carbon offset credits until the environmentalists' claims can be ...

Sun, 22 Aug 10
United States: Wind energy and politics: Not on my beach, please
http://www.economist.com/node/16846774
Economist: "OF COURSE I'm all in favour of clean energy, especially wind power, but..." That is a familiar opening gambit in a new sort of political storm, raging ever more fiercely in corners of the world where electric power comes, or may soon come, from flashing blades rather than blazing furnaces. The odd thing about conflicts over wind is that, usually, each side claims to be greener than the other. Opponents say a unique landscape or seascape is being overshadowed, to the detriment of ...

Sun, 22 Aug 10
Ice-trapped pollutants poison polar bears' diets
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,5924711,00.html
Deutsche Welle: The iconic symbol of the Arctic - the polar bear - is under threat from the twin challenges of climate change and lingering chemical pollutants, such as PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls), which are not breaking down in the region's cold waters. A comprehensive review of research on polar wildlife published recently in the journal Science of The Total Environment has concluded that the retreat of sea ice cover in the Arctic as a result of climate change could increase the exposure of ...

Sun, 22 Aug 10
EU commissioner backs mooted German nuclear tax
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100821/bs_afp/germanyenergynucleartaxbusinesseu
AFP: European Union Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger said German energy companies should hand over to the state at least half their profits accrued from extending the life of nuclear power stations. He was speaking in an interview with the daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung Saturday as German bosses and economic figures have lashed out at a government proposal to tax nuclear energy production. "It's quite normal for nuclear groups to protest at the idea of a tax, but they should give ...

Sun, 22 Aug 10
Mauritania plants trees to hold back desert
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE67K1LI20100821?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29
Reuters: Mauritania has launched a tree-planting program aimed at protecting its capital from the advancing desert and coastal erosion, a project that could eventually extend thousands of kilometers across Africa. President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz on Saturday planted the first of some 2 million trees that are meant to form a "green belt" around the capital, Nouakchott, and curb erosion elsewhere in the desert nation that straddles black and Arab Africa. "The aim of this green belt is to ...

Sat, 21 Aug 10
Britain's bird and sea-life protection boosted by 15 new sites
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/aug/20/bird-sea-life-protection-sites
Guardian: The biggest expansion of protection for the birds and sea life that live on the sandbanks, reefs and sea caves around the UK shores is announced today. Fishing, dredging and other activities, including wind turbines, are to be banned or restricted on at least 15 new sites around the coast, ranging from Norfolk to Cornwall and Northern Ireland. They will protect species including sponges, sea squirts, corals, shellfish, and more exotic creatures such as the colourful cuckoo wrasse ...

Sat, 21 Aug 10
Bikes on a plane? Easier said than done
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/aug/20/cycling-bike-airports-transport
Guardian: I recently returned from a tour of the Balkans. The plan was to land at Sarajevo, cycle to Split in Croatia, ride up the coast and across to Ljubljana to fly home. But that isn't exactly what happened, because the airline mislaid my bike. After a suspiciously long wait at Sarajevo airport for the cardboard box I'd carefully packed it in days earlier, I was told it was still in London. Two frustrating days later, and Germanwings finally delivered a now very tatty box ...

Sat, 21 Aug 10
United Kingdom: Climate change campaigners turn up the heat on RBS chiefs
http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/home-news/climate-change-campaigners-turn-up-the-heat-on-rbs-chiefs-1.1049410
Herald Scotland: Climate change protesters will today step up a mass campaign outside the Royal Bank of Scotland headquarters as hundreds more activists pour into the site near Edinburgh. As many as 400 people are now camping on the bank`s campus at Gogarburn, and organisers promise to disrupt "business as usual" for RBS in the days ahead. The activists behind the Camp for Climate Action accuse the state-owned bank of funding "the most environmentally damaging project in the world" through its ...

Sat, 21 Aug 10
Major study charts long-lasting oil plume in Gulf
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100820/ap_on_sc/us_sci_gulf_oil_spill_plume
AP: A 22-mile-long invisible mist of oil is meandering far below the surface of the Gulf of Mexico, where it will probably loiter for months or more, scientists reported Thursday in the first conclusive evidence of an underwater plume from the BP spill. The most worrisome part is the slow pace at which the oil is breaking down in the cold, 40-degree water, making it a long-lasting but unseen threat to vulnerable marine life, experts said. Earlier this month, top federal officials ...

Sat, 21 Aug 10
Japan stimulus plan to focus on green tech: report
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100820/sc_afp/japaneconomypolitics
AFP: Japan is planning subsidies to boost corporate investment in factories making environment-friendly products, in a fresh economic stimulus package expected next month, a report said Friday. The new stimulus being considered by Prime Minister Naoto Kan is also likely to include the expansion of programmes for job seekers and extra financing for small and medium-sized businesses, the business daily Nikkei reported, without giving its sources. The report came as Kan is set to meet ...

Sat, 21 Aug 10
Canada: RBS faces wrath of climate activists
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/rbs-faces-wrath-of-climate-activists-2057353.html
Independent (UK): Climate change protesters set up camp close to the Royal Bank of Scotland headquarters yesterday, accusing the state-owned bank of using taxpayers' money to finance the fossil fuel industry. Activists expect up to a thousand protesters to join the camp just outside Edinburgh ahead of a planned day of mass action against RBS on Monday. A spokeswoman for RBS said it was in the vanguard of lending to renewable energy projects. "As a major international bank we provide ...

Sat, 21 Aug 10
Global firms applaud new greenhouse gas yardsticks
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2268481/firms-welcome-ghg-yardstick
Business Green: More than 60 leading global firms have finished testing two new greenhouse gas (GHG) reporting standards, taking industry a step closer to a universal approach for measuring and managing emissions. Sixty-two firms from 17 countries, including household names such as 3M, Deutsche Telekom and IKEA, tested blueprints for two new GHG protocol reporting and accounting standards. The first protocol, dubbed "Product Lifecycle", provides a standardised approach for measuring the ...

Thu, 19 Aug 10
Exclusive: Plugged-in Places electric car network gets amber light
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2268309/exclusive-plugged-places-given
Business Green: The government's upcoming spending review is expected to save the high-profile Plugged-in Places scheme, paving the way for the accelerated rollout of electric car recharging networks in British cities. Whitehall insiders told BusinessGreen.com that the government has approved the plans "in principle", although details of funding and logistics have yet to be confirmed. "It's almost been given the nod," said one government source. "The government supports the scheme in ...

Thu, 19 Aug 10
China to proceed slowly on cap and trade
http://www.carbonpositive.net/viewarticle.aspx?articleID=2080
Carbon Positive: China has confirmed domestic emissions trading measures are under consideration to help rein in the nation's soaring carbon output. But it appears any embrace of cap and trade in its next five-year plan from 2011 will be cautious and modest. The National Development and Reform Commission (NRDC) confirmed last week that pilot carbon "market mechanisms" were being considered for some cities and regions, Reuters reports. But China analysts say the government will not make any ...

Wed, 18 Aug 10
Do-it-yourself solar power for your home
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/TECH/innovation/08/17/plug.in.solar.energy/index.html?eref=edition_technology&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fedition_technology+%28RSS%3A+Technology%29
CNN: Imagine outfitting your house with small, affordable solar panels that plug into a socket and pump power into your electrical system instead of taking it out. That's the promise of a Seattle, Washington-based start-up that is working to provide renewable energy options -- solar panels and wind turbines -- for homes and small businesses. The panels cost as little as $600 and plug directly into a power outlet. The company, Clarian Power, aims to be the first to bring a plug-in ...

Wed, 18 Aug 10
Tropical Glaciers in Indonesia May Disappear by the End of the Decade
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=tropical-glaciers-in-indonesia-disappear
Daily Climate: Glaciers in one of the world's last tropical ice caps will be gone within a matter of years, rather than the decades thought previously, according to an Ohio State University researcher who has spent his career probing the world's ice fields. When they go, a unique record of the El NiÃ±o-Southern Oscillation phenomenon that drives climate patterns in the tropics could disappear, too, glaciologist Lonnie Thompson said. The cap, perched on a 16,000-foot-high mountain ridge in Indonesia, ...

Wed, 18 Aug 10
Imran Khan launches Pakistan floods appeal
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/17/imran-khan-pakistan-flood-appeal
Guardian: Imran Khan, the cricketer-turned-politician, is launching his own emergency fundraising appeal for the victims of the devastating floods in Pakistan, pitting him directly against the government's own efforts. The Imran Khan Flood Relief organisation will seek to tackle both the immediate emergency and the long-term rehabilitation work required. "The government has totally collapsed, there's no government here," Khan told the Guardian. "The government's efforts to raise money have ...

Wed, 18 Aug 10
India's Avatar: decision coming on mine that threatens indigenous group
http://news.mongabay.com/2010/0817-hance_dongriakondh.html
Mongabay: In the Indian state of Orissa a drama more wild than James Cameron's imaginings has been playing out. An indigenous people, the Dongria Kondh, have spent years protesting the plans of British-based mining giant Vedanta Resources to build a 125-billion-rupee ($2.7 billion) open-cast mine on the Niyamgiri Mountain, which they have long viewed as a deity. Yesterday, the Dongria Kondh won a victory, but not the war: a four-person panel set up by the India's Environment Ministry said the mine ...

Wed, 18 Aug 10
Major hurdle cleared for organic solar cells
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/08/100817090756.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Latest+Science+News%29
ScienceDaily: The basis for solar energy is absorbing light and then effectively disassociating electrical charges. As Yana Vaynzof, a University of Cambridge researcher, reports in the American Institute of Physics' Applied Physics Letters, conjugated polymers are excellent materials for such a system, thanks to their light absorption and conduction properties. Unfortunately, poor charge disassociation in these materials tends to inhibit their performance. Photo-induced charges remain closely bound and ...

Wed, 18 Aug 10
Weather Extremes and Climate Change
http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/17/weather-extremes-and-climate-change/
NYT: In an article on Sunday, I outlined the relationship between climate change and a rise in extreme weather. Scientists cite several statistical indicators that suggest the number of extreme events like heat waves and floods is rising. This evidence has taken on a new meaning in this summer of weather disasters, especially the floods in Pakistan and the heat wave in Russia. The United States has not been spared from weather extremes, notably deluges like the disastrous downpour in Tennessee ...

Wed, 18 Aug 10
Extreme weather unlikely to help climate talks
http://www.vancouversun.com/Extreme+weather+unlikely+help+climate+talks/3408673/story.html
Reuters: Extreme weather in 2010 will spur more strident calls for action to combat global warming but is unlikely to break a deadlock at UN climate talks about sharing the burden between rich and poor. Pakistan, for instance, has blamed mankind's emissions of greenhouse gases for devastating floods that have killed up to 1,600 people. And Russian President Dmitry Medvedev similarly directly linked the summer heat wave on global warming. But there is no sign so far that major emitters ...

Wed, 18 Aug 10
United Kingdom: Communities take action to save plants
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/aug/17/communities-swap-seeds-save-plants
Guardian: One variety of crop is lost every day, according to the Global Diversity Crop Trust (GDCT). Yet biodiversity experts are warning that seed banks around the world – which preserve plant life under threat of extinction – are vulnerable in the face of budget cuts. In Britain, the UK government is calling for up to 40% cost reductions across its departments, and the Millennium Seed Bank Partnership at Kew, for example, is uncertain how much support it will receive in the coming year. UK ...

Wed, 18 Aug 10
Discount on UN CO2 Credit Falls as Regulator May Review Supply
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-08-17/discount-on-un-co2-credit-falls-as-regulator-may-review-supply.html
Bloomberg: The discount on United Nations greenhouse gas credits compared with European Union allowances shrank to its narrowest level in more than three months as regulators consider a review of hydrofluorocarbon-23 projects. The UN discount against 2010 EU permits fell 11 percent to 1.87 euros ($2.41) a metric ton, the lowest since April 30, according to the spread contract traded on the European Climate Exchange in London as of 12:31 p.m. local time. "There has been a request for ...

Wed, 18 Aug 10
A Fuel That Doesn't Go to Waste
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/07/100716-energy-landfill-biogas-powers-truck-fleet/
National Geographic: In a dry, windy canyon not far from San Francisco, landfill operator Waste Management and German gas refiner Linde are using technology typically found at massive natural gas fields to turn trash into liquid natural gas. The natural gas is then trucked to dedicated filling stations where it fuels specially converted garbage trucks, eliminating the need for diesel fuel and keeping tens of thousands of tons of greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere each year. Driving a truck ...

Wed, 18 Aug 10
German Climatologist on Criticism of IPCC: 'We Received a Kick in the Pants'
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,712113,00.html#ref=rss
Spiegel: SPIEGEL: Mr. Schellnhuber, Russia is burning and floods have inundated Pakistan. Are such extreme weather phenomena increasing because of gradual climate change? Hans Joachim Schellnhuber: Such events certainly do correspond to what we expect from a warmer world. We have seen record average global temperatures for more than a year now, and that increases the likelihood of regional heat waves like the one in western Russia at the moment. Besides, our climate models show that the South ...

Wed, 18 Aug 10
The tide is turning: Scotland celebrates latest marine energy win
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2268292/tide-turning-scotland
Business Green: The UK's emerging marine energy sector has received its second major boost in as many weeks after ScottishPower announced it has awarded contracts for the manufacture of a new tidal energy device. The company said Hammerfest StrÃ¸m UK, the tidal energy joint venture it operates with a coalition of Norwegian firms including energy giant Statoil, has awarded a Â£2m contract to Fife-based Burntisland Fabrications (BiFab) that will see the oil and gas engineering firm build the substructure ...

Wed, 18 Aug 10
Industrial Nations Divide on Future World Bank Anti-Carbon Policy
http://www.nytimes.com/cwire/2010/08/17/17climatewire-industrial-nations-divide-on-future-world-ba-71337.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
ClimateWire: From Norway to New Delhi, leaders are struggling to define the World Bank's role in eradicating energy poverty while keeping a lid on carbon emissions. The global financial institution currently is revamping its blueprint for funding energy projects, a document it hopes to present to its board of directors by mid-2011. But in doing so, the bank finds itself confronting head-on some of the formidable policy questions that it previously had been able to resolve on a project-by-project ...

Wed, 18 Aug 10
The race for smart grids
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/aug/17/financial-sector-energyefficiency
Guardian: The electricity market is in the throes of change due to significant regulatory, societal and environmental developments, as well as technological progress. The guiding principle for this will be the transformation of traditional passive electricity networks into smart grids – and Europe needs to act fast or it will be overtaken by the US. Every millionth of a second, the electricity grid has to balance out production and consumption. Now with the increasing share of renewable ...

Wed, 18 Aug 10
Russia: Heat probably killed thousands in Moscow: scientist
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE67G2CZ20100817?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29
Reuters: Several thousand Muscovites are thought to have died in July alone from this year's unprecedented heatwave and August could add more fatalities to the grim statistics, a Russian scientist said on Tuesday. Moscow, a metropolis of over 10 million people, suffered from intense heat since late June, with day temperatures sometimes nearing 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit). The crisis shriveled a third of Russia's grain crop, shaved billions off this year's economic growth ...

Wed, 18 Aug 10
Climate drives big wine deal
http://www.theage.com.au/business/climate-drives-big-wine-deal-20100816-1272s.html
Age: VICTORIAN winemaker Brown Brothers has outlined critical environmental reasons behind its $32.56 million purchase of Gunns' wine assets in Tasmania. Chief executive Ross Brown said the move south was spurred by global warming, and after deciding that the controversial $2.2 billion Gunns pulp mill project's effect on Tamar Valley vineyards would be benign. Brown Brothers has bought 400 hectares over three vineyards, which produce about 3000 tonnes of fruit marketed under seven ...

Wed, 18 Aug 10
Mo. renewable energy mandate stirs anxiety, confusion
http://www.stltoday.com/business/article_38a96432-c076-5294-943c-e4a5cf5eb111.html
St. Louis Today: Promised thousands of clean energy jobs and a reduced dependence on coal, Missourians voted in the fall of 2008 to require AmerenUE and other electric utilities to increase their use of renewable energy. The ballot initiative, Proposition C, required the state's four investor-owned electric utilities to buy or generate 2 percent of electricity from renewable fuels beginning in 2011, an amount that would increase to 15 percent by 2021. At least 2 percent has to be solar ...

Wed, 18 Aug 10
China: Helping poor matters more than economy rank
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5j1FZRNA_nf7XY7YePH-Od-tdunFAD9HL2LG00
AP: China's government said Tuesday it still is a developing country despite becoming the second-largest economy, reflecting its reluctance to take on new obligations on climate change and other issues. Beijing needs to improve life for millions of impoverished Chinese, said a Commerce Ministry spokesman, Yao Jian. It was the government's first public reaction to news Monday that China passed Japan in economic output in the April-to-June quarter, confirming its arrival as a global ...

Wed, 18 Aug 10
Australia: Scientists say global warming is undeniable
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-election/climate/scientists-say-global-warming-is-undeniable-20100816-12701.html
Sydney Morning Herald: THE world will be hotter by 2100 than at any time in the past few million years if greenhouse gas emissions continue unabated, the Australian Academy of Science warns in a new report. Global emissions would need to peak within the next 10 years, and then decline rapidly for the world to have a better than 50-50 chance of avoiding a temperature rise of 2 degrees, it concludes. Produced and reviewed by two expert panels, the 24-page report, The Science of Climate Change, ...

Wed, 18 Aug 10
China Floods Increase Pests, Threaten Rice Crops, Ministry Says
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2010/08/17/bloomberg1376-L7A79I0D9L3501-721EGBVBVNJEH0DEMJDNEN80CP.DTL
Bloomberg: China's mid-season and late-season rice crops face increasing threats from pests after widespread floods this summer made conditions ideal for insects to breed, the Ministry of Agriculture said today. Twice the amount of pests as last year were detected among crops in provinces from southwestern Guizhou to eastern Zhejiang, the ministry said in a statement on its website. Delayed planting and hotter weather in August and September will also boost breeding, it said, without giving the ...

Wed, 18 Aug 10
What's behind this summer's severe weather around the world?
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2010/08/whats-behind-the-summers-severe-weather-events.html
PBS: It's been a summer of extreme weather: monsoon flooding is wreaking havoc in Pakistan and a persistent heat wave is fueling wildfires and creating health hazards in Russia. The United States has also not been immune, as sweltering high temperatures have plagued the East Coast, and deadly floods have hit the Midwest. This time of year always brings some treacherous weather to the northern hemisphere, but the events in Eastern Europe and Asia are "quite exceptional," said Kevin ...

Wed, 18 Aug 10
Massive coral die-off reported in Indonesia
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129247932
National Public Radio: Scientists from the Wildlife Conservation Society announced Monday that abnormally warm ocean water off the coast of Sumatra, in Indonesia, has caused a massive die-off of coral. The full extent of the damage remains uncertain, but it's a symptom of a worldwide problem: Many coral reefs may not survive rising ocean temperatures.

Wed, 18 Aug 10
Big Solar struggles to find home in California
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129129794
National Public Radio: California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has set an ambitious plan that requires a third of the state's electricity to come from renewable sources by 2020. But a fight over where to build large clean-energy projects is slowing the green revolution. One of these battlegrounds is Panoche Valley, ringed by rolling, scrub-covered hills. Located in California's rural San Benito County, the area was used mostly for cattle grazing, and it has escaped the notice of many Californians. Until ...

Wed, 18 Aug 10
Obama says clean energy will reverse years of job losses
http://www.ksdk.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=211891&catid=3
AP: President Barack Obama, embarking on a three-day tour to raise money for Democrats, said Monday that a rising homegrown clean energy industry can help reverse years of manufacturing job losses overseas and help heal a still-ailing economy. "We can't turn back, we've got keep going forward," Obama told a group of workers at the ZBB Energy Corp, underscoring what he said was his lasting commitment to a clean energy future. The company near Milwaukee makes advanced batteries and ...

Wed, 18 Aug 10
Filipinos fear God's wrath in natural disasters
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jWK_gHHmpBELDBG3-EA8aheBiEnw
AFP: Millions of people in the devoutly Catholic Philippines believe God is punishing humans for their evil deeds by inflicting environmental catastrophes on them, a survey published Monday showed. Twenty one percent of people believe God is unleashing his wrath with landslides, typhoons and other disasters that regularly hit the country, according to the survey carried out by polling group Pulse Asia. More than 80 percent of the nation's 92 million people are Catholic, a legacy of ...

Wed, 18 Aug 10
Three China HFC projects face U.N. CO2 offset probe
http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE67G1KW20100817
Reuters: A UN panel will review carbon offset issuances requests by three Chinese greenhouse gas destroying projects, a UN spokeswoman said on Tuesday, a sign the most lucrative projects under the Kyoto Protocol may face more scrutiny. The Shandong Dongyuen, Zhejiang Dongyang and China Fluoro projects, which destroy a potent gas called hydrofluorocarbon-23 and are approved under Kyoto's $2.7 billion Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), had requested 4.5 million offsets, called Certified ...

Wed, 18 Aug 10
Soaring temps cause mass coral killing in Indonesia: study
http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE67G1BX20100817
Reuters: A dramatic spike in ocean temperatures off Indonesia's Aceh province has killed large areas of coral and scientists fear the event could be much larger than first thought and one of the worst in the region's history. The coral bleaching -- whitening due to heat driving out the algae living within the coral tissues -- was first reported in May after a surge in temperatures across the Andaman Sea from the northern tip of Sumatra island to Thailand and Myanmar. An international ...

Wed, 18 Aug 10
UK needs clean coal for new energy policy - government
http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE67F2DN20100816
Reuters: New coal-fired power plants will need to fit carbon removing technology to comply with the upcoming Emission Performance Standard (EPS), energy and climate change secretary Chris Huhne said on Monday. The British government is to consult in autumn on the EPS, which aims to limit carbon emissions from power generators and is expected to influence whether utilities build coal or gas power plants. "It would be impossible for any new coal power station to be built without being ...

Wed, 18 Aug 10
Antarctic sea ice growth could reverse
http://news.discovery.com/earth/antarctic-sea-ice-growth.html
Discovery: Antarctic sea ice's apparent immunity to global warming is just an illusion, say researchers who may have uncovered the secret of why the southern ice has been growing. The new research also strongly suggests that the Antarctic sea ice could be in for a big reversal in coming decades. For years scientists have puzzled over how the sea surface temperature around Antarctica has risen, but sea ice there has been increasing at the same time. "We just want to understand this ...

Wed, 18 Aug 10
Dim Prospects for Climate Accord
http://www.isn.ethz.ch/isn/Current-Affairs/Security-Watch/Detail/?lng=en&id=119847
ISN: Delegates from 190 countries gathered in Bonn last week for the UN Climate Change Confererence in preparation for the sixth meeting of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which will take place in Cancun, Mexico this November. In Cancun, world leaders are expected to craft a follow-up agreement to the Kyoto Protocol, due to expire in 2012. Yet already four months prior to the Cancun Summit, hopes for reaching a binding global climate accord are ...

Wed, 18 Aug 10
Nuclear waste issue could be solved, if..
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE67G0NM20100817?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29
Reuters: Nuclear energy offers several advantages: It's clean, powerful and relatively cheap. But it also yields hazardous waste, a fact that terrifies a public haunted by memories of accidents at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl nuclear reactors. In America, about 60,000 tonnes of heavy nuclear energy byproducts sit in radioactive dumps, with no potential use and no expiration date in sight, while federal experts rack their brains for a better way to manage nuclear waste. Several energy ...

Wed, 18 Aug 10
Wind farm powers gubernatorial debate
http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100817/NEWS/8170317
Cape Cod Times: The Bay State's gubernatorial candidates duked it out yesterday over Cape Wind and its effect on climate change, the state's economy and energy policy. But Democratic incumbent Deval Patrick, Republican Charles Baker, independent Timothy Cahill and Green-Rainbow Party candidate Jill Stein sparred over more than just the proposed Nantucket Sound wind farm during a standing-room-only afternoon debate at Suffolk University's C. Walsh Theatre. Timothy Cahill: opposes what he calls ...

Wed, 18 Aug 10
China: Helping poor matters more than economy rank
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100817/ap_on_bi_ge/as_china_economy
AP: China's government said Tuesday it still is a developing country despite becoming the second-largest economy, reflecting its reluctance to take on new obligations on climate change and other issues. Beijing needs to improve life for millions of impoverished Chinese, said a Commerce Ministry spokesman, Yao Jian. It was the government's first public reaction to news Monday that China passed Japan in economic output in the April-to-June quarter, confirming its arrival as a global ...

Wed, 18 Aug 10
Short-termism fails the environment
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cif-green/2010/aug/17/short-termism-fails-environment
Guardian: Is the coalition government now demoting the environment in light of its spending cuts? After a string of headlines over the past few days, it would appear so. First we learned that the 40% cuts being earmarked for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs could see nature reserves being sold off and spending "slashed" on pollution and waste controls. Last month, a coalition of 25 leading conservation charities, including the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, ...

Wed, 18 Aug 10
REDD project design method gets boost from auditor
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=redd-project-design-metho
Reuters: A carbon accounting technique aimed at saving tropical forests has passed a key hurdle, strengthening chances it could underpin development of a potential multi-billion dollar market for forest carbon offsets. U.S. firm Terra Global Capital said the method had passed the first of two formal audits the benchmark Voluntary Carbon Standard (VCS) requires. When fully verified, it could be used in a U.N.-backed carbon-cutting scheme known as reduced emissions from deforestation and ...

Wed, 18 Aug 10
Scotland bids to host world's first floating wind farm
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/aug/17/scotland-world-first-floating-wind
Guardian: The Scottish government yesterday revealed it is in talks with Norwegian energy giant Statoil about hosting the world's first floating windfarm at two potential sites off the Scottish coast. Statoil is currently testing a prototype version of its Hywind floating turbine 10km offshore at KarmÃ¸y in Norway and, after a successful wave of tests, is now assessing potential sites for a full-scale floating windfarm. The company is planning to deploy between three and five floating ...

Wed, 18 Aug 10
Malaysia: Global warming: Aussie group to work with S'wak tribal leaders
http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/fmt-english/politics/sabah-and-sarawak/9207-global-warming-aussie-group-to-work-with-swak-tribal-leaders-
Free Malaysia Today: Nine tribal leaders in Sarawak have signed an agreement with an Australian based grouping to certify carbon credits under the avoided deforestation program known as REDD+. The agreement with the Indigenous Customary Land Owners of Sarawak will see Shift2Neutral, a grouping of individuals and companies committed to a sustainable future, work directly with the tribal leaders to achieve realistic change and ensure the protection of their native flora and fauna. The move ...

Wed, 18 Aug 10
Indonesia critical in climate fight, but questions remain: TNC
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/08/16/guest-speaker-indonesia-critical-climate-fight-questions-remain-tnc.html
Jakarta Post: Issues of climate change and the conservation of tropical forests have played increasingly important roles in political decision making in Indonesia lately. With talk of carbon trade and carbon markets looming in global negotiations, what role does Indonesia – as a developing economy and home to one of the largest areas of tropical forests – have to play, and what can non-governmental organizations do to bridge the gap between high-ranking talks and regional and practical policies? The ...

Wed, 18 Aug 10
England's green and pleasant land may have to change to feed our thirst for fuel
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/aug/17/england-biofuels-oil-aviation
Guardian: Yesterday Dustin Benton of the Campaign to Protect Rural England criticised the vision for the countryside outlined in our Zero Carbon Britain report. He argues that our proposals would disrupt the familiar look of the countryside. Our vision for the countryside is about creating energy security, rural jobs and tackling climate change. It also increases food security – we can produce all of our own essential food in the UK. The benefits include many things the CPRE values: rural jobs, ...

Wed, 18 Aug 10
Ireland weathers climate change
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2010/0817/1224276972361.html
Irish Times: EXTREME HEAT and destructive fires in Russia; millions made homeless by floods in Pakistan and damaging climate events throughout the world should make Irish people thankful for their temperate climate. Sure, last winter brought an unusually icy spell. And flooding in low-lying areas made life miserable for tens of thousands of people. But nobody drowned. Since then, plans have been laid by public agencies to minimise the effects of extreme weather events. But, with climate change now ...

Wed, 18 Aug 10
Vine Talk: Warming trends may change global wine map
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100817/lf_nm_life/us_wine_climate
Reuters: The wine industry may be among the very few in which a leading figure will smile broadly when asked about climate change and declare, "I love it." Egon MÃ¼ller, owner of the famed Scharzhof estate in Germany's Saar Valley, made the comment at Riesling Rendezvous, a conference in Bellevue, Washington. MÃ¼ller is elated because growers in cooler-climate regions like the Saar often struggle to achieve ripeness in their grapes, and warmer temperatures are helping. But what ...

Wed, 18 Aug 10
Massive Coral Die-Off Reported In Indonesia
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129247932&ft=1&f=1025
National Public Radio: We have one more piece of hard scientific evidence, this morning, indicating climate change. We go to the northwestern coast of Sumatra in Indonesia, where scientists are reporting that the coral is dying off in one corner of the Pacific. Here's one more consequence, they say, of warming oceans. NPR's Dan Charles has more. DAN CHARLES: This past spring and early summer, the Andaman Sea, off the coast of Sumatra, was three, five, even seven degrees warmer than normal. ...

Tue, 17 Aug 10
Could biochar save the world?
http://news.mongabay.com/2010/0816-hance_rademakers.html
Mongabay: Biochar--the agricultural application of charcoal produced from burning biomass--may be one of this century's most important social and environmental revolutions. This seemingly humble practice--a technology that goes back thousands of years--has the potential to help mitigate a number of entrenched global problems: desperate hunger, lack of soil fertility in the tropics, rainforest destruction due to slash-and-burn agriculture, and even climate change. "Biochar is a recalcitrant form ...

Tue, 17 Aug 10
Russia launches inquiry into Pavlovsk seed bank after Twitter campaign
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/aug/16/russia-president-pavolvsk-twitter
Guardian: The Russian president, Dmitry Medvedev, has ordered an immediate inquiry into the potential destruction of the world's oldest seed bank following a court case and a Twitter campaign by Guardian readers and others. The fate of the station appeared to be sealed last week when a court ruled in favour of the Pavlovsk research station and its surrounding farmland being turned into private housing. It holds the world's largest fruit collections and was protected by 12 Russian scientists ...

Tue, 17 Aug 10
Feeling Abandoned by Congress, State Regulators Push for U.S. Carbon Cap
http://www.nytimes.com/cwire/2010/08/16/16climatewire-feeling-abandoned-by-congress-state-regulato-47155.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
New York Times: Congress has "left state regulators in the lurch" by failing to set new national climate policy that could guide regulators' decisions on the fate of coal-fired electric power generators in their states, the new chairman of a task force on climate policy says. Ron Binz, who heads the climate task force of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC), said in an interview that U.S. EPA will provide some help for state officials next year to fill the vacuum ...

Tue, 17 Aug 10
Researchers Race to Catch Up With Melting, Shifting Polar Realities
http://www.nytimes.com/cwire/2010/08/16/16climatewire-researchers-race-to-catch-up-with-melting-sh-44001.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
ClimateWire: When the Petermann Glacier calved an ice island four times the size of Manhattan earlier this month, GPS sensors embedded in the ice and time-lapse cameras sitting on nearby rock were watching. But scientists who put them there were caught off guard. Traveling to northwestern Greenland to retrieve the data that equipment recorded will cost them roughly $93,000, money they currently don't have. That's unfortunate, says Jason Box, a climate scientist at Ohio State University who ...

Tue, 17 Aug 10
Pakistan floods: aid trickles through
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/gallery/2010/aug/16/pakistan-floods-aid
Guardian

Tue, 17 Aug 10
Nick Clegg calls response to Pakistan floods 'lamentable'
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/video/2010/aug/16/nickclegg-pakistan
Press Association

Tue, 17 Aug 10
Climate Change Debate Rises with Pakistan Floods
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=52500
Inter Press Service: "If this is not God's wrath, what is?" 40-year-old taxi driver Bakht Zada said of the massive floods in Pakistan that have swept away his life earnings. Speaking to IPS from Madyan city in Swat district in north-western Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Zada might pin the blame for Pakistan's worst floods in 80 years on forces beyond humankind, but environment experts are debating whether they are linked to a much more earthly phenomenon – climate change. Three weeks after unusually ...

Tue, 17 Aug 10
U.N. Decade Hopes to Push Back Encroaching Deserts
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=52501
Inter Press Service: Desertification has long been recognised as a major environmental, economic and social problem for countries the world over. But despite major efforts, which started with the United Nations Conference on Desertification (UNOCD) in 1977, the process of land degradation is intensifying. Yukie Hori of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) told IPS that "the Plan of Action to Combat Desertification adopted at the 1977 conference did not draw enough attention to ...

Tue, 17 Aug 10
The Nation's Greenest Colleges
http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/16/the-greenest-college-campuses/
New York Times: One way to measure environmentalism on college campuses is to size up their efforts to cut energy use or to recycle garbage. In rankings released on Monday, the Sierra Club`s Sierra Magazine anoints Green Mountain College in Vermont, which gets heat and electricity by burning locally sourced wood chips and methane from cow manure, as the nation`s greenest college. The magazine based its list on responses to an 11-page questionnaire sent to 900 colleges and universities. (It said that ...

Tue, 17 Aug 10
Chinese economic boom has been 30 years in the making
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/aug/16/chinese-economic-boom
Guardian: China's rise to be crowned as the world's second-largest economy today is the latest milestone in a boom that has been running almost constantly since the country began the long process of embracing free-market principles more than 30 years ago. The Chinese economy has been growing at an average of almost 10% – three times the global average – since Deng Xiaoping became leader and started to introduce economic reforms. In dollar terms, its GDP has jumped from $147.3bn (Â£94.55bn) in ...

Tue, 17 Aug 10
UK needs clean coal for new energy policy: government
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE67F2CR20100816?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29
Reuters: New UK coal-fired power plants will need to fit carbon removing technology to comply with the upcoming Emission Performance Standard (EPS), energy and climate change secretary Chris Huhne said on Monday. The British government is to consult in autumn on the EPS, which aims to limit carbon emissions from power generators and is expected to influence whether utilities build coal or gas power plants. "It would be impossible for any new coal power station to be built without being ...

Tue, 17 Aug 10
Abbott's climate doubts
http://www.theage.com.au/federal-election/abbotts-climate-doubts-20100816-126xm.html
The Age: OPPOSITION Leader Tony Abbott has reiterated his scepticism about climate science, suggesting the world has stopped warming despite a new report by Australia's leading scientists showing statistical evidence that temperatures have been rising for decades. This came as Prime Minister Julia Gillard drew criticism for all but ignoring climate change during her campaign launch. Interviewed on ABC's Four Corners, Mr Abbott agreed he disputed the role humans played in climate change, ...

Tue, 17 Aug 10
Contracting glitch leads to demand for payment on free D.C. energy audits
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/15/AR2010081502853.html
Washington Post: Hundreds of District homeowners signed up for free household energy audits last year through the D.C. Department of the Environment -- some hoping to cut their utility bills, some to be "greener" and some because it was free. But this month, instead of the energy assessments they were promised, more than 100 homeowners received letters saying that liens had been filed on their property because the city never paid a contractor for doing the work. Patuxent Environmental Group ...

Tue, 17 Aug 10
Canadian cities going green
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/canadian-cities-going-green/article1673637/
Globe and Mail: The Canadian Press Published on Sunday, Aug. 15, 2010 3:45PM EDT Last updated on Sunday, Aug. 15, 2010 6:23PM EDT Vancouver has vowed to become the greenest city in the world by 2020. New condos in Toronto are going up without any parking spaces. Regina is doing away with one-way streets to improve public transit access in a revitalized downtown. And in Montreal's trendy Plateau Mont-Royal borough, Mayor Luc Ferrandez is doing his best to bring a little more country into the ...

Tue, 17 Aug 10
Fewer turn out to let off steam over global warming
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-election/fewer-turn-out-to-let-off-steam-over-global-warming-20100815-1257f.html
Sydney Morning Herald: MORE than 40,000 turned up in 2006, but just 10,000 people participated in the Walk Against Warming, an annual march through the city to protest against government inaction on climate change. Pepe Clarke, the chief executive of the Nature Conservation Council of NSW, had hoped to build on the 15,000 who marched during the Copenhagen Summit last year, but the rally shrank yet again. ''I don't think it's representative of people thinking climate change is no longer an issue,'' ...

Tue, 17 Aug 10
The reality of nuclear energy is inconsistent with dreams of a renaissance
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/cif-green/2010/aug/16/nuclear-energy-renaissance
Guardian: Repeatedly in recent years there have been calls for a revival of nuclear power. Yet that renaissance never seems to come. Of the more than 200 countries in the world, only 30 use nuclear power. In July 2010, a total of 439 nuclear power plants with a net installed capacity of 373.038 gigawatts (GW) were connected to various national electricity grids, about 1.2GW more than at the beginning of 2006. Roughly 16% of total energy needs (up to 25% in the highly industrialised ...

Tue, 17 Aug 10
Some PG&E customers want choice on SmartMeters
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/08/15/BUPK1EUELD.DTL
San Francisco Chronicle: But unless state officials and Pacific Gas and Electric Co. relent, he's going to get one anyway. Hart, 34, considers the radiation from wireless devices - such as cell phones, laptops and the new SmartMeters - a health hazard. He covered the existing electricity meter at his home in Scotts Valley (Santa Cruz County) with a sign proclaiming the premises a "SmartMeter-free zone." On several occasions, he has followed meter installers around town with a video camera, filming as ...

Tue, 17 Aug 10
Regulations, soft economy may hurt utilities' bonds
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE67C38W20100813
Reuters: U.S. power utilities' bonds could come under pressure as companies invest more in cleaner energy to meet new environmental rules just when the economy is faltering, analysts warn. Cash-strapped consumers mean utilities will recoup less of their investment in new power plants, leaving some companies struggling to repay debt and detracting from their credit quality, analysts warn. Bond investors traditionally view utilities as a safe bet for steady income because many act as ...

Tue, 17 Aug 10
Calif. leads in clean energy, but challenges loom
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129128750
National Public Radio: California has always been ahead of the curve when it comes to renewable power, and the state's clean energy business is flourishing. One of the first large-scale wind farms in the country was built just outside the Bay Area at the Altamont Pass, and this year, California regulators are reviewing twice as many renewable power contracts as last year. More of those projects are coming online, including a 16-acre solar farm outside of Sacramento a few weeks ago. The reason for ...

Tue, 17 Aug 10
Pakistan: Transport makes up 70% of CO2 emissions
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010%5C08%5C16%5Cstory_16-8-2010_pg7_19
Daily Times: The transport system contributes around 70 percent towards environmental degradation, and was a major cause of concern for environmentalists. This was stated by Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) Standing Committee on Environment Chairman Gulzar Feroz, while addressing a corporate dialogue on environmental management. The dialogue was organised by National Forum for Environment and Health in collaboration with the Federal Environment Ministry and ...

Tue, 17 Aug 10
Australian scientists take a stand on climate
http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/news/3640/australian-scientists-take-a-stand-climate
Cosmos Magazine: Trying to set the record straight on climate change in the middle of a hotly contested national election, the Australian Academy of Science has taken a stance and produced a report that tackles the critics of the science. "Climate change is not science fiction," said Suzanne Cory, president of the academy at a press conference in Canberra announcing the launch of their publication The Science of Climate Change: Questions and Answers. It was written and reviewed by 16 of the ...

Tue, 17 Aug 10
Asheville, Buncombe schools become energy efficient, green
http://www.citizen-times.com/article/20100816/NEWS/308160021/1004/ADVERTISING&theme=BACKTOSCHOOL
Citizen Times: Students returning to Asheville High School on Tuesday will see some major changes to the 91-year-old building. There's a new heating and cooling system allowing rooms to be regulated individually, along with new ceilings making the building more energy efficient. About 300 windows were replaced, allowing teachers to bring fresh air and sunlight into classrooms. New energy efficient lights will help cut down on power bills. Asheville City Schools spend nearly $1 million a year ...

Tue, 17 Aug 10
Wind turbine will generate power, interest, on Lake Pontchartrain Causeway
http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2010/08/wind_turbine_will_generate_pow.html
Times-Picayune: The winds that buffet commuters on the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway could one day provide at least a portion of the electricity to power the bridge. The Times-Picayune archiveThe turbine project, the first commercial use of wind power in southeastern Louisiana, could show that a larger project involving turbines installed along the bridge itself is feasible, said Causeway General Manager Carlton Dufrechou. At least, that's what bridge officials and Cleco executives hope will be ...

Tue, 17 Aug 10
Panel calls for giving property owners a stake in wind farms
http://www.jsonline.com/business/100731364.html
Journal Sentiel: A task force is recommending that wind farm developers in Wisconsin offer to make payments to homeowners who live near the projects. That recommendation is among the proposals forwarded to the state Public Service Commission by a wind turbine site advisory council that has been meeting since March. The PSC is expected to consider the proposals by the end of August and forward them to the Legislature for review. The goal is to strike a balance between adding wind power ...

Tue, 17 Aug 10
For Lean Budgets, a Plug-and-Play Solar System
http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/16/for-lean-budgets-a-plug-and-play-solar-system/
NYT: For eco-conscious homeowners who have considered a solar system for their rooftops but have found the cost and complexity daunting, Clarian Power thinks it has an idea. The Seattle-based clean tech startup is developing a "plug and play" solar appliance called the Sunfish that will generate clean solar electricity for the home. "You bring it home and plug it in, just like a refrigerator, and it will cost about the same," said the company`s president, Chad Maglaque. Today's ...

Tue, 17 Aug 10
Are extreme temperatures a wake-up call?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/aug/16/summer-extremes-wake-up-call
Guardian: This summer has been one of weather-related extremes in Russia, Pakistan, China, Europe, the Arctic – you name it. But does this have anything to do with global warming, and are human emissions to blame? While it cannot be scientifically proven (or disproven, for that matter) that global warming caused any particular extreme event, we can say that global warming very likely makes many kinds of extreme weather both more frequent and more severe. For weeks, central Russia has ...

Tue, 17 Aug 10
Teams set off on global 'zero emissions' race
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100816/ap_on_re_eu/eu_switzerland_zero_emissions_race
AP: Teams from Australia, Germany and Switzerland have set off from Geneva for what they hope will be the first carbon neutral race around the world. Participants are using custom built two-seater electric vehicles that will be charged from regular power outlets along the way. At the same time they are feeding electricity generated from solar and wind plants into the grid. Australian Jason Jones says his team expects to pay only a little over $350 for the electricity needed ...

Tue, 17 Aug 10
Official: Russian disaster sign of global warming
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100816/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_russia_fires
AP: Russia's heat wave, drought and wildfires -- which have killed dozens of people and destroyed millions of acres (hectares) of wheat -- are another indication that global warming is causing more weather extremes around the world, a Russian official said Monday. Alexander Bedritsky, the Kremlin's weather adviser, also cited other disasters that he believes may be related to rising world temperatures, including Pakistan's worst floods in recorded history, and France's 2003 heat wave, ...

Tue, 17 Aug 10
United Kingdom: Corus joins North East wind energy boom
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2268201/corus-joins-north-east-wind
Business Green: Corus has become the latest industrial giant to join the North East's wind energy gold rush, unveiling plans for a new Â£31.5m factory in Teesside designed to manufacture foundations for offshore wind turbines. The company said that the new facility would be built at its existing Redcar site and has the potential to create around 220 jobs. Jon Bolton, long products director at Corus, said the development of the new plant would be dependent on the company securing enough orders ...

Tue, 17 Aug 10
Australia: Report aims to combat climate 'misinformation'
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/08/16/2984712.htm?section=justin
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: Some of the nation's top scientists have united in a new climate statement which issues fresh warnings about the dangers of global warming. The statement released by the Australian Academy of Science is a first for the organisation and details the key evidence identified globally by climate scientists. It says carbon emissions need to be cut by more than half by 2050 if there is to be a good chance of keeping temperature rises to less than two degrees. It also says ...

Tue, 17 Aug 10
CBI fears planning logjam for critical energy projects
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2268206/cbi-fears-planning-logjam
Business Green: The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has once again called on the government to clarify its energy policy, warning that the coalition's plans for a new planning regime for large infrastructure project could result in unacceptable delays to key energy projects. The employers' group said today that it had identified 37 power plant projects that the coalition has inherited from the previous government, which are still awaiting ministerial approval. The projects include 15 ...

Tue, 17 Aug 10
Mankind is using up global resources faster than ever
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/7946613/Mankind-is-using-up-global-resources-faster-than-ever.html
Telegraph: Think tank the New Economics Foundation (NEF) look at how much food, fuel and other resources are consumed by humans every year. They then compare it to how much the world can provide without threatening the ability of important ecosystems like oceans and rainforests to recover. This year the moment we start eating into nature's capital or 'Earth Overshoot Day' will fall on 21st August, a full month earlier than last year, when resources were used up by 23rd September. He said ...

Tue, 17 Aug 10
Bypassing Resistance, Brazil Prepares to Build a Dam
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/16/world/americas/16brazil.html?_r=5&partner=rss&emc=rss
New York Times: For Raimunda Gomes da Silva, the impending construction of a huge hydroelectric dam here in the Amazon is painful dÃ©jÃ vu. About 25 years ago, the building of another dam more than 200 miles east of here flooded her property, driving a plague of poisonous snakes, insects and jaguars onto her land, she said, before submerging it completely. Now, after starting a new life in Altamira, the government is telling her she needs to leave again, this time to make way for the Belo Monte ...

Tue, 17 Aug 10
Wind Turbine Projects Sprouting Around New York
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/16/nyregion/16turbines.html?_r=5&partner=rss&emc=rss
New York Times: For years, New York officials have envisioned powering the region from a set of huge wind turbines in the Atlantic Ocean off Long Island. But well before an offshore wind farm would be up and running, giant turbines may soon be spinning much closer to the city. Within three years, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey hopes to have five wind towers, each more than 280 feet tall, operating on the west side of New York Harbor. Nearby, the City of Bayonne, N.J., plans to install ...

Tue, 17 Aug 10
United States: Comfortably Wasteful With the Air-Conditioner
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/16/nyregion/16chill.html?_r=5&partner=rss&emc=rss
NYT: In a handsome prewar building in Greenwich Village, a tenant struggled to remember the last time she turned off her air-conditioner. Upstairs, a young couple admitted to having let the window unit run for four days while they went out of town for a funeral, thinking it would be nice, amid the July heat wave, to return to a cool apartment. Another resident of the 160-unit building, on Seventh Avenue between 13th and 14th Streets, says he leaves the air-conditioning on when he goes to ...

Tue, 17 Aug 10
Researchers see a positive side to climate change
http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNExPZDB6dfrTMFr_x30pzjexYduiQ&url=http://thecitizen.co.tz/news/3-features/3574-researchers-see-a-positive-side-to-climate-change.html
Citizen Daily: Local and international researchers, and environmental experts are now predicting a positive side to climate change, apart from the devastating consequences caused by it on humanity. "In some areas people are enjoying the benefits of climate," said Ms Linda Cilliers, the head of One World, a well known figure in the field of energy development, climate change strategizing and socio-economic development based in South Africa. However, Ms Linda told journalists at the University ...

Tue, 17 Aug 10
Australia: Climate change represents volatility to mining, says Rio Tinto's Doug Ritchie
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/mining-energy/climate-change-represents-volatility-to-mining-says-rio-tintos-doug-ritchie/story-e6frg9df-1225905971500
Dow Jones: Email Share Add to Digg Add to del.icio.us Add to Facebook Add to Kwoff Add to Myspace Add to Newsvine What are these? Plumes of smoke escape from cooling towers in a coal-fired power plant in Germany. Picture by Getty Images Source: Getty Images TRANSITION to a low-emission global economy is "vital", Rio Tinto's Doug Ritchie said today. At the same time, the miner's energy chief said climate change "represents uncertainty and potential volatility to the mining ...

Tue, 17 Aug 10
A green alternative to burial
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/a-green-alternative-to-burial-2053791.html
Independent (UK): Legal in six US states, a Belgian undertaker is pushing for relatives of the recently deceased to be given the option of dissolving their loved ones. Currently relatives of the deceased essentially only have two ways of disposing of their loved ones: body-burial or cremation. However for the eco-conscious, the disposal of the departed poses a dilemma. Both cremation and burial distribute contaminants into the natural atmosphere, particularly cremation which leads to the release of ...

Tue, 17 Aug 10
Coal-fired power stations win reprieve
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2268175/coal-fired-power-stations-win
Business Green: The coalition is watering down a commitment to tough new environmental emissions standards, raising the possibility of dirty coal-fired power stations such as Kingsnorth going ahead. Green groups are aghast that a flagship policy called for in opposition by both Lib Dems and Tories, and which they last year tried to force on the Labour government, will now not be implemented in the coalition's first energy bill to be published this year. Their criticism of the government's ...

Tue, 17 Aug 10
Suzlon suffers as income slides
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2268176/suzlon-suffers-income-slides
Business Green: The world's third-largest wind turbine maker, Indian manufacturer Suzlon, saw its share price fall six per cent late last week as the company reported a 42 per cent decline in income for its second quarter compared to the same period a year ago. Losses for the three months ending June 30 widened to 9.1bn rupees (Â£123m) from 4.5bn rupees a year earlier, thanks to falling sales and the strengthening rupee. The rupee appreciated seven per cent against the euro in the first quarter, ...

Tue, 17 Aug 10
United Kingdom: Small businesses flock to join Prince's Mayday sustainability network
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2268182/small-businesses-flock-join
Business Green: The number of businesses signed up to the Prince of Wales' Mayday Network has almost doubled over the past year, defying fears that the economic downturn would dilute corporate interest in environmental sustainability. BusinessGreen.com has learnt that the number of businesses in the network has increased by 87 per cent over the past 12 months to over 2,850 firms, cementing the initiative's position as the UK's largest group of businesses committed to taking action on climate ...

Tue, 17 Aug 10
Chinese dam projects raise alarm in Asia
http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201008150109.html
Asahi Shumbin: Rivers in Asia that cross national borders are becoming a new source of confrontation among nations. Water shortages will likely become even more severe due to economic development and global warming. That would make the water issue a major factor for Asia's national security. While 60 percent of the world's population lives in Asia, it only has 36 percent of the available water resources on Earth. One such river is the Brahmaputra, which flows from Tibet through India ...

Tue, 17 Aug 10
We can cut emissions while conserving our landcapes and ecosystems
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/cif-green/2010/aug/16/emissions-landscapes-ecosystems
Guardian: As an environmentalist, it's easy to be discouraged by the slow progress in actually cutting carbon, but at least we're starting to get serious about climate change. The recent publication of the Centre for Alternative Technology's (Cat) Zero Carbon Britain 2030 report, along with the Department for Energy and Climate Change's (Decc) "2050 Pathways" analysis, outline sober, well thought through, holistic proposals for how the UK can achieve the overall cuts we need to keep climate ...

Tue, 17 Aug 10
India, Mexico exchange ideas on climate change
http://sify.com/news/india-mexico-exchange-ideas-on-climate-change-news-national-kiqq4djaihi.html
Sify: India and Mexico, the second largest economy in Latin America, Monday began discussions on a strategy for negotiations at the UN climate change summit at Cancun later this year. Mexican Foreign Minister Patricia Espinosa, also chairperson of the 16th Conference of the Parties (COP 16) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), met Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh here and discussed ongoing efforts to evolve consensus at the Cancun summit Nov 29-Dec ...

Tue, 17 Aug 10
Australia mulls foreign-linked carbon offset scheme
http://www.carbonpositive.net/viewarticle.aspx?articleID=2078
Carbon Positive: The Australian government is proposing to allow foresters and farmers to create carbon offset credits for international sale into foreign emissions trading markets. Prime Minister Julia Gillard launched the policy on the weekend, part of campaigning ahead of a federal election on August 21. Carbon sequestration through afforestation, reforestation and better forest and savannah management as well as reducing emissions from livestock and fertilisers would be recognised under the ...

Tue, 17 Aug 10
United States: Bay Area charges up EV infrastructure as experts predict booming demand
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2268174/bay-area-charges-ev
Business Green: San Francisco's Bay Area could become the first metropolis to provide widespread support for electric vehicles after officials moved forward with plans to install thousands of recharging points. The Bay Area Air Quality Management District last week approved $5m of funding to support the city's Spare the Air initiative. Three thousand home chargers will be installed in residential dwellings under the electric vehicle programme, along with 2,000 charging points at employer and ...

Mon, 16 Aug 10
Russia ban on grain export begins
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-10977955
BBC: Russia has imposed a ban on grain exports until the end of the year, after a severe drought and a spate of wildfires devastated crops. Russia is one of the world's biggest producers of wheat, barley and rye, and the ban is likely to see bread prices rise in places like the Middle East. The measures are designed to keep domestic food prices under control. But agriculture ministry data has revealed that this year's crop is unlikely to meet even domestic ...

Mon, 16 Aug 10
Australia: Thousands protest on climate change
http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/thousands-protest-on-climate-change-20100815-12506.html
AAP: Tens of thousands of protesters - and a few sceptics - have taken to the streets across Australia to urge the major political parties to take action on climate change. Both Labor and the coalition have failed to take decisive action to cut Australia's pollution levels in the run-up to the federal election, Walk Against Warming rallies in Australia's capital cities heard on Sunday. Events held in Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Darwin, Hobart, Melbourne, Sydney and Perth attracted ...

Mon, 16 Aug 10
Pakistan floods: UN urges world to step up aid efforts
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/15/pakistan-floods-united-nations-aid
Guardian: The UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, has urged the world to speed up aid efforts to Pakistan as the country braces itself for further flooding with the waters of the swollen Indus river reaching critical levels. Ban is in Pakistan to visit affected regions, meet government leaders and assess the scale of the disaster. The UN has appealed for an initial Â£295m to provide relief, but only 20% of that has so far been given. "I am here ... to share my sympathy and ...

Mon, 16 Aug 10
Australia: Many protest climate change
http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/World/Story/STIStory_566643.html
AFP: THOUSANDS of Australians protested against inaction on climate change on Sunday, converging on major cities to voice their discontent ahead of this week's national polls. Thousands gathered in Sydney's business district for the annual 'Walk Against Warming' rally and similar events were held in Canberra, Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane, Perth, Darwin and Hobart. 'We feel that climate change is going to be a key issue for people going to the polls next Saturday,' Pepe Clarke of ...

Mon, 16 Aug 10
Eyewitness: Flood devastation in Pakistan
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/picture/2010/aug/15/pakistan-natural-disasters
Guardian

Mon, 16 Aug 10
United Kingdom: Increase in 'warm water' dolphins
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-10980145
BBC: Warmer seas could be responsible for a change in the type of dolphins spotted off the coast of the North East of England, a survey has suggested. The North East Cetacean Project found an increase in sightings of common, bottlenose and Risso's dolphins - species associated with warmer waters. There have also been fewer sightings of white-beaked dolphin and harbour porpoise, which prefer colder water. It is thought the distribution shift is due to increasing sea ...

Mon, 16 Aug 10
Moscow, through a cloud of smoke
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/15/opinion/15pavlova.html?_r=5
New York Times: BREATHE in, breathe out. Breathe in, breathe out. I concentrate on breathing through the surgeon's mask, and that becomes an effort in itself. Not a simple effort, but difficult and all-important. After a while I am busy doing only that: breathe in, breathe out. I have just arrived in Moscow. I hear the voice of a TV announcer describing the combined effects of record heat and nearby wildfires: "The level of carbon monoxide in the air is four times higher than normal. Stay indoors, ...

Mon, 16 Aug 10
Climate scientists in race to predict where natural disaster will strike next
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/aug/15/climate-change-predict-next-disaster
Guardian: The world's leading climate scientists will gather this week in the United States to hammer out plans to set up an early warning system that would predict future meteorological disasters caused by global warming. The meeting, in Boulder, Colorado, has been arranged at diplomatic level amid fears that storms, hurricanes, droughts, flooding and other extreme weather events now threaten to trigger widespread devastation in coming decades. A series of meteorological catastrophes have ...

Mon, 16 Aug 10
BP yet to update emergency plan three months after Deepwater Horizon spill
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/aug/15/bp-fails-to-update-oil-spill-emergency-plan
Guardian: BP has failed to update its oil spill emergency plan in the Gulf of Mexico more than three months after the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded in apparent violation of federal regulations, the Observer has learned. The company was lambasted by US politicians for having a response plan which, even before the explosion, appeared to have serious flaws. Errors included a proposal highlighting the need to protect sea walruses, even though none exist in the Gulf, and listing one wildlife expert ...

Mon, 16 Aug 10
'Our Job Is Not Finished,' Obama Tells Gulf Coast
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/15/us/politics/15obama.html?_r=5&partner=rss&emc=rss
New York Times: President Obama on Saturday called the capping of the well that has spewed tens of millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico "an important milestone," but vowed to maintain an intense government response until the environment is cleaned up and businesses and communities are made whole. President Obama on Saturday called the capping of the well that has spewed tens of millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico "an important milestone," but vowed to maintain an ...

Mon, 16 Aug 10
Australia: Gillard defends citizens assembly
http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/gillard-defends-citizens-assembly-20100815-124td.html
AAP: Prime Minister Julia Gillard is defending Labor's climate change credentials, including the much-ridiculed plan for a citizens assembly. A re-elected Gillard government would appoint 150 randomly-selected Australians to assess published climate science and policies to combat the impact of climate change, such as an emissions trading scheme. Ms Gillard said the assembly was part of a "wide breadth" of climate policies Labor was proposing, including incentives for fuel-efficient ...

Mon, 16 Aug 10
In Weather Chaos, a Case for Global Warming
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/15/science/earth/15climate.html?_r=5&partner=rss&emc=rss
New York Times: The floods battered New England, then Nashville, then Arkansas, then Oklahoma – and were followed by a deluge in Pakistan that has upended the lives of 20 million people. The summer's heat waves baked the eastern United States, parts of Africa and eastern Asia, and above all Russia, which lost millions of acres of wheat and thousands of lives in a drought worse than any other in the historical record. Seemingly disconnected, these far-flung disasters are reviving the question ...

Mon, 16 Aug 10
Australia: Sceptics crash climate change rally
http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/sceptics-crash-climate-change-rally-20100815-124x2.html
AAP: Police were called in to break up a scuffle between protesters at the Walk Against Warming in Adelaide. About half a dozen police arrived in Victoria Square just after the start of the rally, aimed at raising awareness on climate change and the environment. John Rice, organiser with the Climate Emergency Action Network, said climate change sceptics had arrived unexpectedly to disrupt the rally. One had pushed his megaphone into his face, prompting him to call ...

Sat, 14 Aug 10
Prince of Tides: A Mammoth Turbine
http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/13/the-prince-of-tides-a-mammoth-turbine/
New York Times: What is being described as the world`s largest tidal power turbine was unveiled this week in Scotland. Dubbed the AK1000 by its developer, the Atlantis Resources Corporation, the one-megawatt turbine weighs 1,430 tons, stands nearly 75 feet tall and has three 60-foot diameter blades that can produce enough electricity to supply more than 1,000 homes. The turbine will be installed later this summer at the European Marine Energy Center in the far north of Scotland, where it will be used ...

Sat, 14 Aug 10
A changed climate on climate change
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/aug/13/bonn-climate-change-talks-cancun
Guardian: Last week's climate change negotiations in Bonn, Germany reportedly marked movement backward on international climate cooperation. This does not seem to bode well for a successful outcome for the major climate negotiations scheduled for this November and December in Cancun, Mexico. However, five new factors since last year's climate negotiations in Copenhagen suggest that a good outcome in Cancun is at least still possible. First, Cancun's focus will not be a big-picture, ...

Sat, 14 Aug 10
Deepwater Horizon crisis may be over
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/aug/13/deepwater-horizon-crisis-may-be-over
Guardian: Scientists pored over a series of pressure tests from BP's well in the Gulf of Mexico today, trying to discover whether engineers had unknowingly already sealed off the gusher for good. The tests could decide whether the official epitaph for the Macondo is written tomorrow or sometime next week, when crews were scheduled to complete two relief wells that officials have described as the last step in permanently securing the BP well. A decision to stop work on the relief wells ...

Sat, 14 Aug 10
United Kingdom: Wave energy cable laying halted
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-10968890
BBC: A multi-million pound project to create a testing platform for wave energy devices in Cornwall has ground to a halt. Engineers have postponed plans to float the copper cable ashore after it sank, raising fears it could become enmeshed on the seabed. The cable, which was 650ft (200m) from land on Thursday evening, will now be rewound onto a ship offshore. Engineers are considering whether to deploy a new flotation device. The setback is the latest of a series to ...

Sat, 14 Aug 10
U.S. signs debt-for-nature swap with Brazil to protect forests
http://news.mongabay.com/2010/0813-dfns_us_brazil.html
Mongabay: The United States will cut Brazil's debt payments by $21 million under a debt-for-nature that will protect the Latin American country's endangered Atlantic Rainforest (Mata Atlantica), Caatinga and Cerrado ecosystems. The agreement, announced Thursday, comes under the Tropical Forest Conservation Act (TFCA) of 1998, which to date has generated $239 million to protect tropical forests in Bangladesh, Belize, Botswana, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Indonesia, Jamaica, ...

Sat, 14 Aug 10
Giant Greenland iceberg a climate 'warning sign'
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100813/sc_afp/climatewarminggreenlandglacier
AFP: A giant iceberg that snapped away from Greenland last week is a signal that global warming is causing the island's continent-sized ice cap to melt faster than expected, scientists say. The 250-square-kilometre (100-square-mile) chunk, four times the size of Manhattan, broke away from the Petermann ice shelf on Greenland's northwestern tip. The breakoff -- the largest in the Arctic in half a century -- points to Greenland's worrying potential to stoke sea levels in the coming ...

Sat, 14 Aug 10
Some in New York Agree to Unplug to Cut Energy Use
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/13/nyregion/13peak.html?_r=5&partner=rss&emc=rss
New York Times: Electricity use is up sharply this summer, but in a windowless room near Albany that is the nerve center of New York State's grid, controllers have noticed that something else is not rising: peak load. Peak load is the single hour of highest use in the course of the year, a condition for which the electric system is designed and which is the focus of utilities' operating strategies and, sometimes, prayers. Driven by each new air-conditioner, computer and flat-screen television, peak ...

Sat, 14 Aug 10
Alabama sues BP for "catastrophic" Gulf oil spill
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100813/ts_nm/us_oil_spill_alabama
Reuters: Alabama is suing BP Plc, Transocean and Halliburton for "catastrophic harm" caused by the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, the state's attorney general said on Friday. Alabama is the first state to sue BP for damage from the world's worst offshore oil spill. The decision stems from fear economic victims will be inadequately compensated and BP will shirk its financial responsibility, said Attorney General Troy King. "We are making this claim because we believe that BP has ...

Sat, 14 Aug 10
Feds would lift block on oil leases in MT, ND, SD
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100813/ap_on_bi_ge/mt_leases_suspended_climate
AP: Federal officials want to move forward with oil and gas leases on about 260 square miles in Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota that have been held up over climate change concerns. The government agreed in March to re-examine its leasing program in the three states after environmentalists filed a lawsuit seeking reductions in greenhouse gases released by companies during drilling. But in a series of studies released Thursday, the Bureau of Land Management said emissions from ...

Sat, 14 Aug 10
Energy Funds Went Unspent, U.S. Auditor Says
http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/13/energy-funds-went-unspent-u-s-auditor-says/
New York Times: The recession is lingering, and so is the unspent stimulus money that was meant to help end it. The latest example is the $3.2 billion that Congress voted in February 2009 as part of an economic stimulus package to simultaneously provide jobs and improve energy efficiency through block grants to states and cities. Only about 8.4 percent of the money had been spent by the beginning of this month, according to an audit released on Friday by the inspector general of the Energy ...

Sat, 14 Aug 10
Mexico: Oil Workers at Sea Without a Safety Net
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=52481
Inter Press Service: The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has reawakened concerns about labour conditions on Mexican drilling platforms. Restrictions on trade union freedoms, lack of insurance and health coverage, low wages, poor training and corrupt practices are some of the irregularities prevailing in Mexico's private oil industry, according to union leaders and experts. "Workers hired by private contractors do not have the training for offshore drilling," Ysmael GarcÃa, interior secretary of the ...

Sat, 14 Aug 10
Lighting a Fire Under Clean Coal
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/08/100813-energy-lighting-fire-clean-coal/
National Geographic: In a multipronged effort to boost "clean coal," the Obama administration has announced a $1 billion project to demonstrate a new combustion technique, launched studies of where carbon dioxide could be stored underground, and unveiled recommendations meant to chisel away at regulatory barriers. But many supporters of the drive for carbon capture and storage (CCS) as a way to address the U.S. greenhouse gas pollution from coal-burning power plants say the flurry of moves in the past ...

Sat, 14 Aug 10
BC premier praises California on climate change
http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9HIKUO80.htm
AP: The premier of British Columbia stressed the link between environmental legislation and economic opportunity in an address to California lawmakers on Thursday. Premier Gordon Campbell said California has played an important role in creating policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. He addressed the state Assembly and Senate separately. "You've done so much to create hope, to act on this issue so that you have a future of a clean, healthy environment that generates jobs and ...

Sat, 14 Aug 10
Malaysia preparing to take big step backward on energy policy
http://news.mongabay.com/2010/0813-cynthia_ong_pm_letter.html
Mongabay: An open letter to the Prime Minister of Malaysia. Dear Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak, I write to you as a deeply concerned and saddened citizen of Malaysia. For most of the 45 years of my life, I have been proud to be Malaysian. Recently, I have become heartbroken to be Malaysian. I am profoundly grateful to write this with the support of both my local communities in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo and California, U.S.A., and a larger world community. That said, I take full ...

Sat, 14 Aug 10
Australia: Climate change will cost us all
http://www.smh.com.au/business/climate-change-will-cost-us-all-20100813-1232a.html
Sydney Morning Herald: You don't have to be Lord Stern to see how the costs of climate change are already compounding and spiralling, out of control. Some costs are relatively benign - such as the devaluation of waterfront properties in Byron Bay as sea levels rise - a process starting in earnest whether estate agents like it or not. Other costs are terrible, such as the conservative $4.4 billion figure put on last year's Black Saturday fires by the Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission, including ...

Sat, 14 Aug 10
Tanzania's Serengeti Highway plan could destroy major carbon sink
http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_round_up/563507/tanzanias_serengeti_highway_plan_could_destroy_major_carbon_sink.html
Ecologist: Environmentalists are dismayed at plans by the Tanzanian government to build a major commercial highway through Serengeti National Park The Tanzanian President has vowed to go ahead with controversial plans to construct a major road through the Serengeti, despite fierce opposition from environmentalists and the tourism industry. The 480-kilometre road will link the Lake Victoria area with eastern Tanzania and, according to the Tanzanian government, bring essential economic ...

Sat, 14 Aug 10
Pakistan floods
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/gallery/2010/aug/13/pakistan-flooding
Guardian: More than 1,500 people have been killed and hundreds of thousands stranded by flooding triggered by the annual monsoon rains. The floodwaters have washed away millions of hectares of crops, submerged villages and destroyed roads and bridges. Disease is spreading among Pakistani flood victims, and there have been warnings that dams in the south may burst

Sat, 14 Aug 10
EPA finalises controversial carbon permit rules
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2268131/epa-finalises-carbon-permit
Business Green: The regulatory framework governing US efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions from power plants and industrial sites is beginning to take shape after the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) yesterday finalised rules governing how firms should obtain new emission permits. Under controversial rules due to take effect from next year, large emitters will be required to gain emission permits when they retool or add new capacity at a facility. The EPA will only grant permits to those ...

Sat, 14 Aug 10
Solar plan in China's Inner Mongolia highlights pitfalls for U.S. firms
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/12/AR2010081203201.html
Washington Post: With great fanfare, an Arizona-based energy company signed a preliminary agreement with China last fall to build the world's largest solar-power plant in the Mongolian desert. The deal was hailed as the first major example of the United States and China cooperating on a big-ticket energy project, and the largest foray by a U.S. company into Asia's fast-growing alternative- energy market. The agreement became a centerpiece achievement of President Obama's visit to China last ...

Sat, 14 Aug 10
Great Lakes turn to bath water
http://www.thespec.com/news/local/article/248791--great-lakes-turn-to-bath-water
Hamilton Spectator: The combination of an unseasonably mild winter and spring followed by a hot summer has led to record-breaking water temperatures in the Great Lakes. Lake Superior is a stunning 8 C above normal for this time of year -- and the big lake they call Gitche Gumee will get warmer still for another few weeks. "It's really remarkable," said Jay Austin, a professor at the University of Minnesota-Duluth's Large Lakes Observatory. "The surface waters on Superior at one site are ...

Sat, 14 Aug 10
Australia: How to be fully renewable in 10 years
http://www.smh.com.au/environment/energy-smart/how-to-be-fully-renewable-in-10-years-20100812-121l0.html
Sydney Morning Herald: AUSTRALIA could switch completely to renewable energy within a decade by building a dozen vast, new solar power stations and about 6500 wind turbines, according to a major new study. The Zero Carbon Australia Stationary Energy Plan - a collaboration between Melbourne University's Energy Research Institute, the environment group Beyond Zero Emissions and engineers Sinclair Knight Merz, puts the cost at $37 billion in private funding and public investment every year for the next ...

Sat, 14 Aug 10
Federal task force reasserts the need for a price on carbon
http://www.nytimes.com/cwire/2010/08/13/13climatewire-federal-task-force-reasserts-the-need-for-a-95489.html
ClimateWire: Last February, when President Obama asked federal agencies for a plan to commercialize carbon capture and storage (CCS) within a decade, the chessboard looked very different. An economywide climate bill had emerged from the House. Energy and climate proposals were still circulating in the Senate. Health care reform had yet to pass, and the Gulf of Mexico oil spill had not yet occurred. Yesterday, the agencies delivered their report to the White House: They said the CCS goal ...

Sat, 14 Aug 10
Can 'green cement' make carbon capture and storage obsolete?
http://www.nytimes.com/cwire/2010/08/13/13climatewire-can-green-cement-make-carbon-capture-and-stor-9325.html
ClimateWire: The conventional wisdom among utilities, the Obama administration, many scientists and some major environmental groups is that the future of coal-fired electricity under an eventual cap on carbon dioxide emissions will require an overhaul that will be technologically complicated, politically difficult and financially expensive. Policy experts say that to "decarbonize" the future power system, we will need a new generation of power plants that can separate CO2 from their emissions. ...

Sat, 14 Aug 10
Combination punch could fell rainforests
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20727732.800-combination-punch-could-fell-rainforests.html
New Scientist: BY THE end of the century, up to 82 per cent of today's tropical forests could be damaged by a combination of climate change and local destruction. Gregory Asner of Stanford University in California, and colleagues, tried to calculate where the effects of climate change, logging and other causes of deforestation will impact upon forest ecosystems. They ran 16 different climate models up until the year 2098 and used a vegetation model to work out which types of plants could ...

Sat, 14 Aug 10
Kyoto targets are impossible to verify
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20727732.700-kyoto-targets-are-impossible-to-verify.html
New Scientist: CRUNCH time for the Kyoto protocol is fast approaching. 2012 marks the end of the two-year period during which rich nations must prove that they have cut emissions from 1990 levels. That may be an impossible task. The problem lies with error bars. Matthias Jonas at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis in Laxenburg, Austria, has calculated that countries can only report their emissions to within 5 to 10 per cent of what they actually emitted (Climatic Change, DOI: ...

Sat, 14 Aug 10
India plant's carbon status denial upsets investors
http://planetark.org/enviro-news/item/59151
Reuters: A U.N. carbon credit scheme's rejection of a huge Indian coal power plant deprives the project of revenue running into hundreds of millions of euros and rings alarm bells for investors developing similar plants. The incident spotlights a controversial U.N. process that allows valuable carbon offsets to be given to highly efficient coal power stations, a step green groups say erodes the spirit of trying to wean developing nations off polluting fossil fuels. In India's western ...

Sat, 14 Aug 10
China launches emission-cutting factory closure programme
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2268133/china-launches-emission-cutting
Business Green: The Chinese government has published a list of more than 2,000 factories that it plans to force to close by the end of September as it attempts to make good on Premier Wen Jiabao's recent pledge to use an "iron hand" to tackle inefficient factories. The announcement comes just weeks after the International Energy Agency in Paris said that China has surpassed the United States last year as the world's largest consumer of energy - a status China disputed this week with the release of ...

Sat, 14 Aug 10
Clean tech investment gives greener products
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/clean-tech-investment-gives-greener-products-2051487.html
AFP: Throughout the past year, major multinational companies have been some of the biggest investors in cleaner and greener technology, and this has resulted in a series of consumer products that are friendlier to the environment, from smart meters to computer monitors and televisions. The latest large investment came from Korean electronics company Samsung, which announced on August 10 an EUR11 million ($15 million) deal with Nanosys whose nano-particle technology will be used to help ...

Sat, 14 Aug 10
World Bank proposes engagement approach in Palm Oil
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2010/07/27/world-bank-proposes-engagement-approach-in-palm-oil/
Vanguard: International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the World Bank released a draft framework for engagement in the palm oil sector, detailing an approach that aligns with the World Bank Group mission to fight poverty without compromising economic, environmental or social sustainability, and inviting further public comment. In media release, Monday, the IFC stated: "Sustainable palm oil production offers significant development benefits in many developing countries. Yet the sector has been ...

Sat, 14 Aug 10
British Columbia premier lauds California climate initiatives
http://www.sacbee.com/2010/08/13/2955882/british-columbia-premier-lauds.html
Sacramento Bee: California's leadership role in global climate change initiatives has spurred innovation throughout the western United States and Canada, according to British Columbia's Premier Gordon Campbell. Campbell was in town to discuss climate change actions with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Wednesday and to speak before the state Assembly on the subject Thursday. He said California's adoption of its landmark greenhouse gas reduction law in 2006 triggered policy changes in his province ...

Sat, 14 Aug 10
Illinois town throws FutureGen CCS project into chaos
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2268099/illinois-town-throws-futuregen
Business Green: A small town in Illinois has pulled out of the controversial FutureGen clean coal project, raising questions about where the carbon emissions captured by the project will be stored. Mattoon, Illinois has said that it will no longer participate in FutureGen after the government removed a $1bn clean coal power plant from the deal, which was originally signed in 2007. In the original agreement, Mattoon would have hosted the power plant designed to burn coal for the FutureGen ...

Sat, 14 Aug 10
Iran's first nuclear power plant set to open
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100813/wl_afp/irannuclearpoliticsrussia
AFP: Iran is to launch its first nuclear power reactor next week, the Islamic republic and Russia which helped build the plant said on Friday after years of delays to the highly sensitive project. The United States said the announcement showed that Tehran no longer needed to pursue its controversial programme of uranium enrichment. "We are preparing to transfer the fuel inside the plant next week... Then we will need seven to eight days to transfer it to the reactor (core)," said ...

Sat, 14 Aug 10
Australia confirms plan for southern hemisphere's largest wind farm
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2268102/australia-confirms-plan
Business Green: Plans for the largest wind farm in the southern hemisphere took a leap forward today when Australian firm AGL Energy inked a deal with New Zealand-based renewable energy developer Meridian Energy to build a 420MW facility. The $1bn wind farm near Hamilton, 260km west of Melbourne, is due to be completed in early 2013. The site will consist of 140 Vestas turbines and will have the capacity to power more than 220,000 homes. AGL said the development would help to cut carbon ...

Sat, 14 Aug 10
World '09 CO2 emissions off 1.3 percent: institute
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE67C1IU20100813?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29
Reuters: Global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in 2009 fell 1.3 percent to 31.3 billion tonnes in the first year-on-year decline in this decade, German renewable energy institute IWR said on Friday. The Muenster-based institute, which advises German ministries, cited the global economic crisis and rising investments in renewable energies for the fall in emissions. Global investment in renewable installations for power, heat and fuels last year rose to 125 billion euros ($161 billion) ...

Sat, 14 Aug 10
'Modest' New Zealand ETS shows the way
http://www.carbonpositive.net/viewarticle.aspx?articleID=2074
Carbon Positive: Tucked away on the bottom of the world, New Zealand is showing bigger developed nations how its done when it comes to tackling greenhouse-gas emissions and climate change. The first jurisdiction outside Europe to take the plunge on a nation-wide mandatory carbon pricing scheme, New Zealand has gone a long way to tackling the political and economic challenges of fundamental low-carbon reform that have bedevilled the US, Canada, Japan and Australia. The New Zealand Emissions Trading ...

Sat, 14 Aug 10
Linguist on mission to save Inuit 'fossil language' disappearing with the ice
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/13/inuit-language-culture-threatened
Guardian: Stephen Pax Leonard will soon swap the lawns, libraries and high tables of Cambridge University for three months of darkness, temperatures as low as -40C and hunting seals for food with a spear. But the academic researcher, who leaves Britain this weekend, has a mission: to take the last chance to document the language and traditions of an entire culture. "I'm extremely excited but, yes, also apprehensive," Leonard said as he made the final preparations for what is, by anyone's ...

Sat, 14 Aug 10
Biggest relocation in China since Three Gorges
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/biggest-relocation-in-china-since-three-gorges-2051297.html
Independent (UK): China's growing thirst for water is driving one of the world's biggest mass relocations, with 440,000 people leaving their homes to make way for a huge man-made canal project to channel water to drought-prone Beijing. An advance party of 499 villagers were moved yesterday from their homes near Wuhan in Hubei province, China's heartland, in preparation for one of the biggest irrigation schemes in history. By the end of September, 60,000 people will have left the area. The ...

Sat, 14 Aug 10
Environment Agency accused of undermining CRC with dodgy data
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2268089/environment-agency-accused
Business Green: The Environment Agency has this week written to organisations covered by the Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) legislation urging them to register for the scheme now, even if that means providing incomplete or inaccurate data. The move prompted accusations that the watchdog was undermining the credibility of the energy efficiency scheme by inviting businesses and public sector bodies to provide flawed data on their energy use and carbon footprint. In an email to large ...

Fri, 13 Aug 10
Will Consumers Buy The Chevy Volt And Nissan Leaf?
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129159569&ft=1&f=1025
National Public Radio: In a few months, GM plans to launch its most anticipated vehicle in ages: the Chevy Volt. After years of hype, the Volt will join Nissan's Leaf as the nation's first mass-market electric cars. The vehicles are dramatically different -- and how consumers will respond, nobody knows. But everyone in the auto industry will be watching to see what works, what doesn't -- and if America's automotive future is electric. The Chevy Volt When you drive the Chevy Volt, there's a ...

Fri, 13 Aug 10
Indonesia: APP refutes Greenpeace charges on deforestation, though audit remains absent
http://news.mongabay.com/2010/0812-hance_app_audit.html
Mongabay: Asia Pulp & Paper, which has long been a target of green groups for deforestation and threatening imperiled species, is touting a new audit the pulping company says finds allegations made by environmental NGOs, including Greenpeace and WWF, are "baseless, inaccurate, and without validity". Conducted by the international accounting and auditing firm Mazars, the audit itself has not been released; however Mazars has signed off on the validity of a 24 page document entitled "Getting the Facts ...

Fri, 13 Aug 10
'Global Weirding': Extreme Climate Events Dominate The Summer
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/12/global-weirding-extreme-c_n_680364.html
Huffington Post: A heatwave in Russia is sparking wildfires that are driving residents from Moscow and devastating the country's wheat crop. A fifth of Pakistan is underwater and millions are deluged by floods in Asia. Another heatwave is torturing Mexico and the East Coast of the United States. An incomprehensibly large chunk of ice has broken off a glacier in Greenland, the most significant climate event there in 50 years. Most scientists caution that no single event can be tied specifically to ...

Fri, 13 Aug 10
Australia: Climate change pushing fish south
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/08/13/2981639.htm?section=justin
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: A new CSIRO study has found that climate change is driving a widespread number of fish south as the oceans warm. The study found around 30 per cent of Australia's inshore coastal fish families have been found outside their usual area. CSIRO has identified south-eastern Australia as a climate change hotspot, with well documented changes already occurring over the last 70 years. CSIRO spokesman Dr Peter Last says a snapshot of the distribution of coastal fish has located ...

Fri, 13 Aug 10
EPA proposes rules on greenhouse gas permits
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE67B4MM20100812?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29
Reuters: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday proposed new rules to ensure factories and power plants will be able to obtain permits they will need to emit greenhouse gases starting next year. The rule change is a largely administrative measure that is necessary for the EPA to implement its mandate to take steps on emissions blamed for warming the planet. Earlier this year, the EPA finalized rules that require factories and power plants starting next year to get air ...

Fri, 13 Aug 10
Russian fires forecast climate change threat
http://www.upi.com/Science_News/Resource-Wars/2010/08/12/Russian-fires-forecast-climate-change-threat/UPI-23361281637573/
UPI: World wheat supplies have been sharply reduced due to severe drought and wildfires in Russia, a crop report released Thursday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture concludes. The wheat supply will be 6.6 percent smaller than in previous projections and prices, which began a steady increase in June when Russia's heat wave began, will continue to surge, the monthly report said. The crop shortage exacerbates the economic and health turmoil Russia has suffered during its worst heat ...

Fri, 13 Aug 10
Climate Rules Needed to Make Carbon Capture Viable, U.S. Task Force Says
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-08-12/climate-rules-are-needed-for-carbon-capture-scheme-to-be-viable-u-s-says.html
Bloomberg: Climate-change legislation to force reductions in greenhouse gases is a necessary ingredient to the widespread deployment of a process to store carbon pollution from coal plants, a U.S. task force said today in a report. High costs, a lack of clear regulations and uncertainty about legal liability must be resolved for carbon capture to be widely deployed, according to the report released by 14 federal agencies. "The lack of comprehensive climate-change legislation is the key ...

Fri, 13 Aug 10
Climate of inaction
http://www.financialexpress.com/news/Climate-of-inaction/659483/
Financial Express: The record heat wave and nationwide blaze of forest fires that are engulfing Russia, one of the world's coldest countries, have dramatically pitchforked climate change and its destructive potential back to the centre of international attention. With average temperatures soaring to a 130-year-besting 38 degrees Celsius, more than 50 deaths directly owed to the wildfires, smoke blanketing urban areas and halting transportation, and drought compelling export restrictions on wheat, Russia's cup ...

Fri, 13 Aug 10
CancÃºn Conference Holds Out Little Hope in Face of Extreme Weather
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=52470
IPS: Unusually warm temperatures and more frequent and intense droughts and hurricanes... you have seen the headlines. As options dwindle for negotiating a global pact to fight climate change, the United Nations is pointing to today's "extreme conditions." A glance at recent weather reports around the globe reveals these conditions. In the Andes of South America, the snowfall of the current southern hemisphere winter has been intense, killing hundreds of people. But at the same time, ...

Fri, 13 Aug 10
Extreme weather plagues farming, talks flounder
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE67B3XT20100812?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29
Reuters: Global wheat markets reeling from Russian droughts, thousands of cattle killed by heat in Kansas, and countless crop acres wiped out by floods in Pakistan are glimpses of what can be expected as the world struggles to battle climate change. But as concerns mount over extreme weather hitting global food systems this year, governments are no closer to forging a pact to fight climate change. When temperatures rise as a result of smokestack and tailpipe emissions, droughts, heat ...

Fri, 13 Aug 10
Renewable industry protests as Congress culls clean energy loan guarantees
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2268084/renewable-industry-protests
Business Green: The US renewable energy industry has warned it could be sent "into a tailspin " unless the administration acts urgently to restore $1.5bn of renewable energy loan guarantees that were this week diverted to cover Medicaid payments and teachers' salaries. On Tuesday, President Obama signed off on a $26.1bn emergency funding bill, which has been partially paid for through cuts to the budget for renewable energy loan guarantees. The move is the second blow to the loan guarantee ...

Fri, 13 Aug 10
NASA Video Shows Global Reach of Pollution from Fires
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1903949/nasa_video_shows_global_reach_of_pollution_from_fires/index.html?source=r_science
redOrbit: A series of large wildfires burning across western and central Russia, eastern Siberia and western Canada has created a noxious soup of air pollution that is affecting life far beyond national borders. Among the pollutants created by wildfires is carbon monoxide, a gas that can pose a variety of health risks at ground level. Carbon monoxide is also an ingredient in the production of ground-level ozone, which causes numerous respiratory problems. As the carbon monoxide from these wildfires is ...

Fri, 13 Aug 10
Despite efforts, France fails to curb CO2
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100812/sc_afp/climatewarmingco2france
AFP: France's carbon dioxide emissions have remained constant over the last two decades despite efforts to curb the potent greenhouse gas, a government agency reported Thursday. Between 1990 and 2007 -- the most recent year for which figures are available -- total CO2 emissions increased slightly from 438 million to 439 million tonnes, according to the ministry for sustainable development. While the country has become more energy efficient during that period, the ministry noted in a ...

Fri, 13 Aug 10
Pakistan president visits flooded regions as official response criticised
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/12/pakistan-president-flood-response-criticised
Guardian: President Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan today made his first visit to an area ravaged by the country's worst ever flood disaster amid mounting criticism of his lack of leadership in the two-week-old crisis. Two days after returning home from a European tour, Zardari ventured to the city of Sukkur on the banks of the Indus river in the southern province of Sindh. Wearing a traditional white cap, Zardari travelled along the one-mile (2km) long Sukkur barrage, surveyed the churning Indus ...

Fri, 13 Aug 10
Used Car Dealers Seeing Red Over New Green Tax
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=52468
Inter Press Service: Small-scale importers of used cars in Malawi are crying foul over a government decision to introduce higher duties on second-hand passenger vehicles aged eight years and older. In recent years, Malawi has seen an influx of used cars, mostly imported from Japan. The vehicles are sold at low prices, some as cheap as 2,500 dollars apiece. Used car dealer Amanda Kwada explained to IPS the route that the car imports follow into Malawi: from Japan, the vehicles are brought in via ...

Fri, 13 Aug 10
Few Chernobyl radiation risks from Russia fires
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE67B1YK20100812?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29
Reuters: Fears that fires scorching forests polluted by Chernobyl fallout may propel dangerous amounts of radioactivity into the air are overblown, scientists say, and the actual health risks are very small. Even firefighters tackling the blazes, which officials say have hit forests in Russia's Bryansk region tainted by radioactive dust from the 1986 Chernobyl reactor disaster, are unlikely to run any added nuclear contamination risks. The amount of radiation in smoke would be only a ...

Fri, 13 Aug 10
Clicktivism is ruining leftist activism
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/aug/12/clicktivism-ruining-leftist-activism
Guardian: A battle is raging for the soul of activism. It is a struggle between digital activists, who have adopted the logic of the marketplace, and those organisers who vehemently oppose the marketisation of social change. At stake is the possibility of an emancipatory revolution in our lifetimes. The conflict can be traced back to 1997 when a quirky Berkeley, California-based software company known for its iconic flying toaster screensaver was purchased for $13.8m (Â£8.8m). The sale ...

Fri, 13 Aug 10
Climate changes lead to hotter summers
http://www.wlky.com/r/24592660/detail.html
WLKY: According to data released by NASA, this has been the hottest decade in world history. And so far, Louisville's summer temperatures are on track to make this the hottest summer in the city's history as well. What is behind the record breaking temperatures? Is it a pattern? And how has it affected the rest of our climate during recent seasons? A local geological expert and WLKY's Chief Meterologist, Jay Cardosi, weigh in with the numbers, recent patterns, and climate ...

Fri, 13 Aug 10
Giant new ice island in Greenland 'poses no threat'
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/giant-new-ice-island-in-greenland-poses-no-threat/story-e6frg6so-1225904275427
AFP: THE largest ice island in almost 50 years poses no immediate threat as it will take up to two years to drift through the Arctic Ocean, the Canadian who discovered it said. Trudy Wohlleben, a forecaster from the Canadian Ice Service, spotted the massive slab of ice that broke off a glacier in northern Greenland last week as she analysed raw data from a NASA satellite. At about 30km long and 10km wide, the ice island is about four times the size of Manhattan and experts say the ...

Fri, 13 Aug 10
Shipping lanes face disruption from giant ice shelf
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/7938073/Shipping-lanes-face-disruption-from-giant-ice-shelf.html
Telegraph: In a worst case scenario, large chunks could reach the heavily trafficked waters where another Greenland iceberg sank the Titanic in 1912. The ice shelf is drifting across the Arctic Ocean after breaking off from a glacier in Greenland. "It's so big that you can't prevent it from drifting. You can't stop it," said Jon-Ove Methlie Hagen, a glaciologist at the University of Oslo. Researchers are trying to plot the trajectory of the floating ice shelf, which is moving ...

Fri, 13 Aug 10
Record droughts, floods and fires strain food markets' resilience
http://www.nytimes.com/cwire/2010/08/12/12climatewire-record-droughts-floods-and-fires-strain-food-68330.html
ClimateWire: A string of devastating natural disasters many are attributing to climate change has sent food prices on a roller coaster ride, leading to fears of a wave of climate-induced food price shocks of the sort that sparked rioting in the developing world two years ago. But international agriculture experts say those concerns are unfounded. Though they acknowledge dramatic spikes in wheat and corn, and new pricing pressure on rice, U.N. and other food policy experts say data show global food ...

Fri, 13 Aug 10
United States: Calif. project spurs debate over a 'decarbonized' energy system
http://www.nytimes.com/cwire/2010/08/12/12climatewire-calif-project-spurs-debate-over-a-decarboniz-64147.html
ClimateWire: Mayor Harvey Hall can get very excited about efforts to "decarbonize" California's energy system. His city is the hub of Kern County. Its two major businesses, agriculture and oil, are in a severe slump. Unemployment is running about 17 percent. "I've lived here all my life," explains Hall, 69. "This economy is probably the worst that I've ever seen." So when BP PLC and Rio Tinto, the big British-Australian mining company, decided on a Kern County site to build the nation's ...

Fri, 13 Aug 10
United States: Burning trees stretches the meaning of 'renewable'
http://www.indyweek.com/indyweek/burning-trees-stretches-the-meaning-of-renewable/Content?oid=1593871
Independent Weekly: If you cut down a forest to save a mountain, does it count as eco-friendly? That's the crux of the debate going on before the N.C. Utilities Commission that could shape the state's definition of renewable energy. In the 2007 renewable energy measure, Senate Bill 3, the state mandates that 12.5 percent of the energy sold in 2012 come from renewable sources. Duke Energy is trying to meet that requirement by burning both wood scraps and whole trees cut into chips to generate power at two ...

Fri, 13 Aug 10
Canada: Fish show ability to evolve and handle climate change
http://www.calgaryherald.com/technology/Fish%20show%20ability%20evolve%20handle%20climate%20change/3388946/story.html
Calgary Herald: It looks like an unremarkable pond on the western edge of the University of Calgary's campus, but it's actually prized scientific territory where small stickleback fish show their evolutionary aptitude in the face of climate change. "We've known for a long time that temperature is probably one of the single-most important environmental parameters that determines the distribution and abundance of organisms on the planet," says Sean Rogers, an assistant professor at the university's ...

Fri, 13 Aug 10
Germany mulls tax on coal for power generation
http://af.reuters.com/article/energyOilNews/idAFLDE67A1L920100811
Reuters: Germany is mulling a new tax on coal used in power generation to help make up for revenue it would lose if it kept much-debated tax breaks for large corporate energy consumers, a newspaper said on Wednesday. The new tax, which would be footed by energy companies, would raise 410 million euros ($534 million) next year and 710 million euros in 2012, the Handelsblatt newspaper said in a preview of its Thursday edition. It would be limited to two years at first, according to a ...

Fri, 13 Aug 10
Weather blocker: Jet stream stops and causes disasters
http://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/weather-blocker--jet-stream-stops-and-causes-disasters-20100812-120th.html
Sydney Morning Herald: The devastating Russian heatwave and Pakistan floods are caused by one unusual weather pattern - the static jet stream, meteorologists say. The northern hemisphere jet stream, a fast-moving high-altitude air current, circles the earth from west to east. But in the past month, a "blocking event" has brought the jet stream to a halt, keeping weather patterns stationery over certain countries. A US helicopter takes supplies to flood victims in Kalam, Pakistan. Photo: ...

Fri, 13 Aug 10
No overall deal likely in Cancun, Mexican climate ambassador says
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/339126,mexican-climate-ambassador-says.html
Deutsche Presse Agentur: The upcoming United Nations summit in Mexico on climate change will likely focus on achieving "a comprehensive set of decisions" but not an overall agreement, Mexico's climate ambassador said Thursday in Stockholm. Luis Alfonso de Alba visited the Swedish capital after attending a round of preparatory talks that ended last week in Bonn, Germany, without apparent progress ahead of the UN summit in Cancun, which will get underway at the end of November. "We are aiming at a ...

Fri, 13 Aug 10
Citizens' assembly on climate change a no-go zone for MPs
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/citizens-assembly-on-climate-change-a-no-go-zone-for-mps/story-fn59niix-1225904664683
Australian: LABOR MPs are deeply embarrassed by Julia Gillard's 150-person citizens' assembly she hopes will find a consensus for climate change. Several of them are deliberately downplaying it and instead focusing on Labor's other environmental promises. The Australian has spoken to several Labor MPs who privately concede the idea has gone down "like a lead balloon" and has hurt, rather than helped, Labor's climate change credentials. It comes as Labor MP Steve Gibbons was reported ...

Fri, 13 Aug 10
Report offers liability options for CO2 storage
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100812/ap_on_bi_ge/us_coal_plant_emissions
AP: An administration task force is proposing several options aimed at overcoming liability obstacles that could hinder the development of "clean coal" technology. The experimental technique involves storing carbon dioxide emissions from coal plants and other sources underground, in an attempt to reduce pollution blamed for contributing to global warming. A big issue hanging over the developing technology is liability costs if something goes wrong. A sudden release of large amounts of ...

Fri, 13 Aug 10
US, Europe want greater oil firm regulation: poll
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100812/ts_alt_afp/usoilenvironmentpollutionpoliticsregulatepoll
AFP: Wide majorities in the United States and Western Europe support greater regulation of oil companies, with concern about the environment rising since the BP oil spill, a poll said Thursday. The Financial Times/Harris Poll covering Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United States found worries about oil dependency and water pollution since the spill that dumped 4.1 million barrels into the Gulf of Mexico. Large majorities agreed in general terms that oil companies ...

Fri, 13 Aug 10
Largest tidal turbine is unveiled
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-10942856
BBC: A device thought to be the largest tidal energy turbine to be built in the world has been described by its developer as "simple and robust". Atlantis Resources unveiled its AK-1000 at Invergordon ahead of it being towed on a barge to a European Marine Energy Centre test site off Eday, Orkney. Chief executive Tim Cornelius said it was designed to survive in a harsh marine environment. The device has two sets of blades to harness ebb and flood tides. Mr Cornelius ...

Fri, 13 Aug 10
Russia: Smoke-shrouded Moscow gets welcome break from smog
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100812/ap_on_re_eu/eu_russia_fires
AP: The skies were clear over Moscow Thursday, giving residents a desperately needed break from air pollution thanks to favorable winds and some success in fighting wildfires that have choked the capital with clouds of acrid smog. People walked through the streets without the masks that have become ubiquitous. The towers of the Kremlin and domes of Orthodox cathedrals could be seen without the yellowish veil that's shrouded them for a week. "I can finally open the balcony door to ...

Fri, 13 Aug 10
Record highs in 17 countries
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/12/heatwave-record-temperatures-world
Guardian: 2010 is becoming the year of the heatwave, with record temperatures set in 17 countries. Record highs have occurred in Russia, Belarus and Ukraine – the three nations at the centre of the present eastern European heatwave which has continued for more than three weeks – but also many African, Middle Eastern and Latin American countries. Temperatures in Moscow, which have been consistently 20C above normal, today fell to a more manageable 31C (86F). But the extreme heat ...

Fri, 13 Aug 10
New standards for eco products
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/new-standards-for-eco-products-2050832.html
AFP: The development and global implementation of a new environmental ratings system could make product comparisons easier for consumers across the world. The US-based Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers (AHAM) announced on August 10 that it had partnered with Canadian Standards Association and international US-based group UL Environment, two leading standards organizations. The three groups intend to develop a series of new standards which can be used by governments, retailers and ...

Fri, 13 Aug 10
UN warn of further loss of life in Pakistan
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/telegraphtv/7940407/UN-warn-of-further-loss-of-life-in-Pakistan.html
Telegraph

Fri, 13 Aug 10
Russia's Medvedev cancels fire emergency in 3 regions
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6751T820100812?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29
Reuters: President Dmitry Medvedev on Thursday canceled a state of emergency in three out of seven Russian regions affected by forest fires. "The state of emergency has been canceled in Voronezh and Vladimir regions and the republic of Mari El," Medvedev's spokeswoman Natalia Timakova told reporters in Taganrog, a town in the rural Rostov region, 1,200 km (745 miles) south of Moscow. She said the situation in the regions had improved significantly. Russia's worst heatwave since records ...

Fri, 13 Aug 10
Partnerships are the key to reducing carbon emissions
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cif-green/2010/aug/12/carbon-emissions-the-guardian
Guardian: The Guardian is committed to making its own positive contribution to climate change (through editorial coverage, support for campaigns such as 10:10, and our own 10% reduction target), but a carbon footprint of a certain size will inevitably remain. Papers still need to be printed, print sites and office buildings operated, and staff to travel. In the past, the Guardian's parent company, Guardian News & Media (GNM), has opted to address its emissions by carbon offsetting. When ...

Fri, 13 Aug 10
Long hot summer of fire and floods fit predictions
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5irCJhAm4CU5t117e6Pn_oZa2gy2AD9HHTB6G0
AP: Floods, fires, melting ice and feverish heat: From smoke-choked Moscow to water-soaked Pakistan and the High Arctic, the planet seems to be having a midsummer breakdown. It's not just a portent of things to come, scientists say, but a sign of troubling climate change already under way. The weather-related cataclysms of July and August fit patterns predicted by climate scientists, the Geneva-based World Meteorological Organization says -- although those scientists always shy from tying ...

Fri, 13 Aug 10
ICE cuts staff at Chicago Climate Exchange-sources
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSLDE6791WI20100812
Reuters: Market operator Intercontinental Exchange Inc. (ICE.N) is laying off staff at newly acquired U.S. environmental bourse the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX), industry sources told Reuters, citing a lack of U.S. action on climate change. They said the first round of layoffs began on July 23 and, although the total number of jobs to be cut was unknown, one said around 25 employees, or roughly half CCX's headcount at the time of ICE's acquisition, had already been or were being let ...

Fri, 13 Aug 10
France launches Â€1.35bn renewable energy package
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2268039/france-launches-35bn-renewable
Business Green: The French government has this week launched a major new renewable energy investment programme, promising to provide EUR1.35bn of financial support to the sector over the next four years. The new programme - dubbed demonstrateurs energies renouvelables et chimie verte, literally renewable energy and green chemistry demonstration - will provide EUR450m in subsidies and a further EUR900m in low interest loans to cutting edge technology projects. Officials said the funds would be ...

Fri, 13 Aug 10
PetroAlgae files for controversial biofuel IPO
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2268046/petroalgae-files-controversial
Business Green: Biofuel developer PetroAlgae threw the cat among the pigeons of the embryonic algae-to-fuel industry yesterday, announcing that it has filed for an IPO despite having posted no revenue over the past three years. The Florida-based company said it has filed a registration statement on Form S-1 with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) setting out plans for its proposed stock market listing. It said "the number of shares to be offered and the price range for the offering ...

Fri, 13 Aug 10
Spray on solar cell offers window opportunity for green buildings
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2268047/spray-solar-cell-give-windows
Business Green: Everyday surfaces such as windows and roof tiles could be used to generate energy after a team of scientists this week revealed plans to commercialise a spray-on solar cell that could be used on buildings and aircraft. Norwegian company EnSol and a team of scientists at the University of Leicester yesterday announced that they have successfully tested a new low-cost thin film photovoltaic cell that can be painted onto flat surfaces. The patented design uses metallic ...

Fri, 13 Aug 10
We have yet to see the biggest costs of the BP spill
http://www.thenation.com/article/153908/we-have-yet-see-biggest-costs-bp-spill
Nation: We're almost at the happily-ever-after stage of the gulf oil-spill story. The well has been killed, the beaches are being scrubbed and wicked Tony Hayward has been banished to Russia. All that's left now is for BP to make good on the damage it has caused. The company has set aside $32 billion to meet its liabilities, while doing everything in its power to keep the damages below that figure. But even if it has to pay the full price, it will have won one of the biggest bargains in corporate ...

Fri, 13 Aug 10
Amid warming, a warning
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2010/08/12/amid_warming_a_warning/
Boston Globe: THE MAN-MADE increase of greenhouse gases in the earth`s atmosphere cannot be definitively blamed for any one incident of extreme weather. And no single cause can be assigned to the current forest fires around Moscow, the floods in Pakistan, or the mudslides in China. Still, this summer`s desolating scenes of death and devastation from heat waves, fires, and floods may be taken as a forewarning of what awaits the planet if nothing is done soon to reduce man`s contribution to climate ...

Thu, 12 Aug 10
Texas sues feds over offshore drilling ban
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100811/ap_on_bi_ge/us_gulf_oil_spill_moratorium
AP: The Texas attorney general has sued the Obama administration, claiming the current offshore drilling moratorium is "unjustified" and officials did not contact state officials before issuing the ban. Attorney General Greg Abbott filed the 18-page suit in federal court in Houston on Wednesday. The federal ban imposed July 12 halts all drilling operations in water greater than 500 feet. It is the second offshore drilling moratorium issued by the Interior Department after a federal ...

Thu, 12 Aug 10
LED Bulb Edges Below $20
http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/11/led-bulb-edges-below-20/
NYT: This week Home Depot fired a new marketing salvo in what is expected to be a broader national effort to get home customers to adopt LED lighting. The Home Depot A 40-watt-equivalent bulb sold online at Home Depot. The retail giant began selling one of the light bulbs in its highly energy-efficient lineup at a surprisingly affordable price of just under $20 online. Bricks-and-mortar stores will follow in September. While $20 hardly sounds like a deal at first blush, such ...

Thu, 12 Aug 10
US heat wave just preview of future: study
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100811/sc_afp/usweatherclimatewarming
AFP: The US East Coast is sweltering in a record-hot summer but it could endure twice as many sweaty days by mid-century without action on climate change, an environmental group said Wednesday. The US capital, Washington, is on track for 50 days in 2010 in which the mercury crosses 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 Celsius), a number that could rise as high as 100 by 2050, the National Wildlife Federation said in a study. The group, which supports action against climate change, said that ...

Thu, 12 Aug 10
Hollywood greens up with environmental database
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE67A53K20100811?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29
Reuters: Television and movie makers have no excuse for not jumping on the "green" movement bandwagon. A new website with resources on everything from recycling sets to cruelty-free mascara makes it simple to do so. The Producers Guild of America on Wednesday unveiled www.greenproductionguide.com -- a database of environmentally-friendly products and services from vendors across the United States. The move is the latest push in Hollywood's efforts to clean up its "green" act, after ...

Thu, 12 Aug 10
Spain: Jellyfish sting hundreds on Costa Blanca beaches
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/11/spain-jellyfish-attacks-costa-blanca
Guardian: A vast flotilla of small, virtually undetectable jellyfish have stung hundreds of people on Spanish beaches this week – an event swimmer's nightmare biologists say will become increasingly common due to climate change and overfishing. The jellyfish attacked three areas near the eastern city of Elche along the stretch of white sand beaches on the Costa Blanca. On Tuesday 380 people were stung, compared with the usual four or five swimmers a day, said Juan Carlos Castellanos of the Elche city ...

Thu, 12 Aug 10
Analysis: U.S. oil spills hit support for Canada mega-pipeline
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100811/ts_nm/us_transcanada_pipeline
Reuters: For Calgary-based TransCanada, a recent Michigan oil spill from a pipeline operated by its rival Enbridge Inc couldn't have come at a worse time. The spill threatens to tilt public opinion against TransCanada's $12 billion pipeline system that could ultimately stretch from Alberta to Texas. More than 800,000 gallons (3.6 million liters) of crude oil from a 41-year-old stretch of Enbridge Inc's 6B pipeline spewed into a Michigan waterway on July 26, in one of the biggest ...

Thu, 12 Aug 10
Russia Fires, Pakistan Floods Linked?
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/08/100812-russian-wildfires-pakistan-floods-global-warming-science-environment/
National Geographic: They're raging a continent apart, but two deadly natural disasters--the Russian wildfires and the Pakistan floods--may be connected by the Asian monsoon, one of the most powerful atmospheric forces on the planet, scientists say. That's because the monsoon--a seasonal wind system that brings rain and floods to Pakistan and much of the rest of Asia in summer--also drives the circulation of air as far away as Europe, said Kevin Trenberth, a senior scientist at the Boulder, Colorado-based ...

Thu, 12 Aug 10
Yale receives $1.5M US carbon capture project
http://www.boston.com/news/local/connecticut/articles/2010/08/11/yale_receives_15m_us_carbon_capture_project/?rss_id=Boston.com+--+Latest+news
AP: The U.S. Department of Energy says it has picked Yale University for a $1.5 million project to develop technologies to store carbon dioxide. The project is among 15 at a cost of $21.3 million over three years nationally to help develop technology to store carbon dioxide in geologic formations. Officials say the projects selected Wednesday will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and develop and use near-zero emission coal technologies. Yale will study questions about the ...

Thu, 12 Aug 10
Deutsche unit spurns US for climate investment
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N11239630.htm
Reuters: Alternative energy investment prospects have shriveled in the United States after the U.S. Senate was unable to break a deadlock over tackling global warming, a Deutsche Bank <DBKGn.DE> official said. "You just throw your hands up and say ... we're going to take our money elsewhere," said Kevin Parker in an interview with Reuters. Parker, who is global head of the Frankfurt-based bank's Deutsche Asset Management Division, oversees nearly $700 billion in funds that devote $6 ...

Thu, 12 Aug 10
Small and cheap? Think electric
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1100812/jsp/frontpage/story_12802439.jsp
Telegraph: Tata Nano, beware! The future is here! With almost everyone paying no more than lip service to the idea of reducing global dependence on petroleum products since the "oil shock" of 1973, Israel is taking steps that may eventually wipe off the affluence of the sheikhs in the Gulf and blunt the only strategic weapon that the Arabs have in their fight for influence on the global stage, namely their energy resources. Big plans are afoot here which could one day make petrol and diesel-run ...

Thu, 12 Aug 10
DOE awards $21.3M to study CO2 underground storage
http://www.boston.com/news/local/connecticut/articles/2010/08/11/doe_awards_213m_to_study_co2_underground_storage/?rss_id=Boston.com+--+Latest+news
AP: LUBBOCK, Texas--U.S. Department of Energy officials have announced $21.3 million in funding for facilities to create safe and economical technologies nationwide for storing carbon dioxide in geologic formations. Assistant Energy Secretary James Markowsky said Wednesday that the money will develop projects at 15 sites in a dozen states. Researchers will study various facets of carbon capture and migration in different types of geologic formations. Markowsky said the goal ...

Thu, 12 Aug 10
Huge rise in sea levels forecast if global warming ignored
http://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/huge-rise-in-sea-levels-forecast-if-global-warming-ignored-20100811-11zqc.html?autostart=1
Sydney Morning Herald: Sea levels could rise by up to seven metres if greenhouse gas emissions were not scaled back, a panel of leading geoscientists has told the US Congress. The warning came as a vast ice shelf, about 260 square kilometres in size, continued to fall away from Greenland's Petermann glacier, the largest iceberg shed by the island in half a century. The geoscientists told Congress Greenland might cease to exist, with the island rapidly approaching a tipping point that would see much ...

Thu, 12 Aug 10
Fears Russian wildfires could send Chernobyl waste to Moscow
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/11/russia-wildfires-chernobyl-radiation
Guardian: Forest wardens today stepped up patrols in the Chernobyl fallout zone as a leading ecologist warned that fires could send radioactive particles as far as Moscow. Around 160,000 emergency personnel are battling 600 wildfires across Russia, 290 of which ignited in the last 24 hours. Greenpeace said at least 20 fires – three of them in a highly contaminated forest area – had broken out in the Bryansk region, bordering northern Ukraine, in recent days. Bryansk was part of ...

Thu, 12 Aug 10
Norway has set Europe an eco example
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/aug/11/europe-must-follow-norways-eco-example
Guardian: In December 2009, Oslo received the distinction of the third greenest city in Europe (after Copenhagen and Stockholm). Always aware of the wealth of their fisheries, water and fossil fuels, the Norwegians were among the first Europeans to feel concerned by the protection of the environment. Beyond the postcards of mountains plunging into the sea, fjords and spectacular northern lights stands a modern country that strives to protect its natural heritage. To achieve its goal of becoming ...

Thu, 12 Aug 10
United Kingdom: Time is running out for CRC laggards
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/analysis/2267999/running-crc-laggards
Business Green: Writing as someone whose tax return is invariably filed hours rather than weeks before the deadline, I have plenty of sympathy for those businesses yet to officially register their inclusion in the Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) scheme. The entirely human instinct to put off something you can do today until the last conceivable moment means it is not surprising that barely a third of the organisations covered by the CRC have lodged their registration documents with the Environment ...

Thu, 12 Aug 10
Sub-Saharan Africa news in brief: 28 July-August 11 2010
http://www.scidev.net/en/agriculture-and-environment/sub-saharan-africa-news-in-brief-28-july-august-11-2010-5.html?utm_source=link&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=en_agricultureandenvironment
SciDev.Net: Uganda's effort to curb methane emissions is a global first Uganda has registered a programme with a series of activities aimed at cutting down methane emissions, according to the World Bank. The programme will promote financially and environmentally sustainable waste composting in urban areas and is said to be the first of its kind globally. "This programme ... serves as an example for many other African countries to design and implement large scale mitigation activities," said Henry ...

Thu, 12 Aug 10
New NASA images reveal devastating impact of Russian fires
http://news.mongabay.com/2010/0811-hance_russia_nasa.html
Mongabay: A new series of images released by NASA show the extent of smoke hovering over Moscow and Central European Russia, while another image measures the amount of carbon monoxide in the area, a gas which can produce a number of health problems. Russia is in the midst of a full-scale disaster as hundreds of forest and peatland fires are covering part of the world's largest nation in a thick cloud of smoke. Temperatures in Moscow and elsewhere have broken past heat records several times in the last ...

Thu, 12 Aug 10
Russia's peatland fires seen burning for months
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE67A3H120100811?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29
Reuters: Some of Russia's smog-causing peatland fires are likely to burn for months, part of a global problem of drained marshes that emit climate-warming greenhouse gases, experts said on Wednesday. Novel carbon markets could offer a long-term fix for peat bogs, from Indonesia to South Africa, if negotiators of a U.N. climate treaty can agree ways to pay to safeguard marshes that are often drained to make way for farms, roads or homes. "Peat fires continue underground and...they will ...

Thu, 12 Aug 10
Indonesia APP says audit shows deforestation claim untrue
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE67A3GL20100811?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29
Reuters: Indonesian paper firm Asia Pulp and Paper (APP) on Wednesday released an audit it said showed allegations it destroyed rainforest were baseless and invalid. The audit marks the latest chapter in an increasingly bitter dispute between environmentalists and the plantation industry over Indonesian forests, which trap huge amounts of climate-warming greenhouse gases. French retailer Carrefour said last month it would stop buying certain APP products, a day after Greenpeace released ...

Thu, 12 Aug 10
United States: For Parched Farmers, a Crop of Electrons
http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/11/for-parched-farmers-a-crop-of-electrons/
New York Times: In an article in The Times on Wednesday, I wrote about an ambitious plan to build one of the world's largest solar energy complexes on 30,000 acres of farmland in California's San Joaquin Valley. Elsewhere, big renewable energy projects have encountered opposition from farmers, ranchers and environmentalists who worry about the impact of solar power plants on agriculture, wildlife and scarce water supplies. But farmers in the San Joaquin Valley's Westlands Water District are ...

Thu, 12 Aug 10
Travels through the world of climate change
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20727732.000-travels-through-the-world-of-climate-change.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=magcontents
New Scientist: Book information The Weather of the Future: Heat waves, extreme storms, and other scenes from a climate-changed planet by Heidi Cullen Published by: Harper Price: Â£16.99/$25.99 WITH their emails all over the internet, we cannot escape the foibles of climate scientists. Their motivations and moral compasses are, for many of us, as important as their climate models. Heidi Cullen's beautifully crafted study provides the human detail that has been missing from ...

Thu, 12 Aug 10
Can Cell Phones Speed Adaptation to Climate Change?
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=can-cell-phones-speed-adaptation-to-climate-change
Scientific American: FM radio and cellular phones are fostering a rising awareness of climate impacts and mitigation in some of the globe's remotest and most undeveloped regions. In Nepal, community radio has long been used to spread news about social issues. But lately the focus has shifted to climate change, said Pitambar Sigdel, a senior reporter for Annapurna Post, the national daily newspaper. "They are playing some interesting roles," she said via e-mail. "Local people are so much (more) conscious about ...

Thu, 12 Aug 10
The extreme weather conditions bringing floods, fire and drought
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/interactive/2010/aug/11/extreme-weather-floods-drought-famine
Guardian

Thu, 12 Aug 10
Markey wants BP to accept government oil estimate
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100811/ap_on_re_us/us_gulf_oil_spill_fines
AP: A Massachusetts congressman is asking BP to accept the government's latest estimate of how much oil spewed from the company's blown-out Gulf well as a basis to determine how much it may face in civil fines. Rep. Ed Markey sent a letter Wednesday to the head of BP's U.S. operations telling him that the oil giant should legally own up to its obligations as one of the responsible parties for the spill. Civil penalties can be levied under a variety of environmental protection laws, ...

Thu, 12 Aug 10
Texas petrochemical emissions down, but still underestimated, says study
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/08/100811135043.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Latest+Science+News%29
ScienceDaily: A thick blanket of yellow haze hovering over Houston as a result of chemical pollution produced by manufacturing petroleum products may be getting a little bit thinner, according to a new study. But the new findings -- which have implications for petrochemical-producing cities around the world -- come with a catch, says a team of scientists from the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, or CIRES, a joint institute of the University of Colorado at Boulder and ...

Thu, 12 Aug 10
Russia's Agony a "Wake-Up Call" to the World
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=52455
Inter Press Service: A wind turbine on an acre of northern Iowa farmland could generate 300,000 dollars worth of greenhouse-gas-free electricity a year. Instead, the U.S. government pays out billions of dollars to subsidise grain for ethanol fuel that has little if any impact on global warming, according to Lester Brown. "The smartest thing the U.S. could do is phase out ethanol subsidies," says Brown, the founder of the Washington-based Earth Policy Institute, in reference to rising food prices resulting ...

Thu, 12 Aug 10
China landslide rescue effort continues
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2010/aug/11/china-natural-disasters
Guardian

Thu, 12 Aug 10
Tire-Makers Try Treading Lightly on the Environment
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=greener-tires
Scientific American: Few consumer products have a poorer environmental image than the car tire. It is hard to escape the bleak sight of coal-colored mountains of used tires that blight the U.S. landscape. But like other parts of the automobile, the tire has been partially reworked during the past decade to make it more ecologically sustainable. As a result of efforts by tire industry chemists and engineers, many of today's tires roll more easily to save fuel and contain fewer petroleum-based ingredients, both of ...

Thu, 12 Aug 10
United Kingdom: Lords distance themselves from climate sceptic Christopher Monckton
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/aug/11/lords-climate-christopher-monckton
Guardian: The House of Lords has stepped up its efforts to make Christopher Monckton – climate sceptic and deputy leader of the UK Independence party (Ukip) – desist in his repeated claims that he is a member of the upper house. The push comes as Buckingham palace has also been drawn into the affair over his use of a logo similar to parliament's famous portcullis emblem. Last month, Michael Pownall, clerk of the parliaments, wrote to Lord Monckton, a hereditary peer, stressing that he should ...

Thu, 12 Aug 10
Consensus on energy policy eludes German leader
http://www10.nytimes.com/2010/08/11/business/energy-environment/11nuke.html?_r=5&src=busln
New York Times: CHANCELLOR Angela Merkel has made combating climate change one of her priorities. But she is having difficulty finding consensus even within her own government on a new energy policy, especially on the most contentious issue: the future of Germany's nuclear plants. Governments around the globe are seeking cleaner ways to generate power and trying to reduce their dependence on foreign oil and natural gas at the same time. And most countries are deciding they cannot do without nuclear ...

Thu, 12 Aug 10
Greenland's giant island of ice could pose threat to offshore platforms, shipping
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/world/breakingnews/greenlands-giant-island-of-ice-could-pose-threat-to-offshore-platforms-shipping-100369689.html
Associated Press: It's slowly drifting across Arctic waters, an iceberg four times the size of Manhattan that broke off from a glacier in Greenland over the weekend. Potentially in the path of this unstoppable giant are oil platforms and shipping lanes -- and any collision could do untold damage. In a worst case scenario, large chunks of it could reach the heavily trafficked waters where another Greenlandic iceberg sank the Titanic in 1912. It's been a summer of near Biblical climatic havoc ...

Thu, 12 Aug 10
Think this summer is hot? Get used to it
http://www.usatoday.com/weather/news/extremes/2010-08-11-heatwaveonline_ST_N.htm
USA Today: This summer's stifling, deadly heat along the Eastern Seaboard and Deep South could be a preview of summers to come over the next few decades, according to a report about global warming to be published Wednesday by the National Wildlife Federation and the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America. In fact, according to NWF climate scientist Amanda Staudt, the summer of 2010 might actually be considered mild compared with the typical summers in the future. "We all think this summer is ...

Thu, 12 Aug 10
Business facing a wave of green taxes
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/greenpolitics/taxandtheenvironment/7937911/Business-facing-a-wave-of-green-taxes.html
Telegraph: Companies that fail to register their energy use by next month will be hit with fines that could reach Â£45,000 under the little-known rules. Those that do participate in the Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) initiative by declaring their energy use will face charges for every ton of greenhouse gas they produce. These payments are expected to average Â£38,000 a year for medium-sized firms, and could reach Â£100,000 for larger organisations. Surveys have shown that thousands ...

Thu, 12 Aug 10
Berlin may extend reactor lifetimes by 14 years
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,711139,00.html
Spiegel: Environment Minister Norbert RÃ¶ttgen inspecting a wind farm off the German North Sea coast in April. A major conflict is brewing in Chancellor Angela Merkel's coalition over the extension of nuclear reactor lifetimes. Some conservatives are demanding that the power stations be kept open by an average of 14 years beyond the 2022 phase-out date. The decision due in autumn could decide the political fate of Norbert RÃ¶ttgen, her ambitious environment minister. Supporters of nuclear ...

Thu, 12 Aug 10
Races put climate pacts in jeopardy
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0810/40919.html
Politico: States have set the pace over the past decade as the nation's leaders in implementing climate change policy, but much of their work could be on the line this fall. Nineteen gubernatorial races involve states that participate in the regional climate initiatives that have emerged as important alternatives to federal policy, given Congress's failure to pass a cap-and-trade system to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. Nowhere is the battle more intense than in California, where ...

Thu, 12 Aug 10
Frozen jet stream links Pakistan floods, Russian fires
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20727730.101-frozen-jet-stream-links-pakistan-floods-russian-fires.html
New Scientist: Raging wildfires in western Russia have reportedly doubled average daily death rates in Moscow. Diluvial rains over northern Pakistan are surging south "" the UN reports that 6 million have been affected by the resulting floods. It now seems that these two apparently disconnected events have a common cause. They are linked to the heatwave that killed more than 60 in Japan, and the end of the warm spell in western Europe. The unusual weather in the US and Canada last month also has a ...

Thu, 12 Aug 10
France digs deep for nuclear waste
http://www.nature.com/news/2010/100810/full/466804a.html
Nature: "It'll be about 8 minutes before we reach the 490-metre lab level," shouts an official, barely audible above the roar of machinery, as we slam shut the heavy doors of the small lift and trundle slowly towards the depths of the Earth. Here, half a kilometre beneath rolling wheat fields outside the small town of Bure in northeast France, the country is preparing to dispose of its radioactive waste. In a EUR1-billion (US$1.3 billion) underground laboratory, the French National ...

Thu, 12 Aug 10
Report: Prop. 23 supporters are major polluters
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5i88n1n-XB9x5ghSrCIniF31YyAnwD9HGS6800
AP: The Texas-based oil companies that are the primary backers of a November ballot effort to suspend California's global warming law are among the state's biggest polluters, according to a report issued Tuesday by two groups advocating for inner-city residents. Valero Energy Corp. and Tesoro Corp. have contributed more than $4.5 million to Proposition 23, which seeks to suspend a 2006 law intended to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Their contributions represent nearly 75 percent of the ...

Thu, 12 Aug 10
Global warming, devotion, the lunar calendar: Why this will be one hot Ramadan 2010
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Global-News/2010/0810/Global-warming-devotion-the-lunar-calendar-Why-this-will-be-one-hot-Ramadan-2010
Christian Science Monitor: For most of the world's 1.5 billion Muslims, the fast will begin Wednesday at dawn (though some will delay a day if the new moon isn't sighted by a religious authority they follow). With the Islamic lunar calendar cycling through the solar Gregorian calender that the West uses roughly every 30 years, Ramadan now – and for the next five or so years – will correspond with the hottest and longest days of summer for most Muslims. And, at least from a short-run perspective, those hottest ...

Thu, 12 Aug 10
Unique view of Russian wildfires
http://www.climatecentral.org/breaking/blog/russian_heat_wave_and_wildfires_continue
Climate Central: Russians suffered through yet another day in the relentless and incredibly intense heat wave of 2010, as wildfires continued to burn uncontained and the government increasingly focused on appearing in command of the situation. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who is famous for his public relations stunts, even took control of a firefighting aircraft, and went online to rebut criticism from the blogosphere of the government's emergency response services. The wildfire smoke has led to ...

Thu, 12 Aug 10
Ladakh paradise lost in a global warning
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/LH12Df01.html
Asian Times: Paradise was buried under a vast, cataclysmic mud flow that struck Ladakh district, the beautiful Shangri-la in the Indian Himalayas, last week, killing over 160 people in and outside Leh, the area's main town. Flash floods and landslides near Leh, which in two hours also destroyed two decades of infrastructure growth, unleashed questions about the fatal effects of pollution and shortsighted economic development on millennia-old sensitive ecological systems. Leh has become a terrible ...

Thu, 12 Aug 10
'Berserk' weather causes worldwide chaos
http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Weather-Floods-and-Drought-Global-Weather-Goes-Berserk-Killing-Millions/Article/201008215681127?lpos=World_News_Top_Stories_Header_1&lid=ARTICLE_15681127_Weather%3A_Floods_and_Drought_Global_Weather_Goes_Berserk
Sky News: From floods in Pakistan to droughts in Russia, "extreme and very unusual" weather across the world is bringing death and misery to millions of people. To view this content you need Flash and Javascript enabled in your browser. Please download Flash from the Adobe download website. 2010 is already being branded as the year the weather went berserk. In Pakistan, floods have claimed over 1,600 lives and left over two million people homeless. Countries across ...

Thu, 12 Aug 10
Climate regulation's newest foe?
http://motherjones.com/blue-marble/2010/08/epa-faces-climate-backlash-enviros
Mother Junes: The Environmental Protection Agency's plan to roll out regulations on planet-warming gases may hit a snag in the coming months--opposition from environmentalists. While industry groups are mounting major legal challenges to the agency's ability to regulate greenhouse gases, the EPA's decision to scale back the number of pollution sources subject to these new rules has raised the ire of greens who worry the agency isn't being aggressive enough. Bill Snape, senior counsel at the Center ...

Thu, 12 Aug 10
Where the oil industry meets alternative energy
http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2010/08/11/am-where-the-oil-industry-meets-alternative-energy/
Market Place: Bill Radke: The ban on deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico goes back to federal court today in New Orleans. Many, many people in the Gulf Coast depend on oil drilling to make a living. So where does that leaves alternative energy in those states? Over the next two days, Marketplace's Krissy Clark introduces us to two people who can help us understand whether oil and alternatives can ever mix. Krissy Clark: I first met Nolan Hart through his website, EnergyIndustryPhotos.com, ...

Thu, 12 Aug 10
Russian wildfires raise Chernobyl radiation fears
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_RUSSIA_FIRES?SITE=FLPET&SECTION=HOME
AP: Wildfires threatened to stir radioactive particles left over from the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster back into the air over western Russia, and authorities boosted forest patrols to keep the flames from contaminated areas. Environmentalists and forest experts warned that the radioactive dust could be harmful, even though doses would likely be small. "The danger is still there," Vladimir Chuprov of Russian Greenpeace told The Associated Press. The Emergency Situations ...

Thu, 12 Aug 10
UCD Professor: Climate Change Past 'Tipping Point'
http://cbs13.com/local/climate.change.uc.2.1853869.html
CBS13.com: The unseasonably cool summer weather across much of Northern California has served as a stark counterpoint to much of wild weather sweeping the rest of the globe, and a UC Davis professor warns the extreme conditions may be a symptom of worsening climate change that may already be past the "tipping point." Across the southeast United States, nine heat-related deaths have been reported in Tennessee and sweltering humidity has made record heat in Georgia unbearable. Wildfires ...

Thu, 12 Aug 10
Supermarket giant rolls out greener alternatives to plastic milk bottles
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/aug/11/milk-bottle-sainsburys-environment
Guardian: Supermarket giant Sainsbury's is to roll out "eco-friendly" milk bags and jugs across its entire product range in a multi-million pound move to reduce the carbon footprint of milk consumption. In partnership with supplier Dairy Crest, Sainsbury's is putting its full marketing weight behind the product, confident that reluctant consumers now understand how to use it after a series of technical modifications and an education programme. The push comes despite the failure of a similar ...

Thu, 12 Aug 10
Pakistan floods shows threat from warmer world-scientists
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSSGE6780D0._CH_.2400
Reuters: Floods that have devastated Pakistan could be a sign of the future as climate change brings greater extremes of weather to the region. While climate scientists say single flooding events can't be directly blamed on global warming, more intense droughts and floods could be in the forecast for the future. And for Pakistan's 160 million people, many already facing regular droughts and floods, that could cost more lives and threaten cotton, wheat and rice crops and ...

Wed, 11 Aug 10
Hot news: UK autumn 'delayed by cold winter'
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-10925016
BBC: Autumn in the UK could be delayed this year with berries ripening and leaves changing colour later than usual, wildlife experts are predicting. Brambles and blackberries in the countryside appear to have been hit by the cold winter and are fruiting later, the Woodland Trust said. The first ripe berries traditionally peak around 4 August, but few have been recorded this year. And sightings of beech leaves turning are down from 116 in 2009 to just two. The ...

Wed, 11 Aug 10
Common orchid gives scientists hope in face of climate change
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/08/100810094615.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Latest+Science+News%29
ScienceDaily: Epigenetics comprises hidden influences upon gene functions that occur without a change in the DNA sequence, but are potentially inheritable, and it is a new field of research that is reshaping the way scientists look at the living world. This new evidence that environmental effects on gene activity can be 'remembered' is hugely significant. In the modern interpretation of Darwin's theory of evolution, scientists previously thought that genetic mutations (permanent changes in DNA sequence) ...

Wed, 11 Aug 10
Kimberly-Clark spent $60,000 lobbying gov't in 2Q
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100810/ap_on_bi_ge/us_kimberly_clark_lobbying
AP: Kimberly-Clark Corp. spent $60,000 in the second quarter to lobby the government on climate change, fees on medical device makers and other issues, according to a recent disclosure report. That's even with what it spent in the year-ago period but slightly less than the $80,000 it spent in the first quarter of 2010. The Dallas-based maker of Kleenex tissues and Huggies diapers also lobbied on the Medicare Part D subsidy and deferral of foreign earnings in the April-through-June ...

Wed, 11 Aug 10
Climate Change Could Mean More Sewage In Great Lakes
http://ipr.interlochen.org/ipr-news-features/episode/9341
Interlochen Public Radio: Climate change will exacerbate problems with raw sewage flowing into the Great Lakes, according to a new report written by the Healing Our Waters Great Lakes Coalition. An increase in heavy downpours of rain would cause overflows of sewage systems, the group says. "What we're doing today is we're calling on Congress to turn the tide on wastewater pollution by investing $2.7 billion dollars to create jobs, protect public health, restore the Great Lakes, uphold our quality of life, and ...

Wed, 11 Aug 10
Canada: Oil sands toxins growing rapidly
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/industry-news/energy-and-resources/oil-sands-toxins-growing-rapidly/article1667306/
Globe and Mail: Canada's oil sands mining operations produce vast and fast-growing quantities of deadly substances, including mercury, heavy metals and arsenic, new data released by Environment Canada shows. The information on pollutants sheds new light on the environmental toll exacted by Canada's bid to extract oil from bitumen, showing in stark relief how many nasty substances are being laid on the northern Alberta landscape in the process -- and how quickly those are growing. In the past ...

Wed, 11 Aug 10
Environmental Impact Studies on Dams Count for Little in Amazon
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=52443
Inter Press Service: "It's a fait accompli," acknowledges AndrÃ© Villas-Boas, head of the independent SocioEnvironmental Institute (ISA), resigned to the fact that the legal actions and protests have failed to block the construction of the Belo Monte hydroelectric dam in Brazil's Amazon jungle region. But the battles lost against megaprojects harmful to the environment and to indigenous peoples and other local communities have not discouraged activists from mobilising. However, they have made social ...

Wed, 11 Aug 10
On Our Radar: Russia's Heat Wave
http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/10/on-our-radar-russias-heat-wave/
New York Times: Russian officials call the ongoing heat wave the worst the country has seen in a millennium. "We have an 'archive` of abnormal weather situations stretching over 1,000 years. It is possible to say there was nothing similar to this on the territory of Russia during the last 1,000 years in regard to the heat," the head of the Russian Meteorological Center says. [Ria Novosti] The death rate in Moscow doubles due to heat and smog. [Agence France-Presse] A shortage of water ...

Wed, 11 Aug 10
Solazyme brews up fresh funding for algae fuel plans
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2267929/solazyme-brews-fresh-funding
Business Green: One of the world's leading developers of algae-based biofuel yesterday confirmed that it has pulled in $52m through its latest funding round, adding Morgan Stanley to its impressive roster of backers. San Francisco-based Solazyme said the latest funding round, which also included investment from oil giant Chevron, would help put the company on a " rapid path to commercialisation". The firm provided few details on precisely how it plans to use the cash injection, but it ...

Wed, 11 Aug 10
China landslide death toll soars
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-10922991
BBC: More than 700 people are now known to have died in a massive landslide in north-west China - making it one of the deadliest incidents so far in the country's worst flooding in a decade. A frantic search is continuing for the more than 1,000 people still missing. Buildings were hit by a wall of mud so mighty that buildings seven storeys high crumpled like paper, says the BBC's Chris Hogg, in Gansu province. He says rescuers are searching by hand in the remote, mountainous ...

Wed, 11 Aug 10
Russian forest fires to exacerbate global warming - ecologists
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20100810/160142605.html
RIA Novosti: High carbon dioxide emissions from forest fires raging across Central Russia could speed up the global warming process, World Wildlife Fund (WWF) ecologists said. Russia is suffering the worst heat wave in the 130 years since records began. Wildfires continue to rage across much of the central part of European Russia as the country experiences temperatures of up to and above 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit). WWF ecologists said the forest fires and the carbon ...

Wed, 11 Aug 10
Siemens secures $1.1bn in turbine orders
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2267908/fair-breeze-siemens-company
Business Green: Siemens today announced that it has secured two giant wind turbine orders in the US and China that are estimated to be worth around $1.1bn (Â£700m). The company said it has inked a deal in Ontario to provide wind turbines with 600MW of capacity, and will also deliver 98 turbines with a combined capacity of 227MW to a planned wind farm in Oklahoma. Financial details of the deals were not disclosed, but according to some reports they are estimated to be worth around ...

Wed, 11 Aug 10
Heat seen continuing in European Russia for 10 days
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6791Y520100810?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29
Reuters: The heat in most parts of European Russia is likely to continue over the next 10 days, the deputy director of Hydrometcentre, a senior Russian weather official said on Tuesday. "The situation is not changing radically," Dmitry Kiktyov, deputy director of Hydrometcentre, said. "The temperature will change insignificantly, and there will be only local rains. They will be insufficient to cushion the current situation." But he said the weather conditions in Siberia, where ...

Wed, 11 Aug 10
E.P.A. Cracks Down on Cement Pollution
http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/10/e-p-a-cracks-down-on-cement-pollution/
New York Times: Congress focuses on whether the Environmental Protection Agency should go where no federal regulators have gone before and regulate greenhouse gases. But the agency did something more prosaic on Monday, albeit something it has not done effectively for the last 15 years or so: it put more than 100 cement kilns on notice that they will have to spend almost $1 billion annually to clean up the pollution they put into the atmosphere. That`s the agency`s estimate. A statement by the ...

Wed, 11 Aug 10
GDF boosts low carbon plans with Â£1.4bn International Power takeover
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2267919/gdf-boosts-low-carbon-plans
Business Green: French energy giant GDF Suez has announced it is to take over UK-based International Power in a Â£1.4bn deal that will create the world's largest independent power generator and bolster GDF's presence in the expanding hydroelectric and renewable energy sector. Under the terms of the deal, GDF will pay a special dividend of about 90p a share in return for a 70 per cent stake in International Power. The British company, which operates 45 power stations including the large-scale ...

Wed, 11 Aug 10
Russia: Moscow wildfires fanned by Soviet legacy of neglect
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/10/russia-drought
Guardian: Some have cited the reform of forest law, initiated by Vladimir Putin in 2007, as a possible explanation for the scale of the forest fires in Russia. Is this justified? Indeed, but the changes to forest law were just the last step in the dismantling of measures to protect Russia's forests. The Soviet Union had a large body of highly skilled, specialist foresters. With the collapse of the regime and the economic crisis that followed, they were allowed to sell the timber they felled. ...

Wed, 11 Aug 10
Brazil: New horizons as city makes connections that could tear Amazon apart
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/aug/10/amazon-rainforest-bridge-manaus
Guardian: The dog licking itself lazily on the hot red earth is lying on a road that within months will make a huge leap across the Amazon, forming a ramp up to a bridge that will symbolise the surging development at the heart of the world's greatest rainforest. The first bridge on the world's largest river system will open in November, replacing the chugging ferries that plough through the dark water below. The 3.5km-long structure spanning the Amazon's major tributary, the Rio Negro, will ...

Wed, 11 Aug 10
Can Brazil live up to its promise as a 'natural knowledge economy'?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/aug/10/brazil-amazon-rainforest-oil-gas
Guardian: Outside Dr Gilberto CÃ£mara's office, there is a beautiful satellite map of Brazil. From the fractal elegance of the Amazon and its tributaries to the twinkling mega-cities of Sao Paolo and Rio de Janeiro, the map shows why he thinks Brazil can be the world's first environmental superpower. He leads Brazil's National Institute for Space Research (Inpe), one of the top 50 research organisations in the world. His startling claim, he explains in his easy English, rests on turning a piece ...

Wed, 11 Aug 10
Russia's fires cause "brown cloud," may hit Arctic
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6792IW20100810?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29
Reuters: Smoke from forest fires smothering Moscow adds to health problems of "brown clouds" from Asia to the Amazon and Russian soot may stoke global warming by hastening a thaw of Arctic ice, environmental experts say. "Health effects of such clouds are huge," said Veerabhadran Ramanathan, chair of a U.N. Environment Programme (UNEP) study of "brown clouds" blamed for dimming sunlight in cities such as Beijing or New Delhi and hitting crop growth in Asia. The clouds -- a haze of ...

Wed, 11 Aug 10
President Barack Obama supports directing most BP oil spill penalties to Gulf Coast restoration
http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2010/08/post_27.html
Times-Picayune: President Barack Obama supports the idea of directing revenue from fines paid by BP to the Gulf Coast states affected by the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, a top White House aide says. "He absolutely supports the notion of returning it to the region," Carol Browner, Obama's top adviser on energy and global warming said Sunday on "Meet the Press." Browner, however, wouldn't commit to supporting a specific proposal by Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., to funnel 80 percent of ...

Wed, 11 Aug 10
United States: Global warming mission could survive Prop. 23, experts say
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-global-warming-20100810,0,5260139.story
LA Times: Even if voters decide to suspend California's landmark global warming law at the polls in November, most of its goals to reduce greenhouse gases can still be met, according to experts. Such a vote would be a political blow to the governor and environmentalists, undermining their campaign to expand California's greenhouse gas reduction efforts here and elsewhere, but it wouldn't freeze most of the pioneering programs that carry out the state's fight against global warming, said ...

Wed, 11 Aug 10
Russia: Amid heat and smoke, deaths double in Moscow
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/10/world/europe/10russia.html?_r=5
New York Times: The daily mortality rate here has nearly doubled in recent days, the city's chief health official said Monday, singling out the heat as the primary factor and not the culprit most people here suspected: the choking cloud of wildfire smoke. The acknowledgment at once confirmed a flurry of rumors that bodies were beginning to pile up in morgues and gave rise to a new one in which the authorities, possibly trying to ward off a panicked exodus, were engaging in a Soviet-style whitewash ...

Wed, 11 Aug 10
Portugal gives itself a clean-energy makeover
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/10/science/earth/10portugal.html?_r=5
NYT: Five years ago, the leaders of this sun-scorched, wind-swept nation made a bet: To reduce Portugal's dependence on imported fossil fuels, they embarked on an array of ambitious renewable energy projects – primarily harnessing the country's wind and hydropower, but also its sunlight and ocean waves. Today, Lisbon's trendy bars, Porto's factories and the Algarve's glamorous resorts are powered substantially by clean energy. Nearly 45 percent of the electricity in Portugal's grid will ...

Wed, 11 Aug 10
China to close 2,000 factories in energy crackdown
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/10/business/energy-environment/10yuan.html?_r=5
NYT: Earlier this summer, Prime Minister Wen Jiabao of China promised to use an "iron hand" to improve his country's energy efficiency, and a growing number of businesses are now discovering that it feels like a fist. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology quietly published a list late Sunday of 2,087 steel mills, cement works and other energy-intensive factories required to close by Sept. 30. Energy analysts described it as a significant step toward the country's ...

Wed, 11 Aug 10
China orders closure of more than 2,000 factories with poor energy efficiency
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/09/AR2010080905779.html
Washington Post: China has ordered 2,087 steel and cement mills and other factories with poor energy efficiency to close as the country struggles to cut waste and improve its battered environment. The "backward" facilities produce steel, coke, aluminum, paper and other materials throughout China and must close by late September, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology announced Sunday. Authorities said last week that a five-year plan to improve energy efficiency suffered a setback ...

Wed, 11 Aug 10
Whole buildings could become solar panels
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/energy/renewableenergy/7935081/Whole-buildings-could-become-solar-panels.html
Telegraph: The new transparent solar cell technology for harnessing green energy could be available within about five years. Professor Chris Binns of Leicester University, who was behind the research, said: "One of the key advantages is that it is a transparent thin film that can be coated onto window glass so that windows in buildings can also become power generators. "Conversely the structural material of the building can also be coated. This could be side panels of the building itself ...

Wed, 11 Aug 10
Plans yet to come on new NSW coal power plant greenhouse emissions
http://www.smh.com.au/environment/plans-yet-to-come-on-new-power-plant-emissions-20100809-11u67.html
Sydney Morning Herald: Modelling on how the state government would compensate for the estimated 22 million tonnes of greenhouse gases generated by the proposed two new coal-fired power stations is yet to be undertaken. The government believes the new plants, based on extensions to existing stations at Mount Piper near Lithgow and Bayswater in the Hunter Valley, would probably displace slightly less efficient plants elsewhere on the east coast power grid. But a series of freedom-of-information ...

Wed, 11 Aug 10
Extreme weather fuels debate over global warming
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5i77qs0MUKc7cPhe19Bs5622b9mDw
AFP: As Russia battles wildfires triggered by an unprecedented heatwave, flood waters surge across a drenched Pakistan leaving millions of people homeless, and questions are asked about global warming. Extreme weather has been a feature of the summer of 2010, with floods in Pakistan, China and Eastern Europe seemingly matched by heatwaves in Western Europe and Russia. However, experts interviewed by AFP Monday were cautious over offering the events as proof of a changing climate, ...

Wed, 11 Aug 10
China to close factories in energy drive
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/99982b84-a3e4-11df-9e3a-00144feabdc0,Authorised=false.html?_i_location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ft.com%2Fcms%2Fs%2F0%2F99982b84-a3e4-11df-9e3a-00144feabdc0.html&_i_referer=
Financial Times: China plans to close outdated factories owned by more than 2,000 companies in heavy industries in the clearest sign yet of Beijing's determination to meet its low energy targets even at the expense of economic growth. Beijing pledged five years ago to reduce energy intensity, a measure of energy consumed per unit of gross domestic product, by 20 per cent by the end of 2010. But the government has struggled to meet that goal.

Wed, 11 Aug 10
A bright idea for Alberta businesses
http://www.edmontonjournal.com/technology/bright%20idea%20Alberta%20businesses/3377637/story.html
Edmonton Journal: A $4-million pilot program is encouraging Alberta business owners to come up with bright ideas to save energy. The program launched Monday allows commercial-building operators who retrofit to energy-efficient lighting to apply for rebates up to $375,000. The amount of rebate depends on the value of the retrofit and whether the business is a restaurant, multi-use residential, office building, retail or warehouse. It is possible to cut lighting costs by 50 to 70 per cent with ...

Wed, 11 Aug 10
Rising temperatures threaten rice yield growth: study
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6790HS20100810?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29
Reuters: Rising temperatures could slow the growth of rice production unless farmers adapt by changing management practices and switch to more heat-tolerant varieties, scientists say. Rice is among the world's most important crops and a staple for people in Asia and Africa, with Asia producing and consuming more than 90 percent of the world's output. A drop in production could lead to higher prices, fears over food security and more hunger in a world with a rising human ...

Wed, 11 Aug 10
Climate talks stay bogged in Bonn
http://www.carbonpositive.net/viewarticle.aspx?articleID=2071
Carbon Positive: Tuesday, 10 August 2010 The latest session of UN climate talks in Bonn last week have only consolidated widespread apprehension that the 194 nations are still years away from their goal -- a new comprehensive climate agreement to limit global warming to plus-2 degrees or perhaps less. As parties look ahead to the annual climate conference in Cancun, Mexico at the end of this year, it's clear little progress has been made on the range of major issues holding back a deal; 2020 emissions ...

Wed, 11 Aug 10
The big switch: How Britain's homes could make cost-free emissions cuts
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/aug/10/homes-emissions-cuts
Guardian: With an electricity meter that goes backwards and a roof covered in green plants, Tony's Almond's house is no normal home. The house in Welwyn village, just north of London, is actually a green "superhome" - the 50th in a UK-wide network of demonstration eco-homes now open to the public. The scheme, operated by charity Sustainable Energy Academy (SEA) and the National Energy Foundation, plans to create a network of 200 superhomes to showcase energy efficiency and renewable energy ...

Wed, 11 Aug 10
United Kingdom: National Trust bids for Welsh coastline
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/national-trust-bids-for-welsh-coastline-2048257.html
Independent: As holidaying in the UK grows in popularity, the National Trust has stepped in to save a kilometre of Welsh coastline from the growing army of "staycationers". If it succeeds in acquiring the land on the south-west tip of the Llyn peninsula, it will be the biggest piece of coastline the trust has secured for five years. "It's a place that's been at grave risk of inappropriate development and [one] we want to purchase and protect forever," said Paul Lewis of the National ...

Wed, 11 Aug 10
Zen and the art of saving the planet
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/zen-and-the-art-of-saving-the-planet-2048029.html
Independent: As a vision of the future, the community of Plum Village in the French wine region of the Dordogne doesn't conform to stereotype. It doesn't bristle with technology, scientific endeavour and cutting-edge innovation. It is austere, tranquil and basic, and it is inhabited by brown-robed monks. Yet this co-operative of three hamlets that includes fruit orchards, vegetable gardens, dormitories, temples and meditation halls is the headquarters of a monastic order that is at the forefront ...

Tue, 10 Aug 10
Death rate doubles in Moscow's smoke, heat crisis
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6751T820100809?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29
Reuters: Scorching heat and acrid smoke have nearly doubled death rates in Moscow, a city official said on Monday as a shroud of smog from raging forest and peat fires beset Russia's capital for a third week. Firefighters battled wildfires covering 1,740 square km (1,075 sq miles) in what the state weather forecaster said was Russia's worst heat wave for a millennium. "The average death rate in the city during normal times is between 360 and 380 people per day. Today, we are around ...

Tue, 10 Aug 10
Conservationists begin mass 'frog hunt'
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-10910291
BBC: Conservationists are preparing to scout the world for traces of amphibian species that are believed to be extinct, but may just be clinging to existence. Many have fallen prey to a devastating fungal disease sweeping across continents. Richard Black reports.

Tue, 10 Aug 10
China orders 2,000 firms to shut outdated plants
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100809/sc_afp/chinaeconomyenvironmentenergypollution
AFP: The Chinese government has ordered over 2,000 firms in high-polluting and energy-intensive industries to shut down outdated plants in its latest efforts to cut pollution and restructure the economy. A total of 2,087 companies that produce steel, coal, cement, aluminium, glass and other materials have to close their old and obsolete facilities by the end of September, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said. Companies that fail to do so risk having bank loans ...

Tue, 10 Aug 10
Hurricane could bring bureaucratic delays to Gulf
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100809/ap_on_bi_ge/us_gulf_oil_spill_hurricane_plan
Associated Press: If a hurricane hits the Gulf Coast and whips up oil from BP's massive spill, cleanup workers will not be able to swoop into action to fix the mess. A new Obama administration edict requires that the oil be tested before it can be cleaned, according to a response plan obtained by The Associated Press. The extra step is supposed to make it easier for the government to get reimbursed if a hurricane slings oil from the Gulf of Mexico into backyards, neighborhoods and wetlands. But ...

Tue, 10 Aug 10
Russia: Moscow deaths doubled in heatwave: Ifax
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6780P920100809?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29
Reuters: The death rate in Moscow has doubled as wildfires have blanketed the capital with toxic smoke amid Russia's worst heatwave in over a century, Interfax cited the city's health department chief as saying on Monday. The official, Alexander Seltsovsky, did not give a specific time frame or number of deaths, but indicated heat and pollution were the cause of the increase, according to the report. "Mortality in Moscow has doubled recently," Interfax news agency quoted Seltsovsky as ...

Tue, 10 Aug 10
BP spends $6.1 bln on Gulf spill response
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100809/ts_alt_afp/usoilenvironmentpollutionbp
AFP: Energy giant BP said on Monday that it had spent 6.1 billion dollars so far in response to the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and confirmed that the damaged well was no longer leaking. "The cost of the response to date amounts to approximately 6.1 billion dollars (4.6 billion euros)," BP said in an official statement. The costs include spill response, relief well drilling, the "static kill" and cementing of the ruptured well, grants to Gulf states, claims paid and ...

Tue, 10 Aug 10
Australia's aboriginal communities clamour against uranium mining
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/aug/09/austrailia-aboriginal-uranium-mining
IPS: As a mining giant prepares to open a major uranium mining site in Western Australia next year, the clamour for the state to once more ban mining of the radioactive mineral has become louder. In fact, the Wongatha Aboriginal clan that calls this region its home does not see any wisdom in having uranium mining in Australia at all. "We don't need uranium mining in this country," says Wongatha leader and pastor Geoffrey Stokes. "We have sun, we've got wind, we've got people. Why should we ...

Tue, 10 Aug 10
Coming closer to Cancun
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/indepth/2010-08/09/c_13436216.htm
Xinhua: Does it take more time to make a clay pot or cook a meal with the pot? Some may say the latter needs less time. It depends. For instance, it should be difficult to cook a meal for 192 people with varying food habits, compared to feeding just one family. The United Nations faces a similar task when it comes to climate change. The world body is saddled with the ultimate task of achieving consensus on ways to fight climate change. For that, it has to expedite human intervention in ...

Tue, 10 Aug 10
CBI urges government to end energy policy confusion
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2267816/cbi-urges-government-energy
Business Green: Business lobby group the CBI is today calling on the government to get its energy house in order, after warning that uncertainty about proposed policy reforms is stalling up to Â£150bn of private sector low-carbon investment. The CBI said that uncertainty about the planning regime in particular is making investors wary of committing to new low carbon energy projects. It also warned that unless the Government delivers key energy and planning reforms within six months, it could ...

Sun, 8 Aug 10
Why Dmitry Medvedev should turn his attention to Russia's peat bogs
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cif-green/2010/aug/07/russian-wildfires-peat-bogs
Guardian: What's black, squidgy and exhausting to walk on? The answer is peat, the gunk that gives malt whisky its smoky taste and burns sweetly when it's dried out. Dmitry Medvedev is busy just now, having cut short his holiday to deal with Russia's terrifying forest fires, but when he's done the president should think about his country's peat for a while. Why? Because alongside dozens of forest fires, there are another 56 peat fires, many of them around Moscow, threatening Russia's most ...

Sun, 8 Aug 10
Health alarm as acrid smog blankets Moscow
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100807/hl_afp/russiaheatwavefires
AFP: The worst smog in living memory blanketed Moscow Saturday, with residents fleeing the Russian capital or donning protective masks against pollution over six times higher than normal safe levels. The wildfires which have sparked the smog were still spreading in central Russia with 290 new fires in the last 24 hours as weather forecasters said Russia's worst heatwave in decades would continue for the next days. Iconic Moscow landmarks including the Kremlin and golden church ...

Sun, 8 Aug 10
Adapting to warming could worsen climate change
http://www.dailyindia.com/show/390639.php
ANI: A new study has concluded that the way humanity reacts to climate change may do more damage to many areas of the planet than climate change itself unless we plan properly. The research has been published in Conservation Letters by Conservation International's Will Turner and a group of other leading scientists. The study looks at efforts to both reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and potential action that could be taken by people to adapt to a changed climate and assesses the ...

Sun, 8 Aug 10
Climate change is here
http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20100807/OPINION01/708079995/1038/OPINION01
Rutland Herald: Just as some Americans, for political or religious reasons, continue to argue that evolution is no more than a theory, rather than a scientific (or biblical) fact, there are those who doubt or even deny the existence of climate change, despite all the evidence to the contrary. Others actually acknowledge its existence, but fault their political rivals for advancing unacceptable (to them) solutions to the problem. We can argue in good faith and with mutual respect about what is the ...

Sun, 8 Aug 10
Climate change sparks 'quickest evolution ever'
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100807/sc_afp/canadascienceevolutionwarming
AFP: At least one fish species can adapt in just three generations to survive a sharp change in temperature, researchers said in a study on the fastest rate of evolution ever recorded in wild animals."Our study is the first to experimentally show that certain species in the wild could adapt to climate change very rapidly," said Friday lead researcher Rowan Barrett. However, the University of British Columbia evolutionary geneticist warned, the evolutionary jump carries a deadly price tag: ...

Sun, 8 Aug 10
Climate Change: Trends, Changes and the World Series Make for one Hot Season
http://www.thebradentontimes.com/news/2010/08/07/environment/climate_change_trends_changes_and_the_world_series_make_for_one_hot_season/
Bradenton Times: Our wildlife suffered through a cold winter in Florida. We also endured a steamy June. What does it all mean? The temperatures were below normal during the winter and above normal in the spring. It's not rocket science, it's not static, and it is impossible to draw conclusions about climate change with just a few weeks' worth of data. Yet that's what many of us do when it comes to climate change. Either side could "prove" the other side wrong based on the weather that occurred over ...

Sun, 8 Aug 10
Premiers differ on climate change
http://www.montrealgazette.com/Premiers+differ+climate+change/3370819/story.html
Montreal Gazette: Canada's 13 provincial and territorial premiers collectively said yesterday more must be done to combat climate change across the country, but the road maps for getting there continue to take drastically different routes. While premiers in Winnipeg for the annual Council of the Federation meeting agreed to a pan-Canadian water charter to protect and conserve the resource, they butted heads on how best to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. British Columbia, Ontario, Quebec and ...

Sun, 8 Aug 10
Climate change sparks quickest evolution
http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-world/climate-change-sparks-quickest-evolution-20100807-11p63.html
AFP: At least one fish species can adapt in just three generations to survive a sharp change in temperature, researchers say in a study on the fastest rate of evolution ever recorded in wild animals. "Our study is the first to experimentally show that certain species in the wild could adapt to climate change very rapidly," lead researcher Rowan Barrett said on Friday. However, the University of British Columbia (UBC) evolutionary geneticist warned, the evolutionary jump carries a ...

Sun, 8 Aug 10
Safety of Russian nuclear sites remains at risk as record heat wave holds and wildfires engulf vast expanses of ..
http://www.bellona.org/articles/articles_2010/Russiafires_nuclear
Bellona: Deadly forest fires are threatening Russia's Novovoronezh Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) and have already forced the evacuation of radioactive materials from a nuclear research centre in Nizhny Novgorod Region as this summer's scorching heat – and overall ill-preparedness for this sudden onset of some of the worse effects of climate change – continues to facilitate conditions for the growing emergency. Maria Kaminskaya, 06/08-2010 As Russia keeps battling this summer's biggest calamity -- ...

Sun, 8 Aug 10
Biggest ice island for 48 years breaks off Greenland glacier
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/aug/07/biggest-ice-island-greenland
Guardian: An ice island with an area of 100 square miles has broken off from one of Greenland's two main glaciers in what scientists say is the biggest such event in the Arctic in nearly 50 years. The huge chunk of ice, which is 600ft thick, broke off the Petermann Glacier, located about 620 miles south of the North Pole, on Thursday. It is now drifting in a remote area called the Nares Strait between Greenland and Canada. Andreas Muenchow, professor of ocean science and ...

Sun, 8 Aug 10
Has a Warming Russia Outpaced the World?
http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/06/has-a-warming-russia-outpaced-the-world/?src=me
New York Times: Firefighters sought Friday to halt a wildfire near Murmino, Russia, 110 miles southeast of Moscow. Better known for long, bitterly cold winters, Russia is well on the way to becoming the poster child for the perils of global warming this summer. On Thursday, the mercury hit 100 degrees in Moscow, the hottest day since record-keeping began in 1880; it was the fourth day in a week that the city set a temperature record. Highs for July and August typically average in the ...

Fri, 6 Aug 10
United Kingdom: An Invader: Engineered Canola
http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/06/an-invader-biotech-canola/
New York Times: Genetically engineered canola resistant to two common herbicides has been found growing widely along roadsides in North Dakota, one of the first instances of a biotech crop establishing itself in the wild. This might not even be a problem at all, although critics of biotech crops might conceivably point to it as an example of how hard it is to stop the spread of "gene pollution.'' If this is a problem, it`s because a canola plant growing outside of a canola field – on a road or in a ...

Fri, 6 Aug 10
United States: Pressure Building on Future of 2 Coal-Burning Power Plants
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/06/us/06cncpowerplants.html?_r=5
New York Times: Mayor Richard M. Daley has repeatedly billed himself as a green mayor and recently vowed to use "every available tool" to reduce the city's carbon footprint, but critics say City Hall has failed to grapple with Chicago's two most significant sources of greenhouse-gas pollution. For the past decade, public health and environmental advocates have been trying to force Midwest Generation L.L.C. to reduce emissions from its aging Fisk and Crawford coal-burning power plants in the Pilsen ...

Fri, 6 Aug 10
Global tropical forests threatened by 2100
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/08/100805172957.htm
ScienceDaily: By 2100 only 18% to 45% of the plants and animals making up ecosystems in global, humid tropical forests may remain as we know them today, according to a new study led by Greg Asner at the Carnegie Institution's Department of Global Ecology. The research combined new deforestation and selective logging data with climate-change projections. It is the first study to consider these combined effects for all humid tropical forest ecosystems and can help conservationists pinpoint where their ...

Fri, 6 Aug 10
Critics see REDD over PNG carbon schemes
http://news.theage.com.au/breaking-news-world/critics-see-redd-over-png-carbon-schemes-20100806-11lxq.html
AAP: Two carbon trade projects proposed for Papua New Guinea have been hammered by critics who list a litany of inconsistencies, dubious science, legal issues and concerns landowners will be ripped off. PNG's pilot Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation' (REDD) schemes, which are part of the United Nation's framework for tackling climate change, are in the Kamula Doso forest, Western Province and April Salumei, East Sepik Province. But documents obtained by AAP ...

Fri, 6 Aug 10
To seal or sell? BP has options on remaining oil
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100806/ap_on_bi_ge/us_gulf_oil_spill
Associated Press: The vast oil reservoir beneath BP's blown-out well could still be worth billions of dollars even after it spewed crude into the Gulf of Mexico for more than three months -- but the multinational company blamed for causing the disaster isn't saying whether it plans to cash in on this potential windfall. As BP on Thursday finished pumping cement into the blown well in hopes of sealing it for good, it insisted it had no plans to use it or its two relief wells to produce oil. But the ...

Fri, 6 Aug 10
Indonesia 'Woefully Inadequate' on Illegal Loggers: Deforestation Probe
http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/indonesia-woefully-inadequate-on-illegal-loggers-deforestation-probe/389620
Agence France-Presse: The corruption in Indonesia is absolutely breathtaking. Where there is a rupiah to be made there is a corrupt individual ready to take it. Jakarta. Indonesia is allowing powerful businessmen to get rich from smuggling rare timber to China despite its pledges to crack down on illegal logging and preserve its forests, environmentalists said on Thursday. An undercover investigation by the independent Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) and local group Telapak found rampant ...

Fri, 6 Aug 10
Indonesian Palm Oil Must Surge 'Rapidly' to Moderate Demand
http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/business/indonesian-palm-oil-must-surge-rapidly-to-moderate-demand/389699
Jakarta Globe: Indonesia. Palm oil must jump by as much as 24 percent to cool export demand as output declines in Malaysia, the second-biggest grower, and weather damages canola crops in Europe and Canada, according to Godrej International. "The market needs to move ahead rapidly so that there is time for rationing to set in," Dorab Mistry, a director at Godrej, said in an e-mail from London. "At 2,600 ringgit [$824], you can't match demand with supply. And on top of that, the supply is ...

Fri, 6 Aug 10
Smart to Expand Palm Oil Plantations
http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/business/smart-to-expand-palm-oil-plantations/389720
Jakarta Globe: Indonesia. Palm oil giant Sinar Mas Agro Resources and Technology, accused by green groups of clearing valuable forest, aims to expand its plantations by 50,000 hectares a year, the company's president director said on Thursday. Smart last month rejected fresh claims by Greenpeace that the firm was clearing peatland and high conservation value forests that shelter endangered species and trap vast amounts of greenhouse gases. Smart runs the Indonesia palm oil operations of its ...

Fri, 6 Aug 10
Q&A: "Incomprehensible" Absence of Women in Global Environment Policy
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=52392
Inter Press Service: There is a vacuum in the various texts that currently regulate global policy against climate change: specific mention of the effects of global warming on women and of the role women can play in protecting the environment. That glaring gap, as well as the failure to refer to the impact on human health, was highlighted by activists during the third round of United Nations climate change negotiations in Bonn this week, designed to prepare for the Nov. 29-Dec. 10 U.N. Climate Change ...

Fri, 6 Aug 10
Mexico: Transport Workers Fear Job Losses from Climate Change Action
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=52394
Inter Press Service: Transport workers are concerned that measures to mitigate climate change, like greenhouse gas emissions reduction, may put their jobs at risk, while experts are urging a transformation of the predominant transport model worldwide. "The future of transport depends on sustainability. But there has to be a transition, because change can't happen overnight," Sandra Burleson of the United States' Union of Transport Workers, which represents 135,000 members in the air transport, public ...

Fri, 6 Aug 10
Pakistan flood: Sindh braces as water envelops southern Punjab
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/05/pakistan-flood-spreads-punjab-sindh
Guardian: Floodwater rushing down through Pakistan devastated new areas today, flooding parts of southern Punjab and forcing mass evacuations in Sindh. The UN estimated more than 4 million people are now affected by Pakistan's worst flooding in 80 years, which has washed away homes, infrastructure and crops. Parts of southern Punjab were described as "a giant lake". In Sindh, 350,000 people were moved from their homes in low-lying areas near the river as the authorities issued a flood ...

Fri, 6 Aug 10
Butterflies shed light on how some species respond to global warming
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/08/100805143049.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Latest+Science+News%29
ScienceDaily: With global warming and climate change making headlines nearly every day, it could be reassuring to know that some creatures might cope by gradually moving to new areas as their current ones become less hospitable. Nevertheless, natural relocation of species is not something that can be taken for granted, according to Jessica Hellmann, Associate Professor at the University of Notre Dame Department of Biological Science in Notre Dame, Ind. By studying two species of butterfly, she and her ...

Fri, 6 Aug 10
Tropics at Peril: Study Finds Changing Climate Already Redrawing the Map
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-501465_162-20012809-501465.html
CBS News: Tropical forests are at risk of losing most of the plants and animals that now comprise their ecosystems, according to a new report from the Carnegie Institution on the effects of climate change and deforestation. In a sober appraisal of the future, the study says that the combined impact of climate change and spreading land use "represents one the greatest global change experiments on Earth today" - and not to our benefit. Among other things, the report expects deforestation and ...

Fri, 6 Aug 10
Feds sue Michigan utility over coal-fired plant
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100805/ap_on_bi_ge/mi_coal_plant_pollution
Associated Press: The federal government filed a lawsuit Thursday against DTE Energy Co., accusing the utility of modifying a major coal-fired plant without permits and the best equipment to control pollution. The lawsuit asks a judge to consider shutting down Monroe Unit 2 until it complies with clean-air laws. Fines could be as high as $37,500 a day. In response, the utility said the government is wrong and no new permit was required. The lawsuit is an "absurd and overly aggressive ...

Fri, 6 Aug 10
Chevron urges arbitration in $27 billion Ecuador case
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE67448K20100805?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29
Reuters: Chevron Corp urged a federal appeals court not to force it into Ecuador's courts to defend a $27.4 billion lawsuit alleging its oilfields polluted the Amazon rainforest and sickened thousands of Ecuadorians. Lawyers for Chevron contended the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York should instead uphold a lower court ruling in March allowing the second-largest U.S. oil company to take the 17-year-old case into international arbitration. Ecuadorian farmers and indigenous ...

Fri, 6 Aug 10
Setback to hopes of Tobin tax to pay for climate aid
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/aug/05/tobin-tax-climate-change
Guardian: Much of the $100bn a year needed by 2020 to compensate poor countries for the effects of climate change will come from carbon taxes and the auction of carbon permits rather than new taxes on financial transactions or transport levies, it was suggested today. Economists and politicians have been asked to find ways of raising the money by the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-Moon. But with only three months to go before countries meet again to thrash out a new climate agreement, the ...

Fri, 6 Aug 10
Russia: Vladimir Putin bans grain exports as drought and wildfires ravage crops
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/05/vladimir-putin-ban-grain-exports
Guardian: Russia's prime minister, Vladimir Putin, has announced a ban on grain exports after millions of hectares of crops perished in the worst drought in more than a century. High temperatures, lack of rain and wildfires have devastated more than a third of cultivable land in Russia, the world's fourth largest grain exporter. News of the ban pushed wheat prices to a 23-month high on commodities markets and raised concerns about a boost in food prices worldwide. Putin said the ...

Fri, 6 Aug 10
Climate change could destroy 80 per cent of rainforest by next century
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/7928296/Climate-change-could-destroy-80-per-cent-of-rainforest-by-next-century.html
Telegraph: Rainforests currently hold more than half of all the plant and animal species on Earth. However, scientists say the combined effects of climate change and deforestation may force them to adapt, move, or die. By 2100, this could have altered two-thirds of the rainforests in Central and South America, about 70 per cent in Africa. The Amazon Basin alone could see changes in biodiversity for 80 per cent of the region. Greg Asner, of the Carnegie Institution's ...

Fri, 6 Aug 10
Investors ask oil majors for offshore drilling safety plans
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100805/bs_nm/us_oil_spill_investors
Reuters: A group of investors including the two largest U.S. public pension funds asked 27 top oil and gas companies on Thursday to disclose what they have done to make their offshore drilling safer in the wake of the BP (BP.L)(BP.N) oil spill. Members of the Ceres coalition of socially-concerned investors, who manage some $2.5 trillion in assets, called on companies including Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N) and Chevron Corp (CVX.N) to say what steps they are taking to make sure their offshore ...

Fri, 6 Aug 10
Rainforest Life Faces Double Threat to Existence
http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20100805/sc_livescience/rainforestlifefacesdoublethreattoexistence
LiveScience: It's a case of pick your poison for nearly half of all the plants and animals living in tropical forests. By the end of the century, either climate change, deforestation, or a combination may force them to adapt, move or die, a new study suggests. Tropical forests hold more than half of all the plant and animal species on Earth. But by 2100, only 18 to 45 percent of the plants and animals in tropical forests may exist as they are today, according to the first study to look at how ...

Fri, 6 Aug 10
80% of rainforests could adversely impacted by logging, deforestation, climate change by 2100
http://news.mongabay.com/2010/0805-asner_global_forests.html
Mongabay: The world's tropical forests may suffer large-scale degradation and deforestation by the end of the century if current logging and climate change trends persist, finds a new analysis published in Conservation Letters. Researchers led by Greg Asner at the Carnegie Institution's Department of Global Ecology at Stanford University projected future vegetation change based on integrating high resolution deforestation and logging maps with 16 different global climate models. They found that ...

Fri, 6 Aug 10
A 'crystal ball' for predicting the effects of global climate change
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/08/100805111234.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Latest+Science+News%29
ScienceDaily: In trying to predict how species will respond to climate change caused by global warming, researchers and scientists are turning to comparative physiology, a sub-discipline of physiology that studies how different organisms function and adapt to diverse and changing environments. By comparing different species to each other, as well as to members within a species that live in different environments, researchers are learning which physiologic features establish environmental optima and ...

Fri, 6 Aug 10
Biofuel Study Looks At Cost To Wildlife, Environmental Diversity
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1901162/biofuel_study_looks_at_cost_to_wildlife_environmental_diversity/index.html?source=r_science
redOrbit: Whether we can grow bio-energy crops such as switchgrass and forage sorghum isn't the question, said a Texas AgriLife Research scientist. The question is, where's the nitrogen going to come from to grow these crops and how much is it going to add to the cost of the end product, said Dr. Gerald Smith, AgriLife Research legume breeder based in Overton. And there also are hidden costs, such as the effect of fencerow-to-fencerow crops on wildlife and biodiversity, he ...

Fri, 6 Aug 10
U.N. climate finance group mulls tax on banks
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6743RU20100805?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29
Reuters: A U.N. climate finance group is studying funding sources to support countries vulnerable to climate change, including a financial institution tax, it said at talks in Bonn on Thursday. Nicholas Stern, professor at the London School of Economics, said the group was analyzing both public and private sources of funding, including fund flows from financial institutions, revenues from carbon taxes, carbon permit auctions and financial transaction taxes. The group, which is made up ...

Fri, 6 Aug 10
UN panel: New taxes needed for a climate fund
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5g1JSga_CNGr6cpuIGcVrNxOuOBOAD9HDEAGG0
AP: Carbon taxes, add-ons to international air fares and a levy on cross-border money movements are among ways being considered by a panel of the world's leading economists to raise a staggering $100 billion a year to fight climate change. British economist Nicholas Stern told international climate negotiators Thursday that government regulation and public money also will be needed to create incentives for private investment in industries that emit fewer greenhouse gases. In short, ...

Fri, 6 Aug 10
UN panel: New taxes needed for a climate fund
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100805/ap_on_sc/climate_change
Associated Press: British economist Nicholas Stern says a U.N. economic panel is discussing carbon taxes, add-ons to international air fares and a levy on cross-border money transfers as ways to raise $100 billion a year to fight climate change. Stern has told international climate negotiators that governments will need to create incentives for private investments in industries emitting few greenhouse gases. The Copenhagen climate summit in December determined that $100 billion is needed every ...

Fri, 6 Aug 10
Maine wind-power proposal cut back
http://www.boston.com/news/local/maine/articles/2010/08/05/maine_wind_power_proposal_cut_back/?rss_id=Boston.com+--+Latest+news
Associated Press: The TransCanada energy company is trimming the size of its proposed 15-turbine wind farm in western Maine. The Bangor Daily News says the company plans to file a revised plan for the project in Chain of Ponds and Kibby townships in Franklin County. No details of the new plan were announced Wednesday at a meeting of the Maine Land Use Regulation Commission, which was prepared to deny TransCanada's 15-turbine plan. The commission felt the project would mar the scenery in the ...

Fri, 6 Aug 10
Transocean gets 249 lawsuits, claims over oil spill
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100805/ts_alt_afp/usoilenvironmentpollutionbpswitzerland
Agence France-Presse: Close to 250 lawsuits or claims have been filed against Transocean, the company which owns the BP-leased offshore rig behind the huge Gulf of Mexico oil spill, a filing by the firm showed Thursday. "As of August 2, 2010, 249 legal actions or claims have been filed against Transocean entities, along with other unaffiliated defendants, in state and federal courts," said the Swiss-based group. "Additionally, government agencies have initiated investigations into the Macondo well ...

Fri, 6 Aug 10
Diplomats Ponder Temporarily Extending the Kyoto Protocol
http://www.nytimes.com/cwire/2010/08/05/05climatewire-diplomats-ponder-temporarily-extending-the-k-54406.html
ClimateWire: With the clock ticking on the current international climate change treaty, negotiators are considering a set of stopgap measures to protect the European trading system and years of emission reduction efforts from collapse. One option under serious study is a proposal to extend the 1997 Kyoto Protocol for two years, which presumably would keep countries bound by their existing obligations until a new agreement can be finalized. Delegations from nearly 200 countries meeting in ...

Fri, 6 Aug 10
Maine college gives solar panel to Chinese
http://www.boston.com/news/local/maine/articles/2010/08/05/maine_college_gives_solar_panel_to_chinese/?rss_id=Boston.com+--+Latest+news
Associated Press: A Maine environmental college is giving a solar panel that once sat atop the White House to China's Solar Energy Group, which will place it in a museum in Shendog Province. Huang Ming, chairman of Himin Solar Energy Group, planned to accept the gift from Unity College on Thursday on behalf of the people of China. The panel is among those that former Jimmy Carter had ordered placed on the White House roof during his presidency. They were removed during Ronald Reagan's ...

Fri, 6 Aug 10
United Kingdom: Renewables grid competition sparks investor goldrush
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2267711/renewables-transmission-links
Business Green: The burgeoning investor interest in the UK's fast-expanding offshore wind energy was underlined today as Ofgem announced the results of a Â£700m contest to own and operate transmission links for the first wave of UK offshore wind farms. The energy regulator announced three preferred bidders to win 20-year licenses to run the transmission infrastructure for seven projects in UK waters, totalling 2GW of offshore wind energy capacity. The grid regulator said it had been encouraged ...

Fri, 6 Aug 10
Pacific Islands Forum adopts a new resolution on climate change
http://australianetworknews.com/stories/201008/2975038.htm?desktop
Australia Network News: The Pacific Islands Forum has adopted a new resolution on climate change, one that backs away from last year's nomination of a target for temperature rise. The new focus is on trying to make it easier for threatened island nations to access international funds for climate change adaptation. The leaders agreed that climate change remains the greatest threat to the livlihoods and well being of the people of the Paciifc and are calling for a legally binding agreement on emissions ...

Fri, 6 Aug 10
China may launch environmental tax trial: report
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6740RL20100805?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29
Reuters: Three Chinese ministries will soon submit a proposal for an environmental tax on a trial basis, the China Business News reported on Thursday. The tax would be tested in four largely rural provinces, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi and Gansu, the newspaper said. The finance ministry, environmental protection ministry and tax administration were set to make the proposal to the State Council, or cabinet, it added. An environmental tax, likely to be levied on emissions of carbon dioxide and ...

Fri, 6 Aug 10
Pakistan's floods are not just a natural disaster
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/aug/05/pakistan-floods-failure-state
Guardian: First came the Taliban. Then the army. And now the floods. The people of the Swat valley – synonymous with beauty and peace just a few years ago – have cause to wonder if they are the most benighted people in the world. The oppressive and murderous rule of the Taliban, who had almost total control of the north Pakistan valley by the end of 2008, followed by the army's retaliatory operation last year, which seemed to consider civilians entirely incidental to the matter of military strategy, ...

Fri, 6 Aug 10
Fiji: Pacific meeting focuses on Fiji, climate change
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5irzv48_iTW7kfT_BDUkWjHGklIWQ
Agence France-Presse: Pacific island leaders were Thursday grappling with how to deal with Fiji's defiant military rulers, as they met in Vanuatu for a summit which will also address climate change. Fiji's flag is still flying at Pacific Islands Forum venues, but it remains suspended from the region's most important grouping after reneging on a promise to hold elections. Forum chair Vanuatu Prime Minister Edward Natapei has said that Fiji -- which has torn up its constitution and dismissed the ...

Fri, 6 Aug 10
Brazil: the world's first environment superpower?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/aug/05/brazil-environmental-superpower
Guardian: Outside Dr Gilberto CÃ¢mara's office, there is a large and beautiful satellite map of Brazil. From the fractal elegance of the Amazon and its tributaries, to the ochre fields holding sugar, soy and cattle, to the twinkling mega-cities of SÃ£o Paolo and Rio de Janeiro in the south, the map shows why he thinks Brazil can be the world's first environmental superpower. CÃ£mara leads Brazil's National Institute for Space Research (INPE). His startling claim, he explains in his easy English, ...

Fri, 6 Aug 10
New gas pipeline prompts fears for Amazon rainforest
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/aug/05/gas-pipeline-amazon-rainforest
Guardian: A gas pipeline cutting through 660km of Amazon rainforest will deliver cheaper, cleaner energy to a sprawling industrial city buried in the heart of the jungle. But environmentalists fear the pipe is simply a bridgehead towards greater exploitation of the rich gas and oil fields lying beneath some of the most remote and undisturbed rainforest on Earth. Thanks to government tax breaks, the 2 million-strong city of Manaus is an manufacturing powerhouse hidden in the middle of the ...

Fri, 6 Aug 10
US Chamber of Commerce fumes over splinter climate group
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2267665/chamber-commerce-fumes-splinter
Business Green: The US Chamber of Commerce is trying to quash an effort by a group of state-level chambers to create a separate lobbying body for climate change regulation. The organisation is feeling threatened by the Chambers for Innovation and Clean Energy (CICE), a proposed group of breakaway member chambers that plans to pursue market-based approaches to reducing greenhouse emissions. In a letter to member chambers, US Chambers of Commerce president Winthrop Hallett accused the breakaway ...

Fri, 6 Aug 10
UN incineration plans rejected by world's rubbish-dump workers
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/aug/05/un-waste-incineration-protests-workers
Guardian: The waste-pickers who scour the world's rubbish dumps and daily recycle thousands of tonnes of metal, paper and plastics are up in arms against the UN, which they claim is forcing them out of work and increasing climate change emissions. Their complaint, heard yesterday in Bonn where UN global climate change talks have resumed, is that the clean development mechanism (CDM), an ambitious climate finance scheme designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in developing countries, has led ...

Fri, 6 Aug 10
California asks Holder to investigate climate change rollback donor
http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/08/05/1762377/california-asks-holder-to-investigate.html
Associated Press: State Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg and Assembly Speaker John Perez have asked U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to open an investigation into a tiny Missouri nonprofit organization that has pumped nearly $500,000 into a voter initiative to suspend the state's landmark climate change law. In a letter to Holder on Tuesday, Steinberg, D-Sacramento, and Perez, D-Los Angeles, asked the Justice Department to determine whether the Adam Smith Foundation is illegally funneling ...

Fri, 6 Aug 10
Russia wildfires still spreading - 50 dead
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-10881892
BBC: Russia is still fighting to extinguish nearly 600 wildfires in an emergency that has now claimed 50 lives. Foreign reinforcements are arriving, Russian officials say, including two Canadair water-bombing planes from Italy. Ukraine and Belarus are also sending firefighters. One fire threatens a shelter housing some 1,000 animals in the Moscow area. The Moscow smog eased on Thursday, though an acrid smell persisted from peat fires burning outside the city. The Bim ...

Fri, 6 Aug 10
Forest carbon needs climate deal: Study
http://www.carbonpositive.net/viewarticle.aspx?articleID=2067
Carbon Positive: Afforestation and reforestation (A/R) activity to restore tree cover, a key component of the REDD+ mechanism and overall fight against climate change, risks grinding to a halt in the next two years in the absence of a new global climate agreement. This is one of the key findings of a study of the voluntary forest carbon market by researcher and industry consultant Eduard Merger. In "Status and Future of the Afforestation and Reforestation Carbon Sector', released today and published by ...

Fri, 6 Aug 10
U.N. climate pact could be three treaties: Mexico
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6742PH20100805?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29
Reuters: A U.N. climate pact to extend or replace the Kyoto Protocol could be a set of up to three legally binding instruments, not just a single one, Mexico's climate chief said on Thursday. A U.N. summit in Copenhagen last year failed to produce a legally binding agreement to combat climate change, leaving around 190 nations with no choice but to go back to the negotiating table this year. Luis Alfonso de Alba, Mexico's special representative for climate change, told Reuters there ...

Fri, 6 Aug 10
Texas to break power use record again due heat: ERCOT
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6742YH20100805?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29
Reuters: After setting an all-time electric use record on Wednesday, the Texas power grid operator forecast that milestone would fall Thursday afternoon as consumers continue to crank up their air conditioners to escape the sweltering heat. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) said power use Wednesday afternoon reached 63,594 megawatts, surpassing the peak record or 63,400 MW set in July 2009. ERCOT forecast demand Thursday would reach 64,553 MW. The grid agency said ...

Fri, 6 Aug 10
Protected ocean areas can't save coral reefs from climate change, new research shows
http://www.vancouversun.com/technology/Protected%20ocean%20areas%20save%20coral%20reefs%20from%20climate%20change%20research%20shows/3362085/story.html
Vancouver Sun: The conventional wisdom that marine reserves can save coral reefs from climate change is wishful thinking, according to Simon Fraser University researchers. In fact, marine reserves, areas of the ocean that are protected from overfishing and pollution, make coral reefs more vulnerable to higher temperatures, said Isabelle Cote, a professor of tropical marine ecology at SFU who has studied coral reefs for 25 years. "If they can't cope with fishing, they can't cope with climate ...

Fri, 6 Aug 10
Canada: Biofuels' impact hard to gauge, report warns
http://www.thestar.com/news/sciencetech/environment/article/843894--biofuels-impact-hard-to-gauge-report-warns
Canadian Press: The biofuels industry leaves behind a hazy ecological footprint because each facility measures its environmental performance differently, says a new report. This makes it difficult for the government to gauge how ethanol and biodiesel affect the environment. A study done for Environment Canada earlier this year found gaps in the way biofuels plants measure greenhouse gases and other pollutants. "The environmental performance of biofuel facilities and the (greenhouse gas) ...

Fri, 6 Aug 10
Ecuador's 'Amazon bonds': How to raise $3.6bn for doing nothing
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/oilandgas/7926887/Ecuadors-Amazon-bonds-how-to-raise-3.6bn-for-doing-nothing.html
Telegraph: The unusual deal is part of a new United Nations initiative to persuade energy-rich countries not to drill for oil and gas in environmentally sensitive areas. Ecuador has therefore agreed not to touch three oil fields in the Yasuni region of the Amazon for the next ten years, if rich countries buy enough 'Amazon bonds'. Under the terms, donating nations pay an amount per year for a decade - receiving no dividend except an environmental one. Ecuador's Yasuni reserves are estimated to ...

Thu, 5 Aug 10
United States: Climate Change Commission Gets a Cold Shoulder
http://www.carolinajournal.com/exclusives/display_exclusive.html?id=6679
Carolina Journal: After five years brainstorming for ways the state could fight global warming, and spending more than $80,000, North Carolina's Legislative Commission on Global Climate Change went out without a bang at the end of the General Assembly's short session, unable to convince lawmakers to renew its charter. The 34-member commission, comprising lawmakers, academics, business representatives, and environmentalists, formed in 2005 with the intent of studying climate change and seeing what, if ...

Thu, 5 Aug 10
Crush of mud finally plugs BP's well in the Gulf
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100805/ap_on_bi_ge/us_gulf_oil_spill
Associated Press: In the end, it was a crush of mud that finally plugged the blown-out well in the Gulf of Mexico, three months after the offshore drilling rig explosion that unleashed a gusher of oil and a summer of misery along the Gulf Coast. The government stopped just short of pronouncing the well dead, cautioning that cement and mud must still be pumped in from the bottom to seal it off for good. President Barack Obama declared that the battle to contain one of the world's worst oil spills ...

Thu, 5 Aug 10
United Kingdom: Government: Too many firms ignoring climate risks
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2267655/government-firms-ignoring
Business Green: Environment secretary Caroline Spelman last night called on UK firms to urgently improve their resilience to climate change, warning that too many companies were not prepared for the changes to weather patterns that climate change will inevitably bring. Speaking at an event at the Met Office Hadley Centre in Exeter, Spelman said that businesses needed to prepare for the opportunities and challenges that will arise from a warmer climate. "We know that some level of change is now ...

Thu, 5 Aug 10
Academics call for climate insurance role at Mexico Summit
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2267652/academics-call-climate
Business Green: A group of academics working from the United Nations University think tank and industry-backed Munich Climate Insurance Initiative (MCII) have this week stepped up calls for diplomats at the Bonn climate talks to incorporate support for new insurance models into the draft negotiating text being prepared ahead of the Mexico Summit in November. The group issued a 28-page policy brief entitled Solutions for Vulnerable Countries and People, arguing that pilot projects undertaken by the ...

Thu, 5 Aug 10
Pessimism Clouds Climate Meeting
http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/04/pessimism-reigns-at-climate-powwow/
New York Times: This time last summer, there was considerable optimism that the world's nations just might be able to approve a pact to limit a global increase in greenhouse gases at a United Nations climate conference in Copenhagen last December. That meeting, overseen by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, ended with a weak agreement known as the Copenhagen Accord. It was an aspirational political statement with no clout, not a legally binding treaty. A small number of the ...

Thu, 5 Aug 10
Biofuel - capitalism's swansong?
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20727721.700-biofuel--capitalisms-swansong.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=magcontents
New Scientist: Agrofuels: Big profits, ruined lives and ecological destruction by FranÃƒÂ§ois Houtart Published by: Pluto Press Price: Â£17.99 THE title suggests a hatchet job; the text is a bit more nuanced. Sometimes, and in some places, Agrofuels argues, we may be able to grow crops to use as biofuels without them becoming tyrannical neighbours. FranÃƒÂ§ois Houtart, a Belgian sociologist and Catholic priest, is less interested in the crops than the political landscape in which ...

Thu, 5 Aug 10
Italy: World's first solar power plant that can work at night
http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/post.cfm?id=worlds-first-solar-power-plant-that-2010-08-04
Scientific American: The world's first solar power plant to employ such technology--a thermal power plant that concentrates the sun's rays with mirrors on long, thin tubes filled with the molten salt--opened in Syracuse, Sicily, on July 14. Dubbed Archimede--after the famous Syracusan scientist Archimedes who supposedly coined the term "Eureka" for scientific discovery and reputedly repelled a Roman fleet through the use of mirrors to concentrate the sun's rays and burn the invading ships--the power plant can ...

Thu, 5 Aug 10
N.Y. Senate Approves Fracking Moratorium
http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/04/n-y-senate-approves-fracking-moratorium/
New York Times: The New York State Senate voted 48 to 9 Tuesday night to issue a temporary moratorium on a type of natural gas exploration that combines hydraulic fracturing with horizontal drilling and the injection of millions of gallons of chemically treated water underground. The aim of the measure is to ensure an adequate review of safety and environmental concerns. The state Department of Environmental Conservation is currently reviewing the environmental impact of drilling in upstate New York, ...

Thu, 5 Aug 10
Poland: Logging a threat to Europe's last primeval forest: activists
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100804/sc_afp/polandenvironmentforest
Agence France-Presse: Polish environmentalists on Wednesday warned deforestation was threatening flora and fauna in Europe's last first-growth woodland and said they had complained to the EU over logging practices. "The current way of harvesting wood from the Bialowieza forest completely contradicts European Union requirements, particularly with regard to its Bird and Habitats directives," activist Krzysztof Okrasinski said, quoted by the Polish PAP news agency. Activists insist logging is limiting ...

Thu, 5 Aug 10
Laying Claim to the Rich Arctic Seafloor
http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/04/laying-claim-to-the-rich-arctic-seafloor/
New York Times: Research vessels from the United States, Canada and Russia are again steaming into the Arctic Circle this month with the aim of mapping the seafloor and laying claim to potentially vast hydrocarbon and mineral riches. Under international law, countries can claim exclusive energy and mineral rights no farther than 200 miles offshore. Yet those exclusive claims can be vastly expanded for Arctic nations that prove that their part of the continental shelf extends beyond that zone. ...

Thu, 5 Aug 10
Refiners feel pinch from Enbridge line shutdown
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6734ZE20100804?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29
Reuters: A second oil refiner has reduced operating rates as some U.S. and Canadian refineries processing more than 700,000 barrels per day of crude oil felt a supply pinch on Wednesday due to Enbridge Inc's ruptured crude pipeline. United Refining said it has cut rates at its 70,000 bpd refinery in Warren, Pennsylvania due to Enbridge's crude oil pipeline rupture early last week. A company spokesman did not elaborate as to how much rates were cut or if the refinery had an alternate ...

Thu, 5 Aug 10
Drilling chief won't pin down date for ending ban
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100804/ap_on_bi_ge/us_gulf_oil_spill_drilling_ban
Associated Press: The nation's top drilling regulator is refusing to pin down a date for a possible early end to the deep-water petroleum drilling ban in the Gulf of Mexico. Michael Bromwich is head of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement. He would not commit Wednesday to a deadline for a decision. He had said Tuesday that the Obama administration was considering tossing out the six-month ban. He now says it is "very unlikely" a decision will come before a ...

Thu, 5 Aug 10
United Kingdom: Companies 'must adapt' to climate change
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/11d14d34-9fe8-11df-8cc5-00144feabdc0,Authorised=false.html?_i_location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ft.com%2Fcms%2Fs%2F0%2F11d14d34-9fe8-11df-8cc5-00144feabdc0.html&_i_referer=
Financial Times: Companies are ill-prepared for the floods and droughts that are likely to become more commonplace in an era of global warming, says a survey published on Wednesday by Caroline Spelman, the environment secretary. Only 23 per cent of businesspeople interviewed had taken any action to counter the impact of climate change, according to the survey by pollsters Ipsos Mori for Defra, the environment department. That was despite three-quarters of those surveyed saying they were ...

Thu, 5 Aug 10
Ecuador Signs Deal Not to Drill in Amazon Nature Reserve
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=52378
Inter Press Service: "The trust fund that we have just established is historic, not only for Ecuador but for the entire world," said Rebeca Grynspan, associate administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), after signing an agreement with the government of Rafael Correa to leave 846 million barrels of oil under the ground in a pristine Amazon jungle wildlife reserve. In the groundbreaking pact, the Ecuadorean government agreed to refrain from tapping three major oilfields in the YasunÃ ...

Thu, 5 Aug 10
Saudi Arabia to seek compensation for climate pact oil losses
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/aug/04/saudi-arabia-climate-change-compensation
Guardian: Saudi Arabia, which has the world's largest oil reserves and earned nearly $300bn in fossil fuel exports last year, will seek financial compensation for any loss it incurs if and when production declines after a new climate change agreement is reached. The move, which was confirmed by UN officials at the UN climate talks in Bonn this week, matches demands made by the world's poorest countries for money to adapt to climate change. Saudi Arabia and some other Opec oil-producing ...

Thu, 5 Aug 10
Fresh report confirms soaring clean tech VC investment
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2267613/fresh-report-confirms-soaring
Business Green: Ernst & Young yesterday became the latest consultancy to confirm that venture capital (VC) investment in clean tech companies bounced back towards record levels during the second quarter of the year, reporting that US investment soared 64 per cent year-on-year to $1.5bn (Â£940m). The report echoes similar figures from analyst firms Cleantech Group and VB/Research, both of which detailed how global levels of clean tech venture capital investment returned to pre-recession levels ...

Thu, 5 Aug 10
Report urges UN talks to close Kyoto loopholes
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2267617/report-urges-un-talks-close
Business Green: Pressure continued to mount on industrialised countries to agree to more ambitious carbon targets at the latest round of climate change talks in Bonn yesterday, after new research revealed that loopholes in the current negotiating text would actually allow rich nations to increase greenhouse gas emissions over the next decade. The joint study from the Stockholm Environment Institute and Third World Network, which was distributed to delegates at the Bonn meeting, analysed the emission ...

Thu, 5 Aug 10
Refiners say low-carbon laws worse than cap and trade
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-08-03/u-s-oil-refiners-say-low-carbon-laws-worse-than-cap-and-trade-regulation.html
Bloomberg: Plans to reduce the carbon content of U.S. transportation fuels are likely to boost oil imports from the Middle East and lead to more pollution from diesel-fueled tankers, according to a report commissioned by the National Petrochemical and Refiners Association. A low-carbon standard is "even worse" than the "terrible" cap-and-trade legislation for carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that recently collapsed in the U.S. Senate, said Charles Drevna, president of the refining ...

Thu, 5 Aug 10
Canada: French firm Total nixes carbon capture for oilsands project
http://www.edmontonjournal.com/business/French%20firm%20Total%20nixes%20carbon%20capture%20Joslyn%20mine%20project/3356936/story.html
Edmonton Journal: French energy giant Total confirmed Tuesday it will not use carbon capture technology in the first phase of its Joslyn North Mine project, citing expense as the roadblock. The company suggested in a 2009 report it was considering using carbon capture and storage (CCS) in its oilsands projects in Canada. In a letter dated June 3, 2010, a lawyer for the Canadian branch of the company told the panel set to review the project the company has submitted a greenhouse-gas management ...

Thu, 5 Aug 10
Spanish town dreams of nuclear dump
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703578104575397190413392602.html
Wall Street Journal: Mayor JosÃ© MarÃa Saiz believes he has a shot at re-energizing this dying town in central Spain. On a site just beyond its old white houses, amid fields of barley and sunflowers, he envisions building Spain's first centralized depot for nuclear waste. "When a once-in-a-life opportunity like this comes along, you grab it," says Mr. Saiz, 45, who is also the owner of a small farming-equipment manufacturer. Spain's decadelong construction boom brought new houses, employment and ...

Thu, 5 Aug 10
Heat wave and drought shrivel harvests across Europe
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703545604575406744149559092.html?mod=WSJ_World_MIDDLENews
Wall Street Journal: A woman digs out potatoes Tuesday in her former garden, ravaged by wildfires that also burned her house, in Verkhnyaya Vereya village, Russia. The scorching temperatures and dry skies threatening Russia's wheat harvests have also been beating down on Western Europe, which is forecasting lower output of crops from French wheat to Italian tomatoes. Russia's Agriculture Ministry Tuesday cut its forecast for the country's 2010 grain output to between 70 million and 75 million ...

Thu, 5 Aug 10
Kangaroos barometer of climate change
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/technology/7940033/kangaroos-barometer-of-climate-change
Nine News: Kangaroo evolution is a barometer of climate change in Australia and could help determine how local fauna may be affected in the future, a new study shows. Using skeletons of modern and fossil species, a Flinders University palaeontologist and a Murdoch University anatomist have pieced together a detailed kangaroo family tree. Flinders University's Gavin Prideaux says there have been hints of key stages in the evolution of the animals, but their whole story has not been put ...

Thu, 5 Aug 10
Frozen CO2, methane a time bomb: Experts
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/7939720/frozen-co2-methane-a-time-bomb-experts
Nine News: Massive volumes of carbon dioxide and methane frozen in the earth's soils are a "time-bomb ticking under our feet", soil scientists say. The thawing of vast areas of frozen soils and the decay of peatlands under higher global temperatures could release massive volumes of carbon dioxide and methane into the atmosphere - potentially doubling the amount of atmospheric greenhouse gases. The World Congress of Soil Scientists in Brisbane has been told that frozen soils and peatlands ...

Thu, 5 Aug 10
Cancun talks will not see big climate deal
http://in.reuters.com/article/idINIndia-50605320100803
Reuters: A U.N. summit in Cancun, Mexico, at the end of the year will not result in a new climate treaty to succeed the Kyoto Protocol, the co-head of the European Union's climate delegation said in an interview on Tuesday. "It will not be the big deal. Hopefully it will be a big step forward to the deal," Artur Runge-Metzger told Reuters. The Kyoto Protocol was agreed in 1997 to reduce greenhouse gases emitted by developed countries to at least 5 percent below 1990 levels by ...

Thu, 5 Aug 10
Climate warming 'unmistakable' says report
http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Climate_warming_unmistakable_says_report_999.html
Agence France-Presse: Earth is "unmistakably" warming says a new report published by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The findings of the 2009 State of the Climate study indicate that continued warming will transform the way in which societies function, as coastal cities, water supplies agriculture and infrastructure will all be threatened. More than 300 scientists from 160 research groups in 48 countries contributed to the report. The data were collected from a ...

Thu, 5 Aug 10
Julia Gillard's popularity plunges
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/australiaandthepacific/australia/7924721/Julia-Gillards-popularity-plunges.html
Telegraph: Ms Gillard, who is facing elections in Australia on August 21, has been criticised for her Labor party's decision to shelve until 2013 government plans to make polluters pay for the carbon gas they emit. The ruling was made by her predecessor Kevin Rudd, who was ousted by Ms Gillard in June. Ms Gillard followed Mr Rudd's plan and ruled out charging polluters before 2013. She also proposed creating a "citizens' assembly" to seek community consensus on how carbon should be ...

Thu, 5 Aug 10
Carbon capture closer to profit
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2010/08/04/bloomberg1376-L6L9FK0UQVI901-6F2OOAIBB9T2HNJR4H8004F931.DTL
San Francisco Chronicle: Capturing pollution from European power plants and using it to force oil from underground reservoirs may turn a profit for the first time as crude prices rise. Gathering carbon dioxide and pumping it into wells to extract more crude for so-called enhanced oil recovery became too costly for companies after Brent oil fell 73 percent between its record high in July 2008 and December that year, according to Thomas Greenwood, an analyst at Bloomberg New Energy Finance. The 115 percent ...

Thu, 5 Aug 10
Sea otter numbers drop
http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/ci_15673603
Santa Cruz Sentinel: The number of sea otters off California's coast is down slightly this year, and a dramatic dip in the population of pups has some scientists extremely concerned. "The number of pups was incredibly low, and pups are the future," said Steve Shimek, executive director of The Otter Project in Monterey. "If you don't have pups, you don't have a ton of future." Annual numbers released Tuesday by the U.S. Geological Survey show that the estimated number of southern sea otters off the ...

Thu, 5 Aug 10
Elk Grove schools cut energy waste, save $1 million
http://www.sacbee.com/2010/08/04/2934999/elk-grove-unified-plan.html
Sacramento Bee: Elk Grove Unified School District officials have come up with a plan to save at least $1 million. Turn off the lights. It may sound simple, but it's working. The district rolled out a pilot program designed to change behaviors that waste energy last year. It saved $530,000 in energy costs over the previous year, even with a 6.5 percent rate increase that officials had estimated would have increased costs by another $450,000, said Robert Pierce, associate ...

Thu, 5 Aug 10
Hyundai Steel leads the way in green growth
http://www.koreaherald.com/business/Detail.jsp?newsMLId=20100804000769
Korea Herald: The ruling Grand National Party yesterday zeroed in on chief justice Lee Yong-hoon as it upped the ante in a dispute over controversial court rulings. The conservative GNP called on the Supreme Court head to take responsibility for the controversy surrounding "slanted" rulings. The party said it will officially demand he dissolve a private association of young, progressive-minded justices who are involved in the court decisions in question. Lee struck back, telling ...

Thu, 5 Aug 10
Judge orders Brown to reword climate change initiative
http://www.islandpacket.com/2010/08/04/1327839/judge-orders-brown-to-reword-climate.html
Hilton Head Island Packet: A Sacramento judge on Tuesday ordered California Attorney General Jerry Brown to reword a ballot initiative that would roll back the state?s landmark climate change law. In a ruling Tuesday, Sacramento Superior Court Judge Timothy Frawley agreed with measure proponents charging that Brown?s office used misleading language when it drafted the initiative, Proposition 23. As the Democratic candidate for governor, Brown opposes Proposition 23 and supports the state?s climate change ...

Thu, 5 Aug 10
U.N. cuts pre-2012 Kyoto offset estimate to new low
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6732A120100804?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29
Reuters: A United Nations agency cut its forecast on Wednesday for pre-2012 Kyoto Protocol carbon offsets by 3 percent to its lowest level yet, estimating that only 981 million metric tons will come to market by the end of 2012. The previous low had been 992 million, forecast by the UNEP Risoe Center in May. Under Kyoto, efforts to cut greenhouse gases can be outsourced to emerging countries such as China and India through investment in clean energy projects registered under the UN's ...

Thu, 5 Aug 10
UK launches energy storage demonstration programme
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2267606/uk-launches-giant-energy
Business Green: Firms are today being invited to put forward proposals on how to resolve one of the biggest challenges facing the roll out of renewable energy technologies: where do you store the energy that wind turbines and solar panels produce at times when it is not needed. The Energy Technologies Institute (ETI), a public-private partnership tasked with accelerating the development of low carbon technologies, has launched a major new project to identify energy storage devices capable of ...

Thu, 5 Aug 10
Cameroon cholera deaths rising as heavy rains bring flooding
http://www.alertnet.org/db/an_art/60167/2010/07/3-165633-1.htm
Reuters: The death toll from cholera in far northern Cameroon has surged above 100 after unusually heavy rains triggered severe flooding and landslides that have submerged houses and made traditional pit toilets unusable, officials say. "We have never witnessed such an alarming death toll due to cholera or any other epidemic before," said Joseph Beti Assomo, governor of Cameroon's Far North region. In 2009, he said, Pouss - a northern border town with neighbouring Chad - saw 35 cholera ...

Thu, 5 Aug 10
EPA left to pick up climate change where Congress dropped the debate
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/03/AR2010080306366.html
Washington Post: The Obama administration told Congress to find a way to regulate greenhouse gases -- or else. Last month, Congress refused: Democratic leaders in the Senate declined to take up climate legislation before their August break, which means it looks effectively dead for this session. Now the White House is stuck with "or else." The Environmental Protection Agency will soon begin regulating greenhouse gases factory by factory, power plant by power plant. That could be ...

Thu, 5 Aug 10
Pakistan floods threaten to bring food crisis
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE66T3RS20100804?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29
Reuters: Pakistanis scoured towns for food on Wednesday, with some areas facing life-threatening shortages after floods which have killed 1,400 people and highlighted the fragile leadership of President Asif Ali Zardari. Ethnic violence raging in Pakistan's biggest city Karachi is also piling pressure on the government, widely criticized for its handling of the floods in the northwest, the worst in 80 years, that have devastated the lives of more than three million people. Zardari left ...

Thu, 5 Aug 10
Giant trash islands threaten China bridge and dams
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6730J420100804?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29
Reuters: Vast floating islands of rubbish and debris, accumulated after torrential rains and flooding, are threatening to topple a bridge and jam two big dams in China, state media reported on Wednesday. One layer of garbage covering 15,000 square meters -- more than 150,000 square feet - had lodged under a bridge in the northeastern city of Baishan in Jilin province and was blocking water flow, the China Daily reported. Officials fear a fresh wave of flooding, if crews fail to clear ...

Thu, 5 Aug 10
Moscow smoke pollution worst in eight years
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6730M820100804?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29
Reuters: Air quality levels in Moscow tumbled to an eight-year low on Wednesday as the Russian capital was blanketed in thick smoke from forest and peat fires, said Moscow's state agency for monitoring air pollution. A heatwave has engulfed central parts of European Russia since mid June, pushing temperatures to the highest levels since records began and sparking forest fires that have killed at least 48 people. "Air pollution surged four to ten times (above the maximum safe levels) in ...

Thu, 5 Aug 10
Climate change: It's time to talk, and act, tough
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-mckibben-climate-20100804,0,7179186.story
LA Times: *According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the planet has just come through the warmest decade, the warmest 12 months, the warmest six months and the warmest April, May and June on record. *A "staggering" new study from Canadian researchers has shown that warmer seawater has reduced phytoplankton, the base of the marine food chain, by 40% since 1950. *Nine nations so far have set their all-time temperature records this year, including Russia (111 ...

Thu, 5 Aug 10
Kangaroos barometer of climate change
http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/kangaroos-barometer-of-climate-change-20100804-11far.html
Sydney Morning Herald: Kangaroo evolution is a barometer of climate change in Australia and could help determine how local fauna may be affected in the future, a new study shows. Using skeletons of modern and fossil species, a Flinders University palaeontologist and a Murdoch University anatomist have pieced together a detailed kangaroo family tree. Flinders University's Gavin Prideaux says there have been hints of key stages in the evolution of the animals, but their whole story has not been put ...

Thu, 5 Aug 10
Magma's Icelandic acquisition plan sparks political firestorm
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2267585/magma-icelandic-acquisition
Business Green: Pop stars and politicians are taking centre stage in a growing row over a Canadian company's acquisition of 10 per cent of the Icelandic energy sector. Vancouver-based Magma Energy's proposed acquisition of privatised Icelandic firm HS Orka is being subjected to yet another review, following accusations that the company is trying to buy up the stricken country's entire energy sector. Pop star and actress Bjork has spearheaded a campaign against the Canadian firm, which has been ...

Thu, 5 Aug 10
Electric car face off - Nissan Leaf and Renault Fluence ZE go head-to-head
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/transport/2267586/review-nissan-leaf-renault
Business Green: The UK government last week made a rare exception to its spending review process, otherwise scheduled to conclude in October, by confirming grants for the purchase of electric cars would go ahead. The grants contribute 25 per cent towards the purchase of battery electric cars or plug-in hybrids, up to a maximum of Â£5,000 per car. In total Â£43m has been allocated -- sufficient for an initial 8,600 cars -- starting in January 2011 and running until the end of March 2012, with a review ...

Thu, 5 Aug 10
Uganda: Steps Taken to Curb Carbon Emissions
http://allafrica.com/stories/201008040159.html
ALLAFRICA.: Uganda has become the first country in the world to register a programme of activities that will reduce dangerous methane emissions into the environment. A statement issued by the World Bank office in Kampala said the programme of activities were launched on the premises of the Municipal Waste Compost Programme to be implemented under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the Kyoto protocol. The statement said Uganda's launch of a Municipal Waste Compost Programme has made ...

Thu, 5 Aug 10
Climate deal loopholes 'make farce' of rich nations' pledges
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/aug/04/climate-deal-loopholes-rich-nations
Guardian: Rich countries have been put on the back foot after new research showed that current pledges to cut greenhouse gas emissions could be wiped out by gaping loopholes in the UN climate change treaty put forward in Copenhagen last year. Developing countries have argued strongly for minimum 40% emission cuts from industrialised nations by 2020. But new analysis from the Stockholm Environment Institute and Third World Network (TWN), released at the latest UN climate talks in Bonn, showed ...

Thu, 5 Aug 10
: Breakaway clean energy coalition splits US Chamber of Commerce
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/aug/04/clean-energy-coalition-chamber-commerce
Guardian: A new split over climate policy is brewing within the ranks of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce as a breakaway group of local chambers is getting ready to publicly split with the business lobby's hardline stance against climate legislation. The new climate coalition, known as the Chambers for Innovation and Clean Energy (CICE), will press Congress to take stronger action on climate and energy issues. It has already signed up about a dozen chambers and will officially launch later this ...

Thu, 5 Aug 10
Republicans block Senate energy bill yet again
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2267599/senate-blocks-energy-bill-yet
Business Green: Senate majority leader Harry Reid was yesterday forced to admit defeat in his attempt to pass any form of US energy bill ahead of Congress' summer recess, despite repeated moves to win over Republican opponents by watering down the controversial legislation. Speaking at a press conference yesterday, Reid said that a vote on the proposed bill scheduled for this week would be delayed until September after the Democrats failed to secure the 60 votes necessary to pass the ...

Thu, 5 Aug 10
Trony Solar latest clean-tech firm to ditch IPO plans
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2267579/trony-solar-latest-clean-tech
Business Green: Chinese thin-film solar cell manufacturer Trony Solar has become the latest renewable energy firm to fall victim of the sluggish initial public offering (IPO) market, further confusing the outlook for clean-tech companies seeking listings. The company confirmed earlier this week that it is indefinitely postponing plans for a US IPO that was initially expected to be worth up to $200m (Â£130m). Citing unfavourable market conditions, the company said that it cancelled its filing ...

Thu, 5 Aug 10
Wave Hub project surges forward
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2267578/wave-hub-projects-surges
Business Green: The deployment of the pioneering Wave Hub marine energy testing facility off the north coast of Cornwall got under way yesterday, when work began to install a 25km-long sub-sea cable to connect the site to the grid. The initial phase of the deployment saw a cable connected between a specialist cable-laying vessel, the Nordica, which has been anchored two kilometres offshore, and the top of the beach at Hayle where a pre-constructed pit has been built to connect the onshore cables to a ...

Wed, 4 Aug 10
Fossil fuel subsidies are 10 times those of renewables, figures show
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/aug/03/fossil-fuel-subsidies-renewables
Guardian: Despite repeated pledges to phase out fossil fuel subsidies and criticism from some quarters that government support for renewable energy technologies is too generous, global subsidies provided to renewable energy and biofuels are dwarfed by those enjoyed by the fossil fuel industry. That is the conclusion of a major report released late last week by analyst Bloomberg New Energy Finance, which analyses subsidies and incentive schemes offered globally to developers of renewable energy ...

Wed, 4 Aug 10
Environmental assessment for Borneo coal plant riddled with errors
http://news.mongabay.com/2010/0803-hance_sabah_eia.html
Mongabay: The Detailed Environmental Impact Assessment (DEIA) for a proposed coal plant in Sabah is full of holes, according to activists with the organization Green SURF (Sabah Unite to Re-Power the Future), which opposes the plant. The official environmental report from Lahad Datu Energy lists species not endemic to Borneo, mistakes the nearest ecosystem to the coal plant, and confuses indigenous groups. Even more seriously, the DEIA leaves out information on the coal plant's specifics and possible ...

Wed, 4 Aug 10
Oxfam and WWF apologise for Saudi nameplate toilet prank
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/aug/03/wwf-oxfam-toilet-saudi-nameplate
Guardian: Oxfam and WWF International, two of the world's largest and most conservative western climate change campaigning groups, have been forced to apologise profusely after an investigation found them guilty of what amounted to diplomatic terrorism: smashing Saudi Arabia's official UN nameplate and stuffing the pieces down a lavatory. The incident, which took place in June at the last global climate talks in Bonn, followed mounting anger by NGOs at what they interpreted as continual ...

Wed, 4 Aug 10
Pakistan floods: 'No one was prepared for this. People are angry'
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/03/pakistan-floods-aid-worker-eyewitness
Guardian: The monsoons have never happened like this before, people have been terrified and have had to be evacuated. In the Nowshera area, which has been worst hit, buildings have been submerged up to the rooftops and this morning the rain started again. The worst thing is that the health infrastructure has been hit and all the contingency plans have been affected. Those warehouses of Unicef [the UN agency for children] containing medical supplies for two months were completely washed away ...

Wed, 4 Aug 10
Northeast headed for milder winter: AccuWeather
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6723CH20100803?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29
Reuters: The U.S. East Coast will be granted a reprieve from the tremendous snowfall that caused 2009's winter to be dubbed "snowmaggedon," meteorologist Joe Bastardi of AccuWeather.com said in a early forecast for winter 2010 released Tuesday morning. The forecast is for November 15-March 15. Temperatures are expected to be 0.5 to 1 degree Fahrenheit (0.2-0.6 degree Celsius) slightly higher-than-normal for Boston, Washington, D.C. and New York City, he predicted. "You'll have ...

Wed, 4 Aug 10
A deadly addiction: figures confirm BP spill is biggest in history
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/cif-green/2010/aug/03/bp-spill-biggest-history
Guardian: We thought it was big, but now we know it is huge – the greatest accidental oil spill in all history. The latest calculations of the vast quantity of oil polluting the Gulf of Mexico after the blowout of BP's Macondo well conclude that 4.9m barrels poured into the ocean. The scientists making the estimate believe it is accurate to within 10%, so even the smallest leak would be a third bigger than the 3.3m barrels released into Mexico's Bay of Campeche when the Ixtoc I oil rig blew out in ...

Wed, 4 Aug 10
China v US energy consumption: the data
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/datablog/2010/aug/03/us-china-energy-consumption-data
Guardian: China's energy use has more than doubled over the last decade to overtake the United States as the word's biggest user, according to preliminary data from the International Energy Agency. As the data from the IEA shows, China has gone from using 1,107 million tons of oil equivalent (Mtoe) in 2000, to 2,131 Mtoe in 2008 and is estimated to have consumed 2,265 Mtoe in 2009. Meanwhile, US energy consumption was only marginally higher in 2008 (at 2,281 Mtoe) than it was in 2000 ...

Wed, 4 Aug 10
American Chemical Society to hold forum on climate change on Aug. 23
http://www.genengnews.com/industry-updates/american-chemical-society-to-hold-forum-on-climate-change-on-aug-23/90398165/
Genetic Engineering News: BOSTON, Aug. 3, 2010 ? The American Chemical Society (ACS) will hold a special forum on climate here on Aug. 23 during its 240th National Meeting & Exposition, featuring international authorities speaking on the current status of climate change science. Entitled "Forum on Climate Change Science and Consequences," it is scheduled for 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Seaport Hotel, Plaza Ballroom B/C, and will include time for audience participation. The presentations are among 8,000 reports ...

Wed, 4 Aug 10
Hot weather records falling left and right
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/capitalweathergang/2010/08/hot_weather_records_falling_le.html
Washington Post: As she did for winter 2010, this summer Mother Nature has truly outdone herself, this time by brewing up a miserable combination of heat and humidity that has enveloped not only the northeastern U.S., but much of the Northern Hemisphere as well. As Ian Livingston reported on Saturday, July was the warmest single calendar month of all time in Washington (tied with July 1993). The warmest day in the city was July 7th, when the temperature soared to 102 degrees Fahrenheit at Reagan National ...

Wed, 4 Aug 10
Islands warn rich nations' emissions pledges fall short
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6722XX20100803?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29
Reuters: Rich nations' emissions reductions pledges fall dramatically short of what is required to limit global warming to two degrees centigrade, a group of 43 small islands said on Tuesday at U.N. climate talks. This week's 185-nation conference in Bonn is the penultimate step before the next U.N. climate conference in December. Parties are trying to make progress on shaping a successor to the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012. However, rifts continue between poorer nations and ...

Wed, 4 Aug 10
Fires, dying grain beset Russia
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704271804575404571365301614.html
Wall Street Journal: President Dmitry Medvedev declared a state of emergency in forest-fire-afflicted regions of Russia and the country's grain authority lowered its harvest projection amid one of Russia's hottest, driest summers on record. Women remove preserves on Monday from their home in Ostafyevo, outside Moscow. Forest fires across the parched country have killed 34 people. Much of the country west of the Urals is suffering through a severe drought, and in Moscow, the summer has been the ...

Wed, 4 Aug 10
Australia: Climate-proof 'cool refuges' needed
http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/climateproof-cool-refuges-needed-20100803-11573.html
AAP: Cities may need "cool refuges" as climate change brings heat waves and the risk of mass casualties, engineers warn. They've raised the prospect of vulnerable people - including the elderly and the sick - heading into air-conditioned shopping malls to survive, possibly at night. The Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (ATSE), a body of engineers and scientists, released a plan on Tuesday to climate-proof the country's cities. The report cautions ...

Wed, 4 Aug 10
United Kingdom: Rise in world temperature 'could be kept at 1.5C'
http://news.scotsman.com/environment/Rise-in-world-temperature-39could.6452836.jp
Scotsman: GLOBAL temperature rises could be kept within 1.5C over the long term, an influential team of scientists claimed yesterday. The UK researchers said global temperature is likely to rise in the short term by more than 1.5C above the pre-industrial level. However, in the long term, the trend could be reversed through strong cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, after temporarADVERTISEMENTily overshooting the 1.5C mark. The research was carried out by the Grantham Research ...

Wed, 4 Aug 10
Ocean acidification makes oceans smell funny
http://news.discovery.com/earth/ocean-acidity-fish-predators.html
Discovery: As rising levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide create more acidic oceans, their waters may start to smell funny and that change could prove possibly fatal to fish. New research has found that the larvae of two kinds of coral reef fish -- clownfish and damselfish -- lose the ability to distinguish the smell of predators from non-predators and fail to avoid the smell of predatory fish when raised in waters at acid levels predicted for the end of this century. As a consequence, ...

Wed, 4 Aug 10
DECC responds to public's suggestions for renewables
http://newenergyfocus.com/do/ecco/view_item?listid=1&listcatid=32&listitemid=4230§ion=Policy
New Energy Focus: DECC claims many of the responses to the Programme for Government came from people who have already installed renewable energy generation in their own homes The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has today (August 2) responded to the consultation on the coalition's Programme for Government, highlighting some of the suggestions made by the public with regards to boosting renewable energy generation. According to DECC, a theme which repeatedly emerged was the need for ...

Wed, 4 Aug 10
Chamber of Commerce goes after climate dissenters in its ranks
http://motherjones.com/blue-marble/2010/07/chamber-commerce-climate-NRDC-CICE
Mother Jones: A new split over climate policy is brewing within the ranks of the US Chamber of Commerce as a breakaway group of local chambers is getting ready to publicly split with the business lobby's hardline stance against climate legislation. The new climate coalition, known as the Chambers for Innovation and Clean Energy (CICE), will press Congress to take stronger action on climate and energy issues. It has already signed up about a dozen chambers and will officially launch later this ...

Wed, 4 Aug 10
Greenland ice core drilling project reaches milestone
http://climatecentral.org/breaking/blog/greenland_ice_core_drilling_project_reaches_milestone
Climate Central: "It's tough to make predictions, especially about the future.' --Yogi Berra Yogi wasn't talking about climate change when he said these immortal words (if he said them at all; Yogi has also asserted that "I didn't really say everything I said.') Either way, it applies. We know for a fact that carbon dioxide is a heat-trapping greenhouse gas, and we know that humans have been adding carbon dioxide (CO2) to the atmosphere, mostly through the burning of fossil fuels. Virtually ...

Wed, 4 Aug 10
US Govt gives NZ penguins protected status
http://www.odt.co.nz/news/national/119097/us-govt-gives-nz-penguins-protected-status
Otago Daily Times: Four New Zealand penguin species are to be given protected status under the US Endangered Species Act. The United States Interior Department will list as protected the yellow-eyed, white-flippered, Fiordland crested and erect-crested penguins, as well as the Humboldt penguin of Chile and Peru, it said in a statement. The US-based Centre for Biological Diversity petitioned for the protection of a dozen species in 2006, a year after screening of an immensely popular film, "March ...

Wed, 4 Aug 10
For the World's Ills, Trickle-Up Solutions
http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/03/for-the-worlds-ills-trickle-up-solutions/
New York Times: The clean-tech innovations that will solve the world`s most urgent environmental problems might come from where we least expect it: by first serving the needs of consumers at the base of the economic pyramid, says Stuart Hart, a professor of management at Cornell`s Johnson Graduate School of Management and chairman of the university's Center for Sustainable Global Enterprise. Mr. Hart suggests that new advances in clean technologies can quickly take hold in developing markets like ...

Wed, 4 Aug 10
Pakistan floods: evacuations, aid supplies and protests
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/gallery/2010/aug/03/pakistan-floods-evacuations-aid
Guardian

Wed, 4 Aug 10
Overseas Frustration Grows Over US Domestic Impasse on Climate Policy
http://www.nytimes.com/cwire/2010/08/03/03climatewire-overseas-frustration-grows-over-us-domestic-61456.html
ClimateWire: Top climate change leaders from Europe to Africa are wondering if it's time to give up on the United States. Frustrated by the U.S. Senate's recent abandonment of climate legislation and baffled by Congress' seeming inability to cut emissions, several officials told ClimateWire that countries are uncertain about America's role in upcoming treaty negotiations. "Why is it that for the last 20 years the United States is unable to have a bill on climate change? What's happening? ...

Wed, 4 Aug 10
Pollsters say Australian government's popularity plummets because of climate change inaction
http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5jLnILpH7T4pi-KECRdmDESbnUjLg
Canadian Press: The Australian government's popularity has declined in opinion polls weeks away from elections because of its disappointing policy on climate change and internal disunity, pollsters said Tuesday. Prime Minister Julia Gillard ousted her predecessor Kevin Rudd in an internal Labor Party leadership challenge in June after his popularity plunged in opinion polls. Analysts blamed his decision to shelve until 2013 government plans to make polluters pay for the carbon gas they ...

Wed, 4 Aug 10
Oil spill 'largest in US history'
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-10848147
BBC: US government scientists have said around 4.9 million barrels of oil leaked from an oil well in the Gulf of Mexico before it was capped last month, making it the largest accidental oil spill in history. BP will begin testing on Tuesday to see whether it can permanently seal the leak with mud.

Wed, 4 Aug 10
Three million affected by Pakistan floods: UNICEF
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE66T3RS20100803?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29
Reuters: The worst floods in memory in Pakistan have devastated the lives of more than 3 million people, a U.N. spokesman said on Tuesday, while outrage over the unpopular government's response to the suffering spreads. The catastrophe, which started almost a week ago and has killed more than 1,400 people, is likely to deepen as more rains are expected and a breakout of water-borne diseases such as cholera could create a health crisis. It has also called once again into question the ...

Wed, 4 Aug 10
Pacific islands want louder voice on climate
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gf6YLdmlXMkA6D33ql_pge5axyEQ
Agence France-Presse: The smallest Pacific island nations, some of which fear being swamped by rising sea levels due to climate change, said Tuesday they had seen little of the global funding promised to combat the problem. Meeting in Port Vila ahead of a broader two-day Pacific Islands Forum which begins Wednesday, the leaders of some of the world's tiniest states admitted their voice on the issue was often lost. "We are the most vulnerable in many respects and therefore we've got to take the ...

Wed, 4 Aug 10
Cardiff solar firm pioneers 'green from green' energy loop
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2267497/cardiff-solar-firm-pioneers
Business Green: Two of the UK's leading renewable energy firms announced yesterday that they are to team up as part of a pioneering project that could serve to slash the carbon footprint of low-carbon technologies. In what is being hailed as a world first, wind energy provider Ecotricity confirmed it is working with Cardiff-based solar cell manufacturer G24 Innovations (G24i) to install a 120-metre tall wind turbine at the company's Wentloog plant. The company said the turbine will be up and ...

Wed, 4 Aug 10
Air conditioning: Cold comfort
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/air-conditioning-cold-comfort-2041647.html
Independent (UK): In 1992, Cambridge University anthropologist Gwyn Prins wrote the paper "On Condis and Coolth" in the academic journal Energy and Buildings, slamming air conditioning addicts. He labelled them "condis", and their preferred refrigerated climate, "coolth", arguing AC was the ultimate example of needless luxury in an already gluttonous society. In an elegant, influential tirade, Prins warned of worsening "global warming", a term so rarely used at the time that it still warranted inverted ...

Tue, 3 Aug 10
Mediterranean most threatened sea on Earth
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100802/sc_afp/environmentclimatewarmingoceansmediterranean
Agence France-Presse: The Mediterranean Sea's exquisitely rich mix of flora and fauna is more threatened than marine life anywhere else on Earth, according to a landmark scientific survey released Monday. In none of the other 20-odd ocean areas examined during the decade-long study does biodiversity face as bleak a future. Habitat loss, pollution and overfishing have already take a heavy toll on the planet?s largest enclosed sea, and now climate change impacts have started to kick in as well, the ...

Tue, 3 Aug 10
Hundreds of new wildfires break out in Russia
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/08/01/world/AP-EU-Russia-Fires.html?_r=5
Associated Press: Hundreds of new fires broke out Sunday in Russian forests and fields that have been dried to a crisp by drought and record heat, but firefighters claimed success in bringing some of the wildfires raging around cities under control. The firefighters got much-needed help from residents desperate to save their homes, who shoveled sand onto the flames and carted water in large plastic bottles. The wildfires that began threatening much of western Russia last week have killed 28 ...

Tue, 3 Aug 10
Pakistan floods: 'There was no warning. By the time I had got the children, the water was waist high'
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/02/pakistan-floods-death-toll-rises
Guardian: Until last week Khaista Rehman owned a fabric shop and lived in a brick-built home with his family. But the floods that devastated north-west Pakistan, claiming about 1,500 lives so far, have destroyed his home and washed away his business. Rehman, a 26-year-old father of four, now shares a single room with 33 members of his extended family in a school building converted into a makeshift camp. "My house was two kilometres from the river," he said. "The water crossed my house, ...

Tue, 3 Aug 10
United States: Innovative car sharing helps a walkable city clear its streets
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ygreen/20100802/sc_ygreen/innovativecarsharinghelpsawalkablecityclearitsstreets
Yahoo! Green: Fresh off the $1.75 PATH tubes from Manhattan, I am standing on a pleasant residential street lined with brownstones in downtown Hoboken, New Jersey with the boyish Ian Sacs, head of the city's transportation and parking bureau. In front of me is a Toyota Prius, just like any other except for the fact that it is parked in a green-lined space ... and just about anyone in Hoboken could drive it. Welcome to Corner Cars, Hoboken's municipal car-sharing program, undertaken in ...

Tue, 3 Aug 10
For Clean Power and Not-So, New Midwest Lines
http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/02/for-clean-power-and-not-so-new-midwest-lines/
New York Times: A major Midwest utility, Ameren, said Monday that it had created a new subsidiary to build transmission lines in Missouri and Illinois that will being more wind power onto the grid – not to mention coal power, from clean to conventional. Saying that it was encouraged by a law enacted in June in Illinois that is supposed to streamline the approval process, Ameren, based in St. Louis, said it had $3 billion in potential new power lines in its sights. Financing will be easier to secure ...

Tue, 3 Aug 10
Climate talks settle Saudi affair
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-10840856
BBC: The unfortunate affair of the toilet bowl and the Saudi Arabian nameplate that arose during the last round of UN climate talks has been settled. At June's negotiating session in Bonn, activists broke the nameplate that sits before the Saudi delegation, put the bits in a toilet bowl and took photos. At the opening of this week's session, the groups responsible apologised and will accept sanctions from the UN body. Critics say Saudi Arabia often stalls the talks to protect ...

Tue, 3 Aug 10
Groups seek judge's removal from drilling case
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100802/ap_on_bi_ge/us_gulf_oil_spill_judge
Associated Press: Several environmental groups have asked a federal appeals court to disqualify a judge from a lawsuit over the Obama administration's initial six-month moratorium on deep-water oil drilling. U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman overturned the temporary drilling ban in June and refused last month to withdraw from the case. In a court filing Thursday, environmental groups supporting the moratorium asked the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to remove Feldman from the case because of ...

Tue, 3 Aug 10
Warming Is Real. Now What?
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/03/books/03book.html?_r=5&partner=rss&emc=rss
New York Times: Even as Democrats abandoned efforts late last month to advance a major climate change bill through the Senate, books about global warming continue to pour forth. Two of the more interesting ones do not waste time rearguing debates over the science (in 2007 a United Nations panel, synthesizing the work of hundreds of climatologists from around the world, called evidence for global warming "unequivocal"), but instead take as a starting point the clear and present dangers posed by the ...

Tue, 3 Aug 10
SEC probes BP potential insider trading: sources
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100802/bs_nm/us_oil_spill_sec
Reuters: U.S. securities regulators are investigating whether people may have illegally profited from trading on nonpublic information at BP Plc (BP.N) (BP.L) in the weeks and months following the disastrous Gulf of Mexico oil spill, two sources familiar with the investigation said on Monday. The Securities and Exchange Commission is also investigating whether BP properly disclosed information on risks related to its deepwater oil operations in the Gulf of Mexico, one of the sources ...

Tue, 3 Aug 10
Gulf of Mexico "dead zone" overlaps BP spill zone
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6713YZ20100802?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29
Reuters: This year's low-oxygen "dead zone" in the Gulf of Mexico is one of the largest ever, about the size of Massachusetts, and overlaps areas hit by oil from BP's broken Macondo well, Louisiana scientists report. The area of hypoxia, or low levels of oxygen, covered 7,722 square miles (20,000 square kilometers) of the bottom of the Gulf and extended far into Texas waters, researchers from the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium said in a statement late on Sunday. "This is the ...

Tue, 3 Aug 10
Spain to cut subsidies to photovoltaic energy sector
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100802/sc_afp/spaineconomyalternativesolar
Agence France-Presse: The government of Spain, a world leader in renewable energy, said it plans to cut subsidies for photovoltaic solar plants by up to 45 percent as it seeks to slash spending amid the economic crisis. The proposal follows cuts announced last month in subsidies for wind and thermosolar power. Under the plan announced by the industry ministry on Sunday, subsidies for ground-based solar farms will be reduced by 45 percent, those for large roof-mounted installations by 25 percent and ...

Tue, 3 Aug 10
United Kingdom: The big switch: How Britain's homes could make cost-free emissions cuts
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/aug/02/energy-efficient-homes-superhomes
Guardian: With an electricity meter that goes backwards and a roof covered in green plants, Tony's Almond's house is no normal home. The house in Welwyn village, just north of London, is actually a green "superhome" - the 50th in a UK-wide network of demonstration eco-homes now open to the public. The scheme, operated by charity Sustainable Energy Academy (SEA) and the National Energy Foundation, plans to create a network of 200 superhomes to showcase energy efficiency and renewable energy ...

Tue, 3 Aug 10
Report: Chinese wind turbine firm seeks $500m IPO
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2267485/report-chinese-wind-turbine
Business Green: Mingyang Electric has reportedly become the latest Chinese wind turbine firm to seek an IPO in the US in attempt to fund rapid expansion plans. IFR reported that the company, which is one of the five largest wind turbine suppliers operating in the booming Chinese market, is looking to raise $500m through a listing next month. Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Credit Suisse Group AG and Morgan Stanley are reportedly working on the IPO. The move will further add to the mixed ...

Tue, 3 Aug 10
Scientists Deeply Concerned About BP Disaster's Long-Term Impact
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=52352
Inter Press Service: Contrary to recent media reports of a quick recovery in the Gulf of Mexico, scientists and biologists are "deeply concerned" about impacts that will likely span "several decades". "My prediction is that we will be dealing with the impacts of this spill for several decades to come and it will outlive me," Dr. Ed Cake, a biological oceanographer, as well as a marine and oyster biologist, told IPS, "I won't be here to see the recovery." Cake's grim assessment stems partially from ...

Tue, 3 Aug 10
New solar energy conversion process could double solar efficiency of solar cells
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/08/100802101813.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Latest+Science+News%29
ScienceDaily: A new process that simultaneously combines the light and heat of solar radiation to generate electricity could offer more than double the efficiency of existing solar cell technology, say the Stanford engineers who discovered it and proved that it works. The process, called "photon enhanced thermionic emission," or PETE, could reduce the costs of solar energy production enough for it to compete with oil as an energy source. Stanford engineers have figured out how to simultaneously use ...

Tue, 3 Aug 10
U.N. climate talks need quicker pace for global deal
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6713A520100802?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29
Reuters: U.N. climate talks this week urgently need to focus and speed up as time runs out to secure a global deal on combat climate change by the end of the year, delegates at the opening of negotiations on Monday said. There are only 11 working days of talks left until a U.N. summit in Cancun this November to agree on extending or replacing the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012. "There is a lot of interest this week to pick up the pace and move with resolution toward Cancun," U.N. ...

Tue, 3 Aug 10
US says it's committed to cutting greenhouse gases
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100802/ap_on_sc/climate_change
Associated Press: The United States assured international negotiators Monday it remains committed to reducing carbon emissions over the next 10 years, despite the collapse of efforts to legislate a climate bill. U.S. delegate Jonathan Pershing told a climate conference in Bonn, Germany, Washington is not backing away from President Barack Obama's pledge to cut emissions 17 percent from 2005 levels. Pershing said legislation is the preferred way to control greenhouse gases, but the administration ...

Tue, 3 Aug 10
Climatologist Sees Disastrous Weather in Future
http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory?id=11302347
Associated Press: "The Weather of the Future: Heat Waves, Extreme Storms, and Other Scenes From a Climate-Changed Planet" (Harper, $25.99), by Heidi Cullen: Climatologist Heidi Cullen was taken aback at her lecture on the prospects for global warming when a member of the audience came up with a practical question: "Do you think I should sell my beach house?" On reflection, the question seemed less surprising. She foresees a rise in the sea level that would drop the price of beachfront property ...

Tue, 3 Aug 10
Over 1,000 killed as floods wreak havoc across Pakistan
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE66T3RS20100802?utm_source=feedburnerutm_medium=feedutm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29
Reuters: Islamist charities, some with suspected ties to militants, stepped in on Monday to provide aid for Pakistanis hit by the worst flooding in memory, piling pressure on a government criticized for its response to the disaster that has so far killed more than 1,000 people. The floods that ravaged the northwest and displaced more than a million people are testing an administration heavily dependent on foreign aid and which has a poor record in crisis management -- whether fighting Taliban ...

Tue, 3 Aug 10
Study claims conventional ag limits greenhouse gas
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100802/ap_on_bi_ge/us_food_and_farm_conventional_farming
Associated Press: Advances in conventional agriculture have dramatically slowed the flow of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, in part by allowing farmers to grow more food to meet world demand without plowing up vast tracts of land, a study by three Stanford University researchers has found. The study, which has been embraced by many agricultural groups but criticized by some environmentalists, found that improvements in technology, plant varieties and other advances enabled farmers to grow more ...

Tue, 3 Aug 10
United States: Solar power hot topic in Senate race
http://www.mydesert.com/article/20100802/NEWS07/8020313/1006/news01/Solar+power+hot+topic+in+Senate+race
Desert Sun: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid offered a narrowly focused energy bill for debate last week that left solar power advocates on the sidelines. The issue, however, remains a hot topic in California's competitive Senate race. Sen. Barbara Boxer and her Republican challenger, Carly Fiorina, say they support expansion of California's solar and wind energy industry and the jobs it would create, but they offer sharply contrasting views on how to get there. Boxer, a Rancho Mirage ...

Tue, 3 Aug 10
EPA rejects challenges to labelling carbon emissions a pollutant
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/aug/02/epa-rejects-challenges-carbon-pollutant
Ecologist: US climate sceptic lobbyists' attempts to stop greenhouse gas emissions from being labelled as a pollutant were last week rejected by The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Climate sceptics and oil and coal lobby groups, including the Peabody Energy Company, had challenged the EPA's ruling from December 2009 that climate change caused by GHG emissions was a threat to public health and the environment. Citing the University of East Anglia 'climategate' controversy they said the ...

Tue, 3 Aug 10
Floods cut water supplies for 300,000 in China
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6711HM20100802?utm_source=feedburnerutm_medium=feedutm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29
Reuters: Flooding caused by unusually heavy rain near the North Korean border has cut water supplies to more than 300,000 people in northeastern China, state media said on Monday. Residents in Tonghua city in Jilin province had been without tap water for two days because the floods damaged pipes, and the government had given no timeframe for when supplies may be restored, state news agency Xinhua said. More than 300 workers had been mobilized to fix the damaged pipes, it ...

Tue, 3 Aug 10
Eco-quarters the new trend in city design
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/ecoquarters-the-new-trend-in-city-design-2041467.html
Independent (UK): The planned eco-quarter in the southeast of Paris got a boost with the development of one of France's first low-energy, solar-powered buildings, making the 13th arrondissement (or district) the latest in a line of eco-quarters from Copenhagen to Abu Dhabi. The planned ecologically friendly quarter in the southeast of Paris moved one step closer to completion; with the announcement on July 20 that property developers ICADE Promotion and design company MVRDV have reached an agreement to ...

Tue, 3 Aug 10
UN steps up carbon offsetting investigation
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2267429/un-steps-carbon-offsetting
Business Green: The UN panel responsible for the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) has announced plans to intensify an investigation into allegations that some companies are deliberately increasing greenhouse gas emissions in an attempt to exploit a loophole in the carbon offsetting scheme. Following a meeting on Friday, the CDM Executive Board announced it had approved a recommendation from CDM's Methodologies Panel that further research is required to ascertain whether safeguards governing the ...

Tue, 3 Aug 10
Spain proposes deep cuts to solar PV support
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2267435/spain-proposes-deep-cuts-solar
Business Green: The Spanish government yesterday announced plans to slash incentives for new solar photovoltaic (PV) installations by up to 45 per cent, although it appeared to edge away from proposals that would have resulted in reduced support for existing installations. A statement from the Industry Ministry confirmed the government aims to cut feed-in tariffs for ground-based solar PV panels by 45 per cent, while also reducing support for large roof-based systems by 25 per cent and small ...

Tue, 3 Aug 10
WWF, Oxfam punished for anti-Saudi act at UN talks
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100802/ap_on_re_eu/climate_change_activists
Associated Press: The U.N. has sanctioned two activist groups after a Saudi Arabian nameplate was vandalized at a recent climate change conference. Three members of the World Wildlife Fund and Oxfam International have been banned or suspended from talks later this year after they took the Saudi plate at a June meeting, broke it in half, threw it in a toilet and distributed photographs of it. Christiana Figueres, the top U.N. climate official, also said WWF and Oxfam will be restricted to fewer ...

Tue, 3 Aug 10
July was wettest month of year in UK
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/aug/02/wet-weather-july-rain
Guardian: July was the UK's wettest month of the year so far, despite below-average rainfall in the south of England. The average rainfall in the UK was 102mm (4in), with parts of Scotland and north Wales seeing twice the normal rainfall expected in July. The first six months of the year were the driest since 1929, which led to the imposition of a hosepipe ban covering 6.5 million people in north-west England. Heavy rain has returned some reservoirs to near normal levels but the hosepipe ...

Tue, 3 Aug 10
Figueres Urges Smaller Steps on Climate Change as UN Warming Talks Resume
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-08-02/figueres-urges-smaller-steps-on-climate-change-as-un-warming-talks-resume.html
Bloomberg: Costa Rica's Christiana Figueres took charge of United Nations climate talks, calling on nations to do the quot;politically possiblequot; and take smaller steps rather than striving for an all-encompassing deal to halt global warming. After the UN climate summit in Copenhagen in December failed to produce a new treaty, about 190 countries are still grappling to agree on more ambitious greenhouse-gas cuts to contain the global average temperature rise to 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees ...

Tue, 3 Aug 10
Scuppered US climate bill overshadows launch of UN climate talks
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2267444/scuppered-climate-bill
Business Green: The latest round of UN-backed climate change negotiations got underway in Bonn this morning amid expectations that the talks will be dominated by the decision Democrat leaders in the US Senate to effectively scrap plans for a wide-ranging climate bill. The controversial decision to drop proposals that would cap US greenhouse gas emissions and impose a price on carbon in favour of a much narrower energy bill is set to reignite accusations from developing countries that the US is not ...

Tue, 3 Aug 10
WWF, Oxfam punished for anti-Saudi act at UN talks
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/02/AR2010080201548.html
Associated Press: The U.N. sanctioned two activist groups Monday after a Saudi Arabian nameplate was vandalized at a recent climate change conference. Three members of the World Wildlife Fund and Oxfam International were barred from future meetings for taking the Saudi plate at a June meeting, breaking it into pieces and distributing photographs of it in a toilet bowl. Christiana Figueres, the top U.N. climate official, also said WWF and Oxfam will be restricted to sending two and three ...

Tue, 3 Aug 10
China: Three Gorges dam 'could be blocked by rubbish'
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/7922348/Three-Gorges-dam-could-be-blocked-by-rubbish.html
Telegraph: Nearly three tonnes of refuse are collected from the world's largest dam every day, but operators are struggling with inadequate manpower and equipment as rubbish accumulates more quickly due to rain-triggered floods. quot;The large amount of waste in the dam area could jam the mitre gate [a type of lock gate] of the Three Gorges Dam,quot; Chen Lei, an official with the China Three Gorges Corporation, told the China Daily, the government's English-language newspaper. More than 150 ...

Tue, 3 Aug 10
Sales of big SUVs surging faster than small cars
http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/2010-07-30-suvs30_CV_N.htm
USA Today: Automakers are tantalizing the market with 40-mpg small cars and 30-mpg sporty cars. Electric cars from major automakers are due by year's end. Plug-in gas-electric hybrids are under development. But guess what? The full-size SUV market segment -- the bane of mileage-minders -- is where the action is. The jump in sales of full-size SUVs the first half of the year outperformed the rise in the overall auto market, according to tally master Autodata. And the growth rate also ...

Tue, 3 Aug 10
Biofuels left out as automakers go electric
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/08/02/BU3H1EK5HK.DTLtype=business
San Francisco Chronicle: In the race to replace oil, electric cars seem to be leaving biofuels in the dust. Five years ago, biofuels such as ethanol and biodiesel looked like the best bet for breaking the world's addiction to oil. Biorefineries turning corn into ethanol sprouted across the Midwest, while startups trying to make fuel from wood chips or grass soaked up venture capital. Big automakers considered electric cars a lost cause. Now the situation has been reversed. The buzz surrounding electric ...

Tue, 3 Aug 10
President Obama's climate 'Plan B' in hot water
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0810/40534.html
Politico: President Barack Obama's 'Plan B' for tackling global warming is under attack in the courts and on Capitol Hill. Through federal lawsuits, two conservative attorneys general, a major coal company and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce are leading the charge to overturn the Environmental Protection Agency's ability to write its own climate rules. Key coal-state Democrats and nearly all Republicans are also unified in their bid to slow down the EPA via legislation -- and they're ...

Tue, 3 Aug 10
Canada: Quebec eyes big hydro schemes for Nunavik
http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/98789_quebec_eyes_big_hydro_schemes_for_nunavik/
Nunatsiaq News: The Quebec government`s quot;Plan Nordquot; includes consideration of the once-controversial Great Whale hydro-electric project, a 2,500 kilometre electric grid connecting Nunavik communities, and wind mill farms located near Hydro Quebec`s huge reservoirs. These and other recommendations are contained in a preliminary report prepared June 15 for Quebec`s ambitious northern development plan obtained by Le Soleil newspaper in Quebec City. The report cites a suggestion, first proposed by ...

Tue, 3 Aug 10
Senate aims to pass energy bill before recess
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128921726
National Public Radio: The House of Representatives has adjourned for a six-week summer recess, and the Senate is set to do the same later this week. But before that happens, Democrats have an ambitious to-do list. They aim to get Elena Kagan confirmed to the Supreme Court and pass a long-stalled bill to help small businesses create jobs. What's more, they also want to take up an energy bill that was unveiled last week. It's been more than a year since the House narrowly passed its energy bill. That ...

Tue, 3 Aug 10
Plugging in the electric car
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128911975
National Public Radio: A big car company would probably never hire a software guy like Jason Wolf to head up its North American division. But at a time when President Obama is pushing to have more electric cars on the road, Wolf is doing just that. He runs the North America division of a company called Better Place. Better Place wants to change the way people drive, and it wants to take on the big boys like GM and Nissan. But it's probably better to call it a tech company than a car company. Obama ...

Tue, 3 Aug 10
Paris' bike rentals spark EV plans
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128880529
National Public Radio: Paris plans to launch the world's largest electric car access scheme in September of next year. The city is hoping to emulate the popularity of its easy rental system for bicycles, known as Velib. This time around, Autolib, which stands for auto liberte, will allow Parisians to rent an electric vehicle whenever they need to, with the goal of cutting down on car ownership, traffic and pollution. Paris' pedestrians and cyclists have had a lot to celebrate in a decade of pro-green ...

Tue, 3 Aug 10
Montana twisters are more frequent, powerful in 2010
http://www.billingsgazette.com/news/local/article_c6640e2c-9d9e-11df-8e35-001cc4c03286.html
Billings Gazette: Tornadoes in Montana this year have been more frequent and more powerful than at any point over the past decade, as evidenced by twisters that destroyed an arena in Billings and killed two people in the state's northeastern corner. While an unusually wet spring and early summer helped extend this year's storm season, meteorologists can't pinpoint just what's caused the spike. Montana averages seven tornadoes a year, which ties it with New York for the nation's 19th-lowest ...

Tue, 3 Aug 10
Higher temperatures prolong Alaska growing season: Climate change
http://www.adn.com/2010/08/01/1391100/warmer-temperatures-prolong-alaska.html
Associated Press: According to the Alaska Climate Research Center, Fairbanks is 2 1/2 degrees Fahrenheit warmer and 11 percent drier than it was 100 years ago. The changes have stretched the growing season from 85 days in the early 20th century to 123 days. Gerd Wendler, director of the University of Alaska Fairbanks research center, says every change in climate will have positive effects and negative ones. For example, warming might produce more pumpkins and potatoes, but it also could ...

Tue, 3 Aug 10
Ocean plant life dropping
http://thechronicleherald.ca/NovaScotia/1194879.html
Chronicle Herald: The plant life of the oceans, called phytoplankton, is disappearing, according to Dalhousie University researchers who announced their results this week. The three-year research project was conducted by PhD student Daniel Boyce and professors Boris Worm and Marlon Lewis. They concluded that the phytoplankton population has dropped globally by about 40 per cent since the l9th century. The implications for the rest of the marine ecosystem could be disastrous but many questions ...

Tue, 3 Aug 10
U.S.-Canadian mission set to map Arctic seafloor
http://planetark.org/enviro-news/item/58996
Reuters: Alaska U.S. and Canadian scientists are headed far north on a joint mission to map the still mysterious floor of the Arctic Ocean, as questions of sovereignty and mineral rights swirl around the region. The five-week mission, the third joint expedition in as many years, employs two powerful icebreakers from the nations' Coast Guard fleets. Both are scheduled to depart Monday, from ports in Alaska and Canada's Nunavut territory respectively, for a rendezvous point at sea, said ...

Mon, 2 Aug 10
Climate Change Capital Plans to Raise Money for Emissions-Cutting Projects
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-08-02/climate-change-capital-plans-to-raise-money-for-emissions-cutting-projects.html
Bloomberg: Climate Change Capital, a London fund manager that has invested more than $1 billion in greenhouse gas credits, plans to attract additional cash and focus future investments on emissions-reducing projects. "We are ready to raise money for follow-on funds," James Cameron, executive vice chairman, said in an interview. "The future is likely to involve more investment in the underlying asset," and less on credits which trade in the UN's Clean Development Mechanism, the world's ...

Mon, 2 Aug 10
Australia: Labor candidate a climate rebel
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/capital-circle/labor-candidate-a-climate-rebel/story-fn59nqgy-1225899940993
Australian: Email Share Add to Digg Add to del.icio.us Add to Facebook Add to Kwoff Add to Myspace Add to Newsvine What are these? Labor candidate Rick Sarre has criticised the party's climate change policy. THE Labor candidate hoping to oust leading Liberal Christopher Pyne from his marginal electorate in Adelaide has told a street corner meeting with constituents he was not satisfied Julia Gillard had pushed climate change as hard as she should. Law professor Rick Sarre was asked ...

Mon, 2 Aug 10
Pakistan floods death toll rises to 1,100
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/01/pakistan-floods-death-toll-rises
Associated Press: The death toll from flooding in north-west Pakistan rose to 1,100 today as rescue workers struggled to save more than 27,000 people still trapped by the water. The rescue effort was aided by a slackening of the monsoon rains that caused the worst flooding in decades in Khyber-Pakhtoonkhwa province. But as the waters started to recede, authorities began to understand the full scale of the disaster. "Aerial monitoring is being conducted, and it has shown that whole villages have ...

Mon, 2 Aug 10
Spotlight on water and climate
http://thestar.com.my/columnists/story.asp?file=/2010/8/2/columnists/globaltrends/6777422&sec=globaltrends
Malaysian Star: The recognition of water as a human right and the issuing of a new report on climate change kept environmental issues in the news last week, while the UN climate talks resume this week. THE environment continues to be in the news in recent weeks. The UN General Assembly last Wednesday recognised the right to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation as a human right essential to the full enjoyment of life and all other human rights. The resolution was adopted by a vote of ...

Mon, 2 Aug 10
United States: Turbines Too Loud? Here, Take $5,000
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/01/us/01wind.html?_r=5&partner=rss&emc=rss
New York Times: Residents of the remote high-desert hills near here have had an unusual visitor recently, a fixer working out the kinks in clean energy. Patricia Pilz of Caithness Energy, a big company from New York that is helping make this part of Eastern Oregon one of the fastest-growing wind power regions in the country, is making a tempting offer: sign a waiver saying you will not complain about excessive noise from the turning turbines – the whoosh, whoosh, whoosh of the future, advocates say – ...

Mon, 2 Aug 10
Pocono Raceway Becomes Solar-Powered
http://www10.nytimes.com/2010/08/01/sports/autoracing/01pocono.html?_r=5&partner=rss&emc=rss
New York Times: Doc Mattioli is 85 and does not get around his racetrack in the mountains quite as well as he used to. Even 10 years ago, he would hop into a bulldozer to take care of a rough spot. Now he must use a wheelchair, and his once-booming voice seems several decibels softer. But there he was on Friday, on a muddy, 25-acre patch outside Pocono Raceway, celebrating an accomplishment with his great-grandchildren. Pocono Raceway, carved out of a former asparagus farm 40 years ago, became ...

Mon, 2 Aug 10
BP distributors consider reverting to Amoco brand
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100801/bs_nm/us_oil_spill_branding
Reuters: Some BP gas station owners in the United States want to drop the BP name and return to the Amoco brand to recover business hit by public anger over the Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster. The executive director of the BP Amoco Marketers Association, John Kleine, said on Sunday his members were discussing the possibility of reverting to the Amoco brand. BP Plc.'s bought Amoco in 1998 and many current BP distributors used to be Amoco distributors. "Yes, the Amoco question ...

Mon, 2 Aug 10
Over 1,000 killed as floods wreak havoc across Pakistan
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE66T3RS20100801?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29
Reuters: Floods caused by a week of heavy rain have killed more than 1,000 people in Pakistan's northwest and rescuers battled on Sunday to distribute relief to tens of thousands of trapped people. A westerly weather system moving in from Iran and Afghanistan, combined with heavy monsoon rain, caused the worst floods on record in Pakistan in the past week, with the northwestern province of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa the worst hit. Provincial Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain told ...

Mon, 2 Aug 10
United States: Oil spill pipeline won't reopen this week: Enbridge
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE66T5FP20100801?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29
Reuters: Enbridge Inc's chief executive said on Sunday the company would not restart its ruptured pipeline in Michigan this week as it continues to clean up 800,000 gallons of oil spilled in and around the Kalamazoo River. Meanwhile, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said there was "significant improvement" at the spill site after almost a week and no signs of new contamination. Officials also gave an update on the cleanup efforts, saying 39,000 barrels -- about 1.6 million ...

Mon, 2 Aug 10
Q&A: Clean Energy and Cultural Survival in Nicaragua
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=52345
Inter Press Service: For the past six years, French and U.S. engineers have been installing solar panels and wind turbines in the southeastern Nicaraguan town of Bluefields, promoting clean energy and development among the region's Rama indigenous peoples. In 2004, French engineer LÃ¢l Marandin and the Franco-U.S. brothers Guillaume and Mathias Craig founded blueEnergy, a non-governmental organisation with resources and donations from companies and foundations in France and the United States. Today, ...

Mon, 2 Aug 10
Global Warming is Undeniable
http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=global-warming-is-undeniable-10-08-01
Scientific American: Global warming first emerged clearly in the 1990s and has become more evident with each passing year. The last decade was the hottest such span on record and is very likely to be surpassed as the 21st century progresses. A new report from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration lists 10 indicators that global warming is happening: rising humidity; rising sea-surface temperature as well as heat stored in deeper waters; shrinking sea ice, glacier and springtime snow ...

Mon, 2 Aug 10
Carbon trading a front for money-laundering: experts
http://www.hindustantimes.com/Carbon-trading-a-front-for-money-laundering-experts/Article1-573537.aspx
Agence France-Presse: Organised crime gangs are using carbon emissions trading schemes as fronts for money-laundering,experts warned on Friday. The experts who attended a meeting of the Asia Pacific Money Laundering Group (APG) said crime syndicates are resorting to new methods to hide their illegal proceeds. One "issue that we've looked at closely is money laundering associated with carbon emissions trading schemes", APG executive secretary Gordon Hook told a news conference after the five-day ...

Mon, 2 Aug 10
Soot is second leading cause of climate change: study
http://www.montrealgazette.com/technology/Soot+second+leading+cause+climate+change+study/3349011/story.html
Montreal Gazette: A new U.S. study probing the role of soot emissions in driving global climate change highlights the severe impact that black carbon in the air and dirty snow on the Earth's surface have in melting Canada's Arctic sea ice. During a 10-year investigation detailed in the latest issue of the Journal of Geophysical Research, Stanford University scientist Mark Jacobson isolated the widespread warming effects of soot -- the visible residue of burned wood, crops, oil, biomass and other fuels ...

Mon, 2 Aug 10
United States: Experts: Inland areas below-average temperatures not lasting
http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_D_warming01.301f5ed.html
Press-Enterprise: The Inland region, usually one of the hottest spots in California, has experienced an unusually cool spring and summer. Meanwhile, much of the rest of the world is suffering deadly heat waves, a trend that may push this year into the record books as the hottest since tracking began 130 years ago. The Inland area's temporary good fortune is a result of a fading El NiÃ±o, the changing ocean current that warms the Southern Pacific Ocean; the system caused a cool spring and ...

Mon, 2 Aug 10
Pay the tropics to reverse deforestation
http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/journal/pay-tropical-nations-to-reverse-deforestation.htm
Australian Geographic: AMONG THE MANY NASTY things that humans are doing to the environment, few rank worse than destroying tropical forests. Rainforests sustain an astonishing diversity of species and keep our planet liveable by limiting soil erosion, reducing floods, maintaining natural water cycles, and stabilising the climate. Yet roughly 10 million hectares of tropical forest are destroyed every year – the equivalent of 50 football fields a minute. If we hope to reign in global warming, the last thing ...

Mon, 2 Aug 10
Clean electricity from invasive trees in Namibia?
http://www.alertnet.org/db/an_art/60167/2010/06/30-164753-1.htm
Reuters: The area around Otjiwarongo in Namibia's heartland is a green sea of short, shrubby trees as far as the eye can see. While beautiful to some, this bush is an invader species and seen by ranchers as a dreaded pest that pushes out nutritious grasses. Since the 1950s, bad grazing practices have led to the bush taking over 26 million hectares of Namibia's rangeland - an area the size of New Zealand. That costs the country's beef farmers $160 million a year in lost earnings, in an industry ...

Mon, 2 Aug 10
Russian Patriarch prays for rain as wildfires rage
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE66T1BI20100801?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29
Reuters: Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill asked Russians to pray for rain on Sunday as wildfires raged across the European parts of the vast country, sweltering since June in an unprecedented heat wave. The hottest weather since records began 130 years ago has withered crops and pushed thousands of farmers to the verge of bankruptcy. The Emergencies Ministry said that as of Sunday morning, 774 fires, including 369 that started since Saturday, were raging in an area totaling about ...

Mon, 2 Aug 10
Independent REDD+ review to be done in next few months
http://www.stabroeknews.com/2010/stories/08/01/independent-redd-review-to-be-done-in-next-few-months/
Stabroek News: The independent review of the REDD+ enabling activities required before any money is disbursed to this country under the Guyana-Norway forest protection agreement will be done within the next few months, Director of Norway's Climate and Forest Initiative, Ambassador Hans Brattskar says. His statement signals that it could be some time yet before Guyana receives the money budgeted for this year from Norway for several priority Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) projects. The tender ...

Mon, 2 Aug 10
Pakistan floods leave 1,100 dead
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/gallery/2010/aug/01/pakistan
Guardian

Mon, 2 Aug 10
Earth's climate future may be etched in Greenland bedrock
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/earths-climate-future-may-be-etched-in-greenland-bedrock-2041061.html
Agence France-Presse: Scientists hit Greenland bedrock this week after five years of drilling through 2.5 kilometres (1.6-mile) of solid ice, a 14-nation consortium announced Wednesday. Ice core samples from Eemian period 130,000 to 115,000 years ago - the last time Earth's climate was a few degrees warmer than today - could help forecast the impacts of current global warming, the researchers said. "Our findings will increase our knowledge on the climate system and increase our ability to predict ...

Mon, 2 Aug 10
NOAA: Past Decade Warmest on Record According to Scientists in 48 Countries
http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2010/20100728_stateoftheclimate.html
NOAA: The 2009 State of the Climate report released today draws on data for 10 key climate indicators that all point to the same finding: the scientific evidence that our world is warming is unmistakable. More than 300 scientists from 160 research groups in 48 countries contributed to the report, which confirms that the past decade was the warmest on record and that the Earth has been growing warmer over the last 50 years. Based on comprehensive data from multiple sources, the report ...

Mon, 2 Aug 10
Phytoplankton in big decline
http://www.statesmanjournal.com/article/20100801/GREEN/8010317/1001/NEWS
Associated Press: Despite their tiny size, plant plankton found in the world's oceans are crucial to much of life on Earth. They are the foundation of the bountiful marine food web, produce half the world's oxygen and suck up harmful carbon dioxide. And they are declining sharply. Worldwide phytoplankton levels are down 40 percent since the 1950s, according to a study published Wednesday in the journal Nature. The likely cause is global warming, which makes it hard for the plant plankton to get ...

Mon, 2 Aug 10
United Kingdom: 'Rainbow coalition' prepares to fight against massive coal power station at Hunterston
http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/transport-environment/rainbow-coalition-prepares-to-fight-against-massive-coal-power-station-at-hunterston-1.1045206
Herald Scotland: Government-backed plans for a huge new coal-fired power plant are running into a rising tide of opposition from a powerful range of groups worried about pollution, Âwildlife and tourism. The Â£3 billion scheme by Clydeport owner Peel Holdings to build Scotland`s first new fossil fuel power station for decades at Hunterston in North Ayrshire is facing thousands of objections from faith groups, international aid charities, wildlife agencies, environmentalists and ...

Mon, 2 Aug 10
Greenland: It's melting faster
http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/NewsDetails.aspx?storyid=283689
Gulf Daily News: A British research team studying the Greenland ice sheet has discovered evidence of a rapidly accelerating rate of melt. Dr Alun Hubbard, leading a team from universities of Swansea and Aberystwyth, said the sheet in their region had lowered six metres in just a month. The phenomenon is caused by surface melt, a vicious cycle in which melted ice brings about further thawing of the cap beneath it. As the ice turns to liquid, its surface reflectivity decreases, absorbing ...

Mon, 2 Aug 10
United States: LA pushing to become nation's mass transit leader
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jWkOVEd-IhDvfCFoji7UpzHWjRlgD9HA4VH81
Associated Press: The region famous for jilting the street car to take up a love affair with the automobile is trying to rekindle its long ago romance with commuter rail. If successful, the novel plan to borrow billions from the federal government, led by Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, would result in the largest transit expansion project in the nation. Los Angeles County voters agreed two years ago to pay a half-cent sales tax over the next 30 years to extend train and rapid bus lines, ...

Mon, 2 Aug 10
Extreme hot, cold waves torturing world
http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90777/90852/7088455.html
Xinhua: The northern hemisphere has been scorched by an ongoing heatwave since mid-June, while the southern half of the earth has witnessed intense cold and record snows. The abnormal weather has triggered social and environmental problems around the world. Sustained high temperatures have posed serious public health hazard in many countries. In Japan alone, nearly 10,000 people were hospitalized and a record 57 died due to heat stroke from July 19 to July 25. The unusual heat has ...

Mon, 2 Aug 10
US inaction on climate troubles global talks
http://content.usatoday.net/dist/custom/gci/InsidePage.aspx?cId=courier-journal&sParam=34188089.story
Associated Press: The failure of a climate bill in the U.S. Senate is likely to weigh heavily on international negotiations that begin Monday on a new agreement to control global warming. The decision to strike the bill from the Senate's immediate agenda has deepened the distrust among poor countries about the intentions of United States and other industrial countries to cut greenhouse gas emissions that power their wealthy economies but risk causing the Earth to dangerously overheat, say climate ...

Mon, 2 Aug 10
Is It Hot in Here? Must Be Global Warming
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/01/weekinreview/01zeller.html?_r=5
New York Times: In any debate over climate change, conventional wisdom holds that there is no reflex more absurd than invoking the local weather. And yet this year's wild weather fluctuations seem to have motivated people on both sides of the issue to stick a finger in the air and declare the matter resolved – in their favor. "Within psychology, it's called motivated reasoning, or the confirmation bias," explained Anthony Leiserowitz, the director of the Project on Climate Change Communication ...

Sun, 1 Aug 10
House approves oil spill bill; stalled in Senate
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100731/ap_on_bi_ge/us_gulf_oil_spill_congress
Associated Press: The House has approved a bill to boost safety standards for offshore drilling and remove a liability cap for oil spills, but a partisan fight in the Senate will likely delay action on a response to the Gulf oil spill until Congress returns from its summer recess. Democratic leaders hailed the House bill, approved Friday, as a comprehensive response to the devastating oil spill. They said it would increase drilling safety and crack down on polluting oil companies, such as ...

Sun, 1 Aug 10
BP Hires Gulf Scientists; Are They Buying Silence?
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128892441&ft=1&f=1025
National Public Radio: For months now, local scientists have been out on Gulf waters, advising the cleanup and measuring the damage. But there is growing concern that some of the best minds are being sidelined, since they've signed on as paid consultants to BP. "Everybody's arming up for the big day in court," says Richard Shaw, the director of Louisiana State University's Coastal Fisheries Institute. He's one of many concerned that BP is buying up too much of the region's brainpower. "You would ...

Sun, 1 Aug 10
For energy reform advocates, lessons from health care
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/30/AR2010073002666.html
Washington Post: With the United States struggling to recover from a job-killing recession, a Democratic president asks a Democratic Congress to pass sweeping reform of a major sector of the economy. "We can no longer afford to continue to ignore what is wrong," he explains. "We must fix this system, and it has to begin with congressional action." The public, however, rejects this plea. The proposal dies in Congress, and recriminations begin. Chastened and disappointed, advocates regroup and seek a new path ...

Sun, 1 Aug 10
United States: Giant hailstone breaks US record
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-10827538
BBC: A hailstone weighing almost a kilo that fell in the state of South Dakota has been confirmed as the largest ever recovered in the USA. According to the National Weather Service, the hailstone that landed in the town of Vivian eclipsed previous record-setters in Nebraska in 2003 and Kansas in 1970.

Sun, 1 Aug 10
Energy star ratings in disarray
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/people-in-politics/energy-star-ratings-in-disarray/story-fn5oa9p3-1225899270215
Australian: LABOR'S push to cut greenhouse gas emissions through the use of energy efficiency schemes was yesterday dealt another blow when building industry heavyweights discredited the star ratings being applied to hundreds of thousands of homes. Investigations by the building industry have found that the mandatory star ratings scheme is inaccurate and fundamentally flawed. The Housing Industry Association and Master Builders Australia yesterday joined scientists in calling for urgent ...