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News Archive - Feburary 2008
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Only zero emissions can prevent a warmer planet - New Scientist
Greenhouse gas emissions will have to be eliminated completely to stabilise the Earth's climate and prevent temperatures from rising. That’s the conclusion of climatologists in the US who say that our current efforts to merely stabilise emissions will not be enough.
Damon Matthews, from Concordia University in Canada, and Ken Caldeira, from the Carnegie Institution for Science, Stanford, USA, used a global climate model to study how greenhouse emissions would need to change in order to stabilise global temperatures over the next few hundred years.
“Even if we eliminated carbon dioxide today we are still committed to a global temperature rise of around 0.8 ºC lasting at least 500 years,” says Caldeira.One of the reasons for the persistence is the slow response of oceans. “It takes a lot of energy to heat them up and then a long time for them to cool back down” .
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29th February 2008 |
If climate sceptics are right, it is time to worry - Financial Times
Al Gore says the science on global warming is clear and there is a major problem. Vaclav Klaus, Czech president, contends that climate change forecasts are speculative and unreliable. Whose claims are scarier?
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29th February 2008 |
Capitalism, Consumerism and Materialism: The Value Crisis - OpEd News
The global economic, ecological and energy crises we face – as well as associated crises (terrorism, conflict, and so on) -- are not separate but fundamentally interlinked: at the source of our ills is an excessive exploitation of hydrocarbon resources that is tied to the escalation of CO2 emissions with no recognition of limits or boundaries, fuelling global warming and the acceleration of climate change, devastating eco-systems, facilitating the deaths of millions of people and the extinction of thousands of species.
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29th February 2008 |
House Votes to End Big Oil's Tax Breaks - Washington Post
Despite Veto Threat, Bill to Boost Renewable Energy Is Sent to Senate
The House of Representatives brushed aside threats of a White House veto yesterday and voted 236 to 182 in favor of an $18 billion tax package that would rescind a tax break for the five biggest oil companies and use the revenue to boost incentives for wind and solar energy and energy efficiency.
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29th February 2008 |
Congestion charge 'boosts health' - BBC
London's congestion charge may have delivered a small, unexpected health bonus to the capital, say researchers.
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29th February 2008 |
Dramatic jump seen in number of Americans who view political leaders as weak on energy/climate - PR Newswire
Strong, Bipartisan Majorities Want Action on Clean Power Agenda; But 72% Now See Leaders As Weak on Energy/Climate Matters ... Compared to Just 57% Before 2004 Election.
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29th February 2008 |
Leading article: People power - The Independent
It is possible to detect a climate of scepticism in some quarters towards the idea that ethical consumer pressure can effect real change in our society. Whether the issue is carbon emissions or developing world sweatshops, it is never hard to find someone (and they can be on the left or the right) who will argue that any individual action we take as consumers is pointless and that only intervention at a governmental level can change things.
[But on the other hand]
No impact from Energy Saving Day - BBC News
The UK's first Energy Saving Day ends with no discernible reduction in the country's electricity consumption.
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29th February 2008 |
Scientists warn of new plague of jellyfish - Guardian Unlimited
Scientists in Spain blame over-fishing and global warming for summer invasion of jellyfish
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29th February 2008 |
Winter temperature in Finland hits record high - Xinhua
The average temperature in the Finnish capital Helsinki in January was 0.6 degrees Celsius, which was 4.8 degrees higher than that of the period between 1971 and 2000, said the institute.
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29th February 2008 |
Horsepower vs. mpg - Gristmill
By Clark Williams-DerryThis should be perfectly obvious, but automotive technologies have changed an awful lot over the last few decades. From about 1975 through 1987, federal standards prompted massive and surprisingly rapid improvements in fuel economy. Cars designers focused on nimbleness and efficiency over raw power, and the fuel savings were enormous.But since the late 1980s, most engineering advances have focused on making cars more muscular, and fuel efficiency has taken a back seat. For graphic proof, take a look after the jump at a nifty chart ...The yellow arrow represents the passage of time, the horizontal axis represents fuel economy (increasing for the first 12 years) and the vertical axis represents horsepower (on the rise since the late 1980s).
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29th February 2008 |
Threat to rain forests isn't easing - San Francisco Chronicle
Data from the World Resources Institute indicate that deforestation accounts for about 18 percent of human-caused greenhouse gases, compared with nearly 10 percent for road vehicles.
The Amazonian and other tropical forests of South America are losing about 8.6 million acres a year, from a total estimated at about 1.7 billion acres in 1999, said Rodolfo Dirzo, a Stanford biology professor who studies deforestation's impact on biodiversity.
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29th February 2008 |
Former member sheds light on Black Panther legacy - The Williams Record
Former member sheds light on Black Panther legacyThe Williams Record, MA. The speech concluded with O'Neal urging the audience to use her work as an example when dealing with issues such as global warming and climate change.
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29th February 2008 |
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The cold truth about climate change - Salon.com
Deniers continue to insist there's no consensus on global warming. Well, there's not. There's well-tested science and real-world observations.
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28th February 2008 |
The rhetoric of slavery and climate change - Salon.com
Then: Abolition would wreak havoc on the economy of the South. Now: Ratifying the Kyoto Protocol would punish all Americans
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28th February 2008 |
The World's Growing Food-Price Crisis - TIME
Soaring prices of staples — which have risen about 75% since 2005, driven by growing demand, rising oil prices and the effects of global warming — have sparked riots in several countries, as people reel from sticker shock and governments scramble to feed their people.
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28th February 2008 |
Heathrow protesters take to roof of parliament - Guardian Unlimited
Breach by runway activists comes after security was tightened in response to terror threat
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28th February 2008 |
'We're in deep doo-doo' Report urges action on climate change - Hamilton Spectator
Pollution Probe's Quentin Chiotti believes fighting climate change "calls for an effort equal to dealing with global world war" but says current efforts fall far short.
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28th February 2008 |
Radiohead star launches emissions campaign - Times Online
The lead singer of Radiohead today launched a campaign to persuade the European Union and European governments to commit to annual cuts in greenhouse gas emissions.
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28th February 2008 |
Environment: The Democrats' Dirty Secret: Presidential Candidates Backed by Nuclear Powerhouses
A hidden conflict over nuclear issues is simmering, pitting Obama and Clinton against many indigenous communities.
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28th February 2008 |
Arctic Meltdown - Foreign Affairs Magazine
Summary: Thanks to global warming, the Arctic icecap is rapidly melting, opening up access to massive natural resources and creating shipping shortcuts that could save billions of dollars a year. But there are currently no clear rules governing this economically and strategically vital region.
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28th February 2008 |
BP hints at sale of alternative energy business - Guardian Unlimited
BP boasted today that it could put its alternative energy business up for sale to take advantage of rising values in the renewable sector
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28th February 2008 |
Efforts to boost climate change Concern may have opposite effect, risk analysis study shows - Marketwire
Ewire -- Mass media efforts to raise American public concern about climate change -- such as Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth" and the "scientific consensus" media drumbeat -- ironically may be having just the opposite effect, according to a new study appearing in the scientific journal Risk Analysis.
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28th February 2008 |
Coal industry spends millions on election-year ads - San Diego Union Tribune
Facing a bruising fight over climate change, the coal industry is on the political offensive this election year to ensure that no matter who wins in November, so does coal.
Billions of dollars in corporate profits are at stake for the companies that mine, ship and burn the nation's most abundant domestic fuel.
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28th February 2008 |
New US climate offer 'too little' - BBC
European officials dismiss America's latest offer on climate change as too little, too late.
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28th February 2008 |
Environment: The Bush Administration's War On Science
Our government is waging a war against science, endangering millions of lives in the U.S. and beyond.
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28th February 2008 |
Why Heathrow is a terminal case - Times Online
There are four inescapable reasons why the third runway should not be built
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28th February 2008 |
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'Laws needed' to protect scientific debate - ABC Science Online
Australian researchers are calling for laws to protect scientists' freedom to participate in public debate as well as encouragement and rewards from their institutions to do so.
"We're doing a wonderful experiment in global warming at the moment but by the time it gets through peer review there may not be many humans left on the planet," says Professor Peter Cullen of the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists.
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27th February 2008 |
Sumatran deforestation driving climate change and species extinction, report warns - Guardian Unlimited
The destruction of Sumatra's natural forests is accelerating global climate change and pushing endangered species closer to extinction, report warns
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27th February 2008 |
Environment Canada's Muzzle Mandate Available for Viewing - DeSmogBlog
Further to an earlier post, we now have a copy (attached) of the new Media Relations Protocol with which Environment Canada is muzzling its scientists.The protocol says Environment Canada's staff members are no longer allowed to speak to the media without first calling consulting with their direct supervisor and phoning Media Relations at Environment Canada's national headquarters. This, the protocol says, will ensure that EC experts "respond with approved lines," thereby saving Minister John Baird from surprise or embarrassment.I think that's a lot to hope. A minister who refuses to read anything about climate science is destined to continue embarrassing himself.
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27th February 2008 |
Fresh records for price of wheat- BBC News
Wheat prices have hit record levels as supplies dwindle, raising concerns about growing food inflation. Reports of a drought in Northern China, where most of the country's wheat is grown, also pushed prices higher. Extreme weather has already damaged crops in other parts of the world and US wheat inventories are expected to fall to their lowest level for 60 years.
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27th February 2008 |
A Broken Crystal Ball - Center For American Progress
Global Warming Solution Studies Will Overestimate Costs, Underestimate Benefits
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27th February 2008 |
Hottest arctic winter ever - Barents Observer
This winter might become the mildest winter in Northern Norway ever registered. So far the average temperature in parts of the region has been up to eight degrees Celsius above the normal.
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27th February 2008 |
Tories scrap clean-car rebate in budget - CNews
OTTAWA - Green groups were singing the blues after the federal budget killed a clean-car rebate just one year after it was born to much fanfare.
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27th February 2008 |
Storm-plagued village sues energy companies - Anchorage Daily News
The eroding village of Kivalina in the Northwest Arctic announced today it is suing Exxon Mobil and 23 other energy companies for damage due to global warming.
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27th February 2008 |
Sarkozy given emissions challenge - Financial Times
José Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission, yesterday challenged Nicolas Sarkozy to use his European Union presidency to push through ambitious environmental targets.
Mr Barroso told the Financial Times at a meeting in Svalbard, Norway, that the French presidency of the EU, which begins in July, would have to ensure the ambitious -targets were agreed by European member states and -parliament.
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27th February 2008 |
Objectors unite on Heathrow plan - BBC News
Residents, green campaigners and politicians from the three main parties object to Heathrow expansion plans.
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27th February 2008 |
The Market is Speaking and It's Not Saying More Coal Plants - RedOrbit
By the end of 2007, plans for 59 coal-fired power plants across the country were cancelled or seriously delayed, in large part due to rapidly growing wariness among prospective investors. Just when King Coal was looking invincible, the big bucks began bailing.
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27th February 2008 |
Troops sent to stem Amazon loss
Brazilian troops go to an Amazon town after efforts to stop illegal logging provoke a local backlash.
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27th February 2008 |
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Promised green revolution still seems a long way off - Guardian Unlimited
Climate change to have profound impact on agriculture in coming decades
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26th February 2008 |
UN: World Fisheries Face Collapse Within Decades - Planet Ark
MONACO - A deadly combination of climate change, over-fishing and pollution could cause the collapse of commercial fish stocks worldwide within decades, said Achim Steiner, head of the United Nations Environment Programme.
"You overlap all of this and you see you're potentially putting a death nail in the coffin of world fisheries," Steiner told reporters on Friday on the fringes of a climate conference involving more than 150 nations and 100 environment ministers.
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26th February 2008 |
US to set 'binding' climate goals - BBC News
The US will accept "binding international obligations" on climate if other nations do the same, say officials.
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26th February 2008 |
Carbon tax could generate $50B a year: Suzuki - CTV.ca
The David Suzuki Foundation has released a report extolling the virtues of a federal carbon tax -- something that could be returned to taxpayers through income tax cuts.
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26th February 2008 |
Compost can turn agricultural soils into a carbon sink, thus protecting against climate change - EurekAlert!
Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, and Singapore (25 February, 2008) – Applying organic fertilizers, such as those resulting from composting, to agricultural land could increase the amount of carbon stored in these soils and contribute significantly to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, according to new research published in a special issue of Waste Management Research
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26th February 2008 |
Climate protest on Heathrow plane - BBC News
Greenpeace activists climb on top of a Boeing aeroplane in a protest at Heathrow.
See also: Climate change protestors fined - BBC News
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26th February 2008 |
BOLD ENERGY PLAN TO BE DEBATED IN PARLIAMENT - Press Release
Every year, each square kilometre of hot desert receives solar energy equivalent to 1.5 million barrels of oil. Multiplying by the area of deserts worldwide, this is several hundred times the entire energy consumption of the world. It is possible to tap in to this cornucopia using the simple proven technique of "concentrating solar power" (CSP): using mirrors to concentrate sunlight to create heat and then using the heat to raise steam to drive turbines and generate electricity, just like a conventional power station. Solar heat can be stored so that electricity generation can continue at night.
Using CSP, less than 1% of the world's deserts could generate as much electricity as the world is currently using. And it is feasible and economic to transmit solar electricity for 3000 km or more using highly-efficient 'HVDC' transmission lines. It has been calculated that 90% of the world's population lives within 2700 km of a hot desert and could be supplied with solar electricity from there.
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26th February 2008 |
Antarctic glaciers surge to ocean - BBC News
UK scientists working in Antarctica have found some of the clearest evidence yet of instabilities in the ice of part of West Antarctica.
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26th February 2008 |
Nature's in bloomin' chaos as global warming turns the seasons on their head - Daily Mail
UK: Early spring brings with it a host of dangers to our flora and fauna. The balance of Nature is being upset and the knock-on effect may be devastating. Some species are able to adapt, while others may vanish, and their disappearance will have a significant effect on the rest of the ecosystem.
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26th February 2008 |
Watching Peru's Oceans for Cholera Cues - NPR
Warming oceans were behind Peru's cholera outbreaks in the 1990s, and global warming may cause future outbreaks. Some scientists in Peru are closely watching microscopic marine life, hoping to catch an outbreak before it begins.
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26th February 2008 |
Drought hits more than 2 million in northern China - Houston Chronicle
While parts of China have been rocked by record snowfalls this winter, a drought in northern China has left more than 2 million people without sufficient drinking water, a state news agency said.
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26th February 2008 |
Obama's Missing Ideas - Washington Post
So it just isn't true that we have all the good ideas we need -- at least not on climate change. And it's peculiar that Obama, the brainiac Harvard grad, should dismiss the importance of fresh thinking this way.
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26th February 2008 |
Zero carbon goal needs firm foundation - BBC News
There is no "magic bullet" solution to meeting the ambitious target of making all new homes "zero-carbon" by 2016.
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26th February 2008 |
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The un-eco eco-towns - Guardian Unlimited
UK: The government has entered into a pact with developers - and our countryside is suffering
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25th February 2008 |
Congestion tax back on agenda for CBD - The Age
Congestion tax back on agenda for CBDThe Age, Australia. The new study comes as Professor Ross Garnaut paints a bleak picture of the dangers and costs of global warming, suggesting Australia may need to slash its ...
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25th February 2008 |
Mayor to fight Porsche challenge - BBC News
Ken Livingstone pledges to contest legal action by Porsche against plans to increase charges for the most polluting vehicles in central London.
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25th February 2008 |
Britain's year zero: UK to leap from 'laggard to leader' on carbon dioxide emissions - Independent
UK: All new buildings will have to be pollution free, according to a government target to be unveiled this week. As only a handful fit the bill today, there's a long way to go.
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25th February 2008 |
Left-leaning budget calls for taxes, deficit - GlobalTV Ontario
OTTAWA -- A carbon tax of $30 a tonne, a hike in the newly-reduced GST and a higher tax rate for Canada's wealthiest residents would be part of Tuesday's federal budget if the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives had its way.
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25th February 2008 |
First biofuel flight dismissed as Virgin stunt - The Independent
The world's first commercial aircraft powered partly by biofuel took off from Heathrow yesterday to a storm of criticism from climate change experts, who insisted it was nothing more than Sir Richard Branson's latest "nonsensical" publicity stunt.
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25th February 2008 |
Want to cut your carbon? Join our club - Guardian Unlimited
Carbon rationing networkS are spreading across the UK, but can everyone make a good 'crag'?
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25th February 2008 |
In praise of ... feed-in tariffs - Guardian Unlimited
Leader: The idea is simple: those generating electricity from renewable sources are paid generously for extra power they feed to the grid. Electricity companies have to buy this energy and share the higher cost among all their customers. It is supposed to kick-start investment in greener energy, and it works: Germany's adoption of the programme has helped it develop 200 times the solar power capacity of Britain and 10 times the wind energy, despite Britain being a much windier place.
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25th February 2008 |
The case of the missing Minnesota moose - Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune
Is it parasites, or climate change, or both, that's killing Minnesota's moose? Researchers are attacking the question on the ground, in the air, with radio, needle and microscope.
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25th February 2008 |
A movement for a better future - Green Left Weekly
Australia: We all know the scale of the threat posed by global warming and the short time in which we have to take meaningful action to prevent potentially catastrophic consequences. This makes the issue of global warming and how to combat it arguably the most urgent question facing humanity today.
What is required — a rapid, far-reaching reorganisation of industry, energy, transport, mass consumption patterns, and the massive transfer of clean technology to the Third World — is simply not possible under our corporate-dominated, profit-driven society.
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25th February 2008 |
Butterflyfish may go extinct - ScienceAlert
In a study published in the journal Behavioural Ecology and Sociobiology Dr Pratchett and Dr Michael Berumen of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (USA) warn that the highly specialized nature of the feeding habits of this particular butterflyfish – the distinctively patterned Chaetodon trifascialis - make it an extinction risk as the world’s coral reefs continue to degrade due to human over-exploitation, pollution and climate change.
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25th February 2008 |
Drop in mango output feared - Inquirer.net
Philippines:The country's mango exporters have expressed fears that production this year could decrease significantly due to climate change and increasing production cost.
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25th February 2008 |
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Staying hooked on oil is expensive, too - Gristmill
By Eric de Place Apropos of British Columbia's big announcement, I have some ranting to get off my chest. One of the most frustrating things about U.S. climate policy is the reflexive fear that if we ever raise the price of gas -- or of driving generally -- people will riot in the streets or something. This makes it exceedingly difficult to rearrange the economy away from oil and its carbon contents. But, of course, the price of gas keeps rising anyway. In fact, crude oil prices have more than tripled over the last half-dozen years, with futures closing above $100 recently.
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23rd February 2008 |
Warmer World May Mean Less Fish - Environmental News Network
Climate change is emerging as the latest threat to the world's dwindling fish stocks a new report by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) suggests. At least three quarters of the globe's key fishing grounds may become seriously impacted by changes in circulation as a result of the ocean's natural pumping systems fading and falling they suggest.
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23rd February 2008 |
UN gears up for its first global TV ad - Guardian Unlimited
The United Nations has created its first global TV campaign to raise awareness about climate change by promoting the benefits of public transport.
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23rd February 2008 |
Special Coating Greatly Improves Solar Cell Performance
Breakthrough in solar energy conversion promises to bring researchers and developers worldwide closer to the goal of producing cheaper, more manufacturable and more easily implemented solar cells. Such technology would greatly reduce our dependence on burning fossil fuels for electricity production as well as reduce the combustion product: carbon dioxide, a global warming greenhouse gas.
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23rd February 2008 |
Energy storage nears its day in the sun - Reuters
Energy storage is an unglamorous pillar of an expected revolution to clean up the world's energy supply but will soon vie for investors attention with more alluring sources of energy like solar panels, manufacturers say.
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23rd February 2008 |
Europe's truffle harvests drying up amid drought that farmers blame on global warming - IHT
France: Farmers say production is down by 50-75 percent this winter season and they blame global warming.
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23rd February 2008 |
As South American Rivers Dry Up, Miners Tap Ocean - Planet Ark
CERRO LINDO - Vast mines in Peru and Chile that supply the world with crucial metals have started to pump water from the Pacific Ocean high into the Andes Mountains because of chronic water shortages exacerbated by climate change.
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23rd February 2008 |
Porsche launches protest petition - BBC News
Porsche launches an online petition against a planned 'gas guzzlers' charge in central London.
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23rd February 2008 |
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The Case for a Sustainability Emergency: Philip Sutton interview - Energy Bulleitn
Jason Bradford, Global Public Media. A new report called Climate Code Red: The Case for a Sustainability Emergency reviews disturbing new data and scientific understanding of climate change. It explains why existing institutions have failed to respond adequately to the problem and outlines an appropriate response. An interview with Philip Sutton, one of the co-authors of the report.
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22nd February 2008 |
'70s Scientists More Worried about Warming than Cooling - DeSmogBlog
Thomas Peterson of the National Climatic Data Center has finally and convincingly dismissed the mythical '70s "consensus" that the planet was in imminent danger of cooling. In fact, his research shows that the overwhelming majority of scientific articles during that period were already predicting global warming.
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22nd February 2008 |
New data impacts climate change models - University at Buffalo Reporter
Digital imaging techniques extract new information from old aerial photos
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22nd February 2008 |
Who Took The 'R' Out of USCAP? - DeSmogBlog
When 10 of the largest U.S. corporations and four environmental groups joined forces last January to lobby for federal regulations to restrict greenhouse-gas emissions, it was seen as a watershed in corporate environmentalism. The U.S. Climate Action Partnership (USCAP), comprising 27 companies from General Electric to General Motors, won praise from enviros by endorsing cuts-10% to 30% of heat-trapping emissions within 15 years and 60% to 80% by 2050-to avert some of the severest consequences of global warming. Behind the scenes, however, several companies that belong to USCAP are simultaneously supporting efforts and organizations that oppose mandatory cuts in greenhouse gases or promote policies that would make the USCAP reductions nearly impossible to meet.
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22nd February 2008 |
CLIMATE CHANGE: Canada's Polar Bears Beset on All Sides - IPS
VANCOUVER, Feb 21 (IPS) - Melting sea ice caused by climate change and government inaction is putting polar bears at extreme risk in Canada as a species over the next 50 years, according to local environmental groups.
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22nd February 2008 |
Large-scale Amazon deforestation or drying would have dire global ... - Mongabay.com
A new study shows that large-scale degradation of the Amazon, either through drying or continued deforestation, would have global consequence, including worsening climate change, causing regional vegetation shifts, and increasing dust in the atmosphere.
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22nd February 2008 |
The Real Swindle - Nature
AClimate change must be reported more carefully to help distinguish convergent agreement from legitimately contentious issues.
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22nd February 2008 |
Anti-Kyoto campaigner volunteer member of Tory election team - Canada.com
A volunteer member of the Conservative party's 2006 federal election team was on the payroll of an Alberta-based group of global warming skeptics accused in a recent complaint of violating Canada's electoral laws for launching radio ads that attacked government spending on climate change.
Although the Tories have denied any links to the group, Canwest News Service has confirmed that Morten Paulsen, a veteran political organizer with roots in the Reform and Canadian Alliance parties, was a volunteer spokesperson for the Conservatives at the same time that he was acting as a paid communications consultant for the Friends of Science.
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22nd February 2008 |
Boreal Forests Aflame - Conservation Magazine
For years, researchers have regarded the boreal forest as one of the world’s largest carbon reservoirs. The boreal already houses about as much carbon as the earth’s atmosphere, and that amount was thought to be increasing, making the forest a modest counterweight against climate change. But a new study in Nature suggests global warming could be turning this reservoir into a tinderbox, transforming the boreal from a carbon sink to a carbon source along the way.
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22nd February 2008 |
280-MW Solar Plant to Use Molten Salt for Energy Storage - PESN
Abengoa Solar has announced plans to build a 1900-acre concentrated solar trough plant that will store the heat in molten salt towers for round-the-clock power generation capability.
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22nd February 2008 |
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Johann Hari: We'll save the planet only if we're forced to - Independent
Do you check every item you buy to make sure it is green and planet-friendly? Do you buy carbon offsets every time you fly? Stop. It is time to be honest: green consumerism is at best a draining distraction, and at worst a con. While the planet's fever gets worse by the week, we are guzzling down green-coloured placebos and calling it action. There is another way. Our reaction to global warming ...
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21st February 2008 |
Risk of permafrost thaw a "wild card" in warming-UN - Reuters AlertNet
A thaw of Arctic permafrost is a "wild card" that could stoke global warming by releasing vast frozen stores of greenhouse gases, the U.N. Environment Programme (UNEP) said on Wednesday.
More research was urgently needed into the possibility of a runaway release of methane, a powerful heat-trapping gas trapped in frozen soils in Siberia, Canada, Alaska and Nordic nations, it said in a 2008 yearbook issued at 154-nation talks in Monaco.
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21st February 2008 |
Dire new climate warning - The Age
It's a lot worse than we thought, says Government's top adviser on global warming.
On the eve of the release today of his interim report on climate change, Professor Garnaut told a conference in Adelaide yesterday that without intervention before 2020, it would be impossible to avoid a high risk of dangerous climate change. "The show will be over," he said.
The Government's existing target is to cut greenhouse emissions by 60% by 2050. Professor Garnaut said Australia would need to go "considerably further" as part of a global agreement, with full participation by developing countries, to keep climate change at acceptable levels.
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21st February 2008 |
Greenland's rising air temperatures drive ice loss at surface and beyond - PhysOrg
A new NASA study confirms that the surface temperature of Greenland's massive ice sheet has been rising, stoked by warming air temperatures, and fueling loss of the island's ice at the surface and throughout the mass beneath.
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21st February 2008 |
Spain suffering worst drought in over a decade - BBC News
Spain faces water restrictions widely this summer as it suffers its worst drought in more than a decade. In one of the worst affected areas, Catalunya, the Barcelona government is hoping to pre-empt a summer crisis by importing water by tanker.
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21st February 2008 |
BP goes back to petroleum - Guardian Unlimited
The shift to renewables has been ditched for a carbon intensive future
See also: Demand fuels oil industry confidence - Financial Times
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21st February 2008 |
Smoke, soot dims China, India climate prospects - Khaleej Times
The soot, called black carbon and produced by burning coal, dung, wood and diesel, rises in the upper atmosphere, where it traps the sun’s heat and blots out the light, raising the temperature at higher altitudes but cooling the earth below.
Veerabhadran Ramanathan, an atmospheric scientist at the University of California, said that as a result the soot is contributing to the melting of the glaciers and weakening Indian monsoons.
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21st February 2008 |
Alarm over new oil-from-coal plans - Guardian Unlimited
Chinese A Chinese energy company is poised to open a chemical plant to make liquid fuels for cars and aircraft from coal, a move that has alarmed environmental campaigners who say it will increase carbon emissions and worsen global warming.
The plant, in Inner Mongolia, will use technology developed by Germany during the second world war to convert coal directly into synthetic diesel, dubbed "Nazi fuel". China says the process will help break its booming economy's reliance on foreign oil, and that it will build more such plants.
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21st February 2008 |
Past Greenhouse Warming Provides Clues To What The Future May Hold - Science Daily
Scientists studying an extreme period of global warming 55 million years ago are piecing together an increasingly detailed picture of its causes and consequences. Their findings describe what may be the best analog in the geologic record for the global changes likely to result from continued carbon dioxide emissions from human activities.
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21st February 2008 |
The Lieberman-Warner Conundrum - DeSmogBlog
Recently, a debate among environmental advocates over global warming strategy has spilled out into the public arena, apparently triggered by signals from Senator Barbara Boxer (D-Ca), chair of the Environment and Public Works Committee, that she will try to move a bill to address global warming this year. (For more details, see this recent story in the LA Times.) The bill in question, the bipartisan Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act, would ratchet down U.S. emissions by something on the order of 70 percent by the year 2050. This it would do by establishing a cap and trade program, one in which most of the initial allowances or pollution permits would be given for free to industry, although the percentage of giveaways would decline considerably over time.
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21st February 2008 |
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BC introduces carbon tax - CNews
VICTORIA - Finance Minister Carole Taylor introduced an escalating carbon tax on most fossil fuels Tuesday, one she says is designed to ignite an environmental social movement in British Columbia and across Canada to fight climate change.
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20th February 2008 |
Eliminating fossil fuels is friggin' cheap, pt. 2 - Gristmill
My last post argued that based on the figures Scientific American projected for a slow, partial phaseout of fossil fuels, we could do a full, fast, near-total elimination for between 170 and 240 billion dollars a year -- somewhere less than a third, possibly even less than a quarter, of our military budget. I'd like to offer some other comparisons to put those numbers into perspective: We spent $840 billion buying fossil fuels in 2004, according to page 72 of the 2006 Annual Energy Review (10 Meg PDF). So a 95% reduction in U.S.
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20th February 2008 |
24 world cities in 'Earth Hour' black-out: organisers - Raw Story
Twenty-four cities around the world will fall into shadow next month as homes and businesses turn off the lights to raise awareness about global warming,
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20th February 2008 |
Capitalism will save planet, experts say - Financial Post
"In conversations with other business leaders, I've heard more times than I can count that it's impossible or impractical to make much headway on greenhouse gases until we have better technology," Mr. Darbee said during the panel discussion. "That is not the case. It's a red herring.... The biggest obstacle right now is a lack of will--not invention." Many environmentalists at the summit were pessimistic about prospects for attacking the threat of greenhouse gasses, pointing to the coming surge in energy demand as countries such as China adopt Western habits. Mr. Khosla doesn't share that gloom. He said it's not the first time he has seen widespread skepticism of a looming sea change. In 1996, for example, it was impossible to convince telecom companies that the Internet was important. They also resisted the notion that long-distance calls would be free. "The point is change happens, and it happens quickly," he said. "Technology caused dislocations."
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20th February 2008 |
The scary oil sands - Toronto Star
Canadians' concerns over Alberta oil-sands development centre largely around its impact on climate change. And for good reason. In a list of 207 nations ranked by greenhouse gas emissions, Alberta's oil sands come out higher than 145 of them. And that comparison is based on 2007 emissions. Under its proposed "intensity" caps to fight global warming, the Harper government predicts a near doubling in oil-sand emissions by 2020. But as a study released last week by the advocacy group Environmental Defence shows, the dangers posed by the tar sands go far beyond climate change. The most frightening is the leaching of toxins into the region's water supplies, which the study terms "a giant slow-motion oil spill."
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20th February 2008 |
NOAA Stonewalls on DCSOVR Documents - DeSmogBlog
The stonewalling on DSCOVR documents continues, this time with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). To recap, NASA was given over $100 million in taxpayers money to build the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR), a spacecraft designed to measure the energy budget of our warming planet from the unique vantage of a million miles away. Even though it is fully completed over five years ago, DSCOVR is still sitting in a box at the Goddard Space Centre – likely for political reasons. The mission was originally promoted by Al Gore – a liability when George Bush and Dick Cheney remain in the Whitehouse.
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20th February 2008 |
Porsche challenges C-charge rise - BBC News
Carmaker Porsche plans to mount a legal challenge over plans to increase London's congestion charge to £25-a-day.
See also: Red Ken turns green - Guardian Unlimited
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20th February 2008 |
Democracy, Brought to You by Coal - Daily Green
According to advertisements on CNN, Americans for Balanced Energy Choices is sponsoring the next Democratic debate, which is to air Thursday from Texas. Americans for Balanced Energy Sources promotes the use of coal, or as the SourceWatch watchdog Web site puts it: Formed in 2000 to develop astroturf support for coal-based electricity, Americans for Balanced Energy Choices (ABEC) promotes the interests of mining companies, coal transporters, and electricity producers. A domain name search reveals that ABEC's website is registered to the coal industry trade organization Center for Energy and Economic Development. (ABEC originally used the www.balancedenergy.org domain but later switched to a website titled America's Power).
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20th February 2008 |
Namibia: Jellyfish Population Worries Fish Industry - AllAfrica.com
Namibia: The ever-presence of jellyfish in Namibian waters, which feed on fish eggs of commercial species, has had the line ministry worried. Although no scientific information is available in Namibia on what causes these jellyfish to multiply, experts believe climate change and alterations in the ecosystem could have contributed to such an increase.
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20th February 2008 |
How satellites saved the world - MSNBC
Earth-observing satellites have been lifesavers for the past 50 years, and now scientists are working to make sure the next generation of orbital sentinels will continue the legacy.
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20th February 2008 |
Climate change threatens human rights of millions: UN - Reuters
Climate change threatens the human rights of millions of people who are at risk of losing access to housing, food and clean water unless governments intervene early to counter its effects, experts said on Tuesday.
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20th February 2008 |
Solar evidence points to human causes of climate change - PhysOrg
It`s getting harder and harder to blame the sun for causing the gradual increase in global temperatures that are now being seen in the climate record, scientists said today.
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20th February 2008 |
Botanical conservatories take on urgent new role - The Christian Science Monitor
Conservatories, once the glass-walled playgrounds of wealthy plant collectors, now serve a more urgent function. The changing global climate has spotlighted the role these specialized greenhouses play in preserving plant diversity.
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20th February 2008 |
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'Greenwash' is losing its shine - BBC News
Time is running out for advertisers who are a lighter shade of green, as eco-cliches fall out of fashion.
Simply being seen to be green will soon not be enough, says Getty Images' Rebecca Swift. In this week's Green Room, she argues that time is running out for advertisers who "greenwash" audiences with empty eco-cliches.
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19th February 2008 |
Juggle a few of these numbers, and it makes economic sense to kill people - Guardian Unlimited
Britain's official approach to climate change puts a price on human lives. And the richer you are, the more yours is worth
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19th February 2008 |
The Recession's Human and Environmental Impacts - Center for Research on Globalization
Too often news coverage focuses on discreet current events at the expense of a more synthetic approach to notable happenings. While it is important that the public learns of major incidents in the world as they take place, sometimes this can lead to some observers "not seeing the forest for the trees." On account, it might be easy to miss the connection between the global recession (and possible future depression) with the ongoing decline of environmental well-being and increase in human population. All the same, these three areas are deeply intertwined. Here are a few details concerning the relationship.
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19th February 2008 |
Climate focus 'ignores wildlife' - BBC News
Many efforts to curb climate change pay little attention to conservation or the world's poor, a think-tank warns.
"Policymakers have focused on mitigating greenhouse gas emissions but biodiversity is also key," observed Ms Swiderska. "For centuries, traditional farmers have used the diversity within both domesticated and wild species to adapt to changing conditions." She said that greater recognition of local knowledge could help deliver results on a global scale. "Many communities are already using agricultural -biodiversity and traditional practices, such as seed exchange and field experimentation, to adapt to climate change. "Farmer/researcher collaboration can bring added value that each alone could never realise."
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19th February 2008 |
UK Government Mulls Increasing CO2 Cut Target To 80% By 2050 - Nasdaq
LONDON -(Dow Jones)- The U.K. government said Monday it will consider increasing the country's target for cutting carbon dioxide emissions to as much as 80% by 2050, compared with 1990 levels.
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19th February 2008 |
Britain Invests In Waste Digesting Energy Plants - Planet Ark
LONDON - Britain is to invest in several anaerobic digestion plants as it seeks to cut emissions of greenhouse gas methane and boost renewable energy production, Farm Minister Hilary Benn said on Monday.
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19th February 2008 |
Cameron warns farmers of global food shortages - Guardian Unlimited
David Cameron told British farmers today that the nation could feel the impact of a global "food crunch" because of changes in people's diets and the effects of climate change. The Conservative leader told the National Farmers' Union's centenary conference that food security was vital for "every family in the country" as he called for a new approach to create a level playing field for British farming produce.
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19th February 2008 |
German scientists warn of changes in Arctic Ocean circulation - Earthtimes
Marine scientists in Germany have issued an alarming warning about the radically alteration of the circulation of water in the Arctic Ocean. The findings by the Leibniz Institute of Marine Sciences (IFM- GEOMAR) in Kiel, Germany, have dire implications for climate change in the Northern Hemisphere. Hitherto, the circulation of the Arctic Ocean was driven by the formation of sea ice rather than the inflow of North Atlantic deep water. Recently, however, the shrinkage of sea ice due to global warming has resulted in the startling reversal, according to the study by the German scientists which is published in the new journal Nature Geoscience.
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19th February 2008 |
Kyoto Kev 'slashes climate programs' - Adelaide Now
THE Federal Government has undercut its Kyoto commitment by slashing $50m from climate change programs, the Opposition says.
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19th February 2008 |
US Should Speed Up Energy Efficiency Plans - IEA - Planet Ark
WASHINGTON - The US government needs to move more quickly on plans to boost automobile fuel efficiency standards, improve efficiency of power plants and take hard action on heat-trapping greenhouse gases, the International Energy Agency said Friday.
See also: US Power Shortage Without More Coal Plants: AEP - Planet Ark
[ well, they would say that, wouldn't they? ]
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19th February 2008 |
2008 Will Be Among the Ten Hottest Years on Record - Natural News.com
UK: Despite being slightly cooler than previous years, 2008 will be one of the top 10 hottest years since record keeping of average global temperatures began in 1850.
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19th February 2008 |
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Will North Atlantic threshold response to ocean changes be enough? - PhysOrg
Predictions that the 21st century is safe from major circulation changes in the North Atlantic Ocean may not be as comforting as they seem, according to a Penn State researcher.
"The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change concluded that it is very unlikely that the North Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (MOC) will collapse in the 21st century. They predict a probability of less then 10 percent," says Klaus Keller, assistant professor of geosciences. "However, this should not be interpreted as an all clear signal. There can be a considerable delay between the triggering of an MOC collapse and the actual collapse. In a similar way, a person that has just jumped from a cliff may take comfort that pain in the next few seconds is very unlikely, but the outlook over the long term is less rosy."
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18th February 2008 |
Reasons to see red over green energy - Guardian Unlimited
UK: Government apathy sabotages Britain's shift to a low-carbon economy
See also: INTERVIEW - UK Risks Being Left Behind In Wind Surge – GE - Planet Ark
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18th February 2008 |
Elections Canada to investigate anti-Kyoto group - Canada.com
Canada's chief electoral officer has been asked to investigate a series of radio ads, funded by an Alberta-based global warming skeptics group, which targeted key markets in vote-rich Ontario during the 2006 federal election.
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18th February 2008 |
Climate Change Has Major Impact On Oceans - Science Daily
Climate change is rapidly transforming the world's oceans by increasing the temperature and acidity of seawater, and altering atmospheric and oceanic circulation, reported a panel of scientists at the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting in Boston.
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18th February 2008 |
Southern Ocean rise due to warming, not ice melts - AlertNet
Rises in the sea level around Antarctica in the past decade are almost entirely due a warming ocean, not ice melting, an Australian scientist leading a major international research programme said.
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18th February 2008 |
Eliminating fossil fuels is friggin' cheap - Gristmill
USA: A third of our military budget could cure our carbon addiction
Scientific American's grand plan to provide a bit over a third of U.S. energy from solar sources provides insight into what it would cost to phase out all or most U.S. greenhouse emissions. Bottom line: a lot less than current military spending. The total cost of the SciAm plan: $420 billion over the course of that 40 years, or slightly over ten billion dollars per year -- less than current fossil fuel subsidies, less than the new subsidies "clean coal" would require. The authors suggest phasing out fossil-fuel powered electricity over the course of forty years, using a solar dominated electricity grid.
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18th February 2008 |
The Other Carbon: Reducing Black Carbon's Role in Global Warming - Wired News
A professor at the annual AAAS meeting gives a talk on the role of black carbon, the other carbon, in global climate change. A mere 10% reduction in black carbon would be equivalent to eliminating 25 gigatons of carbon dioxide emissions
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18th February 2008 |
Carbon-neutral by 2020: SA Govt plan - Australian Broadcasting Corporation
South Australia has announced a scheme it says will give the state the first carbon-neutral government in Australia.
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18th February 2008 |
Efficiency Now Ahead Of US Carbon Rules: Utilities - Planet Ark
HOUSTON - US utilities are focusing on energy efficiency to lessen the need to build new power plants while they await what they see as inevitable carbon regulation, executives said at the four-day CERA conference in Houston that ended Friday.
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18th February 2008 |
MIT expert: How to toughen up environmental treaties - PhysOrg
The Kyoto Protocol is one of more than 100 global environmental treaties negotiated over the past 40 years to address pollution, fisheries management, ocean dumping and other problems. But according to MIT Professor Lawrence Susskind, an expert in resolving complex environmental disputes, few of the agreements have done more than slow the pace of ecological damage, due to lack of ratification by key countries, insufficient enforcement and inadequate financial support.
The reforms he has in mind include engaging civil societies, not just governments, in drafting and enforcing global environmental treaties; offering incentives for countries that ratify treaties and comply with their terms; and establishing more meaningful timetables and targets, along with economic penalties. Penalties for non-compliance with environmental treaties should hit nations hard—in their pocketbooks, says Susskind.
See also : Mission critical for carbon management - EurekAlert!
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18th February 2008 |
Amtrak's defenders cite energy efficiency - Houston Chronicle
Administration wants to cut funds to U.S. rail system by 40 percent
WASHINGTON — Supporters of federal funding for Amtrak have a new argument: The threat of global warming will be eased if more people ride the train.
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18th February 2008 |
Laughing Gas Causes Food, Global Warming Dilemma - Planet Ark
OSLO - The world needs to find smarter ways to feed a rising population while cutting emissions of laughing gas, a widely forgotten greenhouse gas that is stoked by the use of fertilisers, a researcher said on Friday.
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18th February 2008 |
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Birds choke to death on migrant fish - Guardian Unlimited
Baffled scientists warn of a 'catastrophic' impact as snake pipefish flood into British waters
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17th February 2008 |
LATIN AMERICA: Deforestation Still Winning - IPS
MEXICO CITY, Feb 16 (Tierramérica) - Never before have Latin America and the Caribbean fought so hard against deforestation, say experts and government officials, but logging in the region has increased to the point that it has the highest rate in the world.
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17th February 2008 |
California's burning ambition - Guardian Unlimited
Steered by Schwarzenegger, the Golden State plans to be at the forefront of fighting global warming, reports Juliette Jowit
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17th February 2008 |
Chicago to turn off lights for one hour - PhysOrg
Chicago plans to join more than 20 other cities and shut off exterior lights on public buildings for an hour in an effort to raise environmental awareness.
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17th February 2008 |
National Post "Rabid Response Team" Assails Suzuki Over Jail Quote - DeSmogBlog
The Post's pages of outrage (O'Neill, Gunter) were inspired (this time) by a Suzuki speech to the students of McGill University. "The Doc," as he is known to friends and insiders, apparently took full flight in exhorting students to action on the environment and, especially, on the issue of climate change. The Post reports the following, culminating quote: What I would challenge you to do is to put a lot of effort into trying to see whether there's a legal way of throwing our so-called leaders into jail because what they're doing is a criminal act." This, The Post rails, amounts to "environmental fascism," "enviro-totalitarianism" and/or the beginning of an "enviro-inquisition." Lorne Gunter actually says that Suzuki is "picking up the time-honoured tradition of Tomas de Torquemada, inquisitor-general of the Spanish Inquisition." We're on the verge, apparently, ...
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17th February 2008 |
How climate change sparked a Canadian gold rush - Times Online
It's little more than an ice-bound collection of shacks besieged by hungry polar bears. But climate change has sparked a gold rush in Churchill, population 923. Within 10 years, this tiny Canadian port could be transformed into a hub of world trade
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17th February 2008 |
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Stabilizing climate requires near-zero carbon emissions - EurekAlert!
Now that scientists have reached a consensus that carbon dioxide emissions from human activities are the major cause of global warming, the next question is: How can we stop it? Can we just cut back on carbon, or do we need to go cold turkey? According to a new study by scientists at the Carnegie Institution, halfway measures won?t do the job. To stabilize our planet?s climate, we need to find ways to kick the carbon habit altogether.
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16th February 2008 |
Warming risks Antarctic sea life - BBC
Unique marine life in Antarctica will be at risk from an invasion of sharks, crabs and other predators if global warming continues, scientists warn.
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16th February 2008 |
Sony leads charge against climate change - Guardian Unlimited
Sony and other big multinationals today committed themselves to drastically reducing their carbon footprint and urged other businesses to join the fight against global warming. Twelve companies, including Nokia, Nike, and Hewlett-Packard, signed up to the Tokyo declaration, promising to "take all necessary action" to limit the increase in the global average temperature to less than 2 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels.
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16th February 2008 |
World Wine Map Changing With Climate - Discovery Channel
Climate change is threatening to redraw the world's wine-producing map, and the effects are already being seen in earlier harvests and coarser wines, experts told an international conference Friday.
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16th February 2008 |
Greening US likely to create huge carbon market - New Scientist
Introducing carbon trading in the US could create a market worth $1 trillion a year by 2020, according to a new report
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16th February 2008 |
Rediscovering the forgotten crops - BBC News
Earth Report looks at how rediscovering forgotten food crops can help avert a future food crisis.
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16th February 2008 |
Past greenhouse warming events provide clues to what the future may hold - PhysOrg
If carbon dioxide emissions from the burning of fossil fuels continue on a "business-as-usual" trajectory, humans will have added about 5 trillion metric tons of carbon to the atmosphere by the year 2400. A similarly massive release of carbon accompanied an extreme period of global warming 55 million years ago known as the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM).
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16th February 2008 |
GPS 'thermometer' could flag up climate change - New Scientist
Variations in the way GPS satellite signals distort when passing through the atmosphere could be used to monitor the changes in Earth's climate
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16th February 2008 |
CHILE: Drought Raises Likelihood of Energy Rationing - IPS
SANTIAGO, Feb 15 (IPS) - The severe drought affecting Chile has caused an agricultural emergency in 50 rural districts in the centre of the country, and large sectors of the economy are concerned about possible electricity rationing in March.
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16th February 2008 |
Greenpeace projects message on Parliament Buildings to mark anniversary of Kyoto - CNW Telbec
Canada: Greenpeace marked the third anniversary of the Kyoto Protocol coming into force by projecting the words "Wanted: Climate Leaders" on the Parliament Buildings in Ottawa this evening. Activists holding candles also held vigil in protest of Canada's lack of progress on combating global warming.
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16th February 2008 |
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Pacific Northwest hypoxic events unprecedented - EurekAlert!
CORVALLIS, Ore. – A review of all available ocean data records concludes that the low-oxygen events which have plagued the Pacific Northwest coast since 2002 are unprecedented in the five decades prior to that, and may well be linked to the stronger, persistent winds that are expected to occur with global warming.
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15th February 2008 |
Firms will act on CO2 only if its cost triples, says Shell - Guardian Unlimited
A carbon price close to $100 per tonne of CO2 - more than three times higher than it is today - is needed before industry will invest in the thousands of carbon-capture-and-storage (CCS) schemes needed for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, Shell warned yesterday. Jeremy Bentham, the vice president of business environment at the company, also called on the EU to quicken the pace of regulatory change and take vital decisions "within five years" that would largely shape the pattern of energy supply and global warming in coming decades.
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15th February 2008 |
Environment: Who Needs Meat When You've Got Bugs?
We may find the idea of insects as livestock disgusting, but could a bug farm possibly be any more foul than our fetid feedlots?
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15th February 2008 |
Study finds profit in cutting emissions - Financial Times
Half the cuts in greenhouse gas emissions needed to make the world safe can be achieved at a net profit to the global economy, a study has found.
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15th February 2008 |
Investment fund giants demand 90% reduction in carbon emissions - Guardian Unlimited
Some of the largest institutional investors in the world yesterday called on the US Congress to introduce a mandatory national policy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 90% below 1990 levels by 2050. It is the latest move that underlines the way business leaders have dramatically seized the environmental agenda and are now pushing politicians to tackle global warming. The group of 40 investors, which includes F&C Asset Management in London and controls $1.5tr (£760bn) worth of funds, also wants the financial regulator, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), to insist that companies listed in New York and elsewhere disclose their exposure to climate change risk.
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15th February 2008 |
Climate mobilization: suddenly a dam breaks
Bill Pfeiffer, Sacred Earh Network. Interview with climate scientist Susanne Moser: "A dam works well and for a long time, until one day it breaks. A social movement builds slowly and quietly, until one day it takes off and major political changes become possible. We're witnessing the building of such a climate protection movement right now."
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15th February 2008 |
Prince sees climate fight as war - BBC
Prince Charles tells Euro MPs the biggest ever public-private partnership is needed to tackle climate change.
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15th February 2008 |
Gore to Wall Street: beware of 'subprime carbon' - CNN Money
Former Vice President says investors must curb assets tied to business that are heavily carbon dependent; warns that carbon emissions will soon come at a price.
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15th February 2008 |
Volunteers Across Nation to Track Climate Clues in Spring Flowers - PhysOrg
A nationwide initiative starting this week will enable volunteers to track climate change by observing the timing of flowers and foliage. Project BudBurst, operated by the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) and a team of partners, allows students, gardeners and other citizen scientists in every state to enter their observations into an online database that will give researchers a detailed picture of our warming climate.
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15th February 2008 |
New materials can selectively capture carbon dioxide
UCLA chemists report a major advance in reducing heat-trapping carbon dioxide emissions in the Feb. 15 issue of the journal Science.
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15th February 2008 |
Map shows toll on world's oceans - BBC News
Only 4% of the world's oceans remain undamaged by human activity, a study shows.
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15th February 2008 |
Goodbye gasoline? Not so fast - CNN Money
Gasoline use over the next two decades is expected to soar as developing nations get richer and more people there buy cars, but gas alone won't be able to shoulder the burden.
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15th February 2008 |
Coal's Time Is Up In US, Environmentalist Warns - Planet Ark
NEW YORK - The United States should leave its estimated 200 years' supply of coal in the ground and invest in wind farms and solar technology for its power-generating needs, a leading environmental analyst said on Thursday.
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15th February 2008 |
SCIENCE-US: Top Scientists Want Research Free From Politics
BOSTON, Feb 14 (IPS) - Leading U.S. scientists called on Congress Thursday to make sure the next president does not do what they say the George W. Bush Administration has done: censor, suppress and falsify important environmental and health research.
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15th February 2008 |
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Chaos wrecks the balance of nature - Telegraph.co.uk
The effects of global warming on the life on planet Earth are impossible to predict over the long term, according to a study that has found chaos at work among tiny marine creatures from the Baltic.
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14th February 2008 |
INTERVIEW - Mankind Can't Afford More Oil Drilling - Ex-BP Exec - Planet Ark
LONDON - Known oil, gas and coal reserves may already contain a quarter more carbon than mankind can emit and still avoid dangerous climate change, putting the value of new oil exploration in doubt, said a former oil major executive.
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14th February 2008 |
Biofuels and the fertilizer problem - Gristmill
Can a 'renewable fuel' rely on mining a finite resource?
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14th February 2008 |
Pentagon faces a battle on climate change - Financial Times
There are five key areas in which effective military planning can be undermined by uncertainty over when and how the major carbon-emitting countries combat climate change.
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14th February 2008 |
Mosquito invasion threatens a plague on Ulster - Belfast Telegraph
Ulster has been invaded by mosquitoes - and the diseases they carry could pose a heightened risk to human health as climate change starts to bite.
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14th February 2008 |
Growers face early start to Myzus pest migration - Farming UK
UK: Potato, sugar beet and vegetable growers must be ready for an early attack of Myzus persicae again this year, predicts aphid expert Dr Richard Harrington of Rothamsted Research. And it is a trend that is set to continue with climate warming, he reported. Official forecasts will be issued at the end of February, but the mild conditions so far make early aphid movement look likely.
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14th February 2008 |
Five-seat concept car runs on air - BBC News
A French engineer promises that he will start selling a car that runs on compressed air within a year.
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14th February 2008 |
America's Sportsmen Target Global Warming - All American Patriots
More than 670 hunting and fishing organizations from all 50 states, representing the millions of Americans who share America’s sporting tradition, are urging their U.S. Senators and Representatives to target global warming with strong climate legislation.
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14th February 2008 |
Family cars among 'gas guzzlers' - BBC News
If you think the new £25 charge for driving in London is just for 4x4s and Porsches, think again.
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14th February 2008 |
Senate passes measure on emissions labeling program - KAJ Kalispell
Associated Press - February 13, 2008 8:05 PM ET OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) - The Senate today passed ameasure requiring the Department of Ecology to develop a greenhouse gas emissions disclosure...
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14th February 2008 |
Canadian Province Enlists Trees In Climate Fight - Planet Ark
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Canada's westernmost province plans to recruit its vast forests to help in the battle against climate change, with the goal of no net deforestation by 2015, British Columbia said Tuesday.
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14th February 2008 |
Q&A: Ecotowns - Guardian Unlimited
Later this month, the government is to announce the 10 locations chosen to become Britain's first green communities. But the controversial plans have already sparked nationwide protests. Vikki Miller takes a look at what the developments will entail
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14th February 2008 |
'Shift focus' of security battle - BBC News
Attempts to maintain national security need to be redefined, with more attention being paid to climate change and poverty, a left-leaning think tank says.
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14th February 2008 |
BANGLADESH GOVT PLANS TO CONTAIN GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS - Asia Pulse via Yahoo!7 Finance
Regulations / Law The caretaker government plans to knock out two-stroke-engine vehicles from all district headquarters and metropolitan cities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to hazardous global warming.
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14th February 2008 |
INTERVIEW-Arctic ice unlikely to see record melt in 2008 - AlertNet
Source: Reuters By Alister Doyle, Environment Correspondent OSLO, Feb 13 (Reuters) - Arctic summer sea ice is unlikely to shrink drastically in 2008 beyond a record low set last year even though the long-term trend is a thaw tied to global warming, a leading scientist said on Wednesday.
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14th February 2008 |
Sierra Club gives feds failing grade on climate change - CNews
TORONTO - The Sierra Club of Canada is giving the federal Conservatives a failing grade for their environmental record and kudos to Quebec and British Columbia for their efforts to reduce emissions.
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14th February 2008 |
US will appoint 'energy attache' - BBC News
The US secretary of state says she will appoint an energy envoy to monitor the use of oil and gas for political purposes.
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14th February 2008 |
Second deadline to protect polar bears missed - Reuters
The United States has missed its own postponed deadline to decide if polar bears need protection from climate change, and critics link the delay to an oil lease sale in a vast swath of the bear's icy habitat.
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14th February 2008 |
Synthetic Fuel Concept to Steal CO2 From Air - PhysOrg
Los Alamos National Laboratory has developed a low-risk, transformational concept, called Green Freedom(TM), for large-scale production of carbon-neutral, sulfur-free fuels and organic chemicals from air and water.
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14th February 2008 |
Up In Smoke: President Bush's Big Environmental Broken Promise - New York Times Blogs
President Bush’s announcement of FutureGen on Feb. 27, 2003 generated great excitement. Coal-fired power plants account for a large percentage of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, and experts have known for years that the battle against climate change would almost certainly be lost unless ways could be found to control those emissions. FutureGen offered hope. Yet two weeks ago, after five years of chaotic management and $300 million in unfocused spending, the administration essentially pulled the plug. And nobody, including the Times, should have been surprised.
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14th February 2008 |
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Pressure builds for global battle plan on climate change - Reuters AlertNet
Just how big a threat to the world is climate change? Listening in to a press conference at U.N. headquarters in New York on Monday, you'd have heard British billionaire businessman Richard Branson describing it as "a crisis that is bigger than World War I and II combined". Or New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg emphasising, "This is just as important as stopping nuclear proliferation. This is just as important as stopping terrorism." The sociologist Ulrich Beck argues that huge global risks like climate change are so different from what we've experienced so far, it's more accurate to describe them as "unknown unknowns". Whatever your favourite soundbite, there are signs that we're finally reaching the point where we no longer need international celebrities and politicians to scare us into realising how bad things could get.
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13th February 2008 |
Path of least resistance - Guardian Unlimited
UK: The government's fallacious use of carbon pricing means that it can disguise its aviation expansion plans as alleviating climate change
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13th February 2008 |
Antarctica is Cold? Yeah, We Knew That - RealClimate
Guest commentary from Spencer Weart, science historian Despite the recent announcement that the discharge from some Antarctic glaciers is accelerating, we often hear people remarking that parts of Antarctica are getting colder, and indeed the ice pack in the Southern Ocean around Antarctica has actually been getting bigger. Doesn't this contradict the calculations that greenhouse gases are warming the globe? Not at all, because a cold Antarctica is just what calculations predict… and have predicted for the past quarter century. It's not just that Antarctica is covered with a gazillion tons of ice, although that certainly helps keep it cold.
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13th February 2008 |
Drought cuts 10 percent off Australian agricultural production - AFP via Yahoo! News
Drought cut 10 percent off the value of Australia's agricultural production in 2006-07, official figures showed Tuesday.
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13th February 2008 |
True scale of C02 emissions from shipping revealed - Guardian Unlimited
The true scale of climate change emissions from shipping is almost three times higher than previously believed, according to a leaked UN study seen by the Guardian. It calculates that annual emissions from the world's merchant fleet have already reached 1.12bn tonnes of CO², or nearly 4.5% of all global emissions of the main greenhouse gas. The report suggests that shipping emissions - which are not taken into account by European targets for cutting global warming - will become one of the largest single sources of manmade CO² after cars, housing, agriculture and industry. By comparison, the aviation industry, which has been under heavy pressure to clean up, is responsible for about 650m tonnes of CO² emissions a year, just over half that from shipping..
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13th February 2008 |
CLIMATE CHANGE: Security Council Urged to Punish CO2 Offenders
UNITED NATIONS, Feb 12 (IPS) - The world's small island nations are calling for the U.N. Security Council to help protect their lands and resources by using its authority to demand reductions of carbon dioxide emissions, and to penalise those nations that fail to comply.
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13th February 2008 |
Climate change could kill thousands in UK by 2012, says report - Guardian Unlimited
Climate change could lead to a heatwave in the south-east of England killing 3,000 people by 2012, a Department of Health report said today.
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13th February 2008 |
Lake Mead could be dry by 2021 - PhysOrg
There is a 50 percent chance Lake Mead, a key source of water for millions of people in the southwestern United States, will be dry by 2021 if climate changes as expected and future water usage is not curtailed, according to a pair of researchers at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego.
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13th February 2008 |
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Activist links struggles of public space, climate - Deseret Morning News
When it comes to combating global warming, it all comes down to "the common," says Larry Lohmann, English author and environmental activist.
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12th February 2008 |
Apart from used chip fat, there is no such thing as a sustainable biofuel - Guardian Unlimited
George Monbiot: Even capitalists now admit the oil crisis is real. But their solutions border on lunacy as they avoid the obvious answer
See also: Biofuel demand leading to human rights abuses, report claims - Guardian Unlimited
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12th February 2008 |
Insect explosion 'a threat to food crops' - Independent
Food crops could be ravaged this century by an explosion in the numbers of insect pests caused by rising global temperatures, according to scientists who have carried out an exhaustive survey of plant damage when the earth last experienced major climate change.
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12th February 2008 |
Cities: A Smart Alternative to Cars - BusinessWeek
Creating compact communities—and eliminating the need to drive everywhere - may be the best way to slash greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles
See also: A climate for old men: Spearheading transit for livable cities at 93> - Gristmill
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12th February 2008 |
EU Cities Commit to Climate Package, But Challenges Lay Ahead - Deutsche Welle
Fighting global warming can happen one city at a time. This is the belief of those who signed up to the EU's new climate package. Now, those cities who pledged to slash their CO2 are facing the reality of their promise.
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12th February 2008 |
King Penguins Declining Due to Global Warming - National Geographic
Warming seas near Antarctica are making prey scarce for the large birds, which are forced to travel further distances to feed their chicks.
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12th February 2008 |
Consumers must stop forest destruction - BBC News
Some people may not sit so comfortably on their patio furniture if they knew where the wood came from, argues John Nelson. In this week's Green Room, he says the demand for wood products is threatening the long-term survival of communities around the globe.
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12th February 2008 |
Sea Level Rise Could Be Twice As High As Current Predictions - Science Daily
A comprehensive new study authored by University at Buffalo scientists and their colleagues for the first time documents in detail the dynamics of parts of Greenland's ice sheet, important data that have long been missing from the ice sheet models on which projections about sea level rise and global warming are based.
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12th February 2008 |
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Climate scientist they could not silence - Times Online
Jim Hansen has long been a thorn in the side of the White House. Now he has a stark warning for Britain.
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11th February 2008 |
Air district wants thousands of firms to pay fees based on greenhouse gases - Contra Costa Times
In the first such program in California, and perhaps the United States, Bay Area air pollution regulators are proposing to charge an annual fee to thousands of businesses based on the amount of greenhouse gases they emit. The fee -- 4.2 cents per metric ton of carbon dioxide -- would affect everything from oil refineries to power plants, and landfills, factories and small businesses such as restaurants or bakeries.
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11th February 2008 |
New Zealand can't become carbon neutral? - Scoop.co.nz
The ideas that New Zealand cannot become carbon neutral and that carbon trading will push up the cost of pastoral farming are both total nonsense, according to farm business sustainability specialist Peter Floyd.
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11th February 2008 |
Super-sized squid may be indicator of climate change - Eureka Times-Standard
There's a new squid in town. Southern waters were once the domain of Humboldt squid, but over the course of decades the tentacular jumbos have been gradually ranging farther north.
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11th February 2008 |
RIGHTS-BRAZIL: Pantanal Indians Threatened by Deforestation - IPS
CAMPO GRANDE, Brazil, Feb 9 (Tierramérica) - The indigenous peoples of the central-western Brazilian state of Mato Grosso do Sul do not look like the tribes portrayed in film, decked out in colourful clothing and adornments and depending on their natural surroundings to survive in the Amazon jungle. But some of their problems are similar to their Amazonian counterparts, and in some cases even more serious.
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11th February 2008 |
China buys its future from Africa - Guardian Unlimited
Limited by the West, the superpower is scouring the continent for raw materials, write Tim Webb and Nick Mathiason
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11th February 2008 |
After US pulls plug, future unclear for 'clean coal' - PhysOrg
The US government's decision to end funding for a "zero emissions" coal-fired power plant project has cast doubt over the future of "clean coal" to meet growing global energy needs.
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11th February 2008 |
GM chief urges dealers to fight emissions caps - USA Today
Rick Wagoner called on auto dealers to lobby against individual states trying to set their own limits on emissions.
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11th February 2008 |
Can GM project produce ethanol at less than $1 a gallon? - Detroit News
General Motors has decided that despite all the headlines about hybrids, battery power and fuel cells, ethanol provides the best way to curb carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in the short term.
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11th February 2008 |
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Q&A: "You Can See the Whole Hemisphere Breathing"
VANCOUVER, Feb 8 (IPS) - Dr. Ralph Keeling is a climate change expert who explores how rises in car | |
