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News Archive - January 2008
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The Sierra Club solution - Energy Bulletin
While many environmentalists1 view H.R. 6 as a welcome development, there are fatal flaws which make the act moot before it comes into effect. The new law will do next to nothing to cure America's oil addiction, a dependency on imported oil which is bound to get much worse long before the provisions of the new law will kick in—if they ever do. Many environmentalists and so-called "progressives" cling to dangerously naive beliefs about how to solve America's liquid fuels problem.
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31st January 2008 |
Aerogenerator turbine sets sail for a greener future - Guardian Unlimited
Is a wind turbine that looks like a giant rotary washing line the answer to the UK's renewable energy prayers?
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31st January 2008 |
Climate Plans by New York, Florida Prod US on Global Accord - Bloomberg
President George W. Bush is pressing allies in Europe for a global warming agreement based on voluntary targets for pollution reduction. State officials in the U.S. have already left him behind. Twenty-two U.S. states with about 145 million people are exploring mandatory carbon-dioxide caps and emission-credit markets similar to one in the European Union. The proposals are pressuring Congress to pass legislation that would supersede the state and regional programs with a single national plan.
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31st January 2008 |
Peat bogs leaking CO2 emissions - Guardian Unlimited
Science environment: Scientists drop heather on peat bogs to halt dangerous emitter of carbon dioxide
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31st January 2008 |
Increased hurricane activity linked to sea surface warming - PhysOrg
The link between changes in the temperature of the sea`s surface and increases in North Atlantic hurricane activity has been quantified for the first time. The research - carried out by scientists at UCL (University College London) and due to be published in Nature on January 31 - shows that a 0.5°C increase in sea surface temperature can be associated with a ~40 per cent increase in hurricane activity.
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31st January 2008 |
warming exposes ancient vegetation - Canada.com
Large tracts of land and ancient vegetation that has not seen the light of day in 1,600 years have been liberated from ice caps on Baffin Island, confirming the unprecedented scale of climate change underway in Canada's North. The "current warming exceeds any sustained warm episode in at least the past 1,600 years," reports a U.S. research team that is dating the landscape reappearing as the island's ice disappears.
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31st January 2008 |
New power generation: Alternative energy sources - Independent
The need to find a new generation of fuels has never been greater. Earlier this month, the cost of oil hit $100 a barrel for the first time, leading to sky-high prices at petrol pumps all over the world. And consumption shows no signs of slowing as the new economic powerhouses of China and India continue to develop a seemingly insatiable thirst for the black gold.
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31st January 2008 |
What if you held a conference, and no - real scientists came? - RealClimate
Over the past days, many of us have received invitations to a conference called "The 2008 International Conference on Climate Change" in New York. At first sight this may look like a scientific conference - especially to those who are not familiar with the activities of the Heartland Institute, a front group for the fossil fuel industry that is sponsoring the conference. You may remember them. They were the promoters of the Avery and Singer "Unstoppable" tour and purveyors of disinformation about numerous topics such as the demise of Kilimanjaro's ice cap. A number of things reveal that this is no ordinary scientific meeting ...
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31st January 2008 |
UN: Climate Change May Cost $20 Trillion
(AP) -- Global warming could cost the world up to $20 trillion over two decades for cleaner energy sources and do the most harm to people who can least afford to adapt, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warns in a new report.
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31st January 2008 |
Canadian Government Sacks Science Advisor - DeSmogBlog
Mainstream Media Ignore the StoryThe Canadian government is closing the Office of the National Science Advisor (ONSA) and sacking its principal, Dr. Arthur Carty, a move that has garnered virtually no attention from the mainstream press.Credit must go to the Discovery Channel, to the UK-based Nature News and to CBC's excellent Quirks and Quarks host Bob McDonald for reporting the story.The Harper government's hostility to science seems to match that of the Bush administration, at least. Canada has been boldly out of step internationally on climate policy and Harper's Natural Resources Minister Gary Lunn recently fired the head of Canada's Nuclear Safety Commission because she had refused to let political and commercial considerations trump safety concerns.Now the Harper Conservatives have opted to shut the ONSA - perhaps thinking that, since they weren't listening to the advice anyway, they should save the money.
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31st January 2008 |
Antarctic ice riddle keeps sea-level secrets - AlertNet
A deep freeze holding 90 percent of the world's ice, Antarctica is one of the biggest puzzles in debate on global warming with risks that any thaw could raise sea levels faster than U.N. projections. Even if a fraction melted, Antarctica could damage nations from Bangladesh to Tuvalu in the Pacific and cities from Shanghai to New York. It has enough ice to raise sea levels by 57 metres (187 ft) if it melted, over thousands of years.
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31st January 2008 |
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Leading article: A noxious cloud of confusion - The Independent
It would be sheer folly to imagine that the 15 environment ministers meeting in Hawaii tomorrow are going to achieve anything substantial. The gathering has been summoned by George Bush, a man who remains essentially in denial that human activity is warming our planet. As a summit it will be Emission Impossible.
For all his talk of curbing climate change without stalling global economic growth, the US President has called the Hawaii summit as a spoiling policy. Mr Bush's insistence that cleaner technology, voluntary measures and "aspirational goals" will be enough is a delusion.
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30th January 2008 |
Capitalism as the Engine of Global Crisis - OpEdNews
It's increasingly evident to thoughtful persons that humanity has entered a period of unusual danger on multiple fronts. The months and years ahead may bring catastrophe through military conflagration, environmental disaster, economic collapse, or any combination of these. This essay will argue that these problems are all ultimately linked; that they are fundamentally rooted in corporate capitalism, and moreover that none of them can be solved within the framework of capitalism.
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30th January 2008 |
No Hair Shirt Solutions to Global Warming: Now available free online! - Gristmill
As the climate crisis grows worse, many people question whether we can phase out human greenhouse-gas emissions before an irreversible feedback cycle begins. As a belated New Year's present for 2008, I want to offer for free the full text of my book Cooling It! No Hair Shirt Solutions to Global Warming, to increase optimism. We not only have the technical capability to phase out fossil fuels over the course of 30 years, we can eliminate 94 percent of emissions within 20. The cost is close to zero: between savings from efficiency and renewable sources that are more expensive than fossil fuels (but not that much more expensive), the market cost will balance out to around what we pay now.
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30th January 2008 |
To capture CO2, just add calcium silicate - vnunet.com
Dr Paula Carey of UK start up Carbon 8 Systems explains how an innovative new carbon capture technology built around a simple chemical process has the potential to cut carbon emissions from waste incinerators and save businesses money
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30th January 2008 |
CU study: 'No-ice' alert in Arctic - Boulder Daily Camera
"Even with no additional warming, our study indicates that these ice caps will be gone in 50 years or less. That hasn't certainly happened in 1,600 years."
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30th January 2008 |
Calif. Salmon Population Declines - PhysOrg
(AP) -- The number of chinook salmon returning to California's Central Valley has reached a near-record low, pointing to an "unprecedented collapse" that could lead to severe restrictions on West Coast salmon fishing this year, according to federal fishery regulators.
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30th January 2008 |
China weather chaos a sign of things to come: experts - AFP via Yahoo! News
Don't tell the thousands of Chinese stuck at railway stations or airports, but the chaos caused by a vicious cold spell afflicting much of China could be just a taste of things to come, experts say.
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30th January 2008 |
Population Bombs - Monbiot.com
It's an important issue, but nowhere near the top of the list. For the first time the World Food Programme is struggling to find the supplies it needs for emergency famine relief. So why, like most environmentalists, won’t I mention the p-word? According to its most vociferous proponents population is “our number one environmental problem”. But most greens will not discuss it.
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30th January 2008 |
Environment: Leading Dems Are in King Coal's Pocket - AlterNet
Despite their inspiring speeches on global warming, they've bought into the sham of coal's reemergence as a "clean" source of energy.
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30th January 2008 |
Microbes as climate engineers - PhysOrg
We might think we control the climate but unless we harness the powers of our microbial co-habitants on this planet we might be fighting a losing battle, according to an article in the February 2008 issue of Microbiology Today.
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30th January 2008 |
E.coli a future source of energy? - PhysOrg
For most people, the name "E. coli" is synonymous with food poisoning and product recalls, but a professor in Texas AM University`s chemical engineering department envisions the bacteria as a future source of energy, helping to power our cars, homes and more.
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30th January 2008 |
Ontario and Quebec eye cap-and-trade system for emissions - CBC Toronto
Ontario and Quebec say a cap-and-trade system on greenhouse gas emissions is inevitable, and will be watching closely to decide whether to take similar action on a program being developed by Manitoba and B.C.
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30th January 2008 |
Demand for fish oil creates krill fishing industry - ABC Online
Demand for fish oil creates krill fishing industryABC Online, Australia. ... global warming could be a problem - it is unclear how far krill depend on algae that bloom near the ice shelves around Antarctica, and climate change ...
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30th January 2008 |
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Battlefield Earth - Foreign Policy Passport
It may sound like science fiction, but it’s only a matter of time before the world’s militaries learn to wield the planet itself as a weapon.
It wouldn’t be the first time states looked at the environment as a weapon. In the early 1970s, the Pentagon’s Project Popeye attempted to use cloud seeding to increase the strength of monsoons and bog down the Ho Chi Minh Trail. In 1996, a group of Air Force and Army officers working with the Air Force 2025 program produced a document titled “Weather as a Force Multiplier: Owning the Weather in 2025” (it never went anywhere). The Soviet Union reputedly had similar projects underway. But although the idea of a geoengineering arms race may superficially parallel this line of thinking, it’s actually a very different concept. Unlike “weather warfare,” geoengineering would be subtle and long term, more a strategic project than a tactical weapon; moreover, unlike weather control, we know it can work, since we’ve been unintentionally changing the climate for decades.
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29th January 2008 |
The Preservation Predicament - New York Times
Ecologists fear that global warming will make protected landscapes inhospitable to prized species.
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29th January 2008 |
Big green ideas for the workplace - Guardian Unlimited
If you are an eco-warrior at heart and really want to make a difference, then in many ways the workplace is actually your best chance. Adharanand Finn shows you how
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29th January 2008 |
Green groups rally against oil sands development - Globe and Mail
An environmental group that successfully shifted the buying power of Victoria's Secret, Home Depot and Staples in a campaign to protect British Columbia's old-growth forests has now turned its attention to Alberta's northern oil industry. "There is no question the marketplace is starting to wake up to how dirty oil from the tar sands is," Tzeporah Berman, program director for an environmental group called ForestEthics, said yesterday in an interview.
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29th January 2008 |
Transport - Jan 28 - Energy Bulletin
Nissan exec: Car culture is fading
China to build 97 new airports by 2020
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29th January 2008 |
Scientists Link Natural Gas Formation by Bacteria to Climate Change and Renewable Energy - PhysOrg
Natural gas reservoirs in Michigan`s Antrim Shale are providing new information about global warming and the Earth`s climate history, according to a recent study by Steven Petsch, a geoscientist at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. The study is also good news for energy companies hoping to make natural gas a renewable resource. Results were published in the February 2008 issue of Geology.
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29th January 2008 |
'Action needed' on home emissions - BBC News
European governments and the EU are urged to hasten introduction of housing that contributes nothing to global warming.
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29th January 2008 |
Is big business still thinking green? - BBC News
A year ago climate change was the big topic at the World Economic Forum - but has it gone out of fashion?
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29th January 2008 |
Dutch Architects Plan for a Floating Future - NPR
Architects in Holland are showing the rest of the world a way of turning adversity into opportunity. Instead of building around rising waters, they ask, why not build on water? Floating houses, gardens, even villages are the future vision of some Dutch planners.
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29th January 2008 |
Insurance job takes Blair's earnings above £7m - Guardian Unlimited
Tony Blair is due to take his post-prime ministerial earnings to more than £7m this year following his appointment to a six-figure-salary job with Zurich Insurance, the Swiss financial firm, advising it on climate change.
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29th January 2008 |
The battle for food, oil and water - Financial Times
The food, energy and water problems all touch on each other. America's pursuit of alternatives to oil has led to massive investment in biofuels made from maize. That in turn has cut the amount of maize being used for food production and so contributed to rising food prices. The production of biofuels is also very water-intensive. Meanwhile, increased demand for agricultural land to grow more food is leading to the clearing of forest in Brazil - which could worsen global warming - leading to further stress on the world's water supplies.
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29th January 2008 |
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Big business says addressing climate change 'rates very low on agenda' - The Independent
Global warming ranks far down the concerns of the world's biggest companies, despite world leaders' hopes that they will pioneer solutions to the impending climate crisis, a startling survey will reveal this week. Nearly nine in 10 of them do not rate it as a priority, says the study, which canvassed more than 500 big businesses in Britain, the US, Germany, Japan, India and China. Nearly twice as many see climate change as imposing costs on their business as those who believe it presents an opportunity to make money. And the report's publishers believe that big business will concentrate even less on climate change as the world economy deteriorates.
See also: Leading article: Invest in the planet and clean up - The Independent
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28th January 2008 |
The staggering cost of rising world meat production - International Herald Tribune
Assembly-line meat factories consume enormous amounts of energy, pollute water supplies, generate significant greenhouse gases and lead to destruction of vast swaths of rain forest.
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28th January 2008 |
Leading article: How much is enough?
Almost one in 10 households is now defined as wealthy, with an income nearly three times the average. Alas, most families do not feel well-off. In fact, they say they would need twice as much as they currently bring in (just short of £90,000 a year) to feel as rich as the raw figures suggest they should.
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28th January 2008 |
2007 Was Tenth Warmest For U.S., Fifth Warmest Worldwide - Science Daily
The average temperature for the contiguous U.S. in 2007 is officially the tenth warmest on record, according to data from scientists at NOAA's National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C. The agency also determined the global surface temperature last year was the fifth warmest on record.
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28th January 2008 |
TV news is too cool - Salon.com
Major TV interviewers have asked presidential candidates 3,000 questions -- only six of them have been about global warming.
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28th January 2008 |
Britain's new eco battle - Guardian Unlimited
Science environment: How the growth of aviation will become a fight between environmentalists and big business
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28th January 2008 |
Maldives Builds Barriers to Global Warming - NPR
Countries struggling with climate change could learn a lot from a constellation of tiny islands in the Indian Ocean. The Republic of Maldives was one of the first countries to recognize the danger of rising sea levels. It's also one of the first to come up with a plan to adapt to a warmer world.
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28th January 2008 |
Antarctica on alert for alien invaders - Reuters AlertNet
Seeds, spores, mites, lichens and mosses alien to the continent have been brought unwittingly by scientists and tourists, and could disrupt life in the icy wilderness. Antarctica is best known for penguins as well as seals and whales, but scientists are finding a host of other tiny organisms from springtails -- closely related to insects -- to mosses. And they fear global warming may create conditions suitable for outside marauders such as rats or mice in Antarctica, where the biggest land creature is now a tiny flightless midge. Among plants a type of European grass -- agrostis stolonifera -- may be among threats if the icy climate thaws.
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28th January 2008 |
America's Slumbering Desert - Gather.com
Excerpt from the book 'Six Degrees: Our Future on a Hotter Planet' by Mark Lynas.
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28th January 2008 |
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Environment: Will Coffee Be a Casualty of Climate Change? - Alternet
Coffee farmers in South America don't need to read the latest IPCC reports; they already know.
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26th January 2008 |
Creepy-crawlies head to Europe thanks to globalisation, climate - PhysOrg
Europe now has 1,517 alien species of insects, worms, mussels and other invertebrates, a tally that is growing steadily thanks to globalisation and climate change, French researchers said on Friday.
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26th January 2008 |
A green light for "green" tariffs? - Marketwire via Yahoo! Finance
New Study Scrutinizes How International Trade Rules May Impact Limits on Carbon Emissions.
Are efforts to limit greenhouse gas emissions under agreements like the Kyoto Protocol compatible with World Trade Organization rules? As Congress and many European policy makers weigh the imposition of "green" border taxes to punish more carbon-intensive products from abroad, a new report by a leading industry group raises troubling questions about WTO rules and jurisprudence and their ...
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26th January 2008 |
Dung-powered power plant unveiled - BBC News
A Devon farmer announces plans to build a huge biogas plant at Rackenford, near Tiverton.
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26th January 2008 |
B.C. to set up climate-change institute with $94.5-million endowment - CNews
VANCOUVER - The B.C. government wants to spend $94.5 million to set up a Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions to spark ideas for adapting to climate change and lessen its effects.
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26th January 2008 |
World Leaders Fortify Commitments to Environment - Environment News Service
DAVOS, Switzerland , January 25, 2008 (ENS) - Economic, scientific, and political leaders and entertainers pledged hundreds of millions of dollars and moral support to environmental causes ranging from clean water and climate change to a modern green farming revolution as the World Economic Forum wound up its annual meeting in Davos today.
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26th January 2008 |
G8's Gradual Move toward Post-Kyoto Climate Change Policy - Foreign Relations
Inlate 2007, the first discussions were held on a new framework to replace the Kyoto Protocol, which set mandatory greenhouse-gas emissions targets for developed countries and expires in 2012. The talks in Bali, Indonesia, signaled that some developed countries in the Group of 8 (G8)—such as Canada and Japan—have begun rethinking Kyoto’s position of allowing developing countries, some of the largest emitters in the world, to remain outside the mandatory reduction requirements. Japan and Canada are among a number of Kyoto signatories struggling to meet their emissions targets.
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26th January 2008 |
Is climate change is making us sick? - Times Online
More floods, heat waves, insect-borne disease... Doctors are worried about how global warming will affect our health
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26th January 2008 |
How Whinash saw off the turbines - The Independent
The battle of Lewis is not the first turbine war fought between environmentalists and those wanting to preserve a picture-postcard landscape in the countryside.
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26th January 2008 |
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Brazil Amazon deforestation soars - BBC
The rate of deforestation of the Amazon surged in the last five months of 2007, the Brazilian government says.
See also: Brazil vows to stem Amazon loss - BBC
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25th January 2008 |
Climate change to cost 5% global GDP - Times of India
World renowned Indian environmentalist R K Pachauri has warned the international business and political leaders that climate change could cost up to 5 per cent of global GDP by 2030 if effective steps were not taken in time. "The business and political leaders should realise that measures to bring down emission levels would not cost more than 0.2 per cent of the global GDP, but it could cost up to 3 per cent of world GDP by 2020, and 5 per cent by 2030, if the temperature goes by 2-4 degree Celsius," the head of the UN's Nobel Prize-winning scientific panel on climate change said.
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25th January 2008 |
Scientific group calls for 50 percent reduction in CO2 emissions - CNET
The earth is getting warmed by carbon dioxide, warns the American Geophysical Union. We've got to crank down on the emissions.
See also: Climate change real! How about that? - Gristmill.
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25th January 2008 |
The debate is just beginning - on the Cretaceous! - RealClimate
Most of us who are involved in research related to climate change have been asked at one time or another to participate in public debates against skeptics of one sort or another. Some of us have even been cajoled into accepting. In the pre-YouTube days, I did one against the then-head of the American Petroleum institute at the U. of Chicago law school. Gavin did an infamous one against Crichton and company. People are always demanding that Al Gore debate somebody or other. Both Dave Archer and I have been asked to debate Dennis Avery (of "Unstoppable Global Warming" fame) on TV or radio more than once - and declined.
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25th January 2008 |
EU aims for moral high ground with swingeing climate change package - Guardian Unlimited
A blueprint for tackling global warming was put on the table yesterday by the EU, which challenged the US and other big polluters worldwide to join the battle against climate change. Setting out plans for the world's first significant low-carbon economy, the EU ordered swingeing cuts in greenhouse gas emissions which included challenging targets for Britain.
See also: Europe goes light green - Guardian Unlimited
If part of the motivation for this announcement was to send a signal to other rich countries, especially the US, this one is simply not strong enough.
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25th January 2008 |
EPA staff finds emissions threat - Los Angeles Times
The White House is reviewing the 'endangerment' conclusion, which would require regulations. The agency, contradicting its chief, has also concluded that a California tailpipe law was justified.
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25th January 2008 |
Car ads taunting environmentalists - Guardian Unlimited
Judging by their ads, some companies now revel in taunting environmentalists. Leo Hickman reports
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25th January 2008 |
The liquid-coal military industrial complex - Gristmill
Air Force and liquid coal industry interbreed.
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25th January 2008 |
Gas Prices Up, Globe Still Warming and ExxonMobil Earnings Soar - DeSmogBlog
ExxonMobil, the largest publicly traded oil company in the world, is set to announce their largest annual earnings ever. Which also means ExxonMobil will break their own record set last year as the most money ever made by a company in US history.CNN Money is reporting that ExxonMobil will announce next week $10.37 billion in earnings for the fourth quarter - a paltry $111 million a day.Expected annual earnings for ExxonMobil in 2007 are a whopping $39 billion - or about $106 million a day, $4.4 million an hour and $73,000 a second.
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25th January 2008 |
Dr. Hansen to Dr. Merkel - Gristmill
Carbon is forever -- so ban new traditional coal plants now
Another clear statement (PDF) from the nation's top climate scientist on the scientific need for a dramatic change in global coal policy -- this time addressed to the German chancellor, a fellow physicist. He points out that:
The fact that energy and climate advisors, in Germany, the United States, and elsewhere, do not understand the problem is starkly illustrated by repetition of goals to reduce CO2 emissions by a percentage (say 40% by 2020, 80% by 2050, or other numbers), while at the same time allowing construction of new, more efficient, coal-fired power plants that do not capture and sequester CO2 ...this approach spells doom for life on the planet.
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25th January 2008 |
Alberta Climate Change Plan: Triple Oil Production; Do Nothing; Blame Consumers
Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach announced a "climate change plan" today that involves tripling oil production and waiting until 2020 before even beginning to curtail CO2 emissions."It would be very difficult to bring in real reductions, immediate reductions, without devastating the economy and the quality of life of Albertans," Stelmach told reporters, without explaining why it is necessary to multiply Alberta's current $73 billion US in fossil fuel exports in order to avoid "devastating the economy."But the most offensive part of Premier Stelmach's political spin is the attempts that he, his ministers and his private-sector stalking horses are making to shift responsibility for action onto consumers.Stelmach, for example, told the Edmonton Sun yesterday that, "The whole issue of carbon dioxide emissions is a partnership between industry and the consumer.
See also: Held Hostage by Tar Sands - in Views - The Tyee
Alberta's greed is a threat to Canada and the world.
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25th January 2008 |
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24th January 2008 |
EU: Climate change goals will cost each European €3 a week - PR-Inside.com
Europeans were asked Wednesday to pay an extra €3 (US$4.35) a week as part of tough new measures to fight global warming, which EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said was a small price to pay to help slow down climate change.
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Reactions to EU emissions plan - Business Spectator
The European Commission has adopted a far-reaching plan to cut EU emissions of greenhouse gases blamed for global warming, boost renewable energy use and increase biofuels. Key features include a major overhaul of the EU's flagship Emissions Trading System (ETS), including auctioning emissions permits that were previously handed out for free. Immediately after the announcement, carbon emissions certificates for delivery in December 2008 fell by 35 cents, or 1.7 per cent, but they quickly recovered and were trading 39 cents higher at €20.70 euros a tonne by early afternoon London time. The following are reactions from industry, campaigners and analysts.
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EU faces tough climate change road - BBC News
The climate change targets were never going to be easy to reach by 2020, but some EU countries have already suggested they might be too hard. Here is a selection of responses from across Europe.
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Leader: Climate change - Guardian Unlimited
Leader: The new energy plan is a far more serious and ambitious bid than any made so far by Europe; yet it does not go far enough
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Leading article: A welcome plan - but delivery is what matters - The Independent
The European Commission yesterday began to add flesh to the bones of its plans to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. We already knew about the EU target of cutting greenhouse gasses by 20 per cent below 1990 levels and increasing renewable energy to 20 per cent of the mix by the end of the next decade. What was new in these proposals is the national breakdown of emission reduction targets.
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EU sets 20% target for carbon cuts - Guardian Unlimited
Britain told to increase by seven times its reliance on renewable energy up to the year 2020
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IPCC head: EU climate change measures 'not up to expectations' - EARTHtimes.org
Davos, Switzerland -The head of the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on Wednesday described the latest measures by the European Commission to cut greenhouse gases as "not up to expectations."Rajendra Pachauri said: "My view is that as far as the EU is concerned, this is business that is as yet unfinished," Rajendra Pachauri said during a press conference at the World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Davos in eastern Switzerland.
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EU greenhouse gas tax date deferred - Financial Times
Europe's heavy industries were relieved on Wednesday to find the date when they will have to start paying for their greenhouse gas emissions deferred.
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Brussels' CO2 permits expected to cost Drax its independence - The Independent
Drax, operator of Europe's biggest coal-fired power plant, is facing a crippling increase in operating costs after the European Union decided yesterday to begin auctioning carbon emission permits rather than giving them away, analysts said.
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Britain will need 12,500 wind farms to satisfy EU targets - The Independent
A rapid and vast expansion of renewable energy is on the way in Britain to help with the fight against climate change, it was revealed yesterday.
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From carbon to consensus: the green challenge - Globe and Mail
From carbon to consensus: We need to mobilize the world, and the Internet is the linchpin. For the first time we have one affordable, global, multi-media, many-to-many communications system, and one issue on which there is growing consensus. Climate change is quickly becoming a nonpartisan issue and citizens, businesses and governments each have a stake in the outcome. Indeed, the global consensus emerging on climate change is that solving the crisis will require leadership from every country and every sector in society. The "killer application" for mass collaboration may be saving planet earth-literally.
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24th January 2008 |
EPA staff favored California waiver for tailpipe emissions - The Fresno Bee
EPA officials told agency Administrator Stephen Johnson that California had "compelling and extraordinary conditions" to justify a federal waiver to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles, according to excerpts of agency documents made available Wednesday.
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24th January 2008 |
Armed Forces Face Strain of Climate Change - Report - Planet Ark
LONDON - Security forces round the world will face tough new challenges as climate change unleashes violent storms, raises sea levels and causes floods and famines, a new report said on Thursday.
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24th January 2008 |
Under pressure - Gristmill
U.S. failure to enact limits on global warming emissions could cost American companies that export to the European Union. E.U. President Jose Manuel Barroso on Sunday said the European Commission is considering a charge on importers from nations without carbon limits. Companies from those countries may be required to buy carbon emissions allowances on exports into the E.U. This is intended to level the playing field with European companies who are already part of the European Emissions Trading System instituted to meet E.U. obligations under the Kyoto climate treaty.
See also:EU threatens trade partners over global warming - TODAYonline
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24th January 2008 |
Calif. Farmers Sell Water Instead Of Growing Crops - CBS 5 Bay Area
In a state where water has become an increasingly scarce commodity, a growing number of farmers are betting they can make more money selling their water supplies to thirsty cities and farms to the south than by growing crops.
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24th January 2008 |
Americans For Balanced Energy Choices Pennsylvania "Clean Coal" Campaign Revealed
The other day we revealed the coal industry's PR plans for the State of Nevada. We've now obtained a similar PR strategy document for Pennsylvania State. Selling the virtues of "clean coal" on behalf of the coal industry has been undertaken by an organization calling itself the "Americans for Balanced Energy Choices" (ABEC). ABEC has reportedly received $35 million from the some of the largest coal companies in the world, including Peabody Energy, CONSOL Energy and Arch Coal, to convince America that coal is the answer to our energy and environmental concerns. ABEC has even taken to deploying children as spokespeople to sell their message.
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24th January 2008 |
Drought could force nuke-plant shutdowns - AP via Yahoo! News
Nuclear reactors across the Southeast could be forced to throttle back or temporarily shut down later this year because drought is drying up the rivers and lakes that supply power plants with the awesome amounts of cooling water they need to operate.
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24th January 2008 |
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Slowforestation - Gristmill
I meant to blog on this earlier, but lost track of it after failing to find the original study (for reasons that will become clear). The bottom line is: Global warming could cut the rate at which trees in tropical rainforests grow by as much as half, a new study based on more two decades of data from forests in Panama and Malaysia shows. The effects, so far largely overlooked by climate modelers, Nature magazine said, could severely erode or even remove the ability of tropical rainforests to remove carbon dioxide from the air as they grow.
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23rd January 2008 |
Severn barrage details unveiled - BBC
Details of a feasibility study into the Severn Barrage, a tidal power plan that could provide about 5% of UK electricity, are announced.
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23rd January 2008 |
Tuvalu struggles to hold back tide - BBC News
The nine tiny South Pacific islands of Tuvalu only just break the surface of the ocean - but for how much longer?
See also:The ebb and flow of sea level rise - BBC News
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23rd January 2008 |
Flying clouds the real climate culprit - BBC News
Environmentalists are quick to blame the aviation industry, but they should focus their efforts on stopping deforestation.
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23rd January 2008 |
EU to map low-carbon energy path - BBC News
The European Commission is to detail wide-ranging proposals for achieving its goals on climate and energy.
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23rd January 2008 |
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The evil twins - Energy Bulletin
Discussion of global warming seldom makes any connection between the ecology of temperature change and pending fuel shortages. This is a really bad error.
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22nd January 2008 |
Rich Nations Running Up "Ecological Debt" - Daily Green
The impact of ecological resources damaged every year in poor nations is a greater financial burden than national debt, a new analysis has found. What's worse, it is rich nations that are causing the damage in poor nations, either directly or indirectly.
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22nd January 2008 |
Americans For Balanced Energy Choices "Clean Coal" PR Spin Campaign Revealed - DeSmogBlog
So what does a multi-million dollar PR campaign trying to put a green shiny face on the dirtiest energy sector look like?The Washington Post ran a story last week about a $35 million PR spin/advertising effort being launched by a coal industry-funded organization called "Americans for Balanced Energy Choices" (ABEC). And DeSmogBlog has obtained a copy of the ABEC request for proposals for PR assistance in Nevada. The RFP gives you a good idea of how ABEC will go about selling America on the virtues of supposedly "clean coal."Attached is the entire RFP, here are some of the highlights:Campaign Goals <!--[if !supportLists]-->Increase general public awareness of the importance of coal to America's energy mix.<!--[if !supportLists]--> Educate key audiences on industry ...
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22nd January 2008 |
Red Cross says changing climate worsens disasters - Reuters
Climate change is making it harder for many people to access clean water and food, and widening the spread of malaria and dengue fever, the world's largest humanitarian aid agency said on Monday. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) is asking donors for $292 million per year for 2008 and 2009 to help communities steel themselves for the threats of global warming.
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22nd January 2008 |
Barroso trade threat on climate - BBC
The European Commission president threatens to impose carbon tariffs if the US fails to agree to a climate deal.
[Predictably] US warns EU against protectionism - BBC News
US trade representative Susan Schwab tells Europe climate change is no excuse for barriers to trade.
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22nd January 2008 |
The hybrid solar home - GristMill
Seattle is having a cold snap. It's 25 degrees outside. Our rare freezing winter days correspond with equally rare clear winter skies. Days like this make me wish I had a solar powered home that could harvest and store that free burst of energy for later use. The bottom line is that American homes are just too large to be cost effectively heated with solar energy. The push has been to get the cost of solar panels down. But, what would you get if you crossed an expensive solar heating and cooling system with an optimally sized home? By optimal, I mean not larger than you need.
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22nd January 2008 |
Stricter System to Trim Carbon Emissions Is Considered in Europe - New York Times
European Union officials this week will aim to reduce corporate influence and make polluting more expensive.
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22nd January 2008 |
Desert state channels oil wealth into world's first sustainable city - Guardian Unlimited
Lord Foster designs car-free, solar-powered project for 50,000 people on outskirts of Abu Dhabi
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22nd January 2008 |
World's Largest Offshore Wind Energy Turbine To Be Developed In North England - Centre Daily Times
California energy giant Clipper Windpower, Plc (www.clipperwind.com) has chosen Blyth, Northumberland in the United Kingdom as the site for a new generation of offshore wind turbines, North England Inward Investment Agency (NEIIA) has announced.
Called the "Britannia Project," the $65 million development program advances Clipper turbine technology to a 7.5 MW wind turbine scale which will be among the largest and most powerful offshore turbines in the world. With a 30-year design life, it will generate electricity equivalent of one million barrels of oil.
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22nd January 2008 |
Interview: Top EU ecology expert wants global warming Marshall plan - Monsters and Critics.com
Interview: Jacqueline McGlade, the EU's chief environment expert, believes Europe needs a Marshall plan of investment - up to several percentage points of GDP per year - to reduce the vulnerability to climate change.
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22nd January 2008 |
In Praise of High Class Climate Deception - DeSmogBlog
In a celebration of fiction - a promotion of political spin - one of America's top sources for climate disinformation, the minority page of the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, has received a top-of-class Gold Mouse Award from a National Science Foundation-sponsored project called "Connecting to Congress."The project "generously funded" by the NSF, is run by the Congressional Management Foundation, "a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to promoting a more effective Congress." The definition for "effective," however, clearly doesn't include any criteria reflecting integrity or accuracy of content.There is no question that the well-funded Senate minority site is optimized for greatest impact.
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22nd January 2008 |
Technology boosts carbon emissions - Channel 4
The carbon footprint of the nation's living rooms is growing bigger because of modern technology, a report says. Power consumption has already leapt due to homes becoming more hi-tech, according to financial consultants Deloitte.
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22nd January 2008 |
Elites love to pig out on energy - Toronto Star
"We use 30 per cent of all the energy ... That isn't bad; that is good. That means we are the richest, strongest people in the world and that we have the highest standard of living in the world. That is why we need so much energy, and may it always be that way."
–U.S. president Richard Nixon, November 1973.
Things have changed since Nixon proudly proclaimed America the world's biggest energy guzzler. Or have they?
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22nd January 2008 |
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Cap and Trade Not Enough to Cut Carbon - Goldman - Planet Ark
NEW YORK - Capping and trading carbon emissions will not be enough to fight output of the gases blamed for warming the planet, the managing director of Goldman Sachs' US carbon emissions desk said on Thursday.
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21st January 2008 |
EU's green targets may force UK to increase renewables fivefold - Guardian Unlimited
Britain could be forced to quintuple the energy it takes from renewable sources to 15% by 2020 from 3% or less, under tough new green targets to be set out by the European commission
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21st January 2008 |
Carbon Disclosure Project to assess world business CO2 footprint - TODAYonline
The Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), a consortium of 315 top institutional investors assessing industries about their CO2 emissions, has announced a new partnership to extend its global initiative to companies and suppliers.
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21st January 2008 |
If the world embraces nuclear energy, where will the deadly waste go? - CNews
Few people have been talking about the "back end," industry-speak for the hundreds of thousands of metric tonnes of waste that nuclear plants produce each year, and the lucrative, secretive business of storing it away. Waste "is the main problem with this so-called nuclear rebirth," said Mycle Schneider, an independent expert who co-authored a recent study for the European Parliament casting doubt on a global nuclear resurgence. He says government efforts to revive nuclear energy will stall without a "miracle" solution to waste disposal.
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21st January 2008 |
EU to set easier CO2 regime for heavy industries - Guardian Unlimited
EU to set easier CO2 regime for heavy industriesGuardian Unlimited, UK. A key flaw of the EU's Emissions Trading Scheme -- the main instrument for curbing pollution blamed for global warming -- has been that governments issued ...
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21st January 2008 |
The Global Threat The News Media Ignore - Hartford Courant
The Global Threat The News Media IgnoreHartford Courant, United States. Now it's the global economy that may suffer irreparable loss unless global warming and companion environmental threats, from falling water tables to ...
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21st January 2008 |
Car companies fight CO2 laws - Guardian Unlimited
Europe's carmakers have launched a fresh campaign to water down EU proposals to slash carbon dioxide emissions from new vehicles and impose stiff penalties on manufacturers failing to meet its targets
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21st January 2008 |
We'd like 250,000 of these, please - Guardian Unlimited
Arts entertainment: As floods return to Britain, Steve Rose meets some Dutch architects who may have the answers
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21st January 2008 |
Call to abandon biofuels targets - BBC News
The EU should abandon its biofuels targets because they are damaging the environment, MPs say.
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21st January 2008 |
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Ecosystems are nonlinear - Gristmill
Researchers claim to have found a mangrove where you can remove 20% of it with little reduction in flood control capacity -- meaning you can use that 20% for factory farmed shrimp and such.
If we adopt such ideas, then as each decision is made, the before/after cost benefits are weighed and the project proponent (the coal mine operator, the nat gas driller, the shrimp factory farmer, etc.) shows that, properly discounting the value of the future benefits from the eco-system (as they are trained to do), the project pans out nicely, and everybody wins! The developer gets to develop and talk about "partnering" a lot, the government gets to trumpet its ecological sensitivity, and the "reasonable" environmentalists get to get consulting gigs with other developers explaining how to overcome and marginalize the "radicals" who insist that nonlinearity -- the realization that we really don't know how many output change units results from a given unit input change -- might be better interpreted as a sign that the area is too complex to be carved up.
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20th January 2008 |
We have lift-off - Guardian Unlimited
UK: You know something strange is afoot when four politicians from conflicting corners of the political spectrum find themselves in agreement, and even more so when it comes in the middle of a hard fought mayoral campaign. Yesterday, instead of spending their energy fighting each other for the support of Londoners, all four candidates - representing Labour, Conservatives, Lib Dems and the Greens - have joined forces to fight the expansion of Heathrow. In an advert published this morning in several newspapers Ken Livingstone, Boris Johnson, Brian Paddick and Sian Berry slam the government's plan to almost double the number of flights in and out of Heathrow. And they're not alone in their opposition. A recent opinion poll showed that over 70% of people are opposed to aviation expansion.
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20th January 2008 |
Adjustments to Agriculture May Help Mitigate Global Warming - Environmental News Network
The report calls for more precise application of fertilizer, in appropriate amounts, to reduce excessive GHG emissions and pollution of water resources. Other recommendations include cutting the global demand for meat to decrease both the amount of methane-producing animals raised and the area of land cleared for them; growing cover crops to help soils be better carbon sinks; and keeping rice paddies dry in the off-season to reduce methane emissions.
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20th January 2008 |
Greenhouse gases at new peak in sign of Asia growth - Reuters via Yahoo! UK & Ireland News
Atmospheric levels of the main greenhouse gas have set another new peak in a sign of the industrial rise of Asian economies led by China, a senior scientist said on Saturday.
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20th January 2008 |
Peninsula flood creates 'islands' - BBC News
Regular flooding turns parts of the Lleyn peninsula turn into islands say people living there.
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20th January 2008 |
Ocean floor sensors will warn of failing Gulf Stream - Guardian Unlimited
Submarines and marine sensors deployed across Atlantic to provide warning Gulf Stream might be failing
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20th January 2008 |
To work, carbon tax must sting - Toronto Star
Most Canadians tell pollsters they're concerned about climate change. Many insist they'd like to do something about it, and would even pay for measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
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20th January 2008 |
Antarctic melt may outstrip prediction - The Age
British research estimates a loss of 132 billion tonnes of ice in 2006 from West Antarctica.
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20th January 2008 |
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Boxer: EPA 'Whited Out' Documents On Greenhouse Gases - NBC 11 Bay Area
U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer says the Environmental Protection Agency is refusing to explain why it rejected California's greenhouse gas regulations.
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19th January 2008 |
Warning on rising Med Sea levels - BBC
The level of the Mediterranean Sea is rising rapidly and could increase by up to half a metre in the next 50 years, scientists in Spain have warned.
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19th January 2008 |
Ferry study of jellyfish 'threat' - BBC News
Experts are organising spotters on ferries for signs of 'glow-in-the-dark' jellyfish heading for the coast.
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19th January 2008 |
Coal is no longer on front burner - Los Angeles Times
The rush to build power plants slows as worries grow over global warming, building costs and transportation. America's headlong rush to tap its enormous coal reserves for electricity has slowed abruptly, with more than 50 proposed coal-fired power plants in 20 states canceled or delayed in 2007 because of concerns about climate change, construction costs and transportation problems.
[But on the other hand...]
Big Coal Spending $35 Million to Gut Candidates' Climate Positions - DeSmogBlog
A group backed by the coal industry and its utility allies is waging a $35 million campaign in primary and caucus states to rally public support for coal-fired electricity and to fuel opposition to legislation that Congress is crafting to slow climate change. Americans for Balanced Energy Choices National Mining Association Sen. Harry Reid
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19th January 2008 |
Rising CO2 levels could decrease the nutritional value of major food crops - PR Newswire via Yahoo! News
As levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere rise in the 21st century, the nutritional value of many major food crops could decrease, according to a study conducted at Southwestern University.
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19th January 2008 |
EU climate policy 'too negative' - BBC News
Green groups accuse the EU of planning for failure in international negotiations to tackle climate change.
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19th January 2008 |
Global Carbon Market Grows 80% In 2007 - Nasdaq
According to the new report EUR40.4 billion of greenhouse gas emission permits were traded in 2007, up from EUR22.5 billion in 2006. A total of 2.7 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent was traded during the year, which is 64% higher than in 2006, the report says.
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19th January 2008 |
Climate Registry nears 1st U.S. emissions reporting - Environmental News Network
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Aiming to get a jump on what they see as inevitable mandatory reporting of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States, 58 companies, cities and organizations have volunteered to report emissions to the Climate Registry, the nonprofit organization said on Thursday.
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19th January 2008 |
Spin Resumes as Canada Eyes Emission Standards - DeSmogBlog
Less than a day after Canadian Transportation Minister Lawrence Cannon announced the "possibility" of strict new auto emission standards, the newspapers are already filled with threats of dramatic car price increases. The spin season has begun again. This flurry of threats and misinformation is destined to continue with greater intensity for the next 60 days, the period in which Minister Cannon said the Government of Canada will consult with the automotive industry and environmental groups about the potential for auto emission standards that meet or exceed the new American regulations. Anticipating the announcement, industry officials warned immediately that "chaos" could ensue if provinces such as Quebec join states like California in implementing more stringent regulations.
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19th January 2008 |
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Green-eyed jealousy on the high seas - Guardian Unlimited
It's an epic battle being fought out across thousands of miles of empty ocean, with just two boats struggling to stop Japan's whaling expedition in the Antarctic. Trouble is, one belongs to Greenpeace and the other to Sea Shepherd, rival organisations that are as likely to fight each other as the whalers they are hunting down.
[Worth reading just fot the inspirational portrait of Captain John Watson]
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18th January 2008 |
Elites vs. Greens in the Global South - Foreign Policy In Focus
Last month’s conference on climate change in Bali, Indonesia, brought the North-South fault line in climate politics into sharp relief. While U.S. intransigence on the question of mandatory cuts in greenhouse gas emissions took center stage, not far behind was the issue of what commitments fast-growing developing countries like China and India should make in a new, post-Kyoto climate change regime.
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18th January 2008 |
China drought underlines hydropower reliance risks - The Star
BEIJING (Reuters) - A major drought has squeezed electricity output at big dams across southwest China, highlighting the risks of Beijing's massive hydropower expansion plans on coal and oil markets in a warmer, drier world.
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18th January 2008 |
DEVELOPMENT: "Plan B" Urges 80 Percent CO2 Cuts - IPS
Imagine it's a glorious new era and everything you'll do as part of your normal day helps to stabilise the climate and the global population, eradicate poverty, and restore the earth's damaged ecosystems. Sound unrealistic? It better not be because that is what it will take to prevent the end of human society as we know it, according to a new book, "Plan B 3.0: Mobilising to Save Civilisation". The crisis we face is both dire and urgent, requiring a transformative effort like the mobilisation of nations during World War II, says author Lester Brown, president of the Earth Policy Institute, an environmental think tank in Washington.
"Saving civilisation is not a spectator sport," says Brown. "We have reached a point in the deteriorating relationship between us and the earth's natural systems where we all have to become political activists."?? Speed is essential, however. Humanity is crossing natural thresholds and triggering feedbacks that may not be reversible, such as the melting of the world's glaciers and polar regions. "We can all make lifestyle changes, but unless we restructure the economy and do it quickly, we will almost certainly fail," says Brown. "Time is our scarcest resource."
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18th January 2008 |
Norway says aims to go carbon neutral by 2030 - Guardian Unlimited
Norway, which last year set what it called the world's most ambitious target for cutting greenhouse gas emissions, said on Thursday it aimed to go "carbon neutral" in 2030, which is 20 years earlier than its previous target.
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18th January 2008 |
Sea adventure: Thoreson saw changes caused by warming - DesMoinesRegister.com
Sea adventure: The sea-weary crew of six with Dave Thoreson of Okoboji was halfway into the 73-day trek on the edges of the Earth, trying to become the first American yacht to travel east to west through the Northwest Passage. Thoreson, surprised by the lack of Arctic ice, knew they had made it.
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18th January 2008 |
Dry, polluted, plagued by rats: the crisis in China's greatest river - Guardian Unlimited
Ships stranded as China's greatest river reaches 142-year low
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18th January 2008 |
The great coal hole - IPS
A number of recent reports suggest that coal reserves may be hugely inflated, a possibility that has profound implications for both global energy supply and climate change.
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18th January 2008 |
Alberta Premier's "Mythical" Tar Sands Tour Attacked By Polar Bear - and a few facts - DeSmogBlog
Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach was in Washington, DC today hyping his province's vast reserves of oil-soaked tar sands. Not everyone was applauding Stelmach, and rightly so. According to news reports, Stelmach, "bemoaned what he termed the myth that the environmental cost of the oilsands is too high, saying calls from 'some quarters' to slow or stop production doesn't make sense." Here's a few of the supposedly "mythical" facts about the Alberta tar sands:Tar Sands operations could eventually cover 149,000 square kilometers of pristine forest - that's an area roughly the size of Florida. Each day the tar sands use 600 million cubic feet of natural gas to, in effect, melt the tarry sludge into a usable form - that's enough natural gas to heat more than 3 million Canadian homes.
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18th January 2008 |
Proposed Greenhouse Gas Legislation Will Not Hinder U.S. Economic Growth - Newswise
Proposed legislation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions will have little impact on America's future economic growth, according to a new report conducted by researchers at RTI International and Harvard University for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
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18th January 2008 |
Amazon Deforestation Surging Again - Scientist - Planet Ark
WASHINGTON - Deforestation of the Amazon has surged in recent months and is likely to rise in 2008 for the first time in four years, a senior Brazilian government scientist said on Wednesday.
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18th January 2008 |
FACTBOX-EU's Energy and Climate Plan, Sticking Points - Planet Ark
The European Commission next week will present draft laws on energy sector reform and ways to fight climate change, based on ambitious binding targets agreed by EU leaders last March.
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18th January 2008 |
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The high costs of doing nothing, part III - Grist
Climate change disrupts ecosystems that provide valuable services
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17th January 2008 |
Environment: Is the Greening of Business for Real? - AlterNet
Can a friendship between the business and enviro world really be legit?
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17th January 2008 |
Coal is the enemy of the human race: Edwards in the debate edition - Gristmill
Below the fold, I've put the entire portion of the transcript from last night's Dem debate that deals with climate and energy. It is to the candidates' credit that they took a narrow, stupid question about Yucca Mountain and managed to expand it into a discussion of energy. JMG scolded me for not giving kudos to John Edwards for bringing up the fact that coal is the enemy of the human race. And rightly so: he deserves kudos. This is what he said: I believe we need a moratorium on the building of any more coal-fired power plants unless and until we have the ability to capture and sequester the carbon in the ground.
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17th January 2008 |
Candidates take on climate change - USA Today
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17th January 2008 |
'Big climate impact' on UK coasts - BBC News
Climate change is having a major impact on Britain's coasts, coastal seas and sea life, a report concludes.
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17th January 2008 |
Spring comes early for Max the stork - Physorg
Max the stork, currently the oldest animal being tracked by satellite, is flying north after a remarkably short winter sojourn in southern Spain, a natural history museum in Switzerland said Wednesday.
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17th January 2008 |
2007 was tied as Earth's second warmest year - PhysOrg
Climatologists at the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York City have found that 2007 tied with 1998 for Earth`s second warmest year in a century.
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17th January 2008 |
ZIMBABWE: No middle ground for crops between drought and deluge - AlertNet
Source: IRIN After six years of drought, the forecast was that Zimbabwe was set for good rains and a decent harvest this season - and then came the deluge.
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17th January 2008 |
Green advisers dismiss nuclear plans as 'megafix' solution - Guardian Unlimited
Two of the UK's chief green advisers say the national fight against climate change will be hindered by the decision to encourage nuclear power
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17th January 2008 |
TV Reporters Burying Global Warming - DeSmogBlog
MoveOn.Org reports that top TV reporters have asked presidential candidates 2,679 questions in the last year, of which three were about UFOs, and three were about climate change.It would be tempting to dismiss this as Fox News vacuousness, but for the non-participation of NBC's Washington Bureau Chief, Tim Russert, who clearly just doesn't care.
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17th January 2008 |
Albertans fighting nuclear plant bring in expert to warn public about the dangers - CNews
EDMONTON - Albertans fighting a nuclear power plant are using a high-profile expert to warn about the dangers of the technology while the company behind the proposal and the province remain quiet.
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17th January 2008 |
Solar Industry Faces More Supply, Falling Prices - Planet Ark
Solar energy companies are scrambling to ramp up production amid skyrocketing interest in renewable energy, but the pendulum is swinging quickly toward oversupply.
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17th January 2008 |
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Bypassing the blockage of nations - BBC News
Solving the world's environmental ills may mean re-thinking the role of nations and national governments.
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16th January 2008 |
Will the World's Oceans Be Our Next Drinking Tap? - AlterNet
Desalination plants are popping up all over the world, but they may very well make the environmental crisis worse.
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16th January 2008 |
Tailwind for Cape Wind - Boston Globe
IN 2001, when Cape Wind first proposed its 130-turbine project for Nantucket Sound, oil cost $20 a barrel and natural gas cost $3 for a million cubic feet. Now oil is close to $100, and gas is $10. More important, scientists have estimated that global warming is happening at a quicker pace than they had believed seven years ago. All of this makes more timely than ever the green light that Cape Wind got yesterday from the US Interior Department's Minerals Management Service.
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16th January 2008 |
Global Warming is NOT a Left-Right Issue - DeSmogBlog
Dismissing climate change as a polarizing political issue is a stunt, crafted by people who are more self-interested than truly conservative. We ought not to get caught in that trap.
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16th January 2008 |
Greenland thaw biggest in 50 years - report - The Star
OSLO (Reuters) - Climate change has caused the greatest thaw of Greenland's ice in half a century, perhaps heralding a wider meltdown that would quicken a rise in world sea levels, scientists said on Tuesday.
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16th January 2008 |
Alaska glacier speed-up tied to internal plumbing issues - PhysOrg
A University of Colorado at Boulder study indicates meltwater periodically overwhelms the interior drainpipes of Alaska's Kennicott Glacier and causes it to lurch forward, similar to processes that may help explain the acceleration of glaciers observed recently on the Greenland ice sheet that are contributing to global sea rise.
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16th January 2008 |
China and India's pressing energy crunch - BBC News
The BBC's Kumar Malhotra assesses the growing energy requirements of Asian superpowers India and China.
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16th January 2008 |
Lifestyle changes can curb climate change: IPCC chief
Don't eat meat, ride a bike, and be a frugal shopper -- that's how you can help brake global warming, the head of the United Nation's Nobel Prize-winning scientific panel on climate change said Tuesday.
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16th January 2008 |
Investor sees carbon law fueling greentech boom - Reuters
U.S. legislation to control greenhouse gas emissions would make renewable energy sources competitive with conventional fuels "overnight," a top Silicon Valley venture capital firm said on Tuesday. Policies to control emissions of carbon dioxide, a gas associated with global warming, would "instantly make any green tech solution more cost-competitive with fossil-based competitors," said Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers Partner John Denniston. "Overnight that will happen."
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16th January 2008 |
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Pressures build on Amazon jungle - BBC News
The Amazon is not just a precious resource for Brazil but for the entire world, and the year ahead seems likely to produce important indications of what the future holds for this vast rainforest.
See also: BRAZIL: Land Shortage Provokes Murders of Indigenous People - IPS
At least 76 indigenous people were murdered in Brazil in 2007, 58 percent more than in 2006. The killings increased the most in the west-central state of Mato Grosso do Sul, where the Guaraní people are confined to territories too small for them to maintain their traditional way of life.
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15th January 2008 |
The end of the world as we know it - The Age
Australia: Understandably, like characters in Shute's novel [OnThe Beach], we cling to our richly comforting present. We would like to believe that, with the Rudd Government elected and committed to tackling climate change, we can hand this problem over to "them" and go back and doze on our towels. We can't. Because our fate is not yet sealed, we also need to imagine a nation-building effort — comparable with Australia's postwar program of development — that will help government refashion Australia as the "solar nation", and an international contribution that will ensure the Bali road map does not become a path to hell paved with good intentions, too little and too late. It is these vivid imaginings — not economists' arid musings about the marginal impacts on GDP of significant early action against climate change — that will be critical to the survival of an acceptable future..
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15th January 2008 |
Enemies from within: big enviro groups holding back anti-warming movement - CounterCurrents.org
The heat is on environmental groups and politicians to churn out proposals for stabilizing the planet’s rising temperatures, but some environmentalists say existing plans to cool climate change are timid. Their criticism reveals a rift between two approaches: preserving the American way of life at the expense of quicker solutions, or changing the structure of U.S. society to counter an unprecedented threat.
Many of the proposals reflect the need to court the Bush administration and politicians, who have refused to call for tough measures on climate change. Bill McKibben, an environmentalist organizing national demonstrations against climate change with the new “Step It Up” campaign, likened the United States’s stance on global warming to an “ocean liner heading in the other direction entirely.” He said, “[Eighty percent reductions by 2050] seems to be at the moment the outer limit of what’s politically possible.” For author and radical environmentalist Derrick Jensen, the obstacles to faster changes presented by the U.S. political system illustrate the need for more holistic measures. “None of [the solutions presented by mainstream groups] address the power structures,” Jensen told TNS. “None of them address corporations. None of them address a lack of democracy… The environmental groups are not questioning this larger mentality that’s killing the planet.”
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15th January 2008 |
EU considers banning the import of certain fuel crops - International Herald Tribune
European officials proposed banning certain fuel crops whose production could do more harm than good in fighting climate change.
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15th January 2008 |
CO2 Trading To Have Marginal Impact On EU Competition-UK Body - Nasdaq
LONDON -(Dow Jones)- The European Union Emissions Trading Scheme will have a " marginal" impact on competitiveness of E.U. industry, even if deeper carbon dioxide emission cutbacks are introduced after 2012, the U.K. government funded body the Carbon Trust said in a report Tuesday.
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15th January 2008 |
Food cost increase adds £750 to annual bill - Telegraph.co.uk
Food prices are accelerating at their fastest rate since records began, fuelling a rise in the average family's shopping bill of £750 a year. Customers at supermarket; Food cost increase adds £750 to annual bill The rate of food price inflation is making life increasingly difficult for the millions of families Official figures showed wholesale food prices rose by 7.4 per cent in the past 12 months - more than three times the headline rate of inflation.
Global warming also plays a part. The failure of Australia's wheat harvest last year was blamed on climate change and many big grain-producing areas of the world are predicted to become arid and unusable in the years ahead.
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15th January 2008 |
Peak Capitalism? A Commentary - The Daily Scare
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15th January 2008 |
5 - Washington Post
The idea that the United States can be independent of the $5 trillion-per-year energy business is ludicrous on its face.
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15th January 2008 |
Climate fear for northern birds - BBC News
Some species of bird will disappear from northern England because of climate change, a new study says.
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15th January 2008 |
It's already later than we realize in the struggle to arrest climate change - DeSmogBlog
Human activity currently generates 7.2 billion tons of carbon, or about 26.4 billion tons of carbon dioxide a year from fossil fuels, according to the Fourth Assessment Report of the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. While transport is one of the fastest growing culprits, it accounts for only 14% of CO2 and other emissions from human activity. Other major sources are electrical power (28.5%), deforestation (18%), industry (14%), and agriculture (14%). Paul Brown, in Global Warming: The Last Chance for Change , says we are already committed to a further 0.7 degrees C, which would add up to 1.5 degrees C above pre-industrial levels.
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15th January 2008 |
Gnostics insights suggest combating Global Warming requires consciousnesses to countervail Manipulative Extraterrestrials - Canadian National Newspaper
Gnostic insights suggest that humans who seek to redress Global Warming need to appreciate the inter-relationships between time, thought, and space, as features that are associated with seeking a higher dimensional consciousness on Earth. Such a process would then arguably empower humans to focus themselves to defend our planet Earth, from Global Warming and Climate Change as an apparent “alien simulation”. In order to be able to cultivate a higher dimensional consciousness, Gnostic insights document that humans would for example, need to replace fear with understanding; greed with social responsibility and environmental consciousness; and sentiments of vengeance, legitimated oppression, retribution, and violence, that Archons seek to galvanize in the so-called “War on Terrorism”, with empathy, wisdom, and peace.
[this piece may look like the bonkers-arrticle-of-the-month, however, the general gist, aliens notwithstanding, is that we need to change our ways of thinking and being in order to curb global warming]
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15th January 2008 |
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In warming Mediterranean, a model of energy-efficient building - The Christian Science Monitor
In Athens, Sol Energy Hellas is headquartered in a building powered entirely by renewable energy.
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14th January 2008 |
The Extreme - plug-in Hybrid: no breakthrough needed! - Gristmill
By Joseph Romm Here is the plug-in hybrid I test drove a few weeks ago, the Extreme Hybrid by AFS Trinity: I will be running a long article Wednesday on the climate implications of plug-ins in general and this car in particular. But you can read all about the car at this exclusive New York Times piece published today and the AFS Trinity website, which has a YouTube video of me driving the car and discussing why it matters: This post was created for ClimateProgress.org, a project of the Center for American Progress Action Fund.
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14th January 2008 |
EU emission limits could drive industries out of Europe - Guardian Unlimited
The European commission will set out new laws next week to impose swingeing limits on greenhouse gas emissions from EU heavy industries in a move that could prompt some of these to relocate lock, stock and barrel overseas
See also:
EU considers carbon tariff - Environmental News Network
LONDON (Reuters) - The European Commission is debating whether to push for a carbon tariff on imports from countries that do not tackle their greenhouse gas emissions, as part of climate change proposals due out this month.
EU workers call for tax on imports from countries not tackling climate change - PR-Inside.com
European trade unions called Tuesday for a tax on imports from countries that refuse to fight the carbon emissions that cause global warming, saying it was needed to protect thousands of jobs. The European Trade Union Confederation said a carbon tax would be the only fair way to keep jobs in Europe
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14th January 2008 |
Ice loss from Antarctica accelerating - NEWS.com.au
GLOBAL warming has caused annual ice loss from the Antarctic ice sheet to surge by 75 per cent in a decade, according to the most detailed survey ever made of the white continent's coastal glaciers.
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14th January 2008 |
WMO to Seek Satellites to Monitor Climate Change - Planet Ark
GENEVA - The United Nations' weather agency will ask NASA and other space agencies next week to make their next generation of satellites available to monitor climate change, a senior official at the UN body said on Friday.
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14th January 2008 |
Lifting The Lid: Banks Urged to Address Climate Change - Planet Ark
WASHINGTON - A handful of the world's biggest banks are starting to look at the risk that climate change poses to their businesses, but investors and environmentalists say they need to do more.
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14th January 2008 |
EU rethinks biofuels guidelines - BBC News
The EU's environment chief admits it did not foresee the problems raised by its policy of boosting biofuels use.
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14th January 2008 |
Biotech companies race for drought-tolerant crops
JOHNSTON, Iowa (Reuters)- Outside the headquarters of Pioneer Hi-Bred International Inc, the pavement is iced over and workers arriving for the day are bundled up against the cold.
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14th January 2008 |
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THE SIXTH EXTINCTION - Washington Post
More than a decade ago, many scientists claimed that humans were demonstrating a capacity to force a major global catastrophe that would lead to a traumatic shift in climate, an intolerable level of destruction of natural habitats, and an extinction event that could eliminate 30 to 50 percent of all living species by the middle of the 21st century. Now those predictions are coming true. The evidence shows that species loss today is accelerating. We find ourselves uncomfortably privileged to be witnessing a mass extinction event as it's taking place, in real time.
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13th January 2008 |
Sellafield clean-up will cost £34bn - The Independent
British taxpayers will have to fork out more than £30bn to clean up Sellafield, unpublicised official documents reveal. It is so contaminated that the process will take well over a century and, even then, the site will have to stay under "indefinite institutional control".
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13th January 2008 |
Study: Northeast Winters Warming Fast - Physorg
(AP) -- Earlier blooms. Less snow to shovel. Unseasonable warm spells. Signs that winters in the Northeast are losing their bite have been abundant in recent years and now researchers have nailed down numbers to show just how big the changes have been.
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13th January 2008 |
Grow your own way: How to join the allotment in-crowd - The Independent
The plot is thickening as more people, of all ages, cultivate their own cabbages to fight global warming. Tom McTague looks at the benefits and the costs
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13th January 2008 |
Sweet, sweet monopsony - Gristmill
Wal-Mart is giving its electronics suppliers a scorecard on which they can rate their products on green qualities like durability and ease of recycling. That's tricky, of course, given the lack of a national standards for such things -- so it's pushing for that, too. Given Wal-Mart's size, I won't be surprised if it single-handedly forces the issue. But still, um, evil bad awful satan!
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13th January 2008 |
March of the penguins: Plane Stupid reclaim the ice - Indymedia UK
Around 30 penguins today 'reclaimed the ice' at the Natural History Museum's ice rink in protest at British Airways sponsorship of the museum's annual winter festivities. The protestors, from the climate action group Plane Stupid, dressed as penguins to highlight the irony of an airline creating an ice rink in central London, whilst its business activities are a major cause of global warming, which is melting the polar ice caps and causing dangerous climate change. The loss of the polar ice will imperil wildlife such as penguins and polar bears and is believed to be a major 'tipping point' which will speed up climate change.
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13th January 2008 |
WTFx3 - Gristmill
Leader of group fighting Cape Wind project makes $203,000 last year (WTF?), quits this year to go work in the wind industry (WTF?), and hands over leadership of the group to a former coal executive (WTF?).
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13th January 2008 |
World Bank pledges to save trees... then helps cut down Amazon forest - The Independent
The World Bank has emerged as one of the key backers behind an explosion of cattle ranching in the Amazon, which new research has identified as the greatest threat to the survival of the rainforest.
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13th January 2008 |
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Focus the Nation, save the planet -- now! - Gristmill
"If there's no action before 2012, that's too late. What we will do in the next two to three years will determine our future. This is the defining moment." -- Dr. Rajendra Pachauri, chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change If these words don't get you off your butt, you better check and make sure you have a pulse. Yet what can we (everyday Americans, readers of Grist) do now, today, that will be strong enough to change the course of our future?
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12th January 2008 |
Uncertainty, noise and the art of model-data comparison - RealClimate
Gavin Schmidt and Stefan Rahmstorf John Tierney and Roger Pielke Jr. have recently discussed attempts to validate (or falsify) IPCC projections of global temperature change over the period 2000-2007. Others have attempted to show that last year's numbers imply that 'Global Warming has stopped' or that it is 'taking a break' (Uli Kulke, Die Welt)). However, as most of our readers will realise, these comparisons are flawed since they basically compare long term climate change to short term weather variability. This becomes immediately clear when looking at the following graph: The red line is the annual global-mean GISTEMP temperature record (though any other data set would do just as well), while the blue lines are 8-year trend lines - one for each 8-year period of data in the graph.
See also:World warming despite cool Pacific, Baghdad snow - Reuters
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12th January 2008 |
Greenhouse ocean may downsize fish - PhysOrg
The last fish you ate probably came from the Bering Sea. But during this century, the sea`s rich food web stretching from Alaska to Russia-could fray as algae adapt to greenhouse conditions.
At present, the Bering Sea provides roughly half the fish caught in U.S. waters each year and nearly a third caught worldwide. “The experiments we did up there definitely suggest that the changing ecosystem may support less of what we’re harvesting—things like pollock and hake,” Hutchins said. While the study must be interpreted cautiously, its implications are harrowing, Hutchins said, especially since the Bering Sea is already warming. “It's kind of a canary in a coal mine because it appears to be showing climate change effects before the rest of the ocean,” he noted. “It’s warmer, marine mammals and birds are having massive die-offs, there are invasive species—in general, it’s changing to a more temperate ecosystem that’s not going to be as productive.”
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12th January 2008 |
Global warming taking its toll on Kootenays - Globe and Mail
Global warming taking its toll on KootenaysGlobe and Mail, Canada. Ian Bruce, a climate-change specialist with the David Suzuki Foundation, said there are troubling signs the Kootenay region is changing more quickly than ...
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12th January 2008 |
Older Arctic sea ice replaced by young, thin ice - Physorg
A new study by University of Colorado at Boulder researchers indicates older, multi-year sea ice in the Arctic is giving way to younger, thinner ice, making it more susceptible to record summer sea-ice lows like the one that occurred in 2007.
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12th January 2008 |
Winter Ice on Lakes, Rivers, Ponds: A Thing of the Past?
If you're planning to ice skate on a local lake or river this winter, you may need to think twice, according to scientists John Magnuson, Olaf Jensen and Barbara Benson of the University of Wisconsin at Madison. The records show that later freezing and earlier ice breakup occurred on lakes and rivers across the Northern Hemisphere from 1846 to 1995. Over those 150 years, said Magnuson, changes in freeze dates averaged 5.8 days per 100 years later, and changes in ice breakup dates averaged 6.5 days per 100 years earlier. The findings translate to increasing air temperatures of about 1.2 degrees Celsius each century.
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12th January 2008 |
Thames hit by alien mussels boom - BBC News
An "explosion" of alien mussels in the Thames has been caused by global warming, a scientist says.
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12th January 2008 |
Germany's sunny revolution - BBC News
Areas of former East Germany with high unemployment are becoming world leaders in solar energy.
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12th January 2008 |
US venture capitalists pour millions into green construction technology - Guardian Unlimited
More and more America customers are asking for environmentally friendly developments and builders and architects beginning to oblige
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12th January 2008 |
Environment: When Will Global Warming Reach a Political Tipping Point? - Alternet
Will presidential candidates continue to blow off the environment as the world heats up?
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12th January 2008 |
An Agenda for Climate Justice - The Indypendent
Over the past year, activists across the United States and in other industrial countries have begun to dramatize the reality of potentially catastrophic global warming and pressure their governments to do something about it. Al Gore’s movie has had a mostly positive educational impact, as has the 2007 report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, documenting the “unequivocal” evidence that global warming is real and that we can already see the consequences. But most public events up to now, at least in the United States, have been rather timid in their outlook, and minimal in their expectations for real changes. Today we need a far more pointed and militant approach, a genuine People’s Agenda for Climate Justice.
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12th January 2008 |
Zambezi floods expected to worsen - BBC News
More storms are forecast in the region of the Zambezi valley, where thousands have already fled their homes.
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12th January 2008 |
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The Faith Column - The New Statesman
You would have some explaining to do if you walked past a drowning baby and did nothing to save it. You would have a lot more explaining to do if you were a fit lifeguard. The greater your ability to do what’s right, the greater the onus on you to do what’s right. It is a very short step from this thought to the conclusion that the developed world is making an enormous moral mistake when it comes to action on climate change.
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11th January 2008 |
New UK Nukes? Too little, too late and unnecessary - Greenpeace International
The UK government have made much of their green credentials boasting that they lead the world in tackling climate change. So what do they do? Give the green light to a new generation of nuclear power stations that will cost billions, eventually deliver only tiny cuts in carbon emissions and leave future generations with a legacy of nuclear waste to clean up..
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11th January 2008 |
Feeling the Heat: Berkeley Researchers Make Thermoelectric Breakthrough in Silicon Nanowires - Physorg
Energy now lost as heat during the production of electricity could be harnessed through the use of silicon nanowires synthesized via a technique developed by researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy`s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of California at Berkeley. The far-ranging potential applications of this technology include DOE`s hydrogen fuel cell-powered "Freedom CAR," and personal power-jackets that could use heat from the human body to recharge cell-phones and other electronic devices.
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11th January 2008 |
Pressure on banks to reveal climate strategies hotting up - FinancialWeek
Climate change appears to be a major concern among banks—assuming those banks are in Europe or Asia. A new study, conducted by environmental investor group Ceres and investor research firm RiskMetrics, has found that non-U.S. banks are increasingly disclosing risks related to climate change in their public disclosures.
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11th January 2008 |
Can the world afford the Tata Nano?
It's either the start of a people's revolution or the trigger for social and environmental headaches across the globe. The Tata Nano, the world's cheapest car, was unveiled with great fanfare in the Indian capital yesterday amid bright lights and blaring music.
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11th January 2008 |
Green teens back eco-guerrillas - Guardian Unlimited
A new generation of green teenagers are prepared to support radical measures to help the planet
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11th January 2008 |
The Great Green Survey: Our readers share their views on the greatest issues of our time - The Independent
Who's this a portrait of? Someone who recycles virtually all their waste; believes climate change is a truly urgent crisis and should be top of people's personal and political agendas, but thinks carbon-offsetting schemes are probably dodgy; believes Ken Livingstone, the Mayor of London, cares much more about the environment than his Tory rival, Boris Johnson; and can't make up their mind about whether nuclear energy should be used to fight global warming, or not.
See also:Global Warming a Real Threat for Britons - Angus Reid
(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Many adults in Britain are concerned about climate change, according to a poll by YouGov. 62 per cent of respondents believe man-made global warming is threatening the planet.
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11th January 2008 |
Carbon offset warning from international team of scientists - EurekAlert!
Leading marine scientists from across the world have issued a warning that it is too early to sell carbon offsets from ocean iron fertilisation.
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11th January 2008 |
A warming climate can support glacial ice - Physorg
New research challenges the generally accepted belief that substantial ice sheets could not have existed on Earth during past super-warm climate events. The study by researchers at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego provides strong evidence that a glacial ice cap, about half the size of the modern day glacial ice sheet, existed 91 million years ago during a period of intense global warming. This study offers valuable insight into current day climate conditions and the environmental mechanisms for global sea level rise.
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11th January 2008 |
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The high costs of doing nothing, part I - Gristmill
This post is by ClimateProgress guest blogger Bill Becker, executive director of the Presidential Climate Action Project. ----- A dirty little secret of climate change is that somebody wants us to pay much higher taxes and higher energy bills. But it's not the advocates of climate action. It's the other guys. Make no mistake: The costs of switching to clean energy and an energy-efficient economy are far less than the costs of doing nothing. A study released by the University of Maryland last October helps bring the cost issue into clearer focus. It concludes that the economic costs of unabated climate change in the United States will be major and nationwide.
See also: The high costs of doing nothing, part II
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10th January 2008 |
Fighting false solutions interview: Kevin Smith & Jutta Kill - Transnational Institute
With much focus in the US on a carbon cap and trade system to reduce greenhouse gases, I spoke with Kevin Smith of Carbon Trade Watch, a project of the Transnational Institute, and author of “The Carbon Neutral Myth - Offset Indulgences for your Climate Sins” and Jutta Kill of Sinkswatch to find out why they are going around the world speaking to audiences about the failures of carbon trading and offsets.
See also: F.T.C. Asks if Carbon-Offset Money Is Well Spent - NYTimes.com via Yahoo! Finance
Corporations and shoppers in the United States spent more than $54 million in 2007 on carbon offset credits, but where exactly is that money going?.
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10th January 2008 |
South Asia hit by food shortages - BBC
People across South Asia are struggling to cope with a severe shortage of affordable wheat and rice. There have been queues outside Pakistani shops in towns around the country, and flour prices have shot up. Wheat flour is a staple foodstuff in Pakistan, where rotis or unleavened bread are eaten with almost every meal. Last week Afghanistan appealed for foreign help to combat a wheat shortage while Bangladesh recently warned it faced a crisis over rice supplies. Global wheat prices are at record highs. Problems have been compounded by crop failures in the northern hemisphere and an increase in demand from developing countries.
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10th January 2008 |
Solar Cells Can Take the Heat - Physorg
Solar cells have attracted global attention as one of the cornerstones of alternative energy. In theory, it seems to make abundant sense to tap into the energy of the sun to convert light to electricity with little or no emission of noxious pollutants.
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10th January 2008 |
The future is ... less far in the future - Gristmill
Via SolveClimate, the latest whiz-bang new gonna-change-the-world solar technology: nanoantennas! Researchers at Idaho National Laboratory, along with partners at Microcontinuum Inc. (Cambridge, MA) and Patrick Pinhero of the University of Missouri, are developing a novel way to collect energy from the sun with a technology that could potentially cost pennies a yard, be imprinted on flexible materials and still draw energy after the sun has set. The new approach, which garnered two 2007 Nano50 awards, uses a special manufacturing process to stamp tiny square spirals of conducting metal onto a sheet of plastic. Each interlocking spiral "nanoantenna" is as wide as 1/25 the diameter of a human hair. Because of their size, the nanoantennas absorb energy in the infrared part of the spectrum, just outside the range of what is visible to the eye. The sun radiates a lot of infrared energy, some of which is soaked up by the earth and later released as radiation for hours after sunset. Nanoantennas can take in energy from both sunlight and the earth's heat, with higher efficiency than conventional solar cells.
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10th January 2008 |
Backin' the saddle again - Gristmill
By Katharine WrothBike to store. Pick up free bike trailer. Fill trailer with groceries. Hitch it up and ride home. Return trailer within three days. That's the dreamy concept at the Waitrose supermarket chain in Jolly Olde Englande, where the free-trailer scheme is being tried out at a handful of stores. Says a department manager, "There are 60 to 70 bikes outside the shop every lunchtime, so there's a definite market for it. If we can encourage just a few people to cycle rather than using their car, then we'll be making a difference." Let's hear it for innovation!
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10th January 2008 |
Montana joins B.C., Manitoba, 6 other states in regional climate initiative - CNews
HELENA, Mont. - The state of Montana is now part of a Canadian-U.S. regional compact targeting global warming. The Western Regional Climate Action Initiative - formed early last year - already includes the states of Arizona, California, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington.
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10th January 2008 |
Report predicts green tech wave - BBC News
A report claims investment in creating a sustainable global economy is rising rapidly.
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10th January 2008 |
Drought-hit Cyprus considers importing water - Environmental News Network
Drought-stricken Cyprus may import water to beat a crippling shortage that is threatening to tap the island's reservoir reserves dry, its agriculture minister said on Wednesday. The decision to bring water in sea tankers from Greece would depend on weather over the next two months, but the outlook for rain was not promising, Photis Photiou said.
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10th January 2008 |
Climate Change to Cost Japan's Economy $1 Trillion, Nikkei Says - Bloomberg
Japan's economy would lose an estimated $1 trillion as a result of climate change in the 21st century, Nikkei English News reported, citing a government panel.
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10th January 2008 |
10 years after Kyoto: Still Getting Warmer - Ithaca Times
The Earth is far more finely balanced than we thought, and our peril much greater. Our foremost climate scientist, NASA's James Hansen, testified under oath in a courtroom last year that if we didn't stop short of that 450 red line, we could see the sea level rise 20 feet before the century was out. That's civilization-challenging. That's a carbon summer to match any nuclear winter that anyone ever dreamed about. It's a test, a kind of final exam for our political, economic and spiritual systems. And it's a fair test, nothing vague or fuzzy about it. Chemistry and physics don't bargain. They don't compromise. They don't meet us halfway. We'll do it or we won't. And 10 years from now, we'll know which path we chose.
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10th January 2008 |
Who could get sued for global warming - CNN Money
A host of well-known companies are leaving themselves open to shareholder lawsuits because they're not telling investors enough about how much they contribute to global warming or what it might cost them to clean up, according to a recent report.
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10th January 2008 |
Guyana grants 1 million acres of Amazon rainforest to US logging firm - Mongabay.com
Guyana has awarded a 988,4000-acre logging concession to a U.S. forestry company, reports the Associated Press. The announcement comes just two months after Guyana's President, Bharrat Jagdeo, offered up the country's forests as a giant carbon offset to counter climate change.
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10th January 2008 |
UBS to launch global warming derivatives index - FT.com via Yahoo! News
The first derivatives index designed to track the greenhouse effect is set to be launched in coming days by UBS (NYSE:UBS), allowing investors to bet on the combined impact of carbon emissions and rising global temperatures.
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10th January 2008 |
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Antarctic and Greenland ice may melt at same time: scientist - Brisbane Times
The next report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change should deal with the "frightening" possibility that the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets start melting at the same time, the chief UN climate scientist said today.
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9th January 2008 |
Farming adds to greenhouse gases: report - National Post
Big oil and gas companies aren't the only problem in the fight against heat-trapping gases. An environmental report warns farming, fertilizer and diets are responsible for a large chunk of the pollution blamed for global warming. The Greenpeace report, Cool Farming, estimates direct and indirect agriculture industry activities are contributing 17 to 32% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Overuse of fertilizer is believed to be one of the leading culprits, releasing an estimated two billion tonnes of nitrous oxide -- a greenhouse gas estimated to be 300 times more potent than carbon dioxide -- into the atmosphere.
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9th January 2008 |
Transport emissions study 'misleading' say experts - New Scientist
Experts are calling "misleading" a study which suggests that emissions from the shipping industry cool the world and will continue to do so for centuries. The study was published in a leading scientific journal on Monday. The key point which Fuglestvedt's study has missed is to do with the longevity of the different emissions, note emissions experts. CO2 stays in the atmosphere for over 100 years, whereas particulate matter gets rained back down to the Earth's surface within days. So, over time, the warming gases will cumulate in the atmosphere, while the cooling particles disappear. But the calculations which led Fuglestvedt to the conclusion that shipping causes a long-term cooling did not take this into account. Instead, the researchers simply looked at the long-term effects of one year's worth of emissions.
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9th January 2008 |
Tropical dengue fever may threaten U.S.: report - Reuters
WASHINGTON, Jan 8 (Reuters Life!) - Dengue fever -- a tropical infection that usually causes flu-like illness -- may be poised to spread across the United States and urgent study is needed, health officials said on Tuesday.
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9th January 2008 |
Grass biofuels 'cut CO2 by 94%' - BBC
Producing biofuels from a fast-growing grass emits up to 94% less carbon dioxide than petrol, a US study finds.
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9th January 2008 |
Taking Germany 100 percent renewable - Gristmill
German scientists develop Combined Power Plant. The Combined Renewable Energy Power Plant shows how, through joint control of small and decentralised plants, it is possible to provide reliable electricity in accordance with needs. The Combined Power Plant optimally combines the advantages of various renewable energy sources. Wind turbines and solar modules help generate electricity in accordance with how much wind and sun is available. Biogas and hydropower are used to make up the difference: they are converted into electricity as needed in order to balance out short-term fluctuations, or are temporarily stored. Technically, there is nothing preventing us from 100 per cent provision with renewables.
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9th January 2008 |
A solar grand plan - Gristmill
A roadmap to getting 70 percent of U.S. electricity from solar by 2050
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9th January 2008 |
Carbon tax proposal a non-starter in Alberta - CBC
Alberta's government says it will oppose any federal efforts to bring in a carbon tax after an advisory panel commissioned by Ottawa released its report Monday.
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9th January 2008 |
Markey Asks EPA About Regulating Airliner Emissions - Nasdaq
WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- The head of a global warming committee in Congress is asking whether the Environmental Protection Agency plans to regulate greenhouse- gas emissions from airplanes.
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9th January 2008 |
Cabinet short-circuits obstacles to building 10 nuclear stations - Guardian Unlimited
UK: Cabinet asks nuclear industry to invest in new power stations
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9th January 2008 |
Let 2008 be the year of world's poorest ‘bottom billion' – Ban Ki-moon - Tehran Times
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon Monday stressed that 2008 should be the year of the “bottom billion,” citing the need for renewed determination to address the needs of the poorest of the world’s poor who have been left behind by global economic growth. Regarding climate change, he cited the need for a global grassroots public awareness campaign to focus political pressure and keep global warming at the forefront of public consciousness. “The road from Bali will be difficult as well,” he noted, recalling the landmark UN climate change conference held in Indonesia, where nearly 200 countries agreed to launch a two-year process of formal talks to tackle the problem of global warming.
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9th January 2008 |
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Get real, deniers! - Gristmill
Honestly, if anyone tells you "For nearly a decade now, there has been no global warming" -- as this Boston Globe columnist has -- they simply are not interested in seriously trying to understand and deal with the gravest problem facing humanity. Through the first 11 months, 2007 is the second warmest year in the period of instrumental data, behind the record warmth of 2005, in the Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) analysis.
Through the first 11 months, 2007 is the second warmest year in the period of instrumental data, behind the record warmth of 2005, in the Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) analysis. The unusual warmth in 2007 is noteworthy because it occurs at a time when solar irradiance is at a minimum and the equatorial Pacific Ocean has entered the cool phase of its natural El Niño -- La Niña cycle.
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8th January 2008 |
$100 A Barrel? What is the True Cost of Gasoline? - Ask Pablo - Triple Pundit
We've done it. We've finally reached the psychologically important $100/barrel oil. But even as the price goes higher, there are additional costs that are not paid at the pump. What are they, and who's paying them?
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8th January 2008 |
The hidden holocaust -- our civilizational crisis, part 3: The end ... - Online Journal
The global system is hugely destructive of human life. Devoid of the capability to recognize and enact ethical values, it is driven purely by the imperatives of profit, efficiency, growth, and monopoly. Consequently, it is not only destructive of human life; it is destructive of all life, nature, and even itself. It is now generating multiple crises across the world that over the next 20 years threaten to converge in an unprecedented and unimaginable way, unless we take drastic action now. These crises can be categorized broadly into four key themes: 1. Climate catastrophe 2. Peak oil 3. Food scarcity 4. Economic instability
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8th January 2008 |
Carbon tax in the cards to help cut emissions - The Globe and Mail
OTTAWA - A federal advisory panel will unveil a long-term climate-change strategy Monday that is expected to back the idea of a carbon tax aimed at substantially reducing greenhouse gas emissions by mid-century, The Globe and Mail has learned.
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8th January 2008 |
Energy islands could use power of tropics, says innovator - Guardian Unlimited
Architect of Cameron's green makeover launches ambitious new plan
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8th January 2008 |
Australia floods strand thousands - BBC News
Thousands of people remain stranded by some of the worst flooding in eastern Australia for 20 years.
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8th January 2008 |
Nuclear Bung: Nuclear Bungle - The College of Global Change
UK Nuclear: The tiny little story is finally out and proud : the little town of Drigg in Cumbria will accept all forms of nasty Nuclear Waste in return for a bung of humungous proportions - a regular tidbit of public funding.
[article contains many enlightening links]
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8th January 2008 |
Bishop warns of "catastrophe" facing Earth - Diocese of Lichfield
The Bishop of Wolverhampton, the Rt Revd Clive Gregory, has used a pastoral letter to congregations in the Diocese of Lichfield to warn of the impending “catastrophe” facing the earth through climate change.
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8th January 2008 |
Climate change endangering U.S. salmon - Physorg
Salmon in the Columbia River and other U.S. streams could face an uncertain future if global temperatures continue to warm, experts say.
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8th January 2008 |
A scramble to understand Greenland's melting ice sheets - International Herald Tribune
Scientists are sifting for clues from past warm periods, including the last warm span between ice ages, which peaked about 125,000 years ago and had sea levels 12 to 16 feet higher than today's.
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8th January 2008 |
US Delays Global Warming Decision on Polar Bears - Planet Ark
WASHINGTON - The United States delayed a decision on whether global warming threatens polar bears, saying on Monday new data and public comment required more time. Environmentalists vowed to sue for quicker action.
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8th January 2008 |
DeSmogBlog Apologizes to Barack Obama
We at the DeSmogBlog would like to acknowledge a mistake in “awarding” presidential hopeful Barack Obama a 2007 SmogMaker prize for his position on global warming.This was one of five prizes that we gave out last week in an attempt to call attention to the distracting – and sometimes outright deceptive – messages that certain people and companies promote when they talk about climate change. Given that Barack Obama is far from the worst offender on this file, we hoped his nomination might shock people to attention. We wanted to generate discussion about the positions that all the presidential hopefuls have taken (or not) on climate change.
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8th January 2008 |
Gnashing my teeth over globalization - Gristmill
By Jon RynnWorried about more coal plants, carbon emissions from transportation, and a crumbling infrastructure? Evidence provided by several recent reports point to one of the least explored causes of these problems: globalization, that is, the transfer of manufacturing capacity from developed to developing countries, particularly China. The mechanisms differ. The U.S. and Europe, which could manufacture using environmentally benign techniques, instead use old, polluting technologies that wreck China's environment and increase global carbon emissions. The 70,000 cargo ships that ply the seas moving all of the globalized goods emit more than twice as much carbon as all airline traffic.
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8th January 2008 |
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Global Warming Hits China - Forbes
There are few more startling embodiments of climate change than the current health of China's largest freshwater lake, Poyang Lake, in the southeastern province of Jiangxi. The surface area of Poyang Lake has shrunk to 50 square kilometers from its peak of more than 3,000 during the summer--it is 1.67% of its size six months ago. Some perspective is needed. A spectacular fluctuation in the lake's area from the summer flood season to the winter dry period has long been commonplace. However, the Jiangxi hydrological bureau reported that the area of the lake last winter was 300 to 500 square kilometers, up to 10 times larger than this year's figure. The lake's title would seem to require a caveat: China's largest freshwater lake-- in July.
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7th January 2008 |
Warmer climate brings new faces to UK - The Independent
Britain's bird of the year in 2008 may turn out to be a beautiful white heron whose original home was Africa.
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7th January 2008 |
US Presidential Candidates And Their Views On Scientific Issues - Science Daily
What are the United States presidential candidates' positions on scientific topics ranging from evolution to global warming? A report in Science, addresses these questions and profiles the nine leading candidates on where they stand on important scientific issues.
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7th January 2008 |
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Dead End UK : Killing Time instead of Cracking Carbon - The College of Global Change
The British Government is killing time over Climate Change, by chasing dead-end technologies. Instead of concentrating on delivering significant Carbon cuts, the United Kingdom is following up low-value, low-performance options because they can be made attractive to private investment. In order to fulfill the national commitment of a 60% cut in Carbon Dioxide emissions by 2050 under the Climate Change Bill, thinking clearly in the cold light of dawn brought me to the realisation that there needs to be serious investment in sustainable energy.
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6th January 2008 |
EU considers carbon tariff - Environmental News Network
LONDON (Reuters) - The European Commission is debating whether to push for a carbon tariff on imports from countries that do not tackle their greenhouse gas emissions, as part of climate change proposals due out this month.
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6th January 2008 |
Soaring price oils wheels for green power - Guardian Unlimited
Renewable energy investors are in the driver's seat as oil hits $100 a barrel, writes Tim Webb
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6th January 2008 |
"Sue and sue and sue" for emissions standards - Seattle Times
Washington lined up with California and 14 other states to force the U.S. government out of its unfathomable foot-dragging on improving vehicle-emissions standards.
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6th January 2008 |
Corals seek cooler waters - ScienceAlert
The tropical corals of Western Australia may be heading south due to climate change. The seaboard between Perth and Geraldton could end up with coral reefs as rich and varied as the celebrated reefs of Ningaloo, two marine scientists say in new research published in the international journal Global Change Biology. Working from fossil evidence of what happened in WA under an earlier warm phase in the global climate 125,000 years ago, Professor John Pandolfi of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies and Professor Benjamin Greenstein of Cornell College, Iowa, USA, conclude tropical corals could soon be headed south once more to escape warming oceans.
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6th January 2008 |
Food ... and how it's going to change the world - Sunday Herald
Scotland: Many economists are now predicting the end of a golden era when the vast buying power of the leading UK supermarket chains was able to deliver economies of scale and cheap food to millions in Britain. From 1974 until 2005 food prices on world markets fell by three-quarters in real terms, with obesity and gluttony exploding simultaneously. But the days of the great grain mountains appear to have come to an end.
Food output will also come under pressure from changing weather patterns. Far from going upwards, output in developing countries is projected to decline by 20%, while output in industrial countries is projected to decline by 6%, according to Professor William Cline of the Centre for Global Development. Most alarmingly, temperature increases of more than 3C may cause prices to increase by up to 40%, says a 2007 report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
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6th January 2008 |
NOAA Confirms Start of New Sunspot Cycle
(AP) -- A new solar cycle is under way. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Friday that the first sunspot of a new 11-year cycle has appeared in the sun's northern hemisphere.
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6th January 2008 |
Cheap Indian car horrifies the green lobby - Guardian Unlimited
After years of secret preparation, the world's cheapest car will be unveiled in Delhi this week - delighting millions of Indians as much as it is horrifying environmentalists
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6th January 2008 |
Home wind turbines dealt a blow - Guardian Unlimited
The energy from some micro power equipment would not operate a lightbulb, says official study
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6th January 2008 |
Do carbon credits make a difference? - Montreal Gazette
The Canadian Football League announced plans in November to make the Grey Cup a "carbon neutral" event. The following month, Aeroplan unveiled a venture that would allow its members to neutralize the environmental impact of their jetliner travel.
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6th January 2008 |
Leading article: Nuclear power is a distraction - The Independent
Remember that excruciating picture last autumn of the Prime Minister greeting Margaret Thatcher for tea at No 10? You can bet that Gordon Brown does. For that photo-call ? then hailed as a brilliant tactical coup by jubilant Brownites bent on destablising the Tory party ? is now increasingly seen as helping to turn the son of the manse's glorious summer into his winter of discontent, persuading the public, together with the on-off election, that the Prime Minister was as opportunistic as his predecessor. We don't know precisely what the pair discussed over their china cups, but Mr Brown is now set to revive one of the Iron Lady's most controversial, and least successful, policies ?
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6th January 2008 |
A melting archive of climate clues - Seattle Times
Papua New Guinea — For 5,000 years, great tongues of ice have spread over the 3-mile-high slopes of Puncak Jaya, in the remotest reaches of this remote tropical island. Now those glaciers are melting, and Lonnie Thompson must get there before they're gone.
To the American glaciologist, the ancient ice is a vanishing "archive" of the story of El Niño, the equatorial phenomenon driving much of the world's climate.
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6th January 2008 |
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A critical shield against global warming - Globe and Mail
A critical shield against global warmingGlobe and Mail, Canada. The trees and soil of Canada's northern forest form a critical shield against global warming, storing a volume of carbon equal to 27 times the world's ...
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5th January 2008 |
New rule for high profile papers - RealClimate
New rule: When declaring that climate models are misleading in a high profile paper, maybe looking at some model output first would be a good idea. This is a reference to an otherwise interesting paper in Nature this week (Graversen et al) on the vertical structure of heating in the Arctic in recent decades. One of the key results is that during the summer, when temperatures near the surface are constrained to be close to zero by the presence of open water and sea ice, the troposphere heats up anyway. The mechanism for this heating is hypothesised to be related to changes in atmospheric heat transport.
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5th January 2008 |
On the brink - Guardian Unlimited
Hardly anybody else has mentioned it, so I might as well. An estimated £38bn ($75bn) went up in smoke, down the drain, was swept away or blown to kingdom come during 2007. Or to put it another way, human disasters triggered by natural hazards pushed economic losses to alarming levels.
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5th January 2008 |
Plan B -- How to Stop Global Warming - Time Magazine
Environmentalist and author Lester Brown lays out a robust plan for curbing climate change. Getting the world's politicians to buy it, however, is another question
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5th January 2008 |
Scientists Use Sunlight to Make Fuel From CO2 - Wired News
Sandia National Laboratories' "Sunshine to Petrol" project uses solar energy to recycle carbon dioxide and recover the building blocks of hydrocarbons, which can then be used to synthesize fuels like methanol and gasoline.
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5th January 2008 |
California's data challenges EPA - The Christian Science Monitor via Yahoo! News
California's ambitious plan to regulate greenhouse-gas emissions of cars and trucks would be more than twice as effective in reducing such gases by 2016 than the new federal fuel-economy law, the state said as part of a new legal broadside against the US government this week.
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5th January 2008 |
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Canada's Top Ten Weather Stories for 2007 - Environment Canada
Canadians might remember 2007 as the year that climate change began biting deep and hard on the home front. At the top of the world, the dramatic disappearance of Arctic sea ice - reported in September - was so shocking that it quickly became our number one weather story. Indeed, the United Nations declared the record loss of ice as one of the world's biggest events. The thinning and shrinking of the ice, largely a result of too many consecutive warm years, has had a profound impact on northern residents - people, plants and wildlife alike. The disappearance of water from the Great Lakes system is also a concern, especially Lake Superior where water levels in September dipped to their lowest point since measurements began in 1900. In many ways, the record loss of ice and water is more about climate than weather and underlines that climate change is beginning to affect Canada in a very real way.
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4th January 2008 |
Disasters the 'new normal' - USA Today
Climate change is already transforming our planet. If the world's scientists are right, the onslaught of droughts, flooding, intensive storms and heat waves last year is but a curtain raiser on our future. Even if no single event can reliably be attributed to global warming, the trends as cited by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change are clear — and clearly accelerating.
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4th January 2008 |
Bangladesh facing 'rice catastrophe' - BBC News
The chief of the Bangladesh army says the country is facing a catastrophe over rice supplies. Rice is the staple diet of most Bangladeshis, but this year crops have been damaged by heavy monsoon rain.
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4th January 2008 |
This drought may never break - Sydney Morning Herald
IT MAY be time to stop describing south-eastern Australia as gripped by drought and instead accept the extreme dry as permanent, one of the nation's most senior weather experts warned yesterday.
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4th January 2008 |
Global temperatures 2008: another top ten year - Government News Network
Although 2008 is set to be cooler globally than recent years say Met Office and University of East Anglia climate scientists, it is still forecast to be one of the top ten warmest years.
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4th January 2008 |
Australia Hit by Floods, Fires Amid Global Warming - Planet Ark
CANBERRA - Australia endured bushfires, floods and record high temperatures in its drought-ravaged foodbowl in 2007 as global warming brought the nation's sixth hottest year on record, the weather bureau said on Thursday.
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4th January 2008 |
Council plans for coal-fired power station angers green campaigners - Guardian Unlimited
The first coal-fired power station in Britain for more than 30 years has been approved by a local government authority
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4th January 2008 |
Lawsuit to Be Filed to Protect American Pika - Common Dreams
Today the Center for Biological Diversity sent the U.S. Department of the Interior a formal notice of intent to sue to force the agency to respond to a petition seeking protection under the Endangered Species Act for the American pika. The pika is a small, alpine mammal that stands to be one of the first documented extinctions caused by global warming. Rising temperatures from greenhouse gas pollution have led to dramatic losses of pika populations and could eliminate the species from large regions of the American West by the end of this century. More than a third of documented pika populations in the Great Basin mountains of Nevada and Oregon have gone extinct.
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4th January 2008 |
Cuba Santeria Priests Mum on Castro, Warn on Climate - Planet Ark
HAVANA - Priests offering New Year's prophecies from Cuba's Afro-Cuban religion on Wednesday gave few hints on the future of convalescing leader Fidel Castro and instead warned about dangerous climate change and epidemics.
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4th January 2008 |
US miscalculates threat of global warming - Grist Magazine
There is also a common notion in circulation, advanced by the media and many studies on the impacts of climate change, that wealthier countries in the West will be able to adapt, while underdeveloped countries will bear the brunt of the impacts.
It is no wonder then that global warming scarcely registers as an issue in the presidential election. Until the American public understands that the U.S. is directly threatened by impacts resulting from global warming, little meaningful action to curb our greenhouse-gas emissions will take place.
With just one meter of sea-level rise, the U.S. will be physically under siege, with calamitous and destabilizing consequences.
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4th January 2008 |
Burning biofuels may be worse than coal and oil, say experts - Guardian Unlimited
· Scientists point to cost in biodiversity and farmland · Razing tropical forests 'will increase carbon'
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4th January 2008 |
Environment: EPA Spews Auto Industry Propaganda - Alternet
The EPA has lied about a critical decision that will delay global warming progress.
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4th January 2008 |
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Paying the Cost of Climate Control - New York Times Blogs
Peter Barnes, a founder of Working Assets, the fund making “socially responsible” investments, has long studied various bills and proposals for cutting emissions of carbon dioxide to limit global warming. He sees fatal flaws in every one. So he has come up with a new formula that he says uniquely addresses the most inconvenient truth about climate policy: It will be expensive.
As he put it recently: “Fighting climate change is going to cost all of us money. That’s because the price of dumping carbon into the atmosphere must, necessarily, rise. Whether the price rise is prompted by a tax or a cap makes no difference — we will all pay more.”
He proposes a “cap and dividend” system that charges a rising fee on sources of greenhouse-gas emissions (to propel a long-term shift away from such pollution) and returns the revenue to citizens, rich or poor, through a direct payment not unlike the checks that Alaska residents get every year from fees paid to the state by oil companies.
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3rd January 2008 |
Alt energy boom - Canadian Business
Two new reports make it official: The alternative energy boom is officially on.
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3rd January 2008 |
Milan introduces traffic charge - BBC News
Italy's first traffic charge is launched in Milan in an attempt to reduce congestion and pollution levels.
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3rd January 2008 |
Survey says ... - GristMill
By Sean CastenITwo thirds of likely caucus voters in Iowa think conservation more important than coal
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3rd January 2008 |
California sues EPA over greenhouse gas regulations - San Francisco Chronicle
California sued the federal government Wednesday in its ongoing bid to set the country's first greenhouse gas limits on cars, trucks and SUVs, providing new data to show its program is superior to a federal plan.
The lawsuit filed in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals asks the federal Environmental Protection Agency to review its own decision last month to deny California a waiver it and 16 other states need to regulate greenhouse gases from new cars and trucks.
See also: Fifteen US States Sue EPA Over Auto Emissions - Planet Ark
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3rd January 2008 |
The perfect storm could really blow - Globe and Mail
As we enter the New Year, serious minds are debating whether the mighty U.S. economy is slipping into a shallow cyclical recession or poised for new growth. Consider a third possibility: that a perfect economic storm is forming with the capacity to knock the global economy into a full-blown depression, closing the Age of Excess in which we now wallow. The fourth and potentially worst storm is global warming. It appears that climate change is coming far faster than expected. That doesn't mean a major change this year, but it does mean increasing awareness and alarm as the consequences impinge on private lives. The only effective way to reduce greenhouse gases in the short term would be by deliberately reducing industrial activity, and unless a recession or depression does it for us, that must become a policy option for discussion, adding to the general economic instability.
So, have a happy and excessive New Year while you can, and remember there's always an alternative lifestyle: ”Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”
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3rd January 2008 |
This time it's personal - Guardian Unlimited
There is a disconnect between awareness of climate change and the lifestyle changes necessary to combat it
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3rd January 2008 |
2007 Was One of the 10 Warmest Years, Met Office Says - Bloomberg.com
Jan. 2 (Bloomberg) -- 2007 was one of the 10 warmest years ever, based on global recorded temperatures, according to the Met Office, the U.K. weather forecaster.
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3rd January 2008 |
CLIMATE CHANGE: Northward Ho?
BROOKLIN, Canada, Jan 2 (IPS) - Dan Bloom thinks it's time to figure out how to build self-sustaining cities in the polar regions because climate change will eventually make most of Earth uninhabitable.
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3rd January 2008 |
Canada's climate change boomtown - BBC News
Churchill on Canada's north coast is hoping to become a major international port if global warming clears the Arctic of ice.
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3rd January 2008 |
Scientists: We've Entered a New Epoch, the Anthropocene - ABC News
We humans are having such a dramatic impact on our planet that some leading scientists think the current era needs a new name. We're no longer in the Holocene epoch, they say. We're now well into what they are calling the Anthropocene. This planet is being changed by human activities in ways that will continue to alter Earth for millions of years. The most obvious example is global climate change precipitated by the release of greenhouse gases from fossil fuels, but there are many more, some so obvious it's hard to think of them as insidious threats to our environment.
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3rd January 2008 |
Global oil industry in figures - BBC News
The importance of oil to global economies has been brought into focus as prices reach $100 a barrel. Snapshot of the global oil industry: who produces the most, consumes the most and what does it mean for petrol prices.
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3rd January 2008 |
Losing Winter - E/The Environmental Magazine
As Climate Change Takes Hold, Our Coldest Season is the First Casualty
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3rd January 2008 |
Carbon sink capacity in northern forests reduced by global warming
An international study investigating the carbon sink capacity of northern terrestrial ecosystems discovered that the duration of the net carbon uptake period (CUP) has on average decreased due to warmer autumn temperatures.
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3rd January 2008 |
Super-hairy plants to battle global warming - New Scientist
Planting extra-reflective hairy crops that bounce sunshine back into space is the latest proposal to help cool our warming world
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3rd January 2008 |
Natural causes as well as global warming may be causing Arctic thaw: study - CNews
Scientists are trying to figure out why the Arctic is warming and melting faster than computer models predict.
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3rd January 2008 |
Jeremy Leggett: Yes minister, nuclear's best - Guardian Unlimited
UK: Civil servants have played a damaging role in skewing UK policy away from renewables
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3rd January 2008 |
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Power firms to pocket £6bn from carbon 'handouts' in new emissions regime - Independent
The UK's biggest polluters will reap a windfall of at least £6bn from rising power prices and the soaring value of carbon under the new European carbon trading scheme that critics say fails to correct the flaws of the system it replaced.
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2nd January 2008 |
Giant sail technology could make shipping greener - Guardian Unlimited
One of the first cargo ships in 100 years to cross the Atlantic with the help of the wind will set off from European shores
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2nd January 2008 |
Orangutan Plan To Curb Carbon Emissions - Science Daily
Indonesia's new 10 year action plan for conserving orangutans will have important benefits in mitigating climate change. Deforestation, for timber, pulp and palm oil plantations, have pushed Indonesia into the status of being a major carbon emitter, while threatening globally significant wildlife populations.
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2nd January 2008 |
Rich harvest for Devon fleet as anchovies invade - The Independent
Warm ocean currents have bought a welcome windfall to a Devon fishing fleet in the form of shoals of valuable anchovies.
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2nd January 2008 |
Environment: The Biggest Environmental Stories of the Year - AlterNet
Which enviro stories stole the headlines in 2007?
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2nd January 2008 |
Joseph Romm: Top 10 Global Warming Stories of 2007 - HuffingtonPost
Thanks to Bush and his henchmen, the nation and the world have lost another crucial year -- and are almost certain to lose another one next year.
What events or actions had the most positive or negative impact on the likelihood that the nation and the world will act in time to avoid catastrophic warming? Here are my picks:
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2nd January 2008 |
Winning the carbon war not an easy task, but doable - Canada.com
Canadians are among the most notorious greenhouse gas producers on Earth, generating CO2 at almost every turn. What is needed now, say the academics and think tanks, are policies and financial incentives to drive the decarbonization - to get the power plants replacing coal with cleaner fuels, to get the oil and gas energy capturing and burying carbon, to get builders constructing homes and industries to the highest energy standards, and to get commuters out of their cars and onto public transit. "It's doable" .
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2nd January 2008 |
Climate Pollution From Aviation Increasing - Science Daily
EU environment ministers have failed to seize a key opportunity to curb emissions from the aviation sector through the European Emissions Trading Scheme, WWF said at the conclusion of the EU Environment Council in Brussels. Scientists estimate that the effect of aviation emissions on the climate is up to five times the impact of emissions occurring on the ground.
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2nd January 2008 |
Up for grabs - Guardian Unlimited
Environmentalists want an end to coal-fired power stations but that looks unlikely to happen any time soon. Is capturing and storing their emissions a realistic answer to climate change? James Randerson reports.
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2nd January 2008 |
Good News About Ocean Methane - Environmental News Network
Santa Barbara, Calif. - Methane, a potent greenhouse gas, is emitted in great quantities as bubbles from seeps on the ocean floor near Santa Barbara. Researchers at the University of California, Santa Barbara have discovered that only one percent of this dissolved methane escapes into the air - good news for the Earth's atmosphere.
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2nd January 2008 |
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The One Environmental Issue - New York Times
It is not yet clear to what extent Americans are willing to grapple with the implications of any serious strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
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1st January 2008 |
Parting company with McKibben and, maybe, Hansen - GristMill
The nation's top climate scientist, NASA's James Hansen, apparently now believes "the safe upper limit for atmospheric CO2 is no more than 350 ppm," according to an op-ed by the great environmental writer Bill McKibben. Yet while preindustrial levels were 280, we're now already at more than 380 and rising 2 ppm a year! Like many people, in the 1990s I believed 550 was the target needed to avoid climate catastrophe -- but now it's clear that: 550 ppm would lead to the greatest disaster ever experienced by human civilization -- returning us to temperatures last seen when sea levels were some 80 feet higher.
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1st January 2008 |
Climate focus as Japan heads G8 - BBC News
Japan aims to put global warming top of the agenda as it takes over the chairmanship of the G8.
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1st January 2008 |
Migration, Interrupted: Nature's Rhythms at Risk - New York Times
In a new book, David Wilcove urges conservation of species and their ways, still so little understood.
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1st January 2008 |
British wildlife in steep decline as man-made activities take their toll - Independent
The report, from the Mammals Trust UK, which is funded by the People's Trust for Endangered Species, identifies an assortment of factors including climate change, the spread of infectious diseases, agricultural and forestry practices, and not least, human activity, as combining to place ever increasing pressure on already fragile wildlife populations.
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1st January 2008 |
The Year's Weird Weather - Time Magazine
When the calendar turned to 2007, the heat went on and the weather just got weirder. January was the warmest first month on record worldwide - 1.53 degrees above normal
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1st January 2008 |
Germans tighten car exhaust rules - BBC
Three German cities now make drivers display stickers to show their cars meet emission standards.
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1st January 2008 |
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