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News Archive - March 2008
Hansen to Australian PM: stop coal plants now - Energy Bulletin
James Hansen, Australian Science Media Centre. Text of letter from climate scientist James Hansen to Australian PM Kevin Rudd calling on Rudd to provide global leadership to to climate change by ordering a halt to the "construction of coal-fired power plants that do not capture and sequester the C02" they produce.
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31st March 2008 |
US West Warming Faster Than Rest Of World - Study - Planet Ark
LOS ANGELES - The US West is heating up at nearly twice the rate of the rest of the world and is likely to face more drought conditions in many of its fast-growing cities, an environmental group said on Thursday.
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31st March 2008 |
Thai temple fights off encroaching tide as world sea levels rise - Raw Story
Thailand: Visanu Kengsamut, 26, has already moved three times in his life, while his mother -- the village chief -- has fled the crumbling coast and rebuilt her home eight times, and each time the village has paid for its own relocation. Khun Samut Chin now sits about one kilometre inland from the temple. "We know that the cause of this is the effects of global warming," says Visanu.
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31st March 2008 |
Thai farmers fall prey to rice rustlers as price of staple crop rockets - Guardian Unlimited
Asian countries curb exports to avoid shortfalls as 'perfect storm' nearly doubles price in three months
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31st March 2008 |
Wartime lessons for the credit crunch - BBC News
Things might not get that bad, but the credit crunch is forcing many to economise. So what can we learn - apart from the recipe for home-made margarine - from the diaries of people who lived through the austerity of World War II?
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31st March 2008 |
Gore unveils $300m advertising blitz to force climate debate - Guardian Unlimited
Nobel laureate Al Gore rolls out advertising blitz to try to force debate on climate change during the US elections
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31st March 2008 |
Huaneng To Build China's Largest Wind Farm - Paper - Planet Ark
BEIJING - China's Huaneng Group will start in June building the country's largest wind farm of 300 megawatts, a Chinese paper said, as the world's second-largest energy user seeks to grow its tiny renewables sector.
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31st March 2008 |
What Are The UN Bangkok Climate Talks? - Planet Ark
THAILAND - Delegates from up to 190 nations will meet in Bangkok from March 31-April 4 for the first round of UN talks on a sweeping new pact to fight climate change.
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31st March 2008 |
When does additionality matter? Part I
The deceptively simple concept at the heart of carbon markets. Sean recently wrote a provocative post on why "additionality" -- one of the bedrock principles of carbon markets as presently designed -- is an expensive waste of time. This is a rich topic, and my perspective as a carbon offset retailer differs from his as an energy producer. It's worth spending a few posts exploring why.When we ask whether a greenhouse-gas reduction is "additional," we're asking if it would have happened in the absence of whatever incentive we've applied. According to the logic of additionality, if the reduction would have happened anyway, then we've wasted our money.
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31st March 2008 |
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Cities dim lights for environment - BBC News
Cities around the world, starting with Sydney, switch off the lights for an hour to highlight climate change.
See also: Earth Hour saved at least 5 per cent power: organisers - The West Australian
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30th March 2008 |
Four nations in race to be first to go carbon neutral - Independent
It's the race for the greenest of the laurels, the contest for the ultimate ecological accolade. Four countries are competing to be the first of the world's 195 nations to go entirely carbon neutral.
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30th March 2008 |
Air Capture - RealClimate
Guest Commentary by Frank Zeman [This is one of an occasional series on the science of mitigation/adaptation/geo-engineering that we hope to continue. Since this isn't our core expertise, we'd especially appreciate balanced contributions from other scientists.] One of the central challenges of controlling anthropogenic climate change is developing technologies that deal with emissions from small, dispersed sources such as automobiles and residential houses. Capturing these emissions is more difficult as they are too small to support infrastructure, such as pipelines, and may be mobile, as with cars. For these reasons, proposed solutions, such as switching to using hydrogen or electricity as a fuel, rely on the carbon-free generation of electricity or hydrogen.
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30th March 2008 |
The Clean Energy Scam - Time Magazine
Ethanol increases global warming, destroys forests and inflates food prices. So why are we subsidizing it?
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30th March 2008 |
Control oil and control the world - Guardian Unlimited
Comment is free: John Gray: New superpowers are competing for diminishing resources as Britain becomes a bit-player. The outcome could be deadly
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30th March 2008 |
A response to Romm on peak oil
Dave Cohen, Energy Bulletin. It's high-time for climate activists to wake up and smell the coffee on peak oil. Peak oil problems are immediate and inimical to our ability to solve all the other problems we have - including climate.
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30th March 2008 |
The new global menace: food inflation - The Globe and Mail
Staple prices have doubled, fanning social, political unrest
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30th March 2008 |
Time runs out for islanders on global warming's front line - Guardian Unlimited
Rising sea levels threaten to flood the Ganges delta, leading to an environmental disaster
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30th March 2008 |
Austrian glaciers shrink the most in five years
Austria's glaciers retreated more than 22 metres (24 yards) on average last year, in the biggest shrinking for five years, the country's Alpine Club said Saturday.
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30th March 2008 |
New building rules 'will raise carbon emissions' - Guardian Unlimited
More than eight million tonnes of carbon will be released by homes built over the next eight years
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30th March 2008 |
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Carbon tariff on China possible to curb pollution - Toronto Star
Countries such as Canada and the United States may start imposing a "carbon tariff" on goods from China and other developing countries which have become the biggest contributors to global greenhouse-gas emissions, CIBC World Markets said Thursday.
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29th March 2008 |
Cities dim lights for environment - BBC News
Cities around the world, starting with Sydney, are set to switch off the lights for an hour to highlight climate change.
See also: Is one hour long enough? - CNews
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29th March 2008 |
EXPERTS SOUND ALARM ON FUTURE AVAILABILITY OF RICE - The Manila Times
LOS BAÑOS: It is the staple food of half of humanity but only a handful of countries have large rice surpluses, leaving even some of the biggest producers scrambling to grow enough to feed their own people.
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29th March 2008 |
Rosie Boycott: Only a radical change of diet can halt looming food crises - Guardian Unlimited
Rosie Boycott: Costs are high now, but rising oil prices will bring enormous problems for a world with appetites that it simply can't sustain
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29th March 2008 |
NOAA: Ocean acidity threatening Pacific Ocean fisheries - Alaska Journal of Commerce
KODIAK Ñ A federal fisheries scientist says a major threat to fisheries in the North Pacific Ocean in this century is coming from ocean acidity due to rising levels of carbon dioxide in the ocean.
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29th March 2008 |
Gore's Message To Climate Change Skeptics - CBS News
Al Gore tells 60 Minutes' Lesley Stahl those who doubt humans cause global warming, including Vice President Dick Cheney, are like those who doubt the moon landing or who once believed the world is flat. Sunday, March 30, 7 p.m. ET/PT.
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29th March 2008 |
The lesser-spotted butterfly - Independent
The lesser-spotted butterflyIndependent, UK. With the losses greater in south-east England, Butterfly Conservation says that suggests the problem may be linked to climate change, because climate ...
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29th March 2008 |
Climate change affecting trees, streams in the West - San Diego Union-Tribune
SALT LAKE CITY – Around the same time the American West started heating up five years ago, Colorado started losing its lodgepole pine forests to a beetle infestation.
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29th March 2008 |
Fossil Fool's Day 2008 only days away!! - It's Getting Hot In Here
Fossil Fool's Day 2008 only days away!!It's Getting Hot In Here, DC. We have had enough of coal companies that destroy communities, poison our air, and spew global warming pollution. We are sick of oil and car companies ...
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29th March 2008 |
US environment agency signals go-slow approach on global warming rules - International Herald Tribune
The U.S. government made clear on Thursday it will not be rushed into deciding whether to regulate emissions linked to global warming, as the Supreme Court directed nearly a year ago.
"Time is not on our side when it comes to avoiding dangerous climate change. This letter makes it clear that Mr. Johnson and the Bush administration are not on our side, either," Boxer, a Democrat, said in a statement.
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29th March 2008 |
Asia Must Reverse Massive Deforestation Trend : UN - Planet Ark
NEW DELHI - Parts of Asia are losing more than 28,000 square kilometres (10,800 square miles) of forest every year, a trend that must to be reversed immediately to fight climate change, a United Nations report said on Thursday.
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29th March 2008 |
100,000 Wells Needed to Store US Carbon Emissions
Even if carbon capture storage technology was not a myth on par with flying cars, the reality is that in order to store the amount of heat-trapping greenhouse gas produced by the United States, "100,800 new wells would be needed by 2030 in America if Washington commits to meeting the Kyoto Protocol emission requirement and keeping total carbon emissions at 2005 levels."H/T to our friends at SolveClimate.com. carbon capture and sequestration global warming greenhouse gas emissions
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29th March 2008 |
Lawyers challenge company 'carbon neutral' claims - ABC via Yahoo!7 News
As we edge towards Earth Hour at 8pm AEDT on Saturday night, a group of lawyers have raised questions about carbon offset programs.
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29th March 2008 |
Will capitalism survive climate change? - Bangkok Post
Will capitalism survive climate change?Bangkok Post, Thailand. Thus, for the South, the implications of an effective global response to global warming include not just the inclusion of some countries in a regime of ...
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29th March 2008 |
Britain seeks loophole in EU green energy targets - Guardian Unlimited
Government wants its clean power projects abroad to count towards the UK's quota
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29th March 2008 |
Government Insider Document Shows Critical Importance of DSCOVR Climate Satellite
A fresh document recently provided to DeSmog Blog by inside sources shows the critical importance of the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) to the US government. Several universities and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) commissioned the study to evaluate how this unique spacecraft could provide benefits to earth monitoring and space weather prediction. The document is available for viewing here, and favorably compares DSCOVR's capabilities with the stated science priorities of NOAA. The conclusion: the spacecraft would be a boon to monitoring our rapidly warming planet and tracking dangerous solar flares. NOAA's primary interest in DSCOVR is predicting “space weather”.
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29th March 2008 |
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Russian, Canadian Winter Days Much Milder - UK Study - Planet Ark
OSLO - The coldest winter days in Russia and Canada have become up to 4 Celsius (7 Fahrenheit) milder since the 1950s in an extreme sign of climate change, the British Meteorological Office said on Wednesday.
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27th March 2008 |
Australian industry dying on the vines - Toronto Star
MELBOURNE–Australian grape growers reckon they are the canary in the coal mine of global warming, as a long drought forces winemakers to rethink the styles of wine they can produce and the regions they can grow in.
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27th March 2008 |
Western Canadian Pine Beetle Infestation Spreads - Planet Ark
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - About half of the marketable pine trees in West Coast Canadian province of British Columbia have been ravaged by a nearly decade-long beetle infestation, according to new government statistics.
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27th March 2008 |
How much will it cost to fix the climate? The numbers vary. - The Christian Science Monitor
Even when experts look at the same data, they can come to vastly different conclusions.
Robert Repetto, an economics professor at Yale University, recently created a website reviewing 25 of the leading economic models that predict the impacts of cutting greenhouse gases. His conclusion: Strong economic growth would continue even under worst-case assumptions.
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27th March 2008 |
Million acres of Guyanese rainforest to be saved in groundbreaking deal - Independent
A deal has been agreed that will place a financial value on rainforests - paying, for the first time, for their upkeep as "utilities" that provide vital services such as rainfall generation, carbon storage and climate regulation.
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27th March 2008 |
New approach to measuring carbon in forests - PhysOrg
CSIRO is collaborating in a NASA-funded project, using a CSIRO-designed instrument, to help develop new methods of measuring forest carbon stores on a large scale.
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27th March 2008 |
Climate change threatens Amazonian small farmers - PhysOrg
A six-year study of Amazonian small farmers and their responses to climate change shows the farmers are vulnerable to natural catastrophes and risky land use practices, say Indiana University Bloomington anthropologists Eduardo Brondizio and Emilio Moran.
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27th March 2008 |
The man making 'wind bags' - BBC News
An engineer receives funding for the experimental storage of energy as compressed air in undersea containers.
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27th March 2008 |
Indian minister attacks biofuels - BBC News
The Indian finance minister says it is "outrageous" that developed countries are turning crops into biofuels.
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27th March 2008 |
Is the World Making Progress on Fighting Global Warming? - AlterNet
Climate negotiations in Bali moved the world just a bit back from the brink. But the next two years will be critical.
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27th March 2008 |
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Antarctic shelf 'hangs by thread' - BBC News
A huge chunk of ice is starting to break away from Antarctica in what scientists believe is further evidence of global warming.
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26th March 2008 |
US experts will stage climate war game - United Press International
U.S. foreign affairs and military experts will stage a war game this summer to study and highlight the national security threats posed by global warming.
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26th March 2008 |
Millions at risk from warmer world - Sydney Morning Herald
Rising seas and water shortages will displace about 125 million people living along the coasts of India and Bangladesh by the turn of the century, Greenpeace said.
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26th March 2008 |
On Carbon, Tax and Don't Spend - New York Times
Carbon tax discussions always seem to devolve into gleeful suggestions for ways to spend the revenue, but policymakers must be prevented from turning the tax into a cash cow.
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26th March 2008 |
Bambi and Nemo are 'unsung heroes of the green lobby' - Guardian Unlimited
Disney films played radical role, says Cambridge professor
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26th March 2008 |
Organic Crops Impressively Productive When Compared With Conventionally Grown Crops - Science Daily
Can organic cropping systems be as productive as conventional systems? The answer is an unqualified, “Yes” for alfalfa or wheat and a qualified “Yes most of the time” for corn and soybeans according to research reported by scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and agricultural consulting firm AGSTAT in the March-April 2008 issue of Agronomy Journal.
[Why is this about global warming? Because it doesn't need petroleum derived fertilizer.]
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26th March 2008 |
For Carbon Emissions, a Goal of Less Than Zero - New York Times
For Carbon Emissions, a Goal of Less Than ZeroNew York Times, United States. The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said that an 80 percent cut in carbon dioxide emissions was necessary to avoid the worst ...
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26th March 2008 |
Quiet revolution - Guardian
Jaime Lerner's 'urban revolution' successfully transformed a congested, grimy, crime-ridden city into a world-renowned model of green living and social innovation. London can do it too, he tells Tom Phillips.
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26th March 2008 |
Ice shrinks in Arctic sea - International Herald Tribune
Winter sea ice around a Norwegian Arctic island has thinned to less than one metre (3 feet) since the 1960s, according to a study on Tuesday of a region that may be more attractive to oil firms because of climate change. The Norwegian Polar Institute said ice around Hopen island southeast of the Svalbard archipelago had become more than 40 cms (16 inches) thinner in the past 40 years, in what it called the first long-term study of ice thickness in the Barents Sea.
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26th March 2008 |
New Parasite Discovered; Infects Waterfowl, Other Species - PhysOrg.com
The findings were just reported in the International Journal for Parasitology, and raise concerns not only about the new parasite but about others that may become more widespread, cause more health problems or possibly even move into new species as a result of global warming and climate change.
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26th March 2008 |
Pine beetle infestation impacting salmon runs - Canada.com
If the heat of climate change weren't enough of a danger to Pacific salmon, scientists are cataloging how the effects of the global-warming-aided mountain pine beetle infestation are adding to salmon's woes. Because the enormous pine forests are dead or dying, the tree boughs don't intercept snow and rain, or shade the forest floor to slow the spring snow-melt. The result is bigger snow packs, more rapid snow melts leading to flash flooding and higher peak stream flows that erode streams. Then rapid runoffs mean more summer droughts, combined with higher summer water temperatures, the report notes.
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26th March 2008 |
Our Suicide Mission with Coal - Alternet
Coal produces more carbon emissions than other energy sources, yet we burn more of it each year.
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26th March 2008 |
Why don't kids walk to school anymore? - PhysOrg
Maybe when we were their age, we walked five miles to school, rain or shine. So why don't most children today walk or bike to school?
It's not necessarily because they're spoiled, lazy or over scheduled. According to a University of Michigan researcher, concerns about safety are the main reason that less than 13 percent of U.S. children walked or biked to school in 2004, compared to more than 50 percent who did so in 1969.
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26th March 2008 |
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Tony the climate tiger: Roaring success? - BBC News
Does the world need Tony Blair as a climate change envoy? In the Green Room this week, Saleemul Huq argues that he shows few signs of understanding the impacts that climate change is already having on the developing world.
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25th March 2008 |
Geothermal energy can cut energy use, greenhouse gases - Daily Local News
LONDON GROVE - While you are sitting around waiting for a fuel cell car to be developed for the mass market, there is one technology available right now that can cut energy use and greenhouse gases dramatically.
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25th March 2008 |
Deep thought - Mar 24
Staff, Energy Bulletin. Despoiled Nauru - poster child for "The Party's Over" What does climate change do to our heads?
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25th March 2008 |
New Limits to Growth - Wall Street Journal Blogs
Now and then across the centuries, powerful voices have warned that human activity would overwhelm the earth's resources. The Cassandras always proved wrong. Each time, there were new resources to discover, new technologies to propel growth. Today the old fears are back.
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25th March 2008 |
Air Force out to launch coal venture - Arkansas Democrat Gazette
The US Air Force wants to build at Malmstrom in central Montana the first piece of what it hopes will be a nationwide network of facilities that would convert domestic coal into cleanerburning synthetic fuel.
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25th March 2008 |
Gulf Stream Leaves Its Signature Seven Miles High - Science Daily - press release
The Gulf Stream’s impact on climate is well known, keeping Iceland and Scotland comfortable in winter compared to the deep-freeze of Labrador at the same latitude. That cyclones tend to spawn over the Gulf Stream has also been known for some time. A new study reveals that the Gulf Stream anchors a precipitation band with upward motions and cloud formations that can reach 7 miles high and penetrate the upper troposphere. The discovery, announced by a Japan–US team of scientists, shows that the Gulf Stream has a pathway by which to directly affect weather and climate patterns over the whole Northern Hemisphere, and perhaps even world wide.
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25th March 2008 |
Government is listening to polluters - Toronto Star
Canada: The climate crisis, according to Canada's former environment commissioner, requires "massive scale-up of effort" by the federal government. The response by the Conservative government: fire the environment commissioner. Global warming is caused by burning fossil fuels – primarily oil, gas and coal. The federal government's plan is designed to encourage the expansion of production of these fossil fuels. It does very little to actually help industry or individuals reduce the use of fossil fuels.
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25th March 2008 |
Climate change seen as last nail in coffin for native fauna - The Age
SOME of Australia's most vulnerable native animals could die out as climate change take its toll on their already fragile existence.
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25th March 2008 |
MoD blocking new wind farms - The Independent
Defence chiefs were accused today of prolonging Britain's reliance on fossil fuels as it emerged they have sought to block dozens of new wind farms. The Ministry of Defence has submitted planning objections to 44 of the schemes over concerns they interfere with radars and obscure the vision of low-flying aircraft.
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25th March 2008 |
Joseph Romm: Stunning Climate Double-Talk From McCain Campaign - HuffingtonPost
We've heard climate double talk from McCain on "mandates" and "dependence on foreign energy sources." Now, in a stunning interview with E&E News (subs. req'd), the McCain campaign seriously undermines its claim that the Arizona Senator could successfully take on the global warming threat. As the reporter put it, "the Arizona senator's presidential campaign is trying to differentiate itself from its Democratic rivals by rejecting calls for additional climate-themed restrictions." This, however, is a potentially fatal difference.
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25th March 2008 |
Insects take a bigger bite out of plants in a higher CO2 world - EurekAlert!
Atmospheric carbon dioxide levels are rising at an alarming rate, and new research indicates that soybean plant defenses go down as CO2 goes up. Elevated CO2 impairs a key component of the plant’s defenses against leaf-eating insects, according to the report.
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25th March 2008 |
Australian wine industry feels heat from climate change - Reuters
Australian grape growers reckon they are the canary in the coalmine of global warming, as a long drought forces winemakers to rethink the styles of wine they can produce and the regions they can grow in.
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25th March 2008 |
Nicholas Stern: One global crisis after another - Guardian Unlimited
The man who alerted the world to climate change is back, now with sharp words about banks. By John Crace
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25th March 2008 |
BRAZIL: Growing Foreign Appetite for Land - IPS
RIO DE JANEIRO, Mar 24 (IPS) - It is a question of "national sovereignty, not xenophobia," said the president of Brazil's land reform agency, INCRA, explaining the need to regulate foreign land ownership in Brazil.
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25th March 2008 |
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Black carbon pollution emerges as major player in global warming - PhysOrg
Black carbon, a form of particulate air pollution most often produced from biomass burning, cooking with solid fuels and diesel exhaust, has a warming effect in the atmosphere three to four times greater than prevailing estimates, according to scientists in an upcoming review article in the journal Nature Geoscience.
[Phew! - just when we thought that global warming was the fault of rich nations...]
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24th March 2008 |
The Security Council must act preemptively - on climate change - The Christian Science Monitor
This global threat requires a war-room mentality. A concerted international strategy, on a par with the seriousness and scope of an UN Security Council resolution, is what's needed to counter this climate crisis. Under Article 39 of the UN Charter, the Security Council maintains the right to identify threats to international peace and security and to devise means to counter these threats. The potential impact of that on climate change is substantial: the Security Council's toolbox includes the capacity to cap greenhouse-gas emissions on every country and sanction those who fail to comply. Both a carbon tax, as well as a carbon-trading scheme, could incentivize countries to reduce emissions below even capped levels.
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24th March 2008 |
Call for delay to biofuels policy - BBC News
The UK's chief environment scientist has called for a delay to a policy demanding inclusion of biofuels into fuel at pumps across the UK. Professor Robert Watson said ministers should await the results of their inquiry into biofuels' sustainability.
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24th March 2008 |
Major food source threatened by climate change - New Scientist
Rice yields will be hit hard by predicted changes in climate, with the potential to cause widespread food shortages
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24th March 2008 |
Dr Wieslaw Maslowski predicted a 2013 Ice Free Summer Arctic five years ago - now he says that may have been too conservative - Beyond Zero Emissions
Transcription of podcast interview
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24th March 2008 |
Investment is key in climate change battle - Financial Times
Until recently, it was remarkably difficult for ordinary investors to put their own money behind the fight against global warming. Mutual funds, most people's investment vehicle of choice, offered few options. That has changed thanks to government legislation and a new awareness among many of the world's investment professionals that climate change is an opportunity, not a threat. In a little more than two years, we estimate retail investors all over the world have pumped around $66bn (£33bn, €42bn) into more than 200 newly launched mutual funds and exchange traded funds investing in companies that help to mitigate or adapt to climate change.
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24th March 2008 |
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Climate change 'is accelerating' - Guardian Unlimited
The growth of developing economies in Africa, Asia and South America has accelerated global warming, study says
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23rd March 2008 |
A global threat multiplier - Energy Bulletin
Paul Rogers, openDemocracy. A European Union study on the problems of global climate change contained the sobering assessment that a failure to take radical action now to address global warming would create the likelihood of severe conflict over resources in the decades ahead.
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23rd March 2008 |
Inside the political attack on Dr. James Hansen and the truth of global warming - Democracy Now
Transcript of interview between Dr. James Hansen, director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space, NASA’s premiere climate research center, and adjunct professor of earth and environmental sciences at Columbia University and Mark Bowen, author of Censoring Science: Inside the Political Attack on Dr. James Hansen and the Truth of Global Warming.
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23rd March 2008 |
We've been here before, and it wasn't pretty the first time - Globe and Mail
Book review: THE GREAT WARMING: Climate Change and the Rise and Fall of Civilizations By Brian Fagan
Medieval warm period: But during the great warming, Europeans chopped down their ancient forests to grow more meat, honey and flour. When the Little Ice Age came, along with the Black Death, Rinderpest and other climate-driven surprises, Europe lost a third of its population. There simply was no mantle for misfortune.
The Maya: The elites, who considered themselves divinely infallible, had no real sense of tragedy, and that's just when the climate served up a super drought. In the face of hunger and thirst, ordinary people abandoned their rulers, who squatted alone on blood-stained pyramids.
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23rd March 2008 |
Livingstone fury at green plans veto - Guardian Unlimited
London's Mayor claims civil servants blocked his energy proposals for the capital because they put the interests of big business first
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23rd March 2008 |
U.S. Environmental Groups Divided on “Clean Coal” - Environmental News Network
At a Senate press conference held last week to urge national action on climate change policy, 16 major U.S. environmental organizations shared the stage in solidarity. But while it appears the nation's green groups are united in the fight against global warming, they remain divided on which technologies would best create a carbon-free economy. This division may cause major roadblocks as Congress prepares to debate several climate change policies that could lead to sweeping changes.
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23rd March 2008 |
Fight climate change by turning roof green - International Herald Tribune
To help fight climate change, countries in Europe and North America are installing "green" roofs covered in vegetation and collecting rainwater for household use.
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23rd March 2008 |
Sebelius Vetoes Energy Bill - Forbes
Kansas, USA: Gov. Kathleen Sebelius vetoed a bill Friday that would allow two coal-fired power plants in southwest Kansas and strip some power from the regulator who has blocked them.
See also: Poof! 132 coal plants disappear - Gristmill
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23rd March 2008 |
Sea levels rising too fast for Thames Barrier - The Independent
A fear that sea levels will rise far faster than predicted this century has led to a revision of the plan to protect London from a devastating flood caused by the sort of storm surge in the North Sea that resulted in the closure of the Thames Barrier yesterday.
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23rd March 2008 |
Noah's Ark for salmon - Salt Lake Tribune
As global warming bears down on our Western rivers and watersheds, it threatens one of the great symbols of Western abundance: wild salmon. With each passing year, their numbers have dropped precipitously. This decline is believed to be in part the result of warming temperatures in streams and rivers.
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23rd March 2008 |
Severe drought threatens wheat and rapeseed production - China Daily
Wheat and rapeseed production in north China are under threat from severe drought.
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23rd March 2008 |
How food miles myth hurts the planet - Guardian Unlimited
Science environment: Robin McKie and Caroline Davies report on how the concept of food miles became oversimplified
[Let's re-simplify it then... Eating Local Strengthens Commmunity]
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23rd March 2008 |
Nuclear plans attract fresh fire - BBC News
A rumoured Anglo-French nuclear reactor initiative is the wrong plan for Britain, anti-nuclear group warns.
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23rd March 2008 |
Global warming scientists eagerly await first Nenana ice cracks - Times Online
It may not be the world's most exciting spectator sport, but watching the ice melt in Alaska has become an unmissable rite of spring for two very different but related groups - gamblers and climatologists.
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23rd March 2008 |
The Hansen - et al. ultimatum - GristMill
Here is the draft [PDF] of the long-awaited defense of why we need an ultimate target of 350 ppm for atmospheric carbon dioxide, by NASA's James Hansen et al., titled "Target Atmospheric CO2: Where Should Humanity Aim?" (Yes, they know we're already at 385 ppm and rising 2 ppm a year.) The paper does suffer from one analytical weakness that makes it a tad less dire than it appears -- and some people believe the core element of this analysis is wrong (see very end of post), although I don't.
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21st March 2008 |
More Dirt on the DSCOVR Climate Satellite - DeSmogBlog
Fresh documents have trickled out of the US government about the fate of the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR). DeSmog Blog has been researching an investigative series on this mothballed climate change spacecraft designed to monitor the energy budget of the planet from the unique vantage of 1 million miles away. NASA strangely cancelled the project after spending over $100 million building it. Prominent members of the scientific community were outraged at the decision. You can view their laundry list of letters here. Another US government agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), requested that NASA transfer the mission to them.
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21st March 2008 |
Cutting greenhouse emissions will double GDP - The Australian
Achieving cuts of 70-90 per cent would be manageable over 40 years and likely to be in Australia's interest
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21st March 2008 |
EU 'committed' to stiff CO2 cuts - BBC News
Europe is still committed to ambitious cuts in CO2 emissions, the EU environment chief tells the BBC.
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21st March 2008 |
Bat 'die-off' raises alarms - Times Herald-Record
US: Unprecedented "die-off" of thousands of cave-dwelling bats across the Northeast - climate change has kept bats flying during fall, winter and spring periods when insects are in short supply or almost nonexistent.
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21st March 2008 |
Melting glaciers will trigger food shortages - New Scientist
The glaciers that feed Asia's mightiest rivers are disappearing, and with them irrigation water that feeds millions
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21st March 2008 |
Carbon Offset Schemes "Confusing" - Planet Ark
LONDON - Carbon offsetting Web sites are inconsistent and confusing, with costs varying by up to 540 percent, according to a report.
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21st March 2008 |
Fish key to reef climate survival - BBC News
As climate change and pollution threaten coral reefs, fish may be vital to their survival, scientists say. Australian scientists found that some fish act as "lawnmowers", keeping coral free of kelp and unwanted algae.
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21st March 2008 |
Starbucks sows carbon farmers - CNN Money
Ever heard of 'ecosystem services'? It's one of the most exciting concepts kicking around the corporate-environmental world these days.
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21st March 2008 |
The seeds of aridity: Crops for a parched world - International Herald Tribune
Scientists, companies and governments are pursuing thousands of projects to lessen water demand, but they face a race against time.
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21st March 2008 |
Europeans Concerned About Climate Change - Angus Reid
(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - People in all European Union (EU) countries express concern over climate change, according to the Eurobarometer conducted by TNS Opinion Social. 57 per cent of respondents in the 27 nations list the phenomenon as their top environmental worry.
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21st March 2008 |
Warming scenario sees flooded airport - The Washington Times
The Bush administration has set aside its skepticism about global warming to begin planning for the possibility that...
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21st March 2008 |
Deep thought - Energy Bulletin
Study: it's better to give than receive
What we can expect as nature changes
The United States of too much information (thinking about risk)
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21st March 2008 |
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Back to 1988 on CO2, Says NASA's Hansen - New York Times
James E. Hansen, the NASA climate scientist and eight co-authors have drafted a fresh paper arguing that the world has already shot past a safe eventual atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide, which they say would be around 350 parts per million, a level passed 20 years ago.
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20th March 2008 |
What we can afford - Grsitmill
US: The money we've spent on the five-year Iraq War could have shifted the entire world to renewables
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20th March 2008 |
Water: A long dry summer - Nature
In parts of the world already facing unreliable food supplies, an uncertain climate adds to the future stress for soils, plants and people. Quirin Schiermeier reports on water strategies for a drier world.
See also:
Climate Change Deepening World Water Crisis - IPS
A thirsty planet looks for solutions to water shortage - Physorg
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20th March 2008 |
Icy start, but 2008 may be in top 10 warmest years - Environmental News Network
OSLO (Reuters) - After the coldest start to a year in more than a decade, spring will bring relief to the northern hemisphere from Thursday. Bucking the trend of global warming, the start of 2008 saw icy weather around the world from China to Greece. But despite its chilly start, 2008 is expected to end up among the top 10 warmest years since records began in the 1860s.
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20th March 2008 |
Dams: Deep trouble - Independent
Are vast dams around the world masking the full extent of sea-level rises?
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20th March 2008 |
Israel suffers worst drought in decade - AP via Yahoo! News
Israel is suffering its worst drought in a decade and will have to stop pumping from one of its main sources of drinking water, the Sea of Galilee, by the end of the summer, an official said Wednesday.
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20th March 2008 |
How the blurring of the seasons is a harbinger of climate calamity - Independent
Spring, which officially starts today, is starting to dissolve as a distinct season as climate change takes hold.
See also: Spring keeps coming earlier for birds, bees, trees, and sneezes because of global warming - Seattle Times
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20th March 2008 |
The man who wants to turn China green - BBC News
A profile of millionaire Chinese businessman Zhang Yue, who wants the country to be more environmentally friendly.
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20th March 2008 |
Reducing carbon emissions could help -- not harm -- US economy
A national policy to cut carbon emissions by as much as 40 percent over the next 20 years could still result in increased economic growth, according to an interactive website that reviews 25 of the leading economic models used to predict the economic impacts of reducing emissions.
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20th March 2008 |
HSBC commits £100m to renewables - Guardian Unlimited
Science environment: Renewable energy projects in public sector get more than £100m of new funding from HSBC
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20th March 2008 |
The Mystery of Global Warming's Missing Heat - NPR
Thousands of robots deployed across the ocean have sent back an unexpected message: The seas have stopped warming. The results don't mean that climate change isn't happening, but they are causing scientists to rethink their climate models.
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20th March 2008 |
Warming will overheat air cons - ScienceAlert
Office air conditioning systems face collapse under the pressure of global warming unless steps are taken now to reduce both the internal and external heat affecting buildings, a QUT engineering researcher says.
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20th March 2008 |
Take that, delayers - this means you, Pielke! - Gristmill
By Joseph RommThe deniers/delayer-1000s cite recent U.K. Hadley Center data to promote their "climate is cooling" disinformation. Even Roger Pielke, Jr. is peddling this nonsense with his recent inanely titled post, "Update on Falsification of Climate Predictions." Falsification? Give me a break! According to the Hadley Center, the eight warmest years in the global temperature record of 150 are, in order, 1998, 2005, 2003, 2002, 2004, 2006, and 2007. Those are also the eight warmest years in the NASA record in a different order, starting with 2005, then 2007 tied with 1998. Where the heck is the cooling trend?
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20th March 2008 |
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Arctic losing long-term ice cover - BBC News
Despite colder conditions, the Arctic is losing a lot of its old, stable ice, according to satellite data.
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19th March 2008 |
Shell wants to produce five times more oil from tar sands - Guardian Unlimited
Shell gears up for huge expansion of its carbon-intensive tar sands operation as it struggles to replace conventional reserves
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19th March 2008 |
See-saw to power African schools - BBC News
A young inventor has created a see-saw which converts the energy used during child's play into electricity.
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19th March 2008 |
Climate Change: The World's Biggest Security Threat - AlterNet
Unchecked climate change could spark instability in energy-producing states and lead to the collapse of fragile states around the world.
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19th March 2008 |
Envisat makes first ever observation of regionally elevated CO2 from manmade emissions - SpaceRef
Using data from the SCIAMACHY instrument aboard ESA's Envisat environmental satellite, scientists have for the first time detected regionally elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide.
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19th March 2008 |
Chinese biofuel 'could endanger biodiversity' - SciDev.net
[BEIJING] Using China's forests and 'idle land' to produce biofuels could pose a threat to biodiversity, warned experts at an international meeting.
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19th March 2008 |
Battery-powered car on the cards for BMW in bid to cut emissions - Guardian Unlimited
BMW may launch all-electric car as part of strategy to cut greenhouse gas emissions
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19th March 2008 |
China's pollution nightmare is now everyone's pollution nightmare - The Christian Science Monitor
The environmental disaster springs largely from its emulation of the American way of life - so let's set a better example.
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19th March 2008 |
Canadians in fog over causes of global warming: poll. - Canada.com
Four of five Canadians say they understand what is causing global warming but a majority does not seem to know that scientific research blames greenhouse gas pollution from industrial facilities and other human activity for causing the problem, a poll has revealed. Meantime, despite gloomy media reports and warnings about a recession, the environment remains the No. 1 priority of Canadians ahead of both jobs and the economy, according to the survey commissioned by a public relations firm and a non-profit group set up to educate people in Canada about global warming.
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19th March 2008 |
CO2 emissions from US power plants jump 2.9% in '07 - Reliable Plant Magazine
A poor progress report on efforts to rein in greenhouse gases: Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from U.S. power plants climbed 2.9 percent in 2007, the biggest single-year increase since 1998.
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19th March 2008 |
Investors warm to water as shortages mount - MSN Money
As liquidity is drained from credit and money markets and pours into oil and gold, another asset class that could offer long-term returns to the discerning investor is water. Water shortages are on the rise -- stemming from soaring demand, growing populations, rising living standards and changing diets. A lack of supply is compounded by pollution and climate change.
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19th March 2008 |
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Livingstone urges Porsche to drop congestion charge challenge - Guardian Unlimited
The row between Porsche and the mayor of London intensified last night when Ken Livingstone called on the luxury car manufacturer to abandon its legal challenge to a new £25 polluters' charge, claiming it did not have the support of Londoners
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18th March 2008 |
Consensus for Kyoto successor falls short - UPI
The Group of 20 environment and energy ministers meeting in Japan fell short of a consensus on a framework to the 1997 Kyoto Protocol successor.
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18th March 2008 |
New car emissions down 13% since 1997 - Guardian Unlimited
Average CO2 emissions from new cars in Britain have fallen by more than 13% since 1997, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders
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18th March 2008 |
Peak Oil Review -- March 17th, 2008
Tom Whipple, ASPO-USA. An executive summary of weekly news from a peak oil perspective, featuring: -Production and prices -Climate change -Have we reached the breaking point? -Energy briefs. "According to calculations by Deutsche Bank, every penny increase in gasoline prices costs the US economy $1 billion per year. Numbers like this will devour most of the stimulus package passed by Congress.
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18th March 2008 |
From Green Luddite to Techspressive: The ideology of consumer technology
When people line up to buy a new iPhone, what is it that they are really buying? A fascinating new paper in the April issue of the Journal of Consumer Research outlines the four main ideologies governing our consumption of technology, revealing that conceptions of technological use introduced hundreds of years ago still influence our adoption of new products and services today.
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18th March 2008 |
Coal reemerges as important raw material in chemical manufacturing industry - PhysOrg
With oil prices hovering around $100 per barrel, coal is reemerging as a key raw material in the manufacture of the basic chemical materials used to make plastics, fertilizers, and hundreds of other products, according to an article scheduled for the March 17 issue of Chemical Engineering News, ACS` weekly news magazine.
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18th March 2008 |
Carbon capture is turning out to be just another great green scam - Guardian Unlimited
Cleaner technology is possible, but Labour plans to introduce it so slowly that any benefits will be lost in higher coal output
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18th March 2008 |
Government 'missing its own carbon targets' - Guardian Unlimited
Government in danger of losing credibility because more than half of its departments are failing to reach emissions targets set for the country
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18th March 2008 |
Outrage over airlines' empty 'ghost flights' for flying empty planes
Airlines that run empty "ghost flights", needlessly pumping hundreds of tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, should face heavy fines, environmentalists have demanded.
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18th March 2008 |
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Clouded by doubts about Kyoto - Financial Times
The trade in greenhouse gases was worth about €40bn (£30.6bn) last year and is expected to increase to €63bn next year, says Point Carbon, the market analysts.
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17th March 2008 |
Climate change and cyber attacks among security threats - Guardian Unlimited
Gordon Brown set to reveal long-delayed national security strategy this week
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17th March 2008 |
Carry on polluting - Guardian Unlimited
Leader: Ministers cannot claim to take climate change seriously - and then trivialise the measurement of progress
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17th March 2008 |
Small respite in Australia's drought and heat wave - BBC News
The longest heat wave of any Australian capital city looks set to ease in Adelaide over the coming days, after 15 consecutive days of temperatures above 35C (95F). Temperatures hit 40.5C (105F) in Adelaide at the end of last week, with the heat wave surpassing the record set in Perth in 1988.
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17th March 2008 |
Venus Unveiled - RealClimate
Something over a week ago I had the pleasure of making my way up to the little ski resort of La Thuile in the Val D'Aosta to learn about the latest results from the Venus Express mission. (You can imagine it was a tough decision to go to La Thuile and hear real scientists talking about Venus when I could have instead been listening to luminaries such as Mark Morano drone on at Heartland Institute pseudoscience bash. ) My own connection with the Venus Express meeting came about through some work I've been doing on habitability of the newly discovered "Super Earth" extrasolar planets like Gliese 581c.
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17th March 2008 |
Ozone Case Shows Bush Meddling In Science-Watchdogs - Planet Ark
WASHINGTON - President George W. Bush's decision to intervene in setting air pollution standards is part of a longstanding administration pattern of meddling in environmental science, watchdog groups said on Friday.
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17th March 2008 |
A forest of change - Boston Globe
Trees are responding to warming temperatures in New England much faster than scientists had expected.
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17th March 2008 |
Lobbyists regroup as government delays release of GHG regulations - Hill Times
Canada: Lobby groups reacted with disappointment last week when the government delayed the release of its draft regulations on greenhouse gas emissions, with environmentalists saying the regulations are not a priority for the government and industry lobbyists saying they need regulatory certainty.
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17th March 2008 |
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If We Want to Survive the Climate Crisis We Must Change
Either we build real community -- with mass transit and local food -- or we will go down clinging to the wreckage of our privatized society.
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16th March 2008 |
Countdown to climate chaos - Guardian Unlimited
Climate experts warn of damaging effects of disappearing glaciers
See also: Glaciers melt 'at fastest rate in past 5,000 years'
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16th March 2008 |
Faster climate change fears - Adelaidenow
SOUTH Australians are being warned to brace for harsher and more regular heatwaves amid fears climate change may be occurring faster than forecast. Meteorologists and researchers say timeframes calculated by organisations such as the CSIRO for climate change impacts of higher temperatures, falling rainfall and rising sea levels are now conservative at best. And they warn the normal four seasons will blur as temperatures increase and summer stretches well into the autumn months.
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16th March 2008 |
Global warming is taking a toll on streams - The Daily American
Pennsylvania is predicted to lose 50 percent of its trout habitat in the coming decades. Other states such as North Carolina and Virginia could lose up to 90 percent of habitat. Even warmwater species are being impacted by climate alterations. The ongoing concern of the disappearance of and disease infested smallmouth bass in the Susquehanna River watershed is now being seen as result of heavy rains during the spring spawning season that have almost wiped out entire year classes of fish. Then followed by a long dry summer that escalates water temperature further stressing those fish that survive.
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16th March 2008 |
Old king coal digs in for the future - Guardian Unlimited
UK: Thoresby has a £55m new lease of life, but other pits are also recruiting again
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16th March 2008 |
Labour's carbon claims too low - Times Online
Britain's greenhouse gas emissions are 12% higher than claimed by Labour, according to an investigation by the National Audit Office. The report could undermine Gordon Brown's claims to be creating a low-carbon economy.
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16th March 2008 |
Want to Buy Some Pollution? - New York Times
The auction of greenhouse gas emissions permits could provide the foundation for a federal-state partnership to revolutionize energy use.
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16th March 2008 |
Blair wants 'climate revolution' - BBC News
Ex-prime minister Tony Blair has called for "global environment revolution" during a trip to Japan.
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16th March 2008 |
Gordon Brown's plea: Lord, let me save the planet, but not yet - Times Online
UK: The dilemmas and trade-offs of environmental policy are, admittedly, highly complex. The political pitfalls of changing our tax system are obvious. But as the man who commissioned the Stern report, Brown gained great credit. By ducking on delivering, he hands the green card to his enemies.
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16th March 2008 |
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Carbon Prices, Not Quotas - Forbes
Worried about climate change but don't like carbon taxes? Consider the messy or even impossible alternatives.
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15th March 2008 |
Analysis: Reality check for EU - BBC News
EU leaders are upbeat on the bloc's response to the climate change and financial turmoil challenges, says the BBC's Paul Kirby.
See also:Concessions to Merkel threaten climate plan - Guardian Unlimited
Europe's chances of spearheading a global post-Kyoto climate change accord were jeopardised yesterday when Germany secured pledges that several of its heavy industries could be protected from international competition and exempted from the EU's plan to combat global warming.
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15th March 2008 |
EU gives US airlines green ultimatum - Guardian Unlimited
US airlines must pay for carbon emissions or face curb on flights to EU, commissioner warns
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15th March 2008 |
Obama and Clinton plan to cool it - Salon.com
Earth, that is. Our energy expert cracks open the Democratic candidates' proposals on global warming -- and is impressed.
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15th March 2008 |
INTERVIEW-Antarctic glacier melted more quickly last year - AlertNet
A glacier used as a benchmark to measure global warming's impact on the Antarctic Peninsula melted more than usual in the past year, according to an Argentine glacier researcher. For more than 20 years, Pedro Skvarca has studied the Devil's Bay glacier on Vega Island off the Antarctic Peninsula, a part of Antarctica that is warming five times faster than the average in the rest of the world.
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15th March 2008 |
Uganda: 1.5 Million People Face Starvation Due to Foods, Drought - AllAfrica.com
Some 1.5 million people are in need of food aid in parts of the country hit by last year's floods and now experiencing drought since January.
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15th March 2008 |
GE CEO Says US Moving Too Slowly On Clean Energy - Planet Ark
GOLETA - The United States is in danger of falling behind other nations in reducing greenhouse gas emissions if both the federal government and companies do not move quickly to support sources of clean energy, General Electric Chief Executive Jeffrey Immelt said on Wednesday.
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15th March 2008 |
Canada Pleads Technicality on Kyoto Non-Compliance - DeSmogBlog
Like a criminal who beats the rap because police lost a piece of evidence, the Canadian government is trying to dodge responsibility for failing to meet its Kyoto commitments by clinging to a technicality.Defending itself against Federal Court suit brought by Friends of the Earth, the Canadian government argued this week that Kyoto targets "are not legally binding as they have not been adopted as an amendment to the Kyoto Protocol by agreement of all Parties." A rough translation might be: George Bush isn't playing fair; why should we?The answer, to that hypothetical question at least, is that Canada promised that it would meet its Kyoto obligations.
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15th March 2008 |
Killing the electric car again: Part II
Take action and express your opinion to California regulators
Part I described the background leading up to the March 27 California Air Resources Board meeting that will decide the fate of zero emissions vehicles (ZEVs) in a dozen or more states. Because the 1970 Clean Air Act allows only two sets of regulations in the U.S. -- the EPA's, and California's (which must be stricter than the EPA's) -- California may be regulating for your state, even if you don't live in California. Roughly a dozen states routinely adopt California's stricter standards -- and sometimes as many as 18 -- and collectively these states can represent as much as half of the U.S.
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15th March 2008 |
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Australia's food bowl lies empty - BBC
After America, Australia is normally the second largest exporter of grain, and in a good year it would hope to harvest about 25 million tonnes. But the country remains in the grip of the worst drought in a century, which is why the 2006 crop yielded only 9.8m tonnes.
Last year saw one of the best starts to a growing season for years, but dry weather in recent weeks has forced the Australian government to slash its crop forecasts by 30%.
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14th March 2008 |
Killing the electric car, again: Part I
The following post is by Earl Killian, guest blogger at Climate Progress. ----- If you've seen the movie Who Killed the Electric Car? (which is ranked No. 8 on Netflix in documentary rentals), then you know the EV story up to 2003. What you might not know is that it looks like one of the players in the movie, the California Air Resources Board, is up to no good again. In killing Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs) the first time, they put off progress on this front for a decade. Now they are preparing, at their March 27 meeting, to kill BEVs a second time and probably waste another decade.
See also: Killing the electric car again: Part II
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14th March 2008 |
"It's An Ill Wind" -- Well Not All That Ill! - DeSmogBlog
Powerful winter storms sweeping across Europe have boosted wind power, oversupplying the wholesale market for electricity and driving down prices by some 12 percent since Friday. Even though road, rail and ship travel has been disrupted and insurers facing claims from damage brought by high winds, operators of wind turbines have been able to generate and sell more supply of the renewable energy into the power network.
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14th March 2008 |
Sea Level Increase Is Kept Down by Reservoirs, Masking Ice Melt - Bloomberg.com
March 13 (Bloomberg) -- Man-made reservoirs have cut sea- level gains by 30 millimeters (1.2 inches), masking the true extent of the contribution from melting ice, scientists said.
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14th March 2008 |
EU threatens to punish climate deal rebels - The Times
America and China face trade protection measures from Europe if they fail to join a global climate deal to replace the Kyoto Protocol, EU leaders will caution at their summit in Brussels today. Nations that refuse to curb greenhouse gases will be told that they face “appropriate measures” — code for trade sanctions — if they try to gain a competitive advantage by continuing to allow cheap, high-pollution production.
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14th March 2008 |
Why Dealing With Climate Change Won't Bankrupt Us - U.S. News & World Report
Expect more tussles over climate cost-benefit analysis ahead, says Daniel Weiss, director of climate strategy at the Center for American Progress. He argues that most cost-benefit studies of global warming solutions will overestimate the costs and underestimate the benefits, because they are incapable of seeing the dynamic technological progress that inevitably will occur in the future. "These studies base their cost assumptions on existing technologies and practices, which means that they do not account for the vast potential for innovation once binding reductions and deadlines are set," he says.
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14th March 2008 |
All close together now - Gristmill
"This craziness is not sustainable," concludes The New York Times op-ed columnist Bob Herbert, and he's talking about the economy, not the environment. He continues: Without an educated and empowered work force, without sustained investment in the infrastructure and technologies that foster long-term employment, and without a system of taxation that can actually pay for the services provided by government, the American dream as we know it will expire. And without petroleum. Oil is shooting over $100 per barrel, caused ultimately by a looming decline in global supply, and exacerbated by rising demand in China and India, foolish policies such as the occupation of Iraq, and repressive regimes such as in Nigeria.
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14th March 2008 |
US House Panel Chairman Threatens Legal Battle For EPA CO2 Drafts - Nasdaq
WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- The chairman of the U.S. House panel on climate change Thursday vowed to use all of the committee's legal powers to obtain U.S. Environmental Protection Agency documents that show carbon dioxide endangers public welfare.
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14th March 2008 |
EU's move on emissions targets - Financial Times
European Union leaders, seeking to set the pace for the world, plan to announce on Friday that they will convert their bold promises to fight global warming into law within 12 months.
See also: Barroso warns EU leaders against backing off emissions cuts - International Herald Tribune
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14th March 2008 |
Manufacturers Oppose Climate-Change Bill - AP via Yahoo! Finance
Manufacturers on Thursday went on the offensive against mandatory reductions in U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, unveiling a study projecting $631 billion in costs by 2020 if Congress institutes a reduction program.
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14th March 2008 |
'It has to be politically doable' - Guardian Unlimited
Tony Blair spoke to the Guardian about his fears of a deadlock in international climate change talks yesterday as he headed to Japan, China and India to set out his plans to publish a report over the next year that could form the basis for what he described as a proper global deal to combat the biggest threat facing the world
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14th March 2008 |
Going off-grid - The Ecologist
No water? No electricity? Most of us would say ‘No way’. But, says Nick Rosen, you can gain a freewheeling sense of self-sufficiency by living more al fresco
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14th March 2008 |
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Blind date with disaster - Guardian Unlimited
We are constantly warned by scientists that our planet is in big trouble, so why can't we change direction? David Suzuki, one of the world's leading ecologists, on how humans have lost the vital skill of foresight
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13th March 2008 |
Tinkering or tackling? The 'green' measures - The Independent
In what had been widely trailed as a "green" budget, Alistair Darling focused on cutting carbon emissions from homes, businesses and transport.
See also: The green reaction: 'a missed opportunity' - Guardian Unlimited
A paler shade of green - Guardian Unlimited
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13th March 2008 |
Peru Bets On Desalination To Ensure Water Supplies - Planet Ark
LIMA - Peru plans to start desalinating water from the Pacific Ocean to make up for declining supplies from fast-melting glaciers affected by climate change, President Alan Garcia said on Tuesday.
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13th March 2008 |
Fun with numbers - Gristmill
If we want to create jobs, why aren't we spending on mass transit?
? Number of jobs created by spending $1 billion on defense: 8,555
? Number of jobs created by spending $1 billion on health care: 10,779
? Number of jobs created by spending $1 billion on education: 17,687
? Number of jobs created by spending $1 billion on mass transit: 19,795 (via Yes! magazine)
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13th March 2008 |
Atlantic's Gulf Stream has huge influence on atmosphere - France24
The conveyor belt of Atlantic warm water known as the Gulf Stream massively influences the lower layers of the atmosphere, a finding that could shed light on a poorly-understood aspect of global warming, scientists report.
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13th March 2008 |
Climate refugees in political pass-the-parcel - Reuters
The islanders of Tuvalu could lose their homes and much of their land in the coming decades. But the world has yet to figure out how it will deal with them, and millions of others, who may be displaced by climate change. "It's a game of political pass-the-parcel," said Andrew Simms, policy director at British think-tank New Economics Foundation. "No one wants to be left holding the problem of climate refugees."
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13th March 2008 |
Early spring thaw could affect your groceries - MSNBC
NASA scientists have recorded an earlier regional thawing trend across northern high latitudes, advancing almost one day a year, since 1988. This trend, a likely result of global warming, leads to a longer growing season and supplies more time to harvest, which on the surface can be seen as positive. Some new studies, though, warn that this situation could actually increase the effects of climate change in the long term.
Why? Early thaw has the potential to alter the cycle of atmospheric carbon dioxide intake and release. A longer growing season promotes more carbon uptake, which is then stored in seasonally frozen and permafrost soils. But when permafrost soils thaw and dry out, higher temperatures in the fall promote release of the stored carbon back into the atmosphere. This process is projected to increase over time at an accelerated rate, sending carbon dioxide levels soaring and further warming the planet.
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13th March 2008 |
Nation told it must aim to be carbon neutral - The Age
A LEADING authority on climate change says Australia's greenhouse gas reduction targets are inadequate, and all industrialised countries should be aiming to become carbon neutral. Bill Hare, a lead author on the latest report (2007) from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, says industrialised countries need to cut emissions by 85% to 95% of 1990 levels by 2050, a far more substantial reduction than the 60% promised by the Federal Government.
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13th March 2008 |
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World warned on high food costs - BBC
The UN secretary general tells the BBC he is "deeply concerned" about the sharp rise in global food prices.
See also: Grain traders buzz as prices soar - BBC News
Grain prices are pushed higher by a combination of soaring global demand from new consumers and failed crops restricting their supply.
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12th March 2008 |
Indians Gather to Save the Planet - PhysOrg
(AP) -- North American Indians assembled in the shadow of ancient Mayan pyramids Monday discussed how their tradition wisdom could help save the planet, and were told that even indigenous cultures have struggled with environmental abuse.
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12th March 2008 |
Media enable denier spin, part three - GristMill
They Aren't Skeptical: Their Minds Are Made Up
What name can we possibly use for the people who are working feverishly to convince the public to ignore the broad scientific understanding of global warming and delay taking serious action, action needed to avert a very grim fate for our children, their children, and so on? I suspect future generations will call them "climate destroyers" or worse, since if we actually (continue to) listen to them, that pretty much ensures carbon-dioxide concentrations will hit catastrophic levels -- 700 to 1000 -- this century, as explained in part two. But what should we call these people in the meantime, while we still have time to ignore them and save the climate?
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12th March 2008 |
Deep thought - Energy Bulletin
Cassandra's curse: how "The Limits to Growth" was demonized
Alex Steffen: Zero, now
Jeff Vail: Rhizome at the community level
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12th March 2008 |
Stelmach draws a line in the - oilsands - CNews
Alberta won't be pressured by the federal government into accepting unreasonable deadlines for reducing greenhouse gases, Premier Ed Stelmach said yesterday.
See also: Oil Group to Press Canada to Postpone New Greenhouse-Gas Rules - Bloomberg.com
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12th March 2008 |
ECONOMY: Market Heating Up the Globe - IPS
BRUSSELS, Mar 11 (IPS) - One way to look at the climate problem is through the lens of the market. If you do, only one conclusion is possible -- the climate change problem is a massive market failure, a failure of market mechanisms to factor in future costs of a change in climate in real time prices.
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12th March 2008 |
Kill king coal? - Guardian Unlimited
James Hansen: The UK government must provide clearer leadership on fossil fuels and demand that new power plants are climate change accountable
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12th March 2008 |
Trains and boats and planes all expected to be affected by climate ... - International Herald Tribune
Flooded roads and subways, deformed railroad tracks and weakened bridges may be the wave of the future with continuing global warming, a new study says. Climate change will affect every type of transportation through rising sea levels, increased rainfall and surges from more intense storms, the National Research Council said in a report released Tuesday.
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12th March 2008 |
Market Man - Forbes
As president of the Environmental Defense Fund, Fred Krupp helped establish a market-based cap-and-trade system to limit acid rain pollution in the late 1980s. In Earth: The Sequel, co-written by Miriam Horn and published by W.W. Norton & Co., he says this system is the most effective way to stop climate change in the 21st century. Krupp recently spoke to Forbes.com about this and other environmental issues. Here is the edited transcript of the conversation.
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12th March 2008 |
Increased carbon dioxide in atmosphere linked to decreased soil organic matter - EurekAlert!
URBANA - A recent study at the University of Illinois created a bit of a mystery for soil scientist Michelle Wander – increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was expected to increase plant growth, increase plant biomass and ultimately beef up the organic matter in the soil -- but it didn't. What researchers found instead was that organic matter decay increased along with residue inputs when carbon dioxide levels were increased and they think the accelerated decay was due to increased moisture in the soil.
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12th March 2008 |
China emissions to swamp Kyoto reductions by 2010 - New Scientist
Chinese greenhouse gas emissions will soon vastly outstrip reductions achieved by all the countries that signed up to the Kyoto protocol
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12th March 2008 |
World `Squandered' Decade in Climate Debate, Top Scientist Says - Bloomberg.com
March 11 (Bloomberg) -- World leaders wasted a decade debating whether global warming is happening, and now need to act quickly to limit its effects, a former chairman of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said.
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12th March 2008 |
Britain is stealing the US crown of No 1 climate villain - Guardian Unlimited
Mark Lynas: If it fails to stand up to BAA on Heathrow, Labour will be cast as the enemy in the environmental battle of the decade
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12th March 2008 |
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This foolish rush into the arms of the dirtiest fuel - The Independent
UK: Coal is easily the most carbon-intensive and polluting form of energy generation available. As a society, we ought to be moving in the very opposite direction for ourenergy needs, towards conservation and renewables. It is inconceivable that a government serious about cutting carbon emissions would give the go-ahead for a new generation of coal-fired power stations to be built. Yet this is precisely what the Business Secretary, John Hutton, will come perilously close to doing in a speech today. Mr Hutton isexpected to hint strongly that government approval is to be granted for a new coal-fired power station at Kingsnorth, Kent.
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11th March 2008 |
A Galactic glitch - RealClimate
Knud Jahnke and Rasmus Benestad After having watched a new documentary called the 'Cloud Mystery' - and especially the bit about the galaxy (approximately 2 - 4 minutes into the linked video clip) - we realised that a very interesting point has been missed in earlier discussions about 'climate, galactic cosmic rays and the evolution of the Milky Way galaxy. It is claimed in 'The Cloud Mystery', the book 'The Chilling Stars', and related articles that our solar system takes about 250 million years to circle the Milky Way galaxy and that our solar system crosses one of the spiral arms about every ~150 million years (Shaviv 2003).
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11th March 2008 |
Alarming growth in expected CO2 emissions in China, finds UC analysis - EurekAlert!
Berkeley - The growth in China's carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions is far outpacing previous estimates, making the goal of stabilizing atmospheric greenhouse gases even more difficult, according to a new analysis by economists at the University of California, Berkeley, and UC San Diego.
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11th March 2008 |
Amazon's worst-ever drought in 2005 caused by global warming - People's Daily
Brazil's drought in 2005, the worst-ever hitting the Amazon, was caused by global warming instead of the El Nino weather phenomenon as previously thought, the country's National Space Research Institute (INPE) announced Sunday.
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11th March 2008 |
Global Warming Alliance warns accident risk due to aircraft design weakness - openPR
‘The maximum crosswind limits have only increased on Boeing aircraft by 7 knots since the beginning of the jet age,’ says Donald Burfitt-Dons, Chairman of the Global Warming Alliance and a former airline pilot. ‘The control systems are designed to cope with a 30 to 35 knot crosswind on landing. That is no longer sufficient’. He is urging an immediate review of safety standards to ensure future aircraft can handle the meteorological conditions of today. Ship engineers also need to look at rudder control limitations in order for vessels particularly high sided ones, to maintain directional control in the hurricane strength winds now being encountered often in straits with limited room to manoeuvre.
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11th March 2008 |
Salmon fishing ban mulled in California as run suffers record plunge - The Sacramento Bee
The decline occurred because the jet stream changed course in spring 2005, in turn disrupting ocean currents. The currents drive an upwelling of nutrient-rich waters, touching off a phytoplankton bloom that forms the base of the food chain. That bloom either failed to happen in some places or was delayed, leaving the menu empty when hungry young salmon went looking for food. Scientists have said the disrupted jet stream is consistent with changes likely to be caused by global warming. Salmon guide, J.D. Richey,may be one of Sacramento's first climate change victims. "A lot of people don't realize it's more than just a fish going away. We're losing a significant neighbor," Richey said. "I felt this last year there was something missing – almost at the soul level. I could just feel the salmon weren't anywhere, and it just bummed me out.".
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11th March 2008 |
Seal cubs threatened by global warming, WWF warns
Hundreds of newborn seal cubs risk dying of hunger and cold because global warming is making ice in the Arctic Circle melt too fast, the World Wide Fund for Nature in Germany warned Monday.
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11th March 2008 |
Reef Fish Get Lost As Climate Changes - Planet Ark
SYDNEY - Climate change might be causing reef fish to get lost, unable to return to breeding grounds from the open ocean, which could have profound implications for the survival of reef ecosystems, Australian scientists say.
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11th March 2008 |
Wheat-a-fix? - BBC News
Global stocks of wheat are plummeting and people are starting to worry about the price of staples like bread. But can you beat the commodity by growing it in your own back garden?
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11th March 2008 |
It's time for provinces to follow B.C. on greenhouse gas emissions - The Globe and Mail
Canada: Premier Gordon Campbell has done other provinces a favour: He made the carbon tax look like a winning proposition
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11th March 2008 |
Climate Change Barometer: The Swiss Decide on Global Warming - EcoWorldly
Under the Swiss system of direct democracy voters have a right to challenge parliamentary laws or pass constitutional amendments by collecting a minimum of 100,000 signatures to force a ballot. In just 18 months, a coalition of green organizations have collected over 150,000 signatures, enough to force a vote on increasing Switzerland’s current 20% Co2 reduction targets to a slightly more ambitious 30%. The initiative has been so popular that people have reportedly been queuing up to sign the petition.
See also: Aussies want urgent action on CO2 - Daily Telegraph
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11th March 2008 |
EU leaders back more greenhouse cuts - Daily Telegraph
EUROPEAN Union leaders will call on the EU Commission to draw up a road map for deeper cuts in greenhouse gas emissions at a summit this week, going beyond a unilateral target agreed in the fight against climate change.
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11th March 2008 |
Southern Baptists Back a Shift on Climate Change - New York Times
Signaling a significant departure from the Southern Baptist Convention’s official stance on global warming, 44 Southern Baptist leaders have decided to back a declaration calling for more action on climate change, saying its previous position on the issue was “too timid.”
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11th March 2008 |
How L.A. Was Almost Our Greenest City - Alternet
Southern California set the nation on the path to bicycling bliss, then detoured. But smogville could still become a velotopia.
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11th March 2008 |
Canada to Impose Additional Greenhouse Gas Rules, Globe Reports - Bloomberg.com
March 10 (Bloomberg) -- Canada will require new oil-sands projects and coal-fired electricity plants to capture and store most of their greenhouse gases as part of new climate-change regulations to be introduced this week, the Globe and Mail said.
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11th March 2008 |
Analysis: Trade worries tangle CO2 plan - UPI
As Congress considers capping carbon emissions, industry representatives say the plan could wipe out the U.S. economy unless the playing field is leveled between domestic and imported goods.
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11th March 2008 |
Voting Commences to Decide Fossil Fool of the Year - PR Newswire via Yahoo! News
Voting to select this years Fossil Fool of the Year is officially underway at www.fossilfools08.org, with results to be announced on the third annual Fossil Fools Day on April 1. Nominees for this years top prize include the CEOs of General Motors, Bank of America, ExxonMobil and Dynegy, as well as the premier of Alberta, Canada.
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11th March 2008 |
Climate change 'hits minorities hardest' - Independent
When the floods subsided in India last year more than half of the bodies found were Dalits, or untouchables; the recent droughts in Kenya have devastated the herds pastoralists in the north rely on for survival; in Arctic Norway the Sami people's reindeer are starving as warmer rains destroy their grazing land.
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11th March 2008 |
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Bringing a knife to a gunfight - Gristmill
What drives climate change denial?
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10th March 2008 |
Carbon Output Must Near Zero To Avert Danger, New Studies Say - Washington Post
The task of cutting greenhouse gas emissions enough to avert a dangerous rise in global temperatures may be far more difficult than previous research suggested, say scientists who have just published studies indicating that it would require the world to cease emitting carbon altogether within a matter of decades.
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10th March 2008 |
EU told to prepare for flood of climate change migrants - Guardian Unlimited
Global warming threatens to severely destabilise the planet, rendering a fifth of its population homeless, top officials say
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10th March 2008 |
High CO2 cars targeted by budget - BBC News
UK: Cars that produce large amounts of carbon dioxide could be hit by Wednesday's budget.
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10th March 2008 |
2008: The Year Of Global Food Crisis - Sunday Herald
It is the new face of hunger. A perfect storm of food scarcity, global warming, rocketing oil prices and the world population explosion is plunging humanity into the biggest crisis of the 21st century by pushing up food prices and spreading hunger and poverty from rural areas into cities.
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10th March 2008 |
Climate change may spark conflict with Russia, EU told - Guardian Unlimited
European governments have been told to plan for an era of conflict over energy resources, with global warming likely to trigger a dangerous contest between Russia and the west for the vast mineral riches of the Arctic.
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10th March 2008 |
Green experts to press for tougher targets - Guardian Unlimited
A powerful new government climate change committee will meet today for the first time to decide how ministers will meet their commitment to cut carbon emissions by 60% by 2050, and whether the target needs to be strengthened in the face of worsening forecasts on climate change.
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10th March 2008 |
UN looks east for unused land in face of rising food prices - Guardian Unlimited
Redundant agricultural land in central and eastern European countries may be used to alleviate worldwide food shortage
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10th March 2008 |
Back to black: return to coal power - The Independent
The UK Government will today anger environmentalists by signalling its support for a controversial new generation of coal-fired power stations and warning that Britain needs to burn more fossil fuels to prevent power cuts.
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10th March 2008 |
Travellers ignore pleas to curb air travel amid growing stampede for long-haul mini-breaks - The Independent
Holidaymakers are ignoring environmentalists' calls to limit their air travel and are taking more "indulgent" long-haul mini-breaks than ever before.
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10th March 2008 |
Highway of diamonds - Energy Bulletin
Hon. Andrew McNamara (Queensland MP), Energy Bulletin. A line from a Bob Dylan song has increasingly struck me as a perfect symbol for the choices we now face in dealing with climate change, peak oil and population: "I saw a highway of diamonds with nobody on it." We need to get it right. No one will thank us for a highway of diamonds with nobody on it.
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10th March 2008 |
Deep thought - Energy Bulletin
- The New Green Deal of 2009
- Can we survive?: THE CHANGES REQUIRED TO DEAL EFFECTIVELY WITH GLOBAL WARMING
- Norman Church: The elephant in the room
- Review: Path Through Infinity's Rainbow - Personal Survival In A World Gone Mad
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10th March 2008 |
The greening of the global south - Gristmill
Here's something novel: a well-informed and honest article from a significant British magazine (Prospect) that looks hard at the core political challenges of global climate stabilization and then draws some conclusions. And it's written by Simon Retallack, who knows his way around both the climate policy debate and the climate movement. Retallack, now head of Climate Change at the UK's Institute for Public Policy Research, did not come blithely to the Greenhouse Development Rights perspective, which he here recommends. He's way too much of a realist for that. But he is an honest realist, one who rejects most of the goods currently being sold under that label as being long past their use-by dates.
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10th March 2008 |
Violent storms, water shortages in store for Canada: report - CBC News
Canada can expect to see more devastating storms and extreme weather because of climate change, a yet-to-be released federal report concludes.
See also: Canadian Watchdog Slams Environmental Spin - DeSmogBlog
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10th March 2008 |
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James Hansen: No more conventional coal and carbon stabilisation below 350ppm - IndyMedia
Beyond Zero Radio show spoke to James Hansen the world's leading climate scientist about his call for CO2 emissions stabilisation at 300-350ppm, well below todays 385ppm.
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8th March 2008 |
Life after the oil crash - Globe and Mail
The apocalypse is coming - it's time to recycle your manure and get a socially responsible vasectomy. Peak-oil buffs are preparing for a future where oil is so scarce that people will go hungry
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8th March 2008 |
The global cooling mole - RealClimate
By John Fleck and William Connolley To veterans of the Climate Wars, the old 1970s global cooling canard - "How can we believe climate scientists about global warming today when back in the 1970s they told us an ice age was imminent?" - must seem like a never-ending game of Whack-a-mole. One of us (WMC) has devoted years to whacking down the mole (see here, here and here, for example), while the other of us (JF) sees the mole pop up anew in his in box every time he quotes contemporary scientific views regarding climate change in his newspaper stories.
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8th March 2008 |
The power to save Britain - Mark Lynas
UK: Our island could be supplying Europe with green electricity. Instead we're lagging behind in the renewables revolution. It may not feel like it on a gusty grey day in Rhyl, but this country is blessed. Take a boat out into the choppy waters off the North Wales coast, and you can see why. Thirty bright white turbines spin continuously just five miles off the coast, producing enough electrical power to supply 40,000 homes with clean, green energy. The wind and waves seem limitless and powerful – and they are.
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8th March 2008 |
Here comes the sun -- again - Gristmill
As part of the Back to the Future alternative energy series, The New York Times has an article today about the rising demand for solar thermal power plants, which use solar panels to heat water and operate a steam turbine. Among the advantages cited: On sunny afternoons, those 10 plants would produce as much electricity as three nuclear reactors, but they can be built in as little as two years, compared with a decade or longer for a nuclear plant. Some of the new plants will feature systems that allow them to store heat and generate electricity for hours after sunset.
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8th March 2008 |
Canada Environment Groups Ask Government to Double Carbon Price - Bloomberg.com
Canada's government should double the price companies pay to exceed limits on greenhouse gases because the current cost won't slow pollution enough, the country's leading environmental activist groups said.
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8th March 2008 |
New Research Confirms Antarctic Thaw Fears - Spiegel Online
New research confirms that ice sheets in West Antarctica are thinning at a far faster rate than in past millennia. Although scientists are divided as to the cause of the melt, many feel it is directly related to climate change.
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8th March 2008 |
Map sheds light on hothouse world - BBC
A reconstruction of how the oceans looked in the past could help model future changes, a study says.
Click here to see map of ocean basins, past and future.
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8th March 2008 |
US biofuels flooding European market - Guardian Unlimited
Subsidised biofuels from America threaten to destroy Europe's domestic refining market, D1 Oils warned as its shares lost a third of their value
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8th March 2008 |
The Case for a Sustainability Emergency, Part II - Energy Bulletin
Jason Bradford, Global Public Media. Second of two interviews with Philip Sutton, coauthor of a recent report titled Climate Cod Red: The Case for a Sustainability Emergency. He discusses how, with a shared sense of purpose and heroic leadership, humans have the technical and social capacity to go into "emergency" mode and design an economic and environmental turn-around in 10-20 years.
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8th March 2008 |
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Cost of saving planet at $190bln in new book - Khaleej Times
What would it cost to wipe out world poverty, guarantee universal health care, stabilise population growth and roll back the ravages of global warming? - About $190 billion a year, or the equivalent of a third of US annual military expenditure, a prominent environmental economist says in a new book.
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7th March 2008 |
Canuck MegaBattery "Cleans Up" Wind Power - DeSmogBlog
The trouble with wind is that it's a bit like Adam Sandler's career. Sometimes it blows, and sometimes it doesn't.That's just fine if all you want to do is fly a kite, but if you're an electrical utility seeking a steady supply of carbon-free juice for millions of homes and businesses, the resource needs a Plan B.For one Canadian company, that plan B is "battery."If the deal goes through as expected, next year Richmond, B.C.-based VRB Power Systems will install an enormous "flow battery " in a wind farm at Donegal, Ireland. When the North Atlantic is truly honkin', turbines will feed a steady 32 megawatts of juice into the island's grid while simultaneously charging VRB's battery.The battery itself will be large enough to need its own warehouse.
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7th March 2008 |
Expanding ‘Deserts,' by Land and Sea - New York Times
Scientists have long projected that areas north and south of the tropics will grow drier in a warming world –- from the Middle East through the European Riviera to the American Southwest, from sub-Saharan Africa to parts of Australia.
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7th March 2008 |
Warnings over future food crisis - BBC News
A world food crisis can be expected in the coming decades as our demand for food outstrips our ability to produce it, a UK government adviser has warned. Climate change is expected to worsen the food shortage
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7th March 2008 |
Second Life avatars and Brazilians: the same carbon footprint - PhysOrg
What do an avatar on Second Life and the average inhabitant of Brazil in the real world have in common? Incredibly, they both use the same amount of electricity.
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7th March 2008 |
Poll Finds New Yorkers Worried About Climate Change - Environment News Service
NEW YORK, New York , March 6, 2008 (ENS) - A large majority of New York City residents are convinced that global warming is happening now and leaders should do more to address the threat, according to the results of the first survey of New Yorkers' opinions about climate change.
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7th March 2008 |
EU warned of climate-induced polar security threat - Reuters via Yahoo! News
European Union leaders will receive a stark warning next week of potential conflict with Russia over energy resources at the North Pole as global warning melts the ice cap and aggravates international security threats.
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7th March 2008 |
How high must oil go before we end subsidies?
Bush's refusal to consider clean technologies could be repeated by McCain
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7th March 2008 |
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A passing trend -Gristmill
NASA's James Hansen has weighed in (PDF) to ... ... expose the recent nonsense that has appeared in the blogosphere, to the effect that recent cooling has wiped out global warming of the past century, and the Earth may be headed into an ice age. On the contrary, these misleaders have foolishly (or devilishly) fixated on a natural fluctuation that will soon disappear. As Hansen explains: Weather fluctuations or 'noise' have a noticeable effect even on monthly-mean global-mean temperature, especially in Northern Hemisphere winter. Weather has little effect on global-mean temperature averaged over several months or more.
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6th March 2008 |
Bush's sleight of hand - Gristmill
By Joseph RommThe following is a guest essay by Daniel J. Weiss and Nick Kong. It was originally published on the Center for American Progress website. ----- "Watch what we do, not we say," Attorney General John N. Mitchell accurately warned at the dawn of the Nixon administration. This could also be a fitting epitaph for President Bush's energy policies. Despite frequent claims of support for renewable energy over the years, the record shows consistent opposition to efforts to spur investments in clean wind, solar, geothermal, and other renewable energy sources. The subterfuge began when President Bush announced his administration's National Energy Policy on May 17, 2001.
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6th March 2008 |
Global Warming Means Fewer Flowers in the Rockies - RedOrbit
Spring in the Rockies begins when the snowpack melts. But with the advent of global climate change, the snow is gone sooner. Research conducted on the region’s wildflowers shows some plants are blooming less because of it.
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6th March 2008 |
Northern Quebec town mulls relocation as global warming softens ground - CNews
MONTREAL - Mudslides, buckled roads and sinking buildings are threatening the northern Quebec village of Salluit, leaving residents with the unwanted prospect of moving their town.
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6th March 2008 |
Drought arrives early this year in the North - Bangkok Post
Drought has arrived early this year and it may be a lengthy one as nine northern provinces are already bracing for water shortages. The dry spell has gripped Chiang Rai, Chiang Mai, Lampang, Uttaradit, Nan, Phrae, Kamphaeng Phet, Sukhothai and Tak, according to officials.
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6th March 2008 |
Sweden to Accelerate Global Warming Gases Cuts, Minister Says - Bloomberg.com
By Jim Efstathiou Jr. March 5 (Bloomberg) -- Sweden will propose a 30 percent reduction in greenhouse-gas emissions by 2020 by lowering pollution from cars and raising taxes on carbon-dioxide output, said Maud Olofsson , Sweden's enterprise and energy minister.
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6th March 2008 |
The toxic issue of green taxes - BBC News
BBC environment analyst Roger Harrabin looks at how green taxes became a difficult issue for politicians.
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6th March 2008 |
OECD: World must act quickly on climate change - CNews
OSLO, Norway - The world must respond to climate change and other environmental challenges now while the cost is low or else pay a stiffer price later for its indecision, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development said Wednesday.
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6th March 2008 |
Climate change to curb economy: ABARE - Sydney Morning Herald
New modelling suggests climate change would knock five per cent off Australia's economic output by 2100 if nothing is done to reduce greenhouse gases.
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6th March 2008 |
EPA Chief Under Fire for Ignoring Scientists - OneWorld.net
The vast majority of scientists and other specialists at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have withdrawn from a key labor-management partnership, citing rising distrust of the agency's chief Stephen Johnson.
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6th March 2008 |
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Warming climate may cause arctic tundra to burn - EurekAlert!
Research from ancient sediment cores indicates that a warming climate could make the world's arctic tundra far more susceptible to fires than previously thought. The findings, published this week in the online journal, PLoS ONE, are important given the potential for tundra fires to release organic carbon which could add significantly to the amount of greenhouse gases already blamed for global warming.
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5th March 2008 |
MPs call for rise in green taxes - BBC News
The The UK Treasury has "continually demonstrated a lack of ambition and imagination" when it comes to green taxes, a report by MPs has concluded.
The Commons Environmental Audit Committee says there is little sign that ministers have acted on the recommendations of the Stern Review. | |
