Links to the latest news on global climate change http://www.climatechangenews.org 144 144 http://www.climatechangenews.org http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/07/09/ethics-and-the-greenhouse/ An ethicist explains why he dove into climate blogging. Sun Jul 25 09:03:51 2010 EST 15th July 2010 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/YaleEnvironment360/~3/8qKUGMJS_58/digest.msp Ten countries worldwide, including five African nations, are at 'extreme risk' because of limited access to clean, fresh water, according to a new global water security index. And the effects of climate change and population growth will exacerbate the stress on these water supplies, potentially threatening stability in many regions, according to the analysis by Maplecroft , a UK- based consulting group. Among the nations most at risk are Somalia, Mauritania, Sudan, Niger, and Iraq. Other nations at extreme risk - including Pakistan, Egypt, and Uzbekistan - are already facing internal and border tensions because of limited water supplies. Click to enlarge. Maplecroft. Global water security index 'There is a risk of water stress exacerbating future risks of conflict, although there is evidence that water scarcity may also help foster cooperation instead,' said Anna Moss, a Maplecroft environmental analyst. Sun Jul 25 09:03:51 2010 EST http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science environment-10646282 The building of new renewable energy sources outstrips new fossil fuel power plants in EU and US during 2009, a report says. Sun Jul 25 09:03:51 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/U6Khsu8l6Aw/ I have previously written about The rise of anti- science cyber bullying and the role played by Swift Boat smearer Marc Morano - who believes climate scientists should be publicly beaten. The UK Guardian has posted an outstanding piece slamming Morano''s 'warped world vision' and the 'award' he just won: But that this award was announced within hours of Morano posting on his Climate Depot website the email addresses of a climate scientist next to a link to my story from last Monday about the said climate scientist, Stanford University''s Professor Stephen Schneider, receiving death threats and hate mail should cause you to throw down that coffee in disgust. Sun Jul 25 09:03:51 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/CGxWv7jgVjo/ I would like to close with an observation that I gained from watching World Cup soccer over the past few weeks. In particular, I was struck by the recurring juxtaposition of two advertising billboards in the background of the soccer pitch, one in red by an American company- Mc. Donald' s, the other in blue by a Chinese company- Yingli Solar. I thought to myself, this is the World Cup, the world''s biggest sporting stage, and China is proudly showcasing the future of its economy with a solar technology company. What is the U. S. best able to showcase? Hamburgers. I believe this image speaks volumes about the state of play not only in the global clean energy race, but also in the global competitiveness landscape. Sun Jul 25 09:03:51 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/_9keSiS8aJ0/ Today, a large body of evidence has been collected to support the broad scientific understanding that global climate warming, as evident these last few decades, is unprecedented for the past 1000 years - and this change is due to human activities. This conclusion is based on decades of rigorous research by thousands of scientists and endorsed by all of the world''s major national science academies . Although uncertainties remain, they concern issues like the rate of melting of major ice sheets rather than the broader topic of whether the climate is changing. This is from an article in the Politico, 'The science behind climate science,' by four leading climate scientists ... Sun Jul 25 09:03:51 2010 EST http://www.desmogblog.com/ipcc-fumbles-media-relations-strategy-must-review-basic-principles-public-relations Andy Revkin''s revelations over the weekend about the botched media relations strategy deployed by the head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Rajendra Pachauri, demonstrate that the IPCC has failed to learn from its recent missteps in managing public communications. If you don' t have anything to hide, don' t act as if you do. Being thrust into the media spotlight and subjected to sudden intense scrutiny can rattle any organization, and the IPCC is hardly the first institution to be accused of resorting to a "bunker mentality" and evading media inquiries. But, as Revkin points out correctly, sheltering yourself from the press is bound to backfire, creating more skepticism about your activities when you should really focus on explaining your work more clearly and operating with greater transparency. Sun Jul 25 09:03:51 2010 EST http://www.desmogblog.com/american-petroleum-institutes-revisionist-history-climate-change-position API Energy Taxes. png The American Petroleum Institute, the trade group for the oil and natural gas industry, is trying to re- write history by claiming that it has remained "neutral" about U. S. climate legislation. Nothing could be further from the truth, actually. API orchestrated the entire "Energy Citizens" astroturf campaign last year precisely to fight against climate legislation. Greenpeace USA obtained an internal memo[ PDF] from the desk of API president Jack Gerard detailing polluting interests' plans to launch the nationwide astroturf campaign attacking climate legislation as "tax increases on our industry." The API memo requested API''s member companies to recruit employees, retirees, vendors and contractors to attend the "Energy Citizen" rallies in key Congressional districts nationwide during the August recess last year, no doubt hoping to be confused with a genuine grassroots uprising, much like the tea parties. Sun Jul 25 09:03:51 2010 EST http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/07/14/senate-eyes-bush-plan-on-co2/ Senate leaders desperate for a climate bill close in on the Bush plan of a decade ago. Sun Jul 25 09:03:51 2010 EST http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_analysis/530683/biomass_britain_do_fields_of_energy_crops_spell_an_end_to_grazing_livestock.html A new vision to replace our grazing land with energy crops will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but many are unwilling to embrace its suggestions for our future diet and countryside Sun Jul 25 09:03:51 2010 EST http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_round_up/538930/uneven_sea_level_rises_threaten_indian_ocean_coastal_regions.html Global warming is adversely affecting certain countries around the Indian Ocean with higher than average sea level rises, according to analysis published in Nature Geoscience Sun Jul 25 09:03:51 2010 EST http://energybulletin.net/node/53446 In Merchants of Doubt, Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway take us on a fascinating trip down what they call Tobacco Road. Take the journey with them, and you' ll see renowned scientists abandon science, you' ll see environmentalism equated with communism, and you' ll discover the connection between the Cold War and climate denial. read more Sun Jul 25 09:03:51 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/k8rhoKT1GrA/idUSTRE66A2N320100711 CARTI SUGDUB, Panama (Reuters) - Rising seas from global warming, coming after years of coral reef destruction, are forcing thousands of indigenous Panamanians to leave their ancestral homes on low- lying Caribbean islands. Sun Jul 25 09:03:51 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/srNpxNK2X_s/idUSTRE66C52I20100713 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Senate''s two biggest backers of climate change legislation have scaled back ambitions for a broad attack on greenhouse gases with a new draft bill focusing on cutting pollution from electric power utilities. Sun Jul 25 09:03:51 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/fkhOPddkos0/idUSTRE66C6LN20100713 RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - A powerful storm destroyed about half a billion trees in the Amazon in 2005, according to a study on Tuesday that shows how the world''s forests may be vulnerable to more violent weather caused by climate change. Sun Jul 25 09:03:51 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/y_SIEyq7wqs/idUSTRE66D1FD20100714 SINGAPORE (Reuters) - As Chinese policymakers grapple with an expected increase in extreme weather due to global warming, a study has found that periods of cooling between AD 10 to 1900 also caused a wave of disasters, war and upheaval. Sun Jul 25 09:03:51 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/DGQf9ib84Ts/idUSTRE66D28X20100714 ABIDJAN (Reuters) - The world''s mangroves are being destroyed up to four times faster than other forests, costing millions of dollars in losses in areas such as fisheries and storm protection, a report said Wednesday. Sun Jul 25 09:03:51 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/oxi7_7wAr6U/idUSTRE66D3PQ20100714 LONDON (Reuters) - European Union governments on Wednesday unanimously agreed detailed rules for auctioning carbon permits in the third phase of the bloc''s Emissions Trading Scheme from 2013, the EU executive said in a statement. Sun Jul 25 09:03:51 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/ph-clH5MmQk/idUSTRE66E1X320100715 HONG KONG (Reuters) - Chemists in South Korea and the United States have improved the design of a type of artificial crystal, doubling the amount of carbon- dioxide they can absorb and store. Sun Jul 25 09:03:51 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/YaleEnvironment360/~3/vc0UgpFHeR0/digest.msp The U. S. and Europe added more power capacity in 2009 from renewable sources than from conventional sources such as coal and oil, and this year or next the world as a whole will add more capacity to the electricity supply from alternative energy sources than from fossil fuels, according to two new reports. The reports, issued by the United Nations Environmental Program and the Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century, said that in 2009 renewables made up 60 percent of newly installed power capacity in Europe and more than 50 percent in the U. S. Although global investment in green energy decreased in 2009, to $162 billion, some countries, such as China, saw rapid growth ... Sun Jul 25 09:03:51 2010 EST http://news.scotsman.com/scotland/Big-freeze-changes-minds-on.6401655.jp A THIRD of Scots have changed their views on climate change due to the winter big freeze and the "climategate" scandal, a study for The Scotsman has revealed. Sun Jul 25 09:03:51 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/blogs/environment/~3/PgBspZWKF7w/ Avoid mopping your floor, laundry and washing your dishes during the day and save energy in the process " that''s what power utilities in the U. S. are telling customers this summer. Heard this before? The difference is this year, heat waves have already caused blackouts and power- grid strain across the country, and it''s only mid- July. This begs the question: Do power utilities want less of your business? Heat waves last month meant increased cooling needs " up as much as 76 percent in some regions " which adds in turn to the threat of power outages. Sun Jul 25 09:03:51 2010 EST http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2010/07/information-levels/ Rasmus' recent post on the greenhouse effect raised some interesting points concerning the technical level at which posts or other public communications should be written. This was a relatively technical article as these things go, eschewing the very basic 'the greenhouse effect is like a blanket' but not really approaching the level of a technical paper on the subject (no line- by- line calculations for instance). Nonetheless, there were complaints that was too much to be absorbed by the lay public, counter- arguments that making it too simple was patronising, as well as complaints that the discussions were not technical enough (for instance in explaining stratospheric cooling). Sun Jul 25 09:03:51 2010 EST http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10928/s/bf10b9b/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Carticle0Cmg20A7276930B10A0A0Eclimate0Escientists0Erespond0Eto0Eclimategate0Ereport0Bhtml0DDCMP0FOTC0Erss0Gnsref0Fclimate0Echange/story01.htm It''s time to abandon the black- and- white fiction that human- induced climate change is fact or conspiracy, they say Sun Jul 25 09:03:51 2010 EST http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10928/s/bd9b57e/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Carticle0Cdn191570Elaw0Eof0Ehurricane0Epower0Ediscovered0Bhtml0DDCMP0FOTC0Erss0Gnsref0Fclimate0Echange/story01.htm The intensity of hurricanes follows a simple mathematical law " a finding that could help us predict how they will respond to climate change Sun Jul 25 09:03:51 2010 EST http://resourceinsights.blogspot.com/2010/07/whither-weak-in-post-peak-oil-world.html It is often said that the test of any civilization is how it treats its weakest members. Those who are compromised physically, mentally or emotionally create a sort of live- action Rorschach test. Do the weak among us evoke our compassion or our scorn? If we are among the lucky ones who have our full faculties, our reaction to the weak says more about our view of the disfigured, stricken and defeated parts of our own psyche--the parts which make us feel most vulnerable and ashamed--than it does about the weak among us. Even if we feel compassion for those less fortunate, we are rarely called upon to find the limits of that compassion. Sun Jul 25 09:03:51 2010 EST http://resourceinsights.blogspot.com/2010/07/wages-of-complexity.html My latest column on Scitizen entitled "Is Net Energy Peaking?" has now been posted. Here is the teaser: When most people think of fossil fuel supplies, they think in terms of barrels of oil, cubic feet of natural gas and tons of coal. But in evaluating how much energy in the form of finite fossil fuels the world has left, these are no longer adequate measurements....Read more Sun Jul 25 09:03:51 2010 EST http://www.epolitix.com/latestnews/article-detail/newsarticle/moral-duty-to-tackle-climate-change/ A gathering of international parliamentarians has been informed that 'climate change is a reality'. Sun Jul 25 09:03:51 2010 EST http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=52139 Climate change is expected to disrupt agriculture in the U. S. Midwest, with high carbon dioxide promoting crop growth but stronger storms, drought, floods and migrating yields dampening yields. Sun Jul 25 09:03:51 2010 EST http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=52157 Despite the creation of a High- Level Advisory Group on Climate Change Financing (AGF), a group of hard- hit Pacific islands is expressing doubt that aid will be delivered in a timely manner. Sun Jul 25 09:03:51 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2010/jul/15/climategate-public-debate Polemical and partisan characterises the climate debate online - but at last night''s Guardian debate there was courteousness and a distinct warmth in the air. Something remarkable happened last night in the polarised world of "warmists" versus "sceptics": a candid but not rancorous public debate. I' m sure you' ll correct me if I' m wrong but, to my knowledge, never before have all sides of this frequently poisonous debate shared a stage. The outcome was illuminating. With no little effort, I had persuaded a star panel to convene to discuss the fall out from the "Climategate" affair which followed the exposure of 1,000 private emails between climate scientists at the University of East Anglia''s Climatic Research Unit and their international colleagues. Sun Jul 25 09:03:51 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2010/jul/14/google-climate-data Interactive tool layering climate data over Google Earth maps shows the impact of an average global temperature rise of 4CThink it''s hot this summer? Wait until you see Google''s simulation of a world with an average global temperature rise of 4C. Using a map that was first launched by the former Labour administration in October 2009, the coalition government has taken temperature data from the Met Office Hadley Centre and other climate research centres and imposed it on to a Google Earth layer. It''s a timely arrival, with warnings this month that current international carbon pledges will lead to a rise of nearly 4C and the Muir Russell report censuring some climate scientists for not being more open with their data (but exonerating them of manipulating the scientific evidence).Unlike a similar tool using IPCC data that was launched by Google in the run- up to the Copenhagen ... Sun Jul 25 09:03:51 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/jul/14/leeds-liverpool-canal-closure-drought British Waterways may enforce shutdown on Leeds and Liverpool canal as water levels in reservoirs plummet. Almost half the Leeds and Liverpool canal, the longest in Britain, will close because of the drought in the north of England unless rain tomorrow heralds St Swithin''s downpours. Narrowboat companies have started moving fleets from the 60-mile approaches to the Pennine summit of the canal after British Waterways announced the shutdown, which will affect the stretch between Gargrave, in the Yorkshire Dales, and Wigan from 2 August. The unusual move follows a precipitous drop in the seven moortop reservoirs that feed the 127-mile canal on either side of the watershed. British Waterways said levels were just under 30% of capacity instead of the usual July figure of 80%.Continuing drought would see stocks dwindle to 10% by the end of the month, and the closure " if implemented " will be ... Sun Jul 25 09:03:51 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/jul/11/peak-oil-energy-disruption Business underestimating catastrophic consequences of declining oil, says Lloyd''s of London/ ISS report. One of the City''s most respected institutions has warned of "catastrophic consequences" for businesses that fail to prepare for a world of increasing oil scarcity and a lower carbon economy. The Lloyd''s insurance market and the highly regarded Institute of Strategic Studies (ISS, known as Chatham House) says Britain needs to be ready for "peak oil" and disrupted energy supplies at a time of soaring fuel demand in China and India, constraints on production caused by the BP oil spill and political moves to cut CO2 to halt global warming."Companies which are able to take advantage of this new energy reality will increase both their resilience and competitiveness. Sun Jul 25 09:03:51 2010 EST http://liberalconspiracy.org/2010/07/14/when-will-our-cultural-institutions-disassociate-from-big-oil/ contribution by Mel Evans One month ago, a group calling themselves Liberate Tate released black helium balloons carrying 'oil- slicked' model fish and birds to the upper airspace of Tate Modern''s Turbine Hall during the gallery''s BP sponsored birthday party. Two weeks ago, an offshoot of the same group spilled 'oil' at the entrance and on the gallery floor of Tate Britain as art scenesters arrived for the semi- prestigious BP Summer Party. And this week yet another group has extended the story by visiting the British Museum, which also takes BP money, during visiting hours and elegantly spilling 'oil' from hand- crafted BP eggs in front of (but not touching) a key exhibit. Sun Jul 25 09:03:51 2010 EST http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/domestic/energy/index.html/index.rss Understanding the common but differentiated principle is the start of how the world has delegated responsibilities to the players around the globe in order to tackle the energy challenge of the 21st century. Approaching this principle is an important beginning in order to start working on the policy, business, research and development, and the environmental potential solutions. Stephen Eule and Julian Wong bring us their own angles on why and how this basic principle should be renewed and implemented to keep pace with a fast- changing and carbon- intense world. Read more here. Fri Jul 09 10:59:28 2010 EST 9th July 2010 http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/science_and_environment/10538198.stm Climate scientists emerge from third inquiry with their reputations for honesty intact but with a lack of openness criticised. Fri Jul 09 10:59:28 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/HGbeN_rl0uk/ By 2039, most of the US could experience at least four seasons equally as intense as the hottest season ever recorded from 1951-1999, according to Stanford University climate scientists. In most of Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico, the number of extremely hot seasons could be as high as seven. Heat waves could be commonplace in the US by 2039, Stanford study finds Exceptionally long heat waves and other hot events could become commonplace in the United States in the next 30 years, according to a new study by Stanford University climate scientists. 'Using a large suite of climate model experiments, we see a clear emergence of much more intense, hot conditions in the U. S. Fri Jul 09 10:59:28 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/m1k5Z7cvsw4/ Why would you trust a magazine that doesn' t trust itself? In a baffling display of 'balance as bias' - or perhaps 'balance as baloney' - The New Republic has hired right- wing misinformer Jim Manzi to spread confusion about their articles. Maybe magazines don' t bother employing fact checkers anymore, but when I coauthored the cover story for the Atlantic Monthly in 1996, 'Mid. East Oil Forever?' Drifting Toward Disaster, the magazine not only edited the piece, they made me provide a credible published source for every claim. Even today, I know magazines like Wired fact- check every article. Fri Jul 09 10:59:28 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/GY7XYoE3YgE/ 'We' re getting a dramatic taste of the kind of weather we are on course to bequeath to our grandchildren,' says Tom Peterson, Chief Scientist for NOAA''s National Climatic Data Center. An 'excessive heat warning' has been issued this week for parts of the East Coast, home of the status quo media, so please send me examples of coverage - good or bad. Also, drink plenty of fluids and stay cool! I got a call last week from a Florida reporter. Did I know that it was so hot that Miami set the all- time monthly temperature record in June? Fri Jul 09 10:59:28 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/K4R8FkOdxSU/ As the United States, like much of the rest of the world, bakes in record, killer heat, climate scientists continue to refine our understanding of the dire future of global warming in the years to come. The United Nations has named the 831 scientists who will author the fifth Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, to be published in 2013 with new model runs and observations of the ongoing destruction of our habitable environment. They do this work despite the endless assault from the fossil- fueled right wing, weathering death threats and media and politicians who ignore, downplay, distort, or lie about the science. Fri Jul 09 10:59:28 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/lZ8EiJYwj2A/ This year will almost certainly set the record for lowest Arctic ice volume ever recorded (see 'When things were rotten'). But whether it will set the less important - but more visible - record for sea ice extent is less certain. You can see how close 2010 is to 2007 now. On the one hand, the National Snow and Ice Data Center just issued their July report, which notes, 'June saw the return of the Arctic dipole anomaly, an atmospheric pressure pattern that contributed to the record sea ice loss in 2007.' On the other hand, they point out ... Fri Jul 09 10:59:28 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/7gJCGLOhcWM/ Last month, Judge Martin Feldman, a federal trial judge in Louisiana, handed down a poorly- reasoned opinion lifting the Obama Administration''s temportary moratorium on new oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. Feldman owned stock in Exxon and other drilling companies. Today in New Orleans, a three- judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit will consider whether to stay Feldman''s decision. According to a new report by the Alliance for Justice, however, it is unlikely that these Fifth Circuit judges will approach the case without the perception of bias. TP has the story in this cross- post. Fri Jul 09 10:59:28 2010 EST http://www.countercurrents.org/goodchild070710.htm By Peter Goodchild We begin with two basic facts. The first is that the worlds present annual consumption of oil is nearly 30 billion barrels. The second is that the worlds present population is nearly 7 billion. From there we can add some reasonable estimates of both oil decline and population decline Fri Jul 09 10:59:28 2010 EST http://www.countercurrents.org/blumenthal070710.htm By Les Blumenthal A sobering new report warns that oceans face a fundamental and irreversible ecological transformation not seen in millions of years as greenhouse gases and climate change already have affected temperature, acidity, sea and oxygen levels, the food chain and possibly major currents that could alter global weather Fri Jul 09 10:59:28 2010 EST http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/07/09/hot-weather-in-a-warming-climate/ A look at how more hot extremes might, or might not, spur climate and energy action. Fri Jul 09 10:59:28 2010 EST http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/07/06/was-the-east-anglia-incident-a-crime/ Nearly eight months after thousands of e- mail messages and files of climate scientists were scattered around the Web, authorities have still not labeled the release a crime. Fri Jul 09 10:59:28 2010 EST http://energybulletin.net/node/53373 As catastrophes go, sea level rise is probably fairly low on everybody''s list. The most dire effects will be felt over many decades or centuries, whereas the jobless are wondering what''s going to happen to them next month or next year. Still, expanding oceans provide a longer term perspective on where humanity stands with respect to Planet Earth. read more Fri Jul 09 10:59:28 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/YaleEnvironment360/~3/J7TXne15Ki8/digest.msp The swiftly unfolding environmental catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico has riveted the world''s attention in recent weeks, but as the blog Aid. Data points out, the amount of oil spilled in the Niger Delta over five decades far exceeds the disaster in the Gulf, with even more devastating environmental consequences. Citing statistics from the United Nations Development Program, Aid. Data says estimates of oil spilled in the Niger Delta since 1960 range from 5.75 million to 10 million barrels, roughly triple the amount of oil that has Click to enlarge. UNDPOIL SPILLED: Nigeria spill (1960-present) and the 2010 BP spill gushed into the Gulf of Mexico from the blown- out Deepwater Horizon rig. Fri Jul 09 10:59:28 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/YaleEnvironment360/~3/t29HRtQNlTI/digest.msp No polar bears have been more closely studied than Canada''s western Hudson Bay population. Biologists have compiled an impressive store of data on everything from the weight of females at denning, the decreasing body mass of bears of all sexes, the increasing length of time the bears spend annually on the shores of Hudson Bay, and the decline of sea ice in the bay itself. Now, polar bear biologist Andrew E. Derocher and colleagues from the University of Alberta have marshaled that data to forecast how long it will be before western Hudson Bay''s polar bears disappear. The answer is sobering ... Fri Jul 09 10:59:28 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/YaleEnvironment360/~3/MOMZODbwHbo/feature.msp The surest sign of a warming Earth is the steady melting of its ice zones, from disappearing sea ice in the Arctic to shrinking glaciers worldwide. Now, scientists are using increasingly sophisticated satellite technology to measure the extent, thickness, and height of ice, assembling an essential picture of a planet in transition. BY MICHAEL D. LEMONICK Fri Jul 09 10:59:28 2010 EST http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2010/07/the-muir-russell-report/ by Gavin and Mike The long- awaited and surprisingly thorough Muir- Russell report (readable online version) was released this morning. We' ve had a brief read through of the report, but a thorough analysis of this and the supplemental information on the web site will have to wait for a day or so. The main issue is that they conclude that the rigour and honesty of the CRU scientists is not in doubt. For anyone who knows Phil Jones and his colleagues this comes as no surprise, and we are very pleased to have this proclaimed so vigorously. Secondly, they conclude that none of the emails cast doubt on the integrity and conclusions of the IPCC, again, something we have been saying since the beginning. Fri Jul 09 10:59:28 2010 EST http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10928/s/bc05599/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Carticle0Cdn191430Eclimategate0Einquiry0Eno0Edeceit0Etoo0Elittle0Ecooperation0Bhtml0DDCMP0FOTC0Erss0Gnsref0Fclimate0Echange/story01.htm The official UK inquiry into the climategate affair confirms the "rigour and honesty of the scientists involved" but tells them to be more open Fri Jul 09 10:59:28 2010 EST http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10928/s/bbf654d/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Carticle0Cdn19140A0Eprehistoric0Ehumans0Emay0Ehave0Epushed0Eclimate0Echange0Bhtml0DDCMP0FOTC0Erss0Gnsref0Fclimate0Echange/story01.htm Humans were fiddling with climate thousands of years even before we started farming " if we had a hand in the extinction of woolly mammoths Fri Jul 09 10:59:28 2010 EST http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10928/s/bbee5ec/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Carticle0Cmg20A7276830B60A0A0Eclimate0Echange0Ecould0Edrive0Ecrocs0Eout0Eof0Ethe0Ewater0Bhtml0DDCMP0FOTC0Erss0Gnsref0Fclimate0Echange/story01.htm Warming waters could mean crocodiles will struggle to find food and protection Fri Jul 09 10:59:28 2010 EST http://www.monbiot.com/archives/2010/07/06/a-bookful-of-bookerisms/ The climate change deniers are digging themselves an ever deeper hole over 'Amazongate' Fri Jul 09 10:59:28 2010 EST http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/266/f/3780/s/bc1f874/l/0L0Sindependent0O0Cnews0Cbusiness0Cnews0Ceu0Egives0Epower0Estations0Euntil0E20A20A0Eto0Emeet0Eemissions0Erules0E20A210A930Bhtml/story01.htm Fossil- fuel power stations will have until June 2020 to comply with the next phase of EU pollution rules, under the Industrial Emissions Directive (IED) passed by the European Parliament yesterday. Fri Jul 09 10:59:28 2010 EST http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/266/f/3780/s/bc03134/l/0L0Sindependent0O0Cenvironment0Cclimate0Echange0Cclimategate0Escientists0Ehonesty0Enot0Ein0Edoubt0Esays0Ereview0E20A20A8290Bhtml/story01.htm The "rigour and honesty" of the scientists at the centre of a row over climate research, sparked when hundreds of emails were stolen from a world- renowned research centre, is not in doubt, an independent review said today. Fri Jul 09 10:59:28 2010 EST http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/leading-articles/leading-article-climate-change-science-is-vindicated-2020929.html Public scrutiny of science and the scientific method can never be a bad thing, especially when the research involves something as important as climate change. But there must come a time when the results are accepted by all reasonable people. This time has surely come in the case of the "Climategate" emails stolen from the University of East Anglia and posted on the internet last autumn with the evident purpose of discrediting scientists at the centre of the effort to understand climate change. Fri Jul 09 10:59:28 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news197815384.html Toward the end of the last ice age, a major reorganization took place in the current system of the North Pacific with far- reaching implications for climate, according to a new study published in the July 9, 2010, issue of Science by an international team of scientists from Japan, Hawaii, and Belgium. Fri Jul 09 10:59:28 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news197814357.html Exceptionally long heat waves and other hot events could become commonplace in the United States in the next 30 years, according to a new study by Stanford University climate scientists. Fri Jul 09 10:59:28 2010 EST http://www.joabbess.com/2010/07/08/gasland/ Holy hydrocarbons ! Seems like BP America''s favourite unconventional fossil fuel is out of control. [link]2010/06/22/josh- fox- gasland- filmmake_ n_621341.html [link]2010/06/23/gasland- filmmaker- josh- fox- ignites- conversation- on- the- daily- show/ [link] files/2010/06/gasland- documentary- film- trailer- natural- gas- fracking. php [link] index. php? title= Gasland Fri Jul 09 10:59:28 2010 EST http://www.joabbess.com/2010/07/08/financial-ties-green-taxes/ The Financial Times advises :- [link] cms/ s/0/5dca38e0-8ac1-11df-8e17-00144feab49a. html 'Environmentalists have had a disappointing year. The Copenhagen talks fizzled and the economic crisis has overshadowed all other considerations. But the need for countries to repair towering fiscal deficits is an opening for the movement. As treasuries look for ways to raise more revenues, climate change activists should make the case for green taxes.' So, environmental campaigners should be campaigning for green taxes to plug holes in public deficits caused by crashing banks ? I think not. Tax revenue that is collected on the basis of environmental pollution should always be hypothecated, committed to remediation and removal of environmental pollution. Fri Jul 09 10:59:28 2010 EST http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=52081 The Mozambican government has adopted various policies to address the effects of climate change, with special attention to women as studies show that they are more adversely affected by this phenomenon. Fri Jul 09 10:59:28 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jul/07/germany-renewable-energy-electricity Germany already leads the world on renewable energy and could become first G20 country to kick the fossil- fuel habit Germany could derive all of its electricity from renewable energy sources by 2050 and become the world''s first major industrial nation to kick the fossil- fuel habit, the country''s Federal Environment Agency said today. The country already gets 16% of its electricity from wind, solar and other renewable sources " three times' higher than the level it had achieved 15 years ago."A complete conversion to renewable energy by 2050 is possible from a technical and ecological point of view," said Jochen Flasbarth, president of the Federal Environment Agency."It''s a very realistic target based on technology that already exists " it''s not a pie- in- the- sky prediction," he said. Thanks to its Renewable Energy Act, Germany is the world leader in photovoltaics ... Fri Jul 09 10:59:28 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jul/06/hacked-climate-science-emails-climate-change Today''s report into the hacked climate science emails follows two previous investigations that cleared the scientists involved of fraud and corruption, but with charges of secrecy upheld. The publication of Sir Muir Russell''s report on Wednesday is the third and final independent review into the hacked University of East Anglia emails sent by climate scientists. On 31 March, the House of Commons science and technology select committee strongly criticised UEA for not addressing a "culture of withholding information" among its climate scientists and for not being more open with raw data and computer codes. However, MPs chose not to criticise Professor Phil Jones, the climate scientist at the centre of the affair."He probably wishes that the emails were never invented," said Phil Willis MP, the committee chair, who had earlier questioned Jones in person during a committee hearing. Fri Jul 09 10:59:28 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/gallery/2010/jul/06/10-10-halfway From Premiership teams to rock festivals, from governments and ministers to you - the 10:10 campaign has united a diverse band of carbon- cutters determined to slash emissions by 10% this year. Now, 3,000 businesses and 80,000 individuals have signed up " and there''s still half a year left to go Fri Jul 09 10:59:28 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/jul/06/no-more-bps-deserts-solar-power The Deepwater Horizon disaster should make us look to the sun, and start a revolution in how we meet our energy needs. Why hasn' t the Deepwater Horizon spill, one of the worst ecological disasters in US history, led to a storming of the Bastille of Big Oil? Why aren' t the most urgent problems of our time " environmental crises and climate change " being confronted with the same energy, idealism and optimism as past tragedies of poverty, tyranny and war? The current state of the oil industry is reminiscent of the ancien regime on the eve of the revolution. The Gulf of Mexico disaster has many faces. Fri Jul 09 10:59:28 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jul/05/ipcc-rising-temperature-targets-greenland-ice-sheet Studies predict major extinctions and collapse of Greenland ice sheet with temperatures rising well above UN targets. The world is heading for an average temperature rise of nearly 4C (7F), according to analysis of national pledges from around the globe. Such a rise would bring a high risk of major extinctions, threats to food supplies and the near- total collapse of the huge Greenland ice sheet. More than 100 heads of state agreed in Copenhagen last December to limit the rise in global temperatures to 1.5C-2C (2.7-3.6F) above the long- term average before the industrial revolution, which kickstarted a massive global increase in the greenhouse gases blamed for warming the planet and triggering climate change. But six months on, a major international effort to monitor the emissions reductions targets of more than 60 countries, including all the major economies, the Climate Interactive Scoreboard, ... Fri Jul 09 10:59:28 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/10532841.stm Climate change crop garden wins Hampton Court prize. BBC News... such as apples and herbs, are featured as well as plants including peaches and nectarines to highlight the potential changes global warming will bring. Climate change 'bringing new crops' to South East. BBC Newsall 3 Fri Jul 09 10:59:28 2010 EST http://www.salon.com/technology/how_the_world_works/2010/07/07/air_conditioners_of_doom/index.html Salon. Heat wave air conditioners of doom. Salon. AP An independent investigation of the Climate. Gate hacked e- mails that rocked the global warming debate in 2009 has found that the "rigor ...and more Fri Jul 09 10:59:28 2010 EST http://ecocentric.blogs.time.com/2010/07/06/turning-up-the-heat-on-climate-change/ Salon. Heat Wave! Is This Global Warming? TIME (blog) First of all, the usual caveat, which should be obvious but needs to be repeated: no single weather event can be said to be "caused" by climate change. ...Heat wave smothers climate skeptic jokes. Salon. Heat wave smothers climate skeptic jokes. Salonall 7 Fri Jul 09 10:59:28 2010 EST http://feeds.grist.org/click.phdo?i=0269cbe8ac9575a83e34d1f2db634e12 by David Goldstein. Cross- posted from the NRDC Switchboard blog. The most important component of an effective climate bill- one that helps the economy recover and assures that greenhouse gas emissions will decline rapidly over the decades to come- is setting a cap on emissions. Opponents of a cap misunderstand how and why the cap will work, and their stated reasons for opposition reflect this misunderstanding. Typical of these self- described conservative arguments is made by Steve Everley at American Solutions. Everley tries to paint efforts to price carbon through a cap broadly as socialism, and narrowly as a tax. Fri Jul 09 10:59:28 2010 EST http://feeds.grist.org/click.phdo?i=bdaac3246692948b531284e35000c935 by David Doniger. Cross- posted from NRDC Switchboard. As President Obama and senators consider their options on energy and climate legislation, it''s important to be clear about what will move the country forward and what will move it backward. Will our leaders put us on the road towards the carbon pollution cuts desperately needed to take back control of our economic, environmental, and national security, or will they drive in the wrong direction and make matters even worse? As my colleague Dan Lashof shows here, the Senate can at least get us started towards the economy- wide carbon pollution reductions we need, by adopting a cap on utilities and other stationary sources along with robust policies to save oil and curb emissions from the transportation system. Fri Jul 09 10:59:28 2010 EST http://feeds.grist.org/click.phdo?i=b504b1ed8f99e0be07c16dc2b8af8ec6 by Jonathan Hiskes. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have shut down most of the nation''s programs using Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE), an innovative tool that helps Americans finance green improvements to their homes. Here''s a homeowner' s perspective on the story: Kayla Thomason spent last winter wondering if the furnace would hold out in her two- bedroom ranch home in Longmont, Colo. The middle- school teacher had plenty of need for it: Her home, built in 1963, has no wall insulation, little attic insulation, and original metal- frame single- pane windows. In the winter, heat seeps out through recessed kitchen lights, ceiling- fan connections, the garage door, the crawl space, and especially uninsulated heating ducts, she learned. Fri Jul 09 10:59:28 2010 EST http://www.joabbess.com/2010/07/08/george-monbiot-bunkum-masquerading-as-insight/ I was in telephone conversation with somebody in the Climate Change policy arena in the last two weeks (names will remain unnamed for obvious reasons), and they complained to me about George Monbiot''s position on Climategate. I could sense incandescent rage, even at the other end of the phone line, as the person expressed extreme displeasure with George Monbiot, and asserted that he was a 'nasty little man'. I don' t agree with that summary. For a start, George Monbiot is probably taller than the average Briton, so the epithet is literally inaccurate. I don' t even agree that George Monbiot is 'little' in terms of influential, public figures, either. Fri Jul 09 10:59:28 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/gg8oOn4eo_M/idUSTRE6671D120100708 SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Leading climate scientists on Thursday welcomed a British report that cleared researchers of exaggerating the effects of global warming and said they hoped it would restore faith in the fight against climate change. Fri Jul 09 10:59:28 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/10566441.stm The first weather health alert of the summer has been issued as temperatures are set to soar in parts of the UK. Fri Jul 09 10:59:28 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/28/large-blue-butterfly-cotswolds Assisted by climate change, the ecologists who saved the butterfly from extinction are reintroducing it to its former haunts. It is the butterfly that was brought back from the dead and one of the most successful examples of insect conservation in the world. Now, assisted by climate change, the large blue butterfly is to be moved northwards in a bid to double its UK population. The ecologists responsible for reviving the large blue will next month release hundreds of caterpillars at two secret locations in the Cotswolds in an attempt to reintroduce them to the region for the first time in more than half a century. After the butterfly''s extinction in Britain in 1979, Jeremy Thomas, professor of ecology at Oxford University, and his colleague David Simcox successfully masterminded its return by collecting eggs from Sweden and reintroducing this rare and incredibly fussy insect in Devon and the Polden Hills, Somerset. ... Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST 5th July 2010 http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jun/28/road-rail-spending-environment Arguing that rail investment is pointless because more people use cars ignores the reality of congestion and climate change. So the RAC Foundation''s Stephen Glaister argues that roads are missing out on the lavish attention spent on rail. The argument that the road network suffers in comparison with rail simply does not stand up. Rail, as part of a better integrated and supported public transport network, has to be the future priority for investment if we are to stop adding to congestion and climate change. The RAC Foundation''s arguments against rail seem to come down a circular argument that not enough people use rail, therefore it shouldn' t receive significant investment to expand its capacity, which will mean that not enough people will use it, which justifies not investing in it This just won' t do as the basis for deciding where scarce public investment should go. So why should we invest ... Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jun/28/paris-power-turbines-seine River currents could be harnessed at four bridges across the capital. The river Seine, the historical "sacred river" running through Paris, inspired Monet, Matisse and even the British painter Turner, who sat on its banks to capture the scenery. Now the landscape is to undergo a subtle change, with a plan to install eight turbines underneath the city''s celebrated bridges to raise energy from river currents. Paris city hall is to launch an appeal this week for power companies to come up with suitable projects to install the turbines, or hydroliennes."After a study by our urban ecology service and the French waterways, four potential sites have already been identified," Denis Baupin, the deputy mayor, told Le Parisien newspaper. Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/jun/27/shell-deepwater-drilling-will-go-on Voser says rising demand forces search for new sites Storm threatens clean- up operation of BP''s Gulf spill. Royal Dutch Shell''s boss, Peter Voser, insisted that today it was not possible to satisfy the world''s growing energy demands without drilling for oil in deep- water reserves, despite the ongoing environmental disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. At a conference in South Africa, Voser defended the oil industry''s push into deeper oil reserves and said Shell would continue to play its part, even as a tropical storm threatened to disrupt BP''s efforts to clean up oil off the coast of Louisiana."Given the rise in the population and the rise in the developing world of energy needs, we will have to develop those resources in deep waters, so my expectation is that we will go forward with it, but it will need some changes," Voser told the Fortune Global ... Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/ZtjQwm_MZiI/ Ruy Teixeira, a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress, shows us how the oil spill has been shifting public opinion on offshore drilling, little by little, in this repost. The gulf oil spill disaster is starting to take a serious toll on public support for offshore drilling. Consider these data from a new Pew Research Center poll. Back in February of this year, 63 percent of the public supported more offshore drilling as a policy response to address our energy needs, compared to 31 percent who were opposed. Today a majority of the public-52 percent- opposes offshore drilling, and support has fallen to 44 percent. Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/LAttQYtjtOw/ Must- see video here for ice junkies, background here: 'Arctic Ocean is full of rotten ice.' 'Anomalies for each day are calculated relative to the average over the 1979 -2009 period for that day to remove the annual cycle.' [And yes, "anomaly" is a poor word choice for a long- term trend driven by human emissions.] Back in mid- May, I argued the Arctic is poised to see record low sea ice volume this year. Since then, volume has plummeted some 3000 km3 (relative to its recent historical average) to '19,000 km3, the lowest May volume over the 1979"2010 period, 42% below the 1979 maximum and 32% below the 1979"2009 May average,' according to the Polar Science Center, which has the best Arctic ice volume model around. Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://www.joabbess.com/2010/06/28/climate-union-sharing-principles/ Image Credit : Gilbert & George, 'Nettle Dance', White Cube I' m in the Climate Union. Are You ? Soon we could all be, if the expansionist plans of a group of social campaigners come to fruition. Taking in the unions, faith communities and the usual rag- tag bunch of issues activists, the Climate Union aims to establish itself as a political force for Low Carbon. First of all, however, it has to tackle the uneasy and prickly problem of the exact name of the movement, and the principles under which it will operate. The flag has been flown ... Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/ymqpBRgdnu0/idUSTRE65R1DG20100628 JAKARTA (Reuters) - The United States will spend $136 million over three years on environment and climate change programs in Indonesia, according to a statement issued by the White House on Monday. Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://resourceinsights.blogspot.com/2010/06/laughs-for-doomers.html Boris Yelnikoff is a self- described "Nobel- level thinker" who feels beseiged by "microbes," one of his many terms for people who don' t see "the big picture." And, what''s the big picture? He tells us in the first five minutes of Woody Allen''s latest movie, "Whatever Works," when he says, "On the whole, I' m sorry to say, we' re a failed species."Yelnikoff, played by Larry David, is an aging former Columbia University physics professor who has divorced his wife, moved to a dingy (but affordable) New York apartment, and taken up teaching chess to children to support himself. Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news196769785.html This month, fires have charred tens of thousands of acres in New Mexico, Colorado and Arizona. After more than a decade of drought, these large seasonal fires are increasingly a part of life in the Southwest, and fire can be revitalizing in many conifer forests. Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://thetyee.ca/News/2010/06/28/OilSandsTwistsWashington/ US politicians bend to foreign- backed pressure to soften climate bill. Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=1&article_id=116450 BEIRUT: More than 200 young people gathered Saturday at Ramlet al- Baida beach to raise awareness about the threat that climate change poses to the globe, as they promote practical steps for Lebanese to change their environmental lifestyle. The activists, who largely consisted of members from Mercy Corps and the League of Independent Activists Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tina-gerhardt/the-canary-in-the-coal-mi_b_627194.html The Canary in the Coal Mine: Stopping Climate Change By Tina Gerhardt Climate Hope: On the Front Lines of the Fight against Coal By Ted... Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100627/sc_afp/climatewarmingcarbonemissions_20100627174306 Dreams of braking global warming by storing carbon emissions from power plants could be undermined by the risk of leakage, according to a study published on Sunday. Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://www.telegraphindia.com/1100629/jsp/nation/story_12623432.jsp New Delhi, June 28 : Warmer nights may spoil the aroma of basmati and cause the rice to become sticky when cooked, scientists have warned after a study of how climate change may affect the quality of rice. Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20100627/G8-oil-ptach-tax-100627/20100627?hub=Canada&s_name= Prime Minister Stephen Harper rejected advice from his officials to eliminate tax incentives for the oil patch on a weekend that saw the world''s most powerful leaders disdain fresh attempts to combat climate change in favour of fighting deepening deficits. Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/ips/533103df0e98e13124e71f621d0480f6.htm Source: IPS Australias newly appointed prime minister, Julia Gillard, has hardly warmed her seat, yet she has already been urged to take action on climate change. Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/scientists-expect-climate-tipping-point-by-2200-2012967.html The global climate is more than likely to slip into an unpredictable state with unknown consequences for human societies if carbon dioxide emissions continue on their present course, a survey of leading climate scientists has found. Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://feeds.grist.org/click.phdo?i=438564884c50f4f9d5c6d6cbf5761116 by Frank Ackerman. Was the Obama administration 'arbitrary and capricious' in imposing a six- month moratorium on deepwater oil drilling? U. S. District Judge Martin Feldman thought so. His June 22 order reversed the moratorium, citing the 'immeasurable harm' to 'the local economy, the Gulf region, and the critical present- day aspect of the availability of domestic energy in this country.' By immeasurable harm to the Gulf region, he meant the loss of oil industry jobs, not the loss of oil- free water and beaches. How could anyone be opposed to a time- out to figure out what went wrong in the Gulf of Mexico? Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://feeds.grist.org/click.phdo?i=bb1ff1fff935271ed1bb8a5891499ec3 by David Turnbull. It was a tale of two cities Saturday in Toronto for this climate activist. One of hope and the other of boredom. Saturday morning, I joined Greenpeace, Oxfam, the Canadian Labor Congress, and about 5,000 activists at a peaceful rally calling on G8 and G20 leaders to take stronger leadership on a variety of progressive issues. Signs amidst the crowd were pushing issues ranging from climate and poverty alleviation to Tibetan freedom and bank reform. It was an impressive mix of progressive activists all coming together to speak with one voice for global change. Despite the rain and nearly oppressive police presence, the spirit at the rally was ebullient and hopeful, and I walked away feeling excited as one often does from these rallies. Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://www.culturechange.org/cms/content/view/661/66/ The unsustainable U. S. economy and coast- to- coast consumer society that uses more oil than any other nation will keep up its energy gluttony until supplies give out. Because oil is the most critical part of our energy mix, and it supplies critical materials and chemicals besides fuels, a sudden, crippling oil shortage can paralyze most of the work, commerce and law enforcement going on in this country. Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0610/39082.html Climate bill gets GOP cold shoulder. Politico. But he has since shifted to the right, going so far as to question the science linking humans to global warming. Like Mc. Cain, Brown, Gregg and Murkowski, ...Democrats Poised for Comprehensive Climate and Energy Approach. Firedoglake (blog) all 23 Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/677-e2-wire/105975-byrds-death-brings-new-problems-for-climate-advocates Telegraph. co. uk. Byrd''s death brings new problems for climate advocates. The Hill (blog)'Senator Byrd led efforts among coal state senators to devise global warming legislation that would smooth the transition for workers in their states,' said ...Byrd''s death could delay financial reform vote. Los Angeles Timesall 4,387 Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/science_and_environment/10456314.stm The emissions- lowering recession is masking failures on carbon- cutting, and new policies are needed, say advisors. Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/science_and_environment/10446880.stm Harbour seals give birth to pups 25 days earlier than 35 years ago as a result of changes to marine ecosystems, a study shows. Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/blogs/thereporters/richardblack Petrolheads aim to steer world round greener corner Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/HcO9iisObgs/ Before getting to the irony of the anti- science Tea Partiers canceling their big convention because the weather is too hot, let''s look at some of the staggering extreme weather events around the globe. In China, 'The Southern Daily said over 600 millimetres (24 inches) of rain fell in Guangdong''s Huilai county over a six- hour period on Friday, a 500-year record.' That''s two feet of rain in 6 hours! As Dr. Kevin Trenberth, head of the Climate Analysis Section at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, told me earlier this month: There is a systematic influence on all of these weather events now- a-days because of the fact that there is this extra water vapor lurking around in the atmosphere than there used to be say 30 years ago. Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/RbdNK_bUCVo/ Revkin asks me via Dot Earth, 'What if The Public had Perfect Climate Information?' Ahh, the hypothetical question that launches us into an alternative history. Reminds me of that Saturday Night Live routine, 'What if Spartacus had a Piper Cub?' I' d love your answer. Here''s mine. If the entire public had perfect information on all matters related to climate - the science and the solutions - we would certainly be on a path to below 450 ppm (see, for instance, Scientists find 'net present value of climate change impacts' of $1240 TRILLION on current emissions path, making mitigation to under 450 ppm a must). Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/uDf-Poa4_Rc/ [I' d be very interested in the comments of other Brits upon watching the video. UK readers who want to make a complaint to the BBC will find contact info below.] The BBC''s climate journalism has declined in recent months (see BBC asks CRU''s Phil Jones the climate version of 'When did you stop beating your wife'). It just hit a new low in the half hour show, 'What''s up with the Weather?' All you need to know about how distorted and sensationalistic the BBC''s worldview has become is to read how BBC''s News editors describe the show ... Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://www.culturechange.org/cms/content/view/658/66/ Editor's note: This article is a summary of a new paper published in Energy Policy, available at sciencedirect. com [link]. For a detailed discussion of renewable energy's limits see Renewable energy - Cannot sustain an energy - intensive society [link]. The author told Culture Change, "Central in the delusion system moving us to the brink is the unquestioned faith that renewables can preserve affluence and the growth society; it is extremely difficult to get anyone to think about this." Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/shell/lloC/~3/EvBmH5Dxioo/ The recent G8/G20 in Canada and the relatively small amount of time spent discussing climate change has again brought some to question the intent of the Canadian Government with regards the issue. The reality is that successive Canadian Governments have struggled to formulate a policy mix which will suit the country, but at the same time Canada has been a great champion of overtly climate change technologies such as carbon capture and storage (CCS). As such, it is worth spending some time giving thought to the dilemma that is the Canadian economy and greenhouse gas emissions, particularly as the government continues to seek a policy mix that will deliver a meaningful reduction in emissions over the coming decade " at least as a first step. Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://www.desmogblog.com/canadian-oil-lobby-trying-kill-us-clean-energy-policy mike- whately. jpg Who knew the tentacles of the Canadian oil lobby could reach all the way down to Washington, DC? And who knew they were so powerful? I am sure many Americans will find it rather disturbing that a foreign entity (no matter how friendly they may be - full disclosure: I am Canadian) is holding so much sway over the clean energy future of their country. In a lengthy and well- researched new expose on the Canada oil sands industry''s lobbying activities in Washington, DC, reporter Geoff Dembicki untangles a complicated web that includes former Republican insiders, dirty energy front groups and powerful politicians on both sides of the border that are doing their best to kill US clean energy legislation. Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://www.desmogblog.com/fracked-tap-water-texas-99-pr-spin leadwater. jpg When you have lived in the same place for 20 years and all of sudden your hair turns orange after you wash it, you might be more than a little concerned. But, of course, don' t blame the natural gas company that is pumping thousands of gallons of toxic sludge into the ground just up the street. That can' t possibly have anything to do with your hair turning orange or the chemically smelling sediment floating around in your water glass. After all, the natural gas industry, in a process called hydraulic fracturing (also called "fracking"), says that 99-percent of the sludge they use is just water and sand. Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/07/02/sorting-out-climate-camps/ A flawed effort to sort views on global warming into "10 camps." Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/07/02/global-co2-trends-show-scope-of-climate-challenge/ Energy trends in developing countries are causing per- capita emissions there to relentlessly rise even as the rich world gets cleaner. Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/georgemonbiot/2010/jul/02/ipcc-amazongate-george-monbiot Challenging climate sceptics is good sport but we' re in danger of forgetting the deadly serious matter at hand. Well this becomes more entertaining by the moment. Those who staked so much on the "Amazongate" story, only to see it turn round and bite them, are now digging a hole so deep that they will soon be able to witness a possible climate change scenario at first hand, as they emerge, shovels in hand, in the middle of the Great Victoria Desert. Here''s the story so far. In January the rightwing blogger Richard North claimed that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change had "grossly exaggerated the effects of global warming on the Amazon rain forest". Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/jul/02/environment-social-trends-survey Recycling and organic farming on the rise but so is white good energy use and overfishing. The popularity of dishwashers, televisions and the internet has seen the amount of electricity consumed by such items jump by 155% in four decades, according to the ONS report. Emblematic of this shift has been the rise of the home computer. Two- thirds of people buy goods on the internet now " the highest in Europe. Ten years ago less than one in 10 people had access to the internet at home. As significant is the environmental movement. In the 1970s Britain produced two- thirds of its electricity from coal, but smokestacks have been replaced by natural gas chimneys. However, the UK generates around 100 million tonnes of waste a year, most of which ends up in landfill. Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jul/02/ipcc-rising-temperature-targets-greenland-ice-sheet Studies predict major extinctions and collapse of Greenland ice sheet with temperatures rising well above UN targets. The world is heading for an average temperature rise of nearly 4C (7F), according to analysis of national pledges from around the globe at the midpoint between two major international conferences aiming to tackle the problem. Such a rise would bring a high risk of major extinctions, threats to food supplies and the near- total collapse of the huge Greenland ice sheet. More than 100 heads of state agreed in Copenhagen last December to limit the rise in global temperatures to 1.5C-2C (2.7-3.6F) above the long- term average before the industrial revolution, which kickstarted a massive global increase in the greenhouse gases blamed for warming the planet and triggering climate change. But six months on, a major international effort to monitor the emissions reductions targets of ... Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jul/02/green-tech-investment-surges Global investments in clean energy companies rose 43% in Q2 on last year, says new Cleantech Group and Deloitte report. Green tech is back in the green. Global venture capital investment in green technology companies reached $4.04 billion in the first half of 2010, exceeding -- slightly -- the record set in the boom year of 2008, according to a preliminary report released Thursday by the Cleantech Group and Deloitte. Venture investment in the second quarter rose to $2.02 billion, up 43 percent from the year- ago quarter. Investments in the first half of the year spiked 65 percent from the same period in 2009. Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jul/01/network-rail-study-climate-change Thousands of miles of railway track to be examined for ability to withstand storms, flooding and heatwaves. Potential safety threats to thousands of miles of railway from extreme storms, floods and heatwaves as the impact of climate change worsens are being investigated by railway engineers and meteorologists. A study by Network Rail will look at exposed coastal tracks, embankments and thousands of bridges to see whether they can withstand the increase in extreme weather events that climatologists have predicted over coming decades. The UK- wide investigation will cost £750,000 but railway executives believe that implementing its expected recommendations could save the industry £1bn over the next 30 years by improving safety and preventing emergencies. The climate change adaptation programme, commissioned by the rail industry safety board (RSSB) follows the intense storm that flooded the south coast line bordering the sea at Dawlish in Devon in 2004, and ... Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jul/01/green-car-electric-vehicle-makers Vince Cable fails to confirm green car subsidy status as climate advisers say electric vehicles are key to hitting carbon targets. Electric carmakers warned the government that it was jeopardising the switch to green cars that experts believe is vital to meet the UK's climate change targets. The warning came after the business secretary, Vince Cable, failed to confirm the fate of the former Labour government's pledge to subsidise new electric cars by up to £5,000. On the same day, the government's climate change advisers said such vehicles were one of four key areas of focus for the UK to hit legally binding carbon budgets. In a letter to be sent to Cable and the transport secretary, Philip Hammond, Citroen, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Peugeot and Renault write that "without the incentives, the UK will become a significantly less attractive market". Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jul/01/emissions-recession Drop in rich countries' emissions caused by recession in 2009 was nullified by steep increases from China and India. Greenhouse gas emissions from rich countries fell a record 7% in 2009 because of the recession, but the cut was entirely nullified by steep increases from fast- growing China and India, according to one of Europe''s leading scientific research groups. Overall, this meant annual global climate emissions remained steady for the first time since 1992, says the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency which drew on energy- use data from the US government, the EU, BP energy data, the cement industry, and elsewhere. But the Dutch government- funded agency, which in 2007 was the first to correctly identify that China had overtaken the US as the world''s greatest greenhouse gas polluter, warned that the figures did not mean that rich countries had cleaned up their act."A large part of production capacity has been ... Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/gallery/2010/jul/01/satellite-eye-on-earth-june-2010 Space station sunsets, desert lakes in Mongolia and cloud formations over the Canaries were among the images captured by European Space Agency and Nasa satellites during June Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/30/blimps-aircraft-freight Helium- powered ships could be carrying freight " and even passengers " in as little as a decade''s time. Fresh fruit, vegetables, flowers and other foreign luxuries could be part of a global revolution by carrying cargo around the world in airships instead of planes, one of the UK''s leading scientists has predicted. The government''s former chief scientific adviser, Professor Sir David King, now director of the Smith School of Enterprise and Environment at the University of Oxford, told a conference that massive helium balloons " or blimps " would replace aircraft as a key part of the global trade network as a way of cutting global warming emissions. Despite languishing in sci- fi B- movies for most of the last 70 years, King said several major air and defence companies, including Boeing and Lockheed Martin, were working on designs, and the US defence department had recently made a large grant ... Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/29/green-investment-bank-wigley-report Government will cut nine existing green business quangos to fund the Green Investment Bank. Swapping nine existing quangos and funds for a shiny new Green Investment Bank would fit snugly into the government''s desire to cut back on public spending and boost low- carbon investment flows, and now the chancellor, George Osborne, has some cover for doing so. The independent Wigley report (pdf) published yesterday recommends exactly that and was commissioned by the Tories themselves while in opposition to add weight to what otherwise was a great- sounding but nebulous manifesto commitment. A review of existing quangos is well overdue. All governments like to announce new things and the number of bodies established under Labour to try to speed up the transition to a low- carbon economy was quite staggering. Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/jun/29/barack-obama-energy-bill Standoff suggests Senate would give up on climate change law that would result in far more limited proposals Barack Obama''s hopes of leveraging public anger at the Gulf oil spill into political support for his clean energy agenda fell flat today after he failed to rally a group of Democratic and Republican senators around broad energy and climate change law. The standoff suggests the Senate would formally give up on climate change law, and recast energy reform as a Gulf oil spill response, that would roll in far more limited proposals such as a green investment bank, or a measure to limit greenhouse gas emissions that would apply only to electricity companies. Such a move would come as a personal rebuff to Obama who has put energy and climate change at the top of his agenda, and who called on the 23 senators at the White House meeting to establish ... Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/29/green-investment-bank-low-carbon-economy Cost of the low- carbon infrastructure is estimated at £550bn Venture capital sector prepared to invest in ecological projects. Scores of government- backed organisations face being swallowed by a new UK Green Investment Bank, under radical proposals announced today. Billions of pounds that are being spent by disparate quangoes and officials funds should instead be ploughed into an eco- bank, a group of leading financial and environmental experts recommended. The Green Investment Bank Commission argued that cutting the number of state- funded green bodies would "radically improve" the task of cutting the nation''s carbon output " an area where Britain continues to lag behind official targets. The Commission was led by former Merrill Lynch chairman Bob Wigley. Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/30/climate-change-carbon-emissions-targets Committee on Climate Change says policies required within next year to reform electricity market and home efficiency. The new coalition government must introduce a string of climate policies over the next twelve months or risk Britain missing its legally binding targets to cut carbon emissions, ministers were warned yesterday. David Kennedy, the chief executive of the Committee on Climate Change, said action was needed in four key areas. He said policies should be brought forward to reform the electricity market, and to make homes more energy efficient. Ministers need to protect efforts to encourage the development of electric cars and introduce measures to bring down the carbon footprint of UK farmers, he added."We' ve had a light- touch approach in the UK, we' ve talked a good game but what we' ve seen is emissions haven' t fallen," Kennedy said. Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/jun/28/bus-cuts-cars-bp-oil-spill The BP oil spill may make people reconsider their dependency on cars " but budget cuts are limiting public transport options. Just at the moment when the Deepwater Horizon BP oil spill has generated two months of non- stop headlines about the dangers of oil dependency and the federal government in America finally has something of a platform to call for Americans to wean themselves off oil dependency, cities, counties and states across the US are decimating their public transit systems and forcing people, willy- nilly, to return to their cars. In most countries, one might expect fiscal collapse to lead to more people taking public transport. Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/15528961/1jlama/alternet_environment~Why-Green-Building-Standards-May-Actually-Threaten-Sustainable-Forestry A pending new rule change from a key environmental standards organization has set off a heated controversy between competing eco- certifiers of wood. Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://johannhari.com//2010/07/02/how-goldman-sachs-gambling-on-starving-the-worlds-poor-and-won By now, you probably think your opinion of Goldman Sachs and its swarm of Wall Street allies has rock- bottomed at raw loathing. You' re wrong. There''s more. It turns out the most destructive of all their recent acts has barely been discussed at all. Here''s the rest. This is the story of how some of the richest people in the world - Goldman, Deutsche Bank, the traders at Merrill Lynch, and more - have caused the starvation of some of the poorest people in the world, just so they could make a fatter profit. It starts with an apparent mystery. At the end of 2006, food prices across the world started to rise, suddenly and stratospherically. Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://www.staffordshirenewsletter.co.uk/News/Letters/Its-getting-warmer-and-something-needs-to-be-done.htm It''s getting warmer - and something needs to be done. Staffordshire Newsletter (blog) Where are the crisis measures to change our lifestyles and stop burning fossil fuels in order to prevent heatwaves and wildfires becoming more frequent and ... Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10928/s/b781e82/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Carticle0Cmg20A727670A0B20A10Eclimategate0Ejibes0Efly0Eover0Eel0Enino0Eimpact0Eon0Ewarming0Bhtml0DDCMP0FOTC0Erss0Gnsref0Fclimate0Echange/story01.htm It turns out El Niño may not have had such a large effect on recent climate change as a controversial paper published last year suggested Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10928/s/b7b4d49/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Carticle0Cmg20A6276610B20A0A0Eclimate0Econtrol0Eis0Eco20Ereally0Ein0Echarge0Bhtml0DDCMP0FOTC0Erss0Gnsref0Fclimate0Echange/story01.htm Ice sheets melt away as CO2 rises: that''s how it''s supposed to work. So why does the opposite sometimes seem to have happened? Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2010/06/the-uncertainty-prayer/ Seen at a meeting yesterday: Grant us The ability to reduce the uncertainties we can; The willingness to work with the uncertainties we cannot; And the scientific knowledge to know the difference. (Drawn from a white paper on the use of climate models for water managers). Discuss. Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2010/07/penn-state-reports/ The last part of the Penn State inquiry has now reported unanimously that Mike Mann did not engage in any activity that violated scientific norms. Quoting from the report conclusions, Conclusion of the Investigatory Committee as to whether research misconduct occurred: The Investigatory Committee, after careful review of all available evidence, determined that there is no substance to the allegation against Dr. Michael E. Mann, Professor, Department of Meteorology, The Pennsylvania State University. More specifically, the Investigatory Committee determined that Dr. Michael E. Mann did not engage in, nor did he participate in, directly or indirectly, any actions that seriously deviated from accepted practices within the academic community for proposing, conducting, or reporting research, or other scholarly activities. Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news197266012.html The only glacier in the western Pacific could disappear in less than five years, taking with it vital clues about the earth''s changing climate, a US scientist said Friday. Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news197227905.html With carbon dioxide in the atmosphere approaching alarming levels, even halting emissions altogether may not be enough to avert catastrophic climate change. Could scrubbing carbon dioxide from the air be a viable solution? A new study by scientists at the Carnegie Institution suggests that while removing excess carbon dioxide would cool the planet, complexities of the carbon cycle would limit the effectiveness of a one- time effort. To keep carbon dioxide at low levels would require a long- term commitment spanning decades or even centuries. Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news197206539.html As global warming threatens many animal species with extinction, the cane toad is set to flourish with increasing temperature. This is a major cause for concern as the cane toad, once introduced to Australia as agricultural pest- control of the cane beetle, is an already highly invasive species and considered a pest in Australia. The researchers present their new findings at the Society for Experimental Biology Annual Conference in Prague on Friday, July 2, 2010. Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news197197932.html (AP) -- Climate change talks among some of the world''s most polluting nations are continuing for a second day in Rome. Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news197175066.html (AP) -- Lonnie Thompson spent years preparing for his expedition to the remote, mist- shrouded mountains of eastern Indonesia, hoping to chronicle the affect of global warming on the last remaining glacier in the Pacific. He''s worried he got there too late. Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news197111985.html (Phys. Org. com) -- Research by scientists at Queen Mary, University of London has found that a predicted rise in global temperature of 4°C by 2100 could lead to a 13% reduction in ecosystems' ability to absorb carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere. Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news197034597.html A new study shows the Arctic climate system may be more sensitive to greenhouse warming than previously thought, and that current levels of Earth''s atmospheric carbon dioxide may be high enough to bring about significant, irreversible shifts in Arctic ecosystems. Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/cSMKzOXzVyw/idUSTRE6620NB20100703 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama, under pressure to spur job growth, said on Saturday two solar energy companies will get nearly $2 billion in U. S. loan guarantees to create as many as 5,000 green jobs. Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/LQZVc5Zj93k/idUSTRE6611VP20100702 LONDON (Reuters) - A Kyoto Protocol scheme may be encouraging projects to emit more greenhouse gases because of incentives to earn carbon offsets from subsequently destroying these, a U. N. report said. Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/5Mhur7gvM-0/idUSTRE6605GN20100701 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Environmentalists and power companies are lobbying U. S. senators to put forward climate and energy legislation that would initially cap greenhouse emissions only from electric utilities, saying it''s the last best chance for passing a bill this year. Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/B7tpEsy5XQk/idUSTRE6600MV20100701 ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (Reuters) - Russia on Wednesday took a big step toward the controversial creation of the world''s first floating nuclear power station, putting a barge that will house the plant into the water. Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/BPCBiKMW5kI/idUSTRE65T67Y20100630 ATHENS (Reuters) - European Union plans to fight climate change until 2020 will cost hundreds of billions of dollars but give scant benefits, a study commissioned by a self- styled "Skeptical Environmentalist" said on Thursday. Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/xzsvaP2VxfM/idUSTRE65S2U920100629 SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia''s influential Greens party has written to new Prime Minister Julia Gillard calling for a A$23 a ton carbon tax after upcoming elections, allowing her time to gain support for a carbon trading scheme. Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/d8J1Poa_VCc/idUSTRE65S2ML20100629 LONDON (Reuters) - Britain needs a green bank to meet its 2020 goals to slash carbon emissions and curb use of fossil fuels, a report commissioned by the Conservative Party said on Tuesday. Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/GyXTFL2ogNA/idUSTRE65S1B220100629 SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Australia''s new leader should ramp up renewable energy use and enshrine tougher energy efficiency standards to fight global warming, leading climate scientists said on Tuesday, describing them as easy policy wins. Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/aPckDB5oXB0/idUSTRE65R38C20100628 CAPE TOWN (Reuters) - The United States would send a positive signal by passing domestic legislation to fight global warming ahead of U. N. climate talks in November, the EU''s climate chief said on Monday. Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/YaleEnvironment360/~3/CF6yx9J-3lc/digest.msp Biofuels produced from algae hold 'significant promise' as an alternative to polluting petroleum- based fuels, but the technology will require years of development before it is ready to be deployed at a large- scale, commercial level, according to a U. S. Department of Energy report. The 'National Algal Biofuels Technology Roadmap' identifies the state of the technology and the challenges facing researchers, engineers, and policymakers in the advancement of algal biofuels. 'Many years of both basic and applied science and engineering will likely be needed to achieve affordable, scalable, and sustainable CCMPThe microalgae Botryococcus algal- based fuels,' the report says. Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/YaleEnvironment360/~3/xV6wa6Ht6b0/digest.msp After a meeting between President Obama and a bipartisan group of U. S. senators, leading Senate proponents of climate and energy legislation say the only climate bill with a chance of passage this year would be a measure placing a cap on the carbon dioxide emissions of electric power utilities. At least two Republican senators - Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe, both of Maine - involved in Tuesday''s meeting with Obama said they would support placing a cap and price on the CO2 emissions of utilities, provided that most or all of the proceeds were rebated to taxpayers. A key sponsor of climate and energy legislation in the Senate, John Kerry (D- Mass), suggested he might be willing to drop his move to place a cap and a price on CO2 emissions throughout the economy in favor of a more limited bill capping the emissions of electric ... Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://sudburystar.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2651495 Two of Sudbury''s so- called green schools are getting national and international attention. The Rainbow District School Board announced Walden Public School will be showcased next year at an international conference on sustainability.[...] Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://www.dailyadvance.com/news/blow-baby-blow-25723 Plans to build a $50 million wind farm in Currituck will begin by measuring wind speeds, and if the readings are positive, North Carolina may be on the way to having its first wind farm, says a businessman who is taking steps to start the process. Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/266/f/3780/s/b7e93a9/l/0L0Sindependent0O0Cnews0Cbusiness0Cnews0Cregulation0Eis0Eholding0Eback0Egreen0Epower0Esays0Edrax0E20A151230Bhtml/story01.htm Europe''s biggest coal- fired power station is calling for changes to the Government''s renewable energy regulations to enable Drax to convert one of its six coal generators to run on biomass. Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/266/f/3780/s/b79228e/l/0L0Sindependent0O0Cenvironment0Cclimate0Echange0Cemission0Ecuts0Ethreatened0Eby0Eeconomic0Erecovery0E20A141180Bhtml/story01.htm Britain is not on course to meet its climate change targets for reducing carbon emissions, the Government is bluntly warned today. Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/266/f/3780/s/b755a4f/l/0L0Sindependent0O0Cenvironment0Cclimate0Echange0Cpound80A0Ecost0Eof0Ehidden0Etaxes0Eto0Ecombat0Eclimate0Echange0E20A133580Bhtml/story01.htm Households are typically being charged more than £80 a year in hidden taxes to help combat the impact of climate change, research suggested today. Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R Christian Science Monitor. Gulf Oil Gusher: Methane, Climate & Dead Zones. Huffington Post (blog) This makes vast releases of methane very powerful "positive feedback" loops that accelerate global warming. Dead zones are large regions of water that are ...Gulf Oil Spill Methane Release and Mass Extinction Events, How Bad Could It Get? The Market Oracleall 18 Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://www.greenbiz.com/business/research/report/2010/07/01/benchmarking-air-emissions-100-largest-electric-power-producers-united-st This report ranks the nation''s 100 largest power producers on four pollutants: carbon dioxide (CO2), sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx) and mercury, all of which are linked to environmental and public health issues. Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/blowing-away-consensus-20100702-zu70.html Australia''s biggest wind farm lowered our greenhouse gas emissions last year, but still, people don' t like it. Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100703/ap_on_re_us/us_nixon_library_documents YORBA LINDA, Calif. " Documents released Friday by the Nixon Presidential Library show members of President Richard Nixon''s inner circle discussing the possibilities of global warming more than 30 years ago. Adviser Daniel Patrick Moynihan, notable as a Democrat in the administration, urged the administration to initiate a worldwide system of monitoring carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, decades before the issue of global warming came to the public''s attention. There is widespread agreement that carbon dioxide content will rise 25 percent by 2000, Moynihan wrote in a September 1969 memo. "This could increase the average temperature near the earth''s surface by 7 degrees Fahrenheit," he wrote. Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/science_and_environment/10506283.stm A Dutch inquiry into the UN climate science panel backs its main findings, but calls for more transparency. Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/science_and_environment/10507144.stm The unanswered questions from 'climategate' Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/business/10505423.stm The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has cost BP a total of $3.12bn to date, the company says, up $500m from last week. Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/PRMLpd6GMeM/ Transocean, the company that owns the failed Deepwater Horizon rig that caused the Gulf oil spill, used well- known tax havens in the Cayman Islands and Switzerland to lower its U. S. corporate tax rate by almost 15 points. And, as TP reports, due to a break in the U. S. tax code, BP was also allowed to write off the rent it paid to Transocean on its own tax bill, saving it hundreds of thousands of dollars per day: The owner, Transocean, moved its corporate headquarters from Houston to the Cayman Islands in 1999 and then to Switzerland in 2008, maneuvers that also helped it avoid taxes. Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/cHMjelIV4BI/ When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bonds which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of Nature and of Nature''s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be self- evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/kTigRkC48Uk/ A carbon- pricing plan will decrease our dependence on foreign oil, create American jobs, lower energy bills, and protect our environment. This will be the measure of a real bill, and I' m prepared to fight to get this done, following the strategy Winston Churchill laid out at the outbreak of World War II: 'Never give in, never give in - never, never, never, never.' That''s the rousing final paragraph of a column by the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in Foreign Policy, titled, 'Whatever it takes.' Here''s more: Climate instability and our oil addiction present immediate, direct threats to America''s national security. Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/J-ZcUJlny7o/ In his weekly radio, the President announced he was putting $2 billion into two solar energy projects, including Concentrated solar thermal with storage (aka solar baseload). CSP remains 'The technology that will save humanity.' And we are seeing more and more plants in various phases of construction (see 'Total of 8500 MW of CSP planned for 2014 in U. S. alone'). The easiest way to deal with the intermittency of the sun is cheap storage - and thermal storage is much cheaper and has a much higher round- trip efficiency than electric storage. Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://liberalconspiracy.org/2010/07/05/nuclear-power-is-unpopular/ contribution by Leo New polling sheds some light both on where the public stand in terms of different power options, and on the impact of arguments that make nuclear seem more attractive. The polls are useful for understanding public attitudes towards nuclear power in two ways: they indicate how people regard nuclear at the moment, and they also help show the impact of arguments for nuclear power. At a basic level, nuclear power is currently pretty much the least popular form of power generation in the UK. 1. When asked favourability towards different sources, it comes in at the bottom of the pile " around the same place as both coal and gas. Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://liberalconspiracy.org/2010/07/05/a-crisis-of-capitalism-in-simple-animation/ The left should be in the ascendancy following a crisis of capitalism, but it is not. The right is leading for a number of reasons but just one of the problems for the left is that the narratives and explanations it offers tend to be more complicated than those offered by the right. When David Cameron describes the UK''s debt as an overdraft it doesn' t matter that he''s wrong, it is easy to understand. When a Government''s finances are compared to a households it is intelligible to all whereas thinking about the public sector deficit as a mirror image of a private sector surplus seems counter- intuitive. Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/07/04/96966/report-oceans-deteriorating-health.html A sobering new report warns that the oceans face a "fundamental and irreversible ecological transformation" not seen in millions of years as greenhouse gases and climate change already have affected temperature, acidity, sea and oxygen levels, the food chain and possibly major currents that could alter global weather. The report, in Science magazine, brings together dozens of studies that collectively paint a dismal picture of deteriorating ocean health. Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://resourceinsights.blogspot.com/2010/07/complexity-gurus-and-our-margins-of.html Human societies have long relied on specialists to help in complex matters involving the natural and human- built worlds. Ptolemaic astronomers used what would seem to us moderns as a needlessly complex Earth- centered system to explain the heavens and predict celestial events. And yet, they were amazingly accurate. Complex societies of the past have employed specialists in war, statecraft, engineering, agriculture, shipbuilding, and a variety of other tasks that would be difficult to accomplish without in- depth knowledge. And, yet these specialists typically lived not within societies that were managed along completely rational principles. Instead, the role of religion was far more prominent that it is today and tightly interwoven with the workings of the state. Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/iLjlpND0SpM/idUSTRE66417R20100705 BEIJING (Reuters) - China will host an extra round of international negotiations in October aimed at fostering agreement over a new climate treaty, the United Nations' top environment official said in remarks published on Monday. Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://www.europeanvoice.com/article/2010/07/the-heat-age/68417.aspx The past 12 months have been the hottest since measurements began, in keeping with trends that have, for the past 35 years, shown global warming unfolding as predicted by science. Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://sify.com/news/scrubbing-co2-from-air-could-be-a-long-term-commitment-news-international-khcpOfdcfej.html Scientists at the Carnegie Institution have said that while scrubbing carbon dioxide from the air could reduce green house effect, the carbon cycle would limit the effectiveness of a Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://sify.com/news/halting-carbon-dioxide-emissions-cannot-avert-climate-change-news-international-khdqkchbhac.html With carbon dioxide (CO2) in the air approaching alarming levels, even halting emissions altogether may not be enough to avert catastrophic climate change. Could scrubbing carbon dioxide from the air be a viable solution? Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://www.dentonrc.com/sharedcontent/dws/drc/localnews/stories/DRC_Trees_0705.10afa43d5.html DRC/ Barron Ludlum Dead trees line Interstate 35W near Pilot Knob in Denton, on land owned by Fort Worth- based development company Hillwood. The landowner said mesquite trees are being killed off to make way for cattle. Usually, not even a scorching, bone- dry Texas summer can kill a mesquite. The native tree is known for its skill at surviving drought and 100-degree heat. So when groves of them ... Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://uk.news.yahoo.com/22/20100705/tot-environment-us-biofuels-europe-4b7b872.html The messages are tense angry cajoling. Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/05/business/global/05warm.html?bl Experts worry that as Chinas 1.3 billion people clamor for more cars and creature comforts, international efforts to limit global warming could be doomed. Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38064137/ns/technology_and_science-science/ Forget auto emissions and power plants. Humans may have contributed to climate change more than 10,000 years ago, according to a new study. Climate change - Environment - 8th millennium BC - Activism - Organizations Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1887334/nitrogen_pollution_alters_global_change_scenarios_from_the_ground_up/index.html?source=r_science Scientists find excess nitrogen favors plants that respond poorly to rising CO2As atmospheric carbon dioxide levels rise, so does the pressure on the plant kingdom. The hope among policymakers, scientists and concerned citizens is that plants will absorb some of the extra CO2 and mitigate the impacts of climate change. For a few decades now, researchers have hypothesized about one major ... Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128235773&ft=1&f=1007 The Papuan glacier region, which lies along the fringe of the world''s warmest ocean, have been called an unexplored "missing link" in climate change patterns. It is this area that generates El Nino disturbances and influences climate from India''s monsoons to the Amazon''s droughts. Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1887313/coccolithophore_growth_and_calcification_rates__a_possible_role_for/index.html?source=r_science Lack of sufficient iron may be a significant factor in controlling massive blooms of Emiliania huxleyi, a globally important species of marine algae or phytoplankton, according to research led by researchers at the National Oceanography Centre (NOC) in Southampton. Emiliania huxleyi is a species of coccolithophore found in oceans all around the world, from the tropics to the Arctic Ocean ... Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/business/csiro-in-bed-with-big-coal-20100702-zu2i.html Questions are being raised about the closeness of BHP Billiton and the CSIRO under its chief executive, Megan Clark. A former technology vice- president at BHP, Clark was appointed in 2008 and is regarded as a straight shooter. Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/851/f/10845/s/b7e98a5/l/0L0Sirishtimes0N0Cnewspaper0Cireland0C20A10A0C0A70A10C122427370A69930Bhtml/story01.htm SCIENTISTS NEED to emerge from their ivory towers and communicate the risks of climate change more clearly to an increasingly sceptical public, a conference in Dublin was told yesterday. Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://news.goldseek.com/JohnBrowne/1278104518.php By: John Browne Senior Market Strategist, Euro Pacific Capital, Inc. Last week, global attention was focused on Toronto as the G-20 gathered to confront the growing financial and economic worries darkening the global economic horizon. Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://www.dailystatesman.com/story/1647177.html COLUMBIA - June temperatures were the warmest on average since 1953, according to a University of Missouri climatologist. "You have to go back 57 years to find a warmer June," said Pat Guinan with... Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://www.usnews.com/articles/science/2010/7/2/switching-off-your-lights-has-a-bigger-impact-than-you-might-think-says-new-study.html?s_cid=rss:switching-off-your-lights-has-a-bigger-impact-than-you-might-think-says-new-study Switching off lights could have a much bigger impact on reducing emissions than previously thought. Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://www.oldham-chronicle.co.uk/news-features/8/news-headlines/43647/watersupply-worry FEARS about future water- supply problems in the North- West have been voiced by an Oldham Euro- MP. It follows news that Oldhamers could face a hosepipe ban after water- authority chiefs applied for a drought permit following the driest start to a year since 1929. Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://news.yahoo.com/s/mcclatchy/20100704/sc_mcclatchy/3555649_1 WASHINGTON A sobering new report warns that the oceans face a "fundamental and irreversible ecological transformation" not seen in millions of years as greenhouse gases and climate change already have affected temperature, acidity, sea and oxygen levels, the food chain and possibly major currents that could alter global weather. Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/07/05/energy-needs-of-chinas-consumers-swamping-efficiency-gains/ China''s fast- growing consumer class is swamping the government''s efforts to cut energy waste. Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jul/05/hate-mail-climategate Vitriolic campaign targets American scientists following leak of climate unit emails. Climate scientists in the US say police inaction has left them defenceless by in the face of a torrent of death threats and hate mail, leaving them fearing for their lives and one to contemplate arming himself with a handgun. The scientists say the threats have increased since the furore over leaked emails from the University of East Anglia began last November, and a sample of the hate mail sent in recent months and seen by the Guardian reveals the scale and vitriolic tone of the abuse. The scientists revealed they have been told to "go gargle razor blades" and have been described as "Nazi climate murderers". Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/video/2010/jul/05/environment-heather-rogers-green-gone-wrong Video: Author Heather Rogers argues that the market logic of capitalism is undermining the green movement Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jul/04/climatechange-hacked-emails-muir-russell After the hacked emails scandal scientists became 'more upfront, open and explicit about their uncertainties' QA: Fred Pearce on the hacked climate science emails Guardian debate: Was 'climategate' the greatest scandal to hit climate science or a mere storm in a teacup? Join a panel of experts for a live debate in London on 14 July. Science has been changed forever by the so- called "climategate" saga, leading researchers have said ahead of publication of an inquiry into the affair " and mostly it has been changed for the better. This Wednesday sees the publication of the Muir Russell report into the conduct of scientists from the University of East Anglia''s Climatic Research Unit (CRU), whose emails caused a furore in November after they were hacked into and published online. Critics say the emails reveal evasion of freedom of information law, secret deals done during the writing of reports ... Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jul/04/lucy-siegle-not-easy-being-green-petrol-oil-green Petrol companies: choosing the best of an oily bunch. Now that we' ve all seen the pelicans smothered in crude oil courtesy of BP''s deepwater drilling project in the Gulf of Mexico " a visceral depiction of the reality of humankind''s addiction to hydrocarbons " the forecourt becomes a moral maze. "Ethical petrol" is an oxymoron of some magnitude. From the small- scale " Esso''s pet tiger Tessa apparently died in a bare concrete enclosure in a shopping mall " to the large- scale, including Exxon. Mobil''s funding of climate- change denial and Total''s links to the Burmese regime, there''s plenty of fuel for criticism. Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://www.joabbess.com/2010/07/05/what-we-have-here-is-a-failure-to-regulate/ Video Credit : Gasland the Movie The ever- vigilant and fair Rowena Mason at the Daily Telegraph dives deep into the Shale Gas (Gas Shale) story with a piece featuring a trailer for the new Gasland film :- [link] finance/ rowenamason/100006602/shale- gas- pollution- fears- leave- americans- with- another- energy- headache/ 'Shale gas pollution fears leave Americans with another energy headache : By Rowena Mason Energy Last updated: June 23rd, 2010 : Still politically scorched from BP''s giant Gulf of Mexico spill, it couldn' t be a worse time for America''s oil giants to find themselves roasting in another environmental firestorm. Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://www.joabbess.com/2010/07/04/dont-believe-the-heat/ Don' t believe that the globe is warming up ? Not even after scanning the available sources ? Well, that''s probably down to the failure of your public and private Media, who are, for the most part, seemingly institutionally incapable of telling the full unexpurgated facts :- [link]?p=5505 '19 June 2010 : Contrary to the impression you might have gained from the media, the global climate is NOT cooling. In fact, the last twelve months, June 2009 " May 2010, has been the hottest June- May period on record, in both the 31-year satellite record of lower atmosphere global temperature and the 131-year surface global temperature record. Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://www.joabbess.com/2010/07/05/fiat-lux-fiat-sola/ Video Credit : Journeyman Pictures Big green energy news of the month : President Barack Obama of the United States of America has announced direct investment into solar :- [link]2010/07/04/obama- solar- pv- csp/ [link] business/2010/jul/04/obama- hands- solar- firms-2bn Let there be light in the soul, and solar energy in the land. This looks like a tipping point. Let''s flip some more trip switches in our personal networks and get the oil- producing bloc in the Middle East to see the value of going wind and solar (instead of expensive, risky Nuclear) :- [link]591358-qatar- awaits- new- solar- wind- tech- before- investment [link]/www. gizmag. com/ shams-1-concentrated- solar- power- plant/15389/ ... Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Russian-Heatwave-Hundreds-Drown-While-Trying-To-Cool-Off-In-Rivers-And-Lakes/Article/201007115659798 Sky News. Russian Heatwave: Hundreds Drown Cooling Off. Sky News. As temperatures soared to record-breaking highs, hitting 37C in central regions, sweltering Russians have been throwing themselves into rivers and lakes to cope with the heat. Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Asia/Story/STIStory_549812.html BEIJING - HOT weather, with temperature expected to hit 40 degrees Celsius, continues to scorch many parts of China. At least 16 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities are sweltering in summer heat, said the National Meteorological Center (NMC) which issued a level yellow heat alert on Monday. Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R City set to sizzle during heatwave summer. Lancashire Evening Post. Temperatures are set to soar this summer - with Preston named as one of the hottest places in the UK in July and August. The North West is set to have an ... Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://gospain.about.com/b/2010/07/04/spain-heatwave-to-hit-41c.htm Spain Heatwave to Hit 41°CAbout - News Issues (blog) The heatwave hitting Europe at the moment is likely to reach 41°C - that''s a massive 106°F! Andalusia, Extremadura and inland areas will be worst hit, ... Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010\07\04\story_4-7-2010_pg9_4 A towering cake vying to be the world's biggest lasted one day outdoors in Paris, brought down not by ravenous sweets lovers but a sweltering heatwave in the French capital, organisers said. It seems the so-called 'Tour sans Faim' (Tower without Hunger), standing 7.82 metres tall, had to be taken down because it was starting to look more like the leaning Tower of Pisa. A temperature of more than 30 degrees Celsius made the big pastry tower rather soft and unstable. Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://www.dailystar.co.uk/posts/view/142910/Britain-heatwave-set-to-continueBritain-heatwave-set-to-continue BRITAIN'S heatwave is set to continue with scorching temp-eratures forecast for the rest of July and August. Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://wcbstv.com/topstories/beach.heat.holiday.2.1788241.html Holiday Heatwave Sends New Yorkers To The Beach. WCBS- TV New York. It''s been four years since New Yorkers have seen this many days in a row of near 100 degree weather. Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://feeds.grist.org/click.phdo?i=50b370229a60941607cae9f16994b64c by David Roberts. Last week, I took part in a debate at Salon. com on the merits of pricing carbon (and related matters). My debate opponent was Steve Everley, manager of policy research at American Solutions and a contributing author to To Save America: Stopping Obama''s Secular- Socialist Machine, by Newt Gingrich. Salon has graciously agreed to let us republish the debate here. There will be four installments. You can read Monday''s exchange here; Tuesday''s here. Day three consisted of several rapid- fire back- and- forths, which I kicked off. David Roberts: I found your answer on climate change somewhat unsatisfying. Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R The Guardian. Who''s who in the UEA hacked emails controversy over climate change? The Guardian... on climate change, describing them as scientifically dubious and economically ruinous. Founded the Global Warming Policy Foundation in late 2009. ...The climate scandal that never was. New Scientist (blog) all 16 Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2010/07/a-simple-recipe-for-ghe/ According to some recent reports (e. g. Planet. Ark; The Guardian), the public concern about global warming may be declining. It''s not clear whether this is actually true: a poll conducted by researchers at Stanford suggests otherwise. In any case, the science behind climate change has not changed (also see America''s Climate Choices), but there certainly remains a problem in communicating the science to the public. This makes me think that perhaps a new simple mental picture of the situation is needed. We can look at climate models, and they tell us what we can expect, but it is also useful to have an idea of why increased greenhouse gas concentrations result in higher surface temperatures. Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/sGVlfHdfra4/ The drumbeat of public support for comprehensive clean energy and global warming policies beats louder every day. The latest Wall Street Journal- NBC Poll found overwhelming support for comprehensive clean energy legislation that includes carbon pollution reductions. It also registered that cleaning up the BP oil disaster and energy reform is the number two priority of Americans. Finally, it registered another drop in support for the expansion of offshore oil drilling. CAP's Daniel J. Weiss has the details: The WSJ- NBC poll was conducted by respected pollsters Bill Mc. Inturff (R) and Peter Hart (D). Mc. Inturff was John Mc. Cain's presidential pollster in 2008. Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST 27th June 2010 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/J04VX7Rrm9U/ Comparative traffic rankings are always dicey - certainly Alexa.com is unreliable. Compete.com is considered perhaps the best available. Click on image for larger figure of ranking over 12 months, which shows the rise and fall of the anti- science crowd. Back on March 26, Watts wrote, 'Traffic has slowed from about half of what it was during the heady days of Climategate and Copenhagen in December, but I note that this is not unique to WUWT, as other climate blogs have also experienced similar drops since then' (see Hits charade: Watts. UpWith. That hypes itself with dubious webstats, while lowballing other blogs). Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://www.culturechange.org/cms/content/view/659/63/ Editor's note: this is a chance for reader feedback for an important work in progress. We live amidst multiple crises -- economic and political, cultural and ecological -- that pose a significant threat to human life as we understand it. There is no way to be awake to the depth of these crises without an emotional reaction. Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/YaleEnvironment360/~3/957zKuUFcqw/feature.msp Large corporations, not small- scale farmers, are now the major forces behind the destruction of the world's tropical forests. From the Amazon to Madagascar, activists have been directing their actions at these companies - so far with limited success. BY RHETT BUTLER Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/YaleEnvironment360/~3/7C0PjA8YI_U/digest.msp The size of a bird's bill is linked to climate because of the role that bills play in maintaining body temperature, according to a new study. After examining 214 species of birds - including toucans, parrots, Canadian gamebirds, and penguins - researchers at the University of Melbourne and at Brock University in Canada found that birds with larger bills tend to be found in warmer climates, while birds that have to deal with colder climates have evolved smaller bills. 'This suggests that there is an evolutionary connection between the size of the birds' bills and their role in heat management,' said Matt Symonds, professor of zoology at the University of Melbourne and lead author of the study, published in the journal American Naturalist. Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/innovation/06/24/biomimicry.animals/index.html?section=cnn_latest The innate characteristics of animals, birds and insects are helping inform a growing number of science and engineering projects all over the world. Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://www.wickedlocal.com/cambridge/news/x1740774992/Guest-commentary-After-Gulf-disaster-an-opportunity-to-change I visited to New Orleans last week. While there, I took a trip out to the swamp and marshlands, something I' ve done several times over the past year, but this time I got to speak to residents about the Gulf oil disaster. Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/sSgz7VLBaNA/idUSTRE65N4DY20100624 AGADIR, Morocco (Reuters) - More whales are being killed by chemical and noise pollution, entanglement in nets, climate change or collisions with ships than by whaling itself, delegates to the world's main whaling body said this week. Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/c30-dMn2Ycw/idUSN1416392020100624 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration suffered a setback on Thursday in its efforts to keep its six- month ban on new deepwater drilling after the worst oil spill in U. S. history. Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/tmX1gOxc2y8/idUSTRE65N2S020100624 SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - California environmentalists opened fire on Wednesday on a measure approved for the state's November ballot that would roll back a landmark law regulating greenhouse gas emissions. Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/VQpPnsKXQtk/idUSTRE65N0W620100624 SYDNEY (Reuters) - New Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard moved to revive a stalled carbon trading scheme on Thursday, pledging more consultation with industry and voters to win support for an issue that has split the nation. Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/hScgL2SRPIQ/idUSTRE65M03820100623 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration said on Tuesday it postponed a meeting with senators set for Wednesday to discuss the process for passing comprehensive energy and climate legislation this year. Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/Oz_kzFHvgFo/idUSTRE65L5NA20100622 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - World climate talks set for November in Mexico could make progress on how poorer states cope with global warming, but more wins are needed at the table to produce a big breakthrough at the long- running talks, a senior World Bank official said. Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/NaU_eHL0a8k/idUSTRE65L6IA20100622 CHICAGO (Reuters) - As much as 1 million times the normal level of methane gas has been found in some regions near the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, enough to potentially deplete oxygen and create a dead zone, U. S. scientists said on Tuesday. Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/JaFq2bSbAz4/idUSTRE65M2J220100623 CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) - Canada will phase out older coal- fired power plants to cut the country's greenhouse gas emissions, Environment Minister Jim Prentice said on Wednesday, as it moves to make natural- gas fired plants the new clean- power standard. Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/22/arctic-ice-forecasters-split-on-summer-retreat/ Arctic experts are split on whether this summer will see an epic ice retreat, but agree on a long- term trend toward more open water. Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/23/money-in-the-greenhouse/ Oil companies succeed in pushing for a California ballot initiative that would suspend the state's climate law. Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://www.theecologist.org/green_green_living/home/512996/how_to_green_your_flat_on_the_cheap.html Small, inexpensive changes can add up to big savings when it comes to greening a rental property Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_round_up/509572/scottish_climate_activists_in_the_dock_hope_to_set_legal_precedent.html Climate activists who broke into Aberdeen Airport hope to convince jury their actions were justified in preventing larger crime of runaway climate change Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://energybulletin.net/node/53224 The list of Meatless Monday supporters continues to grow across the globe, and surprisingly to some, many of the latest enthusiasts make their living either cooking meat, such as chef Mario Batali or producing it, like rancher Nicolette Hahn Niman. What makes Meatless Monday so successful is its simple and inclusive message which promotes moderation with the goal of improving public health and the health of the planet. read more Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/15060555/1il8ri/alternet_environment~A-Louisiana-Tea-Party-for-More-Oil-Drilling Plenty of non- crazy folks in Louisiana want to keep the oil industry chugging along, but for Louisiana Tea Partiers, it's all about Obama. Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/14966537/1il8ri/alternet_environment~Four-Possible-BPStyle-Extreme-Energy-Nightmares-to-Come The disaster in the Gulf is no anomaly. It's an arrow pointing toward future disasters. Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/georgemonbiot/2010/jun/24/sunday-times-amazongate-ipcc Newspaper has apologised over the IPCC's Amazon claim, but questions remain over how falsehoods made it into print Roy Greenslade: Sunday Times apologises for climate story Forests expert officially complains about 'distorted' article. It's a distressing sight but we' ll have to get used to it: most of the world's prominent climate change deniers skewered on their own sword. The weapon which has turned so cruelly against them is the revelation, paraded in triumph by the egregious fabulist Richard North in January, that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change had "grossly exaggerated the effects of global warming on the Amazon rainforest". The panel's fourth assessment report had claimed that "up to 40% of the Amazonian forests could react drastically to even a slight reduction in precipitation". Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/green-living-blog/2010/jun/24/carbon-footprint-bushfire One season of Australian bushfires can cause as much CO2 as the annual emissions of 5 million Australians or 50 million Chinese people More carbon footprints: nuclear war, cycling a mile, more Understand more about carbon footprints. The carbon footprint of the 2009 Australian bushfires:165 million tonnes CO2eIf you were looking for the single most carbon- intensive thing you could do in your live, starting a bushfire would be a fairly good candidate. That one strike of a match could make your footprint many thousands of times greater than most people achieve over their lifetimes. The estimate given above is for the catastrophic "Black Saturday" bushfires in Australia last year. Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/24/artists-bp-protest-tate Good Crude Britannia will picket Tate Britain's summer party on Monday, as the gallery celebrates 20 years of BP's sponsorship. Artists, musicians and green activists plan to step up protests against BP's sponsorship of Britain's most prestigious galleries and museums in the wake of the Gulf oil catastrophe. A group calling itself Good Crude Britannia, made up of artists, poets, writers and filmmakers, will picket Tate Britain's summer party next Monday which is billed by the gallery as celebrating 20 years of BP's sponsorship. Many of Europe's leading artists, donors and cultural supporters are expected to be greeted at the glittering annual event by Lord Browne of Madingley, chair of the Tate and former head of BP. The planned demonstration follows protests this week by a group of artists calling themselves the Greenwash Guerrillas who distributed leaflets outside the National portrait gallery at a BP- sponsored arts event. Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/jun/24/drought-north-west-england Water firm to apply for drought permit after driest start to year since 1929, while Scotland also faces water shortages. Areas of north- west England hit only seven months ago by floods which swept away bridges and turned streets into rivers, are now threatened with hosepipe bans and drought orders after the driest start to the year in almost a century, while householders in Scotland are facing their first drought order in five years. Many reservoirs in Cumbria are only two- thirds full, with levels falling fast after the least winter and spring rainfall since 1929. The regional water company, United Utilities, would like to see days, if not weeks, of heavy rain to top them up. The region traditionally has the highest rainfall in the country but has fewer natural underground water supplies, leaving it more dependent on manmade surface storage. Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/24/julia-gillard-australia-carbon-trading New Australian PM pledges more consultation with industry and voters to win support for an issue that has divided the nation. Australia's new prime minister, Julia Gillard, today moved to revive a stalled carbon trading scheme, pledging more consultation with industry and voters to win support for an issue that has divided the nation. Gillard, in her first comments to the media after former prime minister Kevin Rudd stepped down earlier on Thursday, said she believed in climate change, backed renewable energy and that the nation needed a price on carbon emissions. But she also said emissions trading laws would lead to a significant structural shift in the resources- rich nation and they needed to be explained properly to the community."It is as disappointing to me as it is to millions of Australians that we do not have a price on carbon," Gillard told reporters."And in the future ... Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/audio/2010/jun/24/geothermal-energy-pennines-ecovillage Martin Wainwright reports from the Pennines on a new project to raise hot water from granite rock. Martin Wainwright Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cif-green/2010/jun/24/water-shortage-pricing-south-africa South Africa recognises that not all water use is a basic human right. The rest of us should follow. Arguably, no country understands the water crisis better than South Africa. The Rainbow Nation has had to confront head- on an issue that others are only now beginning to wake up to. It's fair to say that there aren' t many countries that include a reference to the right to access water in their constitutions. Our planet's attitude towards water is wholly unsustainable. Global water requirements are expected to grow by over 50% over the next 20 years, according to a recent report by Mc. Kinsey for the 2030 Water Resources Group, of which Nestlé is a member. Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/24/huhne-renewable-energy-security Energy and climate change secretary says green energy can play vital part in UK's future energy security. Chris Huhne, the energy and climate change secretary, warned last night that the threat to gas supplies from the political row between Russia and Belarus highlighted once again the desperate need for Britain to build up a low- carbon energy policy and domestic energy security through new wind farms " and possibly nuclear reactors. Huhne said it was also vital that Britain was better protected from any "big shocks" arising from huge increases in the price of oil, as companies such as BP were forced into increasingly environmentally sensitive areas. The European gas market has been repeatedly disrupted by rows between Moscow and its former Soviet neighbours, which have led to cuts in Siberian supplies reaching the continent, triggering a sudden cut in imports to Britain. Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/23/uk-emission-cuts-airport-protest-trial Climate scientist giving evidence for the Plane Stupid defence says 80% target will not prevent 'dangerous' climate change. Government plans to cut UK carbon emissions by 80% over the next 40 years are not radical enough to prevent "dangerous" climate change, a trial of nine climate protesters heard today. The climate scientist Dr Alice Bows, a specialist from the Tyndall centre for climate change research, also told a jury that the growth in aviation was a "big issue" because its emissions caused particular harm at higher altitude. Bows was giving evidence for the defence at the trial of nine members of the Plane Stupid protest group, who were facing breach of the peace and vandalism charges for occupying Aberdeen airport and disrupting flights in March last year. The jury at Aberdeen sheriff court heard yesterday that thevandalism charges against all nine accused " five men and four women " had been ... Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/23/geo-thermal-project-pennines-breakthrough Geothermal project promises limitless recyclable supplies for housing in Eastgate, Co Durham. Warm as bathwater, the first gusher from Britain's new "underground central heating system" showered over a Pennine field today, while scientists and engineers applauded. Tapped a kilometre down, hot reservoirs in granite fissures below Weardale are set to service a new "eco- village" in the valley, and provide the country's first naturally warm spa since the Romans at Bath. The breakthrough has overcome obstacles dogging other geothermal projects with a twin borehole system which recirculates the water, avoiding costly treatment or polluted run- off. Limitless supplies from the hot aquifers will be pumped up one borehole, piped through the new housing at Eastgate, near Stanhope in County Durham, and then returned down a second borehole for rewarming by low- level radiation in the rocks."The system works in just the same way as central heating constantly circulates between a ... Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/23/india-barack-obama-bhopal Barack Obama's tough stand on Gulf oil spill contrasts with lack of action on Bhopal, campaigners say. Indians have reacted with fury to President Barack Obama's tough stance against BP, accusing the US of double standards over industrial accidents after the failure to convict Americans involved in the Bhopal disaster of 1984 or to obtain what many view as adequate compensation for victims. The anger goes beyond that of campaigners or activists with some of India's best- known writers and journalists weighing in."It looks like Indian children's lives are cheaper than [those of] fish," Chetan Bhagat, the country's best- selling writer, said. Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2010/jun/22/maurice-strong-interview-global-government Read the full transcript of former UNEP boss and environmentalist Maurice Strong's interview with Leo Hickman Post your comments on the news story. What's your reaction to how your name has been used and abused over the years? I've got used to criticisms and, naturally, I try to make sure I don' t listen to the more extreme ones because most of the people who have taken their rightwing extremist view of my life are people that I' ve never met. Most of my supporters are people who actually know me. I just continue to do the best I can and I don' t bother to try and respond to every little bit because the best response is just to keep on doing what you think is right. Is this a phenomenon that has happened over the past decade or so during the internet age, or have you attracted criticism all your career stretching ... Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://liberalconspiracy.org/2010/06/24/the-campaign-to-stop-vote-reform-is-kicking-off-we-have-to-fight-back/ contribution by Andy May I know its slightly obsessive to be talking voting reform after a pretty depressing budget day, but given its now my job at Take Back Parliament please humour me. This story in the Guardian on the coming voting reform referendum caught my eye. The soon to be 'No to AV' campaign are organising " and they' ve recruited Lynton Crosby. The appointment of Lynton Crosby shows serious steps are already being taken by the nascent 'No to AV' campaign. It brings us to an important question " who will support the 'Yes'? Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://www.joabbess.com/2010/06/24/threatening-correspondence/ I thought I' d seen enough Climate Change denial- sceptic tactics to be able to spot a payload, but no. I' ve just been sucked into the maelstrom again, by taking the time and trouble to reply to somebody that wrote a couple of e- mails " someone who appeared to be asking genuine questions " only to find that as the exchanges continued, my correspondent became increasingly agitated, incoherent and threatening. Was it something I said ? I don' t think so. I was trying to be as helpful and polite as possible. I think the person had an agenda. Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://www.joabbess.com/2010/06/22/the-daily-telegraph-do-not-resuscitate/ Do not resuscitate the Climate Change denier- sceptic body of non- science " do not even attempt to. That is the message from a major study from the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) in the United States of America :- [link] content/ early/2010/06/04/1003187107.abstract The report heavily critiques the role of the mainstream media in keeping the undead, zombie Climate Change denier- sceptic arguments alive and in the public realm :- 'Despite media tendencies to present both sides in ACC [Anthropogenic Climate Change] debates, which can contribute to continued public misunderstanding regarding ACC, not all climate researchers are equal in scientific credibility and expertise in the climate system. Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2010/06/what-do-climate-scientists-think/ by Gavin and Eric. and why does it matter? There is a lot of discussion this week about a new paper in PNAS (Andregg et al, 2010) that tries to assess the credibility of scientists who have made public declarations about policy directions. This come from a long tradition of papers (and drafts) where people have tried to assess the state of the 'scientific consensus' (Oreskes, Brown et al, Bray and von Storch, Doran and Zimmerman etc.). What has bedevilled all these attempts is that since it is very difficult to get scientists to respond to direct questions (response rates for surveys are pitiful), proxy data of some sort or another are often used that may or may not be useful for the specifics of the 'consensus' being tested (which itself is often not clearly defined). Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news196598637.html Human- driven changes in the earth's atmospheric composition are likely to alter plant diseases of the future. Researchers predict carbon dioxide will reach levels double those of the preindustrial era by the year 2050, complicating agriculture's need to produce enough food for a rapidly growing population. Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news196517113.html Discoveries about tropical coral reefs, to be published on 23 June 2010, are expected to be invaluable in efforts to restore the corals, which are succumbing to bleaching and other diseases at an unprecedented rate as ocean temperatures rise worldwide. The research gives new insights into how the scientists can help to preserve or restore the coral reefs that protect coastlines, foster tourism, and nurture many species of fish. The research, which will be published in the journal PLoS One, was accomplished by an international team whose leaders include Iliana Baums, an assistant professor of biology at Penn State University. Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news196525719.html (Phys. Org. com) -- Scientists from the University of Southampton have confirmed a long- term change in the Earth's upper atmosphere at altitudes where satellites are operating. Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news196518675.html A new $26-million NASA project led by a University of Michigan researcher aims to help clarify how ecosystems exchange carbon with the atmosphere, an important piece of missing knowledge in the quest to understand and predict climate change. Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news196489543.html (Phys. Org. com) -- Eminent Australian scientist Professor Frank Fenner, who helped to wipe out smallpox, predicts humans will probably be extinct within 100 years, because of overpopulation, environmental destruction and climate change. Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://www.theaustralian.com.au/higher-education/frank-fenner-sees-no-hope-for-humans/story-e6frgcjx-1225880091722 FRANK Fenner doesn' t engage in the skirmishes of the climate wars. To him, the evidence of global warming is in. Our fate is sealed. Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100624/ap_on_bi_ge/apfn_us_general_electric_environment_1 General Electric Co. said Thursday that its plan to pour $5 billion in investments into energy efficient and environmentally oriented projects has been met a year ahead of schedule. Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20100622/sc_livescience/canearthsurvive The millions upon millions of gallons of oil hemorrhaging into the Gulf of Mexico every day is a crude reminder of the many ways humans are fouling the planet. As forests are cleared, cities and suburbs paved and expanded, as the air and sea warm and become increasingly polluted with cancer- causing chemicals and garbage, and with species dropping like flies, the planet's health is being ... Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/266/f/3780/s/b5d6f68/l/0L0Sindependent0O0Cnews0Cuk0Chome0Enews0Cdroughthit0Eutility0Efirm0Easks0E0Efor0Emore0Ewater0E20A0A88130Bhtml/story01.htm A utility firm hit by north- west England's driest start to the year since 1929 wants to take more water from lakes and rivers. Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/266/f/3780/s/b577234/l/0L0Sindependent0O0Cenvironment0Cclimate0Echange0Ccar0Efumes0Eraise0Espectre0Eof0E1980As0Erevival0Enobody0Ewantsacid0Erain0E20A0A78350Bhtml/story01.htm Thirty years ago it was one of the great environmental issues, along with the hole in the ozone layer and CFC chemicals. Now acid rain may be making a comeback " but this time, there's a change in the chemicals responsible. Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/blogs/environment/~3/2ZnffxhxN6E/ Much has been written about how solar power could help to solve the energy crisis facing mankind. Ideas range from harnessing the Sahara's heat through parabolic mirrors to transmitting solar energy from space to earth. The Desertec solar project, for example, aims to supply 15 percent of Europe's energy needs by 2050. Yet according to Brussels- based EPIA, the world's biggest solar industry association, more could be achieved some 30 years earlier. Technically, Europe's roofs could meet 40 percent of the EU's electricity demand in ten years from now - at least in theory. 'With a total ground floor area over 22,000 km2, 40 percent of all building roofs and 15 percent of all facades in (the EU' s 27 member states) are suited for PV (photovoltaic) applications,' EPIA wrote. Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/blogs/environment/~3/WZ6elD0gTiQ/ Maryland Public Service Commission highlighted the political resistance smart- metering advocates must overcome when it shot down proposals for compulsory smart metering submitted by Baltimore Gas and Electric Company (BGE). Smart grids are essential for the Obama administration's and power industry's plan to meet rising electricity demand while integrating more renewable generation into the grid. Creating flexibility on the demand side to match increased intermittency in supply is the only way to maintain reliability without having to build enormous amounts of expensive back- up gas- fired generating capacity and disfigure the landscape by installing thousands of miles of transmission lines. Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://feeds.grist.org/click.phdo?i=8992bd722962bc25861ee1c92c869b37 by Jonathan Hiskes. Among the highlights of last fall's G20 summit in Pittsburgh was a joint pledge to phase out wasteful fossil- fuel subsidies (which amount to a dizzying $550 billion worldwide). Now Climate. Wire reports that change may not come as fast as greens would like: President Obama and other heads of state are poised to water down a commitment to phase out oil and gas subsidies, a draft declaration obtained by Climate. Wire shows. The new communiqué indicates that eliminating the estimated $250 billion to $500 billion countries pay to make fossil fuels cheaper to buy and produce will now be 'voluntary' and 'member specific.' Environmental activists with Greenpeace, which leaked the June 11 draft [PDF], argued the changes amount to gutting a promise that was once hailed as a major step in reducing global warming pollution and ... Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://feeds.grist.org/click.phdo?i=57e6c7b8d732dc015f5f944ebdae919a by Seth Shulman. Camille Parmesan studies the effects of global warming by chasing butterflies. Sounds fanciful, but it is anything but. Her careful field observations of butterfly populations have produced compelling evidence of how climate change has already affected our living planet. In several landmark studies, she has helped pave the way for a body of eye- opening research that has tracked changes in numerous populations of plants and animals. It all started back in the early 1990s, when Parmesan was a graduate student happily studying the diet of the Edith's checkerspot butterfly (Euphydryas editha). She was drawn into the field by her love of nature and of the butterflies themselves. Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://feeds.grist.org/click.phdo?i=aee5dd8fdf5295134f32902b0f48884b by Ashley Braun. It really bugs us that there are (naturally) some down sides to renewable energy solutions, such as solar or wind. Which makes the news that the brilliant shine of solar panels is luring some insects to their deaths sting even more. Wasp could be worse than being a thirsty aquatic insect buzzing around in search of a watery oasis but instead beelining for the reflections of PV panels- to the point of death? Thankfully, a little white tape to section off the panels reduces this effect. Good thing too, cuz solar panels would be so much less productive (and so much more gross) if they' re buried under piles of dead bug bodies. Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://feeds.grist.org/click.phdo?i=45f4f4ea6d753532bfd56dee3241e117 by Derek Thompson. There is a reasonably high chance that BP could file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the next few years, or even months, and the result would be an 'absolute horror' for the government, according to a bankruptcy expert. Peter S. Kaufman, the President of investment bank Gordian Group and head of the firm's Restructuring and Distressed M& A practice, told me that if he had BP's ear, 'I' d advise them to explore the option of bankruptcy.' If he had the government's ear, he' d tell them to stop berating the company to the point where BP would find it appealing to use bankruptcy to limit its liabilities. Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://tcktcktck.org/partner-actions/invest-future-now The G8 and G20 are coming to Canada this June to make decisions affecting the future of life on our planet. These twenty powerful leaders need to hear what needs to be done to create a world that is fair and sustainable for all of us. We' re making sure climate change is on the agenda. You can take your place at the negotiating table also with our photo petition! Media Sponsor Logo: Action Link: Sign the G8/G20 Declaration Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://www.weeklytimesnow.com.au/article/2010/06/25/201861_business-news.html PERSISTENT wet weather in Canada's grain belt will wipe millions of tonnes off the global wheat crop. Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://uk.news.yahoo.com/4/20100622/twl-arizona-wildfires-continue-to-rage-41f21e0.html Authorities say an abandoned campfire is likely to have caused the largest of three wildfires burning in northern Arizona. Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://www.nytimes.com/cwire/2010/06/24/24climatewire-defense-experts-want-more-explicit-climate-m-35887.html SAN DIEGO -- While political leaders on Capitol Hill seek definitive answers about how quickly the world's climate will chang... Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://news.scotsman.com/politics/Green-energy-plant-39not-carbon.6378553.jp THE new "green energy" biomass plant proposed for Leith would take at least 40 years to become carbon neutral, according to a new study. Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/torontog20summit/article/827419--canada-commits-400m-to-climate-change-fund Ottawa earns rare praise from environmentalists for contributing to a global fund that will help the developing world deal with climate change Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20100623/COLUMNISTS22/6230410/1008/rss01 As the BP oil disaster poisons the waters off the states where many of them live, Southern Baptists are issuing their most sweeping call ever for something they have long distrusted -- government regulation of the environment. Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://www.canada.com/business/Canada pays 400M global climate projects lessens targets/3190439/story.html The Harper government will invest $400 million in international aid to honour commitments made at the last global climate summit in Copenhagen. Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2010/jun/23/europes-steep-cuts-concern-us/ LONDON A trans- Atlantic rift is growing over the right medicine for Europes financial crisis, with Britain announcing its steepest cuts in decades Tuesday and Germany defending its own austerity measures after a warning by President Barack Obama that budget- slashing could threaten the global recovery. Britains emergency budget is the latest in a string of deep cuts in public spending and ... Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bill-nighy/the-worlds-richest-nation_b_622879.html The world's richest nations are proving themselves to be fair- weather friends to the world's poorest people: unreliable at a time when they are reeling from the economic crisis and food shortages. Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/g8-g20/opinion/all-talk-no-summit-action-on-the-end-to-fossil-fuel-subsidies/article1613875/?cmpid=rss1 Once again how many times has it been? Canadas position on climate change has proved to be an international embarrassment. Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5goC1_a1faNCAWvW2LIlmEJmkU2WAD9GHPK1O5 New York Times (blog) Correction: Climate change story. The Associated Press... Panel on Climate Change, The Associated Press misstated the number of scientists picked by the UN body to write its fifth report on global warming. ...Global warming? 97% of experts agree. OCRegister. How much are we to blame for? mydigitalfc. com. CLIMATE CHANGE: HOW WE COULD 'SURVIVE' GLOBAL WARMINGExpress. co. uk. FavStocks (blog) all 43 Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5h5W-ZIy-HO0peznbwExAG6aPDpRwD9GGUC2G0 Zee News. UN climate panel names authors for 5th report. The Associated Press. GENEVA - The UN science body on climate change has released a list of 831 scientists who will write its fifth report on global warming. ...Study Affirms Consensus on Climate Change. New York Times (blog) Experto Crede: Climate Expertise Lacking among Global Warming Contrarians. Scientific American. Climate Change Researchers: Not all Expertise is Equal. CBS News. WLOS -The Guardian -Telegraph. co. ukall 271 Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/qnvs9NGTL7w/ The federal judge who presided over a challenge to the Obama administration's six- month moratorium on deepwater oil drilling simultaneously owned stock in an oil company affected by the ban, according to a financial disclosure statement released Friday. U. S. District Judge Martin L. C. Feldman sold the stock in Exxon Mobil 14 days after the case was filed in New Orleans by a group of oil service firms - and less than five hours before he struck down the moratorium. I had previously reported 'Judge who ruled against offshore drilling moratorium invests in oil industry' based on his 2008 financial disclosure. Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/elPoe4Ezkos/ As NOAA reported early this month, globally it's the warmest May, spring, and Jan- May on record. Steve Scolnik of Capital Climate put together this U. S. chart: Total number of daily high and low temperature records set in the U. S., data from NOAA National Climatic Data Center, background image © Kevin Ambrose. Includes historical daily observations archived in NCDC's Cooperative Summary of the Day data set and preliminary reports from Cooperative Observers and First Order National Weather Service stations. All stations have a Period of Record of at least 30 years. It's been so hot in DC - 'The official Washington DC temperature of 99° at 2 pm today has already broken the heat record for June 24 set in 1894' - that even the Washington Post noticed. Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://www.culturechange.org/cms/content/view/660/66/ The dominant culture reaches deep inside us like a hidden, secret implant, limiting our behavior and even our ability to think. Fortunately, it can be excised. I have experienced days on end without it, but some people are more prepared than others to appreciate its existence. Leaving the United Paved Precincts of America (a. k.a. the USA) helps a lot. But the ingrained myths of modern society -- especially technology's infallibility in uplifting and amazing us onward to an artificial paradise -- help to close minds. Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/shell/lloC/~3/2yw8-O9J858/ In his speech to the nation last week, President Obama raised the prospect of energy legislation being delivered by the Congress in this session, building on the work of the House of Representatives in 2009. The President said: '. . . . . Last year, the House of Representatives acted on these principles by passing a strong and comprehensive energy and climate bill " a bill that finally makes clean energy the profitable kind of energy for America's businesses. . . . ' But most observers have commented that the 60 votes needed in the Senate to deliver an economy wide cap- and- trade approach are not there. Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/YaleEnvironment360/~3/UJbkPoYM5Fg/digest.msp In this series of images taken in and around the Gulf of Mexico in late June, a team of independent photographers have documented the ongoing fallout from the Deepwater Horizon spill. Collected as part of the TEDx. OilSpill project, the photos - taken from chartered airplanes, fishing boats, and coastal communities across the region - will be shown at a June 28 conference in Washington, D. C. coordinated by Image Gallery. James Duncan Davidson. Effects of the Gulf oil spill TED Conferences, LLC. 'From the source to Gulf Shores [Alabama],' says one of the project participants, 'we saw oil ranging from sheen to much heavier all the way to the coast and as far as the eye can see in both directions... Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/kswSPtN6ipA/idUSTRE65O3Z220100625 SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - California environmentalists opened fire on Wednesday on a measure approved for the state's November ballot that would roll back a landmark law regulating greenhouse gas emissions. Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/b5wjFGRz7zY/idUSTRE65O0ZP20100625 SYDNEY (Reuters) - A group of major investors on Friday urged Australia's new Prime Minister Julia Gillard to take swift action to fight climate change and cut carbon emissions blamed for heating up the planet. Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://johannhari.com//2010/06/24/we-are-all-trapped-in-a-global-oil-slick-now Has our crude awakening begun, at last? It's not just the pelicans of Louisiana that are flapping and flailing in an oil slick " it's all of us. We live permanently doused in petrol. Every time we move further than our feet can carry us, or eat food we didn' t grow, or go shopping, we burn more barrels. Petrol pours off each of us like an invisible sweat. The twentieth century was propelled into the stratosphere on a great gushing geyser of oil, and in the adrenaline- frenzy, nobody wanted to ask where it was coming from, or what it would cost us in the end. Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://www.desmogblog.com/george-monbiot-rips-uk-sunday-times-amazongate-lies-and-stonewalling thumb-316276.jpg Intrepid British journalist George Monbiot has a piece in The Guardian today that absolutely smashes the London Sunday Times' handling of its botched 'Amazongate' story. The Times was forced to retract essentially its entire January article, which badly mischaracterized the work and words of rainforest expert Dr. Simon Lewis, to whom the paper sheepishly apologized earlier this week. Monbiot took some time to try to figure out how the Times could have possibly allowed the sham story to run in the first place, but his efforts were met with aggressive stonewalling by Times' editors, who trampled transparency in order to cover their own behinds. Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_round_up/519334/barclays_bank_british_gas_and_rbs_implicated_in_scandalous_carbon_trading_scheme.html British companies accused of profiting from emissions trading scheme while consumers foot the bill Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/15160445/1itxxu/alternet_environment~iPads-Are-Billed-as-a-Green-Gadget-But-Theres-a-NotSoEco-Catch The iPad may be billed as the greenest- of- the- green- tech gadgets but is it really eco- friendly? Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/15101223/1itxxu/alternet_environment~Obama-Making-BP-Pay-Is-Good-Government-and-Thats-Why-Republicans-and-the-Corporate-Media-Are-Freaking-Out Obama's hardline move on BP is exactly what government is supposed to do; whatever it can, within the limits of the law, to protect its citizens' interests. Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/25/ftse-index-investor-climate-risk "Tilted" index ratings to help investors identify those firms facing the lowest climate risks. With the BP crisis in the Gulf of Mexico having thrown the spotlight on institutional investors' cavalier approach to environmental risk, FTSE Group this week launched new indices designed to help investors track firms' ability to manage climate change risks. The two new indices, the FTSE CDP Carbon Strategy All- Share Index and the FTSE CDP Carbon Strategy 350 Index, have been developed in partnership with the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) investor group and analyst firm ENDS Carbon. The indices work by analysing the carbon strategies and "tilting" their rating based on their exposure to climate change related risks such as proposed carbon pricing mechanisms. Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cif-green/2010/jun/25/double-standards-multinationals-ecological-disasters Developing countries should be able to adopt a 'polluter pays' principle for ecological disasters " just like the US has with BPThe $20bn fund that Barack Obama managed to get BP to agree to set up to meet claims for economic losses and environmental costs from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill is impressive, especially since the amount can be increased. The political pressure so evident also caused BP to temporarily suspend paying dividends. This should set a precedence for how host countries of multinationals take stern action, and executives of multinationals respond to meet their responsibilities " even if only partially. But then the US is a powerful host country indeed, and BP had little choice but to yield given the political pressure and public anger. Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/25/what-climate-scientists-think Attempts to portray the scientific community as fractured and in disagreement have prompted efforts to quantify the credibility of climate scientists, says Gavin Schmidt. Leo Hickman: Why don' t we trust climate scientists? There is a lot of discussion this week about a new paper in PNAS (Andregg et al, 2010) that tries to assess the credibility of scientists who have made public declarations about policy directions. This comes from a long tradition of papers (and drafts) where people have tried to assess the state of the 'scientific consensus' (Oreskes, Brown et al, Bray and von Storch, Doran and Zimmerman etc.). Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jun/26/shanghai-china-superconsumer-big-business With the US sinking in debt, the world's biggest corporations are targeting China. And Shanghai is their beachhead The resident of 550 Huaihai Road in Shanghai is a rather unusual migrant. Born in Wisconsin on 9 March 1959, Barbara Millicent Roberts is the world's most famous supermodel. She drives a Corvette convertible, owns a dream home with a pool, parties with jocks and adores shopping. In the US, she was a prom queen and a role model. In China, she is emerging as an ambassador for consumer culture. Better known as Barbie, this 30cm- tall icon was first sold in China in the early 1990s, but it was not until 2009 that she was given her own home in the retail heartland of Shanghai. Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2010/jun/26/glastonbury-festival-flavoured-climate-change-savings-bonds Investments: Ethical banking and solar power are working in harmony to help power Glastonbury and your savings. This weekend Michael Eavis's farm is playing host to Europe's biggest music festival, but when the 175,000 Glastonbury revellers have gone home and the stages have been dismantled, work will start on a major solar- power project financed by an ethical bank's savers. Bristol- based Triodos Bank has granted a £500,000 loan to Eavis's Worthy Farm, home to the festival, to help pay for the installation of what will be Britain's biggest solar roof. The bank says it is a good example of the type of green project that savers who put their cash in its climate change bonds (which pay interest of up to 3.25%) are supporting. The solar- panel system will be on the roof of the "Mootel" " the barns that are home to the ... Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/24/galleries-museums-summer-protest-bp-arts-sponsorship Prestigious institutions defend links with oil firm as artists and green activists plan action. The summer season of events at Britain's most prestigious galleries and museums will be picketed by artists and green groups intent on portraying BP's arts sponsorship as a toxic brand. Protests are planned next Monday by an eco- alliance styling itself "Good Crude Britannia" at Tate Britain's celebration of its 20-year association with the international oil conglomerate. Climate change activists, artists and musicians opposed to the fossil fuel industry are determined to highlight BP's link to the arts in the context of the company's international embarrassment over the continuing oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. But the main recipients of BP's corporate largesse " the Royal Opera House, Tate Galleries, British Museum and the National Portrait Gallery " today issued a joint statement defending the connection and signalling their determination to preserve the commercial relationship. ... Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://www.joabbess.com/2010/06/25/roger-harrabin-one-degree-is-not-enough/ I' ve been letting my peers know of my displeasure regarding the article in New Scientist by the BBC journalist Roger Harrabin :- =x= x=x= x=x= Hi Guys, Just thought I' d run the flag up for the fact that an allegedly sceptical journalist, Roger Harrabin, has written a poor opinion piece in the popular science magazine New Scientist. Annoyed ? We could perhaps be :- [link]2010/06/25/roger- harrabin- two- degrees- short- of- accuracy/ jo. =x= x=x= x=x= Joseph Romm from Climate. Progress. org got back with this :- =x= x=x= x=x= Thanks. Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/blogs/environment/~3/32offMSlTK4/ Consensus among sustainability experts at a Toronto conference this week was that world leaders in the Group of 20 nations face a fecund opportunity to make gains integrating environmental concerns with all other levels of economic development. Economist Sylvia Ostry, former Chief Statistician at Statistics Canada and a member of the influential Washington- based financial advisory body the Group of Thirty says the best contribution the G20 could make to sustainable development is to strike a new institution with experts from a variety of backgrounds. 'The WTO has a number of ways of dealing with this integration,' she said, pointing to the Integrated Framework which is comprised of the WTO and the World Bank and other institutions. Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/blogs/environment/~3/7aCIkWDpcRc/ " Dr. David Suzuki is a Canadian scientist, broadcaster, author, and co- founder of the David Suzuki Foundation. Any views expressed here are his own. " For the past two years, the global economy has been at the top of peoples' minds. And so has the environment. Indeed, most people probably care about both. The fact is these two issues are inextricably linked. As we' ve seen after the economic meltdown, we tend to focus on them as if they are separate. On the heels of the U. N. Conference on Climate Change last December in Copenhagen, climate change remains a major concern and now often dominates meetings of international heads of state, including the G8 and G20 summits. Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10928/s/b66a9aa/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Carticle0Cmg20A6276630B0A0A0A0Eclimate0Echange0Eis0Eleaving0Eus0Ewith0Eextra0Espace0Ejunk0Bhtml0DDCMP0FOTC0Erss0Gnsref0Fclimate0Echange/story01.htm Dead satellites and rocket parts are taking longer to drop out of orbit, thanks to cooling of the upper atmosphere as the air beneath gets warmer Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10928/s/b6a65b2/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Carticle0Cmg20A6276620B70A0A0Eice0Eshelf0Ewas0Ekept0Eintact0Eby0Eunderwater0Eridge0Bhtml0DDCMP0FOTC0Erss0Gnsref0Fclimate0Echange/story01.htm A newly discovered sub- sea ridge stopped warm water melting an Antarctic ice shelf " but what are its prospects now a gap has appeared? Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news196769149.html Climate change is a topic that impacts the weather not only globally, but also locally. While some people may be concerned about the melting ice sheets at the far corners of the Earth, what most really want to know is "how will global warming affect me?" -- and they often turn to their local weatherperson to find out. Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news196618186.html The approach the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) uses to estimate greenhouse gas emissions from agricultural anaerobic lagoons that treat manure contains errors and may underestimate methane emissions by up to 65%, according to scientists from the University of Missouri. Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news196700474.html The small number of scientists who are unconvinced that human beings have contributed significantly to climate change have far less expertise and prominence in climate research compared with scientists who are convinced, according to a study led by Stanford researchers. Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news196621758.html (Phys. Org. com) -- The strategy, detailed in the journal Science, prepares people for a hotter and drier Southwestern U. S. through water conservation and the continued development of ways to harness energy from the sun, wind and Earth. Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news196606682.html 40,000 years ago rapid warming led to an increase in methane concentration. The culprit for this increase has now been identified. Mainly wetlands in high northern latitudes caused the methane increase, as discovered by a research team from the University of Bern and the German Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in the Helmholtz Association. This result refutes an alternative theory discussed amongst experts, the so- called "clathrate gun hypothesis". The latter assumed that large amounts of methane were released from the ocean sediment and led to higher atmospheric methane concentrations and thus to rapid climate warming. Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news196693955.html (Phys. Org. com) -- Scientists at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory are planning a large- scale, long- term ecosystem experiment to test the effects of global warming on the icy layers of arctic permafrost. Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news196687173.html Scientists still puzzle over how Earth emerged from its last ice age, an event that ushered in a warmer climate and the birth of human civilization. In the geological blink of an eye, ice sheets in the northern hemisphere began to collapse and warming spread quickly to the south. Most scientists say that the trigger, at least initially, was an orbital shift that caused more sunlight to fall across Earth's northern half. But how did the south catch up so fast? Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news196687498.html Without aggressive action to reduce soot emissions, the time table for carbon dioxide emission reductions may need to be significantly accelerated in order to achieve international climate policy goals such as those set forth in last December's Copenhagen Accord, according to "Assessing the climatic benefits of black carbon mitigation," a study published online June 21 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/851/f/10846/s/b640da0/l/0L0Sirishtimes0N0Cnewspaper0Cworld0C20A10A0C0A6250C1224273270A4820Bhtml/story01.htm SYRIA IS sweltering in an unseasonable heatwave which Damascenes are blaming on climate change. We have to fight global warming now, as well as so many other battles, asserted Zuhair, an academic. Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/565995/?sc=rssn The amount of fresh water flowing through the Arctic as snow or rainfall, in rivers and by evapotranspiration is rising in agreement with models of a warming climate, according to a major new study by climate scientists in the U. S., Norway and Finland who analyzed all available Arctic observations. Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://www.indiancountrytoday.com/national/97173754.html NANTUCKET, Mass. A renewable energy advocacy group from California and conservation groups from as far away as Texas have partnered with the Alliance to Save Nantucket Sound in a district court lawsuit against the federal agencies that approved the industrial Cape Wind energy factory in Nantucket Sound, an area sacred to the Wampanoag people. Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2265502/best-web-june Jessica Shankleman, Business. Green , Friday 25 June 2010 at 16:22:00 From Amazongate to cricket, climate change takes no prisoners Climate change scientists have put up with being misrepresented and misquoted by the world's press for years but now they are fighting back. The Sunday Times set the gold standard in corrections this week when it published a 400-word correction detailing how its ... Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100626/ap_on_re_us/us_polar_bear_policy_2 Polar bear policy in America can be summed up succinctly: The iconic bears are threatened with extinction, and so far nothing much is being done. Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20100624/pl_politico/38999_1 Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D- Nev.) is planning a high- risk, high- stakes strategy for bringing climate and energy legislation to the floor ahead of the August recess. Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/we-oxDit59k/ Absent the extra- constitutional 60 vote 'requirement' in the Senate, today would probably be marking a real anniversary for the nation and the world. As it is, intransigence and demagoguing by the anti- science ideologues, coupled with the unbearable lameness of being (Rahm and Axelrod), have killed a market- oriented, business- friendly, economy- wide emissions- reduction bill, which is based on a strategy once strongly embraced by moderate Republicans like President Bush's father. Today, however, there simply is no reasonable middle ground that mainstream (aka pro- pollution) U. S. conservatives won' t demonize - a sharp contrast to conservative leaders in a country like, say, the UK. Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2010/06/24/f-vp-jackson-g20.html Telegraph. co. uk. Where have all the bold ideas gone? CBC. ca. Take global warming, for example. The policy debate on climate change is stuck on who is to blame and not how it is to be resolved without having producing ...G20 Leaders to Meet and Discuss Global Warming...but only a little bit. Natural Resources Defense Council (blog) Canada: Man charged with carrying explosives ahead of G-20 summit. NDTV. comall 4,228 Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2010/06/energy_mirage.html Center For American Progress. The 'Energy- Only Bill' Mirage. Center For American Progress. Richard Lugar (R- IN) supports an energy- only bill even though he voted for previous global warming bills in 2003 and 2005-at a time when the science was ...Reid: Climate bill must have 'broad bipartisan support' or he won' t bring it ...Washington Post (blog) Where is Barbara? Fox and Hounds Daily (blog) all 84 Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://www.rightpundits.com/?p=6473 Paul Mc. Cartney: 'Global Warming Skeptics, Holocaust Deniers The Same' Right Pundits... global warming is real; my question to the brilliant Paul Mc. Cartney is how exactly does an accidental oil spill show us that global climate change is in ...and more Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/g8-g20/opinion/g8-leaders-offer-only-hollow-words-on-global-warming/article1619784/ Globe and MailG8 leaders offer only hollow words on global warming. Globe and Mail... worried about the threat of climate change, this is a grim G8/G20 summit. Saturday's G8 communiqué had nothing but empty verbiage on global warming. ...and more Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://feeds.grist.org/click.phdo?i=2fb750c295c33dc514dc78b27b12d3fb by Dan Lashof. BP couldn' t stop the oil gusher with a junk shot of golf balls and tire shards and Congress can' t solve the energy problems that are the root cause of the gusher with a junk shot of unenforceable goals and unfunded subsidies. Eventually the gusher will be plugged by drilling a new well that can be used to establish a permanent seal. This will take some time, but fortunately no one suggested that BP should wait to begin working on a permanent solution until after it had tried every half- measure it could think of. Not so when it comes to ending our dangerous dependence on oil and other fossil fuels, which inevitably leads to more disasters like the one in the Gulf of Mexico, chains our fate to that of dictators in the Gulf of Arabia, and disrupts the stability of the climate on ... Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/uLnL8PwOl8A/ I am often critical of the near- death Newsweek - see Why has a Newsweek economics editor, Stefan Theil, written 'basically a condensed version of the climate denier viewpoint'? But they have a great science editor (see Why climate change is 'even worse than we feared'). And Sharon Begley has written another good piece: A lie can get halfway around the world while the truth is still putting its boots on, as Mark Twain said (or 'before the truth gets a chance to put its pants on,' in Winston Churchill's version), and nowhere has that been more true than in 'climategate.' In that highly orchestrated, manufactured scandal, e- mails hacked from computers at the University of East Anglia's climate- research group were spread around the Web by activists who deny that human activity is altering the ... Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/27/solar-power-sahara-europe-alok-jha The race to harness the sun of the Sahara and Middle East deserts is one initiative in a far- ranging European energy consensus. There are probably easier ways to meet Europe's thirst for clean energy than importing it from vast solar farms in the Sahara. But it is very tempting. According to the European commission's Institute for Energy, it would require the capture of just 0.3% of the light falling on the Sahara and Middle Eastern deserts (an area around the size of Wales) to meet all of Europe's energy needs. Several groups have come up with plans to harness the sun in Africa to make electricity, which could then be exported to Europe, or use it to turn desert into forests by using the power to desalinate sea water. Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/27/can-you-be-green-and-spend-money From newly printed cash to copper coins and plastic credit cards, money is always going to be dirty. Even freshly minted money looks dirty to an eco warrior. Despite the Royal Mint's laudable efforts to lower the environmental impact of notes and coins, making money is ecologically expensive: there's growing and processing linen and cotton for notes that don' t last long, while it takes 109 megajoules of energy to mine and smelt 1kg of copper for coins as opposed to 60 megajoules to produce credit cards. However, since the latter are made from PVC they don' t win awards either. More to the point, philosophically, money is filthy. Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/27/matthew-lloyd-ethical-innovation The 47-year- old inventor introduces his water and solar- powered wheelchair lift" All the signs are good. We think it's going to work!" says ebullient architect Matthew Lloyd, putting together the final stages on the extraordinary Perspex lift that you can find operating during the London Festival of Architecture (lfa2010.org) on the Duke of York Steps behind Pall Mall. The steps' steep rake up to the monument to the Grand Old Duke of York takes many a tourist by surprise " and if you' re in a wheelchair, forget it. Previously you would have needed to divert via Trafalgar Square. Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://www.casinobeacon.co.uk/news-articles/news/2010-06/temperature-270610.htm Bookies Slash Price Of Temperature Hitting 100fCasino Beacon. Bookies William Hill have halved the price of temperatures topping 100f in 2010 from an original 10/1 to 5/1 as the heatwave kicks in and punters lump on. ... Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://www.trinidadexpress.com/index.pl/article_news?id=161706836 THE controversial Rapid Rail project which now appears doomed under the new Peoples Partnership Government, was one of several initiatives recommended to the Government by consultants who produced a Comprehensive National Transportation Study, as a means of easing the countrys traffic woes. Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://nz.news.yahoo.com/a/-/top-stories/7471231/climate-change-threatens-politicians-as-well-as-the-planet/ Climate change policy can create endangered species, as Kevin Rudd found out. Sun Jun 27 08:04:53 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/F9WSi_TklKc/ Salon just published my Father''s Day essay. It''s a sequel of sorts to 'Is the global economy a Ponzi scheme?' As parents, we constantly admonish our children to share with others. The joke is that as adults, we hardly like to share anything at all. Who likes to lend out their car? Or their tools or books? We' re so worried they won' t come back in the same condition - or won' t be returned at all. But the truth is that the people we like to share the least with are our own children. 'We do not inherit the Earth from our parents, we borrow it from our children,' the saying goes. Wed Jun 23 08:05:48 2010 EST 23rd June 2010 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/bhltIAzvJ2s/ Father''s Day seemed like a good time to post the video of my remarks on the Mall at the huge Earth Day event (see 'Over 100,000 rally for climate and clean energy action'): This was maybe 50 times larger than the largest crowd I' ve ever spoken to, and such a crowd requires purely rhetorical speechmaking. I had originally been scheduled for three minutes - and wrote out remarks for that time slot - but about 45 minutes before I went on, I (like many others) was told to shorten my remarks to about a minute. Wed Jun 23 08:05:48 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/iZ2u01cHZh8/ Defenders of the dirty energy status quo, particularly the lobbyists and politicians associated with the oil and coal industry, have repeatedly trotted out a group of evangelical leaders known as the Cornwall Alliance to counter the growing sentiment in the evangelical community that anthropogenic climate change is a threat to God''s creation. Cornwall declares that true Christians believe 'there is no convincing scientific evidence that human contribution to greenhouse gases is causing dangerous global warming.' In this repost, Wonk Room exposes the Big Oil funding behind the Cornwall Alliance On Friday, at the polluter- funded Heritage Foundation, Cornwall rolled out its latest campaign called 'Resisting the Green Dragon.' Billed as 'a Biblical response to one of the greatest deceptions of our day,' the video series claims the entire climate change movement is a 'false religion,' a nefarious conspiracy to empower ... Wed Jun 23 08:05:48 2010 EST http://www.desmogblog.com/cries-gulf-video-potent-reminder-fallacy-drill-baby-drill 4704921640_501dfd8db1.jpg The damage inflicted on the Gulf of Mexico from the BP blowout goes far beyond the ecological and economic impacts this catastrophe has wrought on the region. As evidenced painfully well in the video below, residents of the Gulf states are suffering from the horrifying realization that their beaches could be closed indefinitely, their family businesses ruined by BP''s negligence, and their lives forever tainted with the memory of Sarah Palin''s 'Drill Baby Drill' chant ringing in their ears while their eyes bare witness to every reason why we must rapidly move beyond our addiction to dirty and dangerous oil. Wed Jun 23 08:05:48 2010 EST http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/20/smoke-on-the-water/ The expanse of oil spreading across the Gulf of Mexico is best perceived from above. Wed Jun 23 08:05:48 2010 EST http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/18/the-coal-age-continues/ An ongoing Asian boom in coal use threatens to render American debates over a climate bill a sideshow. Wed Jun 23 08:05:48 2010 EST http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100618/ap_on_sc/un_ozone_treaty_2 Governments moved closer Friday to curbing the use of chemicals commonly used as coolants in refrigerators, air conditioners, hair spray and other household items in what some say would be among their biggest climate decisions ever. Wed Jun 23 08:05:48 2010 EST http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90777/90852/7029972.html Brazil could reduce gross greenhouse gas emissions by up to 37 percent by 2030 without affecting economic growth, according to a World Bank study released here on Thursday. The report, entitled "The Brazil Low Carbon Study," said the emission cut would be an equivalent of taking all cars in the world out of service for three years. "This study joins a list of others proving Brazil''s potential ... Wed Jun 23 08:05:48 2010 EST http://www.eptrail.com/ci_15302398?source=most_emailed Taking a modest view of the situation on Earth, Dr. James White of the CU geological sciences department told Estes Valley Land Trust members at their first Saturday breakfast talk of the summer in Estes Park that Yes, there`'s climate change. Yes, it`'s here now. Wed Jun 23 08:05:48 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/LiJdHwMcnW4/idUSTRE65I2E920100620 MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Tropical Storm Celia in the Pacific off southern Mexico was set to become the first hurricane of the 2010 season on Sunday but it was moving away from the coast, the U. S. National Hurricane Center said. Wed Jun 23 08:05:48 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/blogs/environment/~3/2gzQxVI4zS8/ By Kwok W. Wan This time, it was a total surprise. In a taxi on the road towards the beach, Gunfleet Sands appeared out of no- where and without warning. Huge offshore wind turbines lined the English horizon. My last encounter had been a far more distant affair, requiring a helicopter to see Robin Rigg in Cumbria, but Dong''s offshore wind farm was visible on the shore, visible from a car inland actually, and the giant machines pop up and startle you. As we drove over the Frinton- on- Sea rail track earlier, the taxi driver pointed to the automatic electric barriers and said they replaced the hand- operated gates only last year, after the rail company overcame a three- year battle by residents who resisted the change. Wed Jun 23 08:05:48 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news196074751.html For decades, oceanographers have embraced the idea that Earth''s ocean currents operate like a giant conveyor belt, overturning to continuously transport deep, cold polar waters toward the equator and warm equatorial surface waters back toward the poles along narrow boundary currents. The model held that the conveyor belt was driven by changes in the temperature and salinity of the surface waters at high latitudes. Wed Jun 23 08:05:48 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news196059921.html By examining 800,000-year- old polar ice, scientists increasingly are learning how the climate has changed since the last ice melt and that carbon dioxide has become more abundant in the Earth''s atmosphere. Wed Jun 23 08:05:48 2010 EST http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/14831521/1i3oxa/alternet_environment~I-Caused-the-Deepwater-Horizon-Spill Americans should view the BP spill as a reminder of overconsumption''s devastating price. Instead, we' re using more oil than before. Wed Jun 23 08:05:48 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jun/20/china-devastated-floods Over 130 dead and 800,000 displaced after torrential rain sees rivers swell and houses hit by landslides. Huge floods in southern China have killed at least 132 people and displaced 800,000 others, the government said today as the annual storm season picked up ferocity. Local media showed images of people abandoning their homes in rubber dinghies in Nanchang, Jiangxi province, one of the worst hit areas. Many carried small bundles of possessions salvaged from the rising waters that turned the streets into rivers. More than 10 million people have lost property, been injured or suffered a cut in power or water supplies as a result of the week- long torrential rains across Guangdong, Fujian, Guangxi, Jiangxi and Sichuan. Many of these areas have gone from one extreme to another, according to the government. Wed Jun 23 08:05:48 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/jun/21/manufacturers-appeal-simplified-carbon-tax EEF says a single levy based on energy use would encourage businesses to move towards cleaner energy. Britain''s manufacturers have condemned the government''s climate change policy as "chaotic, overcrowded and complicated" and are calling on George Osborne to use his emergency budget to introduce an economy- wide carbon tax. The manufacturers' organisation EEF says a new single levy based on energy usage to replace the existing mix of climate measures would simplify the system, allow businesses to budget more easily and encourage them to move towards cleaner energy. The existing climate change levy has been criticised by environmental campaigners for not pushing firms far enough to be greener, while companies themselves say it is not spread fairly and does not provide incentives to cut pollution. In a report published on the eve of Osborne''s budget, the EEF said the 10-year- old climate change levy, introduced under Tony Blair, has failed ... Wed Jun 23 08:05:48 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/science_and_environment/10354118.stm The discovery of an underwater ridge in Antarctica offers a clue to why ice flowing into the sea has accelerated, say researchers. Wed Jun 23 08:05:48 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/science_and_environment/10335587.stm Impacts of greenhouse warming on rainfall would persist long after temperatures went back to normal, a study suggests. Wed Jun 23 08:05:48 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/09iDkC4BNgs/ 'I welcome the Sunday Times' apology for failing to accurately report my views and retract the Amazon story. As several experts told them " their story was baseless. What I find shocking about this whole episode is that an article read out [loud] and agreed with me was then switched at the last minute to one that fit with the Times' editorial line that the IPCC contained a number of serious mistakes, but actually ignored the scientific facts.' That is tropical forest researcher Simon Lewis in an email to me this morning after the Sunday Times finally retracted their bogus story and issued this too- rare apology (emphasis added) ... Wed Jun 23 08:05:48 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/Uv2m54l0Jvk/ From the beginning of this disaster, our response was doomed to be inadequate (see 20-year Coast Guard veteran: 'With a spill of this magnitude and complexity, there is no such thing as an effective response'). Guest blogger Shirley Siluk Gregory, who lives on Florida''s Gulf coast, shares her thoughts on lessons learned. While there''s not much most of us can do to stop BP''s Gulf oil gusher or clean the crude from the water, marshes and coasts, there are actions we can take to help avoid similar disasters like this in the future. Wed Jun 23 08:05:48 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/OzOf7b9SsxA/ Maybe Toles reads Climate Progress (see 'The breakthrough technology illusion'). Toles has been on fire lately. Here''s more, starting with today''s 'rant': Friday Rant, YOU edition A little billowing cloud of brown. Mesmerizing. No, alarming. No, fatal. Fatal to one of the many infuriatingly lazy arguments against climate change. The one that says how 'arrogant' it is to think that we mere humans could have an impact on something so BIG as the atmosphere. A drop in the bucket! Well, the Gulf of Mexico is a pretty enormous bucket, and that little billowing brown cloud of oil is having PLENTY of impact. Wed Jun 23 08:05:48 2010 EST http://wwf.panda.org/wwf_news/?193905/Climate-change-commitments-missing-in-G8-Accountability-Report Climate change commitments "missing" in G8 Accountability Report. WWF International' If we don' t limit global warming to as far below two degrees as possible, all development ambitions will be in serious danger,' said Kim Carstensen, ...and more Wed Jun 23 08:05:48 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news196255601.html New results from an investigation into Antarctica''s potential contribution to sea level rise are reported this week (Sunday 20 June) by scientists from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), Lamont- Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO) and the National Oceanography Centre in the journal Nature Geoscience. Wed Jun 23 08:05:48 2010 EST http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2010/06/leakegate-a-retraction/ Back in February, we commented on the fact- free IPCC- related media frenzy in the UK which involved plentiful confusion, the making up of quotes and misrepresenting the facts. Well, a number of people have pursued the newspapers concerned and Simon Lewis at least filed a complaint (pdf) with the relevant press oversight body. In response, the Sunday Times (UK) has today retracted a story by Jonathan Leake on a supposed 'Amazongate' and published the following apology: The article 'UN climate panel shamed by bogus rainforest claim' (News, Jan 31) stated that the 2007 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report had included an 'unsubstantiated claim' that up to 40% of the Amazon rainforest could be sensitive to future changes in rainfall. Wed Jun 23 08:05:48 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/hZAqo3dOY90/idUSTRE65J25V20100620 ATHENS (Reuters) - A yellow submarine has helped to solve a puzzle about one of Antarctica''s fastest- melting glaciers, adding to concerns about how climate change may push up world sea levels, scientists said Sunday. Wed Jun 23 08:05:48 2010 EST http://uk.news.yahoo.com/18/20100620/tpl-obama-committed-on-carbon-emissions-10170b4.html US President Barack Obama is committed to an energy bill that reduces carbon emissions, his top aide said Sunday, ahead of a key meeting with Republicans to break down obstacles to the legislation. Wed Jun 23 08:05:48 2010 EST http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/8229469.Monster_turbines_are_the_shape_of_green_power/?ref=rss Monster wind turbines with blade spans that dwarf the London Eye could be the shape of future green power, it was revealed today. Wed Jun 23 08:05:48 2010 EST http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20100620/BIZ/706209983/1005/biz Where do airplanes go to die? Someday, the Boeing Co. intends to build airplanes out of materials that can be recycled back into future jets. Its really a closed- loop product life cycle were trying to create, said Jeanne Yu, who directs airplane environmental performance for Boeing. Wed Jun 23 08:05:48 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/world/asia_pacific/10361565.stm Row brews over who can sell what to whom Wed Jun 23 08:05:48 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/21/how-safe-new-nuclear-reactors As utilities seek to build new nuclear power plants around the world, questions remain about whether the newer reactors are sufficiently foolproof to be adopted on a large scale, says Susan Q. Stranahan. In 2007, the first application to build a new reactor in the United States in more than three decades was filed with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). By the end of that year, four more applications had landed at the agency. In 2008, 12 additional applications arrived, with one more filed in 2009. Nuclear backers proclaimed a "renaissance" underway. The NRC, which over the years had lost personnel because of a shortage of work, geared up, hiring 1,000 new staffers to handle the licensing requests. Wed Jun 23 08:05:48 2010 EST http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,5703593,00.html Bonn conference focuses on media role in tackling climate change. Deutsche Welle... Heat is On - Climate Change and the Media." Finkbeiner''s tree project is just one among several approaches at the conference to slowing global warming ...and more Wed Jun 23 08:05:48 2010 EST http://allafrica.com/stories/201006210046.html CLIMATE change is going to see Zimbabwe become warmer and drier, and the danger of the Kalahari Desert spreading east is real and serious. Wed Jun 23 08:05:48 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/greenslade/2010/jun/21/sundaytimes-scienceofclimatechange The Sunday Times carried a rather large "correction" yesterday that, once read alongside the original offending article, amounted to a complete retraction. In fact, it was a giant climbdown. In The Sunday Times and the IPCC: Correction, the paper refers to a news page story on 31 January headlined "UN climate panel shamed by bogus rainforest claim" (removed from the Sunday Times site, but available, disgracefully, on this site).The article stated that the 2007 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report had included an "unsubstantiated claim" that up to 40% of the Amazon rainforest could be sensitive to future changes in rainfall. Wed Jun 23 08:05:48 2010 EST http://straightfurrow.farmonline.co.nz/news/nationalrural/agribusiness-and-general/general/what-food-price-backlash-us-pushes-for-85pc-ethanol/813159.aspx While many around the world are railing against biofuels for pushing up food prices, United States Governors and General Motors are pushing for greater roll out of 85pc ethanol blends. Wed Jun 23 08:05:48 2010 EST http://www.dispatch.co.za/article.aspx?id=411805 WE TEND to believe that weather is unpredictable, but Im beginning to change my mind on that. The pattern over the past few months has been pretty consistent for us down here in the Eastern Cape generally dry, while up north theyve had the wettest summer in years. Wed Jun 23 08:05:48 2010 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/06/100617185131.htm Numerous studies are documenting the growing effects of climate change, carbon dioxide, pollution and other human- related phenomena on the world''s oceans. But most of those have studied single, isolated sources of pollution and other influences. Now, a marine geochemist has published a report that evaluates the total impact of such factors on the ocean and considers what the future might hold. Wed Jun 23 08:05:48 2010 EST http://www.stevenspointjournal.com/article/20100621/SPJ0101/6210398/1657&located=rss CUSTER -- Bill Mc. Kibben said he considered himself fortunate to be at the 21st annual Midwest Renewable Energy Fair. Wed Jun 23 08:05:48 2010 EST http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90776/90882/7032720.html Scientists and officials stressed the importance of science and technology innovations in urban development at the World Expo''s third theme forum, which opened in Wuxi, east China''s Jiangsu Province, on Sunday. City expansion had been achieved along with the burning of fossil energies like coal and oil during the past 200 years, but problems also arose including environmental pollution, energy ... Wed Jun 23 08:05:48 2010 EST http://www.natchezdemocrat.com/news/2010/jun/21/thunderstorms-not-doing-job/ A little rain could do a lot of good right now. Wed Jun 23 08:05:48 2010 EST http://liberalconspiracy.org/2010/06/21/are-we-coming-to-an-end-of-economic-grwoth/ Further to an earlier post on my blog, is there another similarity between now and the 1970s " that the causes of rapid economic growth in previous years are fading away? I mean, one reason why growth slowed in the 1970s was that a couple of the impetuses behind fast non- inflationary growth in the 50s and 60s " post- war rebuilding and the spread of some big technical advances " became weaker. Similarly, four possible forces behind economic growth since the mid-80s might also now be fading: 1. Credit liberalization in the 80s led to a rise in the ratio of consumer debt to incomes. Wed Jun 23 08:05:48 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/iJFd97Cziek/ A new CAP report by Sean Pool presents the 'network lifecycle' approach to clean energy innovation. The paper shows how the innovation lifecycle of clean energy technology can be divided into five phases, each involving a different an evolving network of participants with its own challenges and policy needs. Freeing our economy from its dangerous addiction to fossil fuels and averting the calamitous risks of climate change will require a major technological transformation in the way we produce, transmit, and consume energy. Inventing, developing, building, and deploying these new technologies will require a new era of American technological innovation. The result will be new industries and jobs, along with more clean energy and less pollution. Wed Jun 23 08:05:48 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/U1RWbrxs57Y/ In all the criticism of Obama''s too- weak energy speech last week, not enough attention was paid to a statement that oil- state Senator Mary Landrieu (D- LA) made. Here is the final paragraph : 'Finally, the President called on America to begin a transition to cleaner, renewable energy. As people all across our nation watch the oil pouring into the Gulf, they are asking 'isn' t there a better way?' The answer is yes, there is a better way, and we must begin to lay that foundation now. Oil has paid tremendous dividends to our country. Wed Jun 23 08:05:48 2010 EST http://energybulletin.net/node/53175 Those who thought the failed Copenhagen climate talks last December were a diplomatic nadir, from which only recovery was possible, are in for a shock. Since then, efforts to refloat the talks have seen a lot of ballast thrown overboard - including most of the scientific underpinnings of a deal to protect the world from dangerous warming. If a deal is finally done, probably in South Africa at the end of 2011, it may prove a diplomatic success but a climatic catastrophe. read more Wed Jun 23 08:05:48 2010 EST http://blogs.nature.com/news/thegreatbeyond/2010/06/uk_paper_apologises_for_bogus.html UK paper apologises for 'bogus' climate change claim. Nature. com (blog) A British climate scientist has succeeded in forcing an apology from the Sunday Times after it published an article alleging claims that global warming ...and more Wed Jun 23 08:05:48 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/YaleEnvironment360/~3/8blsOF9Fe_8/digest.msp For four years, Yvo de Boer, the United Nations' chief climate negotiator, has faced the daunting challenge of persuading nearly 200 nations that it''s in their interests to begin weaning themselves from the fossil fuels that make the world go 'round. As he prepares to leave his post, de Boer says he is not discouraged by the failure to reach agreement on binding CO2 cuts in Copenhagen last December. In an interview with Yale Environment 360, de Boer says that the world community now squarely acknowledges the dangers posed by climate Yvo de Boer change and that since Copenhagen 127 countries have backed the Copenhagen Accord, with many agreeing to voluntary emissions reductions targets. Wed Jun 23 08:05:48 2010 EST http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2265107/vestas-pulls-second-major-china Business. Green. com Staff, Business. Green , Monday 21 June 2010 at 13:27:00 Wind turbine giant steps up global expansion with fresh contracts in China and new office in South Africa Vestas''s global expansion plans received a further boost today when the world''s largest wind turbine manufacturer revealed that it has secured its second large order from China in the past week. The company said that it ... Wed Jun 23 08:05:48 2010 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/06/100621071943.htm A soothing solution to hot, humid days may be on its way, thanks to a melding of technologies in filters, coolers and drying agents. The U. S. Department of Energy''s National Renewable Energy Laboratory has invented a new air conditioning process with the potential of using 50 percent to 90 percent less energy than today''s top- of- the- line units. It uses membranes, evaporative cooling and liquid ... Wed Jun 23 08:05:48 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/L9Wqp9D4w5Y/idUSTRE65K6DI20100621 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - With time running out for the U. S. Senate to debate complicated and controversial climate change legislation, key players will huddle this week to try to come up with a plan for passing an energy/ environment bill this year. Wed Jun 23 08:05:48 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/MOXr3ogS9dA/idUSN1416392020100622 NEW ORLEANS/ LAFITTE, Louisiana (Reuters) - Oil services companies went to court on Monday seeking to overturn President Barack Obama''s six- month ban on deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico after the worst oil spill in U. S. history. Wed Jun 23 08:05:48 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/blogs/environment/~3/DOXBtqoDI-w/ Rona Fried is the CEO of Sustainable. Business. com, a news, networking, and investment site for green businesses. The following opinions expressed are her own. We are in a dire situation. One that our president recognized in his oval office address on Tuesday night: America has postponed overcoming our oil addiction for decades. The first call to wean ourselves from oil came more than three decades ago by President Carter in the late 1970s. Had we done it then, the job would have been completed in 1985. It is beyond time to end our dependence on oil. And Americans are finally ready to do it. Wed Jun 23 08:05:48 2010 EST http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/06/21/96268/its-hot-hot-hot-on-the-summer.html Much of U. S. is sweltering this summer solstice. The longest day of the year is just one of many over- heated days that has hit early this year. Wed Jun 23 08:05:48 2010 EST http://www.joabbess.com/2010/06/22/the-debate-is-most-definitely-over/ There were some in two minds, some vehemently on one side of the argument or the other, but now, the debate is finally over : on the question of whether they have been reporting Climate Change science accurately, the mainstream media have shown themselves to be incapable :- [link]2010/06/21/pnas- study- climate- science- media- balance- deniers/ [link] news/ press_ release/ study- scientific- consensus- climate- change-411.html As of this second, the report from the Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences is not yet available to the public. Wed Jun 23 08:05:48 2010 EST http://www.joabbess.com/2010/06/22/unpicking-kyoto-2/ Unpicking Kyoto Jo Abbess 20 June 2010 CONTINUED FROM PART 1 PART 2 Why Was Copenhagen Such A Washout ? The international community, in the form of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) established the Kyoto Protocol back in 1997, a treaty that was ratified only as late as 2005 after compromises from the World Trade Organisation (WTO) for Russia. Global Climate Change negotiations, even before the Rio Earth Summit in 1992 have been beset by recurring problems. The annual UNFCCC Kyoto Protocol Conference of the Parties (COP) 15, Meeting of the Parties (MOP) 5 at Copenhagen in Denmark in December 2009 suffered from the usual last- minute- ism, as key negotiators did not arrive until the second week, and leaders, who had expressed a commitment to participating, did not arrive until the last few days, whereupon they appeared to derail the ... Wed Jun 23 08:05:48 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/blogs/environment/~3/JixUDbwmyeQ/ The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico strikes close to home for Chevron as it faces a $27 billion lawsuit brought on by the indigenous people in the Amazon region of Ecuador for water pollution, and a fresh Chevron oil spill in Utah, a bi- weekly analysis of companies in the news by ASSET4 data providers shows. Company selections were made by Christopher Greenwald, director of data content at ASSET4, a Thomson Reuters business that provides investment research on the environmental, social and governance performance of major global corporations. These ratings are not recommendations to buy or sell. Wed Jun 23 08:05:48 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/blogs/environment/~3/VommQW3MH3A/ The Gulf of Mexico oil spill is unquestionably the biggest spill in U. S. history, far surpassing the Exxon Valdez accident in Alaska in 1989. But is it the worst environmental disaster inflicted on America? (PHOTO: An oil- coated Brown Pelican stands on Queen Bess in Bay Barataria near Grand Isle, Louisiana June 14, 2010. . REUTERS/ Sean Gardner) That is a question that some have been weighing in on. The New York Times last week posed the question to a number of environmental historians. It said several of them pointed to the 'Dust Bowl' of the 1930s as the mother of all U. S. Wed Jun 23 08:05:48 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/_CFN1KIHdgY/ Fresh from releasing 'Out of the Running?,' a report that compares clean energy investments in China, Germany, and Spain, senior staff including Kate Gordon and Julian Wong, from the Center for American Progress brought a select group of Senate staffers to visit China in April to meet with policymakers, academics, and companies to better understand China''s clean energy economic development strategy. The visit provided convincing evidence to those involved that China has made large- scale investments in clean energy manufacturing and infrastructure, and that these signal China''s clear desire to lead the world in clean energy technology production, deployment, and eventually innovation. Wed Jun 23 08:05:48 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/PEKNIhmtiU8/ It''s trendy to be undead these days. Sure sexy teenage vampires get all the media attention. But don' t forget those mad (political) scientists who toil tirelessly in their labs, assembling the best (worst?) parts of corpses, mixing in 100 million gallons of oil, and zapping the finished product with, say, the enormous power furnished by an electric (utility) cap. I think we might call the resulting assemblage Lugar- Kerry- Lieberman- Graham- Cantwell- Collins- Waxman- Markey- Bingaman. The conventional wisdom for months in this town, as I' ve noted many times, has been that a climate bill is dead, dead, dead. Wed Jun 23 08:05:48 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/science_and_environment/10370955.stm Most climate experts who publish papers on the topic support the idea of human- induced climate change, a study suggests. Wed Jun 23 08:05:48 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/jun/22/budget-2010-osborne-green-policies Green groups disappointed after chancellor reveals no further details on plans for a green investment bank or home energy- efficiency schemes. Green groups expressed disappointment and surprise today at the lack of environmental policies in George Osborne''s budget. Hopes that the emergency budget would shed light on plans for a green investment bank, renewable energy and financial incentives for individuals to make their homes more energy efficient were dashed in the chancellor''s speech. Plans to introduce a floor price for carbon pollution permits to provide stability for emissions trading, as already laid out in the coalition agreement, were reiterated with a pledge to consult, this autumn, on the reform of Labour''s climate change levy. No new details were forthcoming on the new green bank, which will be designed to help fund clean energy projects such as windfarms. Wed Jun 23 08:05:48 2010 EST http://www.monbiot.com/archives/2010/06/21/bps-dumb-investors/ The companies now threatening to sue BP have only themselves to blame. Wed Jun 23 08:05:48 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/england/kent/10319105.stm The biggest offshore wind farm in the world, expected to generate electricity to power 240,000 homes, is being unveiled off Kent. Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST 20th June 2010 http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=26104 U. S. President Barack Obama has taken the fight to BP. But it is time that he picks a fight with the American public. American energy consumption is at the root of the Gulf of Mexico disaster, but Obama preferred to sidestep the issue in his Tuesday speech. Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://www.dtnprogressivefarmer.com/dtnag/view/blog/getBlog.do?blogHandle=policy&blogEntryId=8a82c0bc28d18b9501293e8fcbd80550 In a speech Tuesday night, President Barack Obama laid out his "battle plan" to attack the oil spill, which includes a push for a comprehensive energy and climate bill. Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10928/s/b349b99/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Carticle0Cmg20A6276520B90A0A0Edavid0Eking0Eno0Ecause0Efor0Eclimate0Edespair0Bhtml0DDCMP0FOTC0Erss0Gnsref0Fclimate0Echange/story01.htm There are ways around the impasse over a global emissions deal, says the UK''s former chief scientist Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10928/s/b319e0c/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Carticle0Cdn190A460Ezoologger0Ethe0Ebiggest0Eliving0Ething0Ewith0Eteeth0Bhtml0DDCMP0FOTC0Erss0Gnsref0Fclimate0Echange/story01.htm It hunts the largest squid in the world, and helps combat climate change in the process. How does the sperm whale do it? Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10928/s/b2e3a8c/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Carticle0Cmg20A627650A0B40A10Eis0Eit0Etime0Eto0Esay0Egoodbye0Ecool0Eworld0Bhtml0DDCMP0FOTC0Erss0Gnsref0Fclimate0Echange/story01.htm International climate negotiators may be on the brink of abandoning emissions targets aimed at limiting warming to 2 °C Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20627640.800-whats-wrong-with-the-sun.html?full=true SUNSPOTS come and go, but recently they have mostly gone. For centuries, astronomers have recorded when these dark blemishes on the solar surface emerge, only for them to fade away again after a few days, weeks or months. Thanks to their efforts, we know that sunspot numbers ebb and flow in cycles lasting about 11 years. But for the past two years, the sunspots have mostly been missing. Their absence, the most prolonged for nearly a hundred years, has taken even seasoned sun watchers by surprise. "This is solar behaviour we haven' t seen in living memory," says David Hathaway, a physicist at NASA''s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=51813 QUITO, Jun 14 (Tierramérica) - The spectacular glacier Number 15 of Antisana, one of the Ecuadorean capitals' sources of potable water, lost at least 36 percent of its original mass in the last 50 years. Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=51822 MALé, June 15 (IPS) - The Maldives Islands, fast gaining a reputation for 'walking the talk' as it raises its tiny island voice in the climate change discourse, has launched an action plan to phase out hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) by 2020, or 10 years ahead of other countries and the target set by an international agreement known as the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer. Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2010/06/five-thousand-gulf-oil-spills/ That''s the rate that people are releasing carbon to the atmosphere from fossil fuel combustion and deforestation today. I know, it''s apples and oranges; carbon in the form of oil is more immediately toxic to the environment than it is as CO2 (although CO2 may be more damaging on geologic time scales). But think of it - five thousand spills like in the Gulf of Mexico, all going at once, each releasing 40,000 barrels a day, every day for decades and centuries on end. We are burning a lot of carbon! Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2010/06/atlantic-tropical-cyclone-records-trends-and-ephemerality/ Guest Commentary from Urs Neu To understand the influence of climate change on tropical cyclone and hurricane activity, it is crucial to know how this activity has varied in the past. There have been a number of interesting new studies of Atlantic tropical cyclones (TCs) and hurricanes (tropical cyclones with maximum sustained winds exceeding 74 miles per hour) since my review of the topic a couple years ago (see here and here). These newer studies underscore that, while our knowledge continues to improve in this area, key uncertainties persist. In particular, it remains very difficult to confidently estimate trends in the past. Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/YaleEnvironment360/~3/dXHkFGF8uhI/digest.msp Britain can become a zero- carbon economy within two decades by shifting to renewable power generation, overhauling public transportation, and relying more on locally produced food, according to a new study. That shift does not have to drastically alter lifestyles, said Rob Hopkins, founder of Britain''s Transition Towns movement and author of the study by the UK''s Centre for Alternative Technology. The report suggests that shifting to electric or battery- powered vehicles would help cut transportation energy demand by 63 percent; insulation of every building and use of natural construction materials would reduce heat and electricity requirements by 50 percent ... Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/YaleEnvironment360/~3/FSgB4KG7gzw/digest.msp In 2010, for the third consecutive year, new wind power installations in the European Union will have roughly the same amount of electricity- generating capacity as newly built natural gas power plants, according to the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA). About 10 gigawatts of new wind power capacity is expected to be added in 2010, which would boost total installed capacity to about 85 gigawatts, according to the trade organization. Natural gas remains the EU''s leading source of generating electricity, producing about 119 gigawatts in 2007, according to industry data. But while new natural gas power plants had twice the capacity of Danish wind turbines new wind projects as recently as four years ago, new wind energy capacity has equalled or exceeded natural gas capacity for the last two years, EWEA says. Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/science_and_environment/10323987.stm Southern Ocean sperm whales help the oceans absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere - through their faeces. Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/science_and_environment/10324258.stm A fully solar- powered plane is getting ready to head for the skies once again - this time, at night. Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/science_and_environment/10316910.stm Rajendra Pachauri tells BBC News that he welcomes the current vigorous debate on climate science. Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/sci/tech/8740049.stm IPCC head reflects on a turbulent six months. Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/science_and_environment/10314458.stm New crops in the 60s saved carbon as well as lives Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/lnxfkXBC3p4/ If you ever want to know what the inside- the- beltway conventional wisdom is, look for the Politico''s screaming headline. 'Deadly silence on carbon caps,' is today''s tea- leaf reading article, which asserts that Obama 'may have put the dagger into his long- sought plans for a cap on greenhouse gas emissions by opening the door for alternatives.' Speeches, while important, aren' t daggers - and, in any case, conventional wisdom in the Politico and elsewhere around DC has been that a GHG cap has been dead for months. But Obama could easily have skipped the pivot to comprehensive energy and climate legislation, and, as I' ve noted, 'The talking points are better than the speech I would also add that 'cap- and- trade' is a desperately bad centerpiece for messaging - since it focuses entirely on process and not outcomes/ ... Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/v2ge6tZ49pI/ Europe''s wind power is booming The European Union will continue its 2009 record- breaking pace this year for adding wind power, reports the European Wind Energy Association. The industry group expects EU countries will install 10 gigawatts of new wind power capacity, the same as 2009's record, bringing the total to 85 GW by year''s end. 'What is encouraging is that, unlike in 2009, the 2010 results consist of orders placed after the start of the financial crisis,' Christian Kjaer, the group''s CEO, said Monday in a statement. 'Wind energy will be competing for the top spot with new gas power plants.' Europe''s new gas plants produced twice as much power as its new wind turbines four years ago, but the gap narrowed sharply in 2007 and by 2008, wind had overtaken gas, reports The New York Times, citing data from ... Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/XEDeFh3blPw/ Sens. John Kerry (D- MA) and Joe Lieberman (I- CT) released analysis yesterday of their American Power Act, or APA, by the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA''s analysis definitively demonstrates that we can reduce our carbon pollution and jumpstart the clean energy economy at a very small net cost to American consumers. This analysis is also consistent with several other studies showing that the American Power Act would create jobs, reduce consumer energy prices, and help the United States lead the world toward stabilizing carbon emissions at safe levels by 2050. CAP''s Richard Caperton and Andrew Light have the analysis in this repost. Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://www.desmogblog.com/inside-scoop-climate-war the climate war eric pooley. jpg The first question I had for author Eric Pooley after I finished reading his new book, The Climate War, was whether he had set up hidden cameras all over Washington, DC. He didn' t of course, but the insider information he weaves into his story about the ongoing battle for effective climate policy both in the United States and internationally will make even the insiders feel inadequate. The Climate War puts you at the power- broker''s table, with much of the book following two main characters who have been at the center of the debate and the controversy around climate policy for more than a decade - Fred Krupp, Executive Director of Environmental Defense Fund and Jim Rogers, CEO of Duke Energy. Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://energybulletin.net/53092 While oil gushes out of the Gulf, and the economy staggers toward the exits, scientists continue to investigate our longer future. Deadly heat waves will test the upper limits of human endurance. Millions will move or die. "Skeptical scientist" John Cook and tech investigator Stuart Staniford talk it through. read more Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://energybulletin.net/node/53106 Crude oil in the gulf yields good TV images, but BP and its contractors have untapped a geyser not only of oil, but of methane--more than 20 time as effective as CO2 at holding heat. The percentage of the gush that''s methane is roughly estimated at 40-50%, subject to verification. read more Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/14764227/1hmtei/alternet_environment~Is-New-Environmentalism-the-Answer-or-the-Problem Is "New Environmentalism" really forward- looking, or will it simply reinforce and accelerate the forces that got us into the climate crisis in the first place? Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/14759177/1hmtei/alternet_environment~The-BP-Speech-Obama-Still-Refuses-to-Lead Faced with the worst environmental disaster in history, Obama wants change. He just won' t fight for it. Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/14751151/1hmtei/alternet_environment~Why-the-Future-of-Sustainability-Is-All-About-quotRelocalizationquot Here''s a plan for revitalized, solar- powered communities. Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://www.nbcaugusta.com/news/georgia/96266934.html NBC Augusta. Early summer heatwave breaks records. NBC Augusta. Our early summer heatwave broke another record high temperature on Monday. The high temperature of 103F occurred at 3:21pm at Augusta Bush Field and broke ... Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/jun/15/food-prices-rise-un-report Growing demand from emerging markets and for biofuel production will send prices soaring, according to the OECD and the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation. Food prices are set to rise as much as 40% over the coming decade amid growing demand from emerging markets and for biofuel production, according to a United Nations report today which warns of rising hunger and food insecurity. Farm commodity prices have fallen from their record peaks of two years ago but are set to pick up again and are unlikely to drop back to their average levels of the past decade, according to the annual joint report from Paris- based thinktank the OECD and the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).The forecasts are for wheat and coarse grain prices over the next 10 years to be between 15% and 40% higher in real terms, once adjusted for inflation, than their average levels ... Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/16/fred-pearce-climate-science-book Fred Pearce will be online between 12-1pm on Thursday 17 June to answer questions on his new book about 'climategate' This Thursday, renowned journalist Fred Pearce publishes his definitive account of the story of the emails between climate scientists that were exposed online last year. To mark the new book, The Climate Files: The Battle for the Truth About Global Warming, Pearce will be online to answer your questions from 12-1pm on Thursday 17 June. The book''s genesis was in a unique mutualisation experiment we ran in February, inviting protagonists in the story to reply online. This is your chance to ask any questions about the story of the climate emails, from how the science community handled the incident, to public belief in climate change and the imminent findings of the independent investigation by the University of East Anglia, whose Climatic Research Unit was at the heart of the ... Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/16/coalition-support-new-nuclear-power Government will ease the way for extra plants but not provide subsidies, energy minister Charles Hendry to tell industry chiefs. Energy minister Charles Hendry will today set out the government''s support for new nuclear power, in the face of opposition from the Tories' coalition partners, the Liberal Democrats. Hendry will tell the Nuclear Industry Forum that there is a role for new nuclear plants, provided they do not require public subsidies. In one of the key differences between the two coalition parties, the Tories back a new generation of private sector- funded nuclear power stations while the Lib Dems have long opposed new nuclear build. The Tory junior minister, who works under Lib Dem energy secretary Chris Huhne, said conversations he has had with companies suggest they are willing to invest without being subsidised. But the government will take steps to remove "unnecessary" barriers to building new nuclear power stations. Government ... Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/16/un-review-carbon-offset-abuses Clean Development Mechanism carbon offset scheme faces fresh criticism over dubious emission reduction projects. The UN has confirmed that it is considering a formal review of its Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) after a new report leveled fresh criticism at the high profile carbon offsetting scheme. A coalition of green groups working under the banner CDM Watch yesterday tabled a formal request calling on the UN''s climate change secretariat to overhaul the CDM and crack down on alleged "gaming" of the system that has allowed some firms to benefit from increasing their greenhouse gas emissions. The controversy surrounds companies which currently receive carbon credits for capturing and destroying the powerful greenhouse gas HFC-23 - a by product resulting from the production of the refrigerant gas HCFC-22.CDM Watch has alleged the way the CDM is structured means that chemical gas manufacturers based in China and India and South and ... Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/jun/15/obama-bp-nationalise-oil The US president''s scapegoating of BP is a distraction; the only way to clean up the oil industry is to put it under public control. Barack Obama''s crude comparison of the Deepwater spill to 9/11 marks a new low in the political grandstanding over the Gulf of Mexico disaster. While the president might be right to haul BP over the coals for the company''s apparent negligence prior to the explosion, the distancing of the US government from the private sector is a cynical way to exploit the tragedy. If Obama''s post- spill proclamations are to be believed, the US administration bears no responsibility for the catastrophe, and instead is wholeheartedly committed to environmental protection, developing alternative energies, and all the other buzzwords so beloved by politicians and voters alike. Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/15/outdoor-gear-toxic-chemicals Outdoor gear is made from climate- changing oil- based chemicals - manufacturers need to clean up their act. Since I spend as much time as possible getting muddy and sweaty outdoors, it''s always seemed perfectly reasonable to me to try and help protect the very thing that I feel so passionate about: namely the environment. I'm surprised then and not a little disappointed with the results of Ethical Consumer magazine''s latest buyers' guide, which looks at the companies who make everything from walking boots to waterproof jackets. Having surveyed the environmental and ethical policies of more than 60 leading outdoor gear companies, the magazine found that virtually all the companies pay little regard for environmental issues with woefully inadequate environmental and ethical reporting policies. Few of the companies have an environmental policy in place with all but two getting a bottom rating for their environmental reporting. Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jun/15/brazil-oil-petrobras-offshore-deepwater As BP grapples with the Gulf of Mexico spill, South America''s leader in deepwater exploration is trying to prevent a similar disaster. Brazil is keeping a watchful eye on the environmental disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. It is among the countries most likely to suffer an accident similar to Deepwater Horizon, having engaged in the exploration and exploitation of huge oil and gas fields in the Atlantic depths. Brazil''s industry regulator, the National Oil Agency (ANP), and the main oil company, Petrobras, won' t comment on the disaster. They are, however, reacting very quietly, and behind the scenes. Petrobras''s management told parliament in May that its rescue teams were ready to intervene within 24 hours at the most on any of the rigs in mainland Brazil and within eight hours on the most remote offshore fields. Brazil has for several years led the way in deep- water exploration, but ... Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/09/carbon-capture-storage-test-france Carbon dioxide from methane processing plant is held in depleted natural reservoir. In the midst of the Jurançon vineyards is a plot of land surrounded by shrubs. At first sight this patch of southwest France might seem a haven of tranquillity, but the visitor notices the hum of a compressor, odd control levers sticking out of the ground, and two pale green pipes running across the field, then down a succession of valleys leading to the Lacq gas facility. It was here in January that Total started an experiment in carbon- dioxide storage. The oil conglomerate plans to inject 120,000 tonnes of CO2 into a depleted natural- gas reservoir, 4,500 metres below the ground in a porous sedimentary rock formation extending over two square kilometres. Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/video/2010/jun/16/national-geographic-algae-cancer Huge mats of algal growth on the western of coast of Antarctica are being studied by marine biologists for their potential to treat cancer Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/15/bp-spill-obama-reform-oil The BP oil spill gives Obama a chance in his Oval Office speech tonight to reform oil use, says Daniel J. Weiss. President Barack Obama has made four trips to visit gulf state communities affected by the BP disaster and now plans to give his first- ever Oval Office speech to the nation this Tuesday evening to address the issue. This manmade calamity threatens the nation''s economy, health, and environment. This is also a crucial moment in the BP catastrophe, which threatens to swamp his domestic agenda. But it also provides an opportunity for President Obama to demonstrate leadership by tackling all the aspects of this crisis, including taking charge of the clean up, getting more help from BP, providing long- term public health and economic recovery, and adopting an oil- use and pollution- reduction reform agenda to minimize the likelihood of another catastrophe. Americans are legitimately frustrated and furious about ... Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jun/15/independent-greenland-mineral-resources-denmark Devolved powers from Denmark over crucial mineral resources have moved Greenland a step closer to full independence. Last 21 June, on Greenland''s national day, the country experienced one of its most historic moments. On that date self- government was introduced. Eighteen different countries (including all the G8) sent official representatives to partake in the ceremonial and cultural festivities in Greenland''s capital, Nuuk. Greenland is a former colony of Denmark with a population of only 56,500, which since 1979 has enjoyed "home rule" " a form of autonomy with rights and command over many internal matters. With the introduction of self- government came an explicitly mentioned legal right to independence if the Greenlandic people should wish it. One of the direct consequences of these changes has been the taking over of the complete mineral and oil rights from Denmark. Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/jun/14/commoditries-coffee-prices-rising-sharply Supermarket prices likely to jump as poor harvests in Vietnam and central American plus speculators covering their positions cause leap in cost of robusta coffee. Coffee prices are rising sharply, largely due to poor crops in Vietnam and central America causing a fall in global supplies. The International Coffee Organisation (ICO) said world exports between October and April dropped by 8.1% compared with the same period a year earlier " down from 58m bags to 53.3m. Prices of robusta coffee (the lower- quality bean commonly used in instant coffees) rose by 20% in three days last week to their highest in more than a year. Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://www.zcb2030.org/ Time to say we will zerocarbonbritain2030 is a positive, realistic policy framework to eliminate emissions from fossil fuels within 20 years. zerocarbonbritain2030 provides political and economic solutions to the urgent challenges raised by the climate science, outlining how we can transform the UK into an efficient, clean, prosperous zero- carbon society. "The great transition to a zero- carbon Britain is not only the most pressing challenge of our time, it is also entirely possible. The solutions needed to create a low- carbon and high- wellbeing future for all exist, what has been missing to date, is the political will to implement them.' Dr Victoria Johnson, New Economics Foundation. Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://www.joabbess.com/2010/06/16/the-much-maligned-mike-hulme/ Professor Mike Hulme is far too clever for most other people to understand. He has spent many years trying to challenge dogmatism, undermine polarised extremes, create a broader church for Climate Change. Trouble is, people tend to misuse his words. Here he was, back in 2006, trying to unpick some alarmist tendencies :- [link]1/hi/6115644.stm [link]1/hi/ sci/ tech/5236482.stm His intention, presumably, was to avoid the 'doom and gloom' trap of people placing too much urgency on an apparent emergency, then being disappointed by political failure to rise to speedy action. Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://www.joabbess.com/2010/06/15/natural-gaza-2/ What''s wrong with this picture ? Yes, that''s right. There''s no mention of the Gaza Strip or the West Bank. Besides blurring the land boundaries, it seems that Israel is also blurring the maritime and sub- sea borders into the bargain. This is the official map of the Eastern Mediterranean region :- Yet you would be forgiven for thinking that the West Bank is fully under Palestinian control :- Encroachment by the Israelis doesn' t stop at the coast. Here''s the geology of the region :- And here''s a diagram of the Natural Gas fields that have been explored, which you will notice lie roughly on the first fault out from the coast marked on the geological map :- A Natural Gas field does not magically stop at an international maritime border, as suggested by these three maps :- ... Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://feeds.grist.org/click.phdo?i=a6946a208a10f8ce41ce9af46e3795c9 by Teryn Norris. The biggest news from President Obama''s Oval Office address is that cap- and- trade legislation is probably dead for the foreseeable future, and the administration is seeking new ideas. Instead of using last night''s prime- time opportunity to push cap- and- trade in the form of the Kerry- Lieberman American Power Act- as many climate advocates saw as their last hope for 'comprehensive' climate reform- President Obama pressed the reset button on energy and climate policy, saying he was 'happy to look at other ideas and approaches from either party, as long they seriously tackle our addiction to fossil fuels.' He made no mention of setting a price on carbon or establishing an emissions cap- and- trade system. Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://feeds.grist.org/click.phdo?i=61e742399a75003e53c3d0390e1a0fac by Jonathan Hiskes. The New Republic''s Bradford Plumer has a post today- Why our reaction to the oil spill absolutely terrifies me- that' s, well, sorta terrifying. It''s about how the body politic seems just plain unable to deal with the Gulf oil leak in any sane way: What''s especially unnerving, though, is that the recklessness that helped bring about the spill, and the political reaction that followed, seem to indicate a larger inability to prevent and cope with other large- scale ecological catastrophes- particularly climate change. True, the analogy''s not perfect: The Deepwater Horizon blowout was a sudden and local event, while global warming is slowly creeping up on us and, well, global. Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://feeds.grist.org/click.phdo?i=8d073f47926e57829e7c8fc4c4c5ba4f by Jonathan Hiskes. The oil drilling and oyster industries both extract things from coastal waters, so it''s no surprise they' ve been interacting for decades. Here''s a cheesy 1960 video from the American Petroleum Institute that gives a fun look into that relationship, and the industry- funded science that keeps it humming: I don' t know the full background, but Louisiana oyster harvesters claimed that offshore drilling was sickening oysters. The API responded with $2 million worth of research into oyster health- they pumped oil into a tank of oysters, poured in drilling mud, even measured the effect of dynamite charges on oysters. Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://arkansasnews.com/2010/06/16/senate-unlikely-to-pass-sweeping-climate-change-measure-pryor-says/ LITTLE ROCK The Senate is unlikely to pass comprehensive legislation addressing climate change in the next couple of years, though a less ambitious bill may achievable, U. S. Sen. Mark Pryor, D- Ark., said today. Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/SzORrzGuzi8/idUSTRE65E63F20100616 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Last month was the warmest May on record, the U. S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said on Tuesday. Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/fG2lKv88kSE/idUSTRE65E0F620100615 TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan will aim to pass a shelved climate bill setting tough emission reduction targets before an annual U. N. meeting in Mexico later this year, the environment minister said on Tuesday. Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cartoon/2010/jun/17/barack-obama-bp-deal-steve-bell BP to pay out $20bn over oil spill after talks with Obama. Steve Bell Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/266/f/3780/s/b35fb75/l/0L0Sindependent0O0Cenvironment0Cclimate0Echange0Cdisaster0Eis0Emaking0Eus0Ethink0Eagain0Eabout0Ecleaner0Eenergy0E20A0A26820Bhtml/story01.htm The Deepwater Horizon oil spill is making Americans think more about a clean energy future " but not yet to the extent of having to pay for it, or to tackle climate change, one of the leading US thinkers on global warming policy said yesterday. Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://www.desmogblog.com/sceptics-road-australia roo. jpg This week and next week, prominent climate sceptic blogger Anthony Watts is touring Australia to help promote the country''s newest political party, the Climate Sceptics party. Single issue parties are not unusual in Australia, and the Sceptics have been working to create a "new centrist party" to push for a "truthful, common- sense approach to [climate change] and all issues." The Climate Sceptics turned heads in January when they had to beg their members for an extra $20,000 to pay Christopher Monckton''s stipend as part of $100,000 in tour fees. This begs the question ... Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2010/0616/Alien-species-could-damage-Antarctic-ecosystems Alien species, like the chironomid midge, can thrive in icy Antarctic climates and could damage the environment if they were to expand. Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://feeds.grist.org/click.phdo?i=247f7e0fb2e2033511ae11ebf9d66da9 by David Roberts. Editor''s note: It seems that Al Gore reads Grist. And, um, doesn' t credit it. We' re just saying. From a sharp- eyed reader comes this ad for Humble Oil (which later merged with Standard to become, yes, Exxon). It may win the All Time Millenial Award for Maximal Irony. It''s from a 1962 edition of Life Magazine, available on Google Books (click for larger version): How right they were ... Related Links: Energy politics in the Senate: why Merkley''s oil plan matters Rumor watch: Obama has a 'secret' plan to redirect the Mississippi River Can we just drive less after the Gulf spill? Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/06/15/95940/epa-analysis-senate-energy-bill.html The energy and climate bill that Republicans call a light- switch tax would lower electricity bills, at least in its early years, the Environmental Protection Agency reported Tuesday. Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://www.monbiot.com/archives/2010/06/14/bogus-misdirected-and-effective/ The Tea Party movement is steeped in misinformation and denial. But it has a lot to teach the left. Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news195921627.html On March 20, Iceland''s Eyjafjallajokull volcano woke from its nearly 200-year slumber to change the way the world viewed volcanoes forever. Bringing almost all transatlantic air travel to a halt for the first time in modern history, this volcano reminded humanity of the powers these forces of nature contain - and of our relative inability to understand them. Associate Professor Huiming Bao of LSU''s Department of Geology Geophysics has published research in the journal Nature about massive volcanic eruptions and their atmospheric consequences in the past in North America. Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news195916359.html (Phys. Org. com) -- Climate change has led to masses of bizarre swimming crabs to invade the North Sea - hundreds of miles from their usual home, new research has revealed. Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news195911094.html Establishing a firm link between environmental change and human disease has always been an iffy proposition. Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news195910513.html Just as President Barack Obama called for in his address to the nation last night, Americans are demanding that BP and all other companies be responsible to both their shareholders and society, according to a new report from Rice University''s Jones Graduate School of Business. Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news195902459.html Cyclical changes in atmospheric pressure and sea surface temperature in the North Atlantic Ocean affect drought in the Sahel region on the southern Sahara rim. This has been revealed in an international study carried out by researchers from the University of Haifa, the French National Meteorological Service, Columbia University and the University of San Diego. The study was published recently in the scientific journal Atmospheric Science Letters (Royal Meteorological Society). Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news195900349.html A new study of biological invasions in Europe found they were linked not so much to changes in climate or land cover, but to two dominant factors - more money and more people. Wealth and population density, along with an increase in international trade and commerce, were the forces most strongly associated with invasive species that can disrupt ecosystems and cause severe ecological or agricultural damage, scientists said. Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news195884926.html As carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere rise, policy makers and scientists are looking at new ways to tackle the problems associated with the greenhouse gas. Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news195837352.html (Phys. Org. com) -- In the face of soaring obesity rates in the United States, a national dietary advisory committee that includes a Yale University professor is recommending sweeping changes to the American diet: a reduction in overall calorie consumption, drastically reducing the intake of sodium and added sugars and shifting diets to more seafood and plant- based foods. Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news195820935.html Climate change could cause increasing and unpredictable hazard risks in mountainous regions, according to a new study from the University of Exeter and Austrian researchers. The study analyses the effects of two extreme weather events - the 2003 heatwave and the 2005 flood - on the Eastern European Alps. It demonstrates what impact events like these, predicted to become more frequent under a changing climate, could have on alpine regions and what implications these changes might have for local communities. Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://www.greenleft.org.au/node/44435 An interview with Raj Patel, author of 'The Value of Nothing' and 'Stuffed and Starved', about corporate dominance of global food production and battles to create democratic and sustainable food systems. Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://www.abc15.com/dpp/news/local_news/hear_me_out/hear-me-out:-can-money-for-the-water-bank-be-used-by-the-state? HEAR ME OUT: While the water district maintains the fund sweep was illegal, the legislature says the contract with Nevada allows the money to be used for other purposes. The two sides sound off on the topic. Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/15/global-heat-is-on-in-2010-so-far/ Global temperatures hit a modern record for January through May, but a Pacific cool spell is forecast later this year. Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/14/from-climate-conflict-to-energy-consensus/ Obama addresses a nation enthused about cleaner energy choices but not about a cap and trading system for carbon. Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/15/obama-seeking-new-ideas-on-energy-and-climate/ President Obama focuses on the gulf disaster but hints at new approaches on broader energy questions. Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://liberalconspiracy.org/2010/06/16/is-the-telegraph-censoring-criticism-of-climate-change-deniers/ About ten days ago, Telegraph employee and blogger Tom Chivers wrote a blog post titled 'Viscount Monckton is an embarrassment to global warming sceptics everywhere'. In the blog post he wrote: Entertaining news of the week: high- profile global warming sceptic Viscount (Christopher) Monckton has been caught out in an embarrassing example of (if we' re charitable) utter scientific illiteracy, in one of the most magisterial scientific take- downs on record. He goes on to explain that Monckton giving a lecture at a university in Minnesota where he made a series of 'startling claims'. Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/17/opinion/lweb17gallup.html Climate Change Polls. New York Times' The Climate Majority,' by Jon A. Krosnick (Op- Ed, June 9), could leave the impression that polls showing a decline in American concern about climate change ... Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/blogs/environment/~3/IHGeOkWNzhw/ It has an odd odor, oil mixed with dispersant. It''s reminiscent of the inside of an old mechanic shop or boat house, and out of place in the open water of Southern Louisiana''s Barataria Bay, which separates the Gulf of Mexico from the state''s fragile marshland. One one point during a tour of the bay to see damage from the BP Plc oil spill, Capt. Sal Gagliano stopped his boat in a spot where reddish brown specs of the oil and dispersant mixture accumulated on the surface. It is slightly gooey to the touch. The pollutants are why he was ferrying conservationists and reporters around and not taking customers out to fertile fishing spots. Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100616/ap_on_bi_ge/us_gulf_oil_spill_climate_bill_5 A climate and energy bill being pushed in the Senate faces bleak prospects, despite President Barack Obama''s call for a "clean energy" future that lessens dependence on oil and other fossil fuels. Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://www.scidev.net/en/news/global-warming-makes-plants-sweat-less-1.html [BANGALORE] The global warming potential of carbon dioxide ( CO 2 ), a key greenhouse gas, is underestimated as climate change studies do not take into account the crucial fact that plants 'sweat' less when surrounded by more CO 2 , new research shows. Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://www.dtnprogressivefarmer.com/dtnag/view/blog/getBlog.do?blogHandle=ethanol&blogEntryId=8a82c0bc28d18b95012937047b7c04ef A guest opinion piece in the Washington Post said the oil industry''s foray into alternative energy is a more significant investment than the U. S. government has made in the space, but still is nothing more than a fallback plan in case the oil industry is one day hit hard with climate change regulations. Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://www.dose.ca/news/story.html?id=3154113 New low- carbon fuel standards proposed in the Northeastern U. S. could actually slow the greening of the oilsands, Alberta Environment Minister Rob Renner warned Monday. Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://www.canadaeast.com/rss/article/1095531 Girls from all the G20 countries are gathering in Toronto this week to show what the world would be like if they were in charge. Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://www.centerforinvestigativereporting.org/blogpost/20100615carboncarouseleuropeanmarketahavenfortaxfraud Flying below the American radar, a tax scandal has been rocking the global carbon markets. Ironically, it is emanating from Copenhagen, the city that six months ago hosted the world''s largest climate summit. But back in 2007, long before COP 15 arrived, the Danes began working behind the scenes to host a growing cadre of carbon brokerage firms, which have become central to trading the world''s ... Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/v6eKlwTROP8/ I have never liked the use of the word 'consensus' as it is typically applied in the climate arena. Scientists don' t really have a 'consensus' so much as they have an 'understanding' of climate science. I wrote an article on this subject in 2008, 'The cold truth about climate change: [Disinformers] continue to insist there''s no consensus on global warming. Well, there''s not. There''s well- tested science and real- world observations [that are much more worrisome].' When James Hansen read the first draft of the piece, he wrote me back, 'Very important for the public to understand this - why has nobody articulated this already?' I don' t know. Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20100616/ts_csm/308678_1 A stalled climate- energy bill in the Senate got a boost Tuesday from federal regulators who reported it would not be too costly, then from President Obama. Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/latin_america/10333304.stm Slowly but surely an extinct glacier in a remote corner of the Peruvian Andes is being returned to its former colour, not by falling snow or regenerated ice sheets, but by whitewash. Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10928/s/b40d3e7/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Carticle0Cmg20A6276450B30A0A0Etake0Ethe0Epolitical0Eheat0Eout0Eof0Eclimate0Escepticism0Bhtml0DDCMP0FOTC0Erss0Gnsref0Fclimate0Echange/story01.htm The public is dubious about climate change, and libertarian sceptics are on the march. How can we improve matters, asks Roger Harrabin Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10928/s/b3ed79c/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Carticle0Cdn190A570Ecorals0Eliving0Eon0Eedge0Ecould0Eescape0Eclimate0Echange0Bhtml0DDCMP0FOTC0Erss0Gnsref0Fclimate0Echange/story01.htm Caribbean corals on the margins of a reef are evolving faster than those at its heart Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=51813 The spectacular glacier Number 15 of Antisana, one of the Ecuadorean capitals' sources of potable water, lost at least 36 percent of its original mass in the last 50 years. Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/science_and_environment/10342318.stm A "global pattern" of change in the Earth''s climate that began 2.7m years ago could be explained by CO2, say scientists. Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/zxGtXkTISuE/ The American Power Act includes some strong provisions to lower consumer costs and provide access to new clean energy jobs. But it lacks a few fundamental provisions to truly scale up the clean energy economy, explains CAP''s Van Jones. BP''s Chairman got himself in hot water this week for suggesting that his company is not 'greedy' and cares about the 'small people.' Pundits were outraged less by his lies than by his condescension. Admittedly, he should have chosen a different phrase to describe the low- income and vulnerable Americans who are suffering in the gulf region. Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://www.culturechange.org/cms/content/view/656/66/ There''s no shortage of finger pointing as the now worst oil spill in U. S. history continues its assault on the Gulf Coast''s ecology and economy. A USA TODAY/ Gallop Poll taken in late May, for example, found that 73 percent of Americans feel that BP (British Petroleum) is doing a 'poor' or 'very poor' job of handling the crisis, and 60 percent evaluated the federal government''s response in the same unfavorable terms. Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_round_up/511969/pay_hill_farmers_to_protect_water_supply_and_carbon_sinks_report_urges.html Peat stores 200m tonnes of carbon in England and hills are source of 70 per cent of the country''s drinking water, say rural experts Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://energybulletin.net/node/53151 "For decades, we have known the days of cheap and easily accessible oil were numbered...". These were the words of President Obama during his national address on the Gulf oil disaster from the Oval Office on Tuesday. Is the President accepting that we have reached peak oil?... read more Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=51852 Despite the pleas of some conservative politicians that parallels should not be drawn between the oil spreading over the Gulf of Mexico and the need to transition out of a reliance on fossil fuels, U. S. President Barack Obama made it clear Tuesday night that he sees the race against the spreading oil as inherently connected to the race against a changing climate. Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/20/north-west-england-hosepipe-ban-drought-warning Rivers and lakes at lowest levels since the 1960s after six of the driest consecutive months. Seven million people in the north- west of England may have hosepipe bans imposed on them within weeks, as fears of a drought rise after six of the driest consecutive months in 70 years. The bans, which are being prepared by the water company United Utilities, should help preserve water supplies in reservoirs, lakes and rivers across northern England, many of which are at their lowest levels for this time of year since the 1960s. Thirlmere, in the Lake District, is only half full, while Haweswater is 30% below capacity. Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/jun/20/frontier-oil-exploration-pollution Far from the Gulf of Mexico, campaigners are accusing energy companies of destroying land and livelihoods in the search for increasingly scarce resources. The eyes of the world are on BP after the disaster that left oil spewing into the Gulf of Mexico at the rate of 50,000 gallons a day. But campaigners accuse Big Oil of an appalling track record elsewhere in the world, saying it leaves a trail of devastation in its wake. From Nigeria to Kazakhstan in Central Asia, and Colombia and Ecuador in South America, the oil majors stand accused of a blatant disregard for local communities and the environments in which they operate. With demand for energy expected to surge as industrialisation accelerates in China, India and Brazil, critics say oil companies are taking ever- increasing risks to cash in on yet another bonanza. Two other factors ensure the dash for oil continues apace. Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/2010/jun/19/naomi-klein-gulf-oil-spill The Deepwater Horizon disaster is not just an industrial accident " it is a violent wound inflicted on the Earth itself. In this special report from the Gulf coast, a leading author and activist shows how it lays bare the hubris at the heart of capitalism. Everyone gathered for the town hall meeting had been repeatedly instructed to show civility to the gentlemen from BP and the federal government. These fine folks had made time in their busy schedules to come to a high school gymnasium on a Tuesday night in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, one of many coastal communities where brown poison was slithering through the marshes, part of what has come to be described as the largest environmental disaster in US history."Speak to others the way you would want to be spoken to," the chair of the meeting pleaded one last time before opening the floor for questions. ... Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://www.joabbess.com/2010/06/18/burning-things-is-wasteful/ Centre for Alternative Technology Burning things wastes a lot of energy " even burning waste. 1. Plain Old Inefficiency The systems and infrastructure for the generation and distribution of electricity in the United Kingdom is extremely poor, nigh on immorally wasteful. See the diagram above from the Zero Carbon Britain 2030 report :- [link] There are so many things that could be done to improve on that enormous loss of energy, and save on Carbon Dioxide Emissions at the same time. One of the best ways is to de- centralise 'thermal' generation to town- local Combined Heat and Power, rather than burning Fossil Fuels in the wilds of Yorkshire and losing all that heat to the sky. Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://www.joabbess.com/2010/06/18/zero-carbon-britain-2030/ I' m sure you' ll be interested to know that the second Zero Carbon Britain report from the Centre for Alternative Technology is now available for free download from this website :- [link] [link] downloads/ ZCB2030.pdf Here are a few articles about the report release :- [link] publications/ zero- carbon- britain-2030 [link] news/ news_ release. tmpl? command= search& db= news. db& eq. SKUdatarq=37990&home=1 [link] uk- carbon- from-637m- tonnes- to-0-possible- by-2030_14526.html [link] en/2010/06/453523.html Enjoy ! Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/YaleEnvironment360/~3/es3peZqnWxE/digest.msp Rising carbon dioxide concentrations in the world''s oceans, the spread of oxygen- free dead zones, and other human assaults on the seas are swiftly causing irreversible changes that have not occurred in several million years, according to a special issue of the journal Science. The review found that growing ocean acidification caused by increasing CO2 levels, rising ocean temperatures, and the expansion of dead zones are destroying coral reefs, sea grasses, and mangroves; causing a decline in fish populations and a breakdown in marine food chains; and leading to more frequent outbreaks of diseases among marine organisms. 'If we continue down this pathway we get into conditions which have no analog to anything we' ve experienced,' said Ove Hoegh- Guldberg, director of the Global Change Institute at the University of Queensland in Australia and co- author of one of the studies in Science. Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/YaleEnvironment360/~3/s-33PVa61mE/digest.msp A new study directly links clearing of forests in the Amazon with a pronounced jump in malaria cases. University of Wisconsin researchers, analyzing data from one county in Brazil, said they found a 48 percent increase in malaria cases after 4.2 percent of the country''s tree cover was cleared. 'It appears that deforestation is one of the initial ecological factors that can trigger a malaria epidemic,' said researcher Sarah Olson. Comparing satellite photos showing loss of tree cover with GPS data marking where malaria victims in the county lived, the scientists demonstrated that areas that have not been deforested have considerably lower per capita rates of malaria. Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news195979458.html (Phys. Org. com) -- A team of scientists - led by Professor Andrew C Scott of the Department of Earth Sciences at Royal Holloway, University of London - have revealed that neither comet nor catastrophe were the cause for abrupt climate change some 12,900 years ago. Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/JgHfrnIwzjQ/idUSTRE65H0LI20100618 SYDNEY (Reuters) - The world''s oceans are virtually choking on rising greenhouse gases, destroying marine ecosystems and breaking down the food chain -- irreversible changes that have not occurred for several million years, a new study says. Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/shell/lloC/~3/_9b-xwWHaHU/ In his speech to the nation this week, President Obama referred to the huge level of resource that the United States was able to muster as it turned its industrial capacity to the production of military equipment during World War II. The one answer I will not settle for is the idea that this challenge is too big and too difficult to meet. You see, the same thing was said about our ability to produce enough planes and tanks in World War II. One of the best examples of this transformation and a symbol of US wartime industrial output was the production of 'Liberty Ships'. Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/19/japans-hard-right-keeps-dolphin-film-from-theaters/ A tiny faction in Japan prevents a documentary on the dolphin slaughter in a town there from being shown. Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://sify.com/news/membrane-to-cut-carbon-dioxide-emission-from-coal-power-units-news-international-kgrsuehbehc.html High- tech cling wraps that filter out carbon dioxide (CO2) from waste gases can help save the world, says the researcher who developed the technology. Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90778/90860/7027959.html China has taken a leading role in utilizing many green technologies and is expected to be a major market for carbon capture and storage technologies, said industry leaders. Both research institutes and companies have shown great enthusiasm for the technology, but commercialization will take time due to high costs and safety issues, said analysts. "Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is a tough ... Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/housing-management/low-carbon-technology-can-increase-running-costs/6510265.article The report, entitled Lifetime costs of installing renewable technologies , warns that using low and zero carbon technologies does not automatically lead to cost reductions. Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://www.thestar.co.za/?fSectionId=&fArticleId=nw20091124074652734C576159 Ghor Haditha, Jordan - The Dead Sea may soon shrink to a lifeless pond as Middle East political strife blocks vital measures needed to halt the decay of the world''s lowest and saltiest body of water, experts say. Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20100617/sc_livescience/antarcticseaiceparadoxicallygrowing While Arctic sea ice continues to shrink as the world warms, the ice around Antarctica is actually growing, thanks to the influence of the ozone hole over the southernmost continent, scientists have reported. Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://www.financialexpress.com/news/Column-Bonn-ends-in-whimper-but-there-is-hope/634674/ The climate change mini- summit at Bonn has ended with a whimper, in sharp contrast to the storm that was raised over... Sun Jun 20 23:22:01 2010 EST http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100611/ap_on_sc/us_sci_oil_in_everything WASHINGTON " Has the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico got you so mad you' re ready to quit Big Oil? Ready to park the car and take up bike- riding or walking? Well, your bike and your sneakers have petroleum products in them. And sure, you can curb energy use by shutting off the AC, but the electric fans you switch to have plastic from oil and gas in them. And the insulation to keep your home cool, also started as oil and gas. Without all that, you' ll sweat and it' ll be all too noticeable because deodorant comes from oil and gas too. Mon Jun 14 11:10:47 2010 EST 14th June 2010 http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2010/04jun_swef/ Earth and space are about to come into contact in a way that''s new to human history. To make preparations, authorities in Washington DC are holding a meeting: The Space Weather Enterprise Forum at the National Press Club on June 8th. Richard Fisher, head of NASA''s Heliophysics Division, explains what it''s all about: "The sun is waking up from a deep slumber, and in the next few years we expect to see much higher levels of solar activity. At the same time, our technological society has developed an unprecedented sensitivity to solar storms. The intersection of these two issues is what we' re getting together to discuss." The National Academy of Sciences framed the problem two years ago in a landmark report entitled "Severe Space Weather Events- Societal and Economic Impacts." It noted how people of the 21st- century rely on high- tech systems for the basics of daily ... Mon Jun 14 11:10:47 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/europe/10294649.stm From the Mediterranean coast to the bay of Arcachon on the Atlantic and now Brittany, farmers have been watching in dismay in recent weeks as the virus once again moved northwards, keeping pace with the rising sea temperature. In 2008 and 2009, the industry was ravaged by the same epidemic, with many farms losing 80-100% of their stocks of naissains - first- year spats. Because it takes three years to grow a commercially viable oyster, so far the economic impact of the crisis has been limited. But now all pre-2008 production has been depleted, so major shortages are predicted next winter when demand peaks around Christmas and New Year. Mon Jun 14 11:10:47 2010 EST http://blogs.ft.com/energy-source/2010/06/14/climate-talks-end-in-acrimony-for-saudi-arabia/ Two weeks of international talks in Bonn ended on something of a sour note when Saudi Arabia and two other Gulf fossil- fuel producers blocked a proposal for an updated report on the effect of a 1.5 degree increase in climate. Mon Jun 14 11:10:47 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/world/us_and_canada/10307782.stm US President Barack Obama says the oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico will have the same impact on the US psyche as 9/11. Mon Jun 14 11:10:47 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/LDcdYjfibrI/ 'I am not willing to be the latest in a succession of Presidents telling you we' re going to end our addiction to oil. Finally, it''s time to begin. Oil is holding us all hostage, economically and physically. If terrorists had poisoned 40% of our wetlands and 25% of our fisheries, we wouldn' t ask, 'How much will it cost to fight back? The good news? At last we have ways to get far within a few years, not over decades! And it will cost much less than you think.' Tuesday night, President Obama will speak to the nation about the Gulf catastrophe. Mon Jun 14 11:10:47 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jun/13/bp-energy-oil-recession-economy The Gulf of Mexico spill has made it imperative that we end our dependency on petrol. How much should we worry about running out of oil? Of late, there have been disparate predictions for our oil reserves, with some claiming that oil will last us for decades. In fact, the question is not so much: "When will there be no more oil left for us to take?" but, rather: "When will demand outstrip production?" And that could happen sooner than most people realise. This is an issue that governments around the world, including our own, are ignoring despite the potential risk to our economies. Conventional oil production has a limited capacity. Mon Jun 14 11:10:47 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/13/ecological-tragedy-political-disaster Fifty days in, the backlash from the BP oil spill is being felt on both sides of the Atlantic. As the special relationship comes under strain, Obama invests an unprecedented amount of presidential time on a visit to the Gulf, while Cameron faces rightwing flak. The anger is palpable in the southern Louisiana towns where livelihoods are being slowly and inexorably choked by oil. Pickup trucks with "BP sucks" scrawled on their panels bounce along the roads. Anti- BP rallies are planned this weekend in communities too small to rate a petrol station but which now sport giant billboards advertising law firms touting for people who want to sue the oil giant for compensation. Mon Jun 14 11:10:47 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jun/14/charlie-brooker-bp-oil-spill Americans used to love an English accent. The oil spill has somewhat destroyed its charm. Flippantly putting the grave environmental tragedy of it all to one side for a moment, the Deepwater Horizon oil leak isn' t just causing extensive damage to the Louisiana coastline. What about our accents? Our lovely British accents? Thanks to the BP link, they' ve been destroyed too. Don' t know about you, but whenever I' m around Americans, I tend to exaggerate my Britishness in a pathetic bid to win their approval. Those days are gone. The first time I visited the US, I ran into trouble at immigration. Half the group I was travelling with decided to get drunk on the plane, which probably would' ve been fine with all the other passengers if it hadn' t been for the unrelenting cackling and yelping and removal of trousers. Mon Jun 14 11:10:47 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/14/police-compensation-kingsnorth-climate-protesters Kent police admit stop and search operation was a violation of human rights and agree to pay compensation to three protesters. Three activists at the Kingsnorth Power Station protest in 2008 are to receive compensation after Kent Police admitted they had been unlawfully stopped and searched. The three, including two 11-year- old twins, were stopped under laws requiring police officers to have 'reasonable suspicion' that an individual is carrying prohibited weapons or articles that could be used to cause criminal damage. However, during the case, brought against the police by the three protesters, it has now emerged that police had been conducting a blanket stop and search policy. Mon Jun 14 11:10:47 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/jun/13/sir-fred-goodwin-tony-hayward Companies like BP have more power than ever before " but there is a democratic deficit at the core of their governance. The transatlantic diplomatic pugilism over BP is only part of a much bigger story. The crisis has laid bare how our dangerous dependency on oil has led companies into ever riskier forms of extraction; unless we wean ourselves off this addiction more disasters seem inevitable. Deepwater has also exposed another dangerous dependency in which we are all complicit: our blind reliance on Tony Hayward, Sir Fred Goodwin and other corporate titans to provide for our welfare in old age. The environment is fragile, and so are our pensions. Mon Jun 14 11:10:47 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/jun/13/bp-britishness-not-most-important-issue President Obama''s attacks on "British Petroleum" and its chief executive, Tony Hayward, are deeply unedifying. Not because of the hypocrisy and misinformation involved, though there is plenty of that: BP has not been called British Petroleum for years and its controversial dividend is denominated in US dollars. Nancy Pelosi, the House Speaker, conjured up images of pound notes flowing into pinstriped pockets in the City when she suggested shareholders had "deeper pockets" than fishermen on the Gulf coast. But recipients of the divi are not all fat cats, and they are certainly not all British. About 40% of BP''s dividends are paid to US small investors and pension fund members, including teachers in California and Texas. Mon Jun 14 11:10:47 2010 EST http://www.joabbess.com/2010/06/14/fossil-fuels-versus-corn-ethanol/ So, digging up dirty old decaying fish causes massive coastland and marine pollution. Would bioethanol from corn be better ? [link] energy- source/2010/06/14/is- bps- oil- spill- an- opportunity- for- the- ethanol- lobby/ Not really. First there''s the amount of land required to grow all that corn to burn in all those tanks (see diagram at top of page). Then, there''s the competition between food and fuel that that will generate. Then there''s the continued hazard from airborne particulates that you get from burning anything in infernal, I mean, internal combustion engines :- [link] blog/20100609/new- questions- about- toxic- products- biofuel- combustion And last, and by no means least, Corn Ethanol production would keep Archer Daniels Midland in business, and that would mean they would own not only (unresearched ... Mon Jun 14 11:10:47 2010 EST http://www.joabbess.com/2010/06/13/bp-too-big-to-fail/ Phew ! That''s a relief ! The American President Barack Obama has personally spoken to British Prime Minister David Cameron apparently to reassure him he meant no harm to the reputation of Britain by blaming BP for the Gulf of Mexico oil spill :- [link] environment/2010/jun/13/gulf- oil- spill I should hope not ! BP stopped being 'British' Petroleum some time ago. Forty percent of BP''s business is in the United States :- [link] commentisfree/ cifamerica/2010/jun/10/us- bloodlust- bp- oil- spill The lack of speed and poor success in trying to cap and capture the undersea gusher from the Deepwater Horizon field has been relayed to our screens and laptops and newspapers in lurid, Jacques Cousteau- like inglory. Mon Jun 14 11:10:47 2010 EST http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/06/12/95793/ixtoc-the-gulfs-other-massive.html The oil was everywhere, long black sheets of it, 15 inches thick in some places. Even if you stepped in what looked like a clean patch of sand, it quickly and gooily puddled around your feet. And Wes Tunnell, as he surveyed the mess, had only one bleak thought: "Oh, my God, this is horrible! It''s all gonna die!'' But it didn' t. Thirty- one years since the worst oil spill in North American history blanketed 150 miles of Texas beach, tourists noisily splash in the surf and turtles drag themselves into the dunes to lay eggs. Mon Jun 14 11:10:47 2010 EST http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10928/s/b258c99/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Carticle0Cmg20A627640A0B80A0A0Ewhats0Ewrong0Ewith0Ethe0Esun0Bhtml0DDCMP0FOTC0Erss0Gnsref0Fclimate0Echange/story01.htm Right now our nearest star should be flaring up as never before. But instead it''s eerily calm " and we need to find out why Mon Jun 14 11:10:47 2010 EST http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2010/06/recent-trends-in-co2-emissions/ Guest commentary by Corinne Le Quéré, Michael R. Raupach, and Joseph G. Canadell There is a letter in Nature Geoscience this month by Manning et al (sub. reqd.) 'Misrepresentation of the IPCC CO2 emission scenarios' discussing some recent statements about the growth rates of CO2 emissions compared to the IPCC scenarios that informed the climate modeling in the last IPCC report. In it they refer to results published by us and colleagues in a couple of recent papers (Raupach et al. 2007; Le Quéré et al. 2009), and to statements made by others on the basis of our results (Ganguly et al. Mon Jun 14 11:10:47 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/YaleEnvironment360/~3/iu5n1f0aDkw/feature.msp The massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is a warning, conservationists say, of what could happen in the Arctic as melting sea ice opens the Arctic Ocean to oil and gas drilling. Many experts argue that the time has come to adopt an Arctic Treaty similar to the one that has safeguarded Antarctica for half a century. BY ED STRUZIK Mon Jun 14 11:10:47 2010 EST http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Harper+pressured+climate+change+agenda/3149140/story.html CBC. ca. Harper pressured to put climate change on G8, G20 agenda. Vancouver Sun... some issues surrounding climate change. At the same time, the G20 isn' t expected to replace the United Nations (global- warming) negotiating process. ...International summits have become outdated. St. Thomas Times- Journal. National Affairs. Orangeville Citizenall 352 Mon Jun 14 11:10:47 2010 EST http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100612/BUSINESS/706129937/1005 AFPOPEC takes flak for UN climate veto. National. Reuters Several OPEC nations have blocked a proposal for a UN inquiry into tougher action against global warming but not without a barrage of criticism from ...Saudis block call for global warming report. AFPSaudi placard vandalized, climate talks slowed further. Sify. Oil nations block switch to 1.5°C climate goal. EurActiv. Irish Times -Reuters UK -Indian Expressall 71 Mon Jun 14 11:10:47 2010 EST http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2012063258_bloomethanol13.html?syndication=rss A mile down an unpaved road on the outskirts of Canton, Ill., population 14,500, stands a shuttered ethanol plant. Mon Jun 14 11:10:47 2010 EST http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2264705/developing-countries-voice James Murray, Business. Green , Monday 14 June 2010 at 12:06:00 Leading diplomats slam "one- sided" and "imbalanced" draft negotiating text The improved atmosphere that dominated the latest round of international climate change talks in Bonn was marred somewhat on Friday after a new version of the draft negotiating text met with a mixed reception and the Saudi Arabian delegation was targeted in an ... Mon Jun 14 11:10:47 2010 EST http://www.twincities.com/national/ci_15282081?source=rss WALNUT CREEK, Calif. A few years ago, Ben Santer, a climate scientist with Lawrence Livermore Laboratory in Washington, answered a 10 p. m. doorbell ring at his home. After opening the door, he found a dead rat on the doorstep and a man in a yellow Hummer speeding away and shouting curses. Mon Jun 14 11:10:47 2010 EST http://www.pressherald.com/news/nationworld/warmer-climate-thaws-ice-cellars-in-arctic-villages_2010-06-13.html Residents who rely on a subsistence diet are having to throw out spoiled whale meat. Mon Jun 14 11:10:47 2010 EST http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/06/12/world/main6574774.shtml Southern Region''s Worst Drought in Century Followed by Torrential Storms That Swell Yangtze River; 140,000 Houses Collapse Mon Jun 14 11:10:47 2010 EST http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/06/13/INSD1DREGU.DTL California''s wet winter was a pleasant surprise after three years of drought. Yet most Californians will be surprised to know that, despite the heavy rain and snowfall, our state still is not able to meet all of our water needs. How is this possible?... California - Water - Drought - Rain - Water resources Mon Jun 14 11:10:47 2010 EST http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/06/13/2925712.htm Former federal Opposition leader Malcolm Turnbull has accused Kevin Rudd of being a coward on the issue of climate change. Mon Jun 14 11:10:47 2010 EST http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/?q=node/12380 Europe is behaving in a dangerously two- faced way when it comes to protecting the worlds climate, Christian Aid warned today (Thursday) as the UN climate talks in Bonn draw to a close. Mon Jun 14 11:10:47 2010 EST http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2012093821_guest14knutson.html?syndication=rss The Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico is only one danger of continued U. S. dependence on oil for energy, write guest columnists Pete Knutson and Alan Parks. High levels of carbon dioxide are increasing the acidity of the world''s oceans, which affects commercial harvest. Mon Jun 14 11:10:47 2010 EST http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/13/opinion/13friedman.html?src=me&ref=homepage 'I' d like to join in on the blame game that has come to define our national approach to the ongoing environmental disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. This isn' t BP''s or Transocean''s fault. It''s not the government''s fault. It''s my fault. I' m the one to blame and I' m sorry. It''s my fault because I haven' t digested the world''s in- your- face hints that maybe I ought to think about the future and change the unsustainable way I live my life. If the geopolitical, economic, and technological shifts of the 1990s didn' t do it ... Mon Jun 14 11:10:47 2010 EST http://www.theage.com.au/national/scientists-to-tackle-scepticism-20100614-ya7j.html Scientists to tackle scepticism. The Age... discuss better communication of the science behind man- made climate change, in the wake of crumbling political and public consensus on global warming. ...Cut carbon, get healthy! Energy Collective (blog) Scientists want clear message on climate. Sydney Morning Heraldall 6 Mon Jun 14 11:10:47 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/science_and_environment/10276225.stm The incoming head of the UN climate convention says rich nations must pledge bigger emission cuts. Sat Jun 12 09:19:35 2010 EST 12th June 2010 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/DFHgXJK3_ag/ A look at the culture of deregulation, self- regulation, and corruption ushered in by VP Dick Cheney underscores why the BP oil catastrophe should forever be remembered as Cheney''s Katrina, by CAP''s Joshua Dorner. Big Oil spent millions of dollars to sweep- and keep- George W. Bush and Dick Cheney in the White House. And it got its money''s worth. The new administration and its staunchly pro- oil congressional allies returned the favor by enacting one of the most pro- oil, anti- environment pieces of legislation in history: the Energy Policy Act of 2005-itself based on the recommendations of Cheney''s secret energy policy task force. Sat Jun 12 09:19:35 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/AASptdIpXzs/ This is the time, this is the Congress, and this is the moment. So if we retreat and try to just go to the energy only approach which will never yield the legislative results that I want on energy independence, then we just made the problem worse (2/3/10) In one of the fastest wholesale flip- flops in Senate history, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R- SC) has rejected his own climate bill and embraced an energy- only bill - just months after declaring such an approach intellectually dishonest and worse than meaningless. The Politico reports this morning: Sen. Lindsey Graham, who had earlier unsuccessfully negotiated to be part of the Kerry- Lieberman(-Graham) climate change bill, will join Sen. Sat Jun 12 09:19:35 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/SGE6YO_dnfM/idUSTRE6586TM20100609 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Energy Secretary Steven Chu on Wednesday gave limited support to a Republican senator for introducing an alternative climate bill that would limit emissions by less than President Barack Obama wants to, but would also take steps to reduce U. S. dependence on oil. Sat Jun 12 09:19:35 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/Iz2_KgXWmqY/idUSTRE65843320100609 BONN (Reuters) - Climate negotiators gave a standing ovation to the outgoing head of the U. N. climate change secretariat Wednesday even after he told them they would be at risk of a red card in a soccer match for wasting time. Sat Jun 12 09:19:35 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/I1EGrJVWnCk/idUSTRE6584XN20100609 HELSINKI (Reuters) - The inventor of a new type of solar cell won the Finnish state and industry- funded Millennium Technology Prize, the prize''s foundation said on Wednesday. Sat Jun 12 09:19:35 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/WXtkmB_sCdg/idUSTRE6584FQ20100609 BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Palm oil grown on recently deforested land is unlikely to be acceptable for use in European biodiesel, a draft report from the European Commission shows. Sat Jun 12 09:19:35 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/UKfd1rFNZAw/idUSTRE6581CR20100609 LONDON (Reuters) - China could face increasing pressure in U. N. climate talks after data released on Wednesday showed the country''s carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel rose by 9 percent in 2009, bucking a global downtrend. Sat Jun 12 09:19:35 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cif-green/2010/jun/09/oil-spill-credit-crunch-bp Small print of BP Statistical Review of World Energy is troubling. Big as BP''s problems are as a result of failed risk assessments, it will very probably soon become worse. Growing numbers of people doubt its annual review of oil reserves, published today. Society builds its oil dependency on key cultural statements of faith about secure supply, such as BP''s annual announcement that there is 40 years of supply or more, and no danger of supply falling short of demand, so ambushing oil- addicted economies. You would think that BP''s risk- assessment failures in the Gulf, and in US refineries, would make the company measured, given the stakes in this particular assessment. Sat Jun 12 09:19:35 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/jun/09/deepwater-horizon-oil-spill-responsibility-bp It''s our addiction to cheap fuel that drives the high- risk, poorly regulated sector producing business models like BP' sWho''s to blame for the Gulf oil spill? Many commentators point the finger at BP and the United States government. This focus is understandable " but gives an incomplete picture of how moral responsibility is distributed in this kind of case. Getting a better idea of distribution is important for blame and punishment but also for prevention: we don' t want this to happen again. Ascribing responsibility here can be knotty, owing to the wide range of actors involved in oil production. What BP does in this context depends on other corporate actors. Sat Jun 12 09:19:35 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/michaeltomasky/2010/jun/09/congress-energy-democrats-and-lugar A lot has happened in the last few days on energy and climate change in the Senate, most of it not so great. But it sets up a classic half- a-loaf kind of dilemma for liberals. First, on Sunday, Chuck Schumer said the Senate would be aiming low on energy and that the Kerry- Lieberman mega- legislation, which puts a price on carbon emissions via cap- and- trade, wasn' t necessarily the template. He spoke a little prematurely and walked that back. Then, yesterday, Lindsey Graham, the only Republican who was playing ball here and whose name used to be on that legislation, said definitively that he wouldn' t support the current version of that bill. Sat Jun 12 09:19:35 2010 EST http://www.pheedcontent.com/click.phdo?i=23a96470f205ebd4acaf90fd75faf221 Of course debt is a serious issue for the future. But that''s why politicians see no gain in finding solutions in the present. United States - Government debt - Middle East - Credit rating - Climate change Sat Jun 12 09:19:35 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/science_and_environment/10297449.stm UN climate talks end in Bonn with talk of an improved mood but major gulfs remain between blocs. Sat Jun 12 09:19:35 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/science_and_environment/10288943.stm Melting glaciers in the Himalayas will have varying impacts on food security the region''s major river basins, a study says. Sat Jun 12 09:19:35 2010 EST http://www.climatechangenews.org/archive.php?p=walmart Wal-Mart, the original Black Hat, is going green. Or better said, sustainable. Let that sink in because it is true. Big time. So much so that Treehugger.com says It "could end up being one of the biggest motivators to make truly 'green' products ever." As in history of the world. Wal-Mart has made believers out of not just the biggest environmental organizations in the world -- like the Environmental Defense Fund and the World Wildlife Federation -- but also Wal-Mart's suppliers. It started five years ago when Wal-Mart announced three goals: 1) 100 percent renewable energy; 2) Zero waste; 3) Sustainable products. Sat Jun 12 09:19:35 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/science_and_environment/10286334.stm Campaigners accuse some rich nations of trying to gain carbon credits for "business as usual". Sat Jun 12 09:19:35 2010 EST http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/richardblack/2010/06/from_the_un_climate_talks_1.html An overall goal is posited of reducing emissions globally by 50-85% from 1990 levels by 2050. Developing countries have repeatedly resisted calls for a global cap on emissions, because they deduce - accurately - that it implies a cap on their collective emissions: total cut minus industrialised countries' cuts equals their cuts. The maths says that when all is said and done, this would result in them accepting lower per- capita emissions for decades than Western nations, which they see as hindering their chances for equitable development. The call for parties to "co- operate in achieving the peaking of global and national emissions by 2020 at the latest" will also irk many developing countries. Sat Jun 12 09:19:35 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/JnGfqxmPlDU/ Lmonth tied May 1998 as the hottest on record in the NASA dataset. More significantly, following fast on the heels of easily the hottest April - and hottest Jan- April - on record, it''s also the hottest Jan- May on record [click on figure to enlarge]. Also, the combined land- surface air and sea- surface water temperature anomaly for March- April- May was 0.73°C above the 1951-1980 mean, blowing out the old record of 0.65°C set in 2002. The record temperatures we' re seeing now are especially impressive because we' ve been in 'the deepest solar minimum in nearly a century.' It''s just hard to stop the march of manmade global warming, well, other than by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, that is. Sat Jun 12 09:19:35 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/rA-gP7s2w3s/ This guest post is by John Englander, former CEO of The Cousteau Society. June 11th, marks Jacques- Yves Cousteau''s 100th birthday. 'The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau' television specials were the 'must- see TV' of the 60's and 70's. The 'Captain' and his team aboard the Calypso enthralled us. For many generations, he was the exemplification of a conservationist, who was also a genius at communication. While he may be remembered as the premier underwater explorer, he actually evolved to focus on broader concerns for the planet, its inhabitants, and their quality of life. I keep thinking back to a private conversation we had, even before he hired me as CEO of The Cousteau Society. Sat Jun 12 09:19:35 2010 EST http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_round_up/505073/government_ignoring_rail_in_favour_of_domestic_flights.html Majority of UK Government departments are choosing to fly staff to destinations easily accessible by train, such as London to Glasgow, Edinburgh and Manchester Sat Jun 12 09:19:35 2010 EST http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_round_up/505072/uk_population_growth_needs_to_be_reversed.html Sustainability watchdog argues for an end to larger family tax benefits and a bigger political debate on reducing population growth and its impact Sat Jun 12 09:19:35 2010 EST http://energybulletin.net/node/53055 Mahatma Gandhi is widely regarded as the father of the Indian nation, which he was. But the founding of the nation was not his only aim. He was, as he freely admitted, using India to demonstrate to the whole world how nonviolence could change history. The swell of mostly nonviolent revolutions that has followed in the last 30 or so years would seem to indicate that his bold scheme worked. read more Sat Jun 12 09:19:35 2010 EST http://energybulletin.net/node/53058 Here''s the president on March 31st, announcing his plan to lift a longstanding moratorium on offshore drilling: "Given our energy needs, in order to sustain economic growth and produce jobs, and keep our businesses competitive, we are going to need to harness traditional sources of fuel even as we ramp up production of new sources of renewable, homegrown energy." read more Sat Jun 12 09:19:35 2010 EST http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/14609746/1h6kyw/alternet_environment~Apocalypse-Now-and-Next-From-Gulf-Spill-to-Nuke-Disaster We just ignited a disaster beyond our technical control. Why are we on the brink of doing it again? Sat Jun 12 09:19:35 2010 EST http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/14623390/1h6kyw/alternet_environment~Years-of-Internal-BP-Probes-Warned-That-Neglect-Could-Lead-to-Accidents Internal investigations warned BP for years that the company had created a culture of disregard for safety and environmental rules and risked a serious accident. Sat Jun 12 09:19:35 2010 EST http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/14597389/1h6kyw/alternet_environment~The-BP-Disaster-Marks-the-End-of-the-Age-of-Arrogance-About-the-Environment-Can-We-Change This spill will mark the time we started to learn about ecocide; a turning point in our realization that our industrial, carbon- dependent way of life cannot last. Sat Jun 12 09:19:35 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/gallery/2010/jun/10/greenpeace-bp-logo-competition Images from a Greenpeace competition to redesign the BP logo following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico Sat Jun 12 09:19:35 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/video/2010/jun/10/water-powered-battery A battery that runs on water may be in our cars and homes in the very near future Sat Jun 12 09:19:35 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/11/travel-and-transport-ethical-living Lightweight and with an expected pricetag of £6,000, will the fuel- efficient T25 pass the Jeremy Clarkson test? In the boom years of the 1990s, the workshop of Gordon Murray produced the 240mph Mc. Laren F1, one of the fastest and most coveted road cars in the world. This month, the same design team will unveil the next vehicle to roll off the Murray production line, but using a lot less fuel as it does so. While the drivers of the 106 F1 supercars that were built might struggle to travel more than a dozen miles on a gallon of petrol, the new car, dubbed the T25, can manage almost a hundred " significantly better than the most fuel- efficient cars on the market today. Smaller than a Smart car, the new T25 is Murray''s solution to city streets choked with traffic that belch out huge amounts of carbon ... Sat Jun 12 09:19:35 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/11/confidence-climate-science-poll Survey shows 71% of Britons are concerned about climate, despite hacked emails, failure at Copenhagen and cold weather. Climate science''s winter of discontent has not made a large impact on the British public''s attitudes to global warming, according to poll of over 1,800 people. The poll, by researchers at the University of Cardiff, showed a small drop in public acceptance of climate change but not the major falls that some observers had predicted after a series of media controversies over the actions of climate scientists, combined with the failure of the Copenhagen summit and the record- breaking cold temperatures."By no means has there been a collapse in confidence in climate science," said Professor Nick Pidgeon, who led the study. Sat Jun 12 09:19:35 2010 EST http://www.nst.com.my/nst/articles//16rmp/Article/ OUR journey towards Vision 2020 is full of challenges and uncertainties at the global level. The global economic landscape today has changed significantly and Malaysia can no longer depend on a low- cost structure to remain competitive internationally. Sat Jun 12 09:19:35 2010 EST http://www.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne News/World/Story/A1Story20100611-221474.html LONDON - Britain has become more sceptical about climate change, more supportive of nuclear power, and more worried about depending on energy imports, a poll by Cardiff University on Friday showed. Sat Jun 12 09:19:35 2010 EST http://www.usnews.com/articles/science/2010/6/11/wood-power-worse-polluter-than-coal.html?s_cid=rss:wood-power-worse-polluter-than-coal Wood- burning power plants release more greenhouse gases into the air than coal over time. Sat Jun 12 09:19:35 2010 EST http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bill-chameides/as-the-climate-turns_b_609270.html Crossposted with www. thegreengrok. com. The ups and downs of the climate debate strain credulity. Senate Does Not Approve of Disapproving The Senate hasn' t done much about climate.... Sat Jun 12 09:19:35 2010 EST http://www.skynews.com.au/eco/article.aspx?id=472797 A new round of climate talks has ended with rich and poor countries criticising a new text meant to pave the way toward a deal to halt global warming. Sat Jun 12 09:19:35 2010 EST http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10928/s/b16d72d/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Carticle0Cdn190A30A0Eprotected0Eforests0Eburn0Emore0Bhtml0DDCMP0FOTC0Erss0Gnsref0Fclimate0Echange/story01.htm Reducing the rate of deforestation often makes the number of forest fires go up, shows a study with implications for UN climate negotiations Sat Jun 12 09:19:35 2010 EST http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10928/s/b12f087/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Carticle0Cdn190A290Ehimalayan0Eice0Eis0Estable0Ebut0Easia0Efaces0Edrought0Bhtml0DDCMP0FOTC0Erss0Gnsref0Fclimate0Echange/story01.htm The glaciers that feed Asia''s largest rivers aren' t going to vanish soon " but 60 million Asians will suffer water shortages by 2050 Sat Jun 12 09:19:35 2010 EST http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10928/s/b12c04b/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Carticle0Cdn190A280Eus0Epollsters0Eargue0Eover0Epublic0Eview0Eon0Eclimate0Echange0Bhtml0DDCMP0FOTC0Erss0Gnsref0Fclimate0Echange/story01.htm A new survey suggests that climate science scandals don' t bother people in the US much " but hot words have been exchanged about global warming polls Sat Jun 12 09:19:35 2010 EST http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/06/11/95776/engineers-say-interior-changed.html A group of engineers and oil experts said Friday that the Interior Department changed the language of a high- profile oil spill report after they' d signed it, falsely signaling their support for a drilling moratorium that they thought went too far. Sat Jun 12 09:19:35 2010 EST http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/06/10/95709/senate-defeats-bid-to-limit-epa.html The Senate Thursday defeated 53-47 an effort to limit the Environmental Protection Agency''s authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, and President Barack Obama said the vote was a reminder of the need to pass more comprehensive climate change legislation. Sat Jun 12 09:19:35 2010 EST http://www.joabbess.com/2010/06/12/the-hottest-ever/ Image Credit : NASA GISS NASA GISS compute that the period January to May for 2010 has been the hottest ever on record. Of course, the Sun is the ultimate cause of rising temperatures on Earth. The energy from the Sun is the driving force behind all the weather systems, ocean currents, wind storms and cloud activity. But it''s the things you can' t see that are the most significant. Sunspots are theorised to indicate energy output from the Sun, that has an impact on temperatures on Earth. Higher sunspot activity would point to higher levels of energy reaching Earth. Sat Jun 12 09:19:35 2010 EST http://johannhari.com//2010/06/10/the-super-rich-ceo-scam-and-how-to-stop-it We are emerging now from a long dream- boom, built on a mess of financial trickery rather than on producing anything worthwhile. In the Nineties and the noughties we didn' t become more efficient or more productive " we simply became better at being conned. All the 'triumphs of deregulation' bragged about by market fundamentalists from Ronald Reagan to Tony Blair were built on a nitroglycerine- base of credit default swaps and subprime mortgages. The profits went almost entirely to the richest one per cent, while the bill after the burst goes to all of us. It will take years to drive out all the delusions that cropped up in the mirage years. Sat Jun 12 09:19:35 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/shell/lloC/~3/n9o5PX518Rg/ As the current round of UNFCCC talks continue this week in Bonn, albeit with little real chance of an immediate or even medium term breakthrough, progressive industry groups are picking up the pieces left behind after Copenhagen and seeking ways to move the debate forward. One particular challenge is to find a substantive mechanism to drive investment into developing countries, given the Copenhagen Accord pledge to channel $100 billion per annum in that direction by 2020. The reality of a post- recession developed world is debt, less government spending and general belt tightening all around which means that such funding is unlikely to come from the public purse. Sat Jun 12 09:19:35 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/FWW4ZJzFJWQ/idUSTRE6596C220100611 BONN, Germany (Reuters) - Rich and poor nations alike criticized a new blueprint for a U. N. climate treaty on Friday as two weeks of talks among 185 countries ended with small steps toward an elusive deal. Sat Jun 12 09:19:35 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/pmu2jEPTrZg/idUSTRE65A4XM20100611 LUXEMBOURG (Reuters) - Western European countries gave strong backing to deeper cuts to climate- warming emissions on Friday, but Italy''s environment minister said her peers were deluded. Sat Jun 12 09:19:35 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/xYgNQobjll0/idUSTRE65A33Z20100611 BONN, Germany (Reuters) - U. N. climate negotiators agreed to an investigation on Friday after protesters smashed a sign emblazoned "Saudi Arabia" and dropped it in toilet after Riyadh blocked a study of deeper cuts in greenhouse gases. Sat Jun 12 09:19:35 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/Gc_8fM5JGPc/idUSTRE65A29720100611 GRAND- LAHOU, Ivory Coast (Reuters) - When the ocean swallowed up their homes, it also divided the people of this sleepy Ivorian fishing village -- half of them moved inland, the other half stayed to brave the waves. Sat Jun 12 09:19:35 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/E2mBdaBJXZA/idUSTRE6596C220100610 BONN, Germany (Reuters) - Negotiators from 185 nations end two weeks of talks on a new climate treaty on Friday with a new blueprint for a pact that omits the most draconian options for greenhouse gas cuts by 2050. Sat Jun 12 09:19:35 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/lzyS9GH-904/idUSTRE65968620100610 LONDON (Reuters) - Britain has become more skeptical about climate change, more supportive of nuclear power, and more worried about depending on energy imports, a poll by Cardiff University on Friday showed. Sat Jun 12 09:19:35 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/ir7mwa86iNo/idUSTRE6594TG20100610 SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Increased melting of glaciers and snow in the Himalayas and Tibetan Plateau threatens the food security of millions of people in Asia, a study shows, with Pakistan likely to be among the nations hardest hit. Sat Jun 12 09:19:35 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/3E72je1TCuU/idUSTRE6593EP20100610 HAMMERFEST, Norway (Reuters) - In Hammerfest, a Norwegian town on Europe''s northernmost tip where reindeer often roam the streets, many feel the petroleum- fueled boom they are experiencing outweighs the risks of offshore exploration. Sat Jun 12 09:19:35 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/5JRyu7mfDtI/idUSTRE65843320100610 BONN (Reuters) - Climate negotiators gave a standing ovation to the outgoing head of the U. N. climate change secretariat Wednesday even after he told them they would be at risk of a red card in a soccer match for wasting time. Sat Jun 12 09:19:35 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news195400377.html (AP) -- Nearly 60 million people living around the Himalayas will suffer food shortages in the coming decades as glaciers shrink and the water sources for crops dry up, a study said Thursday. Sat Jun 12 09:19:35 2010 EST http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/266/f/3780/s/b14434c/l/0L0Sindependent0O0Cnews0Cuk0Chome0Enews0Cclimate0Ecampaigners0Ewin0Epolice0Epayout0E19974720Bhtml/story01.htm Police have agreed to compensate three people, including 13-year- old twins, who were unlawfully stopped and searched during a climate camp demonstration two years ago. Sat Jun 12 09:19:35 2010 EST http://feeds.grist.org/click.phdo?i=6f4f1a04d61b6d224b88e7dd58523673 by Tom Laskawy. The political (or at least the Senatorial) tides are running strongly against a muscular policy response to climate change. Now a top NOAA scientist tells us that even the winds are blowing in the wrong direction- actual winds, mind you, not political. Via Science Daily: A warmer Arctic climate is influencing the air pressure at the North Pole and shifting wind patterns on our planet. We can expect more cold and snowy winters in Europe, eastern Asia and eastern North America. 'Cold and snowy winters will be the rule, rather than the exception,' says Dr. Sat Jun 12 09:19:35 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/YaleEnvironment360/~3/eHU7_DDMTAw/feature.msp For years, free- market fundamentalists opposed to government regulation have sought to create doubt in the public''s mind about the dangers of smoking, acid rain, and ozone depletion. Now they have turned those same tactics on the issue of global warming and on climate scientists, with significant success. BY NAOMI ORESKES AND ERIK M. CONWAY Sat Jun 12 09:19:35 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/YaleEnvironment360/~3/N4VW_wcH1FU/digest.msp A group of powerful U. S. business leaders has called on the government to sharply increase funding of renewable energy research or risk falling far behind other nations in the race to replace fossil fuels with green technologies. The group, which includes Microsoft co- founder Bill Gates, General Electric CEO Jeffrey Immelt, and venture capitalist John Doerr, said the government should triple spending on energy research and development to $16 billion a year and create a national energy board to oversee investment decisions in renewable energy research. Gates, speaking for the group, the American Energy Innovation Council, said it was vital that the nation reduce its dependence on fossil fuels and slash greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent by 2050. Sat Jun 12 09:19:35 2010 EST http://allafrica.com/stories/201006091119.html For centuries Somali culture has been shaped by the weather. Forecasters, called "Xidaars," are the most respected members of communities. Using an ancient combination of Persian and African astronomy to herald the rain and warn of oncoming drought, they define the crop and livestock cycles for pastorally based Somali communities. Although Somalis are no strangers to devastating droughts ... Sat Jun 12 09:19:35 2010 EST http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/10/heres-to-jacques-yves-cousteau/ An homage to a departed, but not forgotten, champion of the seas. Sat Jun 12 09:19:35 2010 EST http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/10/inside-the-beltway-climate-war/ A new book charts the troubling back story behind the struggle to craft laws limiting the human impact on climate. Sat Jun 12 09:19:35 2010 EST http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/09/climate-in-an-impolitic-world/ An all- day online discussion of climate, energy, communication and public attitudes. Sat Jun 12 09:19:35 2010 EST http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jiJAAFVzsXFQuvAGaJT_qVuGUSoQ Reuters UKWorld still heading for 3 degree Celsius warming: study. AFP" The current pledges and loopholes give us a virtual certainty of exceeding 1.5 C (2.7 F), with global warming very likely exceeding 2 C (3.6 F) and a more ...New UN Climate Chief Urges Joint Action To Tackle Global Warming. RTT News. Forget pact: New UN climate boss. Hindustan Times. ANALYSIS - Rich face triple aid test on environment, poverty. Reuters India. Business Mirror -The Associated Press -Times of Indiaall 417 Sat Jun 12 09:19:35 2010 EST http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-06-11/world-takes-baby-steps-toward-treaty-at-un-talks-update1-.html Reuters UKWorld Takes 'Baby Steps' Toward Treaty at UN Talks. Business. Week... Climate change envoys inched toward an eventual treaty, narrowing gaps between industrialized and developing nations during two weeks of global- warming ...New UN Climate Chief Urges Joint Action To Tackle Global Warming. RTT News. World still heading for 3 degree Celsius warming: study. AFPForget pact: New UN climate boss. Hindustan Times. Reuters India -The Associated Press -Oxfam Ireland News (press release) (blog) all 429 Sat Jun 12 09:19:35 2010 EST http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hqI3wKPaGKW8M_EyY25KvXg1yGIQ Arabian. Business. com. Saudis block call for global warming report. AFPThe goal is receding as emissions of greenhouse gases rise and political problems for tackling climate change multiply. AOSIS, supported by the European ...Saudi placard vandalized, climate talks slowed further. Sify. Oil nations block switch to 1.5°C climate goal. EurActiv. Request for scientific data blocked by oil states. Irish Timesall 55 Sat Jun 12 09:19:35 2010 EST http://www.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/06/07/oreskes.climate.change/ Washington Post. Attack on climate scientist just latest in a long line. CNN... is more associated with global warming than Roger Revelle, mentor to Al Gore, who first warned of the risks of human- caused climate change in the 1950s. ...When in doubt, trust science. Record- Searchlight (blog) Unmasking disinformation, from tobacco to climate. Washington Post. Climate Science and the IPCC Fail Legal Cross Examination. Canada Free Press. Scoop. co. nz (press release) all 7 Sat Jun 12 09:19:35 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/blogs/environment/~3/BA_7TIMAutI/ Republicans may be coming around to former Vice President Al Gore''s way of thinking. Not on climate change, but on the "lockbox." During his failed 2000 presidential bid, Gore talked about setting aside Social Security tax surpluses and putting them in a kind of "lockbox" to keep them off limits for other government spending and tax cuts. NBC''s "Saturday Night Live" comedy show made great fun of the Democrat''s comment. Now Senate Republicans have revived the idea. Not for Social Security, but for the oil spill clean up fund. Democrats are proposing to increase the oil spill clean up fund tax to 41 cents a barrel from 8 cents a barrel. Sat Jun 12 09:19:35 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/blogs/environment/~3/LCLqshD7cqM/ -Kees Willemse is professor of off- shore engineering, Delft University. The opinions expressed are his own.- The news that a huge metal cap has been successfully placed over several of the leaking oil vents at the Deepwater Horizon site marks a potential turning point in the Gulf of Mexico crisis. It is already estimated that each day some 10-15,000 barrels of the oil that are spilling out into the ocean are being captured and diverted to ships on the sea surface. Despite this engineering success, a complete end to the oil leakage is unlikely until new relief oil wells are completed -- a drilling process that could take most of the summer, and potentially into the autumn. Sat Jun 12 09:19:35 2010 EST http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/leading-articles/leading-article-float-his-boat-1995929.html The reputation of the undersea explorer Jacques Cousteau has sprung a few leaks in recent years. But his achievement in bringing the glories and mysteries of the briny deep to a wide global audience still stands as solid as any underwater mountain range. So the appeal by Cousteau''s widow, Francine, for the French government to mark the centenary of the filmmaker''s birth next month by re- floating his ship, the Calypso (which sank in Singapore harbour in 1996) is a worthy one. Sat Jun 12 09:19:35 2010 EST http://liberalconspiracy.org/2010/06/11/obama-is-right-to-slam-bp-and-why-capitalists-should-too/ Put aside the environmental impact of the BP oil spill for a minute " massive as it is " because right- wingers don' t really care for little things like that. Instead they' re whinging that Obama is slamming their favourite oil company far too much. It hurts their pride you know. Oh and it hurts our pensions! Damn that Obama, does he not care for our goddamn pensions?. Who cares for those people whose livelihoods have been lost thanks to the obscene amounts of oil that is about to hit their shores? Certainly not these idiots. Ben Goldacre tweeted yesterday ... Sat Jun 12 09:19:35 2010 EST http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2010/06/10/New-yeast-can-ferment-more-sugar/UPI-80801276179300/ WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind., June 10 (UPI) -- U. S. biological engineers say they have developed a strain of yeast that is more efficient in producing biofuel from cellulosic plant material. Sat Jun 12 09:19:35 2010 EST http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100609/sc_afp/oecdenvironmentwarming_20100609175101 Phasing out fossil fuel subsidies should cut greenhouse gas emissions by 10 percent from levels they would otherwise reach in 2050, the OECD said Wednesday. Sat Jun 12 09:19:35 2010 EST http://detnews.com/article/20100612/METRO/6120340/1409/rss36 With the ticks and swarms of mosquitoes -- both carriers of West Nile virus and Lyme disease -- there is much for area residents to be on the lookout for this year. It''s an active time for tiny troublemakers for plants, too: Gypsy moths and scales are beginning to damage trees. Sat Jun 12 09:19:35 2010 EST http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90778/90862/7023741.html Provisional corn reserves went on the market Friday in the government''s most recent effort to curb skyrocketing prices that have been buoyed by policy missteps and a weak harvest last year. Corn output is expected to reach 170 million tons this year, 6 million tons more than last year if there is no drought in major growing regions, said Sun Yu, a corn analyst with Galaxy Futures. But analysts ... Sat Jun 12 09:19:35 2010 EST http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/oilandgas/7804922/BP-chief-Tony-Hayward-sold-shares-weeks-before-oil-spill.html The chief executive of BP sold £1.4 million of his shares in the fuel giant weeks before the Gulf of Mexico oil spill caused its value to collapse. Wed Jun 09 08:52:46 2010 EST 9th June 2010 http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/06/06/95398/activists-still-challenge-estimate.html As debate rages over the amount of oil pouring into the Gulf of Mexico from deepwater well leak BP can' t stop, plenty of oil spill watchdogs in Alaska think that the Exxon Valdez tanker spill in 1989 was nearly three times its official size of 11 million gallons. Complete coverage of the oil spill Wed Jun 09 08:52:46 2010 EST http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/06/05/95399/in-criminal-investigation-of-bp.html U. S. Attorney General Eric Holder promises an aggressive criminal investigation of BP and its contractors for their actions leading up to the massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill, already the worst environmental disaster in U. S. history. If history is any guide, however, don' t expect to see the chief executive of BP in handcuffs. Complete coverage of the oil spill Wed Jun 09 08:52:46 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/06/scrap-pay-as-you-throw Con- Lib coalition also intends to halt 'garden grabbing' by developers by no longer classing gardens as brownfield land. Ministers are expected to announce that they are scrapping Labour plans to introduce "pay as you throw" rubbish schemes. Eric Pickles, the communities secretary, and Caroline Spelman, the environment secretary, will confirm that they will end schemes in which people are charged for household waste collections or for producing too much rubbish. On Wednesday the Con- Lib coalition will announce its intention to change planning law so that gardens are no longer classified as brownfield land that can be built on, in a move aimed at stopping "garden grabbing" by developers. Wed Jun 09 08:52:46 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2010/jun/06/my-bright-idea-spencer-wells Following the frugal example set by our hunter' gatherer forebears is the best way to combat today''s environmental challenges, says explorer Spencer Wells. Spencer Wells has a job that most people would kill for. He is explorer- in- residence for National Geographic and his work has taken him to every corner of the globe. His particular interests have nothing to do with wild places, however. His fascination lies with the people who inhabit these remote corners: how did they get there and what are their biological relations with other inhabitants of the planet? Wells is a geneticist and leader of the Genographic project, funded by National Geographic, which has traced the movements of human populations since we first emerged from our sub- Saharan homeland 100,000 years ago and colonised the planet. Wed Jun 09 08:52:46 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/jun/06/nuclear-fusion-iter-europe £1bn funding shortfall jeopardises hopes of producing cheap, non- polluting powerA £15bn international bid to harness the fusion process that powers the Sun is facing a major funding crisis. Scientists have revealed that the cost of the International Thermonuclear Experiment Reactor (Iter) has trebled from its original £5bn price tag in the past three years. At the same time, financial crises have beset all the nations involved in the project. As a result, construction of Iter " at Cadarache in France " has already been pushed back from 2015 to 2019, and further delays are likely. Some scientists say there is a risk that the entire project could be cancelled. Because it is hoped that fusion plants could one day supply the world with cheap, non- polluting power, the crisis facing Iter represents a substantial threat to plans to tackle the planet''s energy and climate problems. ... Wed Jun 09 08:52:46 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/06/gm-crops-biotech-lobbyists-fsa Email trail shows how biotech group helped watchdog to draw up analysis of GM crops ... and prompted two advisers to quitA powerful lobbying organisation representing agribusiness interests helped draft a key government report that has been attacked by environmentalists for heavily favouring the arguments of the genetically modified food industry. The revelation comes after the resignation of two government advisers who have criticised the close relationship between the Food Standards Agency (FSA), the body that oversees the UK''s food industry, and the GM lobby. Emails between the FSA and the Agricultural Biotechnology Council (ABC) show the council inserted key sentences strengthening the case for GM food that ended up in the final report. The report, "Food Standards Agency work on changes in the market and the GM regulatory system", examines how GM products are entering the UK, where the growing of GM products is ... Wed Jun 09 08:52:46 2010 EST http://resourceinsights.blogspot.com/2010/06/addicts-excuse.html As I read Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal''s letter to President Obama and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar asking them to reconsider a six- month moratorium on deepwater oil drilling, I was reminded of a Wendell Berry essay I read several years ago. In "Word and Flesh" Berry wrote, "The great obstacle is simply this: the conviction that we cannot change because we are dependent on what is wrong. But that is the addict''s excuse, and we know that it will not do." Or do we? The Gulf of Mexico is currently experiencing the human equivalent of metastasizing cancer, and the governor of Louisiana proposes that the activities which resulted in that cancer be resumed immediately even as BP''s underwater gusher continues to flow into the gulf. Wed Jun 09 08:52:46 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/science_and_environment/10228989.stm Forest fires in the Amazon are increasing and could jeopardise efforts to curb forest- related emissions, a study finds. Wed Jun 09 08:52:46 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/8vYhpLi1Umw/ One of the country''s leading experts on the Arctic projects it will be essentially ice- free (in the fall) decades ahead of the projections of the climate models used in the 2007 IPCC report. And that has quite dire implications and consequences for the likely future rate of climate change compared to those models. The following chart is from Wieslaw Maslowski of the Naval Postgraduate School in a presentation at the March State of the Arctic Meeting (click to enlarge): *This projection is based on a combined model and data trendline focusing on ice volume. By 'ice- free,' Maslowski tells me he means more than an 80% drop from the 1979-2000 summer volume baseline of ~200,00 km^3. Wed Jun 09 08:52:46 2010 EST http://www.phillyburbs.com/news/local/courier_times/courier_times_news_details/article/28/2010/june/06/earth-friendly-job-friendly-1.html The Green Jobs Academy is now up and running to help provide green training to workers. Wed Jun 09 08:52:46 2010 EST http://www.financialexpress.com/news/Tread-cautiously-on-fossil-fuel-use-experts-to-govt/630285/ India Inc should end its dependence on fossil fuel and consumers should be more disciplined in their use of subsidised fuel, but the government has to be cautious while considering harsh disincentives to the use of fossil fuel such as a carbon tax. Wed Jun 09 08:52:46 2010 EST http://www.theage.com.au/national/carbon-sink-plans-sunk-by-stalling-of-emission-plan-20100605-xlxt.html Tree- planting schemes and carbon- offset projects could be abandoned at the end of the month, another casualty of the federal government''s delayed emissions trading scheme. Wed Jun 09 08:52:46 2010 EST http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/6/7/columnists/globaltrends/6414526&sec=globaltrends The past week saw the resumption of global climate talks in Bonn, with developed countries trying to evade their responsibilities while pushing the burden onto developing countries. Wed Jun 09 08:52:46 2010 EST http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alex-rafalowicz/update-from-bonn-the-craz_b_600468.html The EU used to be characterized by its 'ambition and contribution' to a strong international climate regime, but here in Bonn they are showing a distinct lack of courage, and as the German''s say, when you lose your courage you lose everything. Wed Jun 09 08:52:46 2010 EST http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/06/100606-energy-trucks-hybrid-electric/ With fuel costs a driving factor, analysts predict a surge of hybrid electric trucks and buses on the road in coming years. Electricity - Electric vehicle - Hybrid vehicle - Energy - Technology Wed Jun 09 08:52:46 2010 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/05/100526134247.htm Researchers have developed a new, more accurate method of calculating the change in greenhouse gas emissions that results from changes in land use. The new approach takes into account many factors not included in previous methods, such as the ecosystem''s ability to take up or release greenhouse gases over time and all of the greenhouse gases absorbed and released in the process of introducing ... Wed Jun 09 08:52:46 2010 EST http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/radical-plan-to-combat-global-warming-may-raise-temperatures-1993281.html Radical plan to combat global warming 'may raise temperatures' Independent... as a serious topic of study, given the international failure to curb global emissions of carbon dioxide and the possibility of extreme climate change. ... Wed Jun 09 08:52:46 2010 EST http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2010/06/06/oil_spill_is_a_sign_to_congress_kick_the_fossil_fuel_habit/ WKRG- TVOil spill is a sign to Congress: kick the fossil- fuel habit. Boston Globe. IF THE threat of global warming doesn' t persuade Congress of the need to reduce America''s reliance on oil and coal, the vast slick now befouling the Gulf of ...Mr. President, lead now on fossil fuels. Los Angeles Timesall 167 Wed Jun 09 08:52:46 2010 EST http://www.newkerala.com/news/fullnews-122100.html Washington, June 5 : NASA is all set to embark on its first dedicated oceanographic research voyage. During the mission, scientists will study changing Arctic climate and ice conditions affecting ocean ecosystems. Wed Jun 09 08:52:46 2010 EST http://www.couriermail.com.au/rudd-accused-of-calling-chinese-fkers/story-e6frfku0-1225876391999?from=public_rss THE China- friendly image of Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has been tarnished by claims he branded the Chinese "f**kers" at the Copenhagen Climate Summit. Wed Jun 09 08:52:46 2010 EST http://www2.ucar.edu/news/ocean-currents-likely-to-carry-oil-spill-along-atlantic-coast A detailed computer modeling study released today indicates that oil from the massive spill in the Gulf of Mexico might soon extend along thousands of miles of the Atlantic coast and open ocean as early as this summer. The modeling results are captured in a series of dramatic animations produced by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and collaborators. Wed Jun 09 08:52:46 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/sci/tech/8727863.stm Snakes may be declining across the world, according to a global study that found numbers falling steeply in the last two decades. Wed Jun 09 08:52:46 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/science_and_environment/10209492.stm Great apes were wiped out from ancient Europe when their environment changed drastically nine millions years ago. Wed Jun 09 08:52:46 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/xblk7G755lo/ Bill Mc. Kibben - counder of 350.org, long- time guest blogger, and the author most recently of the must- read book Eaarth - has an op- ed in the LA Times on the spill- to- bill pivot: Here''s the president on March 31, announcing his plan to lift a longstanding moratorium on offshore drilling: 'Given our energy needs, in order to sustain economic growth and produce jobs and keep our businesses competitive, we are going to need to harness traditional sources of fuel even as we ramp up production of new sources of renewable, homegrown energy.' And here he is on May 26, as political pressure started to really build over BP''s hole in the bottom of the sea ... Wed Jun 09 08:52:46 2010 EST http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/14518344/1gpx2l/alternet_environment~Is-Obama-Serious-About-Breaking-Our-Catastrophic-Oil-Addiction Has the President been transformed by the oil spill in the Gulf, or is he merely trying to ride out the public reaction? Wed Jun 09 08:52:46 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/07/honeybee-collapse-stung-from-behind Distracted by a mysterious rash of dying bees, researchers may be overlooking a more insidious pollinator crisis. It has little to do with bees and everything to do with booming markets for raspberries, pears, and chocolate Fears for crops as shock figures from America show scale of bee catastrophe. Beekeeper Eric Olson has lost so many bees in the past few years, he''s had to consider closing shop. But nothing prepared him for what he found when he went out early one November morning to do a final check on "his girls," as he calls them. The first hive was dead - completely empty. Wed Jun 09 08:52:46 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/michaeltomasky/2010/jun/07/usa-bp You' d think the time was exactly right for a big new energy bill, right? I mean, if the American public is ever going to be attuned to these issues, it would be now, with all those images of those poor pelicans trying vainly to flap their oil- soaked wings. Well, things don' t work that way in 2010 America. Yes, it''s true, there''s a new poll out showing a majority opposing offshore drilling for the first time in a while. But look how close the numbers are: With oil continuing to stream into the Gulf, a majority of Americans - 51 percent -- say the costs and risks of increased offshore drilling are too great, according to a new CBS News poll. Wed Jun 09 08:52:46 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cif-green/2010/jun/07/bp-oil-profits-future-disaster The energy industry has long dumped its damage and, like the banks, made scant provision against disaster. Time to pay up. Has BP ever made a profit? The question looks daft. The oil company posted profits of $26bn last year. There''s no doubt that BP has been pumping money into the pockets of its shareholders. The question is whether this money is what the company says it is. BP calls it profit. I call it the provision the firm should be making against future liabilities. Despite an angry letter from two US senators and a warning from Barack Obama about spending big money on their shareholders while nickel- and- diming coastal people, despite the fact that it has no idea what its total liabilities in the Gulf of Mexico will be, BP seems to be planning to pay a dividend this year. Wed Jun 09 08:52:46 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/cif-green/2010/jun/08/value-biodiversity This week, governments will meet in Korea to decide whether to establish an intergovernmental panel on biodiverisy services. It is all too easy to forget in the city- centred 21st century that human wellbeing is utterly dependent on the natural world. To state the obvious, we cannot survive without fresh water, food and fuel. And yet every day countless decisions are made whose ripple effects will degrade or destroy the vital goods and services that nature provides to people. Asian forests are cleared to boost timber exports, leading to erosion, landslides and the release of stored carbon that fuels climate change. Over- grazing by goats reared to meet overseas demand for cashmere clothing degrades grasslands in Mongolia. Wed Jun 09 08:52:46 2010 EST http://www.joabbess.com/2010/06/07/blackout-asia-crispy-baking/ While Europe has been enjoying an early Summer, elsewhere in the world high air temperatures have been record- breaking. When the heat gets this bad, public services need to provide air- conditioned community shelters as a key adaptational strategy. But any plans of this nature are being thwarted by power shortages, for example, in India and Pakistan :- [link] world/2010/06/01/200-dead- in- india- heatwave/ '200 Dead In India Heatwave', 01 June 2010 [link] commentisfree/2010/jun/07/pakistan- energy- policy- proving- deadly 'Pakistan''s heatwave and a deadly lack of energy policy ... Wed Jun 09 08:52:46 2010 EST http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=51747 BONN, Jun 7 (IPS) - Six months after failing to reach a binding agreement on climate change, negotiators are meeting in Bonn to try to get the process back on track. But deep disagreement over measuring developing countries' emissions and finding funds for adaptation to climate change remain unresolved. Wed Jun 09 08:52:46 2010 EST http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=51746 BERLIN, Jun 7 (IPS) - Europe seems hell- bent on burning the world''s forests for bioenergy, even as it offers billions of euros to save them, critics say. Wed Jun 09 08:52:46 2010 EST http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=51741 BUENOS AIRES, Jun 7 (IPS/ IFEJ) - The Argentine hake fisheries of the southern Atlantic Ocean, among the world''s leaders in the white fish market, are on the verge of collapse due in part to the indifference of the Argentine people, who are apparently more interested in beef, a staple of their diet. Wed Jun 09 08:52:46 2010 EST http://feeds.grist.org/click.phdo?i=6e8c918844037580bdc5c953327459fd by Agence France- Presse. PARIS- The world community may need another 10 years to agree on carbon cuts deep enough to roll back global warming, the U. N.'s pointman for climate change warned on Monday. 'I don' t see the process delivering adequate mitigation targets in the next decade,' Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the U. N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), said in a webcast from Bonn. 'Over the longer term, I think we will get this issue under control. Having said that, I do believe that it''s a longer journey.' De Boer spoke on the sidelines of a 12-day round of negotiations for a post-2012 treaty to curb the greenhouse gases that are disrupting Earth''s climate system. Wed Jun 09 08:52:46 2010 EST http://www.monbiot.com/archives/2010/06/07/the-money-gusher/ The oil industry''s decommissioning costs will dwarf those of nuclear power. The money being made now should be put aside to meet them. Wed Jun 09 08:52:46 2010 EST http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/shortsharpscience/2010/06/bp-turns-to-google-ads-to-save.html Gareth Morgan, technology news editor As daily clean- up costs to BP spiral to $37 million per day and its chief executive is vilified in the press, the company is trying to fight back - by buying search terms. So each time someone enters a relevant query - say "oil spill" - into a search engine such as Google, Yahoo or Bing, their results also include a paid- for link from BP. Typically, these sponsored links sit above the genuine results. Studies of the effectiveness of sponsored links suggests perhaps as many as 30 per cent of people will head to their marketing material. Wed Jun 09 08:52:46 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news195243955.html Researchers at Yale University have found that the risk of extinction for mountain birds due to global warming is greatest for species that occupy a narrow range of altitude. In fact, a species' vertical distribution is a better predictor of extinction risk than the extent of temperature change they experience, the researchers report in the June 9 issue of the Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. Wed Jun 09 08:52:46 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news195243564.html Distinct populations of snake species on three continents have crashed over the last decade, raising fears that the reptiles may be in global decline, according to a study published Wednesday. Wed Jun 09 08:52:46 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news195236638.html Public concern about global warming is once again on the rise, according to a national survey released today by researchers at Yale and George Mason Universities. The results come as the U. S. Senate prepares to vote this week on a resolution to block the EPA from regulating carbon dioxide as a pollutant. Wed Jun 09 08:52:46 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/jVdu71URNPI/idUSTRE65765U20100608 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A growing number of Americans want the United States to regulate greenhouse gas emissions as the largest oil spill in U. S. history helps boost interest in petroleum alternatives, a poll by two universities found on Tuesday. Wed Jun 09 08:52:46 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/TqtJo3h00nM/idUSTRE6574GO20100608 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House on Tuesday threatened a presidential veto if Congress passes a measure to strip the Environmental Protection Agency of its authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. Wed Jun 09 08:52:46 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/Y2K01egZCmI/idUSTRE6571PQ20100608 TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan, the world''s fifth- biggest greenhouse gas emitter, can target deeper cuts in carbon dioxide emissions than first thought, a trade ministry panel said on Tuesday. Wed Jun 09 08:52:46 2010 EST http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/266/f/3780/s/b06a209/l/0L0Sindependent0O0Cnews0Cbusiness0Cnews0Cclimate0Egroups0Ecall0Eon0Eftse0Eto0Eremove0Ebp0Efrom0Eethical0Estock0Emarket0Eindices0E19949130Bhtml/story01.htm Environmental groups are calling for BP''s removal from stock market indices tracking socially and environmentally responsible companies. Wed Jun 09 08:52:46 2010 EST http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dale-pendell/an-economy-not-worth-savi_b_603590.html Let the recession come. The earth needs a recession, badly, globally. Wed Jun 09 08:52:46 2010 EST http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1876682/icebreaker_voyage_to_probe_climate_change_impact_on_arctic/index.html?source=r_science NASA''s first dedicated oceanographic field campaign goes to sea June 15 to take an up- close look at how changing conditions in the Arctic are affecting the ocean''s chemistry and ecosystems that play a critical role in global climate change. The "Impacts of Climate on Ecosystems and Chemistry of the Arctic Pacific Environment" mission, or ICESCAPE, will investigate the impacts of climate change on ... Wed Jun 09 08:52:46 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/blogs/environment/~3/Cl5GfkybmpY/ By now, almost everybody - with the possible exception of Republican Senate candidate Carly Fiorina - realizes there''s a difference between climate and weather. Fiorina, running in the California primary and ultimately aiming to unseat Democrat Barbara Boxer, paid for and appeared in a campaign ad slamming the sitting senator for being 'worried about the weather' when there are serious concerns like terrorism to deal with. Take a look here: A few problems with this ad earned it the not- so- coveted beyond- false 'Pants on Fire' rating from Politifact, a Pulitzer- prize winning journalism website that checks on the truthfulness of political advertising. Wed Jun 09 08:52:46 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/YaleEnvironment360/~3/a3JgzAjqIuA/digest.msp Rising global temperatures over the past century are already causing large shifts in vegetation, with trees and plants increasingly moving toward the poles and up mountain slopes, according to a new study. Conduced by scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, and the U. S. Forest Service, the research combined data from hundreds of previous studies and found that 76 percent of the Earth''s land surfaces experienced significant temperatures increases in the 20th century, causing shifts in vegetation. The changes were most prominent in Arctic and sub- Arctic landscapes, where shrublands have been moving into tundra regions, and Click to enlarge. UC Berkeley/ Gonzalez, et al. Projected vegetation shift through 2100 in northern Africa''s Sahel region, where woodlands are giving way to grasslands. Wed Jun 09 08:52:46 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/YaleEnvironment360/~3/cYaOIa4fSCo/feature.msp As global warming intensifies, demands for human manipulation of the climate system are likely to grow. But carrying out geoengineering plans could prove daunting, as conflicts erupt over the unintended regional consequences of climate intervention and over who is entitled to deploy climate- altering technologies. BY MIKE HULME Wed Jun 09 08:52:46 2010 EST http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/09/opinion/09krosnick.html MLive. com. The Climate Majority. New York Times. Only 18 percent of respondents said they thought that policies to reduce global warming would increase unemployment and only 20 percent said they thought ...Is Global Warming Real? Discovery News. Seeds of doubt against climate science. Los Angeles Times. Climate bill pessimism. Washington Post (blog) Daily Republic -Release- news. com (press release) -National Post (registration) (blog) all 22 Wed Jun 09 08:52:46 2010 EST http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2264330/un-climate-chief-warns-2020 James Murray, Business. Green , Tuesday 8 June 2010 at 11:14:00 As advisory group mulls proposal for aviation carbon tax, Yvo de Boer warns the world is not moving fast enough to cut emissions Yvo de Boer, the outgoing UN climate change chief, has offered arguably the bleakest assessment yet of the chances of an ambitious international climate treaty being agreed, warning that the world is ... Wed Jun 09 08:52:46 2010 EST http://allafrica.com/stories/201006080297.html Developed countries have been accused of not being sincere with their climate funding commitments. A non- governmental organisation (NGO), Friends of the Earth International (FoI), has alleged at the ongoing United Nations Climate Talks in Bonn that much of the $30 billion fast- start fund promised is recycled aid money already committed for essential programmes in the developing world. Wed Jun 09 08:52:46 2010 EST http://www.eastbayexpress.com/ebx/rainwater-collective/Content?oid=1813885 In a sign of what''s to come, Berkeley issues its first permit for interior use of rainwater. by Nate Seltenrich In recent years, rain barrels have gone the way of the low- flow toilet: mainstream. Thanks to California''s three- year drought and a critical mass of interest in resource conservation, homeowners can drop $100 for a designer version at just about any local gardening store. They can take ... Wed Jun 09 08:52:46 2010 EST http://news.yahoo.com/s/usnw/20100608/pl_usnw/DC17528_1 BONN, Germany, June 8 /PRNewswire- USNewswire/ -- The following is being issued by Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow: Wed Jun 09 08:52:46 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/10258508.stm Leading economist Lord Stern recently suggested environmental risks including climate change should be factored into long- term investment decisions. "Investing long- term in 'dirty' technologies is actually risking their clients money," he said referring to pension funds. But is there an alternative? Wed Jun 09 08:52:46 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/UKfd1rFNZAw/idUSTRE6581CR20100609 LONDON (Reuters) - Global greenhouse gas emissions from energy use fell for the first time since 1998, as the economic recession slashed industrial production and fossil fuel consumption in most countries, BP said on Wednesday. Wed Jun 09 08:52:46 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/Nmp86OINiUI/idUSTRE6581DI20100609 PARIS (Reuters) - The OECD urged governments to end fossil fuels subsidies in a statement on Wednesday that argued this could cut greenhouse gas emissions by 10 percent and help deliver on G20 promises to combat global warming. Leaders of the Group of 20 economic powers meet in Toronto in late June and pledged last September in Pittsburgh to press for a phase- out over the medium term, the Organization for Economic Co- operation and Development said. Wed Jun 09 08:52:46 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/science_and_environment/10273566.stm Daily updates from key polar science conference in Oslo Wed Jun 09 08:52:46 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/5xsR9ggqbU0/ As the BP oil disaster drags on, the public''s desire for clean energy investments and increased oversight of corporate polluters has greatly intensified. CAP''s Daniel J. Weiss and intern Ariel Powell have the important data and charts from a major new poll. The League of Conservation Voters commissioned a poll by the Benenson Strategy Group, President Obama''s pollster in 2008, to measure public support for clean energy reform in the wake of the BP oil disaster. The central finding is that the public wants real changes in our energy policies: In the aftermath of the spill, people firmly believe Congress needs to do more than just make BP pay. Wed Jun 09 08:52:46 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2010/jun/09/food-miles-environment-expat-shopping How can it make financial or environmental sense for expats living in France to get their groceries delivered from the UK? Expat orders for British supermarket food surge on strength of euro. Warning: this blog could cause you to choke on your pain au raisin. As I reported in the Guardian today, there has been a surge in the number of expat Brits living in France buying their food online from UK- based supermarkets. The strength of the euro against the pound means that it now makes financial sense for many of these Britons with savings or pensions held in pounds to order most of their groceries from Asda, Sainsbury''s et al instead of via the local hypermarché or village shop. Wed Jun 09 08:52:46 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2010/jun/09/bp-energy-statistics-consumption-reserves-energy The annual audi of the world''s energy supply from BP is out today. See what it says Get the data. BP may be struggling to manage the Deepwater Horizon oil spill but its poublication of key energy data goes on. The latest figures from BP''s annual Statistical Review of World Energy show that world oil consumption fell by 1.2m barrels per day (bpd) in 2009, the second consecutive annual decline and the largest volume since 1982.Other key findings are: The world''s oil production dropped by 2m bpd, or 2.6% - also the largest decline since 1982 Global oil refining capacity additions totalled 2m bpd, with the Asia- Pacific region accounting for 80% of the increase Proven oil reserves stood at 1.33 trillion barrels last year, an increase of 700,000m barrels from 2008 Gas reserves grew by 2.21tn cubic metres last year, while production ... Wed Jun 09 08:52:46 2010 EST http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=51758 RIO DE JANEIRO, Jun 8 (IPS) - Electricity consumption in Brazil will rise by 5.9 percent a year until 2019, and hydroelectric plants will continue to be the main source of power because they generate it at a lower cost, the government announced. Wed Jun 09 08:52:46 2010 EST http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5i9TuMrvrknh-ZXwqmZ2N-48kff3wD9G7N3S00 AFPNew climate chief: 'no choice' but to take action. The Associated Press. BONN, Germany - The new UN climate chief says nations have no choice but to join forces to stop global warming, even after her predecessor said he doubts ...I had both failure and success: outgoing UN climate chief (Interview) Sify. UN climate chief forecasts missed targets on emissions. Irish TimesA gentle breeze of optimism detected at UN climate talks. Sydney Morning Herald. AFP -PR Newswire (press release) -Jakarta Globeall 254 Wed Jun 09 08:52:46 2010 EST http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/100609/as_thailand_rice.html?.v=1 The world''s largest rice exporter, Thailand, is facing major losses to its next crop of rice and a water crisis because of the worst drought in nearly two decades. Wed Jun 09 08:52:46 2010 EST http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LDE6580Y1.htm Source: Reuters June 9 (Reuters) - China topped the league table in 2009 as the world''s top carbon emitter, data from the BP oil group showed on Wednesday, reflecting a startling contrast in trends between ... Wed Jun 09 08:52:46 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/us_and_canada/10206296.stm Firefighters in Canada are battling more than 50 forest fires that have sparked smog alerts across Quebec and parts of the north- eastern US. At least eight of the blazes north of Montreal were out of control, Quebec''s forest fire protection unit said. Smoke moved over Massachusetts and New Hampshire in the US, with the city of Boston covered in a haze on Monday. Officials in both countries have warned people with breathing problems to remain indoors until the smoke clears. The fires - sparked by lightning strikes - have raged for a week, and more than 1,300 firefighters were battling the blazes on Monday evening. Sat Jun 05 12:37:17 2010 EST 5th June 2010 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqkuWQitM8k Sat Jun 05 12:37:17 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/10217289.stm The inventor is currently putting the final touches to a series of large kites, which he says will be able to harvest the fast crosswinds found at high altitude. His airborne wind turbines will take off and fly to around 2000 feet (600m), where they will float, generating power that can be transferred to the ground via a tether. "Global wind is a tremendous source of energy - carrying nearly 870 terrawatts in global tropospheric winds," says Mr Bevirt of Joby Energy, which is developing the wind turbine technology. "In comparison, the global demand is 17 terawatts. Harnessing a tiny fraction will transform the way we power our civilization." Sat Jun 05 12:37:17 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/wales/north_west_wales/10235242.stm Work is to begin next year off the coast of north Wales on what will be one of the world''s largest windfarms. Sat Jun 05 12:37:17 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/england/london/10213835.stm The Duke of Edinburgh opens a water desalination plant which aims to combat water shortages in the capital. Sat Jun 05 12:37:17 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/technology/10217289.stm Can wind turbines on giant kites ever work? Sat Jun 05 12:37:17 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/science_and_environment/10225937.stm The EU is more than half way towards cutting emissions by 20% from 1990 levels by 2020, a report shows. Sat Jun 05 12:37:17 2010 EST http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/richardblack/2010/06/sustainability_choices_choices.html A group of experts convened under a UN umbrella has been taking a look at what aspects of our global society are the least sustainable; which things are depleting natural resources fastest, which are causing the most environmental damage, and which are the biggest threats to the prosperity of future generations. Cows. It''s bad news, I' m afraid, because the biggest culprits are the things we need most fundamentally: food and energy. We' re used to emissions from fossil fuels being fingered as the principal drivers of the man- made greenhouse effect. Sat Jun 05 12:37:17 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/BOiwbm8Fom4/ Note: Hansen wants comments on this draft, so keep 'em coming. NASA''s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) has released a revised draft of 'Global Surface Temperature Change,' by James Hansen et al. It is a must read for warming junkies. There''s also a a summary discussion of the paper (reprinted below), and two Power. Point posters of key figures like this one: Blue curve: 12-month running- mean global temperature. Note correlation with Nino index (red = El Nino, blue = La Nina). Large volcanoes (green) have a cooling effect for ~2 years. Sat Jun 05 12:37:17 2010 EST http://www.ndtv.com/news/environment/india-emerging-leader-in-wind-energy-29948.php?u=1143 On the very tip of mainland India near Kanya Kumari, there is money to be made literally from thin air, money that is green and environment friendly. Sat Jun 05 12:37:17 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/business/10215878.stm Green energy is all the rage, but who pays for reforms? Sat Jun 05 12:37:17 2010 EST http://www.desmogblog.com/christopher-monckton-brings-his-brand-crazy-bonn-climate-talks 1111puzzle-420x0.jpg Climate deniers often like to talk about 'global warming profiteers,' some mysterious breed led by Al Gore who, so the story goes, are out to make the big bucks off scaring people about climate change. But if there''s anyone making money off lying about global warming these days, it is 'Lord' Christopher Monckton, who continues his globetrotting tour to hawk confusion and misinformation at the Bonn climate talks this month. Monckton is leading a 'delegation' (nice attempt to sound official) from the Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow (C- FACT), a conservative think tank that has received money from Exxon, Chevron, and the Scaife and Carthage foundations. Monckton and the C- FACT gang are holding a 'seminar' in Bonn 'on the use of the internet to provide ordinary people with fact and opinions that have received scant ... Sat Jun 05 12:37:17 2010 EST http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_round_up/493887/us_airlines_mount_legal_challenge_to_eu_emission_cuts.html American aviation sector accused of using 'every trick in the book' to block the European Union''s efforts to reduce carbon emissions Sat Jun 05 12:37:17 2010 EST http://energybulletin.net/node/52971 Following the failure of the latest efforts to plug the gushing leak from BP''s Deepwater Horizon oil well in the Gulf of Mexico, and amid warnings that oil could continue to flow for another two months or more, perhaps it''s a good time to step back a moment mentally and look at the bigger picture- the context of our human history of resource extraction- to see how current events reveal deeper trends that will have even greater and longer- lasting significance. read more Sat Jun 05 12:37:17 2010 EST http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/14339862/1gdjsa/alternet_environment~Can-You-Be-an-Environmentalist-and-Still-Eat-Meat A recent debate between vegetarian- rancher Nicolette Hahn Niman and Howard Lyman focused on the ethics of eating meat and the environmental impacts of meat production. Sat Jun 05 12:37:17 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/04/gm-crops-caroline-spelman In her first interview in charge of Defra, Caroline Spelman committed coalition to becoming most pro- GM government yet QA with Caroline Spelman. The wider growing and selling of genetically modified crops has received its strongest government backing to date from the new environment secretary, Caroline Spelman. At present no GM crops are commercially grown in the UK, and the previous Labour government was nervous of promoting GM foods because of fear of a renewed public backlash against "Frankenstein foods". But in her first interview in charge of the department of environment food and rural affairs, the minister committed the new coalition to becoming the most pro- GM government yet, saying she was in favour of GM foods "in the right circumstances"."GM can bring benefits in food to the marketplace. Sat Jun 05 12:37:17 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/04/dark-mountain-douglas-adams Drawing people''s attention to the enormous challenges we face is one thing; revelling in the collapse of society is quite another. Dark Mountain could learn from Douglas Adams, says Solitaire Townsend... Paul Kingsnorth on why he started Dark Mountain George Monbiot: I' m not ready to climb the Dark Mountain' The End of the Universe is very popular', said Zaphod 'People like to dress up for it gives it a sense of occasion.'In Douglas Adams' The Restaurant at the End of the Universe diners enjoyed watching the obliteration of life, the universe and everything, whilst enjoying a nice steak. When I first discovered The Dark Mountain Project I couldn' t help secretly hoping a bunch of uber- cool hipsters were making an ironic analogy between our current climate challenge, and Adams' satire. Sat Jun 05 12:37:17 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/green-living-blog/2010/jun/04/carbon-footprint-beer Too much beer can add to your footprint as well as your waistline " especially if it''s imported More carbon footprints: nuclear war, cycling a mile, more Understand more about carbon footprints. The carbon footprint of a pint of beer:300g CO2e: locally brewed cask ale at the pub 500g CO2e: local bottled beer from a shop or foreign beer in a pub 900g CO2e: bottled beer from the shop, extensively transported. Beer is unlikely to dominate your carbon footprint but it can make a significant contribution. According to my calculations, a few bottles of imported lager per day might add up to as much as a tonne of CO2e per year " equivalent to around 50,000 cups of black tea. The beer at the low end of the scale is based on figures for the Keswick Brewing Company, a microbrewery quite near where I live. Sat Jun 05 12:37:17 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2010/jun/04/climate-sceptics-fringe-political-groups How can sceptical climate scientists expect to be taken seriously when they associate themselves with fringe political groups? Proof that professional climate sceptics swim in a narrow, shallow pond was provided last month in Chicago at the Heartland Institute''s Fourth International Conference on Climate Change. It turned out to be less Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, more Two Degrees of Lord Monckton. But this month is set to provide further proof that it doesn' t take a particularly complex Venn diagram to map the interconnections between the various movers and shakers in the sceptic camp. On 11 June, in Orlando, Florida, an organisation called Doctors for Disaster Preparedness (DDP) meets for its AGM at the Sheraton Safari Hotel Suites. Sat Jun 05 12:37:17 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/georgemonbiot/2010/jun/03/monckton-climate-change Professor John Abraham''s withering scrutiny reveals how the gurus of climate scepticism repeat a pattern of manipulation Monckton takes scientist to brink of madness at climate talk. Another one bites the dust. Every so often, someone with a strong stomach and time to spare volunteers to devote weeks or months of their life to a grisly task: investigating the claims of a person who dismisses the science or significance of man- made climate change. Dave Rado did it with Martin Durkin''s film, the Great Global Warming Swindle. Howard Friel did it with Bjørn Lomborg. Ian Enting did it with Ian Plimer. It involves slow, painstaking work, following the sources, checking the claims against the science. Sat Jun 05 12:37:17 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/jun/02/edf-nuclear-waste-lobbying Reactors builder won big concessions on key issues Rethink on costs is in effect a subsidy, says Greenpeace. The nuclear industry is being offered what campaigners claim is a taxpayer subsidy on the disposal costs of waste from new reactors following a secret lobbying campaign, the Guardian has learned. The revelation will put further scrutiny on the new government''s promise that there will be no subsidy for nuclear power. Liberal Democrat Chris Huhne, the new energy and climate change secretary of state, admitted to the Guardian this week that the government already faces a £4bn funding black hole over existing radioactive waste. The previous government had planned to charge the industry a high, fixed, disposal levy tied to the amount of nuclear waste it produced. Sat Jun 05 12:37:17 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/02/2010-could-be-warmest-year-ever Figures from US scientists show Arctic sea ice is at a record low, while land temperatures are likely to hit new highs Nasa scientist James Hansen condemns 'politicised' media. New data from some of the world''s leading climate researchers and institutions suggest that 2010 is shaping up to be one of the warmest years ever recorded. Scientists at the US National Snow and Ice Centre Data Centre (NSIDC) report today that Arctic sea ice " frozen seawater that floats on the ocean surface " is now at its lowest physical extent ever recorded for the time of year, suggesting that it is on course to break the previous record low set in 2007.Satellite monitoring by the NSIDC in Boulder, Colorado, shows that the melting of sea ice has been unusually fast this year, with as much as 40,000 sq km now disappearing daily. The melt season started almost ... Sat Jun 05 12:37:17 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2010/jun/02/nasa-scientist-james-hansen Climatologist also calls from more openness from researchers because data are 'too useful' to be kept 'under wraps' UK government chief scientist hits out at sceptics. The utterances of James Hansen, the Nasa climatologist who is widely credited with being the first scientist to successfully megaphone the risks of climate change to the wider world back in the 1980s, always attract attention. He is nothing less than a Marmite figure within the climate debate; sceptics hate him for his sometimes emotive political advocacy, whereas advocates for action on climate change respect his scientific authority and the role he has played in spelling out to our political masters the potential dangers of climate change. So a new draft paper (pdf), co- authored with colleagues at the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York, which has just been submitted to the journal Reviews of Geophysics, is sure to get ... Sat Jun 05 12:37:17 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jun/01/pakistan-record-temperatures-heatwave Meteorologists record a temperature of 53.7C (129F) in Mohenjo- daro as heatwave continues across Pakistan and India. Mohenjo- daro, a ruined city in what is now Pakistan that contains the last traces of a 4,000-year- old civilisation that flourished on the banks of the river Indus, today entered the modern history books after government meteorologists recorded a temperature of 53.7C (129F). Only Al 'Aziziyah, in Libya (57.8C in 1922), Death valley in California (56.7 in 1913) and Tirat Zvi in Israel (53.9 in 1942) are thought to have been hotter. Temperatures in the nearest town, Larkana, have been only slightly lower in the last week, with 53C recorded last Wednesday. Sat Jun 05 12:37:17 2010 EST http://feeds.grist.org/click.phdo?i=8ed6d00f21af97bab597aef360cfeed7 by Tom Laskawy. The biggest loser in Michael Moss''s New York Times exposé of the food industry''s fight against salt restrictions isn' t the food industry. It isn' t government, either. In my view, the real loser is television chef Alton Brown: With salt under attack for its ill effects on the nation''s health, the food giant Cargill kicked off a campaign last November to spread its own message. 'Salt is a pretty amazing compound,' Alton Brown, a Food Network star, gushes in a Cargill video called Salt 101. 'So make sure you have plenty of salt in your kitchen at all times.' The campaign by Cargill, which both produces and uses salt, promotes salt as 'life enhancing' and suggests sprinkling it on foods as varied as chocolate cookies, fresh fruit, ice cream and even coffee. Sat Jun 05 12:37:17 2010 EST http://feeds.grist.org/click.phdo?i=ad314b20762fdbd6028427644c74c6a3 by David Roberts. A must- read article in The Hill details a classic rift among Senate Democrats: On one side are Democrats who want to use public anger at oil companies to pressure Republicans to support the American Power Act; on the other are 'centrists' who want to be nice to Republicans in hopes that they will join hands in bipartisanship. You know, 'cause of their devotion to the national interest. You might think the question of which strategy works better would have been settled by now. Repeatedly. Decisively. Republicans have voted against everything except those bills where they were under enormous pressure and at risk of embarrassment (see ... Sat Jun 05 12:37:17 2010 EST http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=51726 WASHINGTON, Jun 4 (IPS) - An agreement reached at an international conference last week pledged over four billion dollars to the U. N.'s effort to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that come from deforestation and forest degradation. But a study published Friday questions what impact that effort, called REDD, can have. Sat Jun 05 12:37:17 2010 EST http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=51725 MEXICO CITY, Jun 4 (IPS) - With less than six months before Mexico hosts the next global climate change summit, Mexican environmental organisations hosting the parallel civil society forum are divided on how to carry it out -- which some fear could ultimately weaken their role at the negotiating table. Sat Jun 05 12:37:17 2010 EST http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=51711 UNITED NATIONS, Jun 3 (IPS) - The Global Compact (GC), which celebrates its 10th anniversary with a summit meeting later this month, has been described as a key initiative of the United Nations to prod private companies and blue- chip corporations to pro- actively address environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues relating to the workplace. Sat Jun 05 12:37:17 2010 EST http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=51710 BERLIN, Jun 3 (IPS) - Rising global wealth spells disaster for the planet, with environmental impacts growing roughly 80 percent with a doubling of income, reports the first comprehensive study of consumption. Sat Jun 05 12:37:17 2010 EST http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=51709 GUATEMALA CITY, Jun 3 (IPS) - Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras, which form the so- called Central American Northern Triangle, have many weak points when it comes to natural disasters. The were exposed once again this week by tropical storm Agatha, which claimed nearly 200 lives and left millions of dollars in infrastructural damage. Sat Jun 05 12:37:17 2010 EST http://johannhari.com//2010/06/04/the-movement-to-smother-solidarity Should you shut up about human rights abuses because they are happening far away, to people you don' t know, who have a different culture or colour or creed? There is now a growing movement across the world saying that, yes, empathy should be cauterised at national borders. The world is carved into cultures, and they should not try to comment critically on each other. Instead, they should be "respectful." You can criticise Your Own Kind, but not Foreigners, because they are unbridgeably different to you. This claim is now made by a strange coalition stretching from the Israeli government to African dictators to Western multiculturalists " and they are trying to give it the force of law. Sat Jun 05 12:37:17 2010 EST http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/06/02/95239/obama-calls-for-higher-prices.html President Barack Obama said Wednesday that the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has hardened his resolve to impose "a price" on carbon emissions to drive private investment away from fossil fuels and toward clean energy. Sat Jun 05 12:37:17 2010 EST http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/shortsharpscience/2010/06/wendy-zukerman-australasia-rep.html Wendy Zukerman, Australasia reporter A massive asteroid hit the Timor Sea around 35 million years ago - and the impact apparently contributed to the formation of the Antarctic ice sheets. So says Andrew Glikson, a specialist in the study of extraterrestrial impacts, from the Planetary Science Institute at the Australian National University in Canberra, who analysed a dome found 2.5 kilometres below the Timor Sea, about 300 kilometres off Australia''s north west coast. Based on the structure of the dome, called Mount Ashmore, there were two obvious explanations for its formation: from a mud volcano or from the movement of tectonic plates. Sat Jun 05 12:37:17 2010 EST http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10928/s/af5c827/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Carticle0Cmg20A6276340B50A0A0Eancient0Eoceans0Ebelched0Estagnant0Eco20Einto0Ethe0Eskies0Bhtml0DDCMP0FOTC0Erss0Gnsref0Fclimate0Echange/story01.htm At the end of the last ice age, atmospheric carbon dioxide levels shot up by nearly 50 per cent. But where did the CO2 come from? Sat Jun 05 12:37:17 2010 EST http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10928/s/ae43759/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Carticle0Cmg20A6276240B70A0A0Ehow0Eclimate0Escientists0Ecan0Erepair0Etheir0Ereputation0Bhtml0DDCMP0FOTC0Erss0Gnsref0Fclimate0Echange/story01.htm Climatologists can' t just hope that the public will regain trust in their work. They need to go on a PR offensive, says Bob Ward Sat Jun 05 12:37:17 2010 EST http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2010/06/climate-change-commitment-ii/ A couple of months ago, we discussed a short paper by Matthews and Weaver on the 'climate change commitment' " how much change are we going to see purely because of previous emissions. In my write up, I contrasted the results in M& W (assuming zero CO2 emissions from now on) with a constant concentration scenario (roughly equivalent to an immediate cut of 70% in CO2 emissions), however, as a few people pointed out in the comments, this exclusive focus on CO2 is a little artificial. I have elsewhere been a big advocate of paying attention to the multi- faceted nature of the anthropogenic emissions (including aerosols and radiatively and chemically active short- lived species), both because that gives a more useful assessment of what it is that we are doing that drives climate change, and also because it is vital information for judging ... Sat Jun 05 12:37:17 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news194921313.html The Canadian government quietly cut its greenhouse gas emissions target for 2010-2012 this week, unleashing a firestorm of criticism from the opposition on Friday. Sat Jun 05 12:37:17 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news194879451.html (Phys. Org. com) -- Vegetation around the world is on the move, and climate change is the culprit, according to a new analysis of global vegetation shifts led by a University of California, Berkeley, ecologist in collaboration with researchers from the U. S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service. Sat Jun 05 12:37:17 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news194683049.html How the world is fed and fueled will in large part define development in the 21st century as one that is increasingly sustainable or a dead end for billions of people. Sat Jun 05 12:37:17 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news194631276.html (Phys. Org. com) -- University of Maine anthropologist Brian Robinson and colleagues are looking at archaeological evidence of Atlantic salmon to better understand the effects of global warming. Sat Jun 05 12:37:17 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news194605512.html The problem of toxic algae is not just confined to the Nordic countries - in India algal blooms are threatening poor people''s access to food and their livelihoods, a problem that has been exacerbated by global warming. With funding from the Swedish Research Council for Environment, Agricultural Sciences and Spatial Planning and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, researchers from the University of Gothenburg are to attempt to reduce the effects of algal blooms. Sat Jun 05 12:37:17 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/WKt1r3zWL-c/idUSTRE65253020100603 OSLO (Reuters) - Brazilian farmers are setting more fires in parts of the Amazon where deforestation has slowed, according to a study on Thursday that shows weaknesses in a U. N. plan for slowing climate change. Sat Jun 05 12:37:17 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/shMqfwORxe4/idUSTRE6504YW20100601 CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt''s farming and tourism sectors could be hurt as climate change takes its toll on the country, fuelling food security concerns in what is already the world''s largest wheat importer, an environment official said. Sat Jun 05 12:37:17 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/S95EW-MoVKs/idUSTRE65265I20100603 CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) - The western Canadian province of Alberta moved to give greater protection to its small and declining population of grizzly bears on Thursday, designated the animals as a threatened species. Sat Jun 05 12:37:17 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/dCFyU4uj6r8/idUSTRE65121X20100602 OSLO (Reuters) - An overhaul of world farming and more vegetarianism should be top priorities to protect the environment, along with curbs on fossil fuel use, a U. N.-backed study said on Wednesday. Sat Jun 05 12:37:17 2010 EST http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/266/f/3780/s/aeee38a/l/0L0Sindependent0O0Cenvironment0Cclimate0Echange0Ccoral0Eislands0Ebigger0Edespite0Eoceans0Erise0E19910A170Bhtml/story01.htm Some South Pacific coral atolls have held their own or even grown in size over the past 60 years despite rising sea levels says new research. Sat Jun 05 12:37:17 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/YaleEnvironment360/~3/tmzDS1sK538/digest.msp An increase in fires in the Brazilian Amazon threatens to cancel out some of the carbon dioxide reductions achieved through UN forest management programs, according to a new study. An analysis of satellite data by the University of Exeter showed that fires have increased by 59 percent in areas that have experienced reduced deforestation through conservation efforts, including the UN program known as REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation), according to the study published in the journal Science. The fires rarely occur naturally, but are typically the result of 'slash and burn' methods used by Brazilian farmers to create new fields from forests or clear new growth from fields. Sat Jun 05 12:37:17 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/YaleEnvironment360/~3/fHLXUP2FDEM/digest.msp A computer modeling study suggests that oil from the Gulf of Mexico spill could travel thousands of miles up the Atlantic coast and into the open ocean as early as this summer. Using a virtual dye tracer to project movement of the oil based on what is known about ocean currents and typical wind conditions, scientists at the Colorado- based National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) illustrated six possible dispersal paths. While the models are not a forecast, they suggest that the environmental impact of this spill could be greater than previously thought and 'is likely to reach VIDEO ... Sat Jun 05 12:37:17 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/10219505.stm The crop was harvested in the drought- and famine- prone Eastern Province and went bad because farmers lacked the appropriate storage facilities. Sat Jun 05 12:37:17 2010 EST http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/domestic/energy/index.html/index.rss Samuel Charap and Georgi V. Safonov outline Russia''s role in climate policy both at home and abroad. Sat Jun 05 12:37:17 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/shell/lloC/~3/3GREMQEAdHA/ Recently I referred back to the 2004 World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) document entitled Mobility 2030 as I recalled that it had an excellent table listing the well- to- wheels CO2 footprint of a variety of vehicle and fuel types. When I found the table in question what surprised me most of all was the complete lack of any information on electric mobility. But this was 2004 and hydrogen was all the rage. Remember when Iceland was due to become the world''s first hydrogen economy on the back of its vast geothermal energy potential and GM were investing heavily in hydrogen fuel cells? Sat Jun 05 12:37:17 2010 EST http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/leading-articles/leading-article-beware-the-personalisation-of-corporate-failure-1991795.html What do we want from the leaders of our biggest companies? The response of Tony Hayward, the chief executive of BP, to the catastrophic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in many ways has been a textbook example of the behaviour one might hope to see from the leader of a corporate giant confronted with this sort of crisis. Yet Mr Hayward has been pilloried, both in the United States and back home, facing not just calls for his resignation but some deeply unpleasant personal abuse. Sat Jun 05 12:37:17 2010 EST http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/20100605/NEWS11/6050339?source=rss_localnews Hawaii: Climate change is a given for scientists converging this week at the University of Hawai' i at Hilo for the Pacific Congress on Marine Science and Technology. At issue: How best to mitigate the resulting damage to the oceans and find alternatives to fossil- fuel energy sources that spew carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Sat Jun 05 12:37:17 2010 EST http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kevin-grandia/climate-financing-put-the_b_598540.html One of the major issues at the climate treaty talks underway in Bonn, Germany this week is a big idea encapsulated in a simple phrase:... Sat Jun 05 12:37:17 2010 EST http://www.langleyadvance.com/Naive humans burning planet/3112064/story.html As a motorcycle rider, I look forward to warm spring days. Sat Jun 05 12:37:17 2010 EST http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/Ties-with-US-foremost-priority-Krishna-to-Obama/629423/ S M Krishna has said that India''s partnership With the US is destined to have a strong impact on global stability. Sat Jun 05 12:37:17 2010 EST http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/04/head-to-head-on-energy-and-climate/ An exchange of views on oil troubles, climate policy and other environmental issues. Sat Jun 05 12:37:17 2010 EST http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alex-rafalowicz/wheres-the-obama-era-chan_b_596444.html The deep dark secret of international climate change policy is that Obama has been worse than Bush. Worse for international climate law, and more importantly for the planet. Sat Jun 05 12:37:17 2010 EST http://www.canadaeast.com/rss/article/1076329 In its first major climate report to the United Nations in four years, the United States projected Tuesday that its climate- warming greenhouse gases will grow by 4 per cent through 2020. Sat Jun 05 12:37:17 2010 EST http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/the-numbers-say-it-all-canada-is-a-climate-change-miscreant/article1591592/?cmpid=rss1 The annual report required by all signatories to the original Kyoto Protocol is depressing Sat Jun 05 12:37:17 2010 EST http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100604/sc_afp/germanyaerospacealternativeemissionscompanyeads_20100604115200 European aerospace giant EADS is poised to unveil a "hybrid" aircraft which runs on algae fuel, a world first, its technical director said on Friday. Sat Jun 05 12:37:17 2010 EST http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100603/ap_on_re_as/as_china_environment_1 China, the world''s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, faces serious challenges to its efforts to cut environmental pollution, with one key pollutant increasing for the first time in three years, a senior Chinese official said Thursday. Sat Jun 05 12:37:17 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/blogs/environment/~3/-ufSCKNNO-A/ " David Rockefeller, Jr. is a philanthropist and CEO of Around the Americas and Chairman of Sailors for the Sea. Any views expressed here are his own. " When the Ocean Watch set sail from Seattle last May at the launch of our Around the Americas expedition, our greatest challenge was to make Americans start thinking about health of oceans. For too long, we have been taking our rich seafood supplies and scenic seascapes for granted. One year and 28,000 miles later, and now with the massive BP oil spill, much has changed. While I' d love to say that our expedition is responsible for finally turning around the slow drip of public concern for ocean health into a steady flow, I am fairly certain that the continuous flow of oil spilling into the Gulf of Mexico is, unfortunately, driving home what the captain and crew of Ocean ... Sat Jun 05 12:37:17 2010 EST http://www.gilmermirror.com/pages/full_story/push?article-Drought getting worse &id=7801233&instance=secondary_stories_left_column Prolonged dryness this spring has led to the development of Moderate drought conditions across all of North Louisiana and much of eastern Texas. Synopsis... Sat Jun 05 12:37:17 2010 EST http://content.usatoday.com/communities/greenhouse/post/2010/06/carly-fiorina-calls-climate-change-the-weather/1 Washington Post. Carly Fiorina calls climate change the "weather" USA Today. The Pentagon, in its quadrennial defense review in January, ranked global warming as a destabilizing force and directed direct military planners to keep ...The dumbing down of Carly Fiorina. Salon. California Senate Race: Carly Fiorina, Climate Change and an Idiotic Ad. Politics Daily (blog) Carly Fiorina injects global warming into her race with Barbara Boxer. American Thinker (blog) SF Weekly (blog) -Sacramento Beeall 109 Sat Jun 05 12:37:17 2010 EST http://www.montrealgazette.com/technology/believe+global+warming+natural/3077745/story.html 1 in 10 believe global warming is natural. Montreal Gazette... the least to climate change. Human waste, population increases, energy use and deforestation were listed as the worst contributors to global warming. ...and more Sat Jun 05 12:37:17 2010 EST http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2010/06/04/global_warming_carly_fiorina Modesto Bee. The dumbing down of Carly Fiorina. Salon. Fiorina''s first sentence -- willfully pretending that being concerned about the threat of global warming is the same as being worried about whether it''s ...California Senate Race: Carly Fiorina, Climate Change and an Idiotic Ad. Politics Daily (blog) Carly Fiorina injects global warming into her race with Barbara Boxer. American Thinker (blog) You Think Carly Fiorina Gives a F* ck About Global Warming? SF Weekly (blog) Sacramento Beeall 82 Sat Jun 05 12:37:17 2010 EST http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/06/03/MN691DPET2.DTL Warming threatens state''s coast, scientists say. San Francisco Chronicle. They proposed a greatly increased effort to inform the public about the effects of global warming on the complex ecology of a region where life in the ocean ...Report: climate change could affect ocean species off Marin''s shores. Marin Independent- Journalall 3 Sat Jun 05 12:37:17 2010 EST http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-06-02/world-is-at-warmest-on-record-nasa-s-hansen-says-update1-.html Canada Free Press. World Is at Warmest on Record, NASA''s Hansen Says. Business. Week. Hansen''s paper 'looks like a modest addition to the continuing build- up of evidence' for global warming, Michael Grubb, a member of the UK Climate Change ...IPCC Obsession With Temperature Distorts Climate Change Science. Canada Free Press. Nasa scientist James Hansen condemns attacks from 'politicised' media. The Guardian (blog) Nasa analysis showing record global warming undermines the sceptics. Times Online. TG Dailyall 35 Sat Jun 05 12:37:17 2010 EST http://www.nature.com/news/2010/100601/full/465535a.html?s=news_rss National summit paves way for concerted action on global warming. Sat Jun 05 12:37:17 2010 EST http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/food-for-thought-while-millions-die-of-hunger-20100604-xkiw.html The world is rapidly moving towards disaster, whether you call it doomsday or apocalypse. But this is not the global financial crisis or the risk of financial problems in Greece and other European countries that may drag the rest of the world down with them. No, this is the global food situation. We face a global food shortage, the like of which the world has never seen. Sat Jun 05 12:37:17 2010 EST http://www.nationalpost.com/level could rise metre 2100 scientists/1374158/story.html The UNs climate change panel may be severely underestimating the sea- level rise caused by global warming, climate scientists said on Monday, calling for swift cuts in greenhouse emissions Sat Jun 05 12:37:17 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/_PbcTJ8Rchk/ Across the entire Atlantic Basin for the six- month season, which begins June 1, NOAA is projecting a 70 percent probability of the following ranges: * 14 to 23 Named Storms (top winds of 39 mph or higher), including: * 8 to 14 Hurricanes (top winds of 74 mph or higher), of which: * 3 to 7 could be Major Hurricanes (Category 3, 4 or 5; winds of at least 111 mph) NOAA''s Climate Prediction Center issued its seasonal outlook today. It is a worrisome. Administrator Lubchenco, says, 'If this outlook holds true, this season could be one of the more active on record.' What is the biggest uncertainty in the forecast? Tue Jun 01 08:38:22 2010 EST 1st June 2010 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/c4MBpYta5vQ/ 'The number of errors Chris Monckton makes is so enormous it would take a thesis to go through every single one of them.' The Viscount Monckton of Brenchley (TVMOB) is a shameless purveyor of hate speech and anti- science disinformation (see links below). Nonetheless, you rarely sees such a thorough debunking of an anti- science disinformer as this astonishing point- by- point evisceration put together by John Abraham, an engineering professor at St. Thomas University in St. Paul, MN. One of the two reasons you rarely see this is because few people are willing to put in the time and effort that Prof. Tue Jun 01 08:38:22 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/bLBcRR-blXw/ Greenland''s Uplift: Evidence Of Rapid Ice Loss Scientists at the University of Miami say Greenland''s ice is melting so quickly that the land underneath is rising at an accelerated pace. According to the study, some coastal areas are going up by nearly one inch per year and if current trends continue, that number could accelerate to as much as two inches per year by 2025, explains Tim Dixon, professor of geophysics at the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science (RSMAS) and principal investigator of the study. 'It''s been known for several years that climate change is contributing to the melting of Greenland''s ice sheet,' Dixon says. Tue Jun 01 08:38:22 2010 EST http://energybulletin.net/node/52933 In June climate negotiators will reconvene in Bonn, Germany for an interim meeting to discuss the working text of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, or UNFCCC, the international treaty that aims to stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent climate change''s worst effects. A relatively new aspect of this conversation is how women can help adapt to climate change and their unique circumstances when it comes to the issue. They are severely affected by climate change yet underrepresented and not engaged in solutions. read more Tue Jun 01 08:38:22 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/science_and_environment/10178124.stm The UK''s Royal Society reviews its statements on climate change after 43 Fellows complained it had oversimplified its messages. Tue Jun 01 08:38:22 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/world/us_and_canada/10134964.stm As many as 14 hurricanes could hit the Atlantic basin this year, according to the US oceans and weather agency. Tue Jun 01 08:38:22 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/may/27/cheap-oil-cost-developing-countries The Gulf disaster is only unusual for being so near the US. Elsewhere, Big Oil rarely cleans up its mess. Big Oil is holding its breath. BP''s shares are in steep decline after the debacle in the Gulf of Mexico. Barack Obama, the American people and the global environmental community are outraged, and now the company stands to lose the rights to drill for oil in the Arctic and other ecologically sensitive places. The gulf disaster may cost it a few billion dollars, but so what? When annual profits for a company often run to tens of billions, the cost of laying 5,000 miles of booms, or spraying millions of gallons of dispersants and settling 100,000 court cases is not much more than missing a few months' production. Tue Jun 01 08:38:22 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/may/27/scottish-parliament-emissions-cuts Scottish government told to draft tougher targets after MPs vote down mandatory annual targets. Alex Salmond''s government has been told to draft tougher climate change targets after the Scottish parliament decided that his ministers were failing to cut CO2 emissions quickly enough. Opposition MPs narrowly threw out the Scottish government''s plans to make modest immediate cuts in CO2 emissions, in an embarrassing rebuttal of Salmond''s repeated claims that Scotland has "world leading" climate change targets. His Scottish National party government is now under intensifying pressure to honour its manifesto promise to immediately start cutting Scotland''s emissions by at least 3% a year, after offering today to only reduce levels by 0.5% for each of the next two years and 1% in 2012.Today''s vote at Holyrood " by 64 votes to 62 " now means that Scotland currently has no legally binding annual reduction targets. Tue Jun 01 08:38:22 2010 EST http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=51608 PUNTA DEL ESTE, Uruguay, May 27 (IPS) - Providing technology to communities to ensure food security doesn' t work if local traditions and social dynamics are not taken into account, concluded the participants in a forum here at the Fourth Assembly of the Global Environment Facility. Tue Jun 01 08:38:22 2010 EST http://johannhari.com//2010/05/28/and-so-camerons-first-victims-are So the yellowish liberal haze has now parted and we are Camer- on. The Prime Minister and George Osborne this week showed the first flick of their knife, marking out the areas they intend to cut much more deeply into over the next five years. Who have they decided can afford to take the pain first? Not rich people like them: they will continue to enjoy big state subsidies to build up their savings and maintain their estates. No. Step forward instead the unemployed, poor kids who are falling behind in their reading, children in care, the elderly, the disabled, and any feeble little steps we were making towards building a low- carbon economy. Tue Jun 01 08:38:22 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news194252845.html (AP) -- At this time of year, the Gadabeji Reserve should be refuge for the nomadic tribes who travel across a moonscape on the edge of the Sahara to graze their cattle. But the grass is meager after a drought killed off the last year''s crops. Now the cattle are too weak to stand and too skinny to sell, leaving the poor without any way to buy grain to feed their families. Tue Jun 01 08:38:22 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news194247987.html (Phys. Org. com) -- Victoria University research has found that a small sea snail may be causing significant damage to coral reefs in the Pacific, even more so than climate change or coral bleaching. Tue Jun 01 08:38:22 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news194193848.html (Phys. Org. com) -- A new class of materials with a record- shattering internal surface may have the right stuff to efficiently strip carbon dioxide from a power plant''s exhaust. Berkeley lab scientists hope to find out soon. Tue Jun 01 08:38:22 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news194187137.html Scientists have found the possible source of a huge carbon dioxide 'burp' that happened some 18,000 years ago and which helped to end the last ice age. Tue Jun 01 08:38:22 2010 EST http://www.agrimoney.com/news/us-faces-rising-heatwave-and-hurricane-threats--1772.html US faces rising heatwave and hurricane threats. Agrimoney. com... seasons on record", and a growing likelihood of a La Nina weather pattern, which often spells a crop- damaging heatwave, official forecasts have warned. ...and more Tue Jun 01 08:38:22 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/OIqOBjabJ68/idUSTRE64R1T420100528 COLOGNE, Germany (Reuters) - Senators are unlikely to pass legislation to tackle global warming this year as the time remaining to do so runs out, a panel of experts said on Friday at a carbon conference. Tue Jun 01 08:38:22 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/iuE2WTIY2EU/idUSTRE64Q3T420100527 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Atlantic storm season may be the most intense since 2005, when Hurricane Katrina killed over a thousand people after crashing through Gulf of Mexico energy facilities, the U. S. government''s top climate agency predicted on Thursday. Tue Jun 01 08:38:22 2010 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/05/100528093212.htm Over the last decades, global warming has been accompanied by an increase in the taxonomic biodiversity of phytoplankton and zooplankton in the North Atlantic Ocean and a reduction in the average size of these organisms, according to researchers. They demonstrate that this structural modification of biological systems could bring about an alteration to the carbon sink in the North Atlantic and a ... Tue Jun 01 08:38:22 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/YaleEnvironment360/~3/6G4jSd9Jkgs/feature.msp The tropical forest conservation plan, known as REDD, has the potential to significantly reduce deforestation and carbon dioxide emissions worldwide. But unless projects are carefully designed and monitored, the program could be undercut by shady dealings at all levels, from the forests to global carbon markets. BY FRED PEARCE Tue Jun 01 08:38:22 2010 EST http://e360.yale.edu/content/digest.msp?id=2432 If the world''s major nations fail to enact significant changes in energy and climate policies, global carbon dioxide emissions will increase 43 percent by 2035, according to the U. S. Energy Information Agency (EIA). In its annual long- term energy outlook, the EIA projected that global emissions from burning fossil fuels would grow from 29 billion tons in 2007 to 42 billion tons in 2035. The EIA said that most of the increase in greenhouse gas emissions will come from developing economies such as China, India, and Brazil, whose energy consumption is expected to nearly double in the next 25 years. Tue Jun 01 08:38:22 2010 EST http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2010/05/us-wind-growth-likely-to-drop-in-2010?cmpid=rss Following a record- breaking year of capacity additions in 2009with 9.8 GW of wind projects installedthe U. S. wind market finds itself confronting a growth- constrained 2010 and a near- term market landscape wrought with increased competition, according to a new market study, U. S. Wind Power Markets and Strategies: 2010-2025 from IHS Emerging Energy Research. Tue Jun 01 08:38:22 2010 EST http://search.japantimes.co.jp/rss/nn20100528f2.html Global competition to secure rare metals is heating up, fueled by their use in green products and surging demand in emerging economies like China. Rare metals are essential for energy- saving products a strong area for Japan including hybrid vehicles, electric cars, air conditioners and vacuum cleaners with less power consumption, and light- emitting diode illumination, and demand for all of ... Tue Jun 01 08:38:22 2010 EST http://www.vancouversun.com/believes+global+warming+natural/3079835/story.html Reuters India1 in 10 believes global warming is natural. Vancouver Sun... the least to climate change. Human waste, population increases, energy use and deforestation were listed as the worst contributors to global warming. ...Scientists decry attacks by skeptics of climate change. San Jose Mercury News. Carbon plays no role in climate change. Washington Times. Women''s role in a warming world. Energy Collective (blog) The American Culture -Times of India -Wall Street Journalall 50 Tue Jun 01 08:38:22 2010 EST http://www.upi.com/Science_News/Resource-Wars/2010/05/27/Australia-to-miss-emission-reduction-goals/UPI-42501275004992/ BRISBANE, Australia, May 27 (UPI) -- Australia''s Climate Change Department head Martin Parkinson warned that the nation will likely not meet its promised emission reduction targets. Tue Jun 01 08:38:22 2010 EST http://www.sys-con.com/node/1411887 read more Tue Jun 01 08:38:22 2010 EST http://www.newkerala.com/news/fullnews-116591.html Washington, May 28 : A British is looking into ways new 'visual strategies' can communicate climate change messages against a backdrop of increased climate scepticism. Tue Jun 01 08:38:22 2010 EST http://www.infozine.com/news/stories/op/storiesView/sid/41376/ World Bank Releases 2010 State and Trends of the Carbon Market Report Tue Jun 01 08:38:22 2010 EST http://www.officialwire.com/main.php?action=posted_news&rid=151458&catid=3 Merely switching to electric vehicles in the UK will not have a significant impact on carbon emissions, a new report has claimed. Tue Jun 01 08:38:22 2010 EST http://www.alternet.org/environment/147028/we_need_an_'emergency_mobilization'_to_fight_climate_change%3A_so_where's_the_support_for_the_kerry-lieberman_bill We Need an 'Emergency Mobilization' to Fight Climate Change: So Where''s the ...Alter. NetAt this point, tackling global warming will require focused efforts at the local level. In all fairness, the green lobby is in a tough position. ...Americans Are Becoming Global Warming SkepticsU. S. News World Report. Regarding climate change, Kerry should heed science. The Hill. Kerry- Lieberman resurrect Cap- and- Trade debate with new American Power Act. Examiner. com. Victoria Times Colonistall 56 Tue Jun 01 08:38:22 2010 EST http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/28/opinion/28baker.html The Earth''s Secrets, Hidden in the Skies. New York Times. In the process, it collects mounds of environmental data which, in the hands of climate scientists, could add greatly to our understanding of global warming ...and more Tue Jun 01 08:38:22 2010 EST http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/a-historic-moment-for-anyone-who-cares-about-the-environment-1985107.html History doesn' t always come in thunderclaps or cheering crowds, and yesterday it was made with very little outward fuss when a woman in a pale blue trouser suit got to her feet from a green leather bench and began to speak. It was precisely 3.30 in the afternoon, and the Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons, Hugh Bayley, had just issued a two- word invitation: "Caroline Lucas." And with that, the first MP of the Green Party, in fact the first MP of a new national party for many years, began her maiden speech and her party''s political life at Westminster. Tue Jun 01 08:38:22 2010 EST http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100528/ap_on_sc/af_niger_food_crisis GADABEJI, Niger " At this time of year, the Gadabeji Reserve should be refuge for the nomadic tribes who travel across a moonscape on the edge of the Sahara to graze their cattle. But the grass is meager after a drought killed off the last year''s crops. Now the cattle are too weak to stand and too skinny to sell, leaving the poor without any way to buy grain to feed their families. The threat of famine is again stalking the Sahel, a band of semiarid land stretching across Africa south of the Sahara. The U. N. World Food Program warned on Friday that some 10 million people face hunger over the next three months before the next harvest in September - if it comes. Tue Jun 01 08:38:22 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/science_and_environment/10178454.stm In his regular column, BBC environment analyst Roger Harrabin looks at the fall-out from complaints that some of the Royal Society had oversimplified its messages in public statements on climate change. Tue Jun 01 08:38:22 2010 EST http://www.joabbess.com/2010/05/30/trinity-sunday-many-as-one/ You may be familiar with the Christian theology of Trinity " God the Father, Jesus (Messiah or Christ) his Son and the Holy Spirit all somehow united, living together, one being together, different aspects of the same Goodly Godness. And you may be also be familiar with Communion, the communal ritual of eating bread and drinking wine as a church community, the coming together of the Children of God. 'Remain in me', says Jesus, talking about grafting his followers into this new and universal church Vine :- [link] passage/?search= John+15&version= NLT So now God has not just three characters, and seven messengers (the lampstands of the Revelation of St John), and the 144,000 redeemed Sons of Israel (also from the Revelation), he now has billions of souls somehow in his family. Tue Jun 01 08:38:22 2010 EST http://www.joabbess.com/2010/05/30/colin-challen-to-chris-huhne/ Ex- Members of Parliament and ex- Ministers of Government usually have a lot to say about Climate Change and Energy. Colin Challen, formerly MP for Morley and Rotherwell, is a prime case in point. What the world needs now is a new world order " a global framework for carbon emissions control " and that framework is Contraction and Convergence. Colin Challen has written a powerful statement to Chris Huhne MP, the new Minister for the Department of Energy and Climate Change, and would like us all to co- sign it :- [link] politics. html Naturally, I have already signed this letter, because I know that Contraction and Convergence has to be at the heart of future international negotiations on Climate Change :- [link]2010/04/30/the- price- of- carbon/ I hope you can all co- ... Tue Jun 01 08:38:22 2010 EST http://www.joabbess.com/2010/05/30/climate-change-robust-findings/ Image Credit : Skeptical. Science. com It should come as no surprise that the United Nations (under UNFCCC) commissioned a report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), way back in 2007. The revelation is that very few people appear to have read any of it. So I thought I would present just a little about the 'robust findings' of Working Group 1 (WG1 or WGI) of the Fourth Assessment Report (AR4). I think the IPCC''s science needs a wider public readership, and so I hope that this post in some way enables that. Tue Jun 01 08:38:22 2010 EST http://www.joabbess.com/2010/05/29/global-warming-versus-climate-change/ What''s the difference ? Why is Global Warming not the same as Climate Change ? And why do we call Global Warming 'anthropogenic' ? How do we know recent Global Warming is caused by mankind''s activities ? So, what is Global Warming ? 1. Carbon Dioxide is a Greenhouse Gas Without Carbon Dioxide and other Greenhouse Gases in the Atmosphere (air), the temperature at the Earth''s surface would be something like 30 degrees Celsius colder than it is now. This is a well- established fact, about which there there is no dispute. Well, OK, some people dispute it, but the fact that they dispute it does not alter the data. Tue Jun 01 08:38:22 2010 EST http://www.joabbess.com/2010/05/28/northern-summers-here/ Yes, why does the heat dip in the Stratosphere, when it bumps up in the Troposphere ? And why has the temperature in the Stratosphere averaged downwards over the years as the temperature in the Troposphere has pushed upwards on average over the same period ? Wouldn' t have anything to do with Anthropogenic Global Warming, would it ? I believe it might How''s the Hurricane/ Typhoon situation ? [link] wiki/2010_Pacific_ typhoon_ season [link] wiki/2010_Atlantic_ hurricane_ season And what will happen when the first Hurricane whips up the BP Deepwater Horizon Transocean Earth Day 2010 Blowout Disaster Oil- Dispersant mix ? Tue Jun 01 08:38:22 2010 EST http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20100530/LIVING09/100528013/I-Believe-We-need-to-move-away-from-fossil-fuels-as-an-energy-source The recent oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and growing awareness of global warming has underscored for many people that we need to move to energy sources other than oil and natural gas. Tue Jun 01 08:38:22 2010 EST http://blogs.gmanews.tv/red-constantino/index.php?/archives/20-Rising-Temperatures.html Red Constantino blogs about matters of dollars and thermometers, and the organizational pains plaguing the newly- created Philippine Climate Change Commission. Tue Jun 01 08:38:22 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/cXqnZvcx-Lo/ Another week, another staggering journalistic lapse in climate science reporting at a once- great media outlet. How bad is 'Uncertain Science,' by Stefan Theil, European economics editor for the near- dead newsweekly? I asked Dr. Robert J. Brulle for a comment, and the Drexel University 'expert on environmental communications,' wrote me back: This article is basically a condensed version of the climate denier viewpoint. Mr. Theil significantly distorts the situation, and grossly fails to ground his story in the actual facts, all to support his biased position. Obviously, Newsweek doesn' t have any fact- checking capability. How this counts as journalism is beyond me. Tue Jun 01 08:38:22 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/UylrR4pORJc/ Energy economics expert Craig Severance has written a sequel to 'Peak oil production coming sooner than expected.' It''s time we moved on to something else, or this is going to kill us. Not only are world oil supplies running out, but what oil is still left is proving very dirty to obtain. We need to kick our oil addiction now if we expect to preserve any hopes of economic prosperity, or unspoiled habitats. 'This is What the End of the Oil Age Looks Like.' We have the Deepwater Horizon oil spill now precisely because the easy to obtain oil is already tapped. Tue Jun 01 08:38:22 2010 EST http://www.desmogblog.com/mad-hatter-throws-tea-party-koch-and-exxonmobil A group called Balanced Education for Everyone (BEE) is backing an effort to force the Mesa County, Colorado, school board to mandate school instruction of the "other side" of the so- called debate about global warming, in what may be a national test case on how global warming is taught. Attorney and Tea Party activist, Rose Pugliese - working with the support of Balanced Education for Everyone - presented the board with one petition demanding that global warming not be taught and, ironically, another demanding that political views be kept out of the classroom. At the meeting, Pugliese and her supporters said if warming is taught the "other side" should be too. Tue Jun 01 08:38:22 2010 EST http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/13931113/1fj19n/alternet_environment~We-Need-an-Emergency-Mobilization-to-Fight-Climate-Change-So-Wheres-the-Support-for-the-KerryLieberman-Bill Perhaps the reason that the environmental lobby is putting up a lackadaisical fight for Kerry- Lieberman is simply that the bill isn' t really worth fighting for. Tue Jun 01 08:38:22 2010 EST http://voices.washingtonpost.com/tomtoles/2010/05/what_now_everyones_an_alarmist.html#more Tue Jun 01 08:38:22 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/may/31/hay-festival-climate-change-debates Global warming has always energised Hay audiences " but this year the mood is much more sober. For the past four or five years, one theme burned through discussions at Hay more than most: climate change, and the large and small things human beings might do to tackle it. Politicians " including, most famously, Al Gore " arrived here to talk up their ecological credentials, green authors warned the crowds of the doom that may await us, and everyone lapped it up. Moreover, with the Copenhagen summit coming into view, last year''s environmental sessions had an infectious mixture of trepidation and momentum, as they focused on The Big Question ... Tue Jun 01 08:38:22 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/may/31/bp-oil-spill-death-impact It could take months or years for the true impact of the spill on surrounding ecosystems to emerge. The White House says the BP oil spill is probably the greatest environmental disaster the US has faced, but the true impact on surrounding ecosystems could take months or even years to emerge. Experts say the unprecedented depth of the spill, combined with the use of chemicals that broke the oil down before it reached the surface, pose an unknown threat."It''s difficult to marshal resources to do a thorough job of charting what the impacts are," Jeffrey Short, an environmental chemist who worked on the effects of the Exxon Valdez spill, told Nature magazine. Tue Jun 01 08:38:22 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/may/30/copenhagen-climate-talks-united-nations-letter United Nations climate chief says Danish presidency''s backing for US also derailed Copenhagen negotiationsA leaked letter from the United Nations' climate chief suggests the Copenhagen climate summit failed because the presence of 130 world leaders paralysed decision- making and the Danish presidency backed the US and other western nations over the interests of the poor. The revelations " made as the UN climate talks resume in Bonn tomorrow " come in Yvo de Boer''s candid letter, written to colleagues days after the summit broke up in acrimony in December. More than 130 world leaders had been persuaded by Britain and other countries to go to Denmark, where they were expected to put the finishing touches to a historic global agreement to limit carbon emissions, protect forests and put in place a mechanism to transfer billions of dollars from rich to poor countries each year. Tue Jun 01 08:38:22 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/may/28/climate-change-royal-society Just as leading US experts give their clearest warning about emissions, 43 UK scientists prompt Royal Society to rethink Government''s chief scientific adviser hits out at climate sceptics. Two weeks ago, the United States National Academy of Sciences published its clearest ever report on the science of climate change. It concluded: "Climate change is occurring, is caused largely by human activities, and poses significant risks for a broad range of human and natural systems."Over recent years, particularly during the George W Bush administration, the academy has faced great challenges in presenting the science of climate change to domestic policymakers, many of whom have been in denial about the consequences of greenhouse gas emissions. But with Barack Obama in the White House, the academy has been more able to offer scientific advice that some politicians may find inconvenient. So it is ironic that just as the leading scientists in the US ... Tue Jun 01 08:38:22 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/may/30/bp-oil-spill-gulf-mexico Science will solve this crisis, but the real cause is America''s demands and our refusal to pay oil''s true price. As this piece is written, act one of the Gulf of Mexico tragedy continues, agonisingly, to unfold. We, the people of the region, keep hoping to leave behind the terrifying explosions and ghastly loss of human life, the dread invoked by black jets billowing endlessly from below and the floating oil spreading over an ever- growing area. We want to move on to act two, which will feature many dirty shovels, corpses of birds and people crying over the loss of a landscape they love. Tue Jun 01 08:38:22 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/may/28/us-regulation-oil-industry-mms Report into Minerals Management Service has bought time for US government but it remains in thrall to the oil industry. The American public have been told by government that oil industry regulation has been undermined by drugs, pornography and ethical transgression. But politicians in Washington are less keen to admit that they and the wider public have all allowed themselves to be seduced by the cheap petrol and tax provided by BP and the rest of Big Oil. The interior department has created good headlines and bought time for Barack Obama by releasing details of a report into the working of one of its own agencies, the Minerals Management Service. This review by the department''s acting inspector general, Mary Kendall, outlined how staff at the oil industry''s chief safety watchdog, MMS, accepted tickets to sporting events, lunches and hunting trips from oil and gas firms. It also spelled out incidents such ... Tue Jun 01 08:38:22 2010 EST http://feeds.grist.org/click.phdo?i=61534d43e3105b58cbce247051203bc0 by Sean Casten. Economic theory is predicated on the thesis that if supply and demand are allowed to freely set the price for a given item, rational capital allocation (and a host of other social benefits) will follow. Much of public policy is predicated on the truth of that thsis. But there''s a problem with the thesis: price alone isn' t sufficient. A market that provides nothing more than a spot price for a given commodity is only a market in name. To have a real market of the kind that brings about all the good things that economic theory describes, we need a much richer, more complex suite of transactions. Tue Jun 01 08:38:22 2010 EST http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Heatwave-forces-cattle-exodus-from-Rajasthan/articleshow/5996608.cms Heatwave forces cattle exodus from Rajasthan. Times of India. JAISALMER: Continuing heatwave across swathes of Rajasthan has forced hundreds of cattle- rearers from Jaisalmer and Barmer to migrate to neighbouring states ...and more Tue Jun 01 08:38:22 2010 EST http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10928/s/ad60422/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Carticle0Cdn189770Einnovation0Ebringing0Ebiogas0Eto0Ebook0Bhtml0DDCMP0FOTC0Erss0Gnsref0Fclimate0Echange/story01.htm Methane capture technology could have a dramatic impact on global warming. But developing such technologies won' t be easy Tue Jun 01 08:38:22 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news194285976.html Scientists at the University of Oklahoma and the Fudan University in Shanghai, China, have found that reforestation and afforestation -- the creation of new forests -- may lower the potential of forests for climate change lessening. Tue Jun 01 08:38:22 2010 EST http://e360.yale.edu/content/digest.msp?id=2434 A Coast Guard admiral said that the effort to plug the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico appeared to be working, while other U. S. officials said the government is proposing or extending drilling moratoriums in the Arctic and in the deep seas. Admiral Thad Allen, who is in charge of the oil spill response, said that the effort to stop the huge flow of oil by pumping mud and drilling fluids into the drill hole has largely halted the spill. Meanwhile, government scientists reported that the amount of oil that has been flowing from the ruptured drilling pipe for weeks is about 12,000 to 25,000 barrels a day, two to five times higher than original estimates. Tue Jun 01 08:38:22 2010 EST http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.rss.html?pid=30931 What Lies Beneath: An Interview with Permafrost Expert Larry Hinzman Tue Jun 01 08:38:22 2010 EST http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/266/f/3780/s/acf91d3/l/0L0Sindependent0O0Cnews0Cuk0Cthis0Ebritain0Csummertime0E210A0A0Eand0Ethe0Eliving0Eisnt0Eeasy0E19843920Bhtml/story01.htm The year is 2100. Londoners and their guests need a pastiche of Arcadia in the heart of the capital. Peak summer daily temperatures are nearly seven degrees hotter than they were in 2000, and the city is far more crowded. By mid- afternoon the day''s heat is starting to hang heavy, and will not disperse until the small hours. Evenings are febrile and nights fitful. Shaded open spaces draw people out of doors like a magnet summoning iron filings. Tue Jun 01 08:38:22 2010 EST http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/564807/?sc=rssn Improved soil mapping analysis helps land managers better predict soil carbon sinks across varying landscapes. Tue Jun 01 08:38:22 2010 EST http://www.alamogordonews.com/ci_15186510?source=most_viewed A local man who sells photovoltaic solar systems wants people to know Public Service Company of New Mexico may change its policy regarding how customers are credited for solar power they put into the grid. Tue Jun 01 08:38:22 2010 EST http://spectrum.ieee.org/energy/environment/the-water-cost-of-carbon-capture Despite all the talk of moving to greener energy sources, coal will be with us for the foreseeable future. Its just too cheap and plentiful. Tue Jun 01 08:38:22 2010 EST http://www.countercurrents.org/greer280510.htm By John Michael Greer. In the energy crisis of the Seventies, relatively simple conservation and efficiency measures, combined with lifestyle changes, sent world petroleum consumption down by 15% in a single decade and caused comparable drops in other energy sources across the industrial world. Most of these measures went out the window in the final binge of the age of cheap oil that followed, so theres plenty of low hanging fruit to pluck Tue Jun 01 08:38:22 2010 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/05/100526124715.htm The first new projections of future aircraft emissions in 10 years predict that carbon dioxide and other gases from air traffic will become a significant source of global warming as they double or triple by 2050. Tue Jun 01 08:38:22 2010 EST http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/851/f/10846/s/ad8d9e7/l/0L0Sirishtimes0N0Cnewspaper0Cworld0C20A10A0C0A60A10C12242715897590Bhtml/story01.htm A FRESH round of UN climate change talks got under way in Bonn yesterday in an effort to pick up the pieces after last Decembers summit in Copenhagen and pave the way for firmer action. Tue Jun 01 08:38:22 2010 EST http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100601/NEWS/6010327 Police and fire departments across the Cape were inundated with calls from people yesterday complaining about smoke in their neighborhoods. Tue Jun 01 08:38:22 2010 EST http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=51664 FLORENCE, Jun 1 (IPS) - Pescomaggiore village, destroyed by the earthquake that hit the mountain region of L' Aquila in central Italy on Apr. 6, 2009, is now being rebuilt by its 40-odd inhabitants with straw and wood. Tue Jun 01 08:38:22 2010 EST http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=51663 BOGOR, Indonesia, June 1 (IPS) - Ten years after an Indonesian agriculturist discovered microbes capable of producing natural fertilisers, farmers attest that they have boosted agricultural production. Tue Jun 01 08:38:22 2010 EST http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=51654 ATLANTA, Georgia, May 31 (IPS/ IFEJ) - As oil continues gushing from the ocean floor into the Gulf of Mexico, with no sign of stopping until a new well is finished this August, scientists, environmentalists and local residents are beginning to reckon with the reality of a massive annihilation of sea creatures and wildlife. Tue Jun 01 08:38:22 2010 EST http://www.greenleft.org.au/events/44249 Last month 30,000 people gathered in Cochabamba, Bolivia to do what world leaders had so spectacularly failed to do a few months before in Copenhagen, develop an agreement to address the looming climate catastrophe and ensure a safe climate for future generations. While the Copenhagen summit was splashed across the international media, Cochabamba has been discussed remarkably little in the mainstream press. Yet this was a significant meeting for the international climate movement and an inspiring example of the people, energy and movements that can ensure a safe climate future. Event date: Sat, 05/06/2010 - 2:30pm Event time ... Tue Jun 01 08:38:22 2010 EST http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=washing-carbon-out-of-the-air The world cannot afford to dump more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Yet it is not cutting back. All indications are that the concentration of CO 2 will continue to rise for decades. Despite great support for renewable energy, developed and developing countries will probably burn more oil, coal and natural gas in the future. For transportation, the alternatives to petroleum appear especially ... Tue Jun 01 08:38:22 2010 EST http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127245606&ft=1&f=1001 Driving a Prius and putting up solar panels aren' t the only options for cooling the earth''s climate. More radical ideas include brightening clouds, creating giant algae blooms in the ocean and launching spacecraft to deploy giant sunshades. It might sound a bit far- fetched, but scientists are considering ideas like these -- known as geoengineering -- to alter the climate. Tue Jun 01 08:38:22 2010 EST http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2010/05/31/climate_talks_kick_off_with_squabbling_in_germany A new round of climate negotiations kicked off in Germany on Monday with squabbling over money and procedural questions that could threaten progress at the two- week U. N. conference. Climate change - Germany - Post- Kyoto Protocol negotiations on greenhouse gas emissions - Environment - Activism Tue Jun 01 08:38:22 2010 EST http://www.ecanadanow.com/world/2010/06/01/200-dead-in-india-heatwave/ The Guardian200 Dead In India HeatwaveE Canada NowA heat wave in Northern India has been contributed to hundreds of deaths in the region. It is being said that this summer is the hottest one in India since ...Oppressive heat wave claims 300 lives in India. People''s Daily Online. India Heatwave Scorches The Country, Casualties Shoot Up. Thaindian. com. Hundreds die in Indian heatwave. The Guardian. AHN | All Headline News -My. Stateline. com -Gather. comall 12 Tue Jun 01 08:38:22 2010 EST http://www.monbiot.com/archives/2010/06/01/the-man-who-wants-to-northern-rock-the-planet/ Matt Ridley''s irrational theories remain unchanged by his own disastrous experiment. Tue Jun 01 08:38:22 2010 EST http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20100530/OPINION01/705309957 As the BP oil spill destroys natures delicate balance in and along the Gulf of Mexico, it may also upset an uneasy political balance in Congress one that supports badly needed legislation to move the nation toward a cleaner, sustainable energy future. Tue Jun 01 08:38:22 2010 EST http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/326500,eu-should-impose-carbon-tax-on-developing-countries-study-finds.html Brussels - The European Union should go ahead with plans to charge a carbon tax on developing countries which do not make efforts to reduce their carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, a study released Monday said.... Tue Jun 01 08:38:22 2010 EST http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/5/31/columnists/globaltrends/6370748&sec=globaltrends As the global climate talks resume today, an article by prominent scientists has warned that the pledges made under the Copenhagen Accord are paltry and will increase rather than decrease emissions. Tue Jun 01 08:38:22 2010 EST http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90776/90881/7007687.html Chinas installed wind power capacity has quadrupled for four consecutive years, moving China from fourth place in world rankings in 2008 to third in 2009, attendees learned at the State Grid Wind power Development Forum recently held in Changchun. By the end of 2009, there were 423 wind power plants in China with aggregate capacity of 22.7 million kilowatts. According to the National Wind Power ... Tue Jun 01 08:38:22 2010 EST http://www.theautochannel.com/F/news/2010/05/27/480295.html PHILADELPHIA--UPS today announced its fleet of alternative- fuel vehicles had expanded with the deployment of 50 next- generation hybrid electric delivery trucks to Philadelphia. Tue Jun 01 08:38:22 2010 EST http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/01/can-we-do-better-at-managing-rare-big-risks/ Can humans overcome traits that lead to well blowouts and other foreseen disasters? Tue Jun 01 08:38:22 2010 EST http://liberalconspiracy.org/2010/05/31/why-is-climate-change-going-down-the-political-agenda/ contribution by Climate Sock After a pause in hostilities for the election, it looks like the favourite climate story of the year has resurfaced. A new poll is out and being covered with the headline that fewer people now believe in climate change or think that it''s an urgent issue demanding attention. There''s some truth in the basic argument that people are now less convinced and worried about climate change than they have been in the past. But when the Guardian runs a story like this, it gets widely noticed and repeated, and there are several reasons why we shouldn' t get too carried away by the news. Tue Jun 01 08:38:22 2010 EST http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/05/st_essay_sciencepr/ Wired News. Why Science Needs to Step Up Its PR Game. Wired News. You know there is a problem with climate change / global warming theory when all the solutions are increased taxes. As another commenter has said adaptation ...And then there were three: Britain''s Royal Society rejects alarmism. Financial Post. Royal Society and climate change. Times Online. Why do we argue about climate change? Record- Searchlight (blog) all 4 Tue Jun 01 08:38:22 2010 EST http://www.usatoday.com/money/books/reviews/2010-06-01-deathmerchants01_ST_N.htm 'Merchants of Doubt' delves into contrarian scientists. USA Today. What Singer and Seitz did for tobacco, Nierenberg did for global warming. In 1995, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) concluded that ... Tue Jun 01 08:38:22 2010 EST http://www.mmtimes.com/2010/business/525/busi005.html Expert warns of global warming threat to paddy. Myanmar Times. By Than Htike Oo HOTTER weather brought on by climate change could decrease rice yields, especially for summer paddy, an official from the Myanmar Rice ...and more Tue Jun 01 08:38:22 2010 EST http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/nation/view/20100601-273267/Oxfam-warns-of-climate-debt-with-WB-climate-aid Oxfam International has warned that the $100 billion a year pledged by rich nations to help fight climate change could fail the poorest people if recent moves to deliver climate cash as loans continue. Tue Jun 01 08:38:22 2010 EST http://www.witness.co.za/index.php?showcontent&global[_id]=41426 OSLO This year is on track to be the warmest worldwide since records began in the 19th century, yet voters seem to be cooling off on strong measures to combat climate change. Tue Jun 01 08:38:22 2010 EST http://tcktcktck.org/partner-actions/invest-future-now The G8 and G20 are coming to Canada this June to make decisions affecting the future of life on our planet. These twenty powerful leaders need to hear what needs to be done to create a world that is fair and sustainable for all of us. Take your place at the negotiating table! Media Sponsor Logo: Action Link: Sign the G8/G20 Declaration Tue Jun 01 08:38:22 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/sci/tech/8694544.stm Climate 'sceptics' expose global warming 'myths' Thu May 27 11:21:14 2010 EST 27th May 2010 http://www.culturechange.org/cms/content/view/647/63/ As the U. S. continues the incredibly wasteful misallocation of resources known as car production and everything that goes with it, the externalized costs in terms of global warming, oil spills, and human isolation as consumers, only mount. Who is in charge of this mad policy of ecocide? We all are, but we did elect a president named Barack Obama. Thu May 27 11:21:14 2010 EST http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_round_up/489891/industry_threats_to_relocate_over_carbon_targets_exposed_as_misleading.html Heavy industry has pleaded for special treatment since the European Emissions Trading System was set up, but a new report suggests their complaints were exaggerated Thu May 27 11:21:14 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/may/24/industry-relocate-carbon-targets-misleading Heavy industry has pleaded for special treatment since the European Emissions Trading System was set up, but a new report suggests their complaints were exaggerated Steel and cement giants Arcelor Mittal and Lafarge are lobbying hard against tougher carbon targets at the same time as making millions in windfall profits from surplus carbon permits, new research shows. Under the EU trading scheme, set up in 2005, companies are allowed to emit carbon dioxide (CO2) up to a certain level, beyond which they must buy extra permits to cover the excess emissions. According to a report from Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO), the steel and cement sectors lobbied the EU for free CO2 permits, claiming they would be forced to relocate to other parts of the world if they did not receive concessions - a threat known as 'carbon leakage'. However, CEO says companies including Lafarge and Arcelor Mittal 'exaggerated' the damage that the carbon trading system would cause to EU competitiveness. Thu May 27 11:21:14 2010 EST http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=51545 ROME, May 23 (IPS) - Saving the planet from environmental catastrophe is undoubtedly very important, but one of the reasons many people are not doing their bit could be that being green does not seem much fun. Thu May 27 11:21:14 2010 EST http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10928/s/ab07b87/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Carticle0Cmg20A627610A0B90A0A0Emeltdown0Ewhy0Eice0Eages0Edont0Elast0Eforever0Bhtml0DDCMP0FOTC0Erss0Gnsref0Fclimate0Echange/story01.htm At last we understand why the monstrous ice sheets that periodically entomb continents vanish when they do Thu May 27 11:21:14 2010 EST http://www.lep.co.uk/news/heatwave_lancashire_hotter_than_africa_1_773401 Lancashire sweltered in baking temperatures at the weekend, with scorching summer rays making the county hotter than Ibiza, Los Angeles and parts of Africa. Thu May 27 11:21:14 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news193846393.html The balance of biodiversity within North American small- mammal communities is so out of whack from the last episode of global warming about 12,000 years ago that the current climate change could push them past a tipping point, with repercussions up and down the food chain, say Stanford biologists. The evidence lies in fossils spanning the last 20,000 years that the researchers excavated from a cave in Northern California. Thu May 27 11:21:14 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/shell/lloC/~3/61NC9ovhqoc/ It is often the case that thought pieces on the future of climate change policy in the EU surface before formal publication. Such documents quickly do the rounds through various industry associations and the Commission then gets some early feedback on the reaction to the policy ideas. This has been the case in the last couple of weeks with the appearance of an early version of a discussion document on a proposal to shift the EU to a 30% by 2020 reduction target, rather than the current 20%. The 30% target had, until now, been a negotiating position held by the EU in the context of a broad international agreement on climate change. Thu May 27 11:21:14 2010 EST http://www.malaya.com.ph/05242010/news8.html THE world- famous sweet mangoes of Guimaras island in Iloilo province are in danger of becoming an endangered variety due to erratic weather pattern brought about by climate change, the Climate Change Commission (CCC) has warned. Thu May 27 11:21:14 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/may/24/boris-johnson-london-congestion-charge Mayor of London announces 10-week consultation on proposals to scrap the western extension of the zone by Christmas. Boris Johnson, the mayor of London, today outlined plans to press ahead with the abolition of the western extension of the London congestion charge, coupled with a £2 increase in the daily charge for the remaining zone and a free pass for drivers of low emission vehicles. Thu May 27 11:21:14 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/7--clIjk1Jw/ The big climate news up north is the Arctic double stunner: Sea ice extent (area) is now below 2007 levels, while the even more important metric of ice volume hit a record low for March (according to the Polar Science Center). Data from both the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) show Arctic sea ice extent shrinking below the level of 2007 at a rapid pace: Canada''s Globe and Mail headlines their story, 'Arctic sea ice heading for new record low,' The latest satellite information shows ice coverage is equal to what it was in 2007, the lowest year on record, and is declining faster than it did that year. Thu May 27 11:21:14 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/rBbM1YVyqqs/ Exxon. Mobil anxiously grasps its gigantic but unsustainable gold mines, pumps cash (much of it from your wallet to places far away), pours GHGs into the atmosphere, pushes its publicity machine, and doesn' t seem to comprehend the relationships between a healthy climate and the lives of our grandchildren. They try to confuse you in the process. Their actions delay the creation of millions of jobs and our ability to author a healthier future. And that''s putting it politely. Exxon. Mobil will be holding its Annual Meeting of Shareholders this week, on May 26 in Dallas. If you get your news from the status quo media, you might not have a full picture of the company (see NYT suckered by Exxon. Mobil in puff piece titled 'Green is for Sissies'). Thu May 27 11:21:14 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/uZS25NBszl8/ On Monday, May 17, MSNBC''s Chris Matthews erupted in anger at the oil disaster unfolding in the Gulf of Mexico. Matthews expressed his rage at the profits BP continues to reap as it fails to fix the growing environmental apocalypse. Brad Johnson has the story and the video: Matthews criticized the behavior of the Obama administration. Matthews wondered why President Obama doesn' t 'nationalize that industry and get the job done' and noted that in the 'brutal society' of China, 'they execute people for this': It is maddening that our government is - everybody says, 'Capitalism is great. Thu May 27 11:21:14 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8700000/8700472.stm Climate change will trigger a dramatic and sudden decline in the number of polar bears, a study concludes. Thu May 27 11:21:14 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/scotland/glasgow_and_west/10147218.stm A project which will see homes across Scotland scanned to show heat loss is unveiled as part of a new focus on housing policy. Thu May 27 11:21:14 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/may/26/england-rivers-drought Environment Agency data shows major rivers in England and Wales are below average levels after high temperatures and a dry start to 2010Much of northern England faces a drought within weeks, according to new figures published this week. The combination of recent high temperatures, one of the sunniest Aprils in a century and five months of below- average rainfall is the reason, the Environment Agency said. Weekly river flow and rainfall data (pdf) shows that the flow in major rivers including the Lune, Wharfe, Wyre, Swale, Conwy, Dee and Taff are already "notably" and in some cases "exceptionally" below- average levels for the time of year. Thu May 27 11:21:14 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/may/25/china-ecological-values As biodiversity declines, China recalculates the value of its forests and other natural resources. Amid all the doom and gloom during the past week about the global loss of biodiversity, there have been a couple of potentially positive steps forward by the usual villain of the piece: China. For the first time, the government in Beijing has put a hefty value on its forest ecosystems and began drafting new regulations that would oblige rich urban coastal regions to pay compensation fees to unspoiled inland areas that provide carbon sequestration and other environmental services. These steps suggest China is moving in tandem with United Nation recommendations that environmental costs should be factored into the global economy. A degree of scepticism is warranted. Thu May 27 11:21:14 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/may/25/india-carbon-emissions Emissions from electricity, cement and waste have more than doubled since 1994, making it the world''s fifth biggest emitter India''s greenhouse gas emissions rise by 58%India claimed to be a front- runner among developing nations for emissions disclosure today with its first national survey of greenhouse gases in more than a decade. The government study based on 2007 data showed a sharp increase in industrial activity since the last assessment in 1994 has made India the world''s fifth biggest emitter after China, the US, Europe and Russia. Since then, emissions from electricity, cement and waste have more than doubled, in addition to substantial rises in the transport and residential sectors. According to the latest inventory, India relied on coal for 90% of its electricity, which accounts for more than a third of the country''s emissions. Thu May 27 11:21:14 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2010/may/25/youth-climate-adopt-an-mp Climate advocates suffered a painful defeat in Copenhagen, and energy among campaigners has been at an all- time low. But 200 new MPs and a new government bring a new opportunity. To coincide with the Queen''s speech later today, the UK Youth Climate Coalition (UKYCC) is launching a long- term campaign that will see all 650 members of parliament in the UK "adopted" by a young person in their constituency, in an attempt to keep climate change at the top of their agenda. Thu May 27 11:21:14 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/cartoon/2010/may/25/heathrow-third-runway With skies already quieter after the ash cloud and BA strikes there''s more good news for climate activists with the scrapping of the third runway Thu May 27 11:21:14 2010 EST http://energybulletin.net/node/52907 In an interview with Yale Environment 360 senior editor Fen Montaigne, Orr talked about the current battle over climate and energy legislation, President Obama''s missed opportunity to use his 'bully pulpit' to educate the public about global warming, and what he calls the right wing''s 'unconscionable misuse' of the airwaves to spread lies and misinformation about climate change. read more Thu May 27 11:21:14 2010 EST http://energybulletin.net/node/52888 Yesterday, a friend sent me over this graph, which shows the levels of carbon dioxide emitted by the USA over the last twenty years. As the accompanying report explains, it shows that 2009 was an "exceptional" year - exceptional in that emissions levels fell by more than they had fallen in a single year since 1949. The reason? The economic crash. read more Thu May 27 11:21:14 2010 EST http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/13763928/1f5qcd/alternet_environment~Could-You-Live-in-a-x-Cabin-With-No-Water-or-Electricity Returning to the U. S. after a decade of aid work, William Powers finds himself in the heart of the world''s richest nation, but living a subsistence life. Thu May 27 11:21:14 2010 EST http://feeds.grist.org/click.phdo?i=c10a21429d308303f0b3001562c9fc80 by David Roberts A couple weeks ago, Michael Levi at the Council for Foreign Relations (one of the best energy analysts out there; bookmark his blog) wrote a post called 'In Defense of CCS.' (For non- nerds: CCS is carbon capture and sequestration.) I' ve done plenty of bashing of CCS, so I read it with interest. It is structured as a fisking of a recent anti- CCS op- ed in the NYT. One of the arguments he debunks, however, deserves a closer look: 'Carbon dioxide is a worthless waste product, so taxpayers would likely end up shouldering most of the cost. Thu May 27 11:21:14 2010 EST http://feeds.grist.org/click.phdo?i=a73e0937fa849b5b2c6e5b5489837660 by Randy Rieland Photo: Wikipedia. Almost five weeks into the BP oil disaster and we' re way down the rabbit hole. None other than Sarah 'Drill, baby, drill' Palin wondered aloud on Fox News Sunday whether oil company contributions to the Obama campaign are to blame for the president 'taking so doggone long to get in there, dive in there, and grasp the complexity and the potential tragedy that we are seeing here in the Gulf of Mexico.' (Obama has definitely enjoyed BP cash.) This whole Gulf mess just makes her long for- wait for it - more on- shore drilling. Thu May 27 11:21:14 2010 EST http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=51576 MADRID, May 25 (Tierramérica) - Governments from the European Union and from Latin America and the Caribbean are confident that at year''s end the international climate conference will produce a concrete legal mandate to truly protect the environment. Thu May 27 11:21:14 2010 EST http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=51577 MANAGUA, May 25 (IPS) - More than 1.8 million Nicaraguans are at high risk due to the various natural disasters that strike this Central American country, according to Civil Defence authorities. Thu May 27 11:21:14 2010 EST http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=51583 PUNTA DEL ESTE, Uruguay, May 26 (IPS) - "There should be a mechanism for recipient countries to help bring about a more balanced distribution of GEF funds," Cuban delegate Jorge Luis Fernández told IPS after a forum Tuesday on how to boost the efficiency and effectiveness of the Global Environment Facility. Thu May 27 11:21:14 2010 EST http://www.joabbess.com/2010/05/26/bp-oily-hands-on-the-arts/ PLEASE IGNORE ADVERTISEMENT AT START OF VIDEO The Gulf of Mexico just now is no oil painting, and it''s costing BP in share price and reputation. Just how much do BP care about Nature, about life, about humanity ? The answer can be found, perhaps, in their liberal sponsorship of the Arts :- [link]/www. bp. com/ sectiongenericarticle. do? category. Id=9026067&content. Id=7048078 It is a statement of the most culturally sensitive kind. Thu May 27 11:21:14 2010 EST http://www.joabbess.com/2010/05/25/methane-rising/ [link] environment/ climate- change/ methane- levels- may- see- runaway- rise- scientists- warn-1906484.html Behind Paywall :- [link] article/ mg20127011.500-arctic- meltdown- is- a-threat- to- humanity. html? full= true Select 'CH4 for Methane :- [link] gmd/ ccgg/ iadv/ [link] ndps/ alegage. html [link] data. htm [link] images/ Data_ figures/ gcmd_ month/ ch4_monS5.pdf Thu May 27 11:21:14 2010 EST http://www.joabbess.com/2010/05/25/2010-is-a-hot-year/ [link] hostednews/ afp/ article/ ALeqM5g3hy5jGjeu796BUwg. Hljsdxq. Nq. HQ [link] sotc/ index. php? report= global [link] india/ Steady- rise- in- temperature- since-1970-Nasa/ articleshow/5951409.cms [link] city/ goa/ It- was- Goas- hottest- April- in-40-years/ articleshow/5895875.cms The Times of London is probably under instruction to show some 'balance', so ignore the last paragraph here :- [link] tol/ news/ weather/ uk_ and_ roi/ article7134047.ece Image Credit : Find Local Weather Thu May 27 11:21:14 2010 EST http://www.joabbess.com/2010/05/25/the-oceans-are-not-cooling/ [link] Robust- warming- of- the- global- upper- ocean. html [link] cws/ article/ news/42690 Thu May 27 11:21:14 2010 EST http://www.joabbess.com/2010/05/24/sea-ice-not-in-recovery/ Watch it while it all melts away this isn' t modelling, it''s data :- [link] cryosphere/ [link]2010/05/21/arctic- sea- ice- area- extent- volume- record- low/ [link] Arctic. Seaice. Volume/ Ice. Volume. php [link] news. php? p=2&t=73&&n=182 [link] stoat/2010/05/three- views- on- sea- ice. php? utm_ source= sbhomepage& utm_ medium= link& utm_ content= channellink [link] IDAO/ rothrock_ zhang_2004JC002282.pdf Thu May 27 11:21:14 2010 EST http://www.monbiot.com/archives/2010/05/24/universal-cure/ Here''s a simple means of transforming the UK''s universities, schools and society Thu May 27 11:21:14 2010 EST http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10928/s/ab2d646/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Carticle0Cdn189490Ethe0Ehistory0Eof0Eice0Eon0Eearth0Bhtml0DDCMP0FOTC0Erss0Gnsref0Fclimate0Echange/story01.htm Our planet''s history is marked by wild swings in temperature. Follow the advance and retreat of the ice sheets in our timeline Thu May 27 11:21:14 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news194070879.html A prominent US environmentalist said Wednesday Japan should focus on developing geothermal energy, saying the volcanic island- nation could become the global leader in the field. Thu May 27 11:21:14 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news194030525.html Droughts in the late 20th century rival some of North Africa''s major droughts of centuries past, reveals new research that peers back in time to the year 1179. Thu May 27 11:21:14 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news194025410.html (Phys. Org. com) -- For more than two centuries, scientists have wondered how much heat and light the sun expels, and whether this energy varies enough to change Earth`'s climate. In the absence of a good method for measuring the sun''s output, the scientific conversation was often heavy with speculation. Thu May 27 11:21:14 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news194015162.html (Phys. Org. com) -- When the federal government approved the Cape Wind project in April, allowing 130 power- generating turbines to be placed in the waters off Cape Cod, it gave a significant boost to the prospects of wind energy. The comparatively high costs of wind power, however, remain a problem. But in a study, MIT researchers have concluded that some of the price problems associated with wind power can be remedied right now, given a couple of changes to the electricity grid. Thu May 27 11:21:14 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news194013334.html Climate change is making Mount Everest more dangerous to climb, a Nepalese Sherpa said in Kathmandu Tuesday after breaking his own record by making a 20th ascent of the world''s highest peak. Thu May 27 11:21:14 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news193944559.html The Pacific weather pattern known as El Nino is all but gone, climate scientists say, while its alter ego, La Nina, might soon appear on the horizon. Thu May 27 11:21:14 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news193938415.html (AP) -- Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair is joining a Silicon Valley business as a senior adviser on environmental issues. Thu May 27 11:21:14 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news193930065.html (Phys. Org. com) -- The climate of the Pacific region will undergo significant changes as atmospheric temperatures rise but scientists can not yet identify the influence it will have on the El Nino- Southern Oscillation (ENSO) weather phenomenon. Thu May 27 11:21:14 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/kK-mzKUza00/idUSTRE64O5SW20100525 OSLO/ LONDON (Reuters) - The United Nations urged rich nations on Tuesday to keep a pledge to give $30 billion to poor nations by 2012 to cope with climate change, saying it was "not an impossible call" despite budget cuts in Europe. Thu May 27 11:21:14 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/-OuX7gFXfCA/idUSTRE64O3AA20100525 BEIJING (Reuters) - A senior Chinese climate official said on Tuesday that negotiators aim to seal a binding global pact on warming by the end of 2011, a blow to any lingering hopes the world could reach a deal at talks this year in Mexico. Thu May 27 11:21:14 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/1n49HzJK0KQ/idUSTRE64O0OO20100525 BEIJING (Reuters) - China will aim to meet its five- year energy saving and emission reduction goals through 2010 ahead global climate talks at the end of the year, the country''s top climate negotiator said. Thu May 27 11:21:14 2010 EST http://www.nature.com/news/2010/100511/full/465142a.html Yunnan''s worst drought for many years has been exacerbated by destruction of forest cover and a history of poor water management. Thu May 27 11:21:14 2010 EST http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/25/business/global/25carbon.html?partner=rss&emc=rss Two disparate groups one representing businesses, the other European regulators are recommending steps to resuscitate the system. Thu May 27 11:21:14 2010 EST http://www.theage.com.au/world/kiwis-to-trade-carbon-20100524-w7yf.html New Zealand''s government will introduce a carbon emissions trading scheme from July 1 and will cost households $NZ3 a week. Thu May 27 11:21:14 2010 EST http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100526/wl_asia_afp/indonesiausenergyenvironmentinvest_20100526091817 Red tape and legal uncertainty are blocking investment in clean energy projects in Indonesia that could help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, US Commerce Secretary Gary Locke said Wednesday. Thu May 27 11:21:14 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/0E5hsX1K9J0/ Credit- default swaps are widely seen as a major contributor to the recent financial meltdown. But the origin of CDS''s with the Exxon Valdez oil disaster isn' t as widely known. Thu May 27 11:21:14 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/OuMQC1j-_dU/ JR: If you think we' re going to have to wait until 2020 to see $108 oil and 2035 to see $133, then I have some credit default swaps to sell you (see Deutsche Bank: Oil to hit $175 a barrel by 2016 and World''s top energy economist warns peak oil threatens recovery: 'We have to leave oil before oil leaves us'). This is one reason EIA''s long- term forecasts are not viewed as terribly useful by a lot of folks. Oil to Reach $108 by 2020 as Economy Grows, EIA Says [seriously] Oil prices will rise to $108 a barrel by 2020 as a global economic rebound boosts demand, the U. S. Thu May 27 11:21:14 2010 EST http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/e-zines/globe-investor-magazine/a-road-map-to-the-next-great-industries/article1580397/?cmpid=rss1 Authors of Three Paths to Profitable Investing argue health care, green energy and infrastructure are the coming boom sectors and ETFs are the best way in Thu May 27 11:21:14 2010 EST http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2010/05/geothermal-power-warming-to-a-global-opportunity?cmpid=rss If you imagine a graph showing the price of oil over the last 20 years, the dips and peaks would correlate fairly closely with interest in deep geothermal energy. Thu May 27 11:21:14 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/england/london/10171031.stm A 'Green Enterprise District' spreading across six east London boroughs is to be created to to help the capital be a "global leader in low carbon economy". Thu May 27 11:21:14 2010 EST http://www.good.is/post/weaning-us-off-oil/ Making a complete switch to clean, sustainable power seems a bit of a tough sell at the moment, considering that oil still accounts for a whopping percentage of U. S. energy consumption. So what do we do now? Grist has a few ideas on how to slowly wean the nation off of oil (which should weaken the argument for offshore drilling at the same time): Thu May 27 11:21:14 2010 EST http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1870889/air_traffic_poised_to_become_major_factor_in_global_warming/index.html?source=r_science The first new projections of future aircraft emissions in 10 years predicts that carbon dioxide and other gases from air traffic will become a significant source of global warming as they double or triple by 2050. Thu May 27 11:21:14 2010 EST http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100526/ap_on_sc/eu_climate_forests_1 Germany will pledge $500 million to fight deforestation, blamed for releasing some of the carbon dioxide contributing to global warming, Norway''s prime minister said Wednesday on the eve of a conference in Oslo. Thu May 27 11:21:14 2010 EST http://uk.biz.yahoo.com/26052010/323/climate-envoy-urges-transparency-china-trip.html The US climate change envoy said Wednesday it was crucial that all countries accept outside reviews of their greenhouse gas emissions, speaking during a trip to China, which has rejected such calls. Thu May 27 11:21:14 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/may/26/austerity-consumption-ashley-cole-osborne In this climate of public parsimony, millionaires like George Osborne will fear being branded the Ashley Cole of the cabinet Thu May 27 11:21:14 2010 EST http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1281593/Droughts-like-summer-1976-common.html?ITO=1490 Extreme droughts like the one that gripped the UK in the summer of 1976 could become far more common, the Met Office warned today. Thu May 27 11:21:14 2010 EST http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LDE64K1LH.htm OSLO, May 27 (Reuters) - This year is on track to be the warmest worldwide since records began in the 19th century yet voters seem to be cooling to strong action to combat climate change. Their doubts may be quietly sapping the will of governments and companies to cut greenhouse gas emissions after the Copenhagen summit in December failed to agree a treaty meant to slow more droughts, floods and rising seas, analysts say. "There has been a resurgence of scepticism" that humans are to blame for global warming, said Max Boykoff, an assistant professor and expert in environmental policy at the University of Colorado- Boulder. Yet so far in 2010 there has been record warmth especially in many tropical regions, Australia and parts of the Arctic -- despite a chill start to the year in western Europe and some eastern parts of North America. "It''s more likely than not -- greater than a 50 percent chance -- that it will be the warmest year on record," said Vicky Pope, head of climate change advice at the British Met Office Hadley Centre, referring to global temperatures. That would eclipse 1998 and 2005 as the warmest years since records began and undermine an argument used by some sceptics that warming has peaked. The decade just finished was the warmest on record, ahead of the 1990s. Thu May 27 11:21:14 2010 EST http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23838366-britain-ready-to-lead-way-in-effort-to-cut-climate-change-emissions-by-30-percent.do Britain is ready to push for a ground- breaking new EU deal to tackle climate change. Thu May 27 11:21:14 2010 EST http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/266/f/3780/s/ac080d7/l/0L0Sindependent0O0Cenvironment0Cclimate0Echange0Cextreme0Edroughts0Eto0Ebe0Emore0Ecommon0E19839130Bhtml/story01.htm Britain is heading for water shortages and crop failures as extreme droughts like that of 1976 become more frequent, experts have warned. Thu May 27 11:21:14 2010 EST http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=51586 MANAUS, Brazil, May 26 (IPS) - The 74 pillars that will hold up the bridge over the Negro river to join this major city in Brazil''s Amazon jungle to nearby urban districts have mostly been laid, without environmental protests or major debates on the impact of a fast- growing metropolitan area in the heart of the Amazon rainforest. Thu May 27 11:21:14 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/science_and_environment/10158473.stm Rocky road ahead for makers of electric cars Thu May 27 11:21:14 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/bdHZgYHvuow/ What is a 100 year flood? A 100 year flood is an event that statistically has a 1% chance of occurring in any given year. A 500 year flood has a .2% chance of occurring and a 1000 year flood has a .1% chance of occurring. The map below relates [the] amount of rainfall that fell to the chances of that amount of rain actually occurring. Climate Progress has been documenting the woefully underreported Tennessee deluge of 2010 aka Nashville''s 'Katrina'. It was an off- the- charts extreme weather event that human- caused global warming set the table for and almost certainly made more intense, as a leading climate scientist explained to me (interview to be posted next week). Thu May 27 11:21:14 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/may/26/famine-result-of-failing-food-system The root cause of hunger and famine is rarely crop failure. It is about who controls and benefits from land and its resources. Growing population, dependence on monoculture, a food economy geared to exports and concentrated in the hands of a few players, neoliberal economics meeting climate shock ending in catastrophic failure of food supply " we could be talking about common concerns over food security in the coming decades. But now tweak the language: big families, single staple potato crop, land controlled by absentee landlords and their agents producing meat and butter not for the locals but to ship to England, laissez- faire economics, then blight, leading to mass starvation. Thu May 27 11:21:14 2010 EST http://feeds.grist.org/click.phdo?i=609bd4b81c4f3d8cba771910e03c5efe by Ashley Braun. Kids have a right to know the possible scopes of their own demise. You don' t have to put a monkey on trial to figure it out: It''s either gonna be biblical plagues or global climate change. Thank goodness both make a snazzy diorama! Christian Groups: Biblical Armageddon Must Be Taught Alongside Global Warming ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Like what you see? Thu May 27 11:21:14 2010 EST http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Relentless-heatwave-sweeps-across-hills-too/articleshow/5979025.cms NEW DELHI: The scotching heatwave sweeping across vast swathes of north and central India has taken into its grip the cooler areas of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, with weathermen ruling out any respite in the days ahead. Thu May 27 11:21:14 2010 EST http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/05/27/94892/obama-pledges-independence-from.html President Barack Obama reaffirmed Wednesday his commitment to containing and cleaning up the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and pledged to wean the country off its dependence on fossil fuels. Obama said that the spill in the gulf "underscored the necessity of seeking alternative fuel sources," and that the administration is "intensively engaged with scientists and engineers to explore all alternative options" as relief wells are completed. Thu May 27 11:21:14 2010 EST http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2010/05/on-attribution/ How do we know what caused climate to change " or even if anything did? This is a central question with respect to recent temperature trends, but of course it is much more general and applies to a whole range of climate changes over all time scales. Judging from comments we receive here and discussions elsewhere on the web, there is a fair amount of confusion about how this process works and what can (and cannot) be said with confidence. For instance, many people appear to (incorrectly) think that attribution is just based on a naive correlation of the global mean temperature, or that it is impossible to do unless a change is 'unprecedented' or that the answers are based on our lack of imagination about other causes. Thu May 27 11:21:14 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news194110237.html (Phys. Org. com) -- Fear- laden images of a planet in chaos are a real turn off when it comes to changing public perception about climate change, according to research by Newcastle University. Thu May 27 11:21:14 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news194102761.html Researchers at the University of Illinois have developed a new, more accurate method of calculating the change in greenhouse gas emissions that results from changes in land use. Thu May 27 11:21:14 2010 EST http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,5597668,00.html?maca=en-rss-en-all-1573-rdf Sunlight can be used not just to warm homes but also to cool them and keep food fresh. Advanced and sustainable technologies for solar cooling already exist. But theyre still too expensive to be used on a global scale. Thu May 27 11:21:14 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/YaleEnvironment360/~3/Majrvsno51k/digest.msp The decision by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) to certify an Antarctic krill fishery as environmentally sustainable has drawn a sharp protest from the Pew Environmental Group. The MSC, which has certified 67 fisheries worldwide as sustainable, decided this week to put its seal of approval on an Antarctic krill fishery run by Aker Bio. Marine, a Norwegian company that catches 40,000 to 50,000 tons of Antarctic krill annually and uses it to make a krill- oil dietary supplement, known as Superba. The Pew Environmental Group said that certifying an Antarctic krill fishery could set a dangerous precedent and possibly lead to the overfishing of the species, a shrimp- like creature that is the key link in the Antarctic food chain. Thu May 27 11:21:14 2010 EST http://www.countercurrents.org/heinberg260510.htm By Richard Heinberg This is what the end of the oil age looks like. The cheap, easy petroleum is gone; from now on, we will pay steadily more and more for what we put in our gas tanks- more not just in dollars, but in lives and health, in a failed foreign policy that spawns foreign wars and military occupations, and in the lost integrity of the biological systems that sustain life on this planet Thu May 27 11:21:14 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/shell/lloC/~3/GGrK6JaU_fE/ When driving in heavy traffic or sitting on the freeway with cars backed up for miles, the phrase 'sustainable mobility' might seem like an oxymoron, but the Challenge Bibendum event which takes place in Rio de Janeiro at the end of this week will seek to prove otherwise. Much of the industry will be there to show that not only are they alive and well after the severe economic downturn but that a new range of products and services is on its way to trigger what may be the biggest change in mobility since the Model- T. But change often brings challenge and always raises questions and draws comparisons with the status quo. Thu May 27 11:21:14 2010 EST http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/25/do-humans-need-a-golden-rule-2-0/ Weighing the climate challenge, a popular novelist proposes that humans need a new Golden Rule. Thu May 27 11:21:14 2010 EST http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/leading-articles/leading-article-kicking-carbon-1983717.html Footballers cannot win, can they? They get it in the neck from the neighbours when they build naff palaces with monogrammed gates and mock- Tudor facades. Yet they get the same opprobrium when they try to commission something stylish, modern and socially conscious. At least, that seems to be the depressing conclusion to be drawn from the public objections to Gary Neville''s proposals to build a futuristic eco- home in the Lancashire countryside. Thu May 27 11:21:14 2010 EST http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/australian-news/7305687/indonesia-to-suspend-deforestation-for-two-years/ Indonesia will place a two- year moratorium on new concessions to clear natural forests and peatlands under a deal signed with Norway aimed at reducing greenhouse gases. Thu May 27 11:21:14 2010 EST http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-05/fiot-dds052410.php ( Florida Institute of Technology ) Damselfish are killing head corals and adding stress to Caribbean coral reefs, which are already in desperately poor condition from global climate change, coral diseases, hurricanes, pollution and overfishing. Thu May 27 11:21:14 2010 EST http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10897/s/abf410c/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Carticle0Cmg20A6276240B30A0A0Ebiofuels0Elearn0Eto0Eeat0Eless0Bhtml0DDCMP0FOTC0Erss0Gnsref0Fonline0Enews/story01.htm Production of bioethanol has attracted global controversy because it uses important food crops. That could be about to change Thu May 27 11:21:14 2010 EST http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100526/sc_afp/euenvironmentclimate_20100526173238 The European Commission, under pressure from industry and member states, on Wednesday cooled its enthusiasm for the EU to unilaterally commit to cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent. Thu May 27 11:21:14 2010 EST http://www.usnews.com/articles/opinion/2010/05/26/americans-are-becoming-global-warming-skeptics.html Most Americans would rather remove the national security threat that foreign oil poses than impose expensive government mandates to fight global warming. Thu May 27 11:21:14 2010 EST http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/0e7a418e-68cc-11df-96f1-00144feab49a.html The private sector will have to pay more towards efforts to tackle climate change as the European sovereign debt crisis leaves governments facing pressure to cut spending, Norway has warned. 'We all see that many European states have to focus on debt reduction and that will of course reduce their ability to increase public funding for climate actions,' he told the Financial Times. His comments came as officials from more than 50 countries prepared to gather in Oslo on Thursday for one of the biggest meetings on global warming since the UN climate summit in Copenhagen in December. Norway, which has promised to use some of its oil wealth to fight climate change, burnished its commitment by announcing $1bn ( 817m, £694m) to help Indonesia tackle deforestation " the main focus of the Oslo event. Thu May 27 11:21:14 2010 EST http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20100526-709720.html?mod=WSJ_latestheadlines BRUSSELS (Dow Jones)--The economic downturn has reduced the cost of cutting greenhouse gas emissions in the European Union by about a third, the European Commission said Wednesday, spurring the debate on whether the EU should make a more ambitious 30% CO2 cut by 2020, up from its 20% goal now. Thu May 27 11:21:14 2010 EST http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/blogs/thereporters/richardblack/2010/05/playing_god_with_the_climate.html Synthetic bugs raise stakes for climate regulation Sun May 23 15:27:45 2010 EST 23rd May 2010 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/cneUJumuVEQ/ My colleague David Roberts at Grist has a provocative post, 'Leaning forward: Why the American Power Act is worth fighting for.' It is sort of the climate change equivalent of Lori Gottlieb's even more provocative best-seller, 'Marry Him: The Case for Settling for Mr. Good Enough.' The perfect climate bill that could get 60 votes in the Senate simply doesn't exist. I think Roberts' message is an important one for progressives to hear, so I am reprinting it in its entirety: The Kerry-Lieberman climate bill is out now, and with it comes a fateful decision for the political left in the U.S. Sun May 23 15:27:45 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/pneRKj4U8dg/ You had to wonder when it would happen. That moment when someone would take us from talk of how to prevent climate change to acknowledging that it was here already, here to stay, and that it had - and would continue - to irrevocably foreclose on many of the opportunities humanity has taken for granted for millennia. Figures it would be Bill Mc. Kibben. His first book, The End of Nature was one of the earliest to introduce global warming into popular culture. His latest book, Eaarth: Making a Life on a Hot New Planet, lays out our grim new reality relentlessly (excerpt here). Sun May 23 15:27:45 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/89vctNZoOoc/ While the anti-science crowd scours the globe desperately looking for any indication of their imaginary cooling, reality has intruded again. Because they and the media - and even some scientists who don't follow the subject closely - tend to take a two-dimensional view of the Arctic, they along with much of the public have been fooled into thinking the Arctic 'recovered' in the past two years because sea ice extent appeared to recover. Heck, some even claimed last month the Arctic ice was 'recovering' to the 1979-2000 average. Climate Progress readers have long understood that trends in multi-year ice - ice volume - are what matter most in terms of the long-term survivability of the Arctic ice in the summer (see New study supports finding that 'the amount of [multi-year] sea ice in the northern hemisphere was ... Sun May 23 15:27:45 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/IArXVJsWJgM/ Canada's large reserves of tar sands (or oil sands) are poised to become the number one source of U.S. crude oil imports in 2010, according to a new report from research firm IHS Cambridge Energy Research Associates. Oil sands imports could ultimately increase to account for 20 percent to 36 percent of U.S. oil and refined product imports by 2030 from the 2009 level of 8 percent, according to the report, 'The Role of Canadian Oil Sands in U.S. Oil Supply.' I'm so glad the Houston Chronicle still uses the term tar sands, unlike the semi-greenwashing term CERA is using (see Memo to all ... Sun May 23 15:27:45 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/xrXJsmAr4UA/ A strong, credible body of scientific evidence shows that climate change is occurring, is caused largely by human activities, and poses significant risks for a broad range of human and natural systems . Some scientific conclusions or theories have been so thoroughly examined and tested, and supported by so many independent observations and results, that their likelihood of subsequently being found to be wrong is vanishingly small. Such conclusions and theories are then regarded as settled facts. This is the case for the conclusions that the Earth system is warming and that much of this warming is very likely due to human activities. Sun May 23 15:27:45 2010 EST http://energybulletin.net/node/52889 -Dark Mountain: Issue 1-Natural Regression-'Historic' day as first non-Latin web addresses go live-The Coming Greenhouse World read more Sun May 23 15:27:45 2010 EST http://energybulletin.net/52884 Cities in Asia are hubs of production, innovation and wealth, funnelling into themselves immense resources, water, energy, food, drawing in from nearby districts and far-off provinces families and entire communities. read more Sun May 23 15:27:45 2010 EST http://energybulletin.net/node/52878 While lying awake late at night worrying about what kind of world my children will inherit, I find it helpful to come up with schemas for the most obvious and inevitable of the large societal problems. It makes them seem slightly more manageable to place them in order of importance, or time. Further, being clear on what are the biggest and most important problems is an essential prerequisite to thinking about solutions: these problems all interact, and solutions to the smaller of them may not be radical enough to address the larger of them. read more Sun May 23 15:27:45 2010 EST http://energybulletin.net/node/52875 Oil prices fell below $70/barrel this week before recovering slightly. The drop reflected market nervousness about the gravity of the Euro crisis and its potential impact on the global economy, coupled with continued high US crude oil stocks. In the meantime all eyes continue to be focused on the Gulf of Mexico where challenges to BP's estimate of the size of the oil spill is further damaging the credibility of the company... read more Sun May 23 15:27:45 2010 EST http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/13461369/1ex17o/alternet_environment~Carbon-Offsets-May-Ease-Our-Guilty-Consciences-But-Do-They-Really-Help-the-Environment The problem isn't just that the offset mechanism lacks transparency and consistency; it's also that addressing those issues can easily distract from more meaningful solutions. Sun May 23 15:27:45 2010 EST http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/13429022/1ex17o/alternet_environment~Coming-to-Terms-with-Climate-Change-and-the-Economy Where does the concept of "climate debt" fit into a New Economy framework? Sun May 23 15:27:45 2010 EST http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/13528857/1ex17o/alternet_environment~Could-the-Largest-Oil-Drilling-Catastrophe-Also-End-up-the-Largest-Natural-Gas-and-Climate-Disaster-in-Recent-History In its repair efforts BP has remained inattentive to deepwater drilling's natural nemesis -- methane hydrate. Sun May 23 15:27:45 2010 EST http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/13328753/1ex17o/alternet_environment~Rumble-in-the-Jungle-Activists-Vs-Palm-Oil Amid a flurry of accusations between industry and environmentalists, one fact about palm oil production is clear: It's not sustainable. Sun May 23 15:27:45 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/may/23/climate-change-interest-yougov-survey Only 62% of Britons interested in subject, down from 80% in 2006, according to You. Gov survey. Popular concern about climate change has declined significantly, following this year's harsh winter and rows over statistics on global warming, a survey has found.The numbers of those interested in where Britain's electricity comes from have also slipped back, according to a survey commissioned by the energy company EDF, demonstrating what appears to be growing consumer complacency in an era of electric-powered gadgetry.At the same time resistance to building new nuclear power stations appears to be slackening. The results of the You. Gov poll, based on a sample of 4,300 adults questioned during the week after the general election, show that interest in climate change fell from 80% of respondents in 2006, to 71% last year and now stands at only 62%. Sun May 23 15:27:45 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2010/may/22/green-entrepreneurs-business-is-blooming As consumer demand for eco-friendly gardening products grows, many green-fingered entrepreneurs are finding their inventions are starting to bear fruit. His friends have nicknamed him "the slug man", because he has become an expert in the habits of the slimy creatures. But teenager Callum Davis's quest to develop an eco-friendly way of fending off unwelcome slugs and snails also led to him deferring a university place in order to develop the product at the core of his fledgling " but already successful " business.Davis is still a month shy of his 20th birthday but his company, Eco. Charlie, employs five full-time staff and is set to turn over £150,000 this year in sales of a fast-expanding range of "natural" garden products, including a garden watering system " which can be used with most mineral water bottles " sold through Oxfam.The aim is simple, ... Sun May 23 15:27:45 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/may/21/price-tag-nature The UN project shows us how expensive biodiversity loss has become " but the danger is that it becomes something tradeable Economic report into biodiversity crisis reveals price of consuming the planet"You can't value nature per se, other than to say it's priceless, and you're part of nature and you would not exist were you not," declares the man in charge of the biggest attempt ever to measure nature's worth."But what you can do," he continues, "is measure the economic value of services that come to you from nature."The speaker is Pavan Sukhdev, study leader of the UN's three year project to measure The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB). Sun May 23 15:27:45 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/may/21/biodiversity-case-studies From forests in Japan to sea turtles in Tanzania to Scottish school dinners, the evidence of the global biodiversity crisis is evident The economic case for saving biodiversity. Forests, Japan. Concerned about widespread abandonment and degradation of forests in Japan, the national Science Council carried out a study of the benefits of taking action to save them. Their report put the total value of the ability to absorb carbon dioxide; use of wood instead of fossil fuels; reduction of erosion and flooding; regulation of and cleaner rivers, and health and recreation, at ¥70 trillion (£535bn) every year. This evidence was used in many prefectures to introduce a new annual tax of ¥500-1,000 a person and ¥10,000-80000 for businesses specifically to fund restoration and enhancement.Mineral waters, France. So contaminated was the land around Vittel's natural mineral water source in the Vosges mountains of eastern ... Sun May 23 15:27:45 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/may/21/zac-goldsmith-organic-produce Conservative MP for Richmond Park and green campaigner wants annual budget for schools, hospitals and care homes to be spent on local, organic and sustainable food. Zac Goldsmith is urging ministers to kickstart a revolution in eating habits by ensuring that all schools, hospitals and care homes start using healthy, environmentally friendly, sustainable food.A Conservative party taskforce led by the new MP for Richmond Park and prominent green campaigner wants the government and public sector's £2bn annual food budget to be spent on produce that is organic, has been produced nearby and meets animal welfare standards.The taskforce's unpublished final report calls on the government to overhaul public sector food procurement to boost British agriculture, help the planet by reducing "food miles", reduce dependence on an increasingly precarious international food supply chain and improve the quality of food that millions of people eat every day. Sun May 23 15:27:45 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/may/21/biodiversity-un-report Species losses around the world could really cost us the Earth with food shortages, floods and expensive clean up costs UN biodiversity report calls for global action to prevent destruction of nature. In every corner of the globe the evidence of the global biodiversity crisis is now impossible to ignore.In the UK, a third of high priority species and two thirds of habitats are declining, according to government figures that emerged today on the UK's Biodiversity Action Plan. Since 1994 despite the extra attention provided by the plan, 5% of the species it covered are thought to have gone extinct.Around the world the picture is as bad or worse ... Sun May 23 15:27:45 2010 EST http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=51541 NAIROBI, May 22 (IPS) - Countries have paid too little attention to the importance of biodiversity, and as result, species and ecosystems are in sharp decline and the public does not understand the concept. Sun May 23 15:27:45 2010 EST http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2010/05/ocean-heat-content-increases-update/ There is a new paper in Nature this week on recent trends in ocean heat content from a large group of oceanographers led by John Lyman at PMEL. Their target is the uncertainty surrounding the various efforts to create a homogenised ocean heat content data set that deals appropriately with the various instrument changes and coverage biases that have plagued previous attempts. We have discussed this issue a number of times because of its importance in diagnosing the long term radiative imbalance of the atmosphere. Basically, if there has been more energy coming in at the top than is leaving, then it has to have been going somewhere " and that somewhere is mainly the ocean. Sun May 23 15:27:45 2010 EST http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/05/19/94469/academy-of-sciences-defends-climate.html The National Academy of Sciences, the nation's most prestigious scientific body, issued a strong defense of the science of climate change Wednesday and called for a long-lasting national policy to limit its effects. Sun May 23 15:27:45 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news193800838.html A key UN report on biodiversity will recommend massive economic changes like company fines to help save species and protect the natural world, The Guardian reported here on Saturday. Sun May 23 15:27:45 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news193597107.html Two new studies out this week give the best scientific estimates of the average depth of the world's oceans, the total amount of water they contain, and the extent to which this water warmed over the last two decades - the latter being an important measure of climate change. Sun May 23 15:27:45 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/blFbKSqNa7I/idUSTRE64M1PA20100523 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - To figure out how much oil has spilled into the Gulf of Mexico, experts should measure the plumes of dissolved methane coming from the wrecked BP offshore rig, a marine scientist said on Sunday. Sun May 23 15:27:45 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/b4ZARqpOTSo/idUSTRE64M12Q20100523 TEHRAN (Reuters) - Plugging the oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico is no great challenge compared to what Iran has dealt with in the past, an official at Iran's drilling company said Sunday. Sun May 23 15:27:45 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/aaBzaOdQptM/idUSTRE64K4ZA20100521 OSLO (Reuters) - Scientists are reviving long-ignored African rice to cut dependence on Asian varieties that may be less able to withstand the impact of climate change on the poorest continent, a report said on Friday. Sun May 23 15:27:45 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/S4bCcOedNvI/idUSTRE64K1M620100521 OSLO (Reuters) - Norwegian oil and gas producer Statoil said on Friday it had evacuated the Gullfaks C platform in the North Sea after changes in well pressure led to a fault on one of two valves designed to prevent a blowout. Sun May 23 15:27:45 2010 EST http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/266/f/3780/s/aa455c6/l/0L0Sindependent0O0Copinion0Ccommentators0Cjohann0Ehari0Cpolluted0Eby0Eprofit0Ejohann0Ehari0Eon0Ethe0Ereal0Eclimategate0E1978770A0Bhtml/story01.htm Why did America's leading environmental groups jet to Copenhagen to lobby for policies that will lead to the faster death of the rainforests " and runaway global warming? Why are their staff dismissing the only real solutions to climate change as "unworkable" and "unrealistic"? Why are they clambering into corporate "partnerships" with BP, which is responsible for the worst oil spill in living memory? Sun May 23 15:27:45 2010 EST http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/23/visualizing-earths-shared-assets/ On the value of imagery in conveying the finite nature of Earth's assets. Sun May 23 15:27:45 2010 EST http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/20/synthetic-cells-and-the-energy-quest/ A step forward on the genetic path to an energy revolution. Sun May 23 15:27:45 2010 EST http://www.nature.com/news/2010/100523/full/news.2010.258.html Nature.com. Fast-breeding mice dominate a warming world. Nature.com. Blois's study is regional and looks at changes in surviving species, but Nogués-Bravo says that both papers point to climate change during the late ...Small mammals -- and rest of food chain -- at greater risk from global warming ...Eurek. Alert (press release)all 3 Sun May 23 15:27:45 2010 EST http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=363158&version=1&template_id=48&parent_id=28 Doha Bank Group CEO Seetharaman has observed that global oil demand is expected to return to growth this year after two years of sharp declines. He was participating in the Euro- Arab Dialogue on Private Sector Participation in Infrastructure, in Frankfurt at the weekend. Sun May 23 15:27:45 2010 EST http://www.sacurrent.com/news/story.asp?id=69976 Ha! Ha! Dance the Hambopolska! 1896 Svante Arrhenius suggests burning coal could raise the planets temperature. How bout that Lindbergh! Lindy Hop! 1930s Amateur scientist suggests warming in North America due to Arrheniuss proposed greenhouse effect. Sun May 23 15:27:45 2010 EST http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/leading-articles/leading-article-an-inconveniently-persistent-truth-1977426.html It has been hard work in recent times to get the world to take seriously the dangers posed by global warming. Those who have been persuaded, through misguided short-term self-interest, to deny the reality of climate change, have had succour from a number of sources. Sun May 23 15:27:45 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/blogs/environment/~3/SC1wmmvZmhM/ "Jean-Michel Cousteau is an environmentalist, documentary producer, president of Ocean Futures Society and the son of ocean explorer Jacques-Yves Cousteau. He has produced over 70 films, including the documentary series Ocean Adventures in 2006. Any views expressed here are his own. " In the midst of desperate attempts to stem the flow of oil and the agony of waiting to understand its effects, we are left with simple questions like what exactly is happening to the waters of the Gulf of Mexico? And how quickly can we move from dependence on oil to a sustainable, renewable energy policy? Sun May 23 15:27:45 2010 EST http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100523/sc_afp/climatewarmingbiodiversitymammothpaleontology_20100523163648 The rapid decline of mammoths and other megafauna after humans spread across the New World may explain a bone-chilling plunge in global temperatures some 12,800 years ago, researchers reported Sunday. Sun May 23 15:27:45 2010 EST http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100521/wl_canada_nm/canada_us_trucks_2 Canada on Friday will announce curbs on greenhouse gas emissions for heavy-duty vehicles like tractor trailers, the Environment Ministry said on Thursday night. Sun May 23 15:27:45 2010 EST http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100519/ap_on_sc/us_sci_climate_reports_4 Ditching its past cautious tone, the nation's top scientists urged the government Wednesday to take drastic action to raise the cost of using coal and oil to slow global warming. Sun May 23 15:27:45 2010 EST http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2010/may/22/climate-computer-coming/?partner=yahoo_feeds OAK RIDGE - Oak Ridge National Laboratory already hosts the world's fastest computer (Jaguar), as well as the world's fastest computer for academic uses (Kraken). Soon, the laboratory also will house the world's most powerful machine devoted exclusively to climate research. Sun May 23 15:27:45 2010 EST http://www.dispatch.com/science/stories/2010/05/09/threatened-monarchy.html?sid=101 Experts warn that farm herbicides used in the United States, illegal logging in Mexico and global climate change appear to have combined this past year to reduce the eastern U.S. monarch population to its lowest level in 15 years. Sun May 23 15:27:45 2010 EST http://uk.news.yahoo.com/22/20100521/tpl-environment-us-eu-environment-whalin-43a8d4f.html The European Union is bogged down in a power struggle over who speaks for the bloc at international meetings, threatening action on environmental issues from mercury pollution to whaling, EU officials say. Sun May 23 15:27:45 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/may/23/turned-out-nice-kohn-review The Guardian. Turned Out Nice: How the British Isles Will Change as the World Heats Up by ...The Guardian. The most recent figure to reheat the frog has been Al Gore, warning us about global warming. The inconvenient truth, however, is that the story doesn't hold ... Sun May 23 15:27:45 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/science_and_environment/10122639.stm The Costa Rican diplomat just selected as top UN climate official asks countries to ramp up efforts to curb climate change. Thu May 20 12:03:34 2010 EST 20th May 2010 http://www.mizzima.com/news/inside-burma/3952-death-rates-soar-amid-heatwave.html Death rates soar amid heatwaveMizzima NewsChiang Mai (Mizzima) - Daily death rates in Rangoon, Mandalay, and Magway Divisions towns have more than doubled this month amid a record-breaking heatwave, ... Thu May 20 12:03:34 2010 EST http://voices.washingtonpost.com/capitalweathergang/2010/05/climate_outlook_raises_concern.html 2010 on track for warmest year on recordWashington Post (blog)It's just hard to stop the march of manmade global warming, well, other than by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, that is. NASA scientists have argued that ...and more Thu May 20 12:03:34 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/_aOjRMiXFiM/ UPDATE: CNN reports that NOAA 'has shut down fishing in 19 percent of the Gulf over which the federal government has jurisdiction,' 45,728 square miles. On May 6 I wrote, 'the dispersant-laced oil spill may soon be entrained in the Loop Current, which is part of the Gulf Stream, sweeping it toward the Florida Keys, home to America's biggest coral reef' (see 'Out of Sight: BP's dispersants are toxic - but not as toxic as dispersed oil'). Now that worst-case scenario has played out. And as meteorologist Jeff Masters explains ... Thu May 20 12:03:34 2010 EST http://www.desmogblog.com/new-scientists-“living-denial”-special-issue-discusses-climate-deniers head_in_sand.jpg The magazine New Scientist has devoted a special issue to the 'Age of Denial,' including a lot of examples of climate deniers' efforts to distort and attack climate science.DeSmogBlog's own Richard Littlemore has an essay in the issue entitled 'Living in denial: How corporations manufacture doubt,' which discusses how polluting industries have followed the tobacco playbook in order to confuse the public about climate change.Littlemore writes:'The doubt industry has ballooned in the past two decades. There are now scores of think tanks pushing dubious and confusing policy positions, and dozens of phoney grass-roots organisations created to make those positions appear to have legitimate following.'<!--break-->Michael Shermer, publisher of Skeptic magazine and columnist for Scientific American, explains the difference between a skeptic and a denier in his piece ... Thu May 20 12:03:34 2010 EST http://feeds.grist.org/click.phdo?i=8f0813de7f91670a5438e7f33f3813ca by Jonathan Hiskes When Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) unveiled their long-awaited American Power Act last week, it drew two sharply different responses from two collections of activist groups. Two hundred groups that might be called 'little green' immediately condemned the climate and energy bill in a joint letter, calling it 'greenwashing in the extreme.' The coalition consists of regional environmental, peace, and religious groups-such as Don't Waste Arizona, the Snake River Alliance, and the Turtle Island Restoration Network. 'This bill is just business-as-usual ... Thu May 20 12:03:34 2010 EST http://feeds.grist.org/click.phdo?i=436bbb86dca5b2629fcfe049c7bfcb7d by Seth Shulman .series-head{background:url([link]i/assets/ucs/header.gif) no-repeat; height:68px; text-indent:-9999px;} h3.subscribe-head{padding-left:5px;background-color:black;color:#ff8400;} dl.series-nav{margin-top:-15px;} Scott Luthcke weighs Greenland-every 10 days. And the island has been losing weight, an average of 183 gigatons (or 200 cubic kilometers)-in ice-annually during the past six years. That's one third the volume of water in Lake Erie every year. Greenland's shrinking ice sheet offers some of the most powerful evidence of global warming. Thu May 20 12:03:34 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news193409797.html An international team of scientists have discovered that climate change played a major role in causing mass extinction of mammals in the late quaternary era, 50,000 years ago. Their study, published in Evolution, takes a new approach to this hotly debated topic by using global data modelling to build continental 'climate footprints.' Thu May 20 12:03:34 2010 EST http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1279270/Get-ready-long-barbecue-summer-temperatures-forecast-hit-39C.html?ITO=1490 By Friday parts of central and southern England will be enjoying the highest temperatures since September last year. Thu May 20 12:03:34 2010 EST http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/18/u-s-still-seeks-binding-china-steps-on-co2/ The Obama administration says China must accept binding legal commitments for a climate treaty to be sealed. Thu May 20 12:03:34 2010 EST http://io9.com/5541994/arctic-statue-designed-to-highlight-global-warming-does-its-job Arctic Statue Designed to Highlight Global Warming Does Its Jobio9A group of Dutch artists-activists built a statue on a glacier, knowing full well that the effects of climate change would detach the sculpture and send it ...and more Thu May 20 12:03:34 2010 EST http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/5/19/worldupdates/2010-05-18T205926Z_01_NOOTR_RTRMDNC_0_-485916-1&sec=Worldupdates OSLO/LONDON (Reuters) - Incoming U.N. climate chief Christiana Figueres of Costa Rica inherits a widening split between rich and poor nations over how to slow climate change, with almost no chance of a treaty in 2010, analysts say. Thu May 20 12:03:34 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/sci/tech/8694327.stm The UK government will push the EU to move to a higher target for cutting greenhouse gas emissions. Thu May 20 12:03:34 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/science_and_environment/10127989.stm Climate change is likely to have a minimal impact on malaria spread compared with society's capacity for controlling it, a study finds. Thu May 20 12:03:34 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/sci/tech/8689547.stm Dwindling metal supply threatens drive to go green Thu May 20 12:03:34 2010 EST http://energybulletin.net/node/52856 -Transit as a Development Tool, but in Whose Interest? -Better Bikeways: Guerrilla Improvements and DIY Signage -What's not to like about high-speed rail? The case simply hasn't been made read more Thu May 20 12:03:34 2010 EST http://energybulletin.net/node/52851 The subject under discussion is EDAPs (or Community Resilience Plans or whatever you want to call them), and how one does them for cities, or even if one does them for cities... read more Thu May 20 12:03:34 2010 EST http://energybulletin.net/node/52850 -China, not U.S., will be tar sands' market -Tar Sands in Your Tank - report by Greenpeace UK -Financial Hazards Seen in Oil Sands -Investors reject Royal Dutch Shell oil sands review read more Thu May 20 12:03:34 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/gallery/2010/may/19/deepwater-horizon-oil-spill-oil Scenes from efforts to contain the oil, as the spill reaches land Thu May 20 12:03:34 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/cif-green/2010/may/20/zero-carbon-buildings-coalition-agreeement The construction industry has made huge progress on green buildings, but a wave of uncertainty is sweeping through the sectorDavid Cameron said last week that this was going to be "the greenest government ever", so why am I feeling underwhelmed by today's coalition agreement?The energy used in our homes and buildings accounts for 43% of the UK's carbon emissions. People are often surprised that figure is so high and that's because a lot of focus is given to how energy is generated, rather than how it is used. So as the UK Green Building Council, we were particularly interested to see how the Conservatives and Lib Dems are proposing to tackle our carbon-hungry built environment.Unfortunately, the statement is a bit short of ambition and is worrying in part. Thu May 20 12:03:34 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/may/20/deepwater-methane-hydrates-bp-gulf Strange and dangerous hydrocarbon offers no room for human error In pictures: oil reaches the coastThe vast deepwater methane hydrate deposits of the Gulf of Mexico are an open secret in big energy circles. They represent the most tantalizing new frontier of unconventional energy - a potential source of hydrocarbon fuel thought to be twice as large as all the petroleum deposits ever known.For the oil and gas industry, the substances are also known to be the primary hazard when drilling for deepwater oil.Methane hydrates are volatile compounds - natural gas compressed into molecular cages of ice. They are stable in the extreme cold and crushing weight of deepwater, but are extremely dangerous when they build up inside the drill column of a well. Thu May 20 12:03:34 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/may/20/greenpeace-activists-scale-bp-building-roof Campaigners unfurl flag calling company British Polluters in protest over Gulf of Mexico disasterTwo activists scaled the BP building in London today in protest at the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.The Greenpeace campaigners hoisted a flag depicting the multinational's logo smothered in oil and emblazoned with the words "British Polluters" from a balcony above the entrance of the company's UK headquarters in St James's Square, near Pall Mall.BP chief executive Tony Hayward reportedly returned to the UK last night for the first time since the BP-operated Deepwater Horizon rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico and sank on 20 April, killing 11 workers.He is expected to chair a board meeting this morning to discuss the long-term impact of the disaster.Greenpeace said banner-waving protesters planned to greet executives at a side entrance.One of the climbers, Ben Stewart, 36, from north London, said ... Thu May 20 12:03:34 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/may/19/wind-wave-power-north-sea Independent study says North Sea wind and wave power could make Britain the 'Saudi Arabia of renewable energy'Britain could become the "Saudi Arabia of the renewables world" on the back of North Sea wind and wave resources, according to a study carried out by government and industry.The review by independent consultants for the Offshore Valuation Group estimates that by 2050 the UK could generate the equivalent in electricity to the 1bn barrels of oil and gas being produced annually offshore.Green energy experts in the City are sceptical claiming it would require herculean efforts to put the infrastructure in place to hit even the most modest targets.The study, undertaken by the Boston Consulting Group, suggests that Britain could not only keep the lights on but would produce a surplus, suggesting the need for connections to a "super grid" to enable electricity to be exported via subsea cables. Thu May 20 12:03:34 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/may/19/offshore-green-energy-uk Study claims UK offshore wind, wave and tidal energy could turn the country into a net exporter of energy once moreThe first study to put a financial value on the UK's offshore renewable energy resource has concluded that the nascent sector could transform the country from a net energy importer to a net energy exporter by 2050.The report, which was commissioned by a coalition of government and industry organisations known as the Offshore Valuation Group, argues that the creation of a North Sea supergrid would allow the UK to export energy generated by offshore wind farms and marine energy systems to the rest of Northern Europe.The study sets out three scenarios for the next 40 years, with the most ambitious course of action resulting in an average of 13.1GW of wind, wave or tidal energy being installed each year up to 2050.It argues that such a ... Thu May 20 12:03:34 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2010/may/19/richard-lindzen-climate-sceptics MIT professor says climate sceptics should stop accepting the term 'sceptic' because global warming theory is not 'a plausible proposition'And so the Heartland Institute's International Conference on Climate Change is over for another year. While we lament this loss, let us pause for a short moment on a concluding statement by one of its star speakers. Richard Lindzen, the Alfred P. Sloan professor of meteorology at MIT's department of earth, atmospheric and planetary sciences, told his attendant fans (watch the video above) that he believes climate sceptics, such as himself, should "stop accepting the term 'sceptic'". His reasoning? Because it affords too much legitimacy to the implausible theory of global warming:One suggestion I'd make is that we stop accepting the term 'sceptic'. Thu May 20 12:03:34 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/may/19/google-drill-geothermal Enhanced geothermal systems 'could be the killer app of energy world' says Dan Reicher, Google's climate and energy chiefA novel drill that is inspired by a jet engine and uses super-heated water to carve through rock could help make clean energy from underground rocks more economically viable, according to its backers at Google.Potter Drilling is part-funded by Google.org - the internet search giant's philanthropic arm - and wants to use its technology to develop geothermal energy, which involves tapping the energy from hot rocks deep in the Earth.Geothermal energy is seen by environmentalists as a vast potential source of clean, carbon-free energy if it can be tapped efficiently. Thu May 20 12:03:34 2010 EST http://feeds.grist.org/click.phdo?i=5ca8a798030ee2080f870e56f884db9e by Jonathan Hiskes Texas oil companies are funding an attack on Gov. Schwarzenegger's signature environmental accomplishment, the 2006 Global Warming Solutions Act.Gov. Schwarzenegger's OfficeBig Oil is nothing if not brazen, so while BP works to protect its tattered reputation in the Gulf, two Texas oil companies are on the attack in California. Their target is Assembly Bill 32, the most ambitious cap-and-trade climate plan in the nation, which was signed into law by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) in 2006 and is set to really kick into gear next year. Their weapon is a ballot initiative that would mothball the plan until state unemployment drops to below 5.5 percent for four consecutive quarters (from a current 12.6 percent), which would effectively kill the plan for the time being. Thu May 20 12:03:34 2010 EST http://feeds.grist.org/click.phdo?i=20e3e694a740d9e9f88efc60bf1f0695 by Randy Rieland These are tough times for buddies of Big Oil on Capitol Hill. How do you stand by your men amid photos of thick pools of oil lapping into the marshes of southern Louisiana and more video of BP pipes gushing oil? But love, as always, finds a way. In the Senate, fossil-fuel fans James Inhofe (R-Okla.) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) have managed to grab hold of an issue that shows oil execs that they've still got their backs: liability. Senate Democrats Robert Menendez and Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey and Bill Nelson of Florida are pushing a proposal to raise the liability cap on oil spills from its current paltry level of $75 million to a more realistic $10 billion. Thu May 20 12:03:34 2010 EST http://www.eadt.co.uk/news/mini_heatwave_gives_glimpse_of_hope_for_barbecue_summer_1_303717 East Anglian Daily TimesMini heatwave gives glimpse of hope for barbecue summerEast Anglian Daily TimesAnd in their place, weather forecasters are predicting a mini-heatwave will bathe East Anglia in sunshine this weekend. The mercury is set to rise to about ... Thu May 20 12:03:34 2010 EST http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=51486 UXBRIDGE, Canada, May 18 (IPS) - The decades-long war in Canada's northwoods appears to be over. Environmental groups and Canadian logging companies linked arms Tuesday morning and agreed to work together to sustainably manage and protect 720,000 square kilometres of Canada's boreal forest - an area twice the size of Germany. Thu May 20 12:03:34 2010 EST http://www.joabbess.com/2010/05/19/new-melodies/ A few new melodies Global Campaign for Climate Action :- [link] 10:10 :- [link]uk James Hansen :- [link]~jeh1/ Costa Rica ! :- [link]hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jqJmnNVzfiUOeSlVG4f8nQMbwQYQD9FOOERO0 Pacha Mama, Cochabamba :- [link]next-episode/ Thu May 20 12:03:34 2010 EST http://www.monbiot.com/archives/2010/05/20/out-of-sight-out-of-trouble/ A new report shows how the UK could tap into vast renewable resources, without any of the aggro caused by existing wind farms. Thu May 20 12:03:34 2010 EST http://www.monbiot.com/archives/2010/05/05/carbon-graveyard/ Almost half the UK's greenhouse gas emissions have gone missing. Here they are, and here are the amazing implications. Thu May 20 12:03:34 2010 EST http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/shortsharpscience/2010/05/tomorrows-mines-may-not-be-und.html Debora MacKenzie, consultant We all know there's gold in them thar hills - but what about the ruthenium in them thar garbage dumps? As we have reported (here and here), the world is facing looming shortages of ruthenium, and other metals few people have ever heard of - indium, tellurium, selenium, gallium, neodymium and more. These metals are essential for the technologies that run the modern world - there are some in your cellphone - and they are crucial for many of the high-tech gadgets being touted to save us from our own polluting excesses, including semiconductors, solar cells, efficient lighting, wind turbine magnets, hybrid vehicle batteries, LEDs, fuel cells and catalysts. Thu May 20 12:03:34 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news193567198.html Poverty and climate change are threatening one of East Africa's most valuable forestry areas. Researchers from the University of Copenhagen, including researchers from the Faculty of Life Sciences and the Faculty of Law, have therefore just started a promising partnership with the Wangari Maathai Institute of Peace and Environmental Studies at the University of Nairobi as well as the grassroots Green Belt Movement, which has planted more than 40 million trees in Kenya. Thu May 20 12:03:34 2010 EST http://resourceinsights.blogspot.com/2010/05/wages-of-complexity.html My latest column on Scitizen entitled "The Wages of Complexity" has now been posted. Here is the teaser:While accusations continue to fly back and forth about who is to blame for the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and investigations commence into the recent wild one-day gyration in the American stock markets, the real culprit stands quietly and in plain sight in the corner: Complexity....Read more Thu May 20 12:03:34 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/r-qbBjgL1es/idUSTRE6430AR20100520 VENICE, Louisiana (Reuters) - The U.S. government will independently verify how much oil has leaked into the Gulf of Mexico from a ruptured undersea well owned by BP, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said on Thursday. Thu May 20 12:03:34 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/4GW60iTx4gU/idUSTRE64J1QR20100520 LONDON (Reuters) - The top layer of the world's ocean has warmed steadily since 1993, a strong sign of global warming and a key driver of sea level rise, according to a study by an international team of scientists. Thu May 20 12:03:34 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/b_KPS_ciMKE/idUSTRE64I2YF20100519 LONDON (Reuters) - This year is on track to be the hottest ever after data published by America's climate agency this week showed record global temperatures in April and the first four months of 2010. Thu May 20 12:03:34 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/m7y-xyPIB1k/idUSTRE64I6I820100519 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The best way to curb global warming is to put a price on climate-warming carbon dioxide emissions, according to a trio of reports from the U.S. National Academy of Sciences released on Wednesday. Thu May 20 12:03:34 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/83Cseh63yt0/idUSTRE64I6LO20100519 BRUSSELS (Reuters) - All new buildings constructed in Europe after 2020 will have to be virtually carbon-neutral after the European Parliament gave new energy standards the last approval they needed Tuesday. Thu May 20 12:03:34 2010 EST http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/266/f/3780/s/a9d8bfe/l/0L0Sindependent0O0Cenvironment0Cclimate0Echange0Cmanmade0Eclimate0Echange0Eblamed0Efor0Esignificant0Erise0Ein0Eocean0Etemperature0E19776690Bhtml/story01.htm The world's oceans are warming up and the rise is both significant and real, according to one of the most comprehensive studies into marine temperature data gathered over the past two decades. Thu May 20 12:03:34 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/YaleEnvironment360/~3/sllpPy8D2dU/digest.msp Increased levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere could reduce the protein content of crop plants by as much as 20 percent, according to a new study. Researchers at the University of California, Davis say high CO2 levels interfere with the ability of plants to convert nitrate into proteins, and thus reduce their quality as food. The findings, the researchers say, suggest new fertilizers may be needed to counteract rising levels of atmospheric CO2 in the coming decades. The scientists tested how two major forms of soil nitrogen - nitrate and ammonium - affected wheat and the mustard plant, Arabidopsis, that were exposed to elevated CO2 levels. Thu May 20 12:03:34 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/YaleEnvironment360/~3/rIhWU0JH748/digest.msp A NASA-sponsored competition to design futuristic, fuel-efficient airplanes has led to a jet prototype that would burn roughly 70 percent less fuel than current aircraft. Engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology designed what they called a D-series 'double bubble' jet, which features a wide fuselage composed of two partial cylinders fused together in an aerodynamic shape. The prototype also has a smaller tail, skinnier wings, and engines mounted on the rear of the fuselage instead of the wings, which allows the engines to suck in slower-moving air and increase efficiency. These changes and use of lighter materials help the plane burn MIT/Aurora Flight SciencesMIT's D-series 'double bubble' jet 70 percent less fuel, the MIT team said. Thu May 20 12:03:34 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/YaleEnvironment360/~3/fx_cQ-RQSjM/feature.msp The practice of 'commissioning,' in which an engineer monitors the efficiency of a building from its design through its initial operation, just may be the most effective strategy for reducing long-term energy usage, costs, and greenhouse gas emissions from buildings. So why is it so seldom used? BY RICHARD CONNIFF Thu May 20 12:03:34 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/may/19/mit-fuel-double-bubble-aircraft Researchers claim space-age design could cut aviation industry fuel use by up to 70 per cent Thu May 20 12:03:34 2010 EST http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2010/nplus3-0517.html MIT-led team designs airplanes that would use 70 percent less fuel than current models. Thu May 20 12:03:34 2010 EST http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/19/a-fresh-menu-of-climate-and-energy-priorities/ A specialist in climate science and risk offers a fresh menu of actions for America. Thu May 20 12:03:34 2010 EST http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/19/academies-again-seek-climate-action/ The nation's top scientific advisers affirm risks from warming and propose ways to limit the downside. Thu May 20 12:03:34 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/blogs/environment/~3/raedYj40Ij8/ The ongoing struggle in the Gulf of Mexico to contain and remove oil spilling from a ruptured deepwater well is damaging more than the environment, a bi-weekly analysis of companies in the news by ASSET4 data providers shows. Here is a breakdown of the companies that made headlines Apr. 23 to May 7 for making or losing credibility based on environment-related activity. Company selections were made by Christopher Greenwald, director of data content at ASSET4, a Thomson Reuters business that provides investment research on the environmental, social and governance performance of major global corporations. These ratings are not recommendations to buy or sell. Thu May 20 12:03:34 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/blogs/environment/~3/mfaa-Rzz5HA/ Nearly six years ago, Senator John Kerry and Texas oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens were mortal political enemies. As a major backer of President George W. Bush's re-election effort in 2004, Pickens contributed millions to a right-wing ad campaign questioning Kerry's record as a Vietnam war hero. The ads, which Kerry disputed, put him on the defensive and may have contributed to the Democrat's failure to win the White House. On Wednesday, the billionaire and the Massachusetts senator sat side-by-side in the Capitol's ornate Senate Foreign Relations Committee room, where Kerry presides as its chairman. Their mission ... Thu May 20 12:03:34 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/blogs/environment/~3/lZzXJG0pmzs/ East Africa's Lake Tanganyika might be getting too hot for sardines. The little fish have been an economic and nutritional mainstay for some 10 million people in neighboring Burundi, Tanzania, Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo - four of the poorest countries on Earth. They also depend on Lake Tanganyika for drinking water. But that could change, according to research published in the online version of the journal Nature Geoscience. Using samples of the lakebed that chart a 1,500-year history of the lake's surface water temperature, the scientists found the current temperature - 78.8 degrees F (26 degrees C) - is the warmest it's been in a millennium and a half. Thu May 20 12:03:34 2010 EST http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/677-e2-wire/98885-pelosi-climate-change-measures-must-be-done-by-congress Pelosi: Climate change measures must be done by CongressThe Hill (blog)said Wednesday that Congress, not the Obama administration, needs to address global warming. Asked if she wants the Obama administration to address climate ...Murkowski Move Would Block New Energy and Environmental PoliciesCommon Dreams (press release)More Scientists Urge Congress to Reject Sen. Murkowski's Attack on the EPAUnion of Concerned Scientistsall 29 Thu May 20 12:03:34 2010 EST http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1990544,00.html Ars TechnicaClimate Change Hits the OceansTIME"But the signal of global warming is abut six times larger than any uncertainties." In particular, the so-called "global cooling" climate skeptics claim has ...Climate Change Denial and the Climate of FearGreen Prophet (blog)Strong Climate Change Detected in the OceansSoftpediaall 9 Thu May 20 12:03:34 2010 EST http://news.scotsman.com/scotland/Little-carbon-footprints-just-got.6306704.jp EFFORTS to encourage children to walk or cycle to school are failing, according to a new report which found that more youngsters than ever before are being driven to classes. Thu May 20 12:03:34 2010 EST http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LDE64J1KL.htm Source: Reuters * Next U.N. climate change assessment due in 2014 * Panel examining science after errors in 2007 report GENEVA, May 20 (Reuters) - The United Nations panel of climate scientists plans to tackle ... Thu May 20 12:03:34 2010 EST http://www.sussexexpress.co.uk/mid-sussex-news/VIDEO--Native-bluebells-under.6292877.jp RARE in most of Europe and absent from the rest of the world, bluebells flourish in Butchers Wood at Hassocks and other Sussex woodlands. Thu May 20 12:03:34 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/glCpFdDs6qc/ NOAA's National Climatic Data Center has published its monthly 'State of the Climate Report.' It pretty much matches the NASA data. An emeritus physics professor writes me cautioning against the use of the word 'anomaly' since, 'In many people's mind, the word 'anomaly' means something unusual that is a temporary phenomenon.' He suggests 'change,' which is probably better. Certainly for those who are communicating to the general public, like NOAA and NASA, 'anomaly' is a confusing word as used in these charts. And that is especially true because the recent temperature trend is anything but an anomaly - it is in fact a prediction of basic climate science. Tue May 18 09:42:10 2010 EST 18th May 2010 http://www.desmogblog.com/65-page-strategy-sell-carbon-and-capture-technology A report shows how the coal, oil and tar sands industry, along with government plans to sell carbon and capture and storage technology to a skeptical public. The 65-page report titled, Communication of carbon capture and storage: outcomes from an international workshop to summarize the current global position [pdf], was produced by the Global Carbon Capture and Storage (GCCS) Institute, an organization formally launched by US president Barack Obama and Australian president Kevin Rudd at the 2009 G8 summit. Communications recommendations for selling carbon capture and storage in the report include: "...when multiple stakeholders join forces to communicate a message the message is more likely to be well received and trusted, particularly if those communicating the messages are generally known to have opposing views. Tue May 18 09:42:10 2010 EST http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/13232648/1e921y/alternet_environment~Brace-Yourself-This-Is-the-Tip-of-the-Iceberg-for-OilInduced-Enviro-Catastrophes The blame-game theory is still a red herring distracting us from the environmental disaster's prime suspect: All of us. Tue May 18 09:42:10 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/may/18/bonuses-carbon-emissions Growing numbers of firms are linking executive remuneration to environmental performance " Andrew Williams investigates those companies pioneering the concept of carbon bonusesWhen it's time for salary reviews at Minnesota-based utility Xcel Energy, earnings per share are not the only metric that matters.In its 2009 corporate proxy statement, Xcel explains how a range of sustainability indicators fit into annual incentive objectives for all executives so that it can weigh greenhouse gas reductions and safety performance alongside earnings per share when deciding how to divide up bonuses.Company spokeswoman Patti Nystuen recently told sustainable investment lobby group Ceres that the bonus policy underlined the company's commitment to environmental issues. Tue May 18 09:42:10 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/may/18/lloyds-insurance-disasters-profit-warning Gulf oil spill has made it a tough year for the insurance market, which is only one major disaster away from slipping into the red, head of Lloyd's warnsThe head of the Lloyd's of London insurance market warns today that one more major disaster could plunge the insurance industry into the red this year.Richard Ward will tell a gathering of insurance chiefs that the industry is facing the toughest year he can remember, the Guardian has learned."It isn't overstating the situation to say that the insurance industry is facing a potential perfect storm this year," Ward says in his keynote speech at the Insurance Day London Summit.Speaking as the industry braces itself for the US hurricane season, Ward says ... Tue May 18 09:42:10 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/may/17/four-die-floods-central-europe Thousands evacuated after heavy rains cause flooding in the Czech Republic's north-east, Hungary and southern PolandAt least four people died and thousands were evacuated after heavy rains caused flooding in the Czech Republic's north-east, Hungary and southern Poland today. Officials in Hungary said the situation in the north-eastern county of Borsod-Abauj-Zemplen was catastrophic.One man died on Saturday and more than 2,000 people were evacuated or rescued. Hundreds were evacuated in the Czech Republic and thousands were without electricity.In Poland, about 400 had to leave their homes south of Krakow and Katowice, and firefighters prepared to evacuate another 1,500. Tue May 18 09:42:10 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/may/17/saving-fish-stocks-cost-jobs Report says 13 million fishing boats must be retired to replenish stocks, with money redirected to retrain millions of workers How to eat fish sustainably Fishermen work ever harder as stocks dwindleMore than 20 million people employed in the fishing industry may need to be taken out of service and retrained for other work over the next 40 years if the final collapse of fish stocks in oceans around the globe is to be avoided, the UN warned today.The UN's environment branch, UNEP, gave a sneak preview of its green economy report that will be published in October. It said that if the world remained on its current path of over-fishing, by 2050 all fish stocks could have become uneconomic to exploit or actually extinct.Pavan Sukhdev, who heads UNEP's green economy initiative, said ... Tue May 18 09:42:10 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/may/17/high-speed-rail-policy-carbon-emissions I wanted to be convinced of the benefits but the figures don't work " nor, for this little island, does a plan for perpetual growthHallelujah. Heathrow's third runway is history, the biggest victory for the environment movement since the scrapping of the last Tory government's road-building programme. Gone, too, is the planned expansion of Gatwick and Stansted (though the government has so far said nothing about airport expansion elsewhere). Instead we'll have a high-speed railway connecting London to Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds. All hail to the new age of the train. Perhaps.I don't dispute the problem. Tue May 18 09:42:10 2010 EST http://feeds.grist.org/click.phdo?i=b6783f261f716768f8321cc480b8a1a3 by David Roberts Glenn Greenwald notes the rapid, bipartisan erosion of basic civil liberties, which didn't even hit a speed bump with the transition to the Obama administration: A bipartisan group from Congress sponsors legislation to strip Americans of their citizenship based on Terrorism accusations. Barack Obama claims the right to assassinate Americans far from any battlefield and with no due process of any kind. The Obama administration begins covertly abandoning long-standing Miranda protections for American suspects by vastly expanding what had long been a very narrow 'public safety' exception, and now Eric Holder explicitly advocates legislation to codify that erosion. Tue May 18 09:42:10 2010 EST http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=51464 NEW YORK, May 17 (IPS) - Countries closest to the equator will suffer most from climate change, according to Gwynne Dyer, a geopolitical analyst and journalist who predicts catastrophic events over the next few decades if temperatures continue to rise. Tue May 18 09:42:10 2010 EST http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=51463 WASHINGTON, May 17 (IPS) - As the oil leaking into the Gulf of Mexico destroys habitat and livelihoods, the extraction of oil from Canadian oil sands deposits is having a similar impact on fragile ecosystems and communities deep in the North American interior. Tue May 18 09:42:10 2010 EST http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/05/17/94322/to-us-offshore-drilling-official.html The top federal official in charge of overseeing offshore drilling retired abruptly on Monday as BP's chief operating officer pledged that his company would never pump oil from the runaway Deepwater Horizon well. Independent experts have estimated that the well may be leaking as much as 70,000 barrels a day. Tue May 18 09:42:10 2010 EST http://www.monbiot.com/archives/2010/05/17/fast-train-to-nowhere/ Before the UK commissions a high speed rail network, we should ask ourselves some big questions. Tue May 18 09:42:10 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news193379344.html (AP) -- It was a hot time in the old world last month. Tue May 18 09:42:10 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news193337824.html (PhysOrg.com) -- Supermarket lamb curry ready-made meals eaten in the UK amount to an annual carbon footprint equivalent to 5,500 car trips around the world or 140 million car miles. Tue May 18 09:42:10 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/3LBno--Kr5c/idUSTRE64G64C20100517 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The climate bill unveiled in the U.S. Senate last week cuts funds to projects protecting tropical forests that also are inexpensive ways to reduce global pollution and keep U.S. power bills affordable, environmentalists and electric utilities said on Monday. Tue May 18 09:42:10 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/e2-P7iyv1zE/idUSTRE64G5S020100517 OTTAWA (Reuters Life!) - A group of British explorers just back from a 60-day trip to the North Pole said Monday they had encountered unusual conditions, including ice sheets that drifted far faster than they had expected. Tue May 18 09:42:10 2010 EST http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/266/f/3780/s/a924529/l/0L0Sindependent0O0Copinion0Ccommentators0Cmichael0Emccarthy0Ethis0Eis0Eno0E0Eforecast0Eclimate0Echange0Eis0Ehere0Eand0Enow0E19756130Bhtml/story01.htm You can look at the warming of Lake Tanganyika as a geographical and scientific curiosity; but you're probably wiser to look at it with a considerable sense of foreboding. Tue May 18 09:42:10 2010 EST http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/266/f/3780/s/a924528/l/0L0Sindependent0O0Cenvironment0Cclimate0Echange0Csmall0Enations0Egiven0Evoice0Eon0Eclimate0E197560A90Bhtml/story01.htm The United Nations has appointed a Costa Rican diplomat as its new climate change chief after small island nations intervened to press for a choice who would represent their concerns about the risks of global warming. Tue May 18 09:42:10 2010 EST http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/7645112/Melting-sea-ice-would-cause-sea-levels-to-rise-by-hairs-breadth.html Melting icebergs are causing sea levels to rise, scientists have discovered, but only by a hair's breadth every year. Tue May 18 09:42:10 2010 EST http://www.marketwatch.com/story/12-ways-to-cash-in-on-the-collapse-of-eaarth-2010-05-18 12 ways to cash in on the 'collapse of Eaarth'MarketWatchRemember, two decades ago McKibben's "The End of Nature" was one of the first books warning of global warming, climate change, a dying planet. ...and more Tue May 18 09:42:10 2010 EST http://www.marketwatch.com/story/12-ways-to-cash-in-on-the-collapse-of-eaarth-2010-05-18 The war is over mining rights to Pandora's unobtanium, a powerful new energy source needed back on Eaarth to save our planet, where rapid population growth is exhausting limited natural resources, resulting in a dying civilization. Obviously this is a metaphor for today's global threats. The goals of Avatar 2154: Maximum security and wealth preservation for future generations of members from the elite of Wall Street, Washington, Corporate America CEOs and the Forbes 400. Avatar 2154 secretly supports climate-change-deniers in think tanks, academic research and politicians who negate the impact of scientific facts. This effort is necessary when high-profile voices like Al Gore and Bill McKibben surface and new propaganda is required to attack their efforts stirring global climate initiatives. Tue May 18 09:42:10 2010 EST http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/18/making-the-simple-complicated/?src=busln Making the Simple ComplicatedNew York Times (blog)In the case of global warming, we may arguably be more confident that the amount of carbon should stay relatively flat than we are about the per-ton damage ...and more Tue May 18 09:42:10 2010 EST http://liberalconspiracy.org/2010/05/18/ft-pulls-controversial-shell-ad-on-libel-worries/ Amnesty International UK expressed its immense disappointment today at the Financial Times' decision to pull a new hard-hitting advertisement at the last possible moment. The ad was due to appear today as Shell held its London AGM. The advertisement focused on the appalling human rights record of Shell in Nigeria. It compared the company's $9.8bn profits with the consequences of pollution caused by the oil giant for the people of the Niger Delta. Numerous oil spills, which have not been adequately cleaned up, have left local communities with little option but to drink polluted water, eat contaminated fish, farm on spoiled land, and breathe in air that stinks of oil and gas. Tue May 18 09:42:10 2010 EST http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/blog/post/2010/05/winning-hearts-and-minds-in-the-renewable-energy-game?cmpid=rss Ontario has been the recipient of numerous accolades lauding its aggressive renewable energy legislation and hospitable investment climate. However, some worry that despite all of these advances, Ontario is not doing everything in its power to make green technology a priority. Tue May 18 09:42:10 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/science_and_environment/10112136.stm A UN-commissioned review opens in Amsterdam into the workings of the UN's climate body, the IPCC. Mon May 17 13:06:57 2010 EST 17th May 2010 http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/world/americas/8676581.stm US senators unveil a long-awaited climate change bill, which includes divisive plans on offshore oil-drilling. Mon May 17 13:06:57 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/science_and_environment/10112386.stm Coalition sets out plans on runways and nuclear Mon May 17 13:06:57 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/science_and_environment/10109088.stm Europe's climate commissioner Connie Hedegaard is to set out the case for a unilateral 30% EU cut in CO2. Mon May 17 13:06:57 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/science_and_environment/10106362.stm The failure of the UN climate process and questioning of the science mean a new approach is needed, a report says. Mon May 17 13:06:57 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/sci/tech/8673828.stm A radical new climate prescription for the world Mon May 17 13:06:57 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/TBH6__nFBvE/ Last week, I wrote about the remarkable letter in Science supporting the accuracy of climate science, signed by 255 National Academy of Sciences members, including 11 Nobel laureates. The insufficiently-covered letter has been kept alive as a story for two reasons. First, the editors at Science ran the letter with a 'photoshopped' 'collage' (see above). Second, we learned that the authors first tried to get some of the newspapers that have been publishing dubious attacks on climate scientists to publish the piece as an op-ed, but were rejected. Let's start with the second. Mon May 17 13:06:57 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/Q3VONgKfJ8g/ The WSJ just reported 'an effort by a few Senate Democrats to raise the cap on damage claims that BP PLC must pay for a Gulf of Mexico oil spill was blocked Thursday after Republicans said the plan wouldn't work. This CAP repost explains the issue and what's at stake. JR UPDATE: Mclatchy reports 'Federal investigators are likely to file criminal charges against at least one of the companies involved in the Gulf of Mexico spill, raising the prospects of significantly higher penalties than a current $75 million cap on civil liability, legal experts say.' The NYT reports, 'If it is found that BP was grossly negligent or broke federal safety regulations, there is no limit to what it must pay.' At this point, it be be pretty surprising if they weren't found at least grossly negligent (see Stupak stunner ... Mon May 17 13:06:57 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/j--RhuGCm0w/ When asked 'What do you think is the most important problem facing the country today?' about 49 percent of respondents answered the economy or unemployment, while only 1 percent mentioned the environment or global warming. But when asked, 'What do you think will be the most serious problem facing the world in the future if nothing is done to stop it?' 25 percent said the environment or global warming, and only 10 percent picked the economy. In fact, environmental issues were cited more often than any other category, including terrorism, which was only mentioned by 10 percent of respondents. Mon May 17 13:06:57 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/5HGvuHZLF2o/ The energy and climate bill Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.) will unveil Wednesday will give states the right to veto offshore oil drilling in a neighboring state, according to sources briefed on the plan. This is from the WP's Post Carbon blog. That confirms what I heard also. The two Senators 'tweaked the bill in a few ways to address concerns raised by' BP's Titanic oil disaster. Here are some more details on the bill, which is being introduced tomorrow: It requires an Interior Department study to determine which states could be economically and environmentally affected by a spill.Those affected states would then be able to veto drilling by passing a law. Mon May 17 13:06:57 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/wbKMNQQBI3U/ Just within the past month, several news items underscored the dire situation our oceans face. Kristen L. Marhaver, a Ph.D. Candidate in Marine Biology at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography has the story in this repost. Chemists warned that we must focus more attention on ocean acidification. As the seas absorb more CO2 emissions, pH levels decrease and wreak havoc on marine life, which is why the phenomenon is also called the 'evil twin of global warming.' Meanwhile, biologists warned that not enough attention is focused on the rapid extinction of the world's species, some of which will disappear before we've discovered them. Mon May 17 13:06:57 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/_lotUFdbG9E/ CP has been blogging about BP's Titanic oil disaster and the record-smashing TN rains. I'm pleased to have a guest post from Dominique Browning on those two subjects. She is author of the new book Slow Love. She writes regularly for The New York Times Book Review, Wired, and others. This is a repost from her monthly column for the Environmental Defense Fund website: I went to Franklin, Tennessee for a visit that was supposed to end last Saturday, but I was marooned by flooding from the unprecedented deluge that pummeled this part of the country over the weekend. Mon May 17 13:06:57 2010 EST http://www.desmogblog.com/denial-a-palooza-4th-international-conference-climate-change-heartland burgerking.jpg In what has become an annual non-event, the Heartland Institute will gather the who's-who of the global warming denial network together in Chicago this weekend for the fourth International Conference on Climate Change. As in years past, the event is expected to receive very little mainstream media coverage. The deniers like to think the reason is some liberal media conspiracy. In reality, the lack of interest stems chiefly from the fact that this denial-a-palooza fest is dripping with oil money and represents a blatant industry effort to greenwash oil and coal while simultaneously attacking the credibility of climate scientists. Mon May 17 13:06:57 2010 EST http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_round_up/482584/bill_gates_cloudwhitening_trials_a_dangerous_experiment.html Microsoft founder Bill Gates providing funding for geoegineering experiment to increase whiteness of clouds, reflect more sunlight back into space and reduce global warming Mon May 17 13:06:57 2010 EST http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/12929256/1dofbf/alternet_environment~Just-How-Leaky-Are-Assertions-From-the-AntiGlobal-Warming-Crowd Skeptics cite 700 "scientists" who doubt global warming. Except few are climatologists. And Joseph Romm says they're conducting the greatest b.s. campaign in history. Mon May 17 13:06:57 2010 EST http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/12933881/1dofbf/alternet_environment~Gulf-Oil-Spill-Proves-the-Idiocy-of-Unfettered-Deregulation Government regulation of multinational corporations needs to be made respectable once again with adequately funded agencies pursuing an uncompromised public interest agenda. Mon May 17 13:06:57 2010 EST http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10928/s/a8034b8/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Carticle0Cdn188990Elost0Elizards0Evalidate0Egrim0Eextinction0Epredictions0Bhtml0DDCMP0FOTC0Erss0Gnsref0Fclimate0Echange/story01.htm Many models of climate-driven extinctions are criticised for being theoretical, but new hard data lends them weight Mon May 17 13:06:57 2010 EST http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=51417 GENEVA, May 13 (IPS) - The global economic crisis highlighted the necessity of transforming global economic governance. But least developed countries (LDCs) have little voice in this process. It is time they are allowed a seat at the meetings of the Group of 20 industrialised and emerging economies. Mon May 17 13:06:57 2010 EST http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=51406 UNITED NATIONS, May 12 (IPS) - If nothing is done to slow the pace of climate change, many small island developing states (SIDS) will be at risk of being wiped out, both economically and literally. Mon May 17 13:06:57 2010 EST http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=51371 UXBRIDGE, Canada, May 10 (Tierramérica) - The policies and deals that contributed to the massive oil spill under way in the Gulf of Mexico are also jeopardising the Earth's vital biological infrastructure, according to the Global Biodiversity Outlook 3, published Monday. Mon May 17 13:06:57 2010 EST http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/05/13/94116/transocean-doomed-rigs-owner-seeks.html Invoking a little-known maritime law passed in 1851, the company said it should not have to pay any more than $27 million - the salvage value of the charred oil rig and its freight, all of which sank in 5,000 feet of water after the April 20 explosion that killed 11 workers. Before the accident, the Deepwater Horizon was valued at more than $500 million. Mon May 17 13:06:57 2010 EST http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/05/13/94077/schwarzenegger-touts-california.html California can boost its economy while improving the environment if the state sticks by its law to reduce carbon emissions, said a panel of business and government leaders assembled at UC Davis on Wednesday to discuss the notion that the Sacramento region could become a hub for green jobs. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger used the forum as an opportunity to stump for his signature environmental law, known as AB 32, which is being challenged on the November ballot. Read more coverage of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger from The Sacramento Bee Mon May 17 13:06:57 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/YaleEnvironment360/~3/mL_rjyH0Kto/digest.msp The market for light-emitting diodes (LEDs) should grow dramatically over the next decade, passing compact flourescent lightbulbs as the biggest emerging lighting product, according to a new report. LEDs - a light source made from semiconductors - will account for 46 percent of the $4.6 million commercial and industrial lighting market by 2020, says the report by Colorado-based Pike Research. LEDs currently make up about 2 percent of the market. A shift toward LEDs among commercial customers and municipalities, rather than homeowners, will drive this transformation, the report says, since businesses will be more likely to invest money upfront if they benefit from long-term cost-efficiencies. Mon May 17 13:06:57 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/YaleEnvironment360/~3/xS5XIfTExus/digest.msp Nearly 150 of the 882 land bird species in North America are in sharp decline, especially in Mexico, according to a new report. The report, issued by Partners in Flight - a consortium of academics, conservationists, government agencies, and philanthropists - said that 124 of the 148 imperiled bird species spend much of their time in Mexico, where habitat destruction is occurring more rapidly than in the U.S. and Canada. The threatened birds in Mexico include the thick-billed parrot, the horned guan, and the Greg LawatayA resplendent quetzal resplendent quetzal, a green and red bird with long tail feathers that feeds on avocados. Mon May 17 13:06:57 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/YaleEnvironment360/~3/fhGvqDjRW2o/digest.msp A prolonged drought that has caused Lake Powell on the Colorado River to shrink significantly over the last decade has eased slightly, according to recent data. But, as documented in a series of satellite images released by NASA, the water levels are still far from the 1999 levels when the lake was near full capacity. Water levels in Lake Powell, a meandering reservoir created by the Glen Canyon Dam and straddling the Utah and Arizona border, dropped significantly in the years following 1999 as a result of drought and water removal for View galleryNASAThe shrinking of Lake Powell, 1999-2010 human use. Mon May 17 13:06:57 2010 EST http://e360.yale.edu/content/digest.msp?id=2408 The world community should abandon efforts to sign a climate change treaty and instead focus on combating global warming by imposing carbon taxes to fund renewable energy breakthroughs and to deliver clean electricity to the world's poor, according to a report by 14 academics and scientists. The group recommends pursuing a 'politically attractive and relentlessly pragmatic' climate and energy strategy that combines a huge research effort into renewable energy with pragmatic, near-term solutions, such as reducing heat-absorbing 'black carbon' produced by wood fires and industries. Their conclusions, released in the so-called Hartwell Paper, call for an end to efforts to forge a global climate treaty or slash Western consumption and a focus instead on supplying green electricity to the world's 1.5 billion people who currently lack it. Mon May 17 13:06:57 2010 EST http://www.skynews.com.au/eco/article.aspx?id=460956 The ETS may have been shelved but the federal government is trying a new tack on climate change - spending money on renewable energy and energy efficiency. Mon May 17 13:06:57 2010 EST http://feeds.grist.org/click.phdo?i=c05f6c6ed03285d992d341cae4f92e00 by Gillian Caldwell I have spent my lifetime face to face with some of the most brutal and inhumane acts ever committed, but nothing has been as traumatizing for me as trying to get action to tackle the climate crisis. As a long time human rights defender and prior Executive Director at WITNESS, I helped produce and direct films on rape as a weapon of war and amputations in Sierra Leone's recent bloody conflict, I conducted an undercover investigation into the Russian mafia's involvement in trafficking women for forced prostitution, I investigated hit squads in apartheid South Africa, and I spent countless hours in editing rooms watching first hand images of death, destruction, and devastation. Mon May 17 13:06:57 2010 EST http://feeds.grist.org/click.phdo?i=62ccce972be410289b87480aca4c642c by David Roberts This weekend I was asked to contribute to The New York Times' Room for Debate. I was kind of under the impression that the question was, 'Is the Kerry-Graham-Lieberman bill worth passing?' Apparently, though, it was, 'Does the climate bill stand a chance?' Obviously those questions have different answers! Mine was geared to the former, everybody else's the latter, but oh well. Other answers were provided by: Kate Sheppard, Mother Jones correspondent Myron Ebell, Competitive Enterprise Institute Frank O'Donnell, Clean Air Watch Chip Jacobs, co-author of 'Smogtown' Here's mine, with some additional comments at bottom ... Mon May 17 13:06:57 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/kd9EnuvBx50/idUSTRE64C4XO20100514 PORT FOURCHON, Louisiana (Reuters) - Scientists are examining the deaths of at least six dolphins and over 100 sea turtles along the U.S. Gulf Coast in recent weeks to see if they are victims of the giant oil spill in the region, wildlife officials said on Thursday. Mon May 17 13:06:57 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/16fSDFDzFG4/idUSTRE64C41R20100513 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama Administration finalized greenhouse gas rules for big factories and power plants on Thursday, giving momentum to the troubled climate bill in the Senate. Mon May 17 13:06:57 2010 EST http://www.monbiot.com/archives/2010/05/10/moneys-hunger/ Industrial civilisation is trashing the environment. Should we try to reform it or just watch it go down? Mon May 17 13:06:57 2010 EST http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/shortsharpscience/2010/05/earth-2300-too-hot-for-humans.html Michael Le Page, biology features editorParts of the planet could start to become too hot and humid for people to survive in a century or so if we fail to limit global warming. So says a startling study published last week in PNAS, which most of us journalists seem to have missed until now.Some regions would start to become too hot and humid for human habitation with a global temperature rise of 7 °C, the paper says. With a rise of 11 °C or more, most of the human population as currently distributed would either have to move or rely on air conditioning to avoid dying of heat stress."Right now we have air conditioning for comfort. Mon May 17 13:06:57 2010 EST http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/shortsharpscience/2010/05/sun-sets-on-2010-biodiversity.html Wendy Zukerman, reporterMore than 190 countries agreed to reduce biodiversity loss by 2010. A UN report says they have failed.The report, the third edition of the Global Biodiversity Outlook (GBO-3), found that animal populations have dropped by 30 per cent in 40 years, endangered plant and animal species are moving closer to extinction and natural habitats in most parts of the world continue to decline in size and integrity."Twenty-one per cent of all known mammals, 30 per cent of all known amphibians, 12 per cent of all known birds and 27 per cent of reef-building corals assessed are threatened with extinction," Bill Jackson, deputy director general of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which maintains the Red List Threatened Species told the BBC. Mon May 17 13:06:57 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news192988978.html Rising levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide interfere with plants` ability to convert nitrate into protein and could threaten food quality, according to a new study by researchers at the University of California, Davis. The scientists suggest that, as global climate change intensifies, it will be critical for farmers to carefully manage nitrogen fertilization in order to prevent losses in crop productivity and quality. Mon May 17 13:06:57 2010 EST http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/11/a-tough-observer-of-climate-prescriptions/ A BBC blogger dissects a new proposal for global climate progress. Mon May 17 13:06:57 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/shell/lloC/~3/4ZuRMY6Y0i0/ The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is a tragic event, no one can deny that. As BP responds to the immediate impact, the effect could be industry wide both short and long term. In the short term industry resources are on hand to assist in stopping the leak and cleaning up. Industry participants, including Shell, will also be relooking at their operations to see what improvements can be made " even before the investigation into this event gets underway and the root cause is identified. When such an event occurs it is also important to put it in perspective. Mon May 17 13:06:57 2010 EST http://motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2010/05/climate-changes-secret-weapon Fox11online.comClimate Change's Secret WeaponMother Jones... and in its first year will translate into 900 permits for both new sources and modifications to existing sources of global warming pollution. ...Greenhouse-Gas Rules Made Final by EPA as Alternative to BillBusinessWeekEPA Finalizes Greenhouse Gas Rules For FacilitiesEasy Bourseall 333 Mon May 17 13:06:57 2010 EST http://www.sevensidedcube.net/general/2010/maurice-strongs-thoughts-on-climate-change-and-his-controversies/ A Pakistan NewsMaurice Strong's Thoughts on Climate Change and His ControversiesSeven Sided CubeEntrepreneur and environmentalist Maurice Strong shares his view on the problems that the world is facing right now, climate change, global warming and ...Maurice Strong Climate Change: Global WarmingMixx Buzzers (blog)Maurice Strong Conspiracy " Environmental IssuesSeven Sided CubeMaurice Strong Chicago Climate Exchange Obama Global Warming Connection?Spreadit.orgMNDC Breaking News -Mixx Buzzers (blog) -Daily World Buzzall 25 Mon May 17 13:06:57 2010 EST http://mediamatters.org/blog/201005130001 World Buzz Now!Beck pushes scary conspiracy theories about climate changeMedia Matters for America (blog)... climate change bill that was introduced in the Senate today, Glenn Beck repeatedly suggested on his Fox News show that efforts to address global warming ...Maurice Strong Climate Change: Global WarmingMixx Buzzers (blog)Maurice Strong Chicago Climate Exchange Obama Global Warming Connection?Spreadit.orgMaurice Strong at root of Global Warming ScamMNDC Breaking NewsMixx Buzzers (blog) -Daily World Buzz -Mixx Buzzers (blog)all 16 Mon May 17 13:06:57 2010 EST http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/g8-g20/blog-global-view/harper-faces-stern-words-on-climate/article1567726/?cmpid=rss1 Add British economist Nicholas Stern to those calling on Prime Minister to tackle environmental challenges at G20 summit Mon May 17 13:06:57 2010 EST http://www.europeanvoice.com/article/confronting-the-geopolitics-of-climate-change/67934.aspx Too much focus has been put on carbon cuts for nearly two decades, almost to the exclusion of other elements. Mon May 17 13:06:57 2010 EST http://bigpondnews.com/articles/National/2010/05/13/PM_Rudd_gets_hot_over_climate_change_461463.html The PM has lost his temper during a TV interview in which he defended the government's delay of an ETS. Mon May 17 13:06:57 2010 EST http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/state&id=7439856&rss=rss-ktrk-article-7439856 Parts of Texas are already facing drought conditions while other sections of the state are awash in rainfall Mon May 17 13:06:57 2010 EST http://uk.news.yahoo.com/18/20100511/tsc-africa-skeptical-over-funds-to-comba-c2ff8aa.html Africa on Tuesday expressed doubt over the capacity of developed nations to keep their financial commitments made during last year's Copenhagen summit to help poor countries deal with climate change. Mon May 17 13:06:57 2010 EST http://uk.news.yahoo.com/18/20100511/tsc-india-s-greenhouse-gas-emissions-jum-b1f5339.html India's annual greenhouse gas emissions increased by 58 percent from 1994-2007, driven by higher industrial activity, energy production and transport, government figures showed Tuesday. Mon May 17 13:06:57 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/science_and_environment/10114969.stm Moths and bats are "in crisis", say conservationists, who are asking the public to take part in a national survey. Mon May 17 13:06:57 2010 EST http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/5/14/worldupdates/2010-05-13T075235Z_01_NOOTR_RTRMDNC_0_-484503-1&sec=Worldupdates WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Donor countries on Wednesday pledged a record $4.25 billion over the next four years for the Global Environment Facility, the world's largest public green fund that helps developing countries tackle climate change. Mon May 17 13:06:57 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/science_and_environment/10113949.stm Climate change could wipe out 20% of the world's lizard species by 2080, according to a global-scale study. Mon May 17 13:06:57 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news193040941.html (AP) -- The head of the U.N. scientific body on climate change defended Friday the work of the thousands of scientists who contribute to its reports, even as he welcomed a review of procedures that produced errors undermining the panel's public credibility. Mon May 17 13:06:57 2010 EST http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/12998043/1dstw3/alternet_environment~Does-the-New-Climate-Bill-Provide-the-Answer-to-Our-Environmental-Woes-or-Just-More-Handouts-for-Big-Energy Its authors proclaim it will do everything short of ensuring apple pie for every citizen. Many activists think it doesn't go deep enough. It's trench warfare, all over again. Mon May 17 13:06:57 2010 EST http://energybulletin.net/node/52808 -Jeremy Jackson: How we wrecked the ocean-Nature loss 'to damage economies'-US climate bill or not, the world is on track-After the crash - a new direction for climate policy read more Mon May 17 13:06:57 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/pnetL8yvbAc/ UPDATE: Two commenters pointed me to the Polar Science Center. They looks to have the best Arctic ice volume model around - and it's been validated (see below). The big Arctic news remains the staggering decline in multiyear ice - and hence ice volume. If we get near the Arctic's sea ice area (or extent) seen in recent years this summer, then this may well mean record low ice volume - the fourth straight year of low volume. And the latest extent data from the National Snow and Ice Data Center suggests we will: Of course, the anti-science crowd - and much of the media - remain stuck in two-dimensional thinking. Mon May 17 13:06:57 2010 EST http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=51433 JOHANNESBURG, May 14 (IPS) - The North should pay reparations to the South for the effects of climate change. Mon May 17 13:06:57 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/may/13/lizards-mexico-extinction-climate-change Reptiles that 'tolerate heat and should be well buffered against warming are the victims' as world enters 'era of climate change extinctions'One"fifth of lizard species globally will become extinct by 2080 due to global warming, according to a study using data from more than 1,200 populations worldwide.The research found that more than a 10th of Mexico's Sceloporus lizard populations have been driven to extinction in the last 35 years, with the figure projected to increase to almost 40% by 2080. The scientists projected their findings globally using data from other lizard populations around the world.The findings come in the wake of immense criticism over the failure of world leaders to live up to a commitment to reduce biodiversity loss by 2010. Mon May 17 13:06:57 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/cghC5twZuDM/ Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour (R) has been an outlier amongst Gulf Coast governors, downplaying the BP oil spill instead of working to mitigate the disaster and rethinking the wisdom of offshore drilling. TP has the story in this twin repost. Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour (R) has been an outlier amongst Gulf Coast governors, downplaying the BP oil spill instead of working to mitigate the disaster and rethinking the wisdom of offshore drilling. He has claimed that this new spill 'it isn't anything like Exxon Valdez' and is encouraging visitors to '[c]ome on down here and play golf, enjoy the beach, catch a fish.' Now, Mississippi officials are encouraging tourists to use more oil, offering people gas cards if they come to the region ... Mon May 17 13:06:57 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/_bHdKgm-swI/ Source: Sweetnam, DOE, April 2009 The BP oil disaster reminds us once again of the many large costs of oil use not included in its price. But because conservatives have blocked or rolled back all serious efforts to move us off of oil in the last three decades, peak oil will soon change that (see Deutsche Bank: Oil to hit $175 a barrel by 2016 and World's top energy economist warns peak oil threatens recovery: 'We have to leave oil before oil leaves us'). Energy economics expert and long-time guest blogger Craig Severance, has a review of recent research in this important area, which is largely ignored by the status quo media. Mon May 17 13:06:57 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/rVEm8u9ty04/ You can listen to the full Diane Rehm show here. This didn't end up being a debate, and I think was pretty informative. Democracy Now! has posted a full transcript of what they bill as 'Greenpeace v. Center for American Progress: A Debate on the Kerry-Lieberman Climate Bill.' I don't really consider it a debate when the other person basically agrees on the problem and simply wants a much stronger bill. You can watch the video here. Here's the full segment, including the Kerry intro: JUAN GONZALEZ: After many months of debate and delay, on Wednesday Senators John Kerry and Joe Lieberman unveiled a 987-page draft of a climate and energy bill that aims to cut emissions, reduce oil [imports], and create energy-related jobs. Mon May 17 13:06:57 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/BZeu-fCHibU/ Transocean, Ltd, the company that operates the Deepwater Horizon oil rig which recently exploded in the Gulf, is the 'world's biggest offshore drilling contractor.' We've already seen that the Deepwater Horizon drill rig used the Marshall Islands' flag as a 'flag of convenience' so it 'could comply with that country's standards, and not the U.S. regulations' (see 'Oil well's blowout preventer had leaks, dead battery, design flaws'). Now the AP reports today that Transocean, after moving its headquarters from the U.S. to Zug, Switzerland, two years ago, paid a paltry 16 percent on its corporate income last year, less than half of the current American corporate income tax rate of 35 percent ... Mon May 17 13:06:57 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/hkLVJ396KuM/ It was the hottest April on record in the NASA dataset. More significantly, following fast on the heels of the hottest March and hottest Jan-Feb-March on record, it's also the hottest Jan-Feb-March-April on record [click on figure to enlarge]. The record temperatures we're seeing now are especially impressive because we've been in 'the deepest solar minimum in nearly a century.' It now appears to be over. It's just hard to stop the march of manmade global warming, well, other than by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, that is. Mon May 17 13:06:57 2010 EST http://www.desmogblog.com/video-most-likely-make-you-want-take-shower rachel maddow and tim phillips.jpg I am not sure if we ever posted this on DeSmog, but here is the interview Rachel Maddow did with Tim Philips on MSNBC. Here's our backgrounders on Tim Philips, Americans for Prosperity and their major donor Koch Industries that just so happens to be the largest private oil company in the United States: Americans for Prosperity: history, background and research Koch Industries and George Mason University Koch Industries holdings and investments Koch Industries lobbying activities Once you've read all of that you can watch this video <!--break--> Mon May 17 13:06:57 2010 EST http://energybulletin.net/node/52815 In your widely publicized May 2010 letter to Bill McKibben, you ask for specific strategies to achieve a global CO2 reduction down to 350ppm. Here's how, from the United States arm of the international Transition movement: Understand the full magnitude of the problem. Think 'radical system change.' Plan for resilience. Begin the Transition today. Use teamwork. read more Mon May 17 13:06:57 2010 EST http://energybulletin.net/52811 This article concisely summarizes most of what has been discussed in Energy Bulletin over the past few months regarding Peak Oil. Reading all this news, I realized we are now actually facing The End of The World (As We Know It). I struggled for awhile with how to write about this. Despair is not the answer. read more Mon May 17 13:06:57 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/may/16/gulf-oil-spill-bp Spilled oil coagulating up to 1,300 metres below surface and as far as 20 miles away from sunk Deepwater Horizon rigOcean scientists in the Gulf of Mexico have found giant plumes of oil coagulating at up to 1,300 metres below the surface, raising fears that the BP oil spill may be larger than had been thought and that it might create huge "dead zones".Experts from the National Institute for Undersea Science and Technology have identified plumes up to 20 miles away from the Deepwater Horizon well head that continues to spew oil into the water at a rate of at least 790,000 litres a day. Mon May 17 13:06:57 2010 EST http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=51448 LA PAZ, May 16 (IPS) - Moving away from public protests and towards exerting political pressure on leaders in industrialised countries is the strategy chosen by the environmental movement 350.org to fight global warming, said its co-founder Kelly Blynn in an interview with IPS. Mon May 17 13:06:57 2010 EST http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE64F1ZG20100516 Climate change threatens health by MediterraneanReuters UKAbout 40000 people died in an extreme heatwave in Europe in 2003. But Erich Fischer, lead author of the study at the Institute for Atmospheric and Climate ...and more Mon May 17 13:06:57 2010 EST http://www.joabbess.com/2010/05/15/taking-it-all-back/ I've got to admit, it really has been a cold year so far, hasn't it ? Just look at the graphic for the period January to April 2010 (above), and you can see a band of cold stretching from east to west at latitudes where millions, perhaps even a billion people, live. Ah. Hang on. What's that graph in the bottom right hand corner ? What's it telling me ? And why is the 'Record High' different from last month (see below) ? I'm taking it all back. It's been a really, really warm year, so far. Mon May 17 13:06:57 2010 EST http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/05/16/94126/quest-for-oil-leaves-trail-of.html Across the globe, people such as Celina Harpe in oil-producing regions are watching the catastrophe in the Gulf with a mixture of horror, hope and resignation. To some, the black tide is a global event that finally may awaken the world to the real cost of oil. Mon May 17 13:06:57 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news193218129.html Lake Tanganyika, the second oldest and the second-deepest lake in the world, could be in for some rough waters. Mon May 17 13:06:57 2010 EST http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2010/05/what-we-can-learn-from-studying-the-last-millennium-or-so/ With all of the emphasis that is often placed on hemispheric or global mean temperature trends during the past millennium, and the context they provide for interpreting modern warming trends, one thing is often lost in the discussion: space matters as much as time. Indeed, it is likely that the regional patterns of past climate changes, rather than simple hemispheric or global mean temperature trends, will best inform our understanding of the dynamical mechanisms involved. Since much of the uncertainty in future projections relates to regional climate change impacts, it makes particular sense to focus on those changes in the past that involve regional changes and the underlying mechanisms behind them. Mon May 17 13:06:57 2010 EST http://resourceinsights.blogspot.com/2010/05/saving-casino-americas-economic.html A surprising number of America's localities have made themselves increasingly dependent on casino gambling. Las Vegas and practically the whole state of Nevada need no introduction in this regard. There is also, of course, Atlantic City, New Jersey. And, there are the myriad riverboat casinos, Native American-run casinos, and casinos in many states limited to designated cities. The taxes from these gambling enterprises enrich both localities and states.But there is a much larger casino operating in the United States. It variously goes by the name banking, stock and bond investing, commodities speculation, asset-backed securities, and myriad instruments classified as derivatives which get their value from some underlying security or commodity. Mon May 17 13:06:57 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/qalPZUZm5bo/idUSTRE64F1W620100516 ABIDJAN (Reuters) - Africa's lake Tanganyika has heated up sharply over the past 90 years and is now warmer than at any time for at least 1,500 years, a scientific paper said on Sunday, adding that fish and wildlife are threatened. Mon May 17 13:06:57 2010 EST http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/266/f/3780/s/a896c9f/l/0L0Sindependent0O0Cenvironment0Cclimate0Echange0Ccampaigners0Ebelieve0Ewar0Eon0E0Eclimate0Echange0Ewill0Ebe0Estymied0E19746830Bhtml/story01.htm Fears that the UK's fight against climate change will be lost in the confusion of the Liberal-Conservative coalition were underlined yesterday when divisions between the two parties were exposed over nuclear power, renewable energy, airport expansion and offshore oil drilling. Mon May 17 13:06:57 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/YaleEnvironment360/~3/5XeiXzfEO0w/digest.msp The amount of oil spewing from a ruptured well deep in the Gulf of Mexico could be at least 10 times larger than current estimates and almost certainly has far exceeded the oil spilled in the Exxon Valdez disaster in 1989, according to National Public Radio. NPR asked experts to examine video of the gusher of undersea oil, and they concluded that the oil released into the Gulf is much greater than the estimate of 5,000 barrels a day made by the U.S. government. One Purdue University expert, BPVIDEO: BP footage of Gulf of Mexico oil leak using a technique called particle image velocimetry that tracks particles and estimates their speed, said the broken pipe could be emitting roughly 70,000 barrels of oil per day. Mon May 17 13:06:57 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/YaleEnvironment360/~3/kTS4Wy4-slY/digest.msp Failure to advance metal recycling, especially of rare metals used in high-tech products, could produce a global shortage of many metals within two decades, according to a series of reports by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). With few exceptions, recycling rates have been modest or low, and in some cases non-existent, the report says. At a news conference, Thomas Graedel, a member of UNEP's International Panel for Sustainable Resource Management and a Yale University professor, cited the example of indium, a metal used to create transparent electrodes used in liquid crystal displays, touch screens, semiconductors, and photovoltaic cells. Mon May 17 13:06:57 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/science_and_environment/10119753.stm Costa Rican diplomat Christiana Figueres is to be the new head of the UN climate convention, BBC News understands. Mon May 17 13:06:57 2010 EST http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/13098973/1e4hx1/alternet_environment~Reasons-to-Be-Alarmed-About-Our-Catastrophic-Oil-Addiction War, terrorism, economic instability -- these are just a few of the reasons to be concerned about our addiction to oil. Mon May 17 13:06:57 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/may/17/international-market-conservation-credits Government should compel property developers and companies that degrade the ecosystem to buy conservation creditsEnsuring that nature is worth more to us alive than dead is a simple idea. It is also one the new UK government has promised to deliver.As the Conservative party put it in their election manifesto, they pledged to "pioneer a new system of conservation credits to protect habitats". If the detail of this idea is successfully rendered, this could transform the way we value the natural world and finance its protection. Caroline Spelman, the new secretary of state for environment, food and rural affairs, should have the policy at the top of her in-tray.Under the scheme proposed in the manifesto, any property development that results in biodiversity loss must compensate for that loss by an equal investment in biodiversity and habitat conservation or restoration elsewhere. Mon May 17 13:06:57 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/may/17/tar-sands-extraction-friends-earth Friends of the Earth reports says extraction threatens environment as well as vulnerable communitiesThe successful development of Canada's tar sands has triggered a rush by Shell and other oil companies to set up similar operations in Russia, Congo and even Madagascar, a new report reveals.Soaring crude prices and an growing shortage of drilling sites have encouraged the energy industry to look at a series of "unconventional" hydrocarbon deposits threatening vulnerable environment and communities in places such as Jordan, Morocco as well as the US, Friends of the Earth says in a review called Tar sands " fuelling the energy crisis.The revelations come just 24 hours before Shell's annual general meeting and on the day when Ceres, a coalition of a investors and environmentalists, launches its own survey warning that Canadian tar sands extraction could pose an even bigger risk to an oil company share price than the US ... Mon May 17 13:06:57 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2010/may/16/petropolis-alberta-tar-sands-review This short, hallucinatory documentary by Greenpeace, Canada, takes us on a helicopter flight over the vast area containing the world's second largest oil reserve that is being despoiled, possibly for ever, to separate bitumen from sand. Sixty years ago, we might have been presented by the same powerful images as signs of technological progress. We now remember Tacitus's withering line: "They make a wilderness and call it peace."DocumentaryGreenpeacePhilip Frenchguardian.co.uk © Guardian News Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms Conditions | More Feeds Mon May 17 13:06:57 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/may/17/us-desert-solar-iea As Senate considers climate law, report says desert solar farms can be as cheap as coal by 2025The United States could position itself as the global leader in producing utility-scale solar power from its vast deserts, with immediate and appropriate government support, a new report from the International Energy Agency says.The study by the Paris"based energy policy adviser for developed nations says with RD backing, adoption of feed-in tariffs and binding renewable energy portfolio standards, the U.S. and other sunny nations could accelerate the cost reductions needed for widespread deployment of concentrating solar power (CSP) plants. Mon May 17 13:06:57 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/cif-green/2010/may/17/heathrow-third-runway-activism The distinguishing feature of the campaign was the way in which it galvanised people into repeatedly taking direct actionIt was more than four years ago when George Monbiot wrote on these pages: "At last the battlelines have been drawn, and the first major fight over climate change is about to begin. All over the country, a coalition of homeowners and anarchists, Nimbys and internationalists is mustering to fight the greatest future cause of global warming: the growth of aviation."Now the frontline in that battle, the third runway at Heathrow, has been officially cancelled, and so too have the new runways that Labour planned for Stansted and Gatwick. Mon May 17 13:06:57 2010 EST http://www.nature.com/news/2010/100517/full/news.2010.238.html Nature.comMediterranean most at risk from European heatwavesNature.comH. Gjerpen/iStockphoto A projected increase in heatwaves in Europe would hit low-lying river basins and coastal cities across the Mediterranean the hardest, ...Climate change threatens health by MediterraneanReuters UKall 7 Mon May 17 13:06:57 2010 EST http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5g1oLF3jGJ5gJgGFhQ0eNabhbYI_g AFPWarming in Lake Tanganyika highest in 1500 yearsAFPErich Fischer and Christoph Schaer of the ETH Zurich technical university predicted the frequency of heatwave days will rise from an average of about two ...and more Mon May 17 13:06:57 2010 EST http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/05/17/94244/salons-ship-hair-clippings-for.html Salons around the country are contributing hair clippings to the nonprofit Matter of Trust of San Francisco, which collects hair to stuff into nylon stockings to be tied together end-to-end to create absorbent, floating booms. The booms are being used to help clean up the oil spill along the Gulf Coast. It's unclear exactly how effective the idea is, but it's been proven to work in many cases and has been fairly widely used around the globe in recent years. Mon May 17 13:06:57 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/SQTa034_UF4/idUSTRE64G42020100517 NEW YORK (Reuters) - The United States' future as a global economic power depends on what it does to fight global warming and it is lagging behind other countries like China, Europe's climate chief said on Wednesday. Mon May 17 13:06:57 2010 EST http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/563733/?sc=rssn A team of scientists estimated net global warming potential for three grazing management systems located in central North Dakota. The results indicate that grazinglands are strong sinks of soil organic carbon and minor sinks of methane, but small to moderate sources of nitrous oxide. Mon May 17 13:06:57 2010 EST http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ian-welsh/global-warming-a-localize_b_578065.html The majority of the American population now thinks that global warming probably doesn't exist. Part of that is the huge amount of money which has... Mon May 17 13:06:57 2010 EST http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/18/business/energy-environment/18iht-renotec.html?src=busln Generating renewable energy from the ocean through Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion has been studied for nearly a century. Now, several companies are working toward commercial projects. Mon May 17 13:06:57 2010 EST http://e360.yale.edu/content/digest.msp?id=2418 Two studies, one in Lake Tanganyika in Africa and the other in the River Wye in Wales, indicate that rising water temperatures are causing fish populations to decline. Researchers from Brown University and the University of Arizona, said core samples from Lake Tanganyika - the second-deepest lake in the world - show that surface water temperatures in the lake are the highest they've been in 1,500 years. Now roughly 80 degrees F, the higher surface temperatures intensify temperature stratification in the lake and inhibit upwelling of cool waters and nutrients. The study, published in Nature Geoscience, showed that over the centuries warmer lake temperatures led to less production of algae and other marine organisms, which impact fish populations. Mon May 17 13:06:57 2010 EST http://e360.yale.edu/content/feature.msp?id=2274 Is human activity altering the planet on a scale comparable to major geological events of the past? Scientists are now considering whether to officially designate a new geological epoch to reflect the changes that homo sapiens have wrought: the Anthropocene. BY ELIZABETH KOLBERT Mon May 17 13:06:57 2010 EST http://www.smh.com.au/business/were-falling-behind-with-credible-policy-20100516-v6ez.html Las Vegas SunWe're falling behind with credible policySydney Morning HeraldLimiting global warming to 2 degrees, and stabilising gas concentrations at 450ppm CO2e, won't prevent dangerous climate change. ...Questions posed for Kerry, Lieberman on new climate-energy billWEBCommentaryUtilities see bright side to new Senate energy legislationLas Vegas SunHour of Choosing Arrives: American Power Act IntroducedEnergy Collective (blog)Natural Resources Defense Council (blog)all 71 Mon May 17 13:06:57 2010 EST http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-dice-now-dangerously-loaded-leading-scientist-1974287.html Evidence for global warming has mounted but public awareness of the threat has shrunk, due to a cold northern winter and finger-pointing at the UN's climate experts, a top scientist warned Wednesday. Mon May 17 13:06:57 2010 EST http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10928/s/a90abc0/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Carticle0Cdn189170Ewhat0Ethe0Eclimate0Ebill0Emeans0Efor0Ethe0Eus0Eway0Eof0Elife0Bhtml0DDCMP0FOTC0Erss0Gnsref0Fclimate0Echange/story01.htm The American Power Act would at last set limits on US greenhouse gas emissions " here's what it could mean for you, wherever you live Mon May 17 13:06:57 2010 EST http://energybulletin.net/node/52827 Like the Indo-Aryan God Shiva, Destroyer of Worlds, marine ecologist Jeremy Jackson is here to turn your comfortable, complacent Mental World upside-down. He's able to do that because we are destroying the Physical World-in this case, the Earth's Oceans. read more Mon May 17 13:06:57 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/YaleEnvironment360/~3/WF8xWZ6xPRI/digest.msp The successful development of the controversial oil sands in Canada has prompted oil companies to invest in similar operations elswhere, including Russia, Venezuela, the Congo, and Madagascar, according to a new report. With the price of crude oil rising, companies - including BP and Shell - are increasingly looking to so-called 'unconventional' oil deposits similar to the massive resources of bituminous sands found in Alberta, according to the report by the environmental group, Friends of the Earth. While Canada remains the only major center of oil sands production, BP is beginning to tap into deposits in Venezuela - which has the world's second-biggest supply - and Shell is targeting a reserve in Tatarstan in the Russian Federation. Mon May 17 13:06:57 2010 EST http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/17/world-warm-chicago-cooling/ The planet is warming, but not in Chicago. Mon May 17 13:06:57 2010 EST http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90777/90856/6986646.html Climate change posed an obstacle to the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), Spanish Secretary of State for International Cooperation Soraya Rodriguez said Saturday. Rodriguez made the remarks while introducing a debate session that will be held here Sunday ahead of the European Union-Latin America and the Caribbean (EU-LAC) Summit. Rodriguez forests had disappeared in large parts of Latin ... Mon May 17 13:06:57 2010 EST http://www.oregonlive.com/business/index.ssf/2010/05/drought_forces_klamath_basin_f.html Rain and snow fell outside on a recent Monday, but inside Rice Feed Supply Store, the conversation, ironically, was about this year's drought. Mon May 17 13:06:57 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_8664000/8664313.stm The leader of the team which found the hole in the earth's protective ozone layer has urged world leaders to do more to safeguard the environment. Speaking to BBC News on the 25th anniversary of the reporting of the hole, Dr Joe Farman said the environment was still being recklessly damaged in many ways. He criticised politicians for failing to lead on issues like climate change - it was "damned stupid" to keep increasing emissions of CO2 when we know it is a warming gas, he said. Mon May 10 09:33:25 2010 EST 11th May 2010 http://www.bookofgreen.co.uk/news/?p=1253 The climate crisis needs plenty of quality debate, around how best we should respond to a very urgent situation, but it does not need disgraceful distortions, and those who commit them (on either side) should have no legitimate part. Climate scientists are under pressure to be 100% accurate. Yesterday evening (7pm on May 5th) 'Carbon Coach' Dave Hampton resigned publicly from Fellowship of the RSA, in protest at the President (Prince Philip)'s choice of Bjorn Lomborg for The 2010 President's Lecture. He walked out, during question time, after asking the following question of the Duke of Edinburgh ... Mon May 10 09:33:25 2010 EST http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2262635/bladeless-wind-turbine-market Jessica Shankleman, BusinessGreen , Friday 7 May 2010 at 09:57:00 Startup argues quiet and enclosed new design will appeal to those who traditionally object to wind turbines A "bladeless" wind turbine that has been designed to pacify protestors who dislike the visual and noise impact of traditional three-blade turbines could soon be launched. US startup Solar Aero Research claims its soon-to-be ... Mon May 10 09:33:25 2010 EST http://www.theborneopost.com/?p=28432 KOTA KINABALU: Sabah is well positioned to help Malaysia become a global player in green technology, but this can only be done if serious steps are taken to develop renewable energy, including from biomass. Mon May 10 09:33:25 2010 EST http://www.bellona.org/articles/articles_2010/new_greek_bill ATHENS On April 27th the plenary of the Greek parliament approved in principle a new renewable energy sources (RES) bill introduced by the Ministry of Environment, Energy Climate Change. Mon May 10 09:33:25 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/50jJX3fgVyc/ The Nobel-Prize-winning former VP has an article in The New Republic, 'The Crisis Comes Ashore: Why the oil spill could change everything.' Here are some excerpts: The continuing undersea gusher of oil 50 miles off the shores of Louisiana is not the only source of dangerous uncontrolled pollution spewing into the environment. Worldwide, the amount of man-made CO2 being spilled every three seconds into the thin shell of atmosphere surrounding the planet equals the highest current estimate of the amount of oil spilling from the Macondo well every day. Indeed, the average American coal-fired power generating plant gushes more than three times as much global-warming pollution into the atmosphere each day-and there are over 1,400 of them. Mon May 10 09:33:25 2010 EST http://www.joabbess.com/2010/05/06/bringing-perspective/ Bringing Perspective Is BP plc a Sustainable Business ? An assessment of BP plc's performance in relation to their climate change impact, and their approach towards ensuring both environmental sustainability and corporate survival. by Jo Abbess 29 April 2010 INTRODUCTION The Research Question This piece of research seeks to assess how BP plc is making adaptations in its corporate strategy, in view of the risks to its operations posed by Climate Change policy, and in the context of Peak Oil production and the subsequent inevitable Peak in Natural Gas. Theories and Propositions The author of this research has the view that over the course of the next 50 years, due to limits on supplies of good quality fossil fuels, and to avoid the risks of dangerous climate change from global warming, the world economy must de-carbonise, and entirely replace its sources of energy and fuel with low ... Mon May 10 09:33:25 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/may/06/british-summer-coming-early Scientists say onset of British summer has become increasingly early in the last 50 years, consistent with global warmingBritain is broke and the bank holiday weekend was a washout, but scientists at Sheffield University have some rare good news in these uncertain times: summer is coming earlier each year.According to a new study, the English summer arrives some 18 days sooner than during the late 1950s, when Harold Macmillan succeeded Anthony Eden in No 10 and announced: "We have a difficult task before us in this country, all of us."Grant Bigg and Amy Kirbyshire of the department of geography at Sheffield University examined temperature records of central England over recent decades, together with observations of 140 types of summer flowering plant, such as geraniums and roses, and when they came into bloom.To determine the onset of summer, they looked for the third day of each year when ... Mon May 10 09:33:25 2010 EST http://www.accuweather.com/blogs/news/story/31245/2000s_warmest_decade_on_record.asp 2000s warmest decade on record; 2009 fifth warmest yearAccuWeather.com (blog)Extreme warm periods were observed in Australia, southern South America and southern Asia, with Australia experiencing a record-breaking heatwave. ...and more Mon May 10 09:33:25 2010 EST http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=51356 BAMAKO, May 7 (IPS) - Villagers in the interior delta of the Niger River, already experiencing the harsh impacts of climate change, have a good understanding of the need to restore forests decimated by drought. Where forest cover has been rehabilitated, it is already reshaping the surrounding environment - and economy. Mon May 10 09:33:25 2010 EST http://www.desmogblog.com/freak-rain-storm-hits-arctic-another-sign-climate-disruption 753f941a-49b8-4627-8276-3a3b8949a210.png While the Gulf of Mexico continues to choke on oil from a man-made disaster, the Arctic is experiencing another form of man-made onslaught thanks to climate change. Late last month, British explorers hiking in the Canadian Arctic reported that their ice base off Ellef Ringnes Island had been hit by a three-minute rain shower. A team of Canadian scientists camped about 145 km west also reported being hit by rain at the same time.Pen Hadow, the British team's expedition director, told Reuters, "It's definitely a shocker ... the general feeling within the polar community is that rainfall in the high Canadian Arctic in April is a freak event." Hadow, whose team is gathering data on the effects of climate change on the Arctic Ocean in the Catlin Arctic Survey, said that "scientists would tell us that ... Mon May 10 09:33:25 2010 EST http://www.desmogblog.com/nas-scientists-stop-mccarthy-ist-attacks-climate-researchers "We call for an end to McCarthy-like threats of criminal prosecution against our colleagues based on innuendo and guilt by association, the harassment of scientists by politicians seeking distractions to avoid taking action, and the outright lies being spread about them." <!--break--> Mon May 10 09:33:25 2010 EST http://energybulletin.net/node/52728 There is a horrible paper in this week's Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, which looks at how the limits of human physiology interact with upper-range global warming scenarios. The bottom line conclusion is that there is a small - of order 5% - risk of global warming creating a situation in which a large fraction of the planet was uninhabitable (in the sense that if you were outside for an extended period during the hottest days of the year, even in the shade with wet clothing, you would die). read more Mon May 10 09:33:25 2010 EST http://energybulletin.net/52714 It's called biochar, and if you believe its most ardent supporters, then this unassuming, fine black powder is a vital tool in the solutions to some of humanity's most urgent ecological threats, including climate change, peak oil, soil degradation and water pollution due to agrochemicals. However, if you side with biochar's staunch opponents, then it seems like a fledgling, poorly understood technology with real risks, including the displacement of entire communities and the serious jeopardizing of world food security and biodiversity. Which view is correct? read more Mon May 10 09:33:25 2010 EST http://energybulletin.net/node/52701 It gives me the greatest pleasure this morning to launch the Totnes Energy Descent Action Plan website. The site makes the full version of the UK's first EDAP freely available, invites comments and discussion, and will act as a dynamic portal for people to discuss the Plan and reshape subsequent revisions. read more Mon May 10 09:33:25 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/b9vCQh2NmM4/ There has been a lot of confusion about the environmental impact of chemically dispersing oil. I interviewed one of the country's foremost authorities on the subject for a piece in Salon, which they headlined 'Is BP's remedy for the spill only making it worse?' I have had a great interest in what we are doing to our oceans since I spent more than two years researching my Ph.D. thesis at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. So I'm always delighted to talk to true experts on the subject like Carys Mitchelmore, a professor at the University of Maryland's Chesapeake Biological Laboratory. Mon May 10 09:33:25 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/I7OvK8qzujI/ Last week, progressive veterans organization VoteVets.org released an ad arguing that 'a clean energy climate plan would cut our dependence on foreign oil in half and cut oil profits for hostile nations.' The ad asserts that 'every day, Iran gets $100 million richer selling oil around the world and peddling hate.' TP has the story. While CNN and MSNBC have aired the ad, Fox News is refusing to do so. Politico reports Fox apparently found the ad 'too confusing.' Watch the 'confusing' ad: There is nothing confusing about the ad. VoteVets' assertion that hostile nations profit off our oil dependence is based on a Wonk Room analysis that finds, under the a strong carbon cap regime which restrains U.S. Mon May 10 09:33:25 2010 EST http://www.theecologist.org/investigations/science_and_technology/477795/could_open_source_technologies_help_us_solve_climate_change.html 'Open source' is a familiar concept to many web users, providing free, well-supported software across the internet. But could the same principles be used to rapidly disseminate low-carbon technologies around the world? Mon May 10 09:33:25 2010 EST http://www.mondaq.com/unitedstates/article.asp?articleid=100010 A. Comer v. Murphy Oil It is not currently known which judge made the latest decision to recuse and the reason for it. Seven members of the court (Jones, King, Wiener, Garza, Benavides, Southwick, and Haynes) had previously recused themselves from the case. Mon May 10 09:33:25 2010 EST http://www.scidev.net/en/news/cameras-to-settle-himalayan-glacier-dispute.html [KATHMANDU] Cameras being installed high in the Nepal Himalayas will help settle the issue of whether and how fast glaciers in the high mountain region are retreating or advancing. Mon May 10 09:33:25 2010 EST http://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.co.uk/2010/05/06/warming_low_hanging_fruit/ Federal boffins insist heat tree be picked bare, though Government-funded boffins in the USA say that "low-hanging fruit" plans to tackle climate change must be considered alongside CO 2 reductions: in particular they say that emissions of black soot and shortlived greenhouse gases must be tackled in order to offset the warming caused by clean-air regulations. Mon May 10 09:33:25 2010 EST http://feeds.grist.org/click.phdo?i=00aad4846bce3cfd2890b33dcc9ed3e7 by Eric Roston First things first: Let's first pause for a moment to recognize where we are. Three U.S. Senators took the mantle for climate and climate leadership in this Congress, Senators John Kerry (D-Mass.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.). Over a series of many months, involving many colleagues, many industries, and many advocacy groups, they emerged with the seed of a new deal that might satisfy competing constituencies. The framework (reportedly) has something for everyone, a cost for emitting greenhouse gases, expanded nuclear power, and offshore oil exploration. Mon May 10 09:33:25 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/YaleEnvironment360/~3/-XeSU310V6k/digest.msp Every day since Jan. 1, 1896, a consistent record of temperature has been kept by a single family and its friends at The Mohonk Preserve, a resort and nature area 90 miles north of New York City. The record, maintained for the National Weather Service, is a rare one - 114 years of readings taken on a daily basis, in the same, shaded spot, in protected surroundings that have not changed. The results, reported in the Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology, reveal significant trends: from 1896 to 2006 (the end-point of a recent study), temperatures went up 2.63 degrees F. Mon May 10 09:33:25 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/YaleEnvironment360/~3/QRqBx8UvpX0/digest.msp Australian researchers have ranked the world's nations based on their environmental impact using seven key indicators, including forest loss, habitat conversion, greenhouse gas emissions, and species loss. The top 10 countries in terms of environmental impact are Brazil, the United States, China, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, India, Russia, Australia, and Peru. After correlating the ranking with socio-economic variables, the researchers found that total wealth was the most important factor driving environmental impact. 'The richer a country, Click to enlargeUniversity of AdelaideNations ranked on environmental impact the greater its average environmental impact,' said Corey Bradshaw, director of the University of Adelaide's Environment Institute and lead author of the study, which was published in the journal PLoS ONE. Mon May 10 09:33:25 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/YaleEnvironment360/~3/zfNu0ZLoZ2s/digest.msp Saying 'the true burden of environmentally induced cancers gas been grossly underestimated,' a White House cancer panel has urged President Obama 'to use the power of your office to remove the carcinogens and other toxins from our food, water, and air that needlessly increase health care costs, cripple our nation's productivity, and devastate American lives.' The 240-page report by the President's Cancer Panel, appointed by former President George W. Bush, is the first to focus on the environmental causes of cancer, which it says are ubiquitous. The panel cited threats ranging from such substances as bisphenol A - widely used in plastic bottles and can linings - to benzene in vehicle exhaust. Mon May 10 09:33:25 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/YaleEnvironment360/~3/rVGgoxuSWLM/digest.msp Carbon dioxide emissions in the U.S. dropped a record 7 percent in 2009, due in large part to the economic recession. Meanwhile, in Europe more than 500 mayors vowed a 20 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020. U.S. greenhouse gas emissions declined by more than 400 million tons last year, according to an annual report by the U.S. Energy Information Administration. It was the largest annual reduction since the U.S. started keeping such records 60 years ago. 'While emissions have declined in three out of the last four years, 2009 was exceptional,' according to the report by the EIA, part of the U.S. Mon May 10 09:33:25 2010 EST http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10928/s/a5a2566/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Carticle0Cmg20A6275930B40A0A0Edesigning0Eleaves0Efor0Ea0Ewarmer0Ecrowded0Eworld0Bhtml0DDCMP0FOTC0Erss0Gnsref0Fclimate0Echange/story01.htm The genetic controls of leaf shape could allow us to boost crop yields, meet the challenge of feeding the world and adapt to climate change Mon May 10 09:33:25 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news192450573.html Currently the yearly General Assembly of the European Geological Union takes place in Vienna, Austria. Dr. Olaf Eisen from the German Alfred Wegener Institute presents results from an environmentally friendly measurement method that he and his colleagues used on an Antarctic ice-shelf for the first time in early 2010. It supplies data that are input to models for the ice mass balance and thus permit better forecasting of future changes in the sea level. Mon May 10 09:33:25 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news192450866.html (PhysOrg.com) -- Australia's failure to accurately measure and predict emissions from deforestation, and the difficulty it has had in reducing deforestation, should send a warning signal to the world, according to a study from The Australian National University. Mon May 10 09:33:25 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news192371472.html Two hundred fifty-five members of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, including 11 Nobel Prize laureates, have joined together to defend the rigor and objectivity of climate science. Their statement, "Climate Change and the Integrity of Science," will be published in the journal Science on May 7, 2010 as the Lead Letter, along with a supporting editorial. Mon May 10 09:33:25 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/IDouZKhHA0Q/idUSTRE6471A920100508 BEIJING (Reuters) - China's top climate negotiator said on Saturday although progress had been made in negotiations for a new accord to combat global warming, there was still some distance to go before a binding deal could be secured. Mon May 10 09:33:25 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/coKC97I_EE4/idUSTRE6454P920100507 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House said on Friday the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico showed the need for climate change and energy legislation, dismissing calls from a Republican backer of the bill to hold off. Mon May 10 09:33:25 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/fnFPbbfWO5o/idUSTRE64658320100507 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senators John Kerry and Joseph Lieberman on Friday said they will make public on Wednesday the details of a compromise climate change and energy bill. Mon May 10 09:33:25 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/3nIHZ_C8svw/idUSTRE64561H20100506 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - More than 250 U.S. scientists on Thursday defended climate change research against "political assaults" and warned that any delay in tackling global warming heightens the risk of a planet-wide catastrophe. Mon May 10 09:33:25 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/kF7UqYm9ZM4/idUSTRE6455FU20100506 NEW YORK (Reuters) - A La Nina weather phenomenon, the lesser-known cousin of the more famous El Nino weather anomaly, will most likely develop in the second half of 2010, the U.S. Climate Prediction Center said Thursday. Mon May 10 09:33:25 2010 EST http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/266/f/3780/s/a5b0ff2/l/0L0Sindependent0O0Cnews0Cscience0Cthe0Echance0Ediscovery0Ethat0Eaverted0Eecological0Edisaster0E196450A0A0Bhtml/story01.htm It was perceived as one of the greatest environmental threats of the late-20th century. Twenty-five years ago this month, a hole in the ozone layer was detected high in the atmosphere over the frozen wastes of Antarctica; scientists warned it might spread to other parts of the world, leading to dangerous increases in cancer-causing radiation from the Sun. Mon May 10 09:33:25 2010 EST http://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.co.uk/2010/05/06/german_synthetic_natural_gas/ Megawatt trial: Could be huge for renewables, nuclear Remorseless German and Austrian boffins have a cunning new plan which could be good news for cutting down on fossil fuel use: they can make "synthetic natural gas" using electric power, water and carbon dioxide. Mon May 10 09:33:25 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/shell/lloC/~3/4ZuRMY6Y0i0/ The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is a tragic event, no one can deny that. As BP responds to the immediate impact, the effect could be industry wide both short and long term. In the short term industry resources are on hand to assist in stopping the leak and cleaning up. Industry participants, including Shell, will also be relooking at their operations to see what improvements can be made " even before the investigation into this event gets underway and the root cause is identified. When such an event occurs it is also important to put it in perspective. Mon May 10 09:33:25 2010 EST http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/06/scientists-lash-at-mccarthy-like-threats/ Scientists lash out after months of unsubstantiated assaults on the integrity of climate research. Mon May 10 09:33:25 2010 EST http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/07/tape-exposes-rich-poor-tussle-in-copenhagen/ A German paper releases recordings disclosing the turbulent final hours in Copenhagen as world leaders debated a climate accord. Mon May 10 09:33:25 2010 EST http://nqr.farmonline.com.au/news/nationalrural/agribusiness-and-general/general/chinese-lash-pm-on-emissions-inaction/1823445.aspx?src=rss A LEADING Chinese government adviser has criticised the gap between Kevin Rudd's action and rhetoric on climate change, saying he has reduced the chance that the world can curb global warming before it is too late. Mon May 10 09:33:25 2010 EST http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/851/f/10847/s/a607b8d/l/0L0Sirishtimes0N0Cnewspaper0Cfinance0C20A10A0C0A50A70C12242698656290Bhtml/story01.htm GOVERNMENT PLANS to tax windfall profits earned by power companies from free carbon credits could be open to a legal challenge. Mon May 10 09:33:25 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/blogs/environment/~3/EPs7d8ELxNg/ In this video blog posted by Regan Nelson, a senior oceans advocate with the Natural Resources Defence Council (NRDC), dolphins are shown swimming in the murky waters containing chemically-dispersed oil off the Gulf of Mexico. BP engineers were using undersea robots on Friday to try to stem the continued leak of 5000 barrels of oil a day from the ruptured oil well about a mile underwater. Wildlife rescue teams were on standby as potential calamity faces the region's birds, sea turtles and marine mammals. The BP oil spill is reported to be the latest in a string of environmental insults to the U.S. Mon May 10 09:33:25 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/blogs/environment/~3/3waPsABEcFQ/ " Rona Fried, Ph.D., is CEO of SustainableBusiness.com, a news and networking site for green businesses: including a green jobs service. Any views expressed here are her own. - Over the past 30 years, four U.S. presidents chose to continue down the fossil fuel path of least resistance instead of investing heavily in energy efficiency and renewable energy " the only long-term solutions that can avoid catastrophic oil spills like the one we are witnessing today. We have all the technology to transition to a clean economy that gives us the energy we need without destroying biodiversity, ecosystems, human life and the economy. Mon May 10 09:33:25 2010 EST http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/westcoastnews/story.html?id=a2b06c5f-b792-433e-8fd1-fd98146d2960&k=76297 Environment Minister Barry Penner warned Friday of possible drought for parts of British Columbia this summer. Mon May 10 09:33:25 2010 EST http://www.registerguard.com/csp/cms/sites/web/news/cityregion/24771317-46/bpa-power-rate-eweb-snowpack.csp The regions low snowpack this winter may cause local utilities to increase their electricity rates during the next few years. Citing the exceedingly low snowpack, the Bonne-ville Power Administration on Friday said it probably will finish the fiscal year with a $230 million shortfall, which could prompt it later to Mon May 10 09:33:25 2010 EST http://liberalconspiracy.org/2010/05/07/go-caroline-lucas/ Thank you, people of Brighton for making history! I have sympathy for the Labour candidate but this is a massive result for the Green movement and for left-wing politics in general. Well done to all the greenies who busted their guts campaigning in that constituency. The Green Party should be very happy with itself tonight after this breakthrough. Mon May 10 09:33:25 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/2/hi/uk_news/8669472.stm A drought is threatening to cut the much-anticipated Jersey Royal potato crop, growers warn. Mon May 10 09:33:25 2010 EST http://blogs.ft.com/energy-source/2010/05/05/are-you-a-secret-green-party-sympathiser/ Environmental issues were barely mentioned for the first weeks of the UK's general election campaign, although that changed when a couple of weeks back, when the main parties started talking about the 'green' sections of their manifesto. Many of the green promises are of the 'motherhood and apple pie' variety; as noted here previously, no-one is going to come out strongly against them. Many are uncosted and others are aspirations rather than firm policy goals. There is also a frustrating lack of detail, a feature of this election. But the green parts of the mainstream parties' manifestos only tell a small part of the story. Mon May 10 09:33:25 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/science_and_environment/10103179.stm Earth's ongoing loss of biodiversity and ecosystems losses may soon begin to hit economies, a UN report warns. Mon May 10 09:33:25 2010 EST http://www.desmogblog.com/prentice-world-i-told-you-so-tar-sands-extraction-less-badder-offshore-drilling Jim Prentice.jpg What did you learn from the recent oil spill off the coast of Louisiana? Canadian Environment Minster Jim Prentice learned that extraction from the tar sands is less risky than offshore drilling. "I think it's always been clear that the oil sands provide a safe, stable, secure supply of energy and they need to be developed in an environmentally responsible way. The risks associated with the oil sands, the environmental risks, are significantly different than, and probably less than the kind of risks associated with offshore drilling,' he said." Of course, he remains vigilant to the mandate of his office as, you know, the Environment Minister ... Mon May 10 09:33:25 2010 EST http://energybulletin.net/node/52754 A National Academy of Sciences expert panel will deliver a report on "Stabilization Targets for Atmospheric Greenhouse Gas Concentrations" this summer. Arguably the single most important document to be published in 2010, you probably haven't even heard about it. read more Mon May 10 09:33:25 2010 EST http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/12716715/1db6x1/alternet_environment~Robert-Reich-The-Almost-Crash-of-Wall-Street The questions of the day are: What happened? And what does it mean? Mon May 10 09:33:25 2010 EST http://feeds.grist.org/click.phdo?i=e4ef9171acd07815e1a9013ca558a4bf by David Roberts Last week, Josh Green had an op-ed in The Boston Globe called 'Even an oil spill won't move Washington,' which points out the bizarre fact that the BP Gulf oil disaster seems only to have entrenched politicians in their pre-existing positions. They asked me to write a short response for their website. I did, and it's called 'How Obama screwed up on climate change.' Here it is: --- Josh Green's assessment of the politics of the Gulf oil spill is grim but accurate. It's just the latest illustration of how sclerotic and rigid Senate politics have become. Mon May 10 09:33:25 2010 EST http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=51366 MELBOURNE, Australia, May 10 (IPS) - Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's Labor Party has made much of its plans to tackle climate change even before it came to power with victory in the country's 2007 election. Mon May 10 09:33:25 2010 EST http://www.joabbess.com/2010/05/09/windlings/ Methods of electricity storage are considered essential in grids that have large proportions of wind capacity. This is because, surprisingly, winds have been known to quieten down a bit from time to time. Some people take this fact too far. For example, there is the "Northern European Winter High Pressure" lobby, who continue to insist, in a number of forums, that low aerial flow entirely compromises wind energy expansion, just because there are several days in December or January that might be a little flat. A couple of examples :- Mon May 10 09:33:25 2010 EST http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/05/10/93815/duke-energy-cherokees-in-dispute.html The Kituwah mound may well be the most sacred spot in North Carolina. It was bestowed to the Cherokees by the Creator as the birthplace of the Cherokee nation, according to oral tradition. Cherokees compare Kituwah to the Garden of Eden, and even its panoramic view is considered sacred to all Cherokees. That land has become a site of contention between Duke Energy and the Cherokees. Duke Energy began clearing land on the other side of the river - but within view of Kituwah - in preparation for a regional equipment upgrade to boost power delivery to the region. Mon May 10 09:33:25 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/blogs/environment/~3/aFNKZZyZrzo/ Jean-Michel Cousteau, environmentalist, documentary producer and the son of ocean explorer Jacques-Yves Cousteau, urges a moratorium on offshore oil drilling as a result of the catastrophic oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico. In this video blog on the Ocean Futures Society website, he points to the spill and ongoing leak as fuel for the argument to embrace renewable energy and end dependence on fossil fuels as our primary energy source. Cousteau has produced over 70 films, including the documentary series Ocean Adventures in 2006. Mon May 10 09:33:25 2010 EST http://feeds.nature.com/~r/climate/rss/current/~3/yqQeDBSbcIU/climate.2010.41 New beginnings Nature Reports: Climate Change46 (2010). doi:10.1038/climate.2010.41 Author: Olive Heffernan Mon May 10 09:33:25 2010 EST http://resourceinsights.blogspot.com/2010/05/politically-impossible.html Last week I spoke before a very committed group of juniors and seniors taking a college class on sustainable cities. In our discussion I suggested that one approach to improving public transit would be 1) to end all subsidies for fossil fuels, cars and trucks including road building and repair subsidies and 2) to place very heavy taxes on fossil fuels and the use and ownership of roadway vehicles. This I conjectured would make private investment in and ownership of city transit and intercity passenger rail attractive (which is the way it used to be) and could lead to a relatively rapid buildout and improvement of such services. Mon May 10 09:33:25 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/evAsWy8Mh_k/idUSTRE6482AT20100509 OSLO (Reuters) - A glacier in Greenland slides up to 220 percent faster toward the sea in summer than in winter and global warming could mean a wider acceleration that would raise sea levels, according to a study published Sunday. Mon May 10 09:33:25 2010 EST http://www.countercurrents.org/foley090510.htm By Mickey Foley Its hard to convince people we are in the early stages of collapse when things are still pretty good. Only when we have trouble meeting our basic needs will we begin to seriously question and fundamentally reform our society. And I believe, passionately, that we need to begin this process ASAP, while there are still enough fossil fuels, water and other natural resources to support 6.8 billion people. So my message is this: Dont wait until the $#! hits the fan, because by then it could be too late Mon May 10 09:33:25 2010 EST http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/09/sweating-the-details-in-climate-discourse/ If you're searching for iconic images to stir the public on climate risks, it's good to make sure they're real. Mon May 10 09:33:25 2010 EST http://www.fijilive.com/news_new/index.php/news/show_news/25631 Renewable energy is no longer a choice but a vital necessity for all Pacific Island countries given the pressing issue of Climate Change, says Fijis Foreign Affairs Minister Ratu Inoke Kubuabola. Mon May 10 09:33:25 2010 EST http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/05/09/global-climate-change-talks-dead-end-china-reluctance-indian-minister/ BEIJING (AP) The chance of a climate change agreement this year is remote because the United States and China are unwilling to make more commitments during the talks, India's environment... Mon May 10 09:33:25 2010 EST http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90778/90862/6977942.html China needs more reasonable carbon emission quotas to buoy the nation's fast economic development amid the progressing industrialization and urbanization, said an official with the nation's top economic planner Sunday. Economic development is still a priority for China as it has to enable the 1.3 billion people to live decent lives, Su Wei, director of the climate change department of the ... Mon May 10 09:33:25 2010 EST http://uk.news.yahoo.com/18/20100510/tsc-un-fears-irreversible-damage-to-natu-7f9502d.html The UN warned on Monday that "massive" loss in life-sustaining natural environments was likely to deepen to the point of being irreversible after global targets to cut the decline by this year were missed. Mon May 10 09:33:25 2010 EST http:%2F%2Fwww.kansascity.com%2F2010%2F05%2F10%2F1935351%2Fspring-creep-ramifications.html Spring creep ramificationsKansas City StarClimate scientists have projected that human-induced global warming would make spring arrive earlier than normal, ...and more Mon May 10 09:33:25 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/world/africa/8658270.stm The ice cap on Uganda's highest peak has split because of global warming, the country's wildlife authority says. Wed May 05 13:07:31 2010 EST 3rd May 2010 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/iNaw1vfA6Z8/ Think Progress reports on the latest right-wing conspiracy to shift blame from Big Oil. As the scale of the disaster caused by the explosion at an oil rig off the coast of Louisiana became more apparent last week, right-wing radio talker Rush Limbaugh unleashed a conspiracy theory suggesting that someone intentionally blew up the rig in order to 'head off more oil drilling': LIMBAUGH: I want to get back to the timing of the blowing up, the explosion out there in the Gulf of Mexico of this oil rig .Now, lest we forget, ladies and gentlemen, the carbon tax bill, cap and trade that was scheduled to be announced on Earth Day. Wed May 05 13:07:31 2010 EST http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/12197288/1clbsj/alternet_environment~As-Oil-Disaster-Spreads-RightWing-Media-Promote-Sabotage-Conspiracy-Theory From Limbaugh to Fox News, right wingers spread the idea that BP's oil disaster is possibly deliberate. Wed May 05 13:07:31 2010 EST http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/12177335/1clbsj/alternet_environment~When-the-Numbers-Lie-Despite-What-Pollsters-Want-You-Think-Climate-Change-Remains-an-Important-Issue-for-the-Public But key parts of the media have reverted to their longstanding posture of scientific illiteracy and de facto complicity with the deniers' disinformation campaign. Wed May 05 13:07:31 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/may/03/offshore-windfarms-air-defence Ministry of Defence had previously opposed the erection of almost 1,000 wind turbines off the UK's eastern seaboard because of radar fearsOffshore windfarms will double as radar defence systems in a pioneering deal involving the Ministry of Defence, which previously opposed the erection of almost 1,000 wind turbines off the UK's eastern seaboard because of fears over their ability to scramble defensive radar.Wind energy projects across Britain have been held up for years because of planning disagreements, some concerned with interference from turbines that can baffle air-traffic control and defence systems, creating blind spots or "blackout zones" in coverage.The wind-driven turbine blades can rotate at up to 200mph, mimicking on-screen the appearance of slow-moving aircraft and showing up as a blur of images. Wed May 05 13:07:31 2010 EST http://feeds.grist.org/click.phdo?i=3cc9b358c176baff6c621fc1af6f8441 by Jonathan Hiskes Bill McKibben's new book Eaarth argues that our carbon pollution has already reshaped the planet enough that it deserves a new name. McKibben has been thinking hard about climate change for longer than almost anybody else, both as a writer and as an activist, and he doesn't sugarcoat the situation. He stopped by Grist's office in Seattle recently (he's a board member) for a frank conversation about where the world stands and what we can do about it. Q. You've been really busy over the last year organizing with 350.org. Wed May 05 13:07:31 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/Erx9K-iHkxg/idUSTRE6423XU20100503 OSLO (Reuters) - Governments must confront risks that the U.N.'s Kyoto Protocol for fighting climate change will collapse because of splits about a successor treaty, the U.N.'s top climate official said on Monday. Wed May 05 13:07:31 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/ALUqHqRfATQ/idUSTRE64303220100504 LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Organizers of a California ballot measure that would suspend the state's landmark climate change law, possibly for years, said on Monday they had enough signatures to qualify it for the November ballot. Wed May 05 13:07:31 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/QVCQU6yu6T4/idUSTRE6422X620100503 AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - A former president of Princeton University will lead a review of the U.N. panel of climate scientists after errors in a 2007 report used as a guide for fighting global warming, science academies said on Monday. Wed May 05 13:07:31 2010 EST http://resourceinsights.blogspot.com/2010/05/oil-spills-crime-waves-and-increasing.html Three recent developments are just the latest examples of the increasing militarization of American life: 1) The National Guard will now assist in the cleanup of the oil spill created in the aftermath of the explosion and subsequent sinking of a deepwater drilling platform off the Louisiana coast. 2) Several members of Congress are asking for a deployment of the National Guard along the U.S.-Mexican border. 3) Two Chicago area state legislators are now calling for the Illinois National Guard to assist Chicago police to quell a supposed wave of violent crime. At first blush readers might accept that these problems are all worthy of military intervention and perhaps beyond the capability of civil authorities to handle on their own. Wed May 05 13:07:31 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/YaleEnvironment360/~3/gqfDbFnO12w/digest.msp The Norwegian government has delayed until 2014 a highly touted project to capture and sequester carbon dioxide on a large scale, saying the project had become too complex to develop in the next several years. The project, to be located at Mongstad in western Norway and developed in conjunction with the oil firm Statoil, was designed to capture carbon on an industrial scale, proving that the technology could safely and effectively be used to sharply reduce carbon emissions from coal-burning power plants. The Norweigian Prime Minister, Jens Sotltenberg, had called the proposed Mongstad facility Norway's 'moonlanding' project. But the country's oil minister said that an industrial-scale sequestration project was not feasible at this time and should be revived in four years. Wed May 05 13:07:31 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/YaleEnvironment360/~3/7JFkJc7HJuQ/digest.msp Swiss researchers have successfully used laser pulses to create small clouds in the laboratory, a technology they say could possibly be used to create rain on demand. After firing short pulses of infrared laser light into a chamber filled with water-saturated air at -24 degrees C, scientists observed linear clouds in the laser's wake - similar to the jet contrails created by airplanes. In addition, they found the volume of condensed water droplets inside the chamber increased by half. Jér'me Kasparian, a researcher at the University of Geneva, Switzerland and lead author of the paper published in the journal Nature Photonics, said the laser stripped Jean-Pierre Wolf/University of GenevaVIDEO ... Wed May 05 13:07:31 2010 EST http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-20004016-54.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20 Google puts $38.8 million into two North Dakota wind farms to boost the supply of renewable energy and earn a return on its investment. Wed May 05 13:07:31 2010 EST http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1054257/1/.html SINGAPORE: Humankind has the ability to stave off climate change, but what is needed is political and legal will. Wed May 05 13:07:31 2010 EST http://www.euractiv.com/en/climate-environment/eu-makes-case-boosting-co2-reduction-target-30-news-493637 The economic slump has cut the cost of meeting the EU's current 2020 emission reduction target by nearly a third, making a move to a 30% cut affordable, according to a draft European Commission communication seen by EurActiv. Wed May 05 13:07:31 2010 EST http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100503/ap_on_sc/climate_6 Outgoing U.N. climate chief Yvo de Boer shot down expectations of a comprehensive climate treaty this year, saying Monday that a major U.N. conference in December would yield only a first answer on curbing greenhouse gases. Wed May 05 13:07:31 2010 EST http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/kyoto_dies_after_rudd_signs Cate Blanchett last year wrote in Time why Kevin Rudd deserved his place in the magazines list of the 100 most influential people in the Wed May 05 13:07:31 2010 EST http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-05/ci-ceo050310.php CO2 effects on plants increases global warmingEurekAlert (press release)For scientists trying to predict global climate change in the coming century, the study underscores the importance of including plants in their climate ...and more Wed May 05 13:07:31 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/U1FDgtdkjLE/idUSTRE6430RB20100504 BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Vans and light trucks should be fitted with mandatory speed limiters in the European Union to prevent them exceeding 120 km per hour and improve their fuel efficiency, according to an EU report. Wed May 05 13:07:31 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/science_and_environment/10095917.stm What effects will new ash plume have? Wed May 05 13:07:31 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/science_and_environment/10093904.stm The Gulf of Mexico oil slick could wreack carnage on birds, fish and manatees - but predicting whether it will is impossible. Wed May 05 13:07:31 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/Y3WX1YKipjI/ At least one worker who was on the oil rig at the time of the explosion on April 20, and who handled company records for BP, said the rig had been drilling deeper than 22,000 feet, even though the company's federal permit allowed it to go only 18,000 to 20,000 feet deep, the lawyers said. That's from a front-page story in the NY Times Tuesday with the mild headline, 'On Defensive, BP Readies Dome to Contain Spill.' The paper of record chose to publish this serious allegation of permit violation, but oddly didn't lead with them. Wed May 05 13:07:31 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/may/04/conservatives-climate-commitment Tories accused of 'shallow' support for green agenda after just four party candidates sign up to Friends of the Earth climate pledges campaign Listen to the live audio stream of Ed Miliband, Greg Clark and Simon Hughes debating climate change and energyThe depth of support for green policies in the Conservative party came under severe scrutiny today with the revelation that almost none of their prospective parliamentary candidates backed the simple environmental pledges of a voter-led campaign.Just four of the 635 Conservative candidates contacted gave their support to a quartet of pledges put to them by supporters of Friends of the Earth (FoE). Wed May 05 13:07:31 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/may/04/climatologist-mosley-thompson-warming-antarctica Earlier this year, climatologist Ellen Mosley-Thompson led an expedition to drill into glacial ice on the Antarctic Peninsula, one of the world's fastest-warming regions. Here, she describes what it's like working in the world's swiftly melting ice zonesEllen Mosley-Thompson and her husband, Lonnie Thompson, are two of the world's most respected climatologists and glaciologists, traveling around the globe to bore holes in shrinking glaciers and ice sheets. Mosley-Thompson works mainly at the poles, in Greenland and Antarctica, while her husband has done more ice corings of low-latitude glaciers - in the Andes, Africa, and the Himalayas - than any other person alive. Wed May 05 13:07:31 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/may/04/climate-bill-senate-us-states-emissions Climate proposals due to be unveiled before the Senate would strip 23 US states of their power to act on climate changeThe collapse of an energy reform proposal in Congress last week could return power to north America's historic actors on climate change: the regions.In Washington, even Barack Obama's fellow Democrats are reluctant to take up proposals in Congress that would put a cap on greenhouse gas emissions - prompting the sole Republican ally to withdraw his support.In Ottawa, Canada's prime minister, Stephen Harper, has adopted an action plan on climate change that would lead to an increase in greenhouse gas emissions over the next decade.By default, that leaves regional governments as the drivers for tougher action on climate change in what is now becoming a familiar role, the White House admits."If the states hadn't taken the positions they have in the last four or five ... Wed May 05 13:07:31 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/gallery/2010/may/04/top-10-ecocides A campaign to declare the mass destruction of ecosystems an international crime against peace has been launched in the UKShiona Tregaskis Wed May 05 13:07:31 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/katine/2010/may/04/bingu-wa-mutharika-food-security-africa As delegates prepare to meet at the World Economic Forum on Africa tomorrow, Bingu wa Mutharika, chairman of the African Union, explains why leaders need to work closer together to improve agriculture and food security across the continentThe president of Malawi has pledged to work with other African heads of state to devise a sustainable programme on food security and establish an advisory body to improve agriculture across the continent.Speaking ahead of the World Economic Forum on Africa, which begins in Tanzania tomorrow, Bingu wa Mutharika said he planned to work with other African leaders to devise a programme on food security that was sustainable "regardless of who is looking at it", and set up what he called an African compact on food security to act as an independent advisory body to the African Union (AU) on agriculture and food issues. Wed May 05 13:07:31 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/may/04/lorries-protest-pedestrian-crossing Dorset villager and fellow demonstrators use pedestrian crossing to stop traffic roaring through their villageAs direct action goes, it was pretty simple and low-tech but Tony Fuller's campaign against lorries steaming through his Dorset village has drawn attention to his cause.Fed up with lorry drivers " not to mention the commuters " zooming past, Fuller and his supporters have taken to repeatedly pressing the button at a pedestrian crossing, causing the lights to turn red and the traffic to rumble to a halt.The protest on Friday caused a four-mile tailback on the A35, the situation exacerbated by bank holiday traffic.Fuller said he and a further 20 protesters were warned by police. Wed May 05 13:07:31 2010 EST http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/05/03/93416/gulfs-seafood-producers-contemplate.html With fishing closed for at least 10 days from the Mississippi River to the Florida Panhandle, seafood producers and restaurant owners nationwide are worried about shortages. While fishermen in the potential path of the oil are preparing for the worst, it's still too early to calculate the potential effect it will have on seafood supplies and prices. Wed May 05 13:07:31 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news192168447.html (PhysOrg.com) -- Trees from the Harvard Forest to the Amazon rainforest are experiencing changing climactic conditions, with rising temperatures potentially making tropical trees a significant source of carbon dioxide. Wed May 05 13:07:31 2010 EST http://e360.yale.edu/content/digest.msp?id=2389 Earlier this year, climatologist Ellen Mosley-Thompson led an expedition to drill into glacial ice on the Antarctic Peninsula, one of the world's fastest-warming regions. Working for 42 days in frigid temperatures at 6,500 feet, Mosley-Thompson and her six-person team encountered numerous hardships and difficulties, including the loss of ice drills, before eventually boring 1,462 feet to bedrock. Mosley-Thompson's work is part of a larger research project analyzing the impact of the spectacular collapse of the Larsen B Ice Shelf in 2002 Ellen Mosley-Thompson and understanding that event in the context of Antarctica's climate history. Wed May 05 13:07:31 2010 EST http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/05/03/poll-says-australian-government-loses-support-shelving-climate-change-law/ CANBERRA, Australia (AP) Australia's ruling Labor Party is less popular than the conservative opposition for the first time in almost four years, an opinion poll indicated Tuesday, a wee... Wed May 05 13:07:31 2010 EST http://sl.farmonline.com.au/news/nationalrural/agribusiness-and-general/finance/back-new-energy-target-wong-urges-abbott/1819696.aspx?src=rss THE government is pressuring the opposition to back changes to another of its faltering climate change policies - the renewable energy target - in the wake of the ditched emissions trading scheme. Wed May 05 13:07:31 2010 EST http://www.saultstar.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2562878 As Sault Ste.[...] Wed May 05 13:07:31 2010 EST http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/321947,officials-downbeat-at-world-climate-conference-in-germany.html Berlin - A summit this year on cutting greenhouse gas emissions will again fail to agree on a global warming treaty, but it might make some progress on the issues, officials predicted Tuesday on the last day of climate talks in Bonn, Germany.... Wed May 05 13:07:31 2010 EST http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100504/ap_on_sc/climate_7 Some 40 nations at a high-level climate meeting have made headway toward a pact to curb global warming, but the most important issues remain unresolved, Germany's environment minister said Tuesday. Wed May 05 13:07:31 2010 EST http://dietsoap.podomatic.com/entry/eg/2010-04-29T01_44_38-07_00 Frank Rotering is the guest this week and we discuss his Economics of Needs and Limits, the limits of Marxism, and the timidity of the intellectual class especially in regards to the official story of 911. Wed May 05 13:07:31 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science_and_environment/10096649.stm Over-fishing means UK trawlers have to work 17 times as hard for the same fish catch as 120 years ago, a study shows. Wed May 05 13:07:31 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/tp7yQz4SQMk/ buy my book, Straight Up: America's Fiercest Climate Blogger Takes on the Status Quo Media, Politicians, and Clean Energy Solutions. Traffic is up 50% as Climate Progress has been providing readers the most comprehensive coverage on the BP oil disaster - from the causes to the human impacts to the policy implications - for free! So I thought I'd take the opportunity to plug my book, which devotes an entire chapter to peak oil and what to do about it, and another to the 'clean energy solution.' In other chapters, the book explains how the media and the anti-science disinformers have undercut efforts to mobilize the kind of political effort the country needs to dramatically reduce fossil fuel use once and for all. Wed May 05 13:07:31 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/cif-green/2010/may/05/general-election-2010-green-party I urge everyone who understands the precipice on which we all stand to be highly tactical with their vote Parties' green policies shown to be science fiction National carbon calculator: Can you cut UK emissions?Many a politician is claiming that this is the most important election for a generation. I'd go further: it's the most important UK election ever. The government we elect tomorrow is the last that could still prevent catastrophic climate change, causing the greatest humanitarian disaster of all time. To give ourselves even a 50/50 chance of avoiding a global temperature rise of two degrees " at which point it's thought that unstoppable runaway climate change will be triggered " we must stabilise global emissions by 2015. Wed May 05 13:07:31 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/may/05/caroline-lucas-green-votes The other parties are chasing our share of the vote " but only the Greens can bring about lasting environmental reformsGordon Brown has been appealing to voters' "moral convictions" during his last-ditch tour of threatened Labour seats. Nick Clegg tried to reach out to Tory voters in an interview with the Financial Times. Meanwhile, in Tory-Labour marginals, Ed Balls and Peter Hain have asked Lib Dem supporters to "bite their lip'' and vote Labour.This is being sold to the electorate as "smart" voting, rather than by its real name of tactical voting. Tactical voting is against official Labour party policy, which is to support the Labour candidate where there is one standing.They don't just want each others' vote, they're after the Green vote. Wed May 05 13:07:31 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/may/05/greens-window-opportunity-brighton Brighton's windows are plastered with Green posters, but it's still an open race as voters wrestle with tactical choicesIf windows were votes, Caroline Lucas would be borne to Westminster this Friday on the kind of majority rarely seen these days outside North Korea. On a 10-minute walk through the south of Brighton this morning, my tally of households displaying election posters was Conservative, 0; Lib Dem, 2; Labour, 3; Greens, 26. All over downtown Brighton, the splashes of fluorescent green are making houses look as though they're wearing high-visibility vests.But windows aren't votes, and southern Brighton is only half of the Pavilion constituency. Wed May 05 13:07:31 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/may/05/grand-ole-opry-closed-flooding Spiritual home of American country music forced to relocate after record-breaking rains hit Nashville, TennesseeThe Grand Ole Opry, considered the spiritual home of American country music, is underwater. The legendary Nashville venue has been closed due to serious flooding, with water levels reaching at least three feet high (one metre) " and possibly covering the stage.Record-breaking rains have led to flooding across Tennessee, and the rising Cumberland river has caused the closure of numerous Nashville buildings. However, no institution is as esteemed as the Opry, a weekly country revue, located at its current site since 1974. Officials do not yet know how long the Opry will be closed, nor how much damage has been sustained. Wed May 05 13:07:31 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/gallery/2010/may/05/france-flooding High winds cause flooding in south-eastern France Wed May 05 13:07:31 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2010/may/05/labour-tories-carbon-calculator Economic growth is incompatible with cutting carbon emissions, most of which are produced by manufacturing and consumption National Carbon Calculator: Can you cut UK emissions? See how the Liberal Democrats, the Conservatives and Labour would cut emissionsIt's not surprising that neither Labour nor the Tories wanted to run the Guardian's National Carbon Calculator. Had they done so, they would have had to acknowledge that the figures on which they base their climate change policies are a work of science fiction. The government claims that our total emissions amount to 627 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent (MtCO2e). The Tories have never disputed this figure. Wed May 05 13:07:31 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/may/05/climate-scientists-ian-mcewan-solar Climate scientist Stefan Rahmstorf reviews Ian McEwan's new climate change novel, SolarThe new novel Solar by Ian McEwan, Britain's "national author" (as many call him) tackles the issue of climate change. I should perhaps start my review with a disclosure: I'm a long-standing fan of McEwan and have read all of his novels, and I am also mentioned in the acknowledgements of Solar. I met McEwan in Potsdam and we had some correspondence while he wrote his novel. Our recent book The Climate Crisis quotes a page of McEwan as its Epilogue. And of course I'm not a literature critic but a scientist. Wed May 05 13:07:31 2010 EST http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/environment/flora-fauna/Heat-wave-claims-crocodiles-in-Chhattisgarh-zoo-/articleshow/5869139.cms Heat wave claims crocodiles in Chhattisgarh zooTimes of IndiaRAIPUR: A pair of crocodiles were victims of a heat wave at a zoo in Chhattisgarh where the maximum temperature has touched 45 degrees Celsius, ...Heat stroke claims crocodile pair in Raipur zooDaily News AnalysisHeat claims crocodile pair in Raipur zooPress Trust of Indiaall 13 Wed May 05 13:07:31 2010 EST http://www.nature.com/climate/2010/1005/full/climate.2010.32.html Baleen whales, a new study finds, have a key role in making iron available in the Southern Ocean, where it is typically in short supply. Some scientists have proposed adding iron to surface waters in the region to boost phytoplankton growth, which would draw down carbon into the deep ocean. The new discovery thus suggests that recovery of baleen whales - a group of extremely endangered species - could be another means of sequestering carbon. A team of scientists led by Stephen Nicol of the Australian Antarctic Division in Tasmania analysed 27 faecal samples taken from four species of baleen whale and found that the whale faeces contained, on average, ten million times more iron than Antarctic sea water. Wed May 05 13:07:31 2010 EST http://www.nature.com/climate/2010/1005/full/climate.2010.33.html The Greenland ice sheet has been rapidly losing mass in recent years, with glaciers spitting large chunks of ice out into the ocean. New research shows that, since 2005, this ice loss has spread from the south of Greenland all the way to the northwest coast. A team of European and US researchers led by Shfaqat Abbas Khan of the National Space Institute in Copenhagen, Denmark, used global positioning system (GPS) measurements and data from NASA's gravity recovery and climate experiment (GRACE) satellites to observe changes in the mass of the Greenland ice sheet. The GPS measurements, taken at three bedrock sites near the ice sheet, were used to calculate 'crustal uplift' caused by ice mass loss along the coast. Wed May 05 13:07:31 2010 EST http://www.nature.com/climate/2010/1005/full/climate.2010.34.html British plants have responded to rising temperatures in the past quarter-century by flowering early, finds a new study. Although numerous studies have reported changes in the timing of spring events in response to climate change, the new report documents changes across plant communities throughout the whole of the United Kingdom. A team of scientists led by Tatsuya Amano of the National Institute for Agro-Environmental Sciences in Japan analysed almost 400,000 records of first flowering dates for 405 species across the UK. The records, which extend back to 1760, come from a variety of sources, including a national network of amateur botanists organized by the UK Woodland Trust. Wed May 05 13:07:31 2010 EST http://www.nature.com/climate/2010/1005/full/climate.2010.40.html Streams and rivers across the United States have warmed significantly over the past few decades, a trend that could be detrimental to the nation's aquatic ecosystems. A team of ecologists and hydrologists led by Sujay Kaushal at the University of Maryland analysed historical records of water temperature for 40 streams and rivers throughout the US. The records, which came from the US Geological Survey, ranged in length from 24 to 100 years, and all continued to at least the year 2000. About half of the waterways analysed showed a significant warming trend. The most rapid warming was measured in the Delaware River, at almost 0.08 °C per year. Wed May 05 13:07:31 2010 EST http://www.nature.com/climate/2010/1005/full/climate.2010.37.html In his new book, environmentalist Bill McKibben says we must abandon the notion that economic growth and environmental sustainability are compatible - only then can we prevent a climate catastrophe. Interview by Christine Woodside. Wed May 05 13:07:31 2010 EST http://www.nature.com/climate/2010/1005/full/climate.2010.38.html In 2002, the world's governments agreed to significantly slow the rate of biodiversity loss by 2010. Time is almost up, and by most accounts they've failed. Now that climate change is emerging as one of biodiversity's greatest threats, scientists are proposing new ways to tackle the crisis. Hannah Hoag reports. Wed May 05 13:07:31 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/BIjirVRfFtw/ Gulf Coast marine scientists agree that the unfolding oil disaster could mean devastation beyond human comprehension. Wonk Room's Brad Johnson has the story in this repost. In an exclusive interview with the Wonk Room, a team of scientists from the University of Southern Mississippi's Gulf Coast Research Laboratory in Ocean Springs, MS, discussed the ecological impacts of a three-month blowout from the BP-Halliburton Deepwater Horizon exploratory rig, described as the expected timeline for 'ultimate relief' of the leak by Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar. None of the scientists even wanted to attempt to imagine the coming devastation, because, as ichthyologist Jeff Hoffmayer said, 'oil is bad for everything' that lives in the ocean. Wed May 05 13:07:31 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news192273328.html (AP) -- America is seeing the usually hidden costs of fossil fuels - an oil spill's potential for huge environmental and economic damage, and deaths in coal and oil industry accidents. Wed May 05 13:07:31 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news192220029.html (PhysOrg.com) -- New results from a drilling expedition off Antarctica may help scientists learn more about a dramatic turn in climate 34 million years ago, when the planet cooled from a "greenhouse" to an "icehouse" state. In just 400,000 years - a blink of an eye in geologic time - carbon dioxide levels dropped, temperatures plunged and ice sheets formed over what was then the lush continent of Antarctica. Wed May 05 13:07:31 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news192254745.html An international team of marine biologists has found that existing diversity in some coral populations may significantly influence their response to extreme temperature disturbances - such as those predicted from climate warming. The team demonstrated that natural selection acting on the species of algae living within corals may determine which partnerships will survive when confronted with extreme temperatures changes. The results will be published online in the May 5 issue of the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B. Wed May 05 13:07:31 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news192258613.html (PhysOrg.com) -- The global market for sugarcane is expanding, and new research at UQ is informing improved farming practices to reduce its environmental footprint. Wed May 05 13:07:31 2010 EST http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2010/05/solar/ The new novel Solar by Ian McEwan, Britain's 'national author' (as many call him) tackles the issue of climate change. I should perhaps start my review with a disclosure: I'm a long-standing fan of McEwan and have read all of his novels, and I am also mentioned in the acknowledgements of Solar. I met McEwan in Potsdam and we had some correspondence while he wrote his novel. Our recent book The Climate Crisis quotes a page of McEwan as its Epilogue. And of course I'm not a literature critic but a scientist. So don't expect a detached professional review. Wed May 05 13:07:31 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/5nnDFxwO4hc/idUSTRE64448H20100505 LONDON (Reuters) - A United Nations agency on Wednesday cut its forecast for pre-2012 Kyoto Protocol carbon offsets, estimating for the first time that less than 1 billion tonnes will come to market before the climate pact expires. Wed May 05 13:07:31 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/KKLjmClmcp4/idUSTRE6434U020100504 BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Five hundred European Union cities pledged on Tuesday to exceed the EU's climate targets, signing up to do more to cut their emissions of climate warming gas. Wed May 05 13:07:31 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/2NliDu9pqQs/idUSTRE64345420100504 LONDON (Reuters) - British fish stocks have dropped by 94 percent in the past 118 years and commercial fishing has profoundly changed seabed ecosystems, leading to a collapse in numbers of many species, scientists said on Tuesday. Wed May 05 13:07:31 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/YaleEnvironment360/~3/xzc11tkkfgM/digest.msp Rampant illegal logging in Indonesia is undermining the sustainability and strength of the forest products industry in Indonesia and the United States and thwarting efforts to preserve forests to slow global warming, according to a new report. The report by the BlueGreen Alliance and several U.S. environmental and labor organizations said that 40 to 55 percent of Indonesia's timber is harvested illegally, often from protected areas. Widespread illegal logging in Indonesia and elsewhere has depressed timber prices worldwide, Click to enlargeWWFDeforestation in Borneo, 1950-2020 costing the logging, wood, paper and cabinetry industries more than $1 billion in the U.S. Wed May 05 13:07:31 2010 EST http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-05/f-sge050510.php ( Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft ) Renewable electricity can be transformed into a substitute for natural gas. Until now, electricity was generated from gas. Now, a German-Austrian cooperation wants to go in the opposite direction. In the future, these researchers and entrepreneurs would like to store surplus electricity -- such as from wind power or solar energy -- as climate-neutral methane, and ... Wed May 05 13:07:31 2010 EST http://news.softpedia.com/news/Vegetation-Found-to-Be-Contributing-to-Global-Warming-141317.shtml PhysOrg.comVegetation Found to Be Contributing to Global WarmingSoftpediaIncreased concentrations of the gas have been linked to the global warming effect that causes climate change, and so caring for Earth's natural carbon sinks ...Life in the Greenhouse: Losing Our CoolDiscovery NewsCarbon Dioxide's Effects on Plants Increase Global Warming, Study FindsScience Daily (press release)all 21 Wed May 05 13:07:31 2010 EST http://www.newstimeafrica.com/archives/12129 Kenya Turns to Carbon Trade in a Bid to Curb Climate ChangeNewstime Africa... meet challenges of Climate Change were geared to stem carbon emissions and shifting to green energy production to reduce the vagaries of Global warming ...A look at global warming solutionsHeliumEnergy and Climate Change 2010: Back to the FutureBrookings InstitutionAfter Copenhagen: Can the EU revive global climate talks?EurActivIndependentall 7 Wed May 05 13:07:31 2010 EST http://www.tgdaily.com/sustainability-features/49635-future-temperatures-could-be-too-hot-to-survive TG DailyFuture temperatures could be too hot to surviveTG DailyHuge swathes of the world could become too hot for human beings to survive, if current worst-case scientific projections of global warming turn out to be ...Future Temperatures Could Exceed Human LivabilityPlanetSave.com (blog)Future temperatures could surpass liveable limitsOneindiaHumans fail in rising heatScienceAlertLiveScience.com -io9all 32 Wed May 05 13:07:31 2010 EST http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20100504/sc_livescience/earthcouldbecometoohotforhumans Earth's current warming trend could bring deadly heat for humans. Wed May 05 13:07:31 2010 EST http://www.nytimes.com/cwire/2010/05/05/05climatewire-warmer-nights-threaten-indias-rice-productio-30379.html Climate change has made nights warmer in India over the past decade, an ominous sign for the nation's vital rice crop. This d... Wed May 05 13:07:31 2010 EST http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90777/90855/6973371.html Climate change in Africa and the world at large has impacted on many fronts resulting in drought and floods hence resulting in food shortage. Consequently, poverty levels have increased leading to low development among many developing nations. It is against this backdrop that leading agriculture and climate scientists, policymakers, farmers, and development experts from around the world will ... Wed May 05 13:07:31 2010 EST http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?sid=aXAFpa9HUR.0&pid=20601087 May 5 (Bloomberg) -- Coal prices at Qinhuangdao, Chinas largest port for the fuel, gained the most in more than four months as demand increased amid a drought in the southwest. Wed May 05 13:07:31 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/science_and_environment/10092320.stm Governments will not meet the target of curbing the loss of species and nature by 2010, a major study confirms. Sun May 02 07:29:10 2010 EST 2nd May 2010 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/_-FOvpJmoA4/ WashPost's Ezra Klein has posted an interview with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) about the immigration and climate bills. Since my Monday post, it's been hard to tell whether the Senator has been principled or petulant - or perhaps a bit of both. I'll excerpt the parts of his interview with Klein about the climate bill and you can decide: EK: You told Talking Points Memo that you would filibuster your own climate change bill if immigration moves this year. LG: Yeah, I was asked a question. They said, 'You would vote against your own bill?' And I said yes. Sun May 02 07:29:10 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/2ZGgMd_XUD8/ If a climate bill doesn't become law this year, the inclination among many progressives will be to blame President Obama for his lack of leadership. And frankly progressives should be critical of Obama: In a bunch of pretty speeches he has repeatedly said the climate and clean energy jobs bill was a signature issue that would determine whether America achieves 'lasting prosperity' or 'decline' (see 'Success or failure for Obama Presidency hangs in the balance' with climate bill). But two recent stories remind us of who really is to blame for two decades of inaction. Sun May 02 07:29:10 2010 EST http://www.theecologist.org/tv_and_radio/tv/474837/the_next_parliament_will_be_the_last_that_can_act_on_climate_change.html The MPs that fill the House of Commons after next week's election have a huge responsibility. What decisions should they make? Leading thinkers give some answers... Sun May 02 07:29:10 2010 EST http://energybulletin.net/node/52618 Community may suffer from overuse more sorely than any word in the dictionary. Politicians left and right sprinkle it through their remarks the way a bad Chinese restaurant uses MSG, to mask the lack of wholesome ingredients. But we need to rescue it; we need to make sure that community will become, on this tougher planet, one of the most prosaic terms in the lexicon, like hoe or bicycle or computers. Access to endless amounts of cheap energy made us rich, and wrecked our climate, and it also made us the first people on earth who had no practical need of our neighbors. Sun May 02 07:29:10 2010 EST http://energybulletin.net/node/52630 -Mainstream Green Groups Cave In on Climate-Reclaiming Earth Day: With Climate Chaos on the Horizon, the Environmental Movement Needs Traction-A New Climate Movement in Bolivia-Earth Day -- Tastes Great, Less Filling-The Open Veins of Climate Change read more Sun May 02 07:29:10 2010 EST http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/motoring/features/is-there-a-viable-alternative-to-vehicles-run-on-fossil-fuels-1956897.html Record diesel and petrol prices of more than 120p per litre in the middle of a global recession are a stark reminder that the days of cheap fill-ups are probably gone for good. While American and European consumers may be less keen to brim their tanks than they were before, millions of new motorists in China, India and other emerging nations are eager to take up the slack. And if that alone didn ... Sun May 02 07:29:10 2010 EST http://www.heraldsun.com.au/opinion/energy-policy-hides-in-shadows/story-e6frfihx-1225859853654?from=public_rss A MORE yellow-bellied performance from a politician I have not seen than Kevin Rudd's on his decision to freeze the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme. Sun May 02 07:29:10 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/apr/28/arctic-sea-ice-loss-warming Study identifies cycle of ice loss and temperature rise that could see Arctic's icy cover disappear sooner than expectedThe Arctic is locked into a destructive cycle that could see its icy cover rapidly disappear, scientists have confirmed. A new analysis shows that dwindling levels of sea ice are responsible for unusual levels of global warming in the region. The findings reinforce suggestions that a positive feedback between ice loss and temperature rise has emerged in the Arctic, which increases the chances of further rapid ice loss and warming.The study could re-ignite claims that the Arctic has passed a key tipping point, which could see ice disappear much sooner than expected. Sun May 02 07:29:10 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/apr/29/environmentalism-dark-mountain-project Former deputy editor of the Ecologist, Paul Kingsnorth, explains why he became disillusioned with the parables of environmentalism, so decided to write his own insteadIt started last year with two men in a pub. It spiraled from there, and gathered in thousands of people from across the world who shared its vision. It is still expanding; so much so that the two men now have rather less time to spend in the pub, because much of their day is spent just trying to keep up with a minor global movement which they have accidentally brought into being.This is the story of the Dark Mountain Project, a new cultural movement for an age of global disruption, of which I was one of the co-founders less than a year ago. Sun May 02 07:29:10 2010 EST http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/11710085/1c32vl/alternet_environment~Can-Switching-to-Hybrid-Cars-and-Organics-Really-Save-the-World-or-Is-It-Just-Lazy-Environmentalism Heather Rogers' new book, 'Green Gone Wrong,' explores whether we can save the world simply by swapping our polluting products for greener ones. Sun May 02 07:29:10 2010 EST http://feeds.grist.org/click.phdo?i=5e4aee62e9a437424272c91e990a13b7 by Tom Philpott A soy plantation in the Amazon rainforest, Brazil. Nilton Ricardo, BrazilPhotosEveryone should listen to this BBC report (unfortunately not embedabble) on the 'price of biofuels.' It digs into a key question: what does Europe's appetite for biodiesel mean for people and ecosystems in the countries that produce the feedstocks? Focusing on Paraguay, the BBC comes up with answers that aren't pretty. The economic benefits of the biofuel craze accrue to large plantation owners and the global agribusiness firms that buy their soy and provide the inputs. Tracts of of the Amazon get leveled for soy production. Sun May 02 07:29:10 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news191745752.html (PhysOrg.com) -- A new catalyst has been developed to generate hydrogen from water cheaply, but the research was originally intended to make molecules that behaved like magnets. Hydrogen is a clean power source currently produced from natural gas, with carbon dioxide as a bi-product. Producing hydrogen from water produces oxygen as a bi-product instead. Sun May 02 07:29:10 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news191761901.html In response to growing concerns about our planet`s changing climate, rising global temperatures and sea levels, and increasing concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2), scientists are looking to the planet`s past to help predict its future. New results from a research expedition in Antarctic waters may provide critical clues to understanding one of the most dramatic periods of climatic change in Earth's history - and a glimpse into what might lie far ahead in our climate`s future. Sun May 02 07:29:10 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/YaleEnvironment360/~3/FA5e7fWWW6I/digest.msp The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has released a report, Climate Change Indicators in the United States, and as the accompanying graphic shows, many parts of the country have experienced sharp temperature increases over the past century. The Northeast, Midwest, and West all experienced significant warming from 1901 to 2008, with temperatures soaring by 2 to 4 degrees F in much of New England, the Upper Great Plains, and southern California and southern Arizona. Nearly all of Alaska Click to enlargeEPAU.S. temperature change, 1901-2008 also warmed by up to 4 degrees F - well above the global average of 1.3 degrees F over the last century. Sun May 02 07:29:10 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/wDyFE-XxVzg/idUSTRE63R49220100428 LONDON (Reuters) - The world's floating ice is in "constant retreat," showing an instability which will increase global sea levels, according to a report published in Geophysical Research Letters on Wednesday. Sun May 02 07:29:10 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/shell/lloC/~3/2kHmjSGxXqo/ This week has seen what may be only a short delay towards climate legislation in the USA, but a potential long-term hold in Australia as the Rudd government has shelved plans for an emissions trading scheme, at least until 2012/2013. Both countries are struggling with bipartisan support for action. As a result, the notion of a broad response to the Copenhagen Accord by developed countries looks increasingly unlikely, at least in the run-up to COP16 in Mexico and maybe even COP17 in South Africa. With action in developed countries slowing down, it is hard to build the case for comprehensive action globally. Sun May 02 07:29:10 2010 EST http://www.earthweek.com/2010/ew100430/ew100430d.html Earthweek - A Diary of the PlanetGlacial Melt From Global Warming Could Unplug VolcanosEarthweek - A Diary of the Planet... caps melt from climate change. British and Icelandic geophysicists have warned that ice-covered volcanoes could erupt more frequently as global warming ...and more Sun May 02 07:29:10 2010 EST http://feeds.wired.com/~r/wired/index/~3/YpijHav7XEk/ The AtlanticPlan B: California Braces for Climate ChangeWired NewsAnd so it goes with climate change. By the mid-2000s, when the rest of the country was waking up to the challenge of global warming, California was already ...Government Report Says Global Warming May Cause Cancer, Mental IllnessPrison Planet.comCan Global Warming Give You Kidney Stones?The AtlanticGovernment Report Says Global Warming May Cause Cancer, Mental IllnessCNSNews.comall 11 Sun May 02 07:29:10 2010 EST http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/features/politics-trumps-a-moral-challenge/story-e6frg6z6-1225859592923 KEVIN Rudd's credibility-sapping decision on Tuesday to delay the introduction of his carbon pollution reduction scheme until 2013 at the earliest, means that he goes into this year's election with a less crystallised climate change policy than John Howard took to the 2007 election. Sun May 02 07:29:10 2010 EST http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/04/epa-climate-change-indicators-united-states-report.php The Environmental Protection Agency has just launched a new Climate Change Indicators in the United States report (and slideshow) that really breaks down the science and effects of global warming. Not quite sure it will convince anyone who has already been convinced by the plethora of information, both scientific and popular, already released, but it is a very clear overview of the situation. Here are some interesting highlights to commit to memory: Sun May 02 07:29:10 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news191765023.html Spanish and French researchers have evaluated the spread of the invasive mosquitofish Gambusia holbrooki, which is native to the United States and lives in Mediterranean rivers in Spain and France. The scientists warn that climate change will extend the current distribution area of this and other invasive species to the north. Sun May 02 07:29:10 2010 EST http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100428/sc_afp/unenergyclimate_20100428153857 Rich and poor nations need a "clean energy revolution" in order to cut greenhouse gas emissions responsible for global warming, UN chief Ban Ki-moon said here Wednesday. Sun May 02 07:29:10 2010 EST http://www.asianewsnet.net/home/news.php?id=11658 A ministerial-level dialogue mechanism on climate change has been set up between China and the European Union, a move analysts believe will help the United Nations climate summit to be held in Mexico ..... Sun May 02 07:29:10 2010 EST http://biz.yahoo.com/iw/100429/0613704.html?.v=1 TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - 04/29/10) - Yesterday, the International Development Ministers wrapped up their meetings in Halifax in preparation for the G8 Summit and yet again, there were no discussions on climate change and how countries will meet their financing targets agreed to in the Copenhagen Accord. As the days count down until the G8 Summit, WWF worries that climate may not make the ... Sun May 02 07:29:10 2010 EST http://www.upi.com/Science_News/Resource-Wars/2010/04/28/Finland-warns-of-Arctic-climate-challenges/UPI-30451272476713/ HELSINKI, Finland, April 28 (UPI) -- Climate change is affecting the Arctic in more ways than can be termed positive and there is need for urgent action to meet the challenge, Finnish Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Paavo Vayrynen warned delegates attending the sixth Arctic Shipping Summit in Helsinki. Sun May 02 07:29:10 2010 EST http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10928/s/a440604/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Carticle0Cdn188410Emelting0Eicebergs0Eboost0Esealevel0Erise0Bhtml0DDCMP0FOTC0Erss0Gnsref0Fclimate0Echange/story01.htm Ice cubes don't increase the water level in your cup as they melt, so why are melting icebergs raising the oceans? Sun May 02 07:29:10 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/i9WW6lf7cks/ I was out driving/just a taking it slow Looked at my tank/ it was reading low Pulled in a Exxon station/out on Highway One Held up without a gun Held up without a gun - Bruce Springsteen Springsteen's song could not be more true today. Big Oil is once again riding high oil prices to large profits (see below) while American consumers get stuck with a $2.7 billion gasoline bill in the first quarter of 2010 due to higher oil prices. But the problems with oil go beyond these companies' profits. Rising oil prices also add more filthy lucre to the coffers of hostile regimes, including Iran. Sun May 02 07:29:10 2010 EST http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-20003849-54.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20 Siemens delivers a direct-drive wind turbine for onshore and offshore applications that it hopes will improve cost and reliability of turbines. Sun May 02 07:29:10 2010 EST http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/index.php/news/content/view/full/89832 International Workers Day will be celebrated globally today. But the nature of the celebrations will illustrate the very different political conditions prevailing in each country. Sun May 02 07:29:10 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/0RTY5Q6CyGQ/ If you live along the Gulf Coast or have relevant expertise (e.g. offshore drilling, the near-impossible task of cleaning up these messes) - and are interested in writing guest posts " please contact me (click here). Climate Progress will be following the BP oil disaster story closely for several reasons: It will be the biggest energy and environmental news story for the foreseeable future. Eleven people are already dead and if yesterday's Wall Street Journal story, 'Experts: Oil May Be Leaking at Rate of 25,000 Barrels a Day in Gulf' (subs. req'd, excerpted below) is accurate, then the scope of the environmental disaster is far beyond anything we've imagined. Sun May 02 07:29:10 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/world/americas/8656627.stm Louisiana's governor warns of the Gulf of Mexico oil slick's impact, as President Obama heads to the disaster zone. Sun May 02 07:29:10 2010 EST http://energybulletin.net/node/52654 As part of his current book tour, author and climate activist Bill McKibben spoke at the First United Methodist Church in Boulder, CO on April 27, co-sponsored by Boulder Book Store and Transition Colorado. The video of his presentation is below, following the introduction that was given by Michael Brownlee, co-founder of Transition Colorado. read more Sun May 02 07:29:10 2010 EST http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/11913017/1ccjpo/alternet_environment~Want-to-Prevent-Oil-Spill-Disasters-Stop-Driving A submerged oil well is spewing a river of oil toward Louisiana and the Gulf Coast. Birds and fish will die, wetlands and beaches will be ruined -- all because we drive cars. Sun May 02 07:29:10 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/may/02/bp-deepwater-horizon-oil-spills The oil major BP spends aggressively to influence US regulatory insight, and many would argue this has bought it leniencyWhile the explosion of BP/Transocean's Deepwater Horizon drilling rig was a horrific event, it was neither surprising nor unexpected.BP is one of the most powerful corporations operating in the United States. Its 2009 revenues of $327bn are enough to rank BP as the third-largest corporation in the country. It spends aggressively to influence US policy and regulatory oversight.In 2009, the company spent nearly $16m on lobbying the federal government, ranking it among the 20 highest spenders that year, and shattering its own previous record of $10.4m set in 2008. Sun May 02 07:29:10 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/may/02/food-fear-mystery-beehives-collapse The world may be on the brink of biological disaster after news that a third of US bee colonies did not survive the winterDisturbing evidence that honeybees are in terminal decline has emerged from the United States where, for the fourth year in a row, more than a third of colonies have failed to survive the winter.The decline of the country's estimated 2.4 million beehives began in 2006, when a phenomenon dubbed colony collapse disorder (CCD) led to the disappearance of hundreds of thousands of colonies. Since then more than three million colonies in the US and billions of honeybees worldwide have died and scientists are no nearer to knowing what is causing the catastrophic fall in numbers.The number of managed honeybee colonies in the US fell by 33.8% last winter, according to the annual survey by the Apiary Inspectors of America and the US ... Sun May 02 07:29:10 2010 EST http://feeds.grist.org/click.phdo?i=96d0c601bf134836afd8cd09bd21f611 by Jonathan Hiskes Photo: Jason Defillippo via FlickrPresident Barack Obama so far has said nothing about the screamingly obvious connection between the spoils of fossil-fuel dependency and the vision of a clean-energy economy that he's been sporadically promoting. Instead he had this tepid statement on the Gulf oil spill this morning: 'I continue to believe that domestic oil production is an important part of our overall strategy for energy security.' What happened to never letting a crisis go to waste? This mother of a crisis runs straight into our fossil-fuel addiction. It's a prime opportunity for progressives and clean-energy advocates to demonstrate the desperate need for new forms of energy. Sun May 02 07:29:10 2010 EST http://sl.farmonline.com.au/news/nationalrural/viticulture/general/spring-heat-wave-slashes-wine-grape-production/1816565.aspx Spring heat wave slashes wine grape productionStock and LandTotal Australian wine grape production is forecast to fall by seven per cent to 1.62 million tonnes in 2009-10, reflecting the heat wave in November 2009 in ...Licensing changes to boost wine promotionABC OnlineAustralian Wine Grape Output May Drop 7% in 2009-10, ABARE SaysBusinessWeekGrape growers dispute ABARE forecastWeekly Times NowIndia Infoline.comall 14 Sun May 02 07:29:10 2010 EST http://www.joabbess.com/2010/04/30/the-price-of-carbon/ The Price of Carbon by Jo Abbess 20 April 2010 1. Introduction Policy strategy for controlling risky excess atmospheric greenhouse gas (Gowdy, 2008, Sect. 4; McKibben, 2007, Ch. 1, pp. 19-20; Solomon et al., 2009; Tickell, 2008, Ch. 6, pp. 205-208) mostly derives from the notion that carbon dioxide emissions should be charged for, in order to prevent future emissions; similar to treatment for environmental pollutants (Giddens, 2009, Ch. 6, pp. 149-155; Gore, 2009, Ch. 15 'The True Cost of Carbon'; Pigou, 1932; Tickell, 2008, Ch.4, Box 4.1, pp. 112-116). Sun May 02 07:29:10 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news191833324.html (PhysOrg.com) -- University of Cincinnati geologist Tom Lowell is part of a team studying the effects of melting ancient glaciers. The research has implications for global warming, as published this week in Science Express. Sun May 02 07:29:10 2010 EST http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1858517/scientists_find_metal_catalyst_for_generating_hydrogen_from_water/index.html?source=r_science Image Caption: From left, Jeffrey Long, Christopher Chang and Hemamala Karunadasa have discovered an inexpensive metal that can generate hydrogen from neutral water, even if it is dirty, and can operate in sea water. (Photo by Roy Kaltschmidt, Berkeley Lab Public Affairs) Sun May 02 07:29:10 2010 EST http://news.yahoo.com/s/usnw/20100430/pl_usnw/DC96945_1 Proposals Would Tackle HFCs at Montreal Protocol, Reap Huge Climate Benefits Sun May 02 07:29:10 2010 EST http://www.financialexpress.com/news/Are-electric-vehicles-actually-green/613532/ The entry of electric vehicles in India in the late '90s introduced the concept of emission-free and eco-friendly vehicles. With skyrocketing environmental challenges and global warming issues concerning the use of conventional fuelled cars, electric cars emerged as a saviour with more eco-friendly features and lower maintenance cost. Sun May 02 07:29:10 2010 EST http://www.greenleft.org.au/events/43896 Socialist ideas conference featuring Jeyakumar Devaraj (Malaysian Socialist Party parliamentarian) & Kiraz Janicke (GLW Caracas-based journalist). Details to be confirmed. Organised by Socialist Alliance. Event date: Sat, 26/06/2010 - 11:00am - Sun, 27/06/2010 - 8:00pm Email: perth@socialist-alliance.org Phone: Ph Alex 9218 9608, 0413 976 638 Sun May 02 07:29:10 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/blogs/environment/~3/dLFY8jeeXhw/ " Willy Bemis is Kingsbury Director of Shoals Marine Laboratory, collaboratively operated by Cornell University and the University of New Hampshire, and professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Cornell. Any views expressed here are his own." Earth Day 2010 will be remembered for the explosion and fire on the Transocean Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, from which 11 workers are missing and presumed dead. One week later, the resulting oil leak now seems certain to become one of the greatest ecological catastrophes in United States history. From the first reports of the disaster that afternoon, I have been extremely worried about this prospect. Sun May 02 07:29:10 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/blogs/environment/~3/kY_3qQGeSVk/ " Laura Zizzo is a partner at Zizzo Allan Climate Law LLP. Any views expressed here are her own. " There is an important race occurring in capitals, factories and research facilities across the globe. It's a high-stakes race that will determine two very important things: whether we will be able to respond to climate change in time to avoid catastrophe, and which economies will be the clean energy/low-carbon superpowers. Because this race - let's call it a climate-friendly cycling race - is long and we had a delayed start, many racers are hesitant to pull out from the pack and risk an uncompetitive burn out. Sun May 02 07:29:10 2010 EST http://www.dtnprogressivefarmer.com/dtnag/view/blog/getBlog.do?blogHandle=southamerica&blogEntryId=8a82c0bc2803bb3c01284fef103d03cf The El Nino weather phenomenon has passed and La Nina is on its way, which could spell drier weather for winter crops in Brazil and Argentina over coming months. Sun May 02 07:29:10 2010 EST http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2010/04/30/bacteria-next-fuel-source.html?type=rss&cat=&sid=101 Scientists at Ohio State University and Battelle hope to harness an army of bacteria to turn carbon dioxide into a fuel that could one day replace gasoline. Sun May 02 07:29:10 2010 EST http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/environment/climate-change/farmers-not-sold-on-climate-change-20100501-u0aq.html AUSTRALIAN farmers are sceptical about climate change and many do not believe it will affect agriculture during their lifetimes, a report says. Sun May 02 07:29:10 2010 EST http://news.therecord.com/article/704960 The invisible drought is now easier to see. Sun May 02 07:29:10 2010 EST http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/SGE63P0TX.htm Source: Reuters CANBERRA, April 27 (Reuters) - Australia's government has shelved plans for an emissions trading scheme for at least three years due to strong opposition in parliament and falling election-year ... Thu Apr 29 12:58:45 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/V6DWWjptDp4/ BP just announced first quarter profits of $5.6 billion, a 135% increase over the first quarter of 2010. This profit was 50% higher than predicted by the Financial Times. BP owns the oil rig that sunk in the Gulf of Mexico last week, with 11 employees still unaccounted for and presumed dead. It is also leaking 42,000 gallons of oil per day. This growing oil slick is expected to hit Louisiana's fragile coast on Saturday. CAP's Daniel J. Weiss and Susan Lyon have the whole story on Big Oil's big profits in this repost. The big five oil companies-BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, and Shell-are poised to report their first quarter profits this week. Thu Apr 29 12:58:45 2010 EST 29th April 2010 http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/world/south_asia/8646289.stm South Asian leaders under pressure over climate change Thu Apr 29 12:58:45 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/8645767.stm Australia says a key emissions trading scheme will not start until 2013 at the earliest, after it was repeatedly blocked in the Senate. Thu Apr 29 12:58:45 2010 EST http://www.desmogblog.com/world-continues-wait-climate-action-us-senate 030210-Senate-climate-bill_full_600.jpg The U.S. Senate's latest attempt to introduce climate legislation has been dogged with uncertainty and delay, continuing the worrisome trend of U.S. inaction to address the most critical issue facing humanity. As word spread through Washington over the past few days that yet another attempt at a climate and energy bill appeared doomed to the legislative dustbin, the rest of the world continues to wonder if the U.S. is ever going to overcome its deadlock on climate legislation. <!--break-->Republican Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) threatened over the weekend to drop his support for the compromise legislation he has been working on for months with Senators John Kerry (D-MA) and Joe Lieberman (I-CT), citing disagreement over immigration legislation that is competing for Senate attention. Thu Apr 29 12:58:45 2010 EST http://www.desmogblog.com/unnamed-physicist-sponsors-hardcore-global-warming-denial-high-schoolers cassiopeia logo.png Providing high quality educational resources to science classrooms is a noble task, but when those resources include deeply flawed global warming denial material, produced with funding from an anonymous source, red flags ought to go up. That is the scenario with The Cassiopeia Project's video suggesting that climate change is bunk. Cassiopeia was previously known for producing excellent videos exploring complex scientific concepts, but now all of its good work is being compromised by an unscientific and dishonest attack on global warming research. That has fans of Cassiopeia's more well-regarded videos flummoxed. Incredibly, three of the twelve sources cited in the global warming video credits are the exact same press release posted in diferent locations and written by Marc Morano while he still worked for Senator James Inhofe (R-OK). Thu Apr 29 12:58:45 2010 EST http://energybulletin.net/node/52606 The World People's Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth (CMPCC, for its Spanish acronym) ended on Thursday in Cochabamba and every airport I've stopped in (more than a few now) has been filled with people heading home with new energy, new direction, and excitement to get back to work. But before the movement moves on I want to share some last reflections that we'll be taking forward. read more Thu Apr 29 12:58:45 2010 EST http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/11578101/1bw4ub/alternet_environment~Big-Coal-Is-Starting-to-Crack-Meet-the-Folks-With-the-Chisel A reinvigorated, multifaceted movement has chalked up an impressive -- albeit frequently overlooked -- series of victories against Big Coal. Here's what they're doing. Thu Apr 29 12:58:45 2010 EST http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/11517696/1bw4ub/alternet_environment~The-Surprising-Reason-Why-Americans-Are-So-Lonely-and-Why-Future-Prosperity-Means-Socializing-with-Your-Neighbors Access to cheap energy made us rich, wrecked our climate, and made us the first people on earth who had no practical need of our neighbors -- that has to change. Thu Apr 29 12:58:45 2010 EST http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/11522043/1bw4ub/alternet_environment~GOP-Senator-Engages-in-Cynical-Political-Ploy-to-Derail-Immigration-and-Climate-Bills Supposedly 'bipartisan' Sen. Lindsay Graham is threatening to take his marbles and go home - refusing to work with Democrats on either issue. Thu Apr 29 12:58:45 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/apr/27/water-price-rise World Bank and OECD say water is a finite resource that must be valued at a higher price in order to repair old supply systems and build new onesMajor economies are pushing for substantial increases in the price of water around the world as concern mounts about dwindling supplies and rising population.With official UN figures showing that 1 billion people lack access to clean drinking water and more than double that number do not have proper sanitation, increases in prices will be " and in some countries are already proving to be " hugely controversial.However experts argue that as long as most countries provide huge subsidies for water it will not be possible to change the wasteful habits of consumers, farmers and industry, nor to raise the investment needed to repair old supply systems and build new ones. Thu Apr 29 12:58:45 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/apr/27/consumption-mining-destruction If we block projects like the proposed Pebble Mine in Alaska, are we simply forcing mining activity to other parts of the world where protections may be far weaker?Every time someone pushes the on-button on an electronic device, there is an expectation that the unit will power up quickly and display images in vibrant color. There is the further expectation, especially when using electronic devices for communications such as email access, web downloading, and texting that the response time will be immediate. We live in an age of technological arms races in which manufacturers gain market edge by creating products that are faster, have more applications, have a broader network reach, and generally do more.The processing capacity of digital electronic devices doubles about every two years (Moore's Law), and this capacity increase is enabled by an expanded use of elements. Thu Apr 29 12:58:45 2010 EST http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=51205 CAPE TOWN, Apr 26 (IPS) - Environment ministers from Brazil, South Africa, India and China are sceptical that a legally-binding agreement on climate change will be reached in Cancun, Mexico in December. Thu Apr 29 12:58:45 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/Utux70Xyno0/idUSTRE63Q0FP20100427 CANBERRA (Reuters) - Australia has shelved plans for an ambitious carbon emissions trade scheme for at least three years due to parliamentary opposition and slow progress on a global climate pact, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said on Tuesday. Thu Apr 29 12:58:45 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/oXpNqaoOLWM/idUSTRE63Q47820100427 OTTAWA (Reuters) - In what looks to be another sign the Arctic is heating up quickly, British explorers in Canada's Far North reported on Tuesday that they had been hit by a three-minute rain shower over the weekend. Thu Apr 29 12:58:45 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/Oi0YDgoryag/idUSTRE63Q41E20100427 BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Europe's greenest modes of transport are falling behind the biggest polluters, which is contributing to a steep rise in climate-warming emissions, the European Environment Agency said on Tuesday. Thu Apr 29 12:58:45 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/PqkPMejuuMw/idUSTRE63Q2U920100427 BERLIN (Reuters) - Climate change is showing no signs of slowing despite a severe winter in Germany that helped reduce public concerns about the threat of global warming, Germany's leading meteorologist said on Tuesday. Thu Apr 29 12:58:45 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news191605233.html (PhysOrg.com) -- New evidence gleaned by analyzing calcium embedded in Chinese limestone suggests that volcanoes, which spewed massive amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere for a million years, caused the biggest mass extinction on Earth. Thu Apr 29 12:58:45 2010 EST http://www.cellular-news.com/story/43023.php "Just think how often your fancy new mobile phone or computer has become little more than a paperweight because the battery lost its zeal for doing its job," says John Chmiola, a chemist with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab). " At a time when cellphones can do more than computers could do at the beginning of the Clinton presidancy, it would be an understatement to say ... Thu Apr 29 12:58:45 2010 EST http://e360.yale.edu/content/digest.msp?id=2388 Arctic nations should sign a comprehensive agreement to protect the environmentally sensitive region as sea ice melts and the Arctic basin is opened up to shipping, oil and gas drilling, and fishing, according to the conservation group WWF. With the likelihood that summer sea ice in the Arctic Ocean will largely be gone within several decades, WWF said the region lacks the laws, management regimes, and infrastructure to deal with potential environmental disasters, such as oil spills. In a series of three reports, WWF called for the Peter Prokosch/WWF GermanyGlaciers in the Arctic summer creation of an 'Arctic framework convention' that would set up regulations and procedures to deal with an anticipated Arctic resource rush. Thu Apr 29 12:58:45 2010 EST http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/27/chinas-motives-on-climate-and-energy/ Is China's "green" focus more about energy security than climate stability? Thu Apr 29 12:58:45 2010 EST http://feeds.foxbusiness.com/~r/foxbusiness/latest/~3/dkUZOVjNSVU/ Siemens CEO: Lack Of Climate Bill Won't Stop Energy Plans Thu Apr 29 12:58:45 2010 EST http://www.weeklytimesnow.com.au/article/2010/04/27/179471_on-farm.html GROWTH in Australian agriculture's productivity has slumped. Thu Apr 29 12:58:45 2010 EST http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE63Q5Y720100427?feedType=RSS&feedName=entertainmentNews LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Prince Charles, heir to the British throne, has made a film about climate change and attempts to find innovative solutions to global environmental problems that will be shown on U.S. television. Thu Apr 29 12:58:45 2010 EST http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/320856,german-scientists-suggest-per-person-carbon-emission-quotas.html Potsdam, Germany - German scientists called Tuesday for the world to accept per-person quotas for carbon dioxide emissions to kick-start a global trading scheme where poor nations will benefit.... Thu Apr 29 12:58:45 2010 EST http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/23276012/detail.html Colorado State University is getting ready to test a California company's technology that converts trees killed by bark beetles into fuel for cars. Thu Apr 29 12:58:45 2010 EST http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/860/f/415777/s/a2db853/l/0Len0Brian0Bru0Crussia0C20A10A0A4260C1587439660Bhtml/story01.htm A new international agreement to replace the Kyoto environmental protocol will not be signed in 2010. Thu Apr 29 12:58:45 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/2IV7_SCv8Lo/ The Washington Post has adopted many strategies to stave off its collapsing circulation. It has, for instance, gone tabloid, repeatedly publishing falsehood-filled op-eds by Sarah Palin, including one on climate science! It also strains to print an unconventional 'contrarian' analysis ever week in its '5 Myths' series, which is supposedly 'a challenge to everything you think you know.' Of course, lots of what you know is true, and that means the Post has to print lots of stuff that isn't. In its 5 Myths about China's economic power piece two weeks ago, 'Myth' 4 was 'China's hunger for resources is sucking the world dry and making major contributions to global warming.' You may notice something about that myth - it isn't one. Thu Apr 29 12:58:45 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8648215.stm Niger is threatened with total crop failure in some areas and the situation is worse than the 2005 crisis, the UN humanitarian chief has told the BBC. Nearly 8m people are affected by the drought this year and the UN says up to $130m (£85.5m) is needed to help them. Thu Apr 29 12:58:45 2010 EST http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=51216 COCHABAMBA, Bolivia, Apr 27 (Tierramérica) - The UN-led global initiative to use forest conservation as a way to offset greenhouse gas emissions heated things up at the people's summit against climate change in Bolivia. In the end, the participants reached a consensus - and rejected the plan. Thu Apr 29 12:58:45 2010 EST http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=51222 UNITED NATIONS, Apr 27 (IPS) - The blockbuster, critically acclaimed film 'Avatar' portrays the ruthless plundering of a pristine ecosystem on a distant planet by greedy corporate interests " a scenario that is all too familiar to many indigenous communities here on Earth. Thu Apr 29 12:58:45 2010 EST http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/04/27/92967/solar-lease-program-a-big-hit.html There's been an overwhelming response to a program in the Dallas area that lets people get solar panels installed on their homes without any upfront cost. The companies promoting the project say the savings on electricity costs are generally greater than the monthly lease cost. Thu Apr 29 12:58:45 2010 EST http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2010/04/claude-allegre-the-climate-imposter/ Guest Commentary by Georg Hoffmann In mathematical proofs, it's a well-known fact that if at some point you divide by zero accidentally or on purpose, then you end up being able to prove absolutely anything you want " for instance, that 2+2=5 or that 1+1=0. The same phenomena appears to govern any number of publications that conclude that climate science is all a fraud " at some point, an impossible calculation is performed and from then on, anything (and everything) can be proven. Critical thinking appears to vanish. The latest example is that of Claude Allègre " whose recent book 'The climate imposture' would have you believe at least six impossible things before breakfast and a great many more before dinner. Thu Apr 29 12:58:45 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/AiBV0_dpN7w/idUSTRE63Q3V220100428 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will begin analyzing a compromise climate change bill Senator John Kerry hopes to move through the Senate this year, despite a significant setback his effort has suffered, Kerry said on Tuesday. Thu Apr 29 12:58:45 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/Bg19oZ9B-vs/idUSTRE63Q0FP20100428 CANBERRA (Reuters) - Australia's move to postpone its emissions trading plan could force the government back to the drawing board on climate policy and revive the push for a straight carbon tax to help curb emissions. Thu Apr 29 12:58:45 2010 EST http://www.greenleft.org.au/events/43853 Prof Warwick McKibbin, ANU, The Brookings Institution, Reserve Bank of Australia Board member Lenore Taylor SMH, Parliamentary Press Gallery, ABC Insiders Venue: National Press Club, Bourke St room, National Crt, Barton RSVP lynne.reeder@australia21.org.au Event date: Thu, 29/04/2010 - 5:30pm Email: lynne.reeder@australia21.org.au Thu Apr 29 12:58:45 2010 EST http://www.telegraph.co.uk/topics/weather/7640579/Arctic-rain-in-April-is-sign-of-global-warming.html The Canadian Arctic has been hit by rain in a sign that the climate is warming, British explorers said on Tuesday. Thu Apr 29 12:58:45 2010 EST http://feeds.wired.com/~r/wired/index/~3/resGQ6phJqA/ There is much more to the question of wine and climate change than the character of pinot noir. Because wine grapes are extraordinarily sensitive to temperature, the industry amounts to an early-warning system for problems that all food crops and all industries will confront as global warming intensifies. Thu Apr 29 12:58:45 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/apr/28/cape-wind-america-offshore-approved Green light for 130-turbine project in Nantucket Sound overcomes nearly a decade of resistance from the Kennedy clan and local environmental oppositionThe Obama administration gave the go-ahead today to America's first offshore windfarm in the Nantucket Sound, overcoming nearly a decade of resistance from the Kennedy clan and other famous denizens of the favourite holiday destination of America's liberal elite.The announcement provides a much-needed boost for President Obama's green energy credentials in the week that his proposed climate change laws were relegated down the agenda and the Gulf of Mexico oil rig disaster highlighted the potential dangers of any expansion of near-shore drilling.The Cape Wind project will comprise 130 turbines that are expected to generate 75% of the electricity for Cape Cod and nearby islands like Martha's Vineyard. Thu Apr 29 12:58:45 2010 EST http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/04/28/93022/wind-turbines-can-cause-problems.html Giant wind turbines dotting the Texas landscape have made the Lone Star State the nation's leader in the development of wind power, but they may also pose a hazard to military installations by interfering with crucial radar operations, state lawmakers were told Tuesday. Thu Apr 29 12:58:45 2010 EST http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2010/apr/25/change-wind-south-looking-wind-its-future-power-ne/?partner=yahoo_feeds On a clear day, employees at TVA's downtown Knoxville headquarters can see atop Buffalo Mountain the tiny white outlines of what for the last several years have represented the federal utility's biggest investment in renewable energy. Mon Apr 26 22:21:19 2010 EST 26th April 2010 http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100424/bs_afp/indonesiaenergygeothermalenvironment_20100424065204 Indonesia has launched an ambitious plan to tap the vast power of its volcanoes and become a world leader in geothermal energy, while trimming greenhouse gas emissions. Mon Apr 26 22:21:19 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/gsUWJ1-xUu8/idUSTRE63N13Q20100424 BERLIN (Reuters) - Opponents of nuclear power formed a 120-km (75-mile) human chain between reactor sites in Germany Saturday to protest against government plans to extend the power plants' operation. Mon Apr 26 22:21:19 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/pVyCrgx3jsQ/idUSTRE63M3YK20100424 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. climate change bill expected to be unveiled on Monday contains incentives to spur development of a dozen nuclear power plants, but delays emissions caps on plants that emit large amounts of greenhouse gases, industry sources said on Friday. Mon Apr 26 22:21:19 2010 EST http://newhavenregister.com/articles/2010/04/24/news/aa3_neenergyu042410.txt U.S. Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman, I-Conn., on Friday said broader support within the business and environmental communities than in previous years gives a new climate and energy bill a fighting chance. Mon Apr 26 22:21:19 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/2Sbi9TUizw4/ 'Climate Science In Denial,' reads a Wall Street Journal op-ed headline. 'Global warming alarmists have been discredited, but you wouldn't know it from the rhetoric this Earth Day.' Actually, the subhead should be revised: 'Global warming denialists have been re-discredited, but you wouldn't know it from the rhetoric in today's Wall Street Journal.' Far be it from me, a non-scientist, to dispute the scientific expertise of an MIT professor of meteorology, Richard Lindzen, but then again, Lindzen's selective recitation of the litany of arguments against global warming practically begs a rebuttal. Mon Apr 26 22:21:19 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/apr/23/bolivia-climate-change For many of North America's indigenous activists at the Bolivia summit, the fight against climate change is rooted in local issuesThis week's massive climate conference in Bolivia played host to a geographically diverse group of diplomats from the US, well-versed in advancing tough negotiating postures, and working within a framework of international treaties often not worth the paper they're printed on. The US delegation didn't come from the state department, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) or the department of energy. Yet one delegate was given central billing in the inaugural event that kicked off the conference earlier in the week."We remain firm in our inalienable, sovereign rights," Faith Gemmill told a crowd of thousands that filled up Tiquipaya Coliseum on a sun-scorched morning, to a loud round of applause. Mon Apr 26 22:21:19 2010 EST http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/04/24/92816/students-compete-to-build-an-affordable.html Western Washington University's 1,500-pound Viking 45 is an ultra-lightweight, carbon-fiber hybrid gasoline-electric vehicle with a frame made out of scraps from Boeing's Dreamliner program. Mon Apr 26 22:21:19 2010 EST http://www.desmogblog.com/deep-climate-exposes-more-cheating-team-wegman Wegman.jpg Plagiarism and poor scholarship rife in statistician's tight circle The blogger Deep Climate has released another devastating analysis of the shoddy scholarship and obvious cheating that characterized the work of the statistician Edward Wegman and his team, authors of a report to Congress that Deep Climate calls "nothing more than a politically motivated attack on climate science and scientists from the start." DeepC, surely on of the most careful, thorough and tireless researchers currently working the climate blogosphere, has been here before, collecting evidence that demonstrated massive plagiarism by Wegman and his proteges when they were preparing their Republican-commissioned attack on Michael Mann's oft-vindicated, but still controversial hockey stick graph. Mon Apr 26 22:21:19 2010 EST http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/11262223/1bjfj1/alternet_environment~Building-a-Climate-Justice-Movement The climate justice movement has taken up two enormous concerns: How to address ecological catastrophe and how to develop a new global economic model. Mon Apr 26 22:21:19 2010 EST http://www.countercurrents.org/gonzales240410.htm By Jason Negron-Gonzales Decades from now, 2010 will be remembered as the year that Earth Day took on new meaning-the year that humanity turned a corner in our relationship to Mother Earth and began struggling along a new course Mon Apr 26 22:21:19 2010 EST http://www.countercurrents.org/morningstar240410.htm By Gary Houser Cory Morningstar With climate scientists warning that we are in a global emergency and tipping points leading to runaway catastrophe will be crossed unless carbon pollution is rapidly reduced, one would expect groups identified as environmental defenders to be shifting into high gear. Instead, we are witnessing the unspeakably tragic spectacle of a mainstream environmental movement allowing itself to be seduced and co-opted by the very forces it should be vehemently opposing Mon Apr 26 22:21:19 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/apr/25/labour-liberal-democrats-green-manifestos Labour targets low-carbon 'economic areas' in each region while Lib Dems back renewable energy and emissions cutsLabour and the Liberal Democrats today published their green manifestos, highlighting wide differences between the two parties on how the UK will be powered in the future.Labour announced support for new low-carbon "economic areas" in each region, and 5,000 new apprentices in the clean tech economy. The Lib Dems gave more details about their ambitious main manifesto pledge to create a zero-carbon Britain by the middle of the century.In addition to their earlier promise to generate all electricity from renewable sources " and at least three-quarters from offshore wind and marine or tidal power " the Lib Dems said Britain would have to slash emissions from transport, heating buildings, industry and agriculture. Mon Apr 26 22:21:19 2010 EST http://bigpondnews.com/articles/OddSpot/2010/04/25/Rooftop_farming_booming_in_New_York_454957.html Due to a lack of space in NYC, farmers and beekeepers have taken to the rooftops to pursue their passion. Mon Apr 26 22:21:19 2010 EST http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2010/0424/Last-chance-for-climate-change-legislation BBC NewsLast chance for climate change legislation?Christian Science MonitorAddressing global warming is a top priority for President Obama and for a bipartisan group of senators who'll offer a bill Monday. But tough issues remain, ...US senators postpone climate bill unveilingWashington PostGraham Bolts From Climate Talks, Dimming Hopes for US BillBusinessWeekSenators to unveil energy-climate bill aimed at winning bipartisan supportBellingham HeraldThe Hill (blog) -Reuters -Reuters UKall 788 Mon Apr 26 22:21:19 2010 EST http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2010/0424/Last-chance-for-climate-change-legislation Addressing global warming is a top priority for President Obama and for a bipartisan group of senators who'll offer a bill Monday. But tough issues remain, and time is running out before this fall's elections. Mon Apr 26 22:21:19 2010 EST http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5im4mzLSRuWAI1U4ZzIFJuNAlAwtwD9F9OD301 WASHINGTON - Long-awaited climate change legislation was put on hold by its authors Saturday when a dispute over immigration politics and Senate priorities threatened to unravel a bipartisan effort that took months of work. Voicing regrets, Sen. John Kerry said Saturday he is postponing the much anticipated unveiling of comprehensive energy and climate change legislation scheduled for Monday. The Massachusetts Democrat made his announcement after a key partner in drafting the bill, Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, threatened to withhold support if Senate Democratic leaders push ahead first with an immigration bill. Graham is angry that Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada is considering that. Mon Apr 26 22:21:19 2010 EST http://www.twincities.com/news/ci_14952138?source=rss ST. PAUL, Minn. Drought has returned to Minnesota. Mon Apr 26 22:21:19 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/sci/tech/8643326.stm Indonesia is hosting what is being called the world's biggest Geothermal energy conference, with 80 countries attending. Mon Apr 26 22:21:19 2010 EST http://www.telegraph.co.uk/topics/weather/7624772/A-mighty-blow-for-Britain.html The south westerly wind occupies a special place in our national life. So where has it been when we've needed it, asks Horatio Clare. Mon Apr 26 22:21:19 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/sci/tech/8642459.stm Monday's unveiling of a climate bill in the US Senate is postponed, after a row over immigration reforms. Mon Apr 26 22:21:19 2010 EST http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/richardblack/2010/04/as_anyone_whos_ever_made.html As anyone who's ever dressed a salad in vinaigrette will testify, oil and water just don't mix. That's especially true of crude oil and sea water that supports sea lifeforms from fish to birds to plankton to mammals. So when we discover that 42,000 gallons of oil are leaking daily from a stricken well at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico, and that it could take months to stem the flow, a little concern is entirely natural. Mon Apr 26 22:21:19 2010 EST http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_analysis/470474/dead_sea_pipeline_plan_an_ecological_disaster.html Simple water conservation rather than a multi-billion pound pipeline project would be the best way to save the Dead Sea from disappearing, say environmentalists Mon Apr 26 22:21:19 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2010/apr/26/election-2010-climate-debates-live Follow Ed Miliband, Greg Clark, Simon Hughes and Darren Johnson clashing swords at the Ask the Climate Question event and the BBC Daily Politics Show climate change debate General election 2010 live blog<!-- Block 1 -->8.50am: The environment is set to climb further up the election agenda today. Following last week's Guardian-hosted green hustings and the first mention of climate change in the Leaders' Debates, yesterday Labour and the Lib Dems both upped the ante by launching their green manifestos. Today, the three main parties and the Greens will clash swords again, first at 10am for an event in central London organised by Ask the Climate Question, a coalition of environment and development NGOs including Greenpeace and Oxfam. Mon Apr 26 22:21:19 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/apr/26/coal-protest-ffos-y-fran Seven coal activists arrested after chaining themselves to railway track leading to Ffos-y-Fran mineSeven protesters have been arrested by police after chaining themselves to the train line connecting an open cast coal mine with a power station in South Wales. Police are currently dealing with a second group of activists who have now locked on further up the line.The Ffos-y-Fran opencast coal mine near Merthyr Tydfil has already been the target of several occupations (including one by Guardian writer George Monbiot), the Welsh climate camp last summer, and a sustained local campaign from the residents.The activists, part of the Bristol and Bath Rising Tide direct action group, reached the rail track at midday today, and phoned the security at the coal mine to warn them about the protest. Mon Apr 26 22:21:19 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/apr/26/amtrak-cow-train-biodiesel Biodiesel made from beef byproducts fuels rail operator's first green train, cutting carbon emissions and improving air quality. From BusinessGreen, part of the Guardian Environment NetworkUS rail operator Amtrak may have given the term "cattle car" a whole new meaning with the first test of a biodiesel train that runs on beef byproducts.Operating on a $274,000 (£178,000) grant from the Federal Railroad Administration, the state-owned rail company has begun operating its daily Heartland Flyer train, travelling between Oklahoma City and Forth Worth, using B20 biodiesel fuel.The fuel, which mixes 80 per cent diesel with 20 per cent biofuel, cuts both hydrocarbon and carbon monoxide emissions by 10 per cent, according to the company, which said that the fuel also reduces particulates by 15 per cent and sulphates by 20 per cent compared to standard diesel fuels.The biodiesel, which was refined from ... Mon Apr 26 22:21:19 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/apr/25/research-viabilty-carbon-capture-storage Document from Houston University claims governments overestimated CCS valueA new research paper from American academics is threatening to blow a hole in growing political support for carbon capture and storage as a weapon in the fight against global warming.The document from Houston University claims that governments wanting to use CCS have overestimated its value and says it would take a reservoir the size of a small US state to hold the CO2 produced by one power station.Previous modelling has hugely underestimated the space needed to store CO2 because it was based on the "totally erroneous" premise that the pressure feeding the carbon into the rock structures would be constant, argues Michael Economides, professor of chemical engineering at Houston, and his co-author Christene Ehlig-Economides, professor of energy engineering at Texas AM University"It is like putting a bicycle pump up against a wall. Mon Apr 26 22:21:19 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/apr/25/labour-liberal-democrats-green-manifesto Campaigners warn this is last chance to act on climate change LIVE BLOG: Climate debatesGordon Brown and Nick Clegg have gone on the attack today in an effort to win the environmental vote for what campaigners say will be the last parliament that can save the world from dangerous levels of climate change.Both launched green manifestos, with Labour's saying the Liberal Democrat ban on new nuclear power would "endanger our energy security and climate change goals", while the Lib Dems condemned "a party that has had 13 years to deliver on the environment and failed".The Lib Dems' key pledge was to set a target for a zero-carbon Britain. Mon Apr 26 22:21:19 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/video/2010/apr/26/george-monbiot-climate-debate At the Guardian's climate debate, George Monbiot confronted Ed Miliband, Greg Clark and Simon Hughes on their party's policies on exploiting fossil fuelsGeorge Monbiot Mon Apr 26 22:21:19 2010 EST http://feeds.grist.org/click.phdo?i=d46433fac78a654eca97a0c6c92593e4 by Agence France-Presse Electric taxi in Tokyo.Photo: Better PlaceTOKYO-The world's first taxis with easily replaceable batteries hit the streets of the Japanese capital Monday in a government-funded experiment. The purpose-built cars that can run on easily swapped batteries-rather than wait to be recharged or switch to other fuels-were launched in Tokyo by Japan's energy agency. Three cars based on the Nissan Dualis will operate as normal taxis on the city's streets during the 90-day experiment, a joint project with Better Place, a U.S. firm specializing in providing electric vehicle infrastructure. Mon Apr 26 22:21:19 2010 EST http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1268720/Britain-set-sizzle-soaring-summer-temperatures-unseasonal-heatwave-continues.html Britain will bask in near summer temperatures over the next few days as the weekend's unseasonal warm weather continues. Read more: [link]news/article-1268720/Britain-set-sizzle-soaring-summer-temperatures-unseasonal-heatwave-continues.html#ixzz0mGLQeWTA Mon Apr 26 22:21:19 2010 EST http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10928/s/a2f453a/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Carticle0Cmg20A6275710B60A0A0Eliving0Eworld0Ethe0Eshape0Eof0Elife0Eto0Ecome0Bhtml0DDCMP0FOTC0Erss0Gnsref0Fclimate0Echange/story01.htm Humans are rapidly causing Earth's sixth mass extinction " and the ecosystem that comes next is ours to design Mon Apr 26 22:21:19 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news191517391.html (PhysOrg.com) -- Earth's oceans and atmosphere are engaged in a complex dance, continually exchanging heat and moisture. Ocean conditions directly influence the conditions of the atmosphere. To predict our weather, forecasters need the best information they can get about the state of affairs in the sea. That's where the Short-term Prediction Research and Transition, or SPoRT, project at the Marshall Space Flight Center steps in. The SPoRT team uses NASA Earth observation satellite sensors to provide ocean temperature updates to the National Weather Service four times daily. The SPoRT scientists recently enhanced their ability to detect changes in sea surface temperatures -- a variable that greatly affects weather in coastal regions -- and the public will benefit. Mon Apr 26 22:21:19 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news191420885.html Oceanographers said on Sunday they had measured a system of mighty currents off Antarctica that are a newly-discovered factor in the equation of climate change. Mon Apr 26 22:21:19 2010 EST http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2010/04/climate-scientist-bashing/ A new popular sport in some media these days is 'climate scientist bashing'. Instead of dealing soberly with the climate problem they prefer to attack climate scientists, i.e. the bearers of bad news. The German magazine DER SPIEGEL has played this game last week under the suggestive heading 'Die Wolkenschieber' " which literally translated can mean both 'the cloud movers' and 'the cloud traffickers' (available in English here ). The article continues on this level, alleging 'sloppy work, falsifications and exaggerations'. By doing so DER SPIEGEL digs deeply into the old relic box of 'climate skeptics' and freely helps itself on their websites instead of critically researching the issues at hand. Mon Apr 26 22:21:19 2010 EST http://resourceinsights.blogspot.com/2010/04/how-bjrn-lomborg-deceives-public.html Bjørn Lomborg is articulate, attractive, youthful-looking and the supposed voice of reason in the debate over environmental policy. So, it is no surprise that he is making the rounds in the media this Earth Day season. In a piece in USA Today he recycles claims from previous work that "many key environmental measures" are getting better.As you sift through the piece, you will see that his "key environmental measures" relate almost exclusively to the health and well-being of humans. And, this is what he uses to build a three-fold strategy to deceive the public. First, he equates human well-being with the well-being of the planet as a whole largely ignoring declines in the functioning of the very ecosystems that support human life. Mon Apr 26 22:21:19 2010 EST http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/266/f/3780/s/a31009c/l/0L0Sindependent0O0Cenvironment0Cclimate0Echange0Cparties0Eclash0Eover0Eclimate0Ecredentials0E19546320Bhtml/story01.htm Mon Apr 26 22:21:19 2010 EST http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/266/f/3780/s/a2d66e7/l/0L0Sindependent0O0Cnews0Cuk0Cpolitics0Ctories0Ecould0Eput0Eclimate0Echange0Eagreement0Eat0Erisk0E195420A70Bhtml/story01.htm A historic climate change deal would be put at risk by a Conservative government because of the "injustice" of the way they would fund the battle against global warming in developing nations, David Cameron is warned today. Mon Apr 26 22:21:19 2010 EST http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/266/f/3780/s/a2d66e8/l/0L0Sindependent0O0Cnews0Cworld0Camericas0Cobamas0Eclimatechange0Ebill0Estymied0Eby0Ebipartisan0Equarrel0E19542310Bhtml/story01.htm Prospects for an early international agreement to tackle climate change have suffered a major setback, as a US plan to cut carbon emissions descended into partisan bickering. Mon Apr 26 22:21:19 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news191482974.html (PhysOrg.com) -- In dark, rich soils on every continent, microbes dealing with the effects of climate change aren't accelerating global warming the way scientists had predicted, a study by researchers at the University of California at Irvine, Colorado State University and Yale University shows. Mon Apr 26 22:21:19 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/blogs/environment/~3/auqPM9Bm2us/ Will consumers be buying hybrid-electric cars like today's Toyota Prius and Ford Escape for the next few decades or are the hybrids just a milestone on the road to all-electric vehicles? The answer to that question may come down to two words: Range anxiety - the fear that when an all-electric car's battery runs out, the driver will find him or herself stranded on a roadside with no way of charging up. Auto and battery executives at a green-tech conference held in Cambridge, Massachusetts by Lux Research were divided on whether hybrids will be a long-term fixture of the automotive landscape or would quickly give way to all-electric cars like the forthcoming Nissan Leaf. Mon Apr 26 22:21:19 2010 EST http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/dispatches-from-a-planet-in-peril-1955046.html I'd never imagined a career move that would see me stepping gingerly between the crevasses of the Greenland ice sheet, let alone covering a topic like climate change. In fact, when the job of environment and science correspondent first came up, the Iraq invasion was on the horizon and I wondered if I could face leaving my position in foreign news. Mon Apr 26 22:21:19 2010 EST http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/for-one-night-only-climate-change-back-on-election-agenda-1955115.html climate change came back into the election as a live issue yesterday when the three main parties clashed over each other's credentials for fighting global warming. Mon Apr 26 22:21:19 2010 EST http://uk.news.yahoo.com/18/20100426/tsc-west-mediterranean-countries-unite-o-b1f5339.html The countries of the western Mediterranean Monday called for a comprehensive plan for combatting environmental blight and climate change in the region. Mon Apr 26 22:21:19 2010 EST http://www.calcuttanews.net/story/627898 The UN's food agency has increased aid to Niger, with thousands of people desperate to eke an existence from parched farmland in western Africa's Sahel region. Mon Apr 26 22:21:19 2010 EST http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?sid=aYL_ogSQLQAs&pid=20601087 April 26 (Bloomberg) -- Raw sugar rose the most in a week after the U.S. increased its import quota and on speculation that drought in China will curb production and tighten global supplies. Mon Apr 26 22:21:19 2010 EST http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?sid=aTGJLPVWKa68&pid=20601087 The Danish wind turbine maker climbed 5.6 percent to 360.10 kroner in Copenhagen to close with its biggest gain in almost three weeks. Mon Apr 26 22:21:19 2010 EST http://www.forbes.com/2010/04/26/climate-change-global-wto-opinions-contributors-james-bacchus.html?feed=rss_home How WTO rules can speed up global action. Mon Apr 26 22:21:19 2010 EST http://www.thehindu.com/2010/04/26/stories/2010042660600900.htm NEW DELHI: The Centre has so far not addressed the problem of climate change impact on agriculture and food sector, a panel of experts participating in a national conference on Ensuring Food Security in a Changing Climate' observed here on Saturday. Mon Apr 26 22:21:19 2010 EST http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/leading-articles/leading-article-the-unfinished-green-revolution-1955182.html One of the most pleasing aspects of this election campaign is the fact that climate change has become part of the discourse of mainstream politics. All three of the major parties have signed up in their manifestos to cut our national carbon emissions by at least 80 per cent by 2050. Mon Apr 26 22:21:19 2010 EST http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=126280761&ft=1&f=1014 Climate-change legislation has suffered a major setback in the Senate, with its key GOP supporter backing away. Even if it can be revived, it won't contain the centerpiece idea of the House-passed bill: a proposal to use free market techniques to reduce carbon emissions. Mon Apr 26 22:21:19 2010 EST http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/b6df31bc-509f-11df-bc86-00144feab49a.html Democrats' hopes of unveiling a long-awaited climate change bill on Monday were dashed at the weekend when the Republican senator working on a bipartisan deal walked away from the legislation, citing a 'cynical political ploy' by the majority leadership. Months-long efforts to come up with a form of a bill that senators on both sides of the upper chamber could support appeared to be coming to a close last week, with John Kerry, the Democratic senator steering the negotiations, saying he would present the package on Monday. Mon Apr 26 22:21:19 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/0XmGcZSEqcs/ In its main environmental story today " 'On climate bill, Democrats work to overcome Graham's immigration objections' - the WashPost said: In some ways, the problem that proponents of climate legislation face is that they're pursuing a policy goal that is not much of a hot-button political issue. Environmental activists had a well-attended event Sunday on the Mall, with musical stars Sting and John Legend, but immigration reform advocates are likely to dwarf that turnout with dozens of rallies across the country Saturday. Yes, the biggest single climate rally in U.S. history is dismissed by comparison with the hypothetical cumulative turnout of dozens of future rallies on immigration. Mon Apr 26 22:21:19 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news191232648.html (PhysOrg.com) -- A new report from CSIRO identifies five global megatrends and eight megashocks that are changing the world. Mon Apr 26 22:21:19 2010 EST http://www.dakotavoice.com/2010/04/only-a-third-of-americans-believe-global-warming-is-human-caused/ Union of Concerned ScientistsOnly a Third of Americans Believe Global Warming is Human-CausedDakota Voice... for US leaders than stopping global warming to protect the environment. The real science points overwhelmingly to the conclusion that climate change has ...Is global warming a real problem or a hoax?HeliumLetters: Honest Debate Needed On Climate ChangeRichmond Times DispatchGuest column: The real story on climate changeAnderson Independent MailUnion of Concerned Scientists -OpEdNews -Gather.comall 11 Mon Apr 26 22:21:19 2010 EST http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2010/apr/26/new-wave-solar-plants-could-worsen-air-quality/ The most popular type of industrial solar technology has a dirty little secret: Many of these plants are not emission-free. Mon Apr 26 22:21:19 2010 EST http://www.greenbiz.com/blog/2010/04/23/us-business-emissions-growing-not-slowing When President Barack Obama announced last November his commitment to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 17 percent by 2020 , it was a crucial step in bringing the U.S. into the global climate change negotiations and signaling to the business community and the consumer that the U.S. was ready to take on the challenge of stopping climate change. Mon Apr 26 22:21:19 2010 EST http://www.salon.com/news/env/environment/index.html?story=/books/feature/2010/04/16/bill_mckibben_eaarth_interview_ext2010 A climate pioneer declares the planet -- with its rising humidity and hot oceans -- dead Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST 23th April 2010 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8634147.stm Global airlines have lost about $1.7bn (£1.1bn) of revenue as a result of the disruptions caused by the Icelandic volcanic eruption, a body has said. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) said that at its height, the "crisis" hit almost a third of global flights. Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_round_up/467922/un_claims_food_production_needs_to_double_exposed_as_myth.html Widely quoted figures of the need to double food production by 2050 have been used to justify an expansion of industrial factory farming, but have been brought into question by a new report Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_round_up/467354/video_why_tar_sands_activists_took_on_bp.html A report from BP's recent AGM where activists fought to raise awareness of the oil giant's investment in tar sands - includes an interview with George Poitras, member of Mikisew Cree indigenous First Nation Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/10945179/1b1o08/alternet_environment~World-Peoples-Conference-on-Climate-Change-and-the-Rights-of-Mother-Earth-An-Antidote-to-Copenhagen The world's governments were unable to find enough common ground in Copenhagen to hash out even a weak treaty. Now, a justice-focused alternative is kicking off. Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/10957005/1b1o08/alternet_environment~Our-Big-Challenge-on-Earth-Day-Stop-the-Nuke-Industry-from-Pretending-It-Can-Prevent-Climate-Change The global grassroots green movement must work to transform the pending climate bill into something that can actually save the planet. Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/10906019/1b1o08/alternet_environment~Four-of-the-Most-Dangerous-Fraudulent-Scientific-Theories-That-Must-Be-Confronted Climate-induced earthquakes, bottomless pits of oil, pet dinosaurs and a miraculous energy source: For the sake of public policy, it's important to debunk the lies. Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/10891255/1b1o08/alternet_environment~Enviro-Heroes-Meet-This-Years-Prestigious-Goldman-Prize-Winners Among the grassroots leaders who are taking on some of the most challenging environmental problems is a Michigan family farmer fighting livestock pollution. Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2010/apr/21/ask-the-ministers-climate-and-energy-debate-twitter Follow the developments at the Guardian's climate change and energy election debate here and via Twitter Ask the ministers: take part online in the climate change and energy election debate Tickets for tonight's energy and climate change debate between Ed Miliband, Greg Clark and Simon Hughes sold out rapidly. To enable you to follow the debate, myself, James Randerson and Adam Vaughan will be tweeting live from the panel discussion, hosted by Ian Katz, via our @guardianeco account. You can follow us below from 7pm tonight.Follow the policy points, banter and grilling from the audience live via Twitter using the hashtag #climatedebate. Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/apr/20/us-navy-green Eco-friendly warriors will keep an eye on carbon footprint as it destroys its enemiesThe US navy is set to be both green and mean with the dawning of an new eco-friendly assault force that will mind its carbon footprint as it destroys its enemy. It is to launch "the Great Green Fleet", a fighting force of ships, submarines and planes powered entirely by biofuels. The first group will be tested in 2012, and the navy plans for it to be operational by 2016.The push for greener fighting forces runs across the Pentagon. The military accounts for nearly 80% of the US government's energy consumption and the two wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have made strategists acutely conscious of both the massive cost and serious security risks of the gas-guzzling ways of the past.By the time it arrives in the war zone, a gallon of gas ... Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2010/apr/21/iceland-volcano-climate-sceptics Climate sceptics' favourite theory that volcanoes produce more CO2 than human activity has exploded in their faces with Eyjafjallajokull eruptionAlong with the ash and lava, there have been many interesting asides tossed into the air for our consideration by the Eyjafjallajokull volcano. We have noticed just how reliant our globalised systems are on air travel. We have been reminded of nature's brute force and primordial beauty. And we have been intrigued by what a wonderfully complex language Icelandic appears to be " to Anglo-Saxon ears, at least.But one opportunity the volcano has gifted us in particular is the chance to put to bed once and for all that barrel-aged climate sceptic canard which maintains that volcanoes emit far more carbon dioxide than anthropogenic sources. Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/cif-green/2010/apr/21/carbon-calculator-labour Our approach is not only to cut carbon, but to create clean energy jobs, finance low-carbon infrastructure and empower individuals Test the national carbon calculator hereAlongside the economic crisis and the political crisis of expenses, the climate crisis is fundamental to the choices we have to make as a country in the years ahead. But despite the threat that global warming poses, we must also seize the moment to inspire people with the positive vision we can achieve as we tackle it.The mission to create green jobs through clean energy and low-carbon manufacturing is at the heart of our manifesto. Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/competition/2010/apr/20/win-eco-break-cornwall Enter our competition for your chance to win a mini-break at an eco-hideaway in Tregarne, Cornwall Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://feeds.grist.org/click.phdo?i=82ee8e0dd80b9c0ce5ab515c51335675 by Glenn Hurowitz An endangered unicorn protected by one of the imaginary offsets created if Kerry-Graham-Lieberman raids funds for tropical rainforests.In the ongoing negotiations over the Kerry-Graham-Lieberman bill, different polluters are clamoring for cash to compensate them for not fouling the atmosphere quite so much. One of their targets: the legislation's set-aside funds for reducing tropical deforestation, which is responsible for at least 15 percent of total carbon dioxide emissions (more than all the cars, trucks, ships, and planes in the world). Outside of all the myriad benefits of protecting tropical rainforests for the planet, raiding this 'Climate Forest Fund' seriously threatens the affordability, effectiveness, and political viability of energy and climate legislation. Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=51125 COCHABAMBA, Bolivia, Apr 20 (IPS) - The philosophy of "Living Well" enshrined in Bolivia's new constitution is being put forward by the government as the basis for a global movement against consumerism, depredation of natural resources for profit, and current models of development. Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=51118 CANELONES, Uruguay, Apr 20 (Tierramérica) - Water-borne diseases and illness related to natural disasters are on the agenda for plans of officials and civil society to help the precarious settlements in the outskirts of the metropolitan area of Montevideo and in other Uruguayan cities. Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/04/20/92527/self-pollinating-almond-trees.html Every spring, thousands of beehives are trucked into the San Joaquin Valley for a massive pollination of almond trees. Now all that could change as plant scientists and farmers begin trials of self-pollinating almond trees that have been in development for years. Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10928/s/a172463/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Carticle0Cdn1880A10Euk0Euniversity0Eordered0Eto0Egive0Edata0Eto0Eclimate0Esceptic0Bhtml0DDCMP0FOTC0Erss0Gnsref0Fclimate0Echange/story01.htm Queens University Belfast must accept a freedom-of-information request for its tree-ring data from an amateur climate analyst and climate sceptic Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news191003168.html Finland's government on Tuesday outlined a plan to massively boost renewable energy production to meet European Union requirements on slashing greenhouse gas emissions. Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news190991356.html (PhysOrg.com) -- The results of genetic studies on migratory birds substantiate the theory that in the case of a continued global warming, and within only a few generations, migratory birds will - subject to strong selection and microevolution - at first begin to fly shorter distances and at a later stage, stop migrating, and will thus become so-called "residents". Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/De2x7UMsW-U/idUSTRE63K2V920100421 OSLO (Reuters) - Industrialized nations' greenhouse gas emissions fell by 2.2 percent in 2008, the steepest decline since the break-up of the Soviet Union as economies slowed, a Reuters compilation showed Wednesday. Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/RX812okIplQ/idUSTRE63K1JP20100421 LONDON/OSLO (Reuters) - Iceland's erupting volcano has spewed plenty of ash but far less greenhouse gas than Europe's grounded aircraft would have generated. Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/idzbIa308V4/idUSTRE63K1F320100421 BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union's executive will recommend making an extra 2 billion euros ($2.7 billion) of loans available to help other countries combat climate change, EU sources said on Wednesday. Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/9lHneDp4ZRo/idUSTRE63J5Z020100421 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senator John Kerry, leading the drive for compromise climate change legislation, said on Tuesday his proposal would not contain any sort of motor fuels tax and could scrap an oil sector "fee" that has been discussed. Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/GlIhYXjcLDE/idUSTRE63J4O620100420 HELSINKI (Reuters) - Finland's government has agreed on "hundreds of millions of euros" to fund the growth of renewable energy, Finnish media reported late on Tuesday, as the Nordic country seeks to cut its carbon emissions. Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/266/f/3780/s/a180b2e/l/0L0Sindependent0O0Cnews0Cworld0Camericas0Canger0Eas0Ebrazil0Eapproves0Eamazon0Erainforest0Edam0E19496250Bhtml/story01.htm Brazil awarded a domestic consortium rights yesterday to build the world's third-largest hydroelectric dam in the Amazon rainforest amid criticism that the dam will be catastrophic for the environment. Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2010/04/stirling-is-gold?cmpid=rss Salt River Project announced the opening of a new concentrating solar power pilot project in late January. The 1.5 MW Maricopa Solar installation is the first commercial project for the SunCatcher, a 25 kW dish/Stirling power system developed by Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Stirling Energy Systems (SES). Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://www.countercurrents.org/wild200410.htm By Matthew WildBy any measure, March was a watershed month for the truth about peak oil. Estimates on the timing of the peak have narrowed dramatically, and now center on the 2012-2015 time frame. The range of estimates on the peak rate of production remain a bit broader and shrouded in caveats, but they are rapidly drawing closer to 90 mbpd. And the globally averaged, post-peak annual decline rates are settling in around 2% Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1267584/British-farmland-birds-population-plummet-11-cent.html?ITO=1490 Official figures show that populations have plummeted by 11 per cent across England since the mid 1990s - and that once common species such as the starling, turtle dove and corn bunting are suffering the most. Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/YaleEnvironment360/~3/ff380yLfaYM/digest.msp As energy and climate legislation continues to founder in the U.S. Senate, one Democratic senator, Maria Cantwell of Washington, says it's time for a new strategy. Her legislation, co-sponsored by Republican Susan Collins of Maine and praised by many for its simplicity, would make the country's major suppliers of fossil fuels buy permits to emit C02, and return most of the proceeds to taxpayers. In an interview with Yale Environment 360, Cantwell explains how her 'cap-and-refund' bill avoids the potentially murky financial Maria Cantwell mechanisms of the traditional cap-and-trade approach, while at the same time winning over the public in the transition to a post-fossil fuel economy. Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/YaleEnvironment360/~3/CFftrZVFJrU/feature.msp As climate and energy legislation continues to founder in Washington, Senator Maria Cantwell says it's time for a new strategy. In an interview with Yale Environment 360, Cantwell explains why her bill can avoid the pitfalls of cap-and-trade and win the support of the public. BY ELIZABETH KOLBERT Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://www.greenleft.org.au/2010/834/42939 Bolivian President Evo Morales Ayma condemned the capitalist system in the opening session of the 1st World Conference of the Peoples on Climatic Change on April 20. Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/blogs/environment/~3/pRAp9T2PwPM/ by Kwok W. Wan As I travelled up to Cumbria to visit E.ON's offshore Robin Rigg wind farm in northwest England, I passed through the Lake District, a place famed for its natural beauty. Out of the train window, I saw grassy banks, craggy hills, farm fields rolling into moody skies - and lines of giant electricity pylons. I wondered if the 125 metre tall wind turbines I was about to see would be as much of a scar on the coastline as these unnaturally straight man-made structures on the English countryside. Would they also poke out like huge metal thumbs across the Irish Sea and distract us from the wild beauty of the surrounding lowland hills? Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://tcktcktck.org/partner-actions/pledge-reduce-your-carbon-emissions-10-starting-2010 Join this global campaign of ordinary citizens, families, businesses, schools and organizations committed to reducing their carbon emissions by 10% starting in 2010. Media Sponsor Logo: Action Link: Make your pledge Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://www.sunstar.com.ph/baguio/tree-planting-not-enough-save-environment TREE planting activities may be a noble endeavor in helping combat the effects of climate change but activities limited to planting is not enough to help the environment, said a school official. read more Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/2/hi/in_pictures/8634293.stm Images from Bolivia's talks on climate change Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2261717/major-economies-forum-calms BusinessGreen.com staff, BusinessGreen , Wednesday 21 April 2010 at 11:00:00 Leading emitters agree that there is virtually no chance of a climate change agreement being reached this year, but BASIC countries appear willing to discuss future of Kyoto Protocol The meeting of the Major Economies Forum (MEF) that ended on Monday delivered progress on a number of key areas. It was followed by ... Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://www.dtnprogressivefarmer.com/dtnag/view/blog/getBlog.do?blogHandle=weather&blogEntryId=8a82c0bc2803bb3c01281cade2d10130 Whatever carbon dioxide(CO2) is released by the volcano in Iceland is minor compared to human emission. Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://www.enn.com/climate/article/41231 One of the benefits we noted when man first was able observe the earth from above our atmosphere, from outer space, is that it enabled us to gain a new perspective on how very special our planet is. Viewed from a distance, it is obvious that we are all living in one global environment. And from a distance, this environment doesn't look as vast as it does from our vantage point on earth. The land ... Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/apr2010/2010-04-20-02.html COCHABAMBA, Bolivia, April 20, 2010 (ENS) - Bolivian President Evo Morales said capitalism is to blame for global warming and the accelerated deterioration of the planetary ecosystem in a speech today opening an international conference on climate change and the "rights of Mother Earth." Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/sci/tech/8631396.stm Will Iceland's volcano impact weather or climate? Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/sci/tech/8635765.stm Pledges made at the Copenhagen summit are very unlikely to keep global warming below 2C, researchers find. Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/m8YlRj4Xw6g/ MSNBC has posted a bunch of Earth Day cartoons by top cartoonists (here). Lots of focus on global warming. Here's 'The Quack and the Faker': That's Pat Bagley of the Salt Lake Tribune. Here's Olle Johansson, a Swedish freelancer: And here's Steve Greenberg of LA: Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://www.culturechange.org/cms/content/view/641/65/ At the People's World Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth, the consistent message is ecological, indigenous, communitarian and anti-corporate. The great majority of speakers sound radical and have the support of the thousands of attendees. The message is welcome at the top, in the person of Evo Morales, the indigenous Aymara former farmer and union organizer who is Bolivia's president. Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://energybulletin.net/node/52544 As climate and energy legislation continues to founder in Washington, Senator Maria Cantwell says it's time for a new strategy. In an interview with Yale Environment 360, Cantwell explains why her bill can avoid the pitfalls of cap-and-trade and win the support of the public. read more Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://energybulletin.net/node/52536 The bottom line of the last few weeks is that there will be many more factors shaping the end of the oil age than a simple geologic reduction in the amount of oil that can be pumped. We already know about "above ground factors" such as wars, nationalism, lack of investment, and their affect on global oil production and the price of oil products. It is now becoming apparent that Mother Nature in the form of droughts, earthquakes, hurricanes and erupting volcanoes is likely to have a significant voice in how the oil age ends too. read more Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://energybulletin.net/node/52529 (First-hand report) At the People's World Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth, the consistent message is ecological, indigenous, communitarian and anti-corporate. The great majority of speakers sound radical and have the support of the thousands of attendees. read more Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/04/22/2879728.htm A review of the Federal Government's emissions trading scheme has described its plans for free carbon permits to heavy emitters as a $20 billion waste of money. Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://www.ptinews.com/news/620335_Purulia-hottest-in-WB-with-47-7-degrees Purulia hottest in WB with 47.7 degreesPress Trust of IndiaKolkata, Apr 21 (PTI) Purulia was the hottest place in West Bengal with the mercury shooting up to 47.7 degrees Celsius today, as heatwave conditions ... Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://www.joabbess.com/2010/04/22/climate-vigil-holy-night/ CLIMATE VIGIL PRAYERS 1. Christian Ecology Link, the Campaign against Climate Change, and other members of the Stop Climate Chaos coalition are holding an overnight vigil between Saturday 15th May 2010 and Sunday 16 May 2010, celebrating the Earth in the Arts, and reminding the newly-formed British Government to act decisively and urgently on Climate Change. 2. As part of the Climate Vigil, Christian Ecology Link, with the support of Operation Noah, are offering a service of Christian worship at St Martin-in-the-Fields Church, Trafalgar Square, London WC2N 4JJ, on Saturday 15th May 2010 at 11pm (23:00), to which all are welcome. Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://johannhari.com//2010/04/21/my-choices-for-the-independents-green-awards For this year's Green Awards, I picked the Best UK politician, and best international politician. Best UK politician: Caroline Lucas Since 1997, Britain's emissions of warming gases have actually risen " and if you factor in the emissions from goods now manufactured for us in China, they have risen dramatically. Very few politicians have been honest about the crisis we face, or demanded the swift transition to an economy powered by the power of the sun, the wind and the waves. Working on the inside, the Environment Secretary Ed Miliband has a strong claim to this award, often trying to drag other government departments towards radical low- carbon approaches. Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news191100121.html (AP) -- Climate change poses a growing threat to health, from heart disease to heatstroke and from illness carried by water to bug-borne sickness. Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news191076734.html Carbon-curbing pledges under the Copenhagen Accord are likely to doom Earth to warming of three degrees Celsius (5.4 degrees Fahrenheit) or more, compared to the deal's target of 2 C (3.6 F), scientists said on Wednesday. Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news191076348.html (PhysOrg.com) -- A startup company, Joule Biotechnologies, Inc., has developed an alternative solution of producing liquid fuel by harnessing sunlight to directly convert carbon dioxide (CO2) into liquid energy (SolarFuel). Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news191072674.html A comprehensive assessment of global fossil-fuel subsidies has found that governments are spending $500 billion annually on policies that undermine energy security and worsen the environment. Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/mF08bcMjjbk/idUSTRE63K5YX20100421 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic leaders in the Congress may try to win passage of contentious immigration reform legislation this year in a move that could further harm prospects for a climate-change bill, congressional aides said on Wednesday. Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/2EtQ11wKp7M/idUSTRE63K5HT20100421 SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - California and other states with aggressive environmental agendas said on Wednesday they fear a federal climate bill may unacceptably weaken their power, in a new sign of uncertainty over compromise legislation being crafted by U.S. Senator John Kerry and his allies. Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/vM4iZujPejg/idUSTRE63K5IL20100421 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. senators crafting a compromise climate change bill have held months of meetings with oil, coal and manufacturing interests, but so far have failed to gain the ironclad words of support many think will be necessary for passing legislation. Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/j4b_AKTpxCg/idUSTRE63K5C020100421 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. military, the government's largest fuel buyer, is leading the fight against climate change by investing in the "Great Green Fleet" and other ways of cutting dependence on oil and coal, according to a Pew Charitable Trusts report released on Tuesday. Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/266/f/3780/s/a1d74be/l/0L0Sindependent0O0Cenvironment0Cclimate0Echange0Cempty0Eskies0Eproved0Ethat0Eairports0Ecause0Epollution0Esay0Eresearchers0E1950A6720Bhtml/story01.htm Scientists have used the no-flying period caused by the ash cloud to show for the first time that airports are themselves significant causes of pollution. Although long suspected, the fact that mass take-offs and landings are large pollution sources could never be proved before, because aircraft pollution could not be measured as separate from the pollution caused by vehicles operating near by. Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://www.newsweek.com/id/236776?from=rss Will Iceland's eruption contribute to global warming, or cooling? This time, say researchers, neither. Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/YaleEnvironment360/~3/BzTyCol0qn0/digest.msp The number of courts that resolve environmental disputes has nearly doubled in the last five years as the complexity of environmental law and public awareness have increased, according to a new study. There are 354 environmental courts in 41 countries, with more than 170 created since 2005, according to the World Resources Institute (WRI). Only a handful existed in the 1970s. 'While such specialist courts and tribunals have been created from time to time, their accelerated growth is a 21st century phenomenon,' the report says. Typically, citizen groups and governments have pushed for such courts and tribunals to help develop consistent, sustainable development regulations. Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/YaleEnvironment360/~3/sUsnCrKUlJE/digest.msp U.S. investors have invested $129.4 million in a promising solar technology that uses plastic lenses to concentrate sunlight onto small but highly efficient solar cells. The so-called multijunction cells, developed by California-based Amonix, generate more electricity than conventional photovoltaic panels and require fewer costly semiconducting materials, such as silicon. The company has successfully tested the technology at small solar farms in Spain and the United States. While numerous companies are trying to capitalize on the growing solar market - and the desire for utilities to meet renewable energy targets - analysts say concentrated photovoltaic technology has a possible edge over other solar technologies because it is more efficient and requires less land for utility-scale projects. Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://www.countercurrents.org/ens210410.htm By Environment News Service Bolivian President Evo Morales said capitalism is to blame for global warming and the accelerated deterioration of the planetary ecosystem in a speech today opening an international conference on climate change and the rights of Mother Earth. Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://www.countercurrents.org/glikson210410.pdf By Andrew GliksonA warning from the past and a blueprint for an emergency CO2 draw-down effort Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://www.countercurrents.org/goodman210410.htm By Amy Goodman15,000 people from more than 120 countries have gathered in Cochabamba for the Peoples World Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://www.officialwire.com/main.php?action=posted_news&rid=131742&catid=62 The European Union's top climate official called for an energy tax to boost the bloc's climate protection efforts. Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2010/apr/20/ask-the-ministers-climate-debate Tickets have sold out for our climate debate featuring Ed Miliband, Greg Clark and Simon Hughes. But you can still take part by posting a question below and follow the debate on a live audio stream and via Twitter Tomorrow, the three politicians who are fighting to be the next climate minister will lock horns in the Guardian's climate and energy election debate . While tickets for the event in ... Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/21/earth-day-the-sequel/ A chronicler of the first Earth Day describes the limits of environmentalism and new paths to environmental progress. Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/21/geological-society-presses-on-climate-threat/ Geologists update and strengthen their statement on evidence for a growing, and disruptive, human influence on climate. Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/blogs/environment/~3/jXQkKM9PqOE/ Greenhouse gas emissions by industrialized nations fell by 2.2 percent in 2008, the steepest fall since 1992 as the world economy slowed, a Reuters compilation shows. Following are official national greenhouse gas emissions data submitted to the U.N. Climate Change Secretariat in recent days. A few are not yet available. (Thousands of tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent unless stated, excludes land use, land use change and forestry): (Notes: Turkey's emissions not listed in common format. A few base years differ from 1990) Compiled by Alister Doyle and Terje Solsvik in Oslo. Editing by Lin Noueihed. Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://bigpondnews.com/articles/Politics/2010/04/22/Copenhagen_talks_lead_to_more_warming_453899.html Carbon-curbing pledges under the Copenhagen Accord are likely to doom Earth to warming of three degrees. Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://feeds.wired.com/~r/wired/index/~3/incQS2wky2s/ Changing the Bayh-Dole Act could end the deadlock over green-technology patents. Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://www.democracynow.org/2010/4/21/the_most_important_event_in_the Among those who spoke at the inauguration ceremony for the World Peoples' Climate Conference was Nnimmo Bassey, the prominent Nigerian environmentalist and chair of Friends of the Earth International. By contrast, at the UN climate summit in Copenhagen in December, his group, along with several other mainstream environmental organizations, was barred from the talks. 'Here you get a real sense that government wants to speak to people,' Bassey says. [includes rush transcript] Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://www.salon.com/books/feature/2010/04/22/how_to_cool_the_planet/index.html?source=rss&aim=/books/feature These days, it's hard not to feel disillusioned about the fight against global warming. The 2009 Copenhagen climate summit failed to create a binding agreement to reduce CO2 emissions, and predictions about the impact of climate change are growing increasingly dire (some are predicting an ice-free Arctic by the end of the decade). Recently, many scientists have begun to embrace the notion that, barring a massive policy change, we're going to have to learn how to live with global warming. (It's a sobering fact that even if emissions drop to zero today, existing CO2 will keep our planet warm for the next several centuries.) As Rolling Stone contributing editor and frequent New York Times contributor Jeff Goodell explains in his fascinating new book, "How to Cool the Planet," this has led some members of the scientific establishment to reconsider the radical option of geoengineering ... Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2010/apr/22/simon-hughes-liberal-democrats Lib Dem minister beat Ed Miliband by one percentage point, while Greg Clark received only 10% of the Twtpoll vote at the Guardian's Ask the Minister debateNick Clegg may have had a boost in the polls thanks to his first TV debate, but his climate and energy spokesman last night scored another, albeit small, boost for the Lib Dems thanks to the Guardian's Ask the Ministers debate.Simon Hughes impressed the Twitter audience following the debate and beat Ed Miliband, the incumbent minister, by a whisker in our very unscientific Twtpoll. Simon Hughes took 46% of the vote, Ed Miliband, 45%, and Greg Clark swept up the remainder of the votes (13) giving him a paltry 10%. Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://feeds.grist.org/click.phdo?i=bf56cd6b573a9fe0567ef5298a7144e9 by Tom Philpott Where your food comes from: a phosphate mine in Florida run by the fertilizer giant Mosaic. Mosaic is two-thirds owned by Cargill, the globe's largest agribusiness company, with interests in meat, feed, biofuels, and more. Photo: Susan Dracket, via FlickrAs Grist's recent special series showed, our reliance on synthetic nitrogen fertilizer has serious ecological, geopolitical, public-health, and agricultural consequences. Yet N isn't our only fertilizer problem. To grow robustly, plants need sufficient access to three key macronutrients: N,P, and K, or nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium. In non-industrial and organic farming systems, recycling these nutrients is a paramount task. Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news191139143.html (PhysOrg.com) -- Britain may soon be using global positioning satellites and advanced speed cameras with number plate recognition technology to track speeding motorists, and according to a report released by the House of Commons, the system can be installed and operated at relatively low cost. Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/YaleEnvironment360/~3/p2STnIUoW_8/digest.msp More European nations are levying carbon taxes on passenger vehicles and providing tax incentives for electric vehicles, according to a new report by the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association. Seventeen of the 27 European Union nations now impose a tax based on carbon emissions, compared with 11 in 2007 and nine in 2006. In 2009, motor vehicles taxes of all kinds generated about 377 billion ($505 billion), or 3.4 percent of total GDP, in the 15 nations Click to enlargeACEAEU nations with CO2 vehicle tax that originally made up the EU. Fifteen of the EU's current 27 members provide incentives for electric vehicles, including tax reductions and bonus payments. Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/shell/lloC/~3/gfo6Of5azwQ/ Although the airspace is now open again, it has been impossible to be in the UK this week and not hear about, talk about or watch volcanoes. It has also made everybody painfully aware of the fact that we are totally and utterly dependent on air travel and that having a global air travel hub on a small island presents a further set of complications when the system doesn't function as it should. Not only have travelers been stranded, but the impact was quickly felt by the likes of Kenyan flower growers and market gardeners " although this was apparently solved fairly rapidly as air freight was diverted to Spain and supermarkets trucked from there. Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/blogs/environment/~3/Sv6Cd38D5xU/ " Michael Brune is Executive Director of the Sierra Club, the largest grassroots environmental organization in the United States and author of Coming Clean: Breaking America's Addiction to Oil and Coal. " This year marks the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, and people are looking back at an amazing 40 years of environmental successes. Americans have come together in their neighborhoods, cities, states and nationally to demand cleaner air and water " and they have been successful. This should serve as an inspiration for the current and future work to help our planet and the challenges we face along the way. Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/blogs/environment/~3/ZPVgMX7Bs6A/ Changing the world is no doubt a daunting task but that's what leftist Bolivian president Evo Morales and thousands of environmental activists, representatives of grassroots groups, and the envoys of some 90 governments are striving to do this week in the small village of Tiquipaya, in central Bolivia. The World People's Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth started on Monday with a speech by Morales that was radical because it called for a new economic system, but was also peppered with some other surprises. Morales, an Aymara Indian who herded llamas as a boy and never finished secondary school, said that eating chicken fed with hormones causes 'sexual deviation' in men and that European men lose their hair because they eat GM food. Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/photo/2010-04/22/content_9762373.htm A man walks through a dried-up reservoir in the drought-hit Donghua county of Chuxiong city, Southwest China's Yunnan province, April 21, 2010. High temperatures and a shortage of rainfall continue to plague the drought-stricken Yunnan province, reducing crop production by 60 percent. Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IRIN/0a31dbcd420cb4bddcff4b10bac7c245.htm Source: IRIN Below average rainfall has hit food production in eastern and northeastern Afghanistan where some rain-fed fields have dried out, officials and farmers said. Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://www.dtnprogressivefarmer.com/dtnag/view/blog/getBlog.do?blogHandle=ethanol&blogEntryId=8a82c0bc2803bb3c0128209a8a090154 Scientists in the Biotechnology Foundation Laboratories at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia are conducting research into tobacco's potential as a biofuel feedstock, according to Greenhouse Management Production in Fort Worth, Texas. Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO1004/S00427.htm Increased poverty, water scarcity, and food insecurity are just some of the negative impacts set to hit small-scale farmers and pastoralists in Ethiopia as a result of climate change in the region, according to a new Oxfam International report. Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://www.bclocalnews.com/fraser_valley/abbynews/news/91764224.html David Suzuki remembers the first Earth Day 40 years ago today as a watershed moment in the history of the budding environmental movement. The UBC geneticist was already on a trajectory to becoming the iconic scientist and broadcaster who would raise public awareness of ecological issues for decades to come. Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/04/climate-desk-geoengineering/ Nearly 200 scientists from 14 countries met last month at the famed Asilomar retreat center outside Monterey, California, in a deliberate bid to make history. Their five-day meeting focused on setting up voluntary ground rules for research into cloud-brightening, giant algae blooms and other massive-scale interventions to cool the planet. It's unclear how significant the meeting will turn out to be, but the intent of its organizers was unmistakable: By choosing Asilomar, they hoped to summon the spirit of a groundbreaking meeting of biologists that took place on the same site in 1975. Back then, scientists with bushy sideburns and split collars - the forefathers of the molecular revolution, it turned out - established principles for the safe and ethical study of deadly pathogens. Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://news.discovery.com/earth/spring-blooms-warming.html Got a window and some time on your hands? On this Earth Day, find out how you can help researchers document climate change in action. By Larry O'Hanlon | Thu Apr 22, 2010 12:00 AM ET THE GIST: * Citizen science is now charting climate change in North America with Project BudBurst. * Ten common species of flowering plants are the focus of this project's efforts. * Project BudBurst will soon also be reaching your cell phone. Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10928/s/a216679/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Carticle0Cdn1880A70Ewhale0Epoop0Eis0Evital0Eto0Eoceans0Ecarbon0Ecycle0Bhtml0DDCMP0FOTC0Erss0Gnsref0Fclimate0Echange/story01.htm Protecting endangered baleen whales in the Southern Ocean could help restore its carbon storage capacity Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/apr/22/climate-change-libel-action-canada-national-post One of the world's leading climate scientists has launched a libel lawsuit against a Canadian newspaper for publishing articles that he says "poison" the debate on global warming. In a case with potentially huge consequences for online publishers, lawyers acting for Andrew Weaver, a climate modeller at the University of Victoria, Canada, have demanded the National Post removes the articles not only from its own websites, but also from the numerous blogs and sites where they were reposted. Weaver says the articles, published at the height of several recent controversies over the reliability of climate science in recent months, contain "grossly irresponsible falsehoods". Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://www.slideshare.net/humanbe/new-generation-of-rigid-airship Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/in_pictures/8634293.stm Images from Bolivia's talks on climate change Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/world/africa/8580967.stm How special stoves save lives and emissions in Congo Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/50LgW3bc9RM/ It was spring, 1970. Apollo 13 had just barely made it back safely. We were about to invade Cambodia. The Beatles had just disbanded. Men wore ties so wide you could use them for napkins, mini-skirt lengths were finally coming down. I was 11, a 6th grader, tall, lanky, nerdy, awkward, and really worried about our planet - already. Fresh memories of the tumultuous sixties lingered in the air, as did the pollution. It hung over DC like stale cigarette smoke. Our assignment was to clip relevant news articles, and be ready to talk about the significance of the first Earth Day in class. Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://energybulletin.net/node/52573 Earth Day Network is organizing a huge event on the Mall in Washington D.C. on April 25. The goal is to demand tough, effective climate legislation and a swift transition away from 19th century energy sources. read more Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://www.countercurrents.org/whipple220410.htm By Tom Whipple The bottom line of the last few weeks is that there will be many more factors shaping the end of the oil age than a simple geologic reduction in the amount of oil that can be pumped. We already know about above ground factors such as wars, nationalism, lack of investment, and their affect on global oil production and the price of oil products. It is now becoming apparent that Mother Nature in the form of droughts, earthquakes, hurricanes and erupting volcanoes is likely to have a significant voice in how the oil age ends too Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/apr/22/how-bolivia-transformation-could-change-world The people's summit to tackle climate change is a radical, transformative response to the failure of the Copenhagen clubIt was 11am and Evo Morales had turned a football stadium into a giant classroom, marshalling an array of props: paper plates, plastic cups, disposable raincoats, handcrafted gourds, wooden plates and multicoloured ponchos. All came into play to make his main point: to fight climate change "we need to recover the values of the indigenous people".Yet wealthy countries have little interest in learning these lessons and are instead pushing through a plan that, at its best, would raise average global temperatures 2C. Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/apr/22/rbs-climate-camp-protest Environmental group Climate Camp will target bank over links to fossil fuel industryRoyal Bank of Scotland will be the target of a series of direct action protests this summer, the organisers of Climate Camp have announced today.The environmental group wants to broaden its campaign to target banks which fund the oil industry, particularly controversial tar sands developments, and engage in carbon trading, which they say is exacerbating climate change.The bank, following its £20bn taxpayer funded bailout, is a crucial link between government and the oil industry. According to organisers, RBS invests more in the fossil fuel industry than any other bank in the UK. Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/georgemonbiot/2010/apr/22/climate-debate-miliband-clark-hughes Greg Clark, Ed Miliband, Simon Hughes could all have been fronting a Friends of the Earth campaign from a few years agoHere's something I didn't expect to write: I found all three of the politicians at last night's green hustings quite impressive. I was struck by the maturity of their debate, in two senses. They tried to answer the questions they were given, rarely sought to fob us off and mostly refrained from cheap point-scoring.And they all had the kind of detailed knowledge of green issues that just a few years ago would have been perceived as superfluous to a political career. Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/04/22/92728/report-ocean-acidification-rising.html With the oceans absorbing more than 1 million tons of carbon dioxide an hour, a National Research Council study released Thursday found that the level of acid in the oceans is increasing at an unprecedented rate and threatening to change marine ecosystems. Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/04/22/92650/earth-day-turns-40-and-faces-challenging.html As Earth Day reaches middle age - it turns 40 today - will it get all the respect it's grown to expect? The environmental celebration that once seemed more innocently focused on planting trees, on DDT and on weeping Indians is now bound up with politics and climate change - and amid a toxic cloud of polarization and name calling. Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/04/22/92694/once-smoggy-mexico-city-makes.html Once the smoggiest city on the planet, Mexico City has cleaned itself up and is coaxing residents to commute on bicycles. Taking cues from European cities in the vanguard of the green movement, such as Copenhagen, Paris and Barcelona, Mexico City has set up an urban bike-sharing system, moving faster and with greater ambition than most U.S. metropolises have. Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://feeds.grist.org/click.phdo?i=ce2e6ba9e4b041f087377622693ea92a by Jeff Goodell EyjafjallajokullPhoto courtesy Ludie Cochrane via FlickrIn America, we don't care much about science. We care about sex and violence and money. That makes it hard to sustain a conversation about geoengineering, given that there is very little sex or money involved, and the only violence is likely to be brought on by future climate catastrophes. A good volcano, however, does remind people that there are larger forces in the world than Oprah Winfrey. First, let me say that Eyjafjallajokull, the mountain which erupted in Iceland last week, is a pretty whimpy volcano. No rolling rivers of lava, very little sulfur dioxide injected into the stratosphere. Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news191173744.html NASA's Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission or TRMM satellite has been flying over the low pressure area known as System 91S in the Southern Indian Ocean and providing estimates of rainfall within the storm. The storm has now strengthened enough to be reclassified as the twenty-fourth southern hemispheric tropical cyclone, "24S." Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/-y7RFolMHTY/idUSTRE63M02N20100423 SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Greenpeace considers the climate change bill being drafted in the U.S. Senate a "baby step" that will not deliver needed change, but it will not campaign against it, the group's top executive said on Thursday. Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/4WvKzGu3G7A/idUSTRE63L4XP20100422 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Carbon dioxide emissions that contribute to global warming are also turning the oceans more acidic at the fastest pace in hundreds of thousands of years, the National Research Council reported Thursday. Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/yPZcV0dH708/idUSTRE63K5YX20100422 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. senators writing a massive climate-change bill struggled on Thursday over how to reduce carbon dioxide pollution in the transportation sector, Senator Lindsey Graham said, adding that he did not yet know whether a measure would be ready by Monday. Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/HoFNeon6wpk/idUSTRE63L69S20100422 NEW YORK (Reuters) - Residents of major world cities cite climate change as the most pressing global issue, except residents of large U.S. cities who list the economy as the bigger problem, according to a survey by HSBC Bank. Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36713115/ns/us_news-environment/ Rising carbon dioxide emissions are making our oceans more acidic and thus threatening corals and shellfish at a rate unseen in at least 800,000 years, scientists report. Carbon dioxide - Environment - Carbon Cycle - Coral - Carbon Management Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/blogs/environment/~3/M8RO_lANRB8/ Kumi Naidoo, Greenpeace's International Executive Director, sat down with Reuters in San Francisco and chatted about the US Senate climate bill and where the non-profit is focusing its campaigning energies. Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/22/big-coal-booming-on-earth-day/ Global coal sales booming on Earth Day. Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_18/b4176020895306.htm?campaign_id=rss_null Hydroelectric power shortages mount in southwestern China Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100422/sc_afp/boliviaenvironmentclimatewarming_20100422193053 A "people's conference" on climate change agreed in Bolivia Thursday to call for the halving of greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 at the next UN climate meeting in Mexico in December. Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=green-investments [More] Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://news.yahoo.com/s/usnw/20100422/pl_usnw/DC91835_1 WASHINGTON, April 22 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Environmental and transportation groups praised a just-released U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) report to Congress for laying out a new road map to curb U.S. greenhouse gas emissions and support a healthier economy. Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20100422/NEWS02/100421041/1007/NEWS02/Atlas-maps-Vermont-s-renewable-energy-future Scott Sawyer of the Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund demonstrates an online, interactive, multi-layered Vermont renewable-energy atlas. Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/apr/23/uk-offshore-wind-1gw Wind farms at Gunfleet Sands and Robin Rigg mean the UK can now power up to 700,000 homes. From BusinessGreen, part of the Guardian Environment NetworkThe UK cemented its position as the leading player in the global offshore wind energy market today with the announcement that it has attained one gigawatt of installed offshore wind capacity.Trade association RenewableUK said that the completion of Dong Energy's Gunfleet Sands offshore wind farm and E.ON's Robin Rigg development means that the UK now boasts 11 working offshore wind farms, featuring 336 wind turbines capable of generating power for up to 700,000 homes.The association said that the rapidly expanding sector was also poised to accelerate further, with more than 40GW of capacity now at various stages of the development pipeline. Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/interactive/2010/apr/23/green-politics-election-manifesto-demands We asked green groups to tell us what environmental policies they'd like to see the next government adopt " here's what they saidPeter Storey Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=51164 COCHABAMBA, Bolivia, Apr 23 (IPS) - A world people's referendum on climate change will be held in April 2011 for the earth's peoples to decide how to address this global problem. Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://feeds.grist.org/click.phdo?i=5990bad55a91e69c23ec0c68dbd9c6ac by Jonathan Hiskes Guardian columnist George Monbiot reported recently on the unlikely groundswell of environmental progress in Wales, the Appalachia of the U.K. Its national Plaid Cymru party is more progressive and more ambitious than Britain's three leading parties when it comes to building a low-carbon economy. Monbiot argues that it's the unusually flexible and open political climate that enable Wales' success: 'The English like to think of themselves as a modern and sophisticated nation, and sometimes ignorantly view the Welsh as backward and uncouth. But as far as democracy is concerned, the English are light years behind.' I tried to make a similar case last month. Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/jR2xFE56_1I/idUSTRE63M0PG20100423 SYDNEY (Reuters) - Whale droppings have emerged as a natural ocean fertilizer which could help combat global warming by allowing the Southern Ocean to absorb more carbon dioxide, Australian scientists have found. Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE63M1PH20100423?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews OSLO (Reuters) - Plane-free skies over Europe during Iceland's volcanic eruption may yield rare clues about how flights stoke climate change, adding to evidence from a closure of U.S. airspace after September 11, 2001, experts say. Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://www.csmonitor.com/Books/Book-Reviews/2010/0422/How-to-Cool-the-Planet Atlantic OnlineHow to Cool the PlanetChristian Science Monitor... 2010 If you are a serious scholar of climate change, How To Cool the Planet is probably not for you. If you believe global warming is a hoax, ...Are Conservatives Misusing Geoengineering?Discover Magazine (blog)Treating Climate Change as a Curable DiseaseWired Newsall 5 Fri Apr 23 06:56:41 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/hAIWPSWFEGg/idUSTRE63E3Y220100416 OSLO (Reuters) - A thaw of Iceland's ice caps in coming decades caused by climate change may trigger more volcanic eruptions by removing a vast weight and freeing magma from deep below ground, scientists said on Friday. Tue Apr 20 12:02:46 2010 EST 20th April 2010 http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/fA0zQ3mrn8E/idUSTRE63F2XJ20100416 OSLO (Reuters) - Norway on Friday slashed about a third off its oil and gas resource estimate for the waters off the Lofoten and Vesteraalen islands, bolstering those who oppose opening up the pristine Arctic region for drilling. Tue Apr 20 12:02:46 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/YaleEnvironment360/~3/Tl35jsgEzOg/digest.msp The U.S. Air Force is threatening to halt construction of a 845-megawatt wind farm in eastern Oregon that would be the world's largest wind project, citing concerns that the wind turbines would interfere with a nearby military radar station. Clean energy advocates are concerned that the confrontation could jeopardize other major wind projects in the region and elsewhere in the U.S., threatening 16,000 jobs and undermining President Obama's push to develop renewable sources of energy. Concerned that the blades of the 338 massive wind turbines might interfere with radar signals when positioned at certain angles, the Department of Defense moved to reject a Federal Aviation Administration permit. Tue Apr 20 12:02:46 2010 EST http://health.usnews.com/health-news/family-health/allergy-and-asthma/articles/2010/04/16/off-the-charts-pollen-counts-bring-misery-to-millions.html FRIDAY, April 16 (HealthDay News) -- A cold winter followed by a sudden and sustained warming trend, not to mention the botanical blossoming that global warming has brought, has boosted pollen counts to near-record highs across the United States this spring, experts say. Click here to find out more! All of that has led to one of the most miserable allergy seasons in recent memory for the 50 million Americans who find themselves suffering itchy eyes, runny noses and scratchy throats this time of year. Tue Apr 20 12:02:46 2010 EST http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9eZ6i2cUA24 Tar Sands TV-documentary Tue Apr 20 12:02:46 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/gHbnV1BkHVQ/ ExxonMobil paid no U.S. federal income tax in 2009. In fact, it was entitled to a $156 million tax refund. Why? CAP's Sima J. Gandhi, has the answer in this repost. The answer is more boring than you think: It overpaid its 2008 taxes. ExxonMobil was required to bolster its pension plan by $3 billion when the market went down in 2008. According to Alan Jeffers, Exxon's media relations manager, this overpayment reduced the amount of taxes owed in 2008, but the tax adjustment wasn't made until one year later, which led to an overpayment and the refund in 2009. Tue Apr 20 12:02:46 2010 EST http://www.dailynews.lk/2010/04/17/news16.asp Global temperatures fueled by El Nino seasonal warming last month chalked up the hottest March on record, US weather monitors reported Thursday. Tue Apr 20 12:02:46 2010 EST http://feeds.grist.org/click.phdo?i=ce07648dd024196321edb5a247843626 by Jeff Goodell So yesterday was the official publication day for my new book How to Cool the Planet, an event that I'd like to mark by ... taking a long nap. I'm only a few days into the book tour, but I'm already exhausted. Not that I'm complaining. Being worn out by your book tour is a nice problem for a writer to have. Part of my fatigue is the result of a bumpy redeye from LA to NYC the other night; part of it can be blamed on a flood of questions from chemtrails conspiracy cultists who believe that Dark Forces are engaged in a secret plot to reduce the population of the planet by poisoning millions of people with aluminum particles dispersed in the sky. Tue Apr 20 12:02:46 2010 EST http://www.countercurrents.org/cba160410.htm By Peoples Movements, Networks Organisations We demand the Government of India join the Cochabamba Climate Conference and meaningfully participate in it at the highest levels Tue Apr 20 12:02:46 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/shell/lloC/~3/jlCNJvLG3-M/ This week the European Climate Foundation (ECF) launched its low-carbon roadmap for Europe " essentially a plan which details the pathway to an 80% emissions reduction by 2050. Long-term readers of this blog may recall a short piece I did back in July 2009 entitled 'The Last 20%', which looked at what an 80% reduction in emissions actually looks like (although for the USA, but the EU will be pretty much the same) " the key outcome being that society needs to rapidly electrify (e.g. for heating in the home) and that the power generation sector must head to zero or near zero emissions. Tue Apr 20 12:02:46 2010 EST http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE63E3Y220100416?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews OSLO (Reuters) - A thaw of Iceland's ice caps in coming decades caused by climate change may trigger more volcanic eruptions by removing a vast weight and freeing magma from deep below ground, scientists said on Friday. Tue Apr 20 12:02:46 2010 EST http://uk.news.yahoo.com/18/20100416/tsc-iceland-volcano-unlikely-to-slow-glo-c2ff8aa.html Big volcanic eruptions have had a cooling effect on Earth's climate, but the Icelandic event is too small to provide any such respite from manmade global warming, scientists said on Friday. Tue Apr 20 12:02:46 2010 EST http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/04/i-am-allergic-global-warming.php TreehuggerI'm Allergic to Global Warming. Literally.TreehuggerEnter the impact climate change will have on allergies: Pollen from ragweed, which triggers most cases of spring hay fever, is projected to increase up to ...and more Tue Apr 20 12:02:46 2010 EST http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/aucklanders-told-conserve-water-3469869 Aucklanders are being asked to go easy on the water, with fears the region could soon dry up Tue Apr 20 12:02:46 2010 EST http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/4/17/business/6064381&sec=business Climate scientists have long warned us that global warming is accelerating due to the continuous rise of greenhouse gas emissions such as carbon dioxide into the earths atmosphere. Tue Apr 20 12:02:46 2010 EST http://feeds.wired.com/~r/wired/index/~3/PIdUbhgBKX8/ Even for a concept car, the Ye Zi is outlandish, and not just because of the laser generator. Tue Apr 20 12:02:46 2010 EST http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1004/S00181.htm Government figures revealed today show that the taxpayer would be nearly $1.2 billion better off had Labour and National acted to keep New Zealands greenhouse emissions down at 1990 levels, the Green Party said today. Tue Apr 20 12:02:46 2010 EST http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100416/wl_canada_afp/climatewarmingcanadaenvironment_20100416133558 Canada's greenhouse gas emissions fell for the first time in more than a decade in 2008, amid a global economic slump, the government said Thursday in a report to the United Nations. Tue Apr 20 12:02:46 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/sci/tech/8629529.stm Why the EU can and must cut emissions faster Tue Apr 20 12:02:46 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/world/americas/8629155.stm Delegates are gathering in the Bolivian city of Cochabamba for a "people's conference" on climate change called by President Evo Morales. Tue Apr 20 12:02:46 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/sci/tech/8628832.stm The amount of water used to produce food and goods imported to the UK is worsening global shortages, a report concludes. Tue Apr 20 12:02:46 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/today/hi/today/newsid_8626000/8626927.stm Alain de Botton imagines a plane-less world Tue Apr 20 12:02:46 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/I0eSOPaIprM/ Periods of exceptional climate change in Earth history are associated with a dynamic response from the solid Earth, involving enhanced levels of potentially hazardous geological and geomorphological activity. This response is expressed through the adjustment, modulation or triggering of a wide range of surface and crustal phenomena, including volcanic and seismic activity, submarine and sub-aerial landslides, tsunamis and landslide 'splash' waves glacial outburst and rock-dam failure floods, debris flows and gas-hydrate destabilisation. Looking ahead, modelling studies and projection of current trends point towards increased risk in relation to a spectrum of geological and geomorphological hazards in a world warmed by anthropogenic climate change, while observations suggest that the ongoing rise in global average temperatures may already be eliciting a hazardous response from the geosphere. Tue Apr 20 12:02:46 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/uQ8jh9gY094/ Buried on page 95, midway through his chapter titled 'The Clean Energy Solution,' Joe Romm summarizes the only workable strategy for saving the planet from catastrophic climate change. That strategy focuses on rapid commercialization of existing renewable energy technologies. Our plan, he says, must be 'Deployment, deployment, deployment, R&D, deployment, deployment, deployment.' That's a powerful message for wind, solar and geothermal businesses to run with. Seth Masia, Deputy Editor of Solar Today, has a review of my new book Straight Up (click here to buy). There'll be a lot of reviews in the next couple of weeks, and I won't print them all. Tue Apr 20 12:02:46 2010 EST http://ases.org/index.php?option=com_myblog&show=Book-review-Straight-Up-by-Joe-Romm.html&Itemid=27 Climate Progress blogger says: Deploy without delay. Buried on page 95, midway through his chapter titled "The Clean Energy Solution," Joe Romm summarizes the only workable strategy for saving the planet from catastrophic climate change. That strategy focuses on rapid commercialization of existing renewable energy technologies. Our plan, he says, must be "Deployment, deployment, deployment, RD, deployment, deployment, deployment." That's a powerful message for wind, solar and geothermal businesses to run with. Straight Up is a collection of short articles from Romm's blog ClimateProgress.org. If you read that blog, you're probably a passionate fan. If you don't, you should know that Romm, an MIT Ph.D. Tue Apr 20 12:02:46 2010 EST http://www.desmogblog.com/tea-party-supporters-wealtheir-more-educated-still-bitter tea party - alice in wonderland.png Tea Party supporters are wealthier and more educated than average Americans, and they are more likely than the average to declare that their personal financial situation is fairly good or very good, according to a new poll by the New York Times and CBS News. They also are inclined to approve of Medicare and Social Security. Yet they remain mad as hell and determined to blame President Barack Obama for all that irks them about America. There is a creepy consistency to these polls that suggest the real problem with the political conversation in America is not rooted in economic malaise. Tue Apr 20 12:02:46 2010 EST http://www.desmogblog.com/fraser-institute-oil-industry n123235041462_7848.jpg Canada's libertarian think-tank, the Fraser Institute, has a knack for providing excellent PR and advocacy services for the oil industry in Canada. That might be because they practically are the oil industry. Out of 47 directors, 9 can be clearly linked to the oil, gas and coal industries. Since Canadian oil companies extract dirty tar sands, which have a much larger environmental impact and carbon footprint than run-of-the-mill dirty oil, the industry relies on top-notch spin to massage its image in the public eye. <!--break-->Here are some of the oil celebrities riding Fraser's anti-regulation bandwagon ... Tue Apr 20 12:02:46 2010 EST http://www.theecologist.org/blogs_and_comments/commentators/other_comments/467271/can_the_green_hairy_city_work_with_our_existing_mineral_cities.html Cities are at a crossroads - 'eco urbanists' want efficiency and artificial ecosystems; conventional designers want to maintain the best bits of our current urban spaces. Can they co-exist? Tue Apr 20 12:02:46 2010 EST http://energybulletin.net/node/52489 - Hollywood stars join politicians at Bolivia's 'cool' global warming summit- Evo Morales: Climate change and the rights of Mother Earth- Bill McKibben on Cochabamba summit- In defense of Pachamama read more Tue Apr 20 12:02:46 2010 EST http://energybulletin.net/52485 The volcanic eruption is also of interest to environmental researchers who can, now that the air-traffic has been stopped, measure how the atmosphere changes when it is released from the burden of aviation's emissions: 'This is a huge experiment with the environment that we could never afford to do otherwise...', says Kjell Aleklett, professor in global energy systems at Uppsala University. read more Tue Apr 20 12:02:46 2010 EST http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/10858986/1ax3b5/alternet_environment~Water-Wars-How-One-Citys-Fight-Against-Bechtel-Ignited-a-Movement-Battling-Water-Privatization Cochabama, Bolivia was ground zero 10 years ago in the fight against water privatization, but the threat still persists across the world. Tue Apr 20 12:02:46 2010 EST http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/10852105/1ax3b5/alternet_environment~Why-You-Should-Come-to-the-Largest-Climate-Rally-Ever-on-the-DC-Mall-April Come hear everyone from James Hansen to James Cameron, from Sting to me. Let's show the Tea Partiers what a real crowd looks like. Tue Apr 20 12:02:46 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/apr/19/eyjafjallajokull-volcano-climate-carbon-emissions Cooling effect from volcano ash cloud will be 'very insignificant', but flight ban stops emission of estimated 2.8m tonnes of CO2 Scientists call for research on climate link to geological hazardsThe eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano is unlikely to have any significant impact on climate but has caused a small fall in carbon emissions, experts say.Although large eruptions such as Mount Pinatubo in 1991 can spew out enough material to shade and cool the planet, recent activity in Iceland is very small in comparison. The ash cloud has not reached the high atmosphere, where it would have the most effect, and it contains little sulphur, which forms reflective droplets of sulphuric acid. Tue Apr 20 12:02:46 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/cif-green/2010/apr/20/green-policy-seismic-shift Tackling climate change is essential " but it must be achieved through bold strategies, not volcanic activity General election 2010: What is your MP's environmental record? Environment policies the parties should adopt in election 2010The massive disruption to European air travel from the Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland is a stark reminder of the massive force of nature " and the powerlessness of our actions when we feel its full might.It's a timely reminder of the urgent need to heed warnings from the world's leading climate scientists about the huge threat we face unless we slash greenhouse gas emissions and tackle global warming.But despite widespread agreement among the main political parties that climate change is one of the biggest challenges we face, the issue has taken a back seat since Gordon Brown blew the general election whistle earlier this month.Before the economic crisis took hold, all the ... Tue Apr 20 12:02:46 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2010/apr/20/train-rail-st-moritz-switzerland Iceland's erupting volcano is forcing many to travel overland across Europe for the first time, but regular slow traveller Ed Gillespie argues that rail travel needn't be flying's poor relationAnother private jet whined overhead as I crossed the frozen lake into St Moritz. This was only a few weeks back, "pre-volcano", but as a second plume of silicate dust from Iceland's Eyjafjallajökull crater keeps many European planes grounded, it already seems a long time ago.I was in St Moritz after riding the famous Glacier Express railway across the top of the Alps from Zermatt, an eight-hour journey through scandalously spectacular scenery. Tue Apr 20 12:02:46 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/apr/19/bolivia-climate-change Travellers on a long bus journey to Bolivia's climate change conference reflected the diversity of grassroots organising effortsThe second time the bus broke down we were just 60 km shy of Cochabamba, a city of half a million people in central Bolivia. The sun was falling down behind the mountains, and two of the Argentines had started a fire by the side of the road. Before long, as we waited for a few taxis to ferry us the rest of the way, a round of singing had broken out around the impromptu campfire. To the tune of La Bamba some improvised lyrics were hashed out, and before long we were all singing along to our new version ... Tue Apr 20 12:02:46 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/apr/19/act-wait-nature-simplify-system-brutally We rely globally on over-complex, over-strained systems. Act now, or wait for the much more brutal corrective of natureMan proposes; nature disposes. We are seldom more vulnerable than when we feel insulated. The miracle of modern flight protected us from gravity, atmosphere, culture, geography. It made everywhere feel local, interchangeable. Nature interjects, and we encounter " tragically for many " the reality of thousands of miles of separation. We discover that we have not escaped from the physical world after all.Complex, connected societies are more resilient than simple ones " up to a point. During the east African droughts of the early 1990s, I saw at first hand what anthropologists and economists have long predicted ... Tue Apr 20 12:02:46 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/apr/19/climate-change-geological-hazards Experts say suggestions that climate change could trigger more volcanoes and earthquakes are speculative, but there is enough evidence to take the threat seriouslyScientists today called for wide-ranging research into whether more volcanoes, earthquakes, landslides and tsunamis could be triggered by rising global temperatures under global warming.Significant warming of the atmosphere in the distant past can be linked to changes in geological activity, they say. Suggestions that climate change predicted for coming decades could bring similar changes remain speculative, but the scientists say there is enough evidence to take the threat seriously. Some experts have already linked current levels of global warming to rockfalls and landslides in mountain regions.Richard Betts, a climate modeller at the Met Office Hadley Centre in Exeter, said ... Tue Apr 20 12:02:46 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/apr/18/ethiopia-white-honey-shortage Drought forces bees into valleys in search of flowers, meaning they produce yellow honeyThe truffle of the apiary world " rare white honey from Ethiopia's highest peaks " is in danger of disappearing, according to beekeepers in the Tigray region. "No rain for the flowers,'' said Ashenaf Abera as he stood on his rocky, parched slope in the northern Ethiopian region whose famine inspired Bob Geldof to stage Live Aid in 1985. "The bees need high-altitude flowers for the white honey. When they cannot find them, they go to other plants and produce yellow honey.''Abera is paid £65 a month to mind 270 hives for the Asira Metira monastery, one of a dozen religious centres in an area whose 4th-century rock churches are among the wonders of the world. Tue Apr 20 12:02:46 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/apr/18/future-history-arctic-true-north The Arctic's future is vital to the human race, as a clutch of new books suggestsIn his account of his travels to the far north, the ancient Greek explorer Pytheas recalled encountering a wall of ice and dense fog, probably in waters around Iceland. "There was no longer land or sea or air but a kind of substance concreted from all of these elements," he wrote, adding that the water now resembled a "sea-lung".It seems an odd term, even accounting for the fact that the Greeks used sea-lung as another word for a jellyfish. Nevertheless, Gavin Francis believes Pytheas's description was perfect. Tue Apr 20 12:02:46 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/apr/18/iceland-volcano-kenya-farmers 5,000 workers laid off and tonnes of vegetables and flowers dumped as ash cloud engulfs EuropeFarmers in Kenya are dumping tonnes of vegetables and flowers destined for the UK, four days after the volcanic ash cloud over Europe grounded cargo shipments from Africa.Kenyan farms have laid off 5,000 staff, and growers have warned thousands more workers could be told to stay at home if flights did not resume by Tuesday, which would deal a serious blow to the country's economy."We usually ship 10-15 tonnes of produce every day to different parts of the world and that's come to a complete halt," said Ariff Shamji, managing director of AAA Growers in Nairobi. Tue Apr 20 12:02:46 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/apr/20/heathrow-expansion-loss Calculations on the cost of building a third runway at Heathrow are outdated and do not make economic sense says a new report. From the Ecologist, part of the Guardian Environment NetworkCalculations on the cost of building a third runway at Heathrow are outdated and do not make economic sense says a new reportExpanding Heathrow airport will result in a loss to the economy of £5 billion and lock the UK into a high carbon future, says a report from an independent thinktank.The Government gave the green light for a third runway in January 2009, saying the economic benefit of the expansion to the economy would be £5.5 billion.However, a report by the New Economics Foundation (nef) says this calculation did not take full account of all social and economic impacts and ignored the cost of additional noise and poorer air quality, congestion and ... Tue Apr 20 12:02:46 2010 EST http://feeds.grist.org/click.phdo?i=bb9f435ada08e8c2725abda531aca3cd by Tina Gerhardt TIQUIPAYA, Bolivia-This small town outside Cochabamba, Bolivia-where cows roam freely and campesinos grow fruit, vegetables, and flowers to sell at the local market-is a far cry from Copenhagen. But it's the latest gathering place in the ongoing effort to shape an effective global response to climate change. Here, Bolivian President Evo Morales is convening the People's World Conference on Climate Change this week, an alternative to the unwieldy and thus far unsuccessful U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change. NGOs, scientists, activists, indigenous leaders, and representatives of 60 to 70 national governments are coming together for the event-in all, about 7,500 attendees from 110 countries. Tue Apr 20 12:02:46 2010 EST http://www.breakingnewsonline.net/odisha/1687-heatwave-in-orissa-talcher-records-462-degrees-celsius.html Orissadiary.comHeatwave in Orissa: Talcher records 46.2 degrees CelsiusBreakingNewsOnline.There is no respite from the unprecedented heatwave conditions for people in Orissa. Western Orissa is worst-hit. Talcher recorded a maximum of 46.2 degrees ...Orissa schools asked to close as heat toll mounts to 53Press Trust of IndiaTwo Orissa towns record 46 degrees-plus temperatureThaindian.comSchools to remain closed in Orissa from April 20 due to intense heatOrissadiary.comall 25 Tue Apr 20 12:02:46 2010 EST http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/04/19/92433/interview-with-epa-chief-carbon.html In an interview with The State newspaper in Columbia, S.C., EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson says federal climate rules won't harm small businesses. Tue Apr 20 12:02:46 2010 EST http://www.joabbess.com/2010/04/18/some-of-our-heat-is-missing/ As seen on a YouTube here : [link]news/missing-heat-may-affect-future-climate-change The Earth is heating up, as evidenced by a number of direct measurements. However, we do not know where all the heat is located. Here's what Kevin Trenberth has written, which should be clear for anybody who has a reasonably good command of the English language :- [link]cgi/content/summary/328/5976/316 'Science 16 April 2010: Vol. 328. no. 5976, pp. 316 " 317 : DOI: 10.1126/science.1187272 ... Tue Apr 20 12:02:46 2010 EST http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=51099 SANTIAGO, Apr 19 (Tierramérica) - The success of the climate change conference taking place in the central Bolivian city of Cochabamba will depend on how unified civil society ultimately is in its efforts to influence the United Nations climate summit, in Mexico, say Latin American activists. Tue Apr 20 12:02:46 2010 EST http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=51090 BERLIN, Apr 18 (Tierramérica) - The global environmental crisis requires replacing the existing capitalist model of production with one that promotes "selective degrowth" of the economy and the restricted and responsible exploitation of natural resources, according to European experts and activists. Tue Apr 20 12:02:46 2010 EST http://johannhari.com//2010/04/18/wheres-the-apology-from-the-right-for-lying-about-climategate At last! The controversy is over. It turns out the "scientific" claims promoted for decades by whiny self-righteous liberals were a lie, a fraud, a con--and we don't need to change after all. The left is humiliated; the conservatives are triumphant and exultant. The year is 1954, and the "science" that has been exposed as a "sham" by conservatives is the link between smoking and lung cancer. Welcome to Tobaccogate, as Fox News would call it. The conservatives are championing professor Clarence Cook Little, who says he has discovered insurmountable flaws in the use of statistics and clinical data by "anti-tobacco" (and quasi-commie) scientists. Tue Apr 20 12:02:46 2010 EST http://www.monbiot.com/archives/2010/04/20/an-eruption-of-reality/ Has our society become too complex to sustain? Tue Apr 20 12:02:46 2010 EST http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10928/s/a118c70/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Carticle0Cdn187940Eblame0Ethe0Evolcano0Etrouble0Eon0Esun0Eand0Eglobal0Ewarming0Bhtml0DDCMP0FOTC0Erss0Gnsref0Fclimate0Echange/story01.htm Altered weather patterns may have made the disruption caused by volcanic ash from Iceland worse " climate change could be partly to blame Tue Apr 20 12:02:46 2010 EST http://resourceinsights.blogspot.com/2010/04/forever-and-day.html Talk with many green technology advocates and you might get the impression that we have forever and a day to make the transition from an unsustainable society to a sustainable one. Of course, they will tell you that one day far into the future, if we don't make the transition, we will have serious problems.Their view is based on not one, but two assumptions. First, as I said, it is based on the notion that we have a comparatively long time to make this transition, usually claimed to be several decades. Second, it is assumed that technology will appear and be deployed in time to prevent the worst problems that might result from fossil fuel depletion, climate change and a variety of other environmental and resource challenges. Tue Apr 20 12:02:46 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/hIdIRFn6nRE/idUSTRE63J2KG20100420 MILAN (Reuters) - The dairy sector accounts for 4 percent of global man-made greenhouse gas emissions, the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization said in a report. Tue Apr 20 12:02:46 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/oRjW9UIiK-s/idUSTRE63F2Q520100420 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An environmental coalition publicized a new U.S. draft report on climate change Monday, one week before the expected unveiling of a compromise U.S. Senate bill that aims to curb greenhouse gas emissions. Tue Apr 20 12:02:46 2010 EST http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/266/f/3780/s/a1481a4/l/0L0Sindependent0O0Cenvironment0Cclimate0Echange0Cfrogspawn0Estudy0Ereveals0Eclimate0Echange0Edangers0E19490A40A0Bhtml/story01.htm A study of thousands of records of when UK frogs spawn revealed the amphibians are closely adapted to local conditions - which could put them at risk as the climate changes. Tue Apr 20 12:02:46 2010 EST http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/266/f/3780/s/a0f06b8/l/0L0Sindependent0O0Cenvironment0Cclimate0Echange0Ctiny0Eclimate0Echanges0Emay0Etrigger0Equakes0E19484320Bhtml/story01.htm Climate change could spark more "hazardous" geological events such as volcanoes, earthquakes and landslides, scientists warned today. Tue Apr 20 12:02:46 2010 EST http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/266/f/3780/s/a0a9a00/l/0L0Sindependent0O0Cenvironment0Cclimate0Echange0Cis0Ethis0Ethe0Eend0Eof0Emigration0E19477240Bhtml/story01.htm It's rained three times as much as usual this winter in Andalusia, and almost every day unemployed amateur ornithologist Javier Caracuel has walked past a disused mining tower in the decaying industrial town of Linares and looked up, expecting the pair of white storks that nest there to have migrated south. Tue Apr 20 12:02:46 2010 EST http://www.rgj.com/article/20100420/TT/4200303/1047 An international forestry company embarking on a global effort to accumulate carbon credits while slowing deforestation has picked an unlikely site for the first of up to 100,000 acres of tree plantations it intends to grow on U.S. soil in the coming years. Tue Apr 20 12:02:46 2010 EST http://www.gmanews.tv/story/188723/thousands-take-big-leap-vs-climate-change-in-earth-day-run Almost 5,500 participated in National Geographics fun run on Sunday morning to raise awareness on climate change and help build disaster-resilient communities that can withstand catastrophes similar to Ondoy. Tue Apr 20 12:02:46 2010 EST http://www.countercurrents.org/auzanneau190410A.htm By Matthieu Auzanneau The U.S. Secretary of Energy, Steven Chu, knows and understands the issues of global peak oil production. During a talk he gave in March 2005 as director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, a U.S. Department of Energy National Laboratory, Steven Chu advanced the hypothesis of an imminent decline in world production of liquid fuels Tue Apr 20 12:02:46 2010 EST http://www.countercurrents.org/butler170410.htm By Simon ButlerAlbert Einstein defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. It has taken capitalism about 250 years to generate enough waste and pollution to press dangerously against natures limits. With such a damning record, there should be no grounds to expect a different outcome in the future. Yet the mainstream discussion about how to tackle the climate crisis still assumes that, this time around, capitalism can be made sustainable Tue Apr 20 12:02:46 2010 EST http://e360.yale.edu/content/digest.msp?id=2377 The eruption of Iceland's Eyjafjoell volcano is spewing a substantial amount of CO2 into the atmosphere every day, but the grounding of most airplanes in Europe is offsetting the volcano's carbon emissions. Scientists estimate that the volcano is emitting 150,000 to 300,000 tons of CO2 per day, an amount equal to the Click to enlargeNASAAsh plume from the ongoing eruption at Iceland's Eyjafjoell daily emissions of a small- to medium-sized European country. But according to estimates from the European Environment Agency and other groups, daily CO2 emissions from the aviation industry in the 27 nations of the European Union are 344,000 to 440,000 tons per day. Tue Apr 20 12:02:46 2010 EST http://e360.yale.edu/content/digest.msp?id=2372 The effects of climate change and sea-level rise on coastal cities present a new challenge to urban planners, one that inspires the exhibition, Rising Currents, now at New York City's Museum of Modern Art. Five teams of architects and landscape designers were asked to envision projects for New York City's future coastline. The plans all create what they call 'soft' infrastructures - landscapes that will allow rising sea levels to flow within and around the building sites where power, water, sewer, and gas lines are encased in waterproof vaults beneath the sidewalks. The plans imagine the View GalleryMOMARising Currents ... Tue Apr 20 12:02:46 2010 EST http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1264229/Warmest-weekend-year-set-bathe-UK-sunshine-temperatures-18C.html?ITO=1490 Blue skies and warm sunshine finally arrived today with highs of 16c in London and the south east. Tue Apr 20 12:02:46 2010 EST http://feeds.wired.com/~r/wired/index/~3/YMZ_ABbzaBA/ Is the planet really warming up? Just ask the corporations that stand to win or lose billions. While politicians dither, savvy corporations are finding ways to make a buck on global warming. Tue Apr 20 12:02:46 2010 EST http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/19/on-ash-and-the-global-aviation-boom/ A geoscientist weighs the odds of ash disruption in North America as an artist charts the aviation explosion. Tue Apr 20 12:02:46 2010 EST http://www.greenleft.org.au/2010/834/42890 The article below is an excerpt from a March 2010 Greenpeace report entitled Koch Industries: Secretly Funding the Climate Denial Machine, published in March 2010 by Greenpeace. The full report can be read here. Tue Apr 20 12:02:46 2010 EST http://www.greenleft.org.au/2010/834/42931 The following was posted on Climateandcapitalism.com on March 16 by Britain-based environmental and social justice group The Corner House.] Tue Apr 20 12:02:46 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/blogs/environment/~3/xuqeGK0z31E/ Yalmaz Siddiqui is Office Depot's director of environmental strategy. The views expressed here are his own. The 40th anniversary of Earth Day on April 22 undoubtedly has many individuals and businesses ramping up their green efforts, programs and even launching new green products or processes. At Office Depot, we're doing the same, as our recent series of announcements has shown. But the symbolism of the date has also encouraged us to think more broadly about the greening of business. This has led us to three key insights that help us - and may help others - address the common challenges of going greener. Tue Apr 20 12:02:46 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/blogs/environment/~3/q-fMlWDe2B8/ Clive Thompson is a contributing writer for the New York Times Magazine and a columnist for Wired. This piece was produced by the Climate Desk collaboration. Last year, Beluga Shipping discovered that there's money in global warming. Beluga is a German firm that specializes in 'super heavy lift' transport. Its vessels are equipped with massive cranes, allowing it to load and unload massive objects, like multi-ton propeller blades for wind turbines. It is an enormously expensive business, but last summer, Beluga executives hit upon an interesting way to save money: Shipping freight over a melting Arctic. Beluga had received contracts to send materials on a sprawling trip that would begin in Ulsan, South Korea, head north and west to the Russian port city of Archangelsk-located near the border with Finland-and wind up in Nigeria. Tue Apr 20 12:02:46 2010 EST http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100419/sc_afp/canadaenvironmentwarmingtechnology_20100419201836 Canada's natural resources ministry on Monday launched the first mobile carbon dioxide capture and compressor unit to measure and analyze power plants' emissions. Tue Apr 20 12:02:46 2010 EST http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100419/sc_afp/icelandvolcanoaviationclimatewarming_20100419191117 Iceland's Eyjafjoell volcano is emitting between 150,000 and 300,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) per day, a figure placing it in the same emissions league as a small-to-medium European economy, experts said on Monday. Tue Apr 20 12:02:46 2010 EST http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/news/Earthquakes-and-tsunamis-just-the.6235764.jp CLIMATE change could spark more "hazardous" geological events such as volcanoes, earthquakes and landslides. Tue Apr 20 12:02:46 2010 EST http://www.desmogblog.com/debunking-lord-monckton-king-teabaggers-live-peter-sinclair Peter Sinclair will be live on Climate TV tonight debuting his new Climate Crock of the Week, "Debunking Lord Monckton Part 2." The show will be live with Sinclair taking questions and discussing the new video at 6pm pacific, 9pm eastern here on Climate TV. Here's Sinclair's "Debunking Lord Monckton Part 1" in case you missed it: <!--break--> Fri Apr 16 09:37:56 2010 EST 16th April 2010 http://www.desmogblog.com/second-expert-panel-shows-climategate-was-sham An independent panel of experts in the United Kingdom has released a report finding there to be, "no evidence of any deliberate scientific malpractice in any of the work of the Climatic Research Unit and had it been there we believe that it is likely that we would have detected it." The inquiry was headed by former Chair of the House of Lords science and technology select committee, Lord Oxburgh. As reported in the Economist today, "The scientists in 'climategate' did not fudge the data." The Wall Street Journal writes on the matter that: "An independent academic panel said Wednesday that the U.K. Fri Apr 16 09:37:56 2010 EST http://www.independent.com/news/2010/apr/16/peak-wood/ The combination of accelerated deforestation and fossil fuel use has resulted in the climate change crisis we face today. Fri Apr 16 09:37:56 2010 EST http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,5469535,00.html?maca=en-rss-en-all-1573-rdf California hopes to use 33 percent renewable energy by 2020, making it an attractive market for Geman solar companies. Chancellor Angela Merkel is emphasizing German-Californian cooperation during her visit to the state. Fri Apr 16 09:37:56 2010 EST http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/10528101/1ai5eb/alternet_environment~What-to-Do-When-the-Current-Climate-Change-Legislation-Threatens-to-Do-More-Harm-Than-Good Unfortunately, when it comes to climate change legislation, all signs are pointing to system failure. Fri Apr 16 09:37:56 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/apr/16/requiem-for-a-species-clive-hamilton In an exclusive extract from his new book addressing the resistance to the truth about climate change, Clive Hamilton examines the roots of the denial lobby in US conservatism's reaction to the fall of communismIf we search for the roots of climate denial it soon becomes apparent that they lie in the reaction of American conservatism to the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. As the threat of the 'red menace' receded, the energy conservatives had put into opposing communism sought other outlets. Islamism had for some time been building as a threat, as it seemed to challenge the achievements of the West and the inevitable march of its influence. Fri Apr 16 09:37:56 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/apr/16/google-climate-chief-price-carbon Google wants a price on carbon to combat global warming, but also because it could be good for business. From Grist, part of the Guardian Environment NetworkGoogle wants a price on carbon and wants it now -- both for lofty reasons like combating global warming, but also because it could be good for business. As the Senate inches closer to climate legislation that could give the Internet giant what it wants, I checked in with Dan Reicher, the director of climate change and energy initiatives at Google, to see what surfing the web had to do with reining in greenhouse gases. Fri Apr 16 09:37:56 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/apr/15/green-party-radical-policy-parliament Caroline Lucas may yet become the country's first Green MP, and voters of all political colours should welcome that prospect Analysis: How all the parties measure up on green policyHere's the scenario: it's May 9, with a hung parliament and Labour has the Lib Dems aboard but it still needs an extra one or two seats to form a government. They can't possibly come from UKIP and most of the independents are unacceptable, but what about Caroline Lucas, the first elected Green MP in the Commons? She's a crowd-puller, and Labour is kind of green, isn't it? A red-green alliance sounds good.But then the party wonks sit down and actually read the Green party manifesto (pdf). Fri Apr 16 09:37:56 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/apr/15/ocean-missing-heat-global-warming Further study on oceans needed before hidden heat 'comes back to haunt us', say researchers in ColoradoExperts need to beef up ways to measure the heat content of oceans as a way to track more reliably the course of global warming, scientists say today.Kevin Trenberth and John Fasullo, climate scientists at the National Centre for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, say that only about half of the heat believed to have built up in the Earth in recent years can be accounted for. New instruments are needed to locate and monitor this missing heat, they say, which could be storing up trouble for the future."The heat will come back to haunt us sooner or later," Trenberth said. Fri Apr 16 09:37:56 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cif-green/2010/apr/15/environment-not-election-issue As the three main political parties focus on the economy, green issues have hardly featured in the election debateIt's the dog that didn't bark, the issue that no one feels pressed to talk about. Where, in the election battle, is the environment? To judge by the manifestos of the three biggest parties, it's a long way down the list.Even before you read what they have to say, you can see that it's hardly at the front of their minds. The environment section is three-quarters of the way down both the Labour and Conservative documents: third to last in Labour's ... Fri Apr 16 09:37:56 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/-x35c7XEPeY/idUSTRE63F2Q520100416 OSLO (Reuters) - The United States is asking for ideas about how to tackle global warming without raising expectations of breakthroughs in 2010 ahead of climate talks among the world's top emitters in Washington on Sunday. Fri Apr 16 09:37:56 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/df-axlE8mhk/idUSTRE63F0SC20100416 SINGAPORE (Reuters) - A U.N.-backed forest preservation scheme could become too valuable and complex, raising the risk local communities, the very people seen as key to the scheme's success, could be shut out, scientists say. Fri Apr 16 09:37:56 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/Dj3izyMUauE/idUSTRE63E3Y220100415 OSLO (Reuters) - A vast cloud from an intensifying volcanic eruption in Iceland is too small so far to slow global warming as happened in 1991 with the explosion of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines, experts say. Fri Apr 16 09:37:56 2010 EST http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100415/sc_afp/franceitalyeuclimatewarmingtaxtrade_20100415165512 France and Italy urged Brussels Thursday to consider an EU carbon tax on imports, jointly pressuring the bloc after Paris was forced to abandon the initiative at national level. Fri Apr 16 09:37:56 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/apr/15/eu-green-logo The EU's Ecolabel is used to certify a product partly made from Indonesian rainforest timber. What a shameThe European Union has an eco-label for green products. Its symbol is a flower. More than 3,000 products have made the grade and carry the flower. They include two widely sold brands of copying paper: Golden Plus and Lucky Boss.No doubt thousands of European office workers have bought the brands reassured that they are sustainably produced. So what a shame that it seems both are partly made from timber logged from one of the largest but fastest disappearing tropical rainforests, on the Indonesian island of Sumatra.What a shame, too, that the French eco-labelling agency " the "competent authority", according to the high-flown language of the EU " will not release any documents discussing the reasons why it granted the high-prized label, which can be used in ... Fri Apr 16 09:37:56 2010 EST http://feeds.grist.org/click.phdo?i=40640a76b3f2f160b0750de85122724b by Josh Nelson The new CBS/NYT poll of tea party supporters [PDF, H/T Greg Sargent] includes a question on climate change: Do you think global warming is an environmental problem that is causing a serious impact now, or do you think the impact of global warming won't happen until sometime in the future, or do you think global warming won't have a serious impact at all? This shouldn't come as a surprise, but it turns out that tea party supporters are far less informed about climate change than the general public: This meshes with a spate of other recent polls showing a sharp decline in understanding of and concern for environmental issues among Republicans. Fri Apr 16 09:37:56 2010 EST http://www.joabbess.com/2010/04/15/i-dont-want-to-alarm-you-but/ [link]sotc/?report=global&year=2010&month=3&submitted=Get+Report 'The combined global land and ocean average surface temperature for March 2010 was the warmest on record ' Fri Apr 16 09:37:56 2010 EST http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/?report=global&year=2010&month=3&submitted=Get Report * The combined global land and ocean average surface temperature for March 2010 was the warmest on record at 13.5°C (56.3°F), which is 0.77°C (1.39°F) above the 20th century average of 12.7°C (54.9°F). This was also the 34th consecutive March with global land and ocean temperatures above the 20th century average. * The March worldwide land surface temperature was 1.36°C (2.45°F) above the 20th century average of 5.0°C (40.8°F)-the fourth warmest on record. Fri Apr 16 09:37:56 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news190545060.html Carbon fixation by phytoplankton in the open ocean plays a key role in the global carbon cycle but is not fully understood. Until now researchers believed that cyanobacteria overwhelmingly accounted for phytoplankton's role in carbon fixation in the open ocean. But now scientists at the University of Warwick and the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton have opened 'the black box' of ... Fri Apr 16 09:37:56 2010 EST http://uk.news.yahoo.com/22/20100415/tsc-environment-us-climate-heat-011ccfa.html The rise in greenhouse gases in the atmosphere means far more energy is coming into Earth's climate system than is going out, but half of that energy is missing and could eventually reappear as another sign of climate change, scientists said on Thursday. Fri Apr 16 09:37:56 2010 EST http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Volcano+unlikely+slow+global+warming/2914585/story.html ABC Onlinevolcano unlikely to slow global warmingVancouver SunEarth's surface temperature rose by 0.74 C (1.3 F) from 1906-2005, the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) says. In the last half-century ...Icelandic volcano won't affect the world's climateABC OnlineVolcano not yet big enough to have 'global effect': expertsNational PostSublime sunsets but no changes to weather expectedIrish Independentall 224 Fri Apr 16 09:37:56 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/blogs/environment/~3/EdToJiNqOiw/ At BP's AGM on Thursday, ethical investors including the Co-Op and Calpers failed in their effort to convince BP to review its biggest planned investment in Canada's oil sands. Nonetheless, 9 percent of investors voted in favour of a review - a much bigger venting of shareholder angst about a single project than oil companies are used to hearing. Was this a vote for the environment or a vote for ethical fund managers' own businesses? The oil sands business produces even more CO2 than traditional oil and the investor group, which also included environmental and faith groups, said they were concerned that if governments sought to fight climate change by hiking charges for emitting CO2, the Sunrise project may turn prove an economic catastrophe for BP. Fri Apr 16 09:37:56 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/blogs/environment/~3/nC-G63vIc7M/ This article by Julia Kumari Drapkin originally appeared in Global Post. The views expressed are her own. The quake that hit China Wednesday was the latest in a string of earthquakes in the news lately. Many people are wondering what's going on, so we decided to ask NASA. Eric Fielding is a geophysicist who uses satellites to study earthquakes at the Jet Propulsion Laboratories in California. GlobalPost: So first question is the one on everybody's mind. What on earth, literally, is going on? What's up with the earthquakes? Eric Fielding: The most important thing to remember is there are earthquakes all the time, someplace in the world. Fri Apr 16 09:37:56 2010 EST http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/leading-articles/leading-article-a-green-vote-is-not-wasted-1946257.html The Green Party has been on quite a journey these past two decades. In the 1989 European elections, the party won an astonishing 15 per cent of the national vote. Two Brussels seats followed in 1999. And on 6 May Caroline Lucas has a strong chance of becoming the Greens' first representative in the Westminster parliament, as the party's leader contests the constituency of Brighton Pavilion. Fri Apr 16 09:37:56 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/YaleEnvironment360/~3/O63E2Y0yShM/digest.msp One of the largest ice sheets in Canada's high Arctic has been swiftly shrinking in recent decades as as a result of warmer summers, according to a new study. The 895-square-mile ice cap on Devon Island, an uninhabited island in Baffin Bay, has declined steadily since 1985, according to analysis by scientists at the University of Calgary. Because the remote Arctic area is essentially a desert, with minimal annual precipitation, any increase of snow takes years to accumulate as glaciers and ice sheets, said Sarah Boon, lead author of the paper published in Arctic, a journal of the university's Arctic Institute of North America. Thu Apr 15 10:34:19 2010 EST 15th April 2010 http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/apr/13/pavement-power-toulouse-streets Electricity generated by pedestrians used to illuminate street lights in France's technology capitalIt is a pleasingly Gallic phrase that brings to mind marauding students and protesting unions. But, while Toulouse's "pavement power" project has nothing to do with social unrest or burning barricades, it could yet prove revolutionary.As part of wider efforts to put France's south-western technology capital at the forefront of green wizardry, city authorities are testing out a scheme to generate electricity for street lights through the stamping feet of passers-by.Designers say the section of eight custom-made modules placed in the city centre for a two-week trial period can produce between 50 and 60 watts of electricity to power a nearby street lamp.It is the first time the modules " unveiled to the world by Dutch company Sustainable Dance Club (SDC) for use in nightclubs " have been tested on ... Thu Apr 15 10:34:19 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/7YFM0okxadQ/idUSTRE63C2S820100413 OSLO (Reuters) - A classic battle pitting the oil industry against environmentalists and fishermen in Norway's Arctic seas is set to intensify on Thursday when the most thorough environmental study of the project to date is released. Thu Apr 15 10:34:19 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/blogs/environment/~3/KpUEeR_DU_Q/ (Reuters) " Led by U.S. producers, 14 million farmers in 25 countries planted genetically modified crops in 2009, increasing planted biotech cropland by 7 percent, even as biotech crop use declined in Europe, according to the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA), a pro-biotech crop group. Biotech soybeans made up more than three-quarters of global soybean plantings; biotech cotton was nearly half of global cotton, and biotech maize accounted for more than one-quarter of global maize land. The following is a list of 15 countries that planted at least 100,000 hectares in 2009 to genetically modified corn, soybeans, cotton and other crops, according to ISAAA. Thu Apr 15 10:34:19 2010 EST http://voices.washingtonpost.com/tomtoles/2010/04/say_noah_to_climate_change.html#more "Looks like we've scaled back our climate goals" Thu Apr 15 10:34:19 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/apr/13/homes-fail-energy-efficiency-standards Official figures show a high number of new homes don't comply with legal standards to cut carbon emissions and utility billsAt least one in 10 new homes in Britain do not meet legal requirements for energy efficiency, condemning tens of thousands of householders to higher energy bills, and exacerbating climate change.The government has identified improving households' energy efficiency as the best way to reduce carbon emissions at the same time as keeping a lid on rising utility bills.Since April 2008, all new homes have had to meet tough standards on draught proofing, lighting and heating. All homes require an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) indicating how they rate. Thu Apr 15 10:34:19 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/apr/13/bolivia-climate-summit Evo Morales says talks will give a voice to world's poorest and encourage governments to be ambitious after Copenhagen In what is becoming the hippest environment meeting of the year, presidents, politicians, intellectuals, scientists and Hollywood stars will join more than 15,000 indigenous people and thousands of grass roots groups from more than 100 countries to debate climate change in one of the world's poorest nations.The World People's Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth which opens next week in the small Bolivian town of Cochabamba, will have no direct bearing on the UN climate talks being conducted by 192 governments. Thu Apr 15 10:34:19 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/apr/13/conservative-manifesto-green-policy The Tories say they want to 'unleash the power of green enterprise' but they still need to pull bureaucratic leversAnalysis: Labour's future, green for all?The presentation of the environment content of the Conservative manifesto was strong on freedom of choice and "unleashing the power of green enterprise". But it is more presentation than fact: "bureaucratic levers" will in fact be pulled in reversing the expansion of Heathrow airport, encouraging so-far uncompetitive nuclear and renewable energies, capping emissions to clean up coal, continuing the requirement for energy performance certificates for buildings, penalising people who don't recycle, and so on.With Labour also promising more intervention " but shy of forcing changes in areas such as food policy " the much-touted battle of ideas between Labour's active government and Conservative small government is less dramatic than it sounds, at least in their environment chapters.Tone matters in this debate ... Thu Apr 15 10:34:19 2010 EST http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=51020 ISLAMABAD, Apr 13 (IPS) - Climate change and the probability that a current water shortage would worsen may make constantly bickering neighbours, India and Pakistan, take a closer look at a 50-year-old treaty under which they share rivers originating from the Himalayas. Thu Apr 15 10:34:19 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/sci/tech/8618441.stm The second of three reviews into the hacked climate emails from the University of East Anglia is due to be released. Thu Apr 15 10:34:19 2010 EST http://www.culturechange.org/cms/content/view/640/64/ Editor's note: A testimony to the failure of the environmental movement to offer an alternative to ecocide is the continued, widespread support of the automobile industry for "clean cars." This pseudo-environmental stance is almost identical to the Obama administration's myopia about continuing industrial pollution at full tilt for the sake of "jobs" and stability for its friends on Wall Street. However, the state of affairs -- driving off the ecological cliff for maximum petrocollapse -- is also the failure of grassroots activism and the pro-bicycle/pro walking movements. Thu Apr 15 10:34:19 2010 EST http://energybulletin.net/node/52436 Over the weekend, I read Paul Krugman's big essay on climate economics, Building a Green Economy. Now, it's important to note that the goal of the Waxman Markey bill is to reduce US carbon emissions by 83% by 2050. So essentially, the CBO is saying, and Krugman is endorsing, that this level of emissions reduction will have so small an effect on economic growth that it's going to be indistinguishable from noise. I don't dispute that environmental economists think this, but I find it to be a completely facially implausible conclusion. read more Thu Apr 15 10:34:19 2010 EST http://feeds.grist.org/click.phdo?i=24e96229a529ff2a4d89284cb8aa613e by Jonathan Hiskes President Barack Obama is reportedly considering about 10 people to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, although popular consensus has quickly settled on just three: Elena Kagan, Diane Wood, and Merrick Garland. A National Journal poll of court-watchers picked Kagan as the most likely, with Wood and Garland as the only close contenders. Obama's choice will have a direct bearing on climate policy, as the court is likely to hear a number of consequential cases in the coming years. It already affirmed the EPA's authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, but the agency is facing new legal challenges to that authority from the state of Texas, among others. Thu Apr 15 10:34:19 2010 EST http://feeds.grist.org/click.phdo?i=382662cbec18a1baaf1824fc2f648898 by Lester Brown One way to correct market failures is tax shifting-raising taxes on activities that harm the environment so that their prices begin to reflect their true cost and offsetting this with a reduction in income taxes. A complementary way to achieve this goal is subsidy shifting. Each year the world's taxpayers provide at least $700 billion in subsidies for environmentally destructive activities, such as fossil fuel burning, overpumping aquifers, clearcutting forests, and overfishing. As the Earth Council study Subsidizing Unsustainable Development observes, 'There's something unbelievable about the world spending hundreds of billions of dollars annually to subsidize its own destruction.' A fishing trawler.Photo via winkyintheuk via FlickrThe perverse nature of harmful subsidies is especially apparent in the case of oceanic fisheries. Thu Apr 15 10:34:19 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news190402057.html Spain has warmed at a faster rate than the rest of the northern hemisphere over the past three decades, according to a study prepared for the environment ministry that was published Tuesday. Thu Apr 15 10:34:19 2010 EST http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2010/04/the-economist-does-not-disappoint/ The March 20th -26th cover story of The Economist, 'Spin, science and climate change,' deftly bypasses the politics surrounding 'climategate', to tackle the more important issue: whether any of this has any bearing on climate change science and policy. This is a refreshing bit of journalism that everyone should read. It is no secret that we have been unimpressed by the quality of reporting of climate science or late. From the insinuation that data were manipulated (for which there remains no evidence, primae facie or otherwise), to the suggestion that 'climate skeptics' had somehow been kept from publishing in peer reviewed literature (how, we wonder, does Lindzen keep getting published?), to the blind repetition of false claims of major errors in the IPCC (when only a couple of actual errors " and none of them in the primary ... Thu Apr 15 10:34:19 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/vMjzUiWJacg/idUSTRE63C4IC20100413 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Government ministers from more than 30 countries in the Americas will meet in Washington this week for a two-day conference as part of an Obama administration effort to boost cooperation on energy security and climate change. Thu Apr 15 10:34:19 2010 EST http://www.dose.ca/news/story.html?id=2902952 Warming soils in Canada's north are releasing a vast store of carbon that has been inert for millennia, which could further accelerate the rate of climate change, according to the author of a new study published in the journal Nature. Thu Apr 15 10:34:19 2010 EST http://uk.news.yahoo.com/21/20100413/tsc-big-role-for-oceans-amoebae-4b158bc.html New research could change the way we see the importance of the creatures at the bottom of the food chain, a scientist has said. Thu Apr 15 10:34:19 2010 EST http://www.enn.com/ecosystems/article/41215 A new core drilled through an ice field on the Antarctic Peninsula should contain ice dating back into the last ice age. If so, that will give new insight into past global climate changes. The expedition in early winter to the Bruce Plateau, an ice field straddling a narrow ridge on the northernmost tongue of the southernmost continent, yielded a core that was 1,462 feet long, the longest yet ... Thu Apr 15 10:34:19 2010 EST http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/SC1004/S00023.htm The HIAPER jet recently flew very low over NIWAs atmospheric climate research station at Lauder. The international mission is taking a slice of the atmosphere, so scientists can learn more about greenhouse gases globally. Thu Apr 15 10:34:19 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/YaleEnvironment360/~3/ECCcSH1PWmM/digest.msp Farming methods introduced by humans in South American savannahs altered Amazonian ecosystems before Europeans arrived in the Western Hemisphere and appear to have increased biodiversity, according to a new study. Examining unusual mounds in the savannahs of French Guyana, researchers at the University of Montpelier 2, France, concluded that the mounds - about five feet across and a foot high - apparently were built by farmers as crop beds that would drain effectively during the rainy season. After testing the drainage capacity of the mounds, researchers found that they drained nine times faster than the surrounding savannah, which floods seasonally. Researchers discovered that once humans abandoned the mounds, roughly 400 to 800 years ago, the raised beds emerged as a new ecosystem for plants, insects, and animals. Thu Apr 15 10:34:19 2010 EST http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/13/obama-seeks-local-action-for-earth-day/ Facing deep division in Washington on climate policy, Obama urges Americans to go local in improving the environment. Thu Apr 15 10:34:19 2010 EST http://www.jewishjournal.com/green_living/article/business_owners_view_greenhouse_gas_reduction_as_cultural_imperative_201004/ In September 2006, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed into law Assembly Bill 32 (AB 32), the Global Warming Solutions Act, regulating greenhouse gas emissions throughout the state. Thu Apr 15 10:34:19 2010 EST http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/04/14/2872241.htm The son of legendary ocean explorer Jacques Cousteau has been spreading his conservation message to high school students in Hobart. Thu Apr 15 10:34:19 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news190384819.html (PhysOrg.com) -- Tundra shrubs can reduce the thawing of permafrost caused by climate change. This unexpected finding is from research done by Wageningen University in the Siberian tundra. It means that shifts in the plant population of the tundra can slow permafrost thawing. Thu Apr 15 10:34:19 2010 EST http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE63A0UW20100413?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Some prominent Republican senators expressed openness on Tuesday to a U.S. climate change bill that might be introduced next week and that would need bipartisan support to have any chance of advancing. Thu Apr 15 10:34:19 2010 EST http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100413/tc_afp/japanautocompanyhondascooter_20100413133439 Japan's Honda Motor on Tuesday unveiled its latest electric scooter, saying it initially plans to target domestic business customers such as pizza delivery services. Thu Apr 15 10:34:19 2010 EST http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1004/S00129.htm ACT, and only ACT, believes that regardless of whether man made warming is a fact or not, New Zealand is crazy to be proceeding with an ETS tax at this time. Thu Apr 15 10:34:19 2010 EST http://planetark.org/enviro-news/item/57558 The voluntary carbon credit market could experience another quiet quarter if corporate spending on social responsibility does not pick up. Traditionally, the second quarter is stronger than the first but the voluntary market has suffered in the past year from the economic downturn as corporates cut spending on social responsibility. The market relies on businesses to self-regulate their carbon emissions in the absence of a legally-binding climate pact and individual consumers wanting to offset their carbon footprints from, say, international air travel. The market has started the second quarter in a "steady" but "unspectacular" way, according to brokers MF Global. Thu Apr 15 10:34:19 2010 EST http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/news/42298 Study finds strong link between solar output and winter temperatures Thu Apr 15 10:34:19 2010 EST http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-gas-tax14-2010apr14,0,5207349.story?track=rss Estimates put it in the range of 15 cents a gallon. Some oil companies are on board with the plan because it would cost them far less than other proposals to cut greenhouse gas emissions. Leading voices in the Senate are considering a new tax on gasoline as part of an effort to win Republican and oil industry support for the energy and climate bill now idling in Congress. Thu Apr 15 10:34:19 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/sci/tech/8618024.stm There was no scientific malpractice at the unit at the centre of the "Climategate" affair, a panel concludes. Thu Apr 15 10:34:19 2010 EST http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/10357472/1a9b32/alternet_environment~Water-and-Energy-Obey-the-Law-on-Cooling-Systems Once-through cooling systems are an outmoded environmental disaster. So why are so many power plants still relying on them? Thu Apr 15 10:34:19 2010 EST http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/10355021/1a9b32/alternet_environment~Postal-Service-as-a-Giant-Battery-A-Plan-for-Cashing-In The U.S. Postal Service may earn millions by storing and stabilizing some of the nation's energy supply in its trucks. Thu Apr 15 10:34:19 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/apr/14/white-house-climate-bill Top advisor says it is "imperative" for the US to tackle climate change and address reliance on foreign oil. From BusinessGreen, part of the Guardian Environment NetworkIn a clear signal that the White House is preparing to turn its attention from healthcare reform to climate change legislation, one of president Obama's top advisors launched an impassioned call for the US to embrace low-carbon policies last week.Speaking at a Washington energy conference, Larry Summers, head of the White House's National Economic Council, warned the long-term economic health of the US would be jeopardised if it failed to pass ambitious climate change legislation.Describing it as "imperative" for the US to tackle climate change and " address the consequences of excessive dependence on oil for our national security", Summers underlined the importance of the administration's plan to pass climate change legislation."If you think about the risks to our ... Thu Apr 15 10:34:19 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/apr/14/guardian-climate-and-energy-election-debate Don't miss your chance to quiz the next minister of energy and climate change on their policies in a special Guardian debateClimate change and energy issues are critical over the next decade and beyond. And now is your chance to grill the next secretary of state for climate change and energy on their party's policies to tackle global warming, keep the lights on in the UK and deliver a low-carbon and sustainable economy.The Guardian is hosting an exclusive election hustings event with the lead climate and energy politicians from all three main parties. You can put your questions in person by applying below for tickets to attend the event. Thu Apr 15 10:34:19 2010 EST http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2010/04/second-cru-inquiry-reports/ The Oxburgh report on the science done at the CRU has now been published and .. as in the first inquiry, they find no scientific misconduct, no impropriety and no tailoring of the results to a preconceived agenda, though they do suggest more statisticians should have been involved. They have also some choice words to describe the critics. Carry on Thu Apr 15 10:34:19 2010 EST http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/b942edba-47f6-11df-b998-00144feab49a.html Local police are being helped by officers from the National Domestic Extremism Team, leading the climate sceptics to question the involvement of a unit set up to counter home-grown terrorists and radicals. A unit spokesman said the two officers were assigned because of their expertise in computer forensics and because they had experience of dealing with environmental activists. There have been indications that the hackers could have been based in Russia, and some experts believe they may have been hired by sceptics based in the US. Thu Apr 15 10:34:19 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/WjzYvJC2u_0/ According to the IPCC 4th Assessment Report (2007): Warming of the climate system is unequivocal, as is now evident from observations of increases in global average air and ocean temperatures, widespread melting of snow and ice, and rising global average sea level. At continental, regional, and ocean basin scales, numerous long-term changes in climate have been observed. These include changes in Arctic temperatures and ice, widespread changes in precipitation amounts, ocean salinity, wind patterns and aspects of extreme weather including droughts, heavy precipitation, heat waves and the intensity of tropical cyclones. Paleoclimate information supports the interpretation that the warmth of the last half century is unusual in at least the previous 1300 years. Thu Apr 15 10:34:19 2010 EST http://www.theecologist.org/investigations/science_and_technology/462382/how_deep_sea_aircon_could_cut_the_heat_of_climate_change.html The deep ocean is cold; our cities are growing increasingly warm. What if we could tap those frigid depths to cool down energy-hungry metropolises? Thu Apr 15 10:34:19 2010 EST http://energybulletin.net/node/52452 There will be at least three major consequences of recurring drought conditions in southwestern China. First will be that millions of people and head of livestock will have to find a source of water or move. Next comes the food supply. The third problem of a lasting drought is the collapse of hydro-generated power in China. Should the hydro-power shortages continue for long we can expect that higher oil imports and world prices will not be far behind. read more Thu Apr 15 10:34:19 2010 EST http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/10450776/1adttz/alternet_environment~Another-Water-Crisis-Unfurling-Tar-Sands-Development-Coming-to-Utah A new project may be coming to Utah that could have significant effects on water quality and quantity. Thu Apr 15 10:34:19 2010 EST http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/10436182/1adttz/alternet_environment~States-Sue-EPA-Over-a-Misquote-The-Fight-Over-Climate-Change-Gets-More-Ridiculous These tidbits of supposed evidence never end and that is exactly the point: to get people arguing about the data and not doing something about the problem. Thu Apr 15 10:34:19 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/apr/15/volcanic-eruptions-ash-clouds-explained Magma trapped below the Earth rises and gas bubbles form, creating a violent molten froth that needs to escapeVolcanic ash has long been identified as a mortal hazard to aircraft, but whether the cloud spreads further across Britain depends on wind speed and direction.Magma usually lies as pressurised pools of molten rock deep beneath the Earth's surface. During an eruption it rises. This drops the pressure and gas dissolved in the magma starts to emerge and forms bubbles, just as it does in champagne when a cork is released.The bubbles cause the magma to froth violently and burst out as a volcanic eruption. Thu Apr 15 10:34:19 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/henryporter/2010/apr/15/climate-change-terrorist-policing-unit The use of a specialist extremist intelligence unit in investigating the hacked UEA emails is part of a disturbing trend in policingNews broken in the Financial Times that the National Domestic Extremism Team has been called in to help investigate the alleged theft of emails behind the recent "climategate" scandal is disturbing. The police unit was set up to counter domestic terrorism and extremist organisations, not investigate what may or may not have been a theft at the University of East Anglia.The development underlines the great danger we face from the extension of anti-terrorist measures and methods into normal life " the policing of our streets, for example, and the hounding of football fans and climate change protestors.Just as disturbing is the line of questioning by the police of those who made freedom of information requests before the alleged hacking of computers last year. Thu Apr 15 10:34:19 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/cif-green/2010/apr/15/vote-green-fairer-society Those who want action on climate change must be committed to building the sense of fairness to make those reductions possibleMyles Allen: Why I won't be voting GreenIn his piece today about why he will not be voting for the Green party, the climate scientist Prof Myles Allen wants the Greens to revert to being a party solely concerned with the environment. He says that by offering a full slate of policies we are weakening our appeal to people who those want a focus on climate change and other urgent ecological issues.He says that by linking our policies on the environment to wider ambitions for improving Britain, we are diluting our appeal to our natural supporters. Thu Apr 15 10:34:19 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/cif-green/2010/apr/15/voting-green-environment Green voters support a party that places the environment low in its priorities, and whose political agenda is part of the problemI write as a voter not as a scientist, but as I work on climate change and you might feel inclined to vote Green to voice your concern about the issue, you might like to know why I won't. This is not about tactical voting, nor any lurid revelations about climate conspiracies or Green party funding. It's about their climate policy record.This may seem harsh, given that the Green Party doesn't mention climate change in the policies highlighted on their website, while the environment is consigned to page 33 of the manifesto the party launched today. Thu Apr 15 10:34:19 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/apr/15/general-election-2010-labour-tory-lib-dem-manifesto All the major parties have included the environment in their election manifestos. But can they win votes with their green ideas? Analysis: Green policies in the Labour manifesto Analysis: Green policies in the Tory manifesto Analysis: Green policies in the Lib Dem manifestoPresentationLabour listed environment in chapter eight of 10, entitled A Green Recovery. For Conservatives it ranked fourth out of five sections, under the - somheadline Protect the Environment. Liberal Democrats put environment on the cover, then eschewed a separate section in favour of green proposals in every policy area, even defence.VisionLabour: "Our vision is of a society where economic prosperity and quality of life come not from exploiting the natural world but from its defence."Conservatives ... Thu Apr 15 10:34:19 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/apr/15/carbon-emissions-waste Beyond concepts of green growth or sustainable growth there is also that of 'no growth'. From OurWorld 2.0, part of the Guardian Environment NetworkLast March, Tim Jackson put forward the idea of prosperity without growth in a report published by the United Kingdom's Sustainable Development Commission and followed up with a book of the same name released last November. The book is a best seller (ranked 1,729 on Amazon) and in it he argues convincingly that we can still prosper without adhering to the encoded mantra of expansion and growth that permeates modern market economies. More recently, in January 2010, Andrew Simms and Victoria Johnson at the new economics foundation (nef) published a more emphatic message in their report entitled Growth isn't possible. Thu Apr 15 10:34:19 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/gallery/2010/apr/15/iceland-natural-disasters April 15 2010: Plumes of volcanic ash following an eruption in Iceland are causing severe disruption to flights across the UK and Europe Thu Apr 15 10:34:19 2010 EST http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=51052 BOGOR, Indonesia, Apr 15 (IPS) - The colour green has long been associated with Islam, but if some recent Muslim visitors here could have their way, it's a link that could intensify some more in the future. Thu Apr 15 10:34:19 2010 EST http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/shortsharpscience/2010/04/climate-list.html Catherine Brahic, environment news editorTop marks to those behind Warmlist, a long - very long - list of things said to be caused by climate change, each item painstakingly linked to a source. They've got some beauties in there. I'll steer clear of the very real and serious consequences of climate change and just pick out a few of the more fanciful: child insomnia, frogs with three heads and six legs, and the deplorable decline of the haggis. But they've omitted a few of my favourites. Who could forget the evidence that climate change will riddle our pets with nasty diseases? Thu Apr 15 10:34:19 2010 EST http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/266/f/3780/s/9fcae50/l/0L0Sindependent0O0Cenvironment0Cclimate0Echange0Csuns0Emagnetic0Efield0Emay0Ehave0Ecaused0Efreezing0Ewinter0E19453620Bhtml/story01.htm It was the coldest winter in England since 1963 " the coldest in Scotland since 1914 " and weeks of ice, snow and sub-zero temperatures from last December to March defied predictions by climate-change scientists of milder, wetter winters. So what happened? Thu Apr 15 10:34:19 2010 EST http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/266/f/3780/s/9fcae4f/l/0L0Sindependent0O0Cenvironment0Cclimate0Echange0Cclimate0Erow0Ebacking0Efor0Escientists0E1945360A0Bhtml/story01.htm A distinguished panel of independent scientists has given a resounding vote of confidence in the credibility and integrity of the key studies into climate change that have emerged over the past 20 years from the embattled Climatic Research Unit (CRU) at the University of East Anglia. Thu Apr 15 10:34:19 2010 EST http://www.prweb.com/releases/2010/04/prweb3874404.htm Research from Bureau Veritas, the leading specialist in Quality, Health, Safety Environment, Conformity and Supply Chain Risk Management, conducted on more than 2,000 products, highlights that consumer products carbon footprint is up to 60% higher than necessary and that simple steps by manufacturers could save UK 1 million tonnes each year in carbon. (PRWeb Apr 15, 2010) Read the full story ... Thu Apr 15 10:34:19 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/YaleEnvironment360/~3/NZjCXy13ozU/digest.msp Stanford University scientists have created a tiny electrode that can harness an electric current from a single algae cell, a breakthrough they hope will one day lead to the creation of an inexpensive source of renewable energy. The nanoelectrode, made of gold and specifically designed to probe inside cells, is so sharp that it is able to penetrate the algae cell membrane without killing the cell. And once inside the cell, it can intercept electrons just after they are energized by sunlight by the photosynthesis process. Researchers hope it is the first step toward developing a 'high efficiency' form of bioelectricity. Thu Apr 15 10:34:19 2010 EST http://www.countercurrents.org/gelder140410.htm By Sarah van GelderPresident Barack Obamas offshore drilling announcement is bad news for efforts to stop runaway climate change, especially following Decembers failed climate talks in Copenhagen. But there is hope and a whole new approach coming from an unusual gathering later this month. Representatives of 50 governments will meet with ordinary people and social movement leaders from around the world in Cochabamba, Bolivia, to work on solutions to what may be the biggest threat ever faced by humankind Thu Apr 15 10:34:19 2010 EST http://www.countercurrents.org/vidal140410.htm By John VidalEvo Morales says talks will give a voice to worlds poorest and encourage governments to be ambitious after Copenhagen Thu Apr 15 10:34:19 2010 EST http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/14/east-anglias-climate-lessons/ A second inquiry into questions raised by climatologists' files finds no wrongdoing but pushes for openness and better statistics. Thu Apr 15 10:34:19 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news190541045.html Why have we not made contact with aliens after so many years searching the depths of space? The Eerie Silence, a new book by SETI researcher Paul Davies, provides a fresh and thoughtful look at this question. As a scientist, Davies says he wouldn't be surprised if life on Earth turns out to be entirely unique. This lonely outlook makes him uneasy, but he also notes this would be a golden silence, because life on Earth would be even more precious if we really are alone. Thu Apr 15 10:34:19 2010 EST http://www.telluridenews.com/articles/2010/04/15/news/doc4b4fd5f64e49f684761225.txt People closed their laptops, stopped watching television, dug out headlamps and set out onto the black streets to gather in candle-lit restaurants and bars. When the lights soared back on, cheers were audible on main street. Thu Apr 15 10:34:19 2010 EST http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2261388/report-climate-bill-stop-epa James Murray, BusinessGreen , Thursday 15 April 2010 at 12:06:00 Senator Graham confirms long-awaited US climate bill is expected next week The draft US climate bill that is expected to be formally unveiled next week will attempt to end the patchwork of carbon legislation that has developed across the US in recent years, according to a Senate source familiar with the proposed bill. The source ... Thu Apr 15 10:34:19 2010 EST http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1981919,00.html?xid=rss-health In Sweden, engineers are using body heat generated by commuters at a trainstation to keep a nearby office building warm -- a test of a futurepossible low-cost energy source Thu Apr 15 10:34:19 2010 EST http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100415/ap_on_re_as/as_obama_asia_2 U.S. President Barack Obama says the world cannot wait for China to commit to tackling global warming. Thu Apr 15 10:34:19 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/blogs/environment/~3/NuGvlb5ZYp4/ Can you object to a proposal for U.N. climate negotiators to 'continue to work in a transparent and inclusive manner in accordance with the principles of the United Nations'? If your answer is a bemused 'No', you definitely aren't a negotiator. Delegates from 175 nations at U.N. climate talks in Bonn spent spent the best part an hour late on the evening of April 11 arguing about the apparently innocuous phrase as part of a 2-page document reviving talks in 2010 after the Copenhagen summit in December failed to come up with a new treaty to fight global warming. Thu Apr 15 10:34:19 2010 EST http://missoulanews.bigskypress.com/LettersToTheEditor/archives/2010/04/15/four-big-hitters NASA data shows our last decade was the warmest since records began in the late 19th century. I believe this is a sign of times to come, and immediate action is required to save humanity and our planet. In Montana, 50 years of evidence indicates rising temperatures foster up to a 40 percent decline in our springtime snowpack. Our springtime peak river-flows now come an average of two weeks ... Thu Apr 15 10:34:19 2010 EST http://www.fwi.co.uk/Articles/2010/04/15/120793/ten-emerging-potato-pest-and-disease-threats.html International trade and climate change are just two reasons why new potato pest and disease threats could emerge. Philip Case with the help of Gerry Saddler from Scottish government agency SASA pinpoints 10 potential threats. Thu Apr 15 10:34:19 2010 EST http://www.presstelegram.com/ci_14883747?source=rss Five of California's top polluters are near Long Beach; several companies fighting environmental bill. Thu Apr 15 10:34:19 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/world/americas/8615484.stm Could terrorists get hold of, or make an atomic weapon? Tue Apr 13 09:59:49 2010 EST 13th April 2010 http://www.joabbess.com/2010/04/12/the-great-sceptic-backlash/ If you're looking for a dose of sheer entertainment, then hop on down this Wednesday to Bloomsbury in London, for a public meeting about the dreaded, sharptoothed, hairy, boogle-eyed, Ye Olde Skeptik Backlash :- [link]scepticsmeeting There you should find Dr David Adam, esteemed and seriously reputable journalist from The Guardian newspaper, and an itchy-and-scratchy, rabble-rousing Ben Stewart from Greenpeace and George Marshall (no, not that George Marshall) of pork-pie-eating, Trilby-wearing-whilst-cycling and Climate anti-denial fame :- [link] They will be delving into the problems with the public 'debate' on Climate Change and Global Warming, including asking the great unanswered questions like 'why oh why oh why does the Daily Express publish such turgid blats on Global Warming ?' and 'who's really ... Tue Apr 13 09:59:49 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/YaleEnvironment360/~3/al9IKzHYjuM/digest.msp One in six mangrove species faces extinction as coastal ecosystems are being destroyed or damaged by development, aquaculture, logging, and climate change, according to a new study. Following an extensive survey of coastal ecosystems, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and Conservation International placed 11 of 70 mangrove species on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Mangrove forests, which grow in tropical and subtropical regions where salt water meets the land, protect coastal environments from erosion and storms, and serve as a nursery for marine species. On the Atlantic and Pacific Sterling Zumbrunn/CIMangroves in Madagascar coasts of Central America, as many as 40 percent of mangrove species are threatened, the report said. Tue Apr 13 09:59:49 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/YaleEnvironment360/~3/1sqpSnXHFLo/feature.msp This month marks the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, an event that has attracted millions to environmental causes. But winning passage of meaningful legislation on climate change requires more than slogans and green talk - it demands intense, determined political action. BY DENIS HAYES Tue Apr 13 09:59:49 2010 EST http://biz.yahoo.com/iw/100412/0606205.html?.v=1 NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwire - 04/12/10) - The ubiquitous championing of renewable energy production, born from global concerns about climate change, environmental pollution, and energy security, frequently overlooks one important caveat: the inherently and highly variable nature of renewable resources such as wind and solar power, whose periodic availability doesn't always align with consumer ... Tue Apr 13 09:59:49 2010 EST http://www.baynews9.com/content/9/2010/4/12/606227.html?title=Contentious climate talks end with deal to do more Climate talks in Bonn end with contentious agreement to intensify negotiations Tue Apr 13 09:59:49 2010 EST http://in.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idINIndia-47609120100412 The GuardianFACTBOX - Climate talks in 2010 on road to MexicoReuters India... talks on a new deal to slow global warming after December's Copenhagen summit fell short of a full treaty. -- A UN group on Climate Change Financing, ...UN Climate Talks 'Fracturing' as Negotiators Delay DecisionBusinessWeekSkirmishes renewed at UN climate conferenceThe Associated PressGlobal climate deal impossible in 2010: UNWashington PostTelegraph.co.uk -The Guardian -Australia Network Newsall 1,150 Tue Apr 13 09:59:49 2010 EST http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1848326/tensions_flare_during_un_climate_change_meeting/ The HinduTensions Flare During UN Climate Change MeetingRedOrbitA meeting of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) over the weekend once again highlighted the differences of opinions between nations that ...UN Climate Talks 'Fracturing' as Decision DelayedBusinessWeekSkirmishes renewed at UN climate conferenceThe Associated PressGlobal climate deal impossible in 2010: UNWashington PostUPI.com -Telegraph.co.uk -The Guardianall 475 Tue Apr 13 09:59:49 2010 EST http://www.desmogblog.com/west-virginia-mining-disaster-ceo-safety-regulators-silly-global-warming From Think Progress: The death toll from Massey Energy's Upper Big Branch mine explosion last week has reached a total of 29 miners, the worst coal disaster in 40 years. When the disaster occurred, Massey was contesting millions of dollars in major safety violations levied against the mine. At his Labor Day anti-union rally last year, Massey CEO Don Blankenship attacked the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), claiming it 'seeks power over coal miners.' He mocked both 'Washington politicians' and local elected officials who attempt to ensure miner safety, calling their efforts 'as silly as global warming' ... Tue Apr 13 09:59:49 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news190290626.html Researchers here are hopeful that the new core they drilled through an ice field on the Antarctic Peninsula will contain ice dating back into the last ice age. If so, that record should give new insight into past global climate changes. Tue Apr 13 09:59:49 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/sci/tech/8615172.stm The Cryosat radar instrument that will map the Earth's ice cover has been switched on and is reported to be working well. Tue Apr 13 09:59:49 2010 EST http://www.desmogblog.com/tax-day-tea-party-features-lord-“hitler-youth”-monckton-and-cast-koch-industries’-favorites lord+monckton.jpg Lord Christopher Monckton, infamous for his 'Hitler Youth' comments at the Copenhagen climate summit, is among the guest speakers at this week's Tax Day Tea Party in Washington, DC. Organized by FreedomWorks, the sister organization of Americans for Prosperity, the Tax Day Tea Party at the Washington Monument will also feature appearances from FreedomWorks Chairman Dick Armey and President Matt Kibbe, right wing publisher Andrew Breitbart, Texas Congressman Ron Paul and Fox News commentator Tucker Carlson.With a cast of characters this deep, sparks are sure to fly. Lord Monckton has continued the crazed rampage he started at the Americans For Prosperity event at the Copenhagen climate summit, where he repeatedly called American college students advocating for clean energy the 'Hitler Youth' and 'Nazis.' Monckton took it way too far when he told Jewish student Ben Wessel, whose grandparents escaped the ... Tue Apr 13 09:59:49 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/apr/12/shell-oil-sands-shareholders-review-campaign Investors table special resolution prior to May meeting Campaigners argue project is an environmental liabilityShell has dismissed shareholder calls for a review of its controversial oil sands developments.A group of institutional investors, led by campaign group FairPensions, had tabled a special resolution ahead of the Anglo-Dutch company's annual meeting next month. They want Shell to review the commercial and environmental viability of going ahead with its new projects in Canada's boreal forests.But the Anglo-Dutch oil company today urged other investors to vote down the resolution. "Whilst the issues raised by the group of shareholders ... Tue Apr 13 09:59:49 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/apr/12/coastal-erosion-research Do we care enough about the wildfowlers and reedcutters of the east coast to save them?Jules Pretty decided that blistered feet would be worth enduring to observe at close quarters the social, as well as environmental, effects of coastal erosion. The professor of environment and society at Essex University walked 400 miles around the coastline of East Anglia and travelled another 100 miles by boat. "I started under the M25 at Thurrock in Essex and finished up at King's Lyn in Norfolk," he says over the noise from the espresso machine in an Italian café near the Royal Society, where he is heading for a meeting.The view of a bustling, traffic-clogged Regent Street beyond the front window could hardly be more different from the expansive sparseness of the enchanting yet crumbling landscape that he encountered over 45 days, sometimes with only birdlife for company. Tue Apr 13 09:59:49 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/apr/12/labour-election-manifesto-2010 Green policies lack detail but some experts detect 'seismic shift' in new era of regulations, sanctions and subsidiesDisappointment greeted the Labour environment manifesto today as experts from all quarters suggested there was nothing new, it was too cautious about cutting climate change emissions, and there was not enough detail about policies they liked.Buried in section 8 of the party's manifesto, however, was a radical statement which might also herald a very different time ahead if Labour is elected to government for a fourth term.Introducing the Green Growth chapter, it says: "Only active governments can shape markets to prioritise green growth and job creation. Tue Apr 13 09:59:49 2010 EST http://feeds.grist.org/click.phdo?i=e9e2c1eea1ecea2ca280a3ddaad595a6 by Todd Woody Photo: NREL/Iberdrola RenewablesAs Paul Krugman's New York Times Magazine cover story on environmental economics, 'Building the Green Economy,' was ricocheting around the enviro blogosphere last week, the American Wind Energy Association released its annual report [PDF] on the state of the wind industry. It was an interesting juxtaposition-Krugman's deep dive into the macroeconomics of an aggressive cap-and-trade or carbon-tax policy to limit greenhouse-gas emissions alongside a report from the frontlines where the green economy is actually under construction. What's striking is that the wind farm"building boom continued through the depths of the Great Recession in 2009, with a record 10,010 megawatts of new capacity added last year in the United States. Tue Apr 13 09:59:49 2010 EST http://feeds.grist.org/click.phdo?i=08f8593edf9ecd374dc842e7f599ef88 by Eric de Place My co-presenter at last weekend's Carbon Neutrality Unconference, smart-guy Pete Erickson of Stockholm Environment Institute, used four slides that are worth sharing again. Taken together, they're an excellent-if somewhat wonky way-to think about the basic structure of reducing emissions. 1. What are the cheapest reductions? (Click for larger version) This McKinsey Institute chart depicts the cost of various carbon 'abatement' (i.e. 'reduction') strategies given current technology. The bars that fall below the horizontal axis depict abatement opportunities that pay for themselves (such as energy efficiency). Tue Apr 13 09:59:49 2010 EST http://feeds.grist.org/click.phdo?i=0d7cbb05bcc76c85f01f5931239ae99c by Brad Johnson Cross-posted from the Wonk Room. The death toll from Massey Energy's Upper Big Branch mine explosion last week has reached a total of 29 miners, the worst coal disaster in 40 years. When the disaster occurred, Massey was contesting millions of dollars in major safety violations levied against the mine. At his Labor Day anti-union rally last year, Massey CEO Don Blankenship attacked the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), claiming it 'seeks power over coal miners.' He mocked both 'Washington politicians' and local elected officials who attempt to ensure miner safety, calling their efforts 'as silly as global warming:' We also endure a Mine Safety and Health Administration that seeks power over coal miners versus improving their safety and their health. Tue Apr 13 09:59:49 2010 EST http://feeds.grist.org/click.phdo?i=bb357b321b00a6e5b6f5bdf32bf2fc53 by Agence France-Presse LA PAZ-The alternative 'people's conference' on climate change called by socialist Bolivian President Evo Morales is expecting 7,500 delegates from more than 100 countries, officials said Monday. Among those set to attend the gathering in Cochabamba April 20-22 include Presidents Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, Rafael Correa of Ecuador, and Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua, according to Bolivian Foreign Minister David Choquehuanca. Named the World People's Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth, the gathering is intended to 'give a voice to the people' on climate change after the perceived failure of the United Nations-sponsored Copenhagen summit on the same issue, organizers say. Tue Apr 13 09:59:49 2010 EST http://www.joabbess.com/2010/04/13/media-gets-obama-bypass/ It seems like Team Obama will be bypassing the mainstream Media in their Climate Change communications :- [link]environment/2010/apr/12/us-document-strategy-climate-talks ' A document accidentally left on a European hotel computer and passed to the Guardian reveals the US government's increasingly controversial strategy in the global UN climate talks Top of the list of objectives is to: 'Reinforce the perception that the US is constructively engaged in UN negotiations in an effort to produce a global regime to combat climate change.' It also talks of 'managing expectations' of the outcome of the Cancun meeting and bypassing traditional media outlets ' There you have it. Tue Apr 13 09:59:49 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/b0ehZL_dnYU/idUSTRE63B69Y20100412 LIMA (Reuters) - A huge glacier broke off and plunged into a lake in Peru, causing a 75-foot (23-meter) tsunami wave that swept away at least three people and destroyed a water processing plant serving 60,000 local residents, government officials said on Monday. Tue Apr 13 09:59:49 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/nw62IvpHeqw/idUSTRE63B4GL20100412 BONN/LONDON (Reuters) - Delegates from 175-nations agreed on two extra sessions of U.N. climate control talks this year at the end of a tortuous meeting in Bonn that presaged big battles ahead over the non-binding Copenhagen Accord. Tue Apr 13 09:59:49 2010 EST http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/12/the-climate-path-from-copenhagen-through-cancun/ A document may hold clues to American goals in climate negotiations. Tue Apr 13 09:59:49 2010 EST http://www.officialwire.com/main.php?action=posted_news&rid=127895&catid=3 Nicaragua secured its commitment to green energy technology by awarding a 30-year license for wind farms in the country, advocates said. Tue Apr 13 09:59:49 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/blogs/environment/~3/dFZf_34bRWE/ -- John Kemp is a Reuters market analyst. The views expressed are his own -- Efforts to implement cap-and-trade programs at state level are faltering, just as policymakers in Washington are struggling to generate enough support to put in place a comprehensive national system. Recent setbacks in California and Arizona point to growing headwinds against the policy. As cap-and-trade loses momentum and becomes embroiled in bigger political disputes about the size and role of government, opponents are becoming emboldened to try to block the policy completely. Carbon market supporters have repeatedly expressed the hope that state and regional initiatives can provide at least a temporary substitute as hopes for a national program have dimmed in the wake of last year's failed summit in Copenhagen and a string of election defeats that have thrown the progressive wing of the Democratic Party onto the defensive. Tue Apr 13 09:59:49 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/blogs/environment/~3/n1YArVxYeB0/ -Eileen Claussen is President of the Pew Center on Global Climate Change. The views expressed are her own.- While policymakers in Washington debate the best path forward for dealing with climate change, a growing number of U.S. businesses have discovered a simple technique that can lower costs, increase productivity, and slash greenhouse gas emissions. What's more, it can work for any business no matter what they make " whether it's potato chips or computer chips. It's called energy efficiency, and a growing number of U.S. businesses are starting to get it. What does it mean to be efficient? Tue Apr 13 09:59:49 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/1037114.stm Was this caused by global warming? In India, weather-related natural disasters already cause annual chaos. Two months ago, whole regions of West Bengal disappeared under water - rescue workers had to use boats to give emergency help to more than 16 million affected people. Tue Apr 13 09:59:49 2010 EST http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LDE63A03W.htm Source: Reuters April 12 (Reuters) - A U.N. meeting in Bonn, Germany, agreed on Sunday to add two extra meetings this year to help revive talks on a new deal to slow global warming after December's Copenhagen summit ... Tue Apr 13 09:59:49 2010 EST http://news.scotsman.com/scotland/Latest-weapon-in-global-warming.6221198.jp SCIENTISTS are hoping to tackle global warming by creating a new environmentally friendly cement using waste materials such as rice husks. Tue Apr 13 09:59:49 2010 EST http://www.prweb.com/releases/Solarbuzz/solar_photovoltaic/prweb3863584.htm Global 2009 PV Market Size Reaches 7.3 GW (PRWeb Apr 12, 2010) Read the full story at [link]releases/Solarbuzz/solar_photovoltaic/prweb3863584.htm Tue Apr 13 09:59:49 2010 EST http://www.metro-magazine.com/News/Story/2010/04/U-of-Michigan-launches-Sustainability-site.aspx The University of Michigan (U-M) launched a new Sustainability Website to showcase its on-going achievements in sustainability research, teaching and university operations, as well as to raise campus awareness of and engagement in sustainability issues and activities, including transportation. Tue Apr 13 09:59:49 2010 EST http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5inMKfEUx2fKo1dRL1c27LIsxhYXA AFP7500 due for alternate climate conference in BoliviaAFPLA PAZ - The alternative "people's conference" on climate change called by socialist Bolivian President Evo Morales is expecting 7500 delegates from more ...Cochabamba Climate Conference: the Coca ContradictionMongabay.comall 13 Tue Apr 13 09:59:49 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/raIrOm1-43M/ It was the hottest March in both satellite records (UAH and RSS), and tied for the hottest March on record in the NASA dataset. It was the hottest (or tied for hottest) January through March in all three records. The record temperatures we're seeing now are especially impressive because we've been in 'the deepest solar minimum in nearly a century.' It now appears to be over. It's just hard to stop the march of anthropogenic global warming, well, other than by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, that is. NASA's prediction from last month is standing up ... Tue Apr 13 09:59:49 2010 EST http://www.mysinchew.com/node/37598 RIO DE JANEIRO, April 12 (AFP) - The worst heatwave to hit Rio de Janeiro in 50 years turned the city into a pre-Carnival furnace Wednesday, and killed 32 elderly people farther south, officials said. According to the Inmet national weather service, recorded temperatures were six degrees (10 degrees Fahrenheit) above average for the month: 39.7 degrees Celsius instead of 33.8 degrees Celsius (103 degrees Fahrenheit instead of 93 degrees Fahrenheit). But strong sunlight and lack of wind meant they felt much higher, around 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit) in some areas. Tue Apr 13 09:59:49 2010 EST http://www.hydrocarbononline.com/article.mvc/EPA-Proposes-To-Add-Sources-To-Greenhouse-0002?atc~c=771 s=773 r=001 l=a The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to include additional emissions sources in its first-ever national mandatory greenhouse gas (GHG) reporting system. The data from these sectors will provide a better understanding of where GHGs are coming from and will help EPA and businesses develop effective policies and programs to reduce emissions Tue Apr 13 09:59:49 2010 EST http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/business/90715679.html The Obama administrations proposal to open more areas to offshore drilling might garner support for cap-and-trade legislation from some coastal state Republicans, but the bill remains unlikely to clear the Senate, a House Energy Committee member said Monday. Tue Apr 13 09:59:49 2010 EST http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?sid=aZowlHuYyEII&pid=20601087 April 12 (Bloomberg) -- European Union carbon permits traded near a two-month high as German power pared losses. EU permits for December closed little changed at 13.71 ($18.63) euros a metric ton on Londons European Climate Exchange. Tue Apr 13 09:59:49 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/8616884.stm Japan's whaling fleet blames "violent interference" from anti-whaling activists as it reports its lowest catch for years. Tue Apr 13 09:59:49 2010 EST http://www.newkerala.com/news/fullnews-88807.html Oslo, April 13 : Norway and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will work jointly in the field of renewable energy to achieve sustainable development. Tue Apr 13 09:59:49 2010 EST http://www.europeanvoice.com/article/2010/04/eu-must-double-spending-on-energy-projects-/67667.aspx Europe must double spending on energy infrastructure by 2025 and aggressively' step up energy-efficiency if it is to meet a target to cut greenhouse gas emissions by at least 80% by the middle of the century, according to the European Climate Foundation (ECF), a group promoting action on climate change in Europe. Tue Apr 13 09:59:49 2010 EST http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?sid=aI9HMuolOcaQ&pid=20601087 (Corrects currency conversion in first paragraph.) April 13 (Bloomberg) -- Europe can cut greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent and reduce its energy bill by 350 billion euros ($476 billion) a year by 2050 if it acts within five years, according to the European Climate Foundation. Tue Apr 13 09:59:49 2010 EST http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_14871141 Rio Tinto to Congress: Get going on carbon pricingSalt Lake Tribune... will tell the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming why it wants sensible climate-change regulation -- whether a carbon tax, ...and more Tue Apr 13 09:59:49 2010 EST http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/10301791/1a4rkh/alternet_environment~Leaked-Confidential-Document-Reveals-Obamas-Climate-Strategy What does the classified paper reveal about US plans for brokering a climate agreement on the international stage? Tue Apr 13 09:59:49 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/apr/13/general-election-2010-conservatives Conservative manifesto plan to extend feed-in tariff in attempt to phase out the Renewables Obligation. From BusinessGreen, part of the Guardian Environment NetworkThe Conservative Party has responded to rumours that it is preparing a major overhaul of the UK's renewable energy policy by confirming that if elected it plans to effectively phase out the government's Renewable Obligation scheme.The news was met with considerable disquiet from across the renewable energy industry, with insiders warning that any disruption to the current Renewable Obligation scheme could lead to delays for major renewable energy projects such as new wind farms.Writing in response to inquiries from BusinessGreen.com about the finer detail of the Conservative's renewable energy policy, a spokeswoman confirmed the party would like to see the Renewable Obligation and system of Renewable Obligation Certificates (ROCs) replaced with an extended feed-in tariff scheme."It is important that we support ... Tue Apr 13 09:59:49 2010 EST http://www.joabbess.com/2010/04/13/early-bud-catches-warm/ If you're reading this in the Southern Hemisphere, you will probably already know that the temperatures have been somewhat heated since the beginning of this year. If you're reading this in the Northern Hemisphere, and I know most of you are, because I've checked, you will probably not have the faintest idea that local cold does not mean global cold. What's been happening, to use colloquial, ordinary, everyday language, is that the Climate has been changing at the top of the world, the region near the North Pole. Winds have changed, patterns of heating and freezing have changed, rain and snowfall have changed. Tue Apr 13 09:59:49 2010 EST http://www.yachtingmonthly.com/news/450388/turbines-sinking-fear Wind turbines around the UK are sinking into the sea because their foundations are suffering from subsidence, according to Dong Energy, a Danish wind turbine owner, The Sun newspaper reports. Tue Apr 13 09:59:49 2010 EST http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/100413/30005436en_uspublic.html?.v=1 Siemens reached a UK milestone of two gigawatt generation capacity last month with the installation of turbine E1 at the Gunfleet Sands wind farm off the Essex coast. This milestone has been achieved less than 18 months after Siemens completed installation of its first gigawatt of wind turbine capacity, making the company's installations the largest offshore power base in Europe. Tue Apr 13 09:59:49 2010 EST http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/100413/20100413005502.html?.v=1 WASHINGTON----The US geothermal power industry continued strong growth in 2009, according to a new report by the Geothermal Energy Association . The April 2010 US Geothermal Power Production and Development Update showed 26% growth in new projects under development in the United States in the past year, with 188 projects underway in 15 states which could produce as much as 7,875 MW of new ... Tue Apr 13 09:59:49 2010 EST http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/nickbryant/2010/04/monitoring_the_sea_lanes_on_th.html Once again, the words "resources," "exports," "China" and "controversy" feature in the same blog. But this time they refer, of course, to the grounding of the China-bound coal carrier Shen Neng 1, which rammed into a sand bar on Saturday afternoon. Brisbane's Courier Mail has a story today which speculates that the ship might have been taking an illegal short-cut - "a Reef rat run" which saves time and money on the voyage to China. Conservationists have also complained that the federal and state governments have encouraged the growth of the resources sector but failed to acknowledge the environmental risks involved. Tue Apr 13 09:59:49 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/cif-green/2010/apr/13/bonn-talks-climate The Bonn meeting succeeded in re-igniting the negotiating process towards a climate deal, four months after CopenhagenThe climate talks that concluded in Bonn on Sunday have succeeded in re-igniting the negotiating process towards a global climate deal, four months after the chaotic and traumatic ending of the Copenhagen climate conference.The Bonn meeting was in a way a "healing process" during which many governments that were hurt by being left out of a secretive meeting of 25 political leaders in the sidelines of the Copenhagen conference could air their grievances.Many delegations and groupings pledged in Bonn that they would not allow such an untransparent and undemocratic procedure to happen again.The three days in Bonn were both tense and intense. Tue Apr 13 09:59:49 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/blogs/environment/~3/MaBaH-IZxQo/ Old rifts between negotiators of rich and poor countries re-surfaced at UN climate talks last weekend, posing a question mark over the continued usefulness of meetings held at least twice a year, and which can be traced back to the signing of the UN Climate Convention on Climate Change in 1992. Is it now time to end those talks, which are focused on delivering a global climate deal to succeed the present Kyoto Protocol after 2012? It could be argued that their last big breakthrough was the signing of Kyoto in 1997. Possible alternative processes include more streamlined meetings of ministers and leaders, to agree emissions cuts and funds to help the poor face a warmer world. Tue Apr 13 09:59:49 2010 EST http://us.oneworld.net/article/369290-discord-climate-can-do LONDON, Apr 13 (OneClimate.net) - One of the few moments to catch the imagination during last December's COP15 climate conference in Copenhagen was Tiny Tuvalu, standing up to make a desperate plea for its continuing existence. The outcome of the conference though, was a document driven through by powerful nations: many of the most vulnerable countries refused to associate themselves with the so ... Tue Apr 13 09:59:49 2010 EST http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/318448,report-green-economy-to-save-eu-households-2000-dollars-a-year.html Brussels - Households in the European Union are set to save around 2,000 dollars a year each if targets to reduce greenhouse emissions by 80-95 per cent by 2050 are met, an environmental think tank claimed Tuesday.... Tue Apr 13 09:59:49 2010 EST http://ph.news.yahoo.com/rtrs/20100413/tbs-canadiansolar-7318940.html * Gets offers under Ontario's feed-in-tariff program Tue Apr 13 09:59:49 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/sci/tech/8611811.stm The need for a new global climate deal is "greater than ever", say developing country delegates at UN climate talks in Bonn. Sat Apr 10 18:38:39 2010 EST 10th April 2010 http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/sci/tech/8610316.stm The first round of UN climate talks since the bitter Copenhagen summit face divisions and mistrust on key issues. Sat Apr 10 18:38:39 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/sci/tech/8609020.stm The world needs a "barometer of life" to ensure threatened species and vital ecosystems are not lost forever, say scientists. Sat Apr 10 18:38:39 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/hDl9Vpaz74o/ Americans may not have heard of Husky Energy. But thanks to an eagle-eyed reader up north who snapped this picture, we all get to see their uber-greenwashing effort. Here's how 'Mother Nature' makes her fuel, at least on the Bizarro world of Htrae. First, you take some heavy oil or tar sands from Canada. If you're a Canadian oil producer, you call tar sands 'oil sands' (see Memo to all: They ain't 'oil sands'). Everyone else can call it the 'biggest global warming crime ever seen.' See also Canadian bishop challenges the 'moral legitimacy' of tar sands production. Sat Apr 10 18:38:39 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/4NnYRAGh-oI/ Today the United States abstained on a World Bank vote to approve a $3.75 billion loan for South African utility Eskom to build a 4800 megawatt coal plant. Ultimately, the loan was approved. But the U.S. vote sends a clear signal that the U.S. government is not willing to accept business as usual " continuing a trajectory of unabated carbon pollution " without due consideration of the environmental consequences. CAP's Kari Manlove has the story. It is further encouraging that the U.S. vote is consistent with the Treasury Department's recently released guidelines for multilateral development banks' financial support of coal-fired power plants, as the Center for American Progress discusses in their report Development Funding Done Right. Sat Apr 10 18:38:39 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/XyLoXp8DL7o/ Nobelist Paul Krugman has a long piece in the upcoming Sunday NY Times Magazine, basically climate economics 101. It is nearly 8000 words, so while you should read the whole thing, I'll post some of the highlights below. I'll also throw some links to the scientific and economic literature that the NYT, in its infinite wisdom/stupidity, refuses to include. The essay isn't primarily about the science, but this is what Krugman has to say on that, starting with the opening paragraph: If you listen to climate scientists - and despite the relentless campaign to discredit their work, you should - it is long past time to do something about emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. Sat Apr 10 18:38:39 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/PH0Jv8jRFu0/ The oil and natural gas lobby is working hard to prevent the Environmental Protection Agency from establishing safeguards to protect the public from chemicals used to produce shale gas through 'hydraulic fracturing,' also called 'fracking' or 'fracing.' CAP's Sarah Collins and Tom Kenworthy have the story in this repost. Oil and gas companies use fracking in combination with horizontal well drilling; the process involves injecting a mixture of water, sand, and chemicals at high pressure into rock formations thousands of feet below the surface to fracture the rock and allow oil and gas previously trapped inside the rock to escape. Sat Apr 10 18:38:39 2010 EST http://www.theecologist.org/how_to_make_a_difference/climate_change_and_energy/457312/communities_using_hydro_power_to_fund_green_renewal.html A pioneering community-based hydroelectric energy project in the Brecon Beacons is a blueprint for how green energy can provide more than just low-carbon power... Sat Apr 10 18:38:39 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2010/apr/09/david-cameron-tory-green-measures Does the Tory leader's reluctance to discuss nuclear power and aviation on the Today programme raise questions over his commitment to the environmental agenda?Is David Cameron really up to speed on the Conservative party's green policies, which in places are very impressive? That's the question in my mind, following the first outing of green issues in the general election campaign.It came during an interview on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, in which Evan Davies asked Cameron whether his early husky-hugging zeal for greenery had simply been part of decontaminating the Tory brand, given his lack of engagement on the issues since. Sat Apr 10 18:38:39 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2010/apr/09/arcelormittal-anish-kapoor-orbit Would London be better off without a monolith to a steel empire with emissions equialvent to that of the Czech Republic?I'm a fan of over-sized structures open to the public with fantastic views across cities, from the Eiffel Tower to the Rockfeller Centre. I'm even a fan of Anish Kapoor's work. (Isn't it time the Queen created a new post of artist laureate specially for Kapoor?)But the decision to embrace ArcelorMittal, the world's largest steelmaker, as the sponsor for the £19m Kapoor-designed Orbit tower " or Boris's Olympic folly as it is becoming known " is one that really sends me into a spin.I don't care that the tower resembles a 115-metre helterskelter tangled in Wembley stadium's arch. Sat Apr 10 18:38:39 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/apr/09/climate-talks-bonn Diplomats from more than 180 countries gather in Bonn for the first time since the widely perceived failure of last year's Copenhagen summitDiplomats from more than 180 countries are meeting in Bonn over the next three days to reopen global climate change negotiations for the first time since last year's Copenhagen summit, which was widely perceived as a failure.Top of the agenda is how countries respond to the Copenhagen accord, the non-legally binding deal that was pushed through by a small group of countries in a bitter atmosphere in the last few hours of the UN conference.Some 110 countries have now backed the agreements made in the accord. Sat Apr 10 18:38:39 2010 EST http://feeds.grist.org/click.phdo?i=c07bef367a84022d636b35c16c43b806 by Jake Schmidt Today the World Bank approved a loan to build the fourth largest power plant in the world. The project is to be financed with a $3 billion loan to Eskom-the South African electricity company-and is the largest coal-plant loan in the Bank history. The 4,800-megawatt Medupi power plant would emit 25 million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere-an amount equivalent to about half the annual emissions of Norway. This was a challenging and complicated project and was less about South Africa than about the World Bank's role in helping (or hindering) the world's efforts to address global warming. Sat Apr 10 18:38:39 2010 EST http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50972 BUENOS AIRES, Apr 8 (Tierramérica) - Invisible beneath a vast area of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, the Guaran Aquifer is one of the world's largest reserves of freshwater. Despite supplying water to millions of people, it is neither contaminated nor overexploited. Sat Apr 10 18:38:39 2010 EST http://www.joabbess.com/2010/04/08/hope-in-our-hearts/ (Wim Mertens, Quatre Mains) Classical musicians are still welcome to form a chamber orchestra for the Climate Vigil to be held at St Martins in the Fields, London, on the night of Saturday 15th May 2010, just over a week after the local and General Elections in the United Kingdom. For more details, please contact Ruth Jarman :- [link]vigil.htm [link]overnightvigil Let us have hope in our hearts : hope for reason, collaborative effort, commonsense, Science and survival, and a fearless new Parliament. Sat Apr 10 18:38:39 2010 EST http://www.joabbess.com/2010/04/08/nightmare-on-easy-street/ Every now and again, some well-meaning, or even lightheartedly jokey relative or friend lets me know I should calm down with the story of the risk of Climate catastrophe as it's (a) not effective; (b) not necessary or (c) way off the end of the scale. Apparently I'm crying wolf, but there's not even a messy puppy in the neighbourhood. There are two narratives at work here. One is that people don't like being preached too (neither do I), and they feel that the sum total of Climate Change communications amounts to somebody high up the authority chain telling them to change their behaviour, somehow making the common man (and woman) responsible for a problem that should actually be fixed by the governments, who have the power (or large companies and international corporations, who have the financial ... Sat Apr 10 18:38:39 2010 EST http://johannhari.com//2010/04/09/if-youre-looking-for-class-war-you-can-find-it-in-david-camerons-policies It is very hard for the British people to make a serious choice in this election without talking about one factor above all others " class. This isn't about David Cameron's background; it's about his policies. It is a provable fact that he will redistribute wealth " substantially " but in a strange direction: from everyone in the big wide middle and bottom of British society, to the very top. Here are the facts. He will give a £1.2bn inheritance tax cut to the richest 2 per cent in Britain " with most going to the 3,000 wealthiest estates (including his wife's). Sat Apr 10 18:38:39 2010 EST http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/shortsharpscience/2010/03/which-climate-changes-can-be-b.html Michael Marshall, reporterThe conclusions of the last IPCC report were unequivocal: it said, with 90% certainty, that greenhouse gases released by human activity were warming the planet. That was then and this is now, and since the IPCC's report came out in 2007 climate science has come under some criticism - rather a lot of it in fact. So it's no surprise that when new papers confirm the IPCC's conclusions, climate scientists are not shy about advertising them.The latest example of such a paper, in press in WIREs Climate Change, reviews a number of studies that have been done since 2007. Sat Apr 10 18:38:39 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/TuWKy-W1v64/idUSTRE6372AT20100409 BONN, Germany (Reuters) - Rifts opened Friday at the first U.N. climate meeting since the acrimonious Copenhagen summit about how to revive U.N. negotiations with few delegates predicting a breakthrough to combat global warming in 2010. Sat Apr 10 18:38:39 2010 EST http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/266/f/3780/s/9e17aa9/l/0L0Sindependent0O0Cenvironment0Cclimate0Echange0Csatellite0Eblasts0Eoff0Eon0Emission0Eto0Emap0Ethe0Eearths0Emelting0Eice0E19398640Bhtml/story01.htm A hi-tech European satellite designed to measure how fast the Earth's polar ice caps are melting was successfully launched into orbit yesterday, nearly five years after the first attempt at such a mission ended in spectacular failure. Sat Apr 10 18:38:39 2010 EST http://www.greenbiz.com/news/2010/04/08/Sony-Targets-Zero-Environmental-Footprint-2050 Tokyo, Japan Sony Corporation doesn't want to produce any carbon emissions, use any virgin materials or produce any waste by 2050. The company's new Road to Zero global environmental plan aims to eliminate all of its negative environmental impacts within the next 40 years. Sat Apr 10 18:38:39 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/YaleEnvironment360/~3/jz-sZ6P9IcM/digest.msp Forest cover in the eastern U.S. has declined in recent decades after a period of recovery that marked much of the 20th century, according to a new study. For several decades beginning in 1920, eastern forests expanded steadily as fields previously used for agriculture were abandoned and trees regrew, researchers with the U.S. Geological Survey found. But that trend has reversed since the early 1970s, with a 4.1 percent decline in forest Click to enlargeUSGSLeading causes of forest loss cover from 1973 to 2000, according to a report published in the journal BioScience. Using remote sensing imagery, statistical data, field notes, and photographs, researchers calculated that more than 9 million acres were cleared from 1973 to 2000. Sat Apr 10 18:38:39 2010 EST http://www.smh.com.au/environment/un-climate-talks-too-slow-wong-20100409-rysi.html THE Australian government will look outside the crumbling United Nations negotiating group to find effective ways to tackle climate change, Penny Wong has indicated. As diplomats gather in Germany for the first UN climate meeting since the Copenhagen conference in December, the Climate Change Minister said the government remained committed to the 192-nation talks and the controversial Copenhagen Accord. But she said that progress in cutting greenhouse gas emissions could be made more expeditiously in deals within smaller groups, such as the US-led Major Economies Forum on climate and energy, and between individual countries. Her comments come amid uncertainty about the viability of the UN negotiations, which have failed to produce a legally binding agreement to replace or extend the existing Kyoto protocol once it lapses in 2012. Sat Apr 10 18:38:39 2010 EST http://www.thewestmorlandgazette.co.uk/news/8090239.Farmers_wind_energy_schemes_will_be_encouraged/?ref=rss A CHANGE of heart by a planning authority, which says it will now encourage farmers to use renewable energy on their land, has been welcomed in South Lakeland. Sat Apr 10 18:38:39 2010 EST http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2261047/breaks-wind-energy-records Rachel Fielding, BusinessGreen , Friday 9 April 2010 at 10:55:00 American Wind Energy Association annual report shows that despite the recession the US installed a record-breaking 5,700 turbines last year The US retained its pole position in the global race for wind power supremacy last year, achieving a record number of wind turbine installations, according to new figures from the American Wind ... Sat Apr 10 18:38:39 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/apr/09/climate-talks-bonn-monthly-meeting Developing nations say countries must meet once a month to make enough progress for a binding deal to be reached at Mexico summitDeveloping countries today called for climate talks to be stepped up in order to each a global deal at a crucial meeting in Mexico in November - even if it means negotiators getting together once a month.Countries were setting out their positions at the re-opening of climate talks in Bonn in Germany, the first time countries have met after the UN climate summit in Copenhagen failed to reach a legally binding deal in December.But rich countries were noticeably cool on their proposals, suggesting that only one more meeting would be held and that the talks could take another year to reach a binding agreement.In a noticeable U-turn since Copenhagen, when rich countries expressed urgency and tried to push through a legal agreement over ... Sat Apr 10 18:38:39 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/HPjMCKvOKIA/idUSTRE63831H20100409 MACHYNLLETH, Wales (Reuters) - In a remote, rain-soaked former quarry in Wales, environmentalists are putting the finishing touches to a plan to tackle climate change by weaning Britain off fossil fuels within 20 years. Sat Apr 10 18:38:39 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news190029313.html To make large sheets of carbon available for light collection, Indiana University Bloomington chemists have devised an unusual solution -- attach what amounts to a 3-D bramble patch to each side of the carbon sheet. Using that method, the scientists say they were able to dissolve sheets containing as many as 168 carbon atoms, a first. Sat Apr 10 18:38:39 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/blogs/environment/~3/8WYglVkT6Sg/ " Gidon Eshel is a professor with the Physics department of Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. He is currently researching diet's effects on the environment. The views expressed here are his own. " First it was slow. Then local, then organic. Now it is firmly grass-fed. As a rare geophysicist studying diet's environmental consequences, I am asked daily by my colleagues " a bit bemused by my new field yet quantitatively astute and environmentally concerned " about the latest claim made about impacts of food production on the physical environment. In this role, I get to keep a sensitive finger on the envirofood pulse. Sat Apr 10 18:38:39 2010 EST http://www.calcuttanews.net/story/621898 European Climate Action Commissioner Connie Hedegaard Friday said Europe would like a legal binding treaty on reduction of carbon emission during talks in Mexico later this year, but recognises differing stances may delay an agreement until 2011. Sat Apr 10 18:38:39 2010 EST http://atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/LD10Ae01.html MANILA - Recent electricity outages in the Philippines has sparked concern that the country is on its way to its second power crisis in 20 years. Sat Apr 10 18:38:39 2010 EST http://en.ce.cn/National/stech/201004/09/t20100409_21251647.shtml China's meteorological authority this week admitted its failure in forecasting the devastating drought affecting more than 61 million people in Southwest China, according to media reports. Sat Apr 10 18:38:39 2010 EST http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20100409/NEWS02/4090311/1007/RSS02 Environmental groups Canada and Vermont are teaming up to study the impacts of the big hydropower developments of the provincial utility Hydro-Quebec. Sat Apr 10 18:38:39 2010 EST http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20100409/NEWS02/4090359/1006/NEWS Three-day-old Odong Obong lay in the hospital bed, his pencil-thin arms almost motionless and his shriveled, gaunt face resembling that of an elderly man. Sat Apr 10 18:38:39 2010 EST http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/04/08/tech/main6376797.shtml Concerns Grow that Bonn Meeting on Climate Change Could Get Derailed by Recriminations Sat Apr 10 18:38:39 2010 EST http://www.foe.co.uk/resource/press_releases/south_africa_eskom_decision_advance_07042010.html "The British Government wants South Africa to take tough action to tackle climate change, yet looks set to back a loan which would enable the largest coal-fired power station in Africa to be built - a massive setback for strong international action on global warming. Sat Apr 10 18:38:39 2010 EST http://uk.news.yahoo.com/18/20100408/tsc-poland-sells-30-million-euros-of-co2-2becb7e.html Poland has sold a Japanese private sector entity carbon dioxide emission quotas worth 30 million euros (40 million dollars), Poland's environment minister said. Sat Apr 10 18:38:39 2010 EST http://www.businessspectator.com.au/bs.nsf/Article/UPDATE-2-JP-Morgan-winds-up-Asia-carbon-team-in-Si-4C8YZ?opendocument&src=rss Source says decision to disband team "makes business sense". 9 Apr 2010 8:47 PM Sat Apr 10 18:38:39 2010 EST http://www.canada.com/business/Ontario Quebec carry oilsands burden/2336548/story.html?id=2336548 View of the Syncrude oil sands extraction facility near the town of Fort McMurray in Alberta Province, Canada on October 25, 2009. Speaking at the climate change conference in Copenhagen, delegations from Ontario and Quebec said they would not be made to take on a higher burden of emissions reductions in order to accommodate oilsands expansion in Alberta and Saskatchewan. Sat Apr 10 18:38:39 2010 EST http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/where-is-the-fuss-over-the-un-climate-talks-20100408-rujo.html Today, one of the most important meetings in our history begins, though you probably wouldn't know it. The 2010 UN climate talks in Bonn, Germany, won't make the front page of the newspaper, and Prime Minister Kevin Rudd won't attend. Since Copenhagen in December, the media, politicians and public have shifted their attention from climate change to other things. Dinner-table chatter now focuses on health reform, population growth or Tony Abbott's abs Where has climate change gone? As Peter Costello aptly put it in an article for the National Times last week: "Can a momentous moral challenge fizzle out like this?" Sat Apr 10 18:38:39 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/apr/09/china-low-carbon-renewable New government figures reveal the breakneck pace of China's renewable energy revolution, confirming growth in renewables is now outstripping expansion in coal power. From BusinessGreen, part of the Guardian Environment NetworkLow carbon energy sources will account for more than a quarter of China's electricity supply by the end of 2010, according to official statistics released yesterday to the state-backed Xinhua news agency.The figures revealed that hydro, nuclear and wind power are expected to provide 250GW of capacity by the end of the year, accounting for 26 per cent of national electricity generation.The statistics also confirmed that China's energy infrastructure remains highly carbon-intensive with "thermal power" " chiefly coal-fired power stations " still accounting for 700GW of capacity.But they revealed that renewable energy sources are now expanding faster than coal plants ... Sat Apr 10 18:38:39 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/apr/09/ecocide-crime-genocide-un-environmental-damage Proposal to declare mass destruction of ecosystems a crime on a par with genocide launched by lawyerA campaign to declare the mass destruction of ecosystems an international crime against peace - alongside genocide and crimes against humanity - is being launched in the UK.The proposal for the United Nations to accept "ecocide" as a fifth "crime against peace", which could be tried at the International Criminal Court (ICC), is the brainchild of British lawyer-turned-campaigner Polly Higgins.The radical idea would have a profound effect on industries blamed for widespread damage to the environment like fossil fuels, mining, agriculture, chemicals and forestry.Supporters of a new ecocide law also believe it could be used to prosecute "climate deniers" who distort science and facts to discourage voters and politicians from taking action to tackle global warming and climate change."Ecocide is in essence the very antithesis of ... Sat Apr 10 18:38:39 2010 EST http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90777/90856/6946074.html The Group of 77 (G77) stressed Friday any future climate change talks must be conducted within the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). "The centrality of the UNFCCC must be preserved and respected, that is to say the only venue for climate change negotiations is the UNFCCC framework," Abdullah M. Alsaidi said on behalf of the G77 and China at the opening plenary of the 9th ... Sat Apr 10 18:38:39 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/I319PRq5TH4/ ' essential reading for anyone following the politics of the green movement these days . this is the art of blogging at its best.' Thanks to everyone who voted for CP for TreeHugger's Best of Green Awards. Here's TreeHugger's full award description of this blog: The content Joe Romm and crew pump out on Climate Progress is unrelenting in its pursuit of exposing the disinformation on the part of climate change deniers and is essential reading for anyone following the politics of the green movement these days. Though their philosophy is one of incrementalism, they're insider-y, and we don't always agree with their analysis, when it comes right down to it, these guys rise to the call of duty, and the green blogosphere would be lacking without them. Sat Apr 10 18:38:39 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/vgAUQrcun8s/ Solar-Powered Desalination Saudi Arabia meets much of its drinking water needs by removing salt and other minerals from seawater. Now the country plans to use one of its most abundant resources to counter its fresh-water shortage: sunshine. Saudi Arabia's national research agency, King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST), is building what will be the world's largest solar-powered desalination plant in the city of Al-Khafji. The plant will use a new kind of concentrated solar photovoltaic (PV) technology and new water-filtration technology, which KACST developed with IBM. When completed at the end of 2012, the plant will produce 30,000 cubic meters of desalinated water per day to meet the needs of 100,000 people. Sat Apr 10 18:38:39 2010 EST http://www.desmogblog.com/lets-get-work-canada Over in Bonn, DeSmogger Joanna Dafoe is tracking the Canadian Government Delegation at the first climate meeting since Copenhagen. On the agenda: Climate financing and the new spirit of Canadian leadership. Canada's hot ticket to winning this weekend is through ambitious climate finance. Any decision will follow straight from the Copenhagen fast-track climate financing commitment of $30 billion dollars for mitigation and adaptation programs in developing countries. Canada has not yet announced how much it will contribute to this funding. In a report published by the Pembina Institute, Canada's fair share would be 3 to 4%, roughly $300 to $400 million dollars per year by the year 2010, presumably in new spending - not in existing development assistance repackaged to fit the letter, but not the spirit, of the climate finance commitment. Sat Apr 10 18:38:39 2010 EST http://www.theecologist.org/blogs_and_comments/commentators/other_comments/459046/lets_stop_people_scamming_billions_from_the_carbon_market.html It was a loophole that most of us thought had been sewn up. But new research shows that companies are continuing to cash in on the 'super' greenhouse gas HFC-23 Sat Apr 10 18:38:39 2010 EST http://energybulletin.net/node/52386 -Eaarth by Bill McKibben (Review)-Copenhagen Three Months Later-We all want to change the world read more Sat Apr 10 18:38:39 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/apr/09/green-left-labour-gap Green party fielding 316 candidates and campaigning on social and economic justice The Greens will unveil their manifesto next week with a pitch to voters highlighting the "yawning gap" on the left they say has been made vacant by New Labour.Caroline Lucas, the Greens leader, said the party planned to shake off its single-issue image by emphasising policies on social justice and the economy.The Greens are redoubling their efforts to enter parliament by fielding 316 candidates across the UK " an increase of more than 50% on the 202 members who stood at the last general election.Lucas, one of the party's two MEPs, is running hard in Brighton Pavilion, a patch where the Greens have nine councillors and where they came third in 2005.It is also hoping a boundary change will play in the party's favour.The party is campaigning under the slogan "Fair is ... Sat Apr 10 18:38:39 2010 EST http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/04/record-setting-april-heatwave-global-warming.php Sat Apr 10 18:38:39 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/blogs/environment/~3/hch_SctcLqM/ Solar energy is not a new technology, yet the adoption rate in the United States continues to crawl along. Just one percent of homes have made the switch to solar power and the reason is primarily a lack of understanding of how it all works, says Dave Llorens, founder and CEO of One Block Off the Grid (1BOG), a California solar retrofit company that groups together neighbourhoods to cut costs for consumers. 'The problem is nobody has it, but you should,' Llorens recently told Reuters in San Francisco, adding that it is common for in-home Q&A sessions to go on for hours and hours. Sat Apr 10 18:38:39 2010 EST http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/08/AR2010040806409.html When parents buy a house, some aspects of their children's future weigh heavily in their decision. For example, many parents will sacrifice to get a house in a good school district, even if it means buying a house that barely meets their space needs or involves a commute to work that is hugely inconvenient. But another aspect of their children's future, the environment that the kids will inherit one day, can also be affected by the parent's housing choices, and this aspect generally gets short shrift. Sat Apr 10 18:38:39 2010 EST http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-04-09/venezuela-bolivia-urge-un-to-set-aside-copenhagen-climate-pact.html The GuardianVenezuela, Bolivia Urge UN to Set Aside Copenhagen Climate PactBusinessWeekJonathan Pershing, the US special envoy for climate change, said the UN shouldn't 'go back to where we were when we were nearing stalemate. ...Post-Copenhagen climate talks begin amid discordThe Associated PressUS denies climate aid to countries opposing Copenhagen accordThe GuardianClimate change deal could take another yearTelegraph.co.ukSydney Morning Herald -Daily News Analysis -NASDAQall 537 Sat Apr 10 18:38:39 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/apr/09/lydd-kent-activism-airport-environment Opposition is growing to plans for up to 500,000 passengers a year, despite boost to jobs The meandering approach road to Lydd airport weaves its way across Romney Marsh, past reed"fringed ditches and mounds of farm silage. Skylarks rise from the long grass beside the temporary control tower.Inside the leaky, 50-year-old terminal building, the view from the Biggles Bar takes in low-lying nature reserves behind the shingle beach, the Ministry of Defence firing ranges and Dungeness nuclear power station.In the 1950s, before roll-on, roll-off ferries, film stars such as Diana Dors, Humphrey Bogart and Gregory Peck posed on the tarmac as their open-top cars were driven on to Bristol Freighter aircraft for the cross-channel hop to the casinos and racetracks at Le Touquet. Sat Apr 10 18:38:39 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/apr/09/world-bank-criticised-over-power-station US, Britain, the Netherlands, Italy and Norway abstain from vote in protest South Africa is becoming a high-carbon zone to attract foreign investment | Joss Garman Britain's key vote on World Bank loan to Medupi power station The World Bank approved a controversial $3.75bn loan to build one of the world's largest coal-fired power plants in South Africa yesterday, defying international protests and sharp criticism from the Obama administration that the project would fuel climate change.The proposed Medupi power station, operated by South Africa's state-owned Eskom company, was fiercely opposed by an international coalition of grassroots, church and environmental activists who said it would hurt the environment and do little to help end poverty. Sat Apr 10 18:38:39 2010 EST http://uwnews.washington.edu/ni/article.asp?articleID=56918 Whether forests are dying back, or just drying out, projections for warming show the Pacific Northwest is becoming primed for more wildfires. The area burned by fire each year is expected to double or even triple if temperatures increase by about 3.5 degrees Fahrenheit (2 C) in our region, according to University of Washington and USDA Forest Service research. Sat Apr 10 18:38:39 2010 EST http://www.desmogblog.com/media-outlets-falsely-reporting-scientific-fraud-should-make-corrections Ideologically motivated and often well-funded operatives were quick to broadcast the hacked East Anglia emails in November as 'the biggest scandal of the century.' Thanks to a UK parliamentary investigation, and an earlier Penn State investigation, we are reminded that the emails revealed no such scandal. We can expect that the industry-funded think tanks would go all out to spread any story that fits into their narrative of denying climate science. More alarming are the reporters that swallowed the bait and reported on the manufactured scandal in a fake debate.We should be expecting apologies and corrections from these reporters for taking the hints of 'scandal' and 'fraud' and reporting on them as fact ... Sat Apr 10 18:38:39 2010 EST http://www.desmogblog.com/cei-fails-manufacture-its-own-stolen-emails-controversy cei logo.jpg The folks at Competitive Enterprise Institute seemed to enjoy Climategate so much that they tried to manufacture an email scandal of their own. But two months and several attempts later, they haven't been able to generate much interest.On Dec. 31, 2009 NASA complied with a FOIA request from CEI by publicly posting 200 emails regarding a minor error made by NASA that had been discovered in August 2007 by climate skeptic Steve McIntyre. NASA quickly corrected the error, but that didn't stop CEI from filing a FOIA request for the departmental email traffic, no doubt hoping to find some out-of-context comments it could use to tarnish NASA's image.But in the days following NASA's public posting of the files, CEI remained silent. Sat Apr 10 18:38:39 2010 EST http://feeds.grist.org/click.phdo?i=59a5f9cf6c0f7752ea5a4a2e38114cc1 by Brad Johnson Cross-posted from Wonk Room. A strong cap on carbon would significantly cut the flow of petrodollars to Iran's hostile regime, a Wonk Room analysis shows. The economic and political strength of Iran's dictatorship is a threat to the national security of the United States and the world, and its nuclear ambitions threaten to destabilize the Middle East. Yesterday, diplomats from 'six world powers have met for the first time to discuss imposing new sanctions on Iran for its failure to suspend work on its controversial nuclear program,' but negotiators have not yet figured how to achieve President Barack Obama's goal of being 'consistent and steady in applying international pressure.' Iran, 'which holds the world's second-biggest oil and gas reserves and supplies about 4.5 percent of the world's oil production,' uses its oil ... Sat Apr 10 18:38:39 2010 EST http://www.businessday.com.au/business/home-truths-on-domestic-solar-20100409-rymh.html There's another green rush: NSW residents are flat-out installing rooftop solar panels, due to the state's generous new feed-in tariff. Sat Apr 10 18:38:39 2010 EST http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2010/04/09/09greenwire-recession-chills-zeal-for-highly-touted-co2-ca-12931.html FREIBERG, Germany -- Climate regulations pushed electricity generators and chemical manufacturers into each other's arms. ... Sat Apr 10 18:38:39 2010 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/04/100409134731.htm Atmospheric water vapor (H2O) is the most important natural (as opposed to man-made) greenhouse gas, accounting for about two-thirds of the natural greenhouse effect. Despite this importance, its role in climate and its reaction to climate change are still difficult to assess. Many details of the hydrological cycle are poorly understood, such as the process of cloud formation and the transport ... Sat Apr 10 18:38:39 2010 EST http://www.lastampa.it/cmstp/rubriche/girata.asp?ID_articolo=518&ID_blog=98&ID_sezione=437 BEIJING -- A new agreement on climate change would entail a revolution of the present economic and political order and a massive reform of present global institutions such as the World Trade Organization (WTO), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, et cetera, because a 50% decline in emissions by the middle of the century means a massive technological conversion a dramatic ... Sat Apr 10 18:38:39 2010 EST http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/09/us-no-climate-aid-to-coun_n_532336.html What's Your Reaction? The US State Department is denying climate change assistance to countries opposing the Copenhagen accord, it emerged today. Sat Apr 10 18:38:39 2010 EST http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474978163101&grpId=3659174697244816&nav=Groupspace THE GOOD The wealthy have been glomming down much more than their share of the pie for the last three decades and Obama is beginning to balance the scales a little. The healthcare overhaul . . . Sat Apr 10 18:38:39 2010 EST http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?sid=aqwh6ZgFEdLk&pid=20601087 April 9 (Bloomberg) -- Venezuela and Bolivia urged negotiators at United Nations climate talks to set aside the Copenhagen agreement on global warming, threatening to keep open a rift that led to a breakdown in the discussions last year. Sat Apr 10 18:38:39 2010 EST http://www.thehindu.com/2010/04/10/stories/2010041068892000.htm BEIJING: The cooperation between India and China on climate change and environment could become a template for how the two rising neighbours could better leverage their differences and work together globally, according to Minister for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh. Sat Apr 10 18:38:39 2010 EST http://www.fastcompany.com/1612099/lego-educates-kids-about-the-wonders-of-renewable-energy?partner=rss There's no better way to make change than by teaching the kiddies well, right? That's presumably the thinking behind LEGO's new Renewable Energy Add-On Set, a supplement to the LEGO Simple Motorized Mechanisms Set. LEGO provides the details: When the Renewable Energy Add-On Set is combined with the customized activity pack, students will explore renewable energy sources; investigate energy ... Sat Apr 10 18:38:39 2010 EST http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=25284 The nuclear energy industry hopes to secure its future through miniature nuclear reactors. The small underground plants will supposedly be safer than large plants, and would lower the cost of electricity from nuclear power. Sat Apr 10 18:38:39 2010 EST http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/100409/20100409005892.html?.v=1 DUBLIN----Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Analyzing the Global Wind Turbine Market" report to their offering. Sat Apr 10 18:38:39 2010 EST http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50985 RIO DE JANEIRO, Apr 9 (IPS) - The people who live in the favela of Guararapes are probably unaware that the heavy rains that forced them to flee their homes were caused by a phenomenon that is affecting the whole planet: global warming. Sat Apr 10 18:38:39 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/-TTGjIvxpk8/ A strong cap on carbon would significantly cut the flow of petrodollars to Iran's hostile regime, a ThinkProgress analysis shows. The economic and political strength of Iran's dictatorship is a threat to the national security of the United States and the world, and its nuclear ambitions threaten to destabilize the Middle East. Yesterday, diplomats from 'six world powers have met for the first time to discuss imposing new sanctions on Iran for its failure to suspend work on its controversial nuclear program,' but negotiators have not yet figured how to achieve President Barack Obama's goal of being 'consistent and steady in applying international pressure.' Iran, 'which holds the world's second-biggest oil and gas reserves and supplies about 4.5 percent of the world's oil production,' uses its oil power 'as a strategic asset.' One mechanism ... Sat Apr 10 18:38:39 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/apr/10/beware-radical-tories-reality-terrifying Cameron's synthetic claim to a progressive approach veils entirely predictable policies " and their painful resultsYou have to give David Cameron some credit. He's got what a training in PR gives you " breathtakingly barefaced cheek. "The Conservatives are today the radicals We are now the party of progress," he wrote in yesterday's Guardian. You can imagine his team laughing at their own sheer effrontery as they penned, "To Guardian readers everywhere, I say: overcome any prejudices you may have. We want to change our country and we want to do it with your help." What a nerve.Those prejudices are grounded in history, as Cameron and George Osborne reprise Margaret Thatcher's disaster economic policies ... Sat Apr 10 18:38:39 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/bQx6DiRGSos/ Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has called Palin a conservative leader on energy issues. She has also emerged as a conservative thought leader on climate science. Yesterday, at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference (SLRC) 2010 - 'the most prominent Republican event outside of the Republican National Convention,' Palin launched into another anti-science diatribe. Here's the video (via TP): PALIN: We should create a competitive climate for investment in renewables and alternatives none of this snake oil science stuff that is based on this global warming, Gore-gate stuff that came down where there was revelation that these scientists, some of these scientists were playing some political games. Sat Apr 10 18:38:39 2010 EST http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90776/90883/6946307.html China has been working "actively and seriously" to tackle climate change and build capacity to respond to it, Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping said Saturday. "Every country has a stake in dealing with climate change and every country has a responsibility for the safety of our planet," Xi told the opening ceremony of the annual Boao Forum for Asia meeting in Boao in south China's island province ... Sat Apr 10 18:38:39 2010 EST http://sagharboronline.com/sagharborexpress/suffolk-close-up/obamas-oil-drilling-flip-7286 By Karl Grossman Larry Penny, East Hampton Towns longtime director of natural resources, was out in a small boat having taken friends to the Channel Islands off Santa Barbara, California when a blow-out on an offshore oil rig resulted in a massive oil spill in 1969. The oil on the Pacific Ocean through which his boat needed [...] Sat Apr 10 18:38:39 2010 EST http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/4/11/worldupdates/2010-04-10T211450Z_01_NOOTR_RTRMDNC_0_-475931-1&sec=Worldupdates BONN, Germany (Reuters) - The prospect of a global climate treaty is fading as the world's top two carbon emitters, China and the United States, avoid legally binding action. Experts say a shift to a less ambitious goal might help. Sat Apr 10 18:38:39 2010 EST http://www.newsonair.com/news.asp?cat=state&id=ST2063 All India RadioHeat wave swept several parts of countryAll India RadioHeat wave swept several parts of the country today with mercury hovering over 40 degrees in many areas. In the national capital, the maximum temperature ...and more Sat Apr 10 18:38:39 2010 EST http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/bizchina/2010-04/10/content_9712227.htm NANNING - Output by some non-ferrous metal producers in southwest China's drought-plagued Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region has plunged sharply and could stop altogether if the dry weather continues. Sat Apr 10 18:38:39 2010 EST http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100410/sc_afp/unclimatewarming_20100410201035 Efforts to revive UN climate talks after last December's Copenhagen Summit wrangled Saturday over how to whip the arduous negotiation process towards a post-2012 global treaty. Sat Apr 10 18:38:39 2010 EST http://feeds.wired.com/~r/wired/index/~3/TxO803yEb18/ Bats, birds and other insect-eating animals could be good weapons for mitigating climate change. By eating insects that eat plants, these animals ensure there are more plants around to soak up carbon dioxide. Sat Apr 10 18:38:39 2010 EST http://www.canada.com/Scientists turn Innuit traditions collect data Arctic weather/2787883/story.html Using traditional Inuit weather knowledge passed down through generations, environmental scientists have uncovered new data on Arctic climate change. Sat Apr 10 18:38:39 2010 EST http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/4/11/worldupdates/2010-04-10T235516Z_01_NOOTR_RTRMDNC_0_-475949-1&sec=Worldupdates BONN, Germany (Reuters) - Bolivia accused the United States and Denmark on Saturday of cutting aid to the South American country as punishment for its fierce opposition to the Copenhagen Accord for fighting global warming. Sat Apr 10 18:38:39 2010 EST http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5i9TuMrvrknh-ZXwqmZ2N-48kff3wD9F095HG1 910 NewsBolivia protests US suspension of climate aidThe Associated PressBONN, Germany - Bolivia has protested the suspension of US climate aid as "a very bad practice," but says it won't change its policies on global warming. ...10/04/2010Procedure battles dominate future of UN climate talksExpatica Germanyall 83 Sat Apr 10 18:38:39 2010 EST https://secure.nrdconline.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=1803&JServSessionIdr004=3mqvar4wt1.app305a In the coming weeks, the Interior Department is expected to make a final decision on Cape Wind, America's first offshore wind project, which would provide clean energy to the Cape Cod region. Urge Interior Secretary Salazar to approve the Cape Wind project right now. Sat Apr 10 18:38:39 2010 EST http://www.justearth.net/announcements/182 Bill C-311, the Climate Change Accountability Act, is Canada's only federal climate change legislation. After 5:30pm on Wednesday, April 14, 2010 MPs in the House of Commons will vote to debate it " or kill it. Your help is crucial to make sure it survives. The Climate Change Accountability Act ensures the government is finally accountable to Canadians on climate change: it achieves deep, science-based reductions of climate pollution, compels the government to make a plan to deliver those reductions, and provides independent oversight of government plans and performance (for more info on the bill, see ... Sat Apr 10 18:38:39 2010 EST http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkkKZgKmdP4 For 10,000 years, our world seemed endless. The sky was the limit. But today's world looks much smaller. We've cleared, consumed and polluted our way across the globe. The planet is shrinking. Have we pushed Earth past the tipping point? That's a critical issue the University of Minnesota's Institute on the Environment explores in our second Big Question video. This three-minute multimedia feature draws on research from the article Planetary Boundaries: A Safe Operating Space for Humanity, published this past fall in the journal Nature, and discussed in the current Scientific American Sat Apr 10 18:38:39 2010 EST http://action.citizen.org/t/10315/petition.jsp?petition_KEY=2190 The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that corporations are entitled to spend unlimited funds in our elections, rolling back a century of modest limits. The First Amendment was never intended to protect corporations. This cannot stand. Join our campaign to protest this decision. Protect our democracy! Two things that can be done now: 1) Fair Elections Now Act: Give congressional candidates a public financing alternative to elections bankrolled by corporations. Also fix the presidential public financing system. 2) Shareholder Accountability: Give shareholders a say over corporate spending in elections. But ultimately, we must pass a constitutional amendment to ensure corporate money does not overwhelm our democracy and clarify that the First Amendment is for people -- not corporations. Sat Apr 10 18:38:39 2010 EST http://allafrica.com/stories/201004100002.html Washington As the World Bank approved a controversial three-billion-dollar loan for a coal-fired power plant in South Africa Thursday, both the details and the broader impacts of the loan continue to be criticised by community and environmental groups. Sat Apr 10 18:38:39 2010 EST http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/moslive/article-1263936/OLLY-SMITH-Will-global-warming-spell-end-favourite-tipples-world.html The vineyards are sinking! Well, maybe not quite, but climate change looms large over the industry, with opinions colliding and statistics bent into arguments to support multiple viewpoints. But let's assume for a moment that our vineyards are in danger - what should we be drinking before they vanish altogether? You might think that marginal climates such as the Champagne region are the frontiers in these weather-beaten times. And they could well be - if the Champagne region heats up, all that fresh zesty ping that makes its fizz so elfish and bright could become sugary and plump, creating a completely different drink. Sat Apr 10 18:38:39 2010 EST http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/26/science/earth/26climate.html?scp=1&sq='Cap and Trade' Loses Its Standing&st=cse WASHINGTON " Less than a year ago, cap and trade was the policy of choice for tackling climate change. Matthew Cavanaugh/European Pressphoto Agency Environmental groups and their foes in industry joined hands to embrace the approach, a market-driven system that sets a ceiling on global warming pollution while allowing companies to trade permits to meet it. President Obama praised it by name in his first budget, and the authors of the House climate and energy bill passed last June largely built their measure around it. Today, the concept is in wide disrepute, with opponents effectively branding it cap and tax, and Tea Party followers using it as a symbol of much of what they say is wrong with Washington. Thu Apr 08 09:32:27 2010 EST 8th April 2010 http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/WJ-0R76WdZE/idUSTRE6353ZE20100406 LONDON (Reuters) - Talks to define a mechanism for global forest protection should not be rushed if it is to work efficiently and fairly, a panel of experts said on Tuesday. Thu Apr 08 09:32:27 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/c-xYBPlPbs4/idUSTRE63536B20100406 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - For the first time in 10 years Americans are more likely to say the United States should give more priority to developing oil, natural gas and coal than to protecting the environment, according to a poll on Tuesday. Thu Apr 08 09:32:27 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/hhLJGPaLK-I/idUSTRE6353FF20100406 COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Denmark needs a national test center for wind turbines to ensure that the country stays in the forefront of green energy technology development, Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said on Tuesday. Thu Apr 08 09:32:27 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/mkk3FXB0a_Y/ Okay, the Washington Post's circulation will probably keep declining even in the unlikely event their coverage of global warming improves. But my headline is at least as scientific as the WP's latest climate piece Scientists use of computer models to predict climate change is under attack. Memo to WashPost: Scientists use of computer models to predict/project climate change has been under attack for a long, long time by the anti-scientific disinformers. That ain t news. The real news, which you almost completely ignore, is: The models have made accurate projections (see NASA: We conclude that global temperature continued to rise rapidly in the past decade and that there has been no reduction in the global warming trend of 0.15-0.20°C/decade that began in the late 1970s ). Thu Apr 08 09:32:27 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/C12vEZ5IXzY/ The joke goes, The economy is so bad Exxon Mobil laid off 25 Congressmen. If only. Turns out the economy is never really bad for the oil giant, and the last thing they would want to do is cut off support to members of Congress who allow them to pull off the remarkable trick of making $45 billion in profits last year but paying no federal income tax. Think Progress reports the stunning news, which, sadly, is not a Steve Martin routine: Last week, Forbes magazine published what the top U.S. corporations paid in taxes last year. Most egregious, Forbes notes, is General Electric, which generated $10.3 billion in pretax income, but ended up owing nothing to Uncle Sam. Thu Apr 08 09:32:27 2010 EST http://www.desmogblog.com/arctic-sea-ice-brace-yourself-spin Arctic Sea Ice 1978-2010.png The extent of Arctic sea ice peaked on March 31, 2010, the latest date for the maximum Arctic sea ice extent since the start of the satellite record in 1979, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Co. The ice also reached an extent that was 670,000 square kilometers (260,000 square miles) above the record low for the month, which occurred in March 2006. From these two factoids, you may expect a round of stories in the DenierSphere trumpeting a return to global cooling - an end to the worrying decline of Arctic ice that hit a low point in 2006. Thu Apr 08 09:32:27 2010 EST http://www.desmogblog.com/free-first-chapter-climate-cover climate cover up.jpg DeSmog's book Climate Cover Up: the crusade to deny global warming continues to sell very well, but I thought for those of you who have not bought a copy yet that I would give you the first chapter to download free as a teaser. For those of you who have read the book and have already passed on your copy to someone else, pass this post on to your friends and family to help spread the word. You can download it here: Climate Cover Up: the crusade the deny global warming - Chapter 1 [pdf]. Thu Apr 08 09:32:27 2010 EST http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/9851110/19an6r/alternet_environment~Against-the-Odds-a-Green-Economy-Keeps-Growing People are betting on a future of stricter environmental regulations -- and corporations are listening. Thu Apr 08 09:32:27 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/audio/2010/apr/06/the-business-podcast-ba-lehmans With chocolate eggs and hot cross buns heavily discounted in supermarkets, many of us have overindulged. But how much responsibility should we place at the door of food manufacturers? In his latest book The End of Overeating, David Kessler sets out how portions are getting larger and food is increasingly laden with salt, sugar and fat. He says we are becoming powerless to resist it.Joining him in the studio is Richard Watts of the campaign group Sustain. He believes the government should intervene further in the marketplace for processed foods but is cautiously optimistic.From over-eating we move to over-spending. Thu Apr 08 09:32:27 2010 EST http://www.joabbess.com/2010/04/06/a-short-history-of-denial/ Why do people deny the facts coming from Scientists on Global Warming ? Well-financed conservative think-tanks Unduly weighted outlier views Scientific illiteracy Our message hasn t gotten through to the American people Organised and systematic campaign [link]deltoid/2010/04/science_show_on_climate_change.php [link]rn/podcast/2010/04/ssw_20100403_1205.mp3 Mentioned by Naomi Oreskes in the audio presentation :- [link]news/press_room/climate_change/ Thu Apr 08 09:32:27 2010 EST http://www.ptinews.com/news/598488_Heatwave-sweeps-Jharkhand Heatwave sweeps JharkhandPress Trust of IndiaJamshedpur, Apr 6 (PTI) The heatwave continued to sweep across the region, with the mercury soaring to 42.5 degree celsius in the the city and its adjoining ... Thu Apr 08 09:32:27 2010 EST http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2010/04/science-story-the-making-of-a-sea-level-study/ Guest commentary by Martin Vermeer On December 7, 2009 the embargo expired, and my and Stefan's joint paper Global sea level linked to global temperature appeared in the Proceedings of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. It had been a long time coming! But this post is not so much about the science as about the process, and about how a geodesist from Helsinki and an oceanographer from Potsdam, who to this day have never even met, came to write, to the surprise of both of us, a joint paper on sea level rise. My own entry into climatology happened only a few years ago. Thu Apr 08 09:32:27 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news189778550.html In an analysis of the past 1.2 million years, UC Santa Barbara geologist Lorraine Lisiecki discovered a pattern that connects the regular changes of the Earth's orbital cycle to changes in the Earth's climate. The finding is reported in this week's issue of the scientific journal Nature Geoscience. Thu Apr 08 09:32:27 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news189771789.html New research by a team of ecologists and hydrologists shows that water temperatures are increasing in many streams and rivers throughout the United States. The research, published in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, documents that 20 major U.S. streams and rivers - including such prominent rivers as the Colorado, Potomac, Delaware, and Hudson - have shown statistically significant long-term warming. Thu Apr 08 09:32:27 2010 EST http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/letters/breathtaking-acrobatics-of-climate-denialists-20100406-rpam.html Chris Berg recommends economic growth as the answer to climate change (''Face facts and adapt to a warmer world'', April 5). Unfortunately, he does not explain how this growth is to be sustained. Given that humans are totally dependent on ecological goods and services and that we already consume about 130 per cent of the Earth's renewable capacity, the issue of sustainability is paramount. Our ... Thu Apr 08 09:32:27 2010 EST http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=geoengineering-and-climate-change Scientific AmericanWhat Is Geoengineering and Why Is It Considered a Climate Change Solution?Scientific AmericanSome scientists are calling for more study of technological interventions to forestall catastrophic global warming. Why? By David Biello CONTROLLING ...Q&A with IU climate expert Ben BrabsonThe Herald-Times (subscription)all 5 Thu Apr 08 09:32:27 2010 EST http://www.dailytech.com/Global Warming Treaty in Danger as China Battles the US/article18062.htm Global Warming Treaty in Danger as China Battles the USDailyTech... issue to the mix -- global warming. In December, President Barack Obama traveled to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) ...and more Thu Apr 08 09:32:27 2010 EST http://www.magcloud.com/browse/Issue/68837/ This new magazine looks at the issue of climate change and how it is affecting the great glaciers of the Khumbu Himalaya (Everest Region) the Sherpas who live there and the ecosystem that supports them. Illustrated with stunning photography and in-depth reporting from the Khumbu Himalaya and analysis of how this issue affects the rest of the Great Himalayan Range. Thu Apr 08 09:32:27 2010 EST http://news.mongabay.com/2010/0406-niles_copenhagen_accord.html France24Chaos and the Accord: Climate Change, Tropical Forests and REDD+ after CopenhagenMongabay.comOne key arena where this may occur is under California's landmark climate change legislation, the Global Warming Solutions Act. Often, what California ...HAWKINS: Global warming is backWashington TimesRaising the Pacific's voiceFiji TimesTwo degrees warming cap opens new rift in UN climate battleThe Guardian - NigeriaTimes of Maltaall 28 Thu Apr 08 09:32:27 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/blogs/environment/~3/wVK4pywEEzw/ As usual, Joel Kotkin nicely encapsulates the problem at hand: Now the question is whether the president can refocus on jobs. This will take, among other things, backing off the economically ruinous climate change agenda. Even the most gullible economic development officials are beginning to realize that "green jobs" are no panacea. In fact, as evident in Spain, Germany and even Denmark, over-tough green legislation can destroy the productive capacity of the most enlightened industries. Similarly in green strongholds like California and Oregon, the mounting climate change jihad could slow and even explode the incipient recovery by imposing ever more draconian regulation on businesses that can choose to migrate to less onerous locales. Thu Apr 08 09:32:27 2010 EST http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/091211-ten-threatened-species-animals-global-warming-pictures/ NoneClimate change is turning up the heat on some of the U.S.'s already threatened species, including ten highlighted by a new Endangered Species Coalition report. Thu Apr 08 09:32:27 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/sci/tech/8606406.stm British plants are flowering earlier now than at any time in the last 250 years, according to new analysis. Thu Apr 08 09:32:27 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/o4NCnxDfXAI/ No, really you can t make this stuff up " unless you are an anti-science disinformer like Monckton. Straight from FreedomWorks Tabitha Hale: As you have probably surmised, there will be a large round of Tea Parties coming up on April 15th. There will be large names, even larger crowds " and honestly, organizers would be unable to stop people from coming if they wanted to at this point. I will be speaking in Atlanta, and the FreedomWorks event in DC has a fantastic line-up including Lord Monckton, Andrew Breitbart, and Ron Paul. That's right. The original Tea Party was aimed at freeing us from the rule and influence of the British monarachy. Thu Apr 08 09:32:27 2010 EST http://feeds.grist.org/click.phdo?i=b5196f5281e1453ee2d08f44855c54f1 by Miles Grant HEAR the buzz of dread! FEEL the rash of terror! SEE the creatures of despair! WATCH ... They Came From Climate Change! The National Wildlife Federation created the Climate Invaders report and accompanying video to bring attention to a very real problem"global warming giving a boost to some very unsavory critters, helping them settle into areas where once they were unable to survive. Some are creeping up from lower elevations and into warmer areas, while others are finding it easier to invade from foreign soil. As climate change causes winters to warm and seasons to shift, a host of exotic invasives and destructive natives are marching their way into our lives at an ever increasing rate. Thu Apr 08 09:32:27 2010 EST http://nst.com.my/articles/4hmh/Article/index_html ASEAN leaders, including Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, are expected to approve two important documents -- a joint declaration on economic recovery and sustainable development and another on climate change -- at the four-day 16th Asean Summit here. Thu Apr 08 09:32:27 2010 EST http://www.theprovince.com/Vancouver backyard chicken plan faces criticism/2770613/story.html Vancouver councils backyard hen plan is a few chickens short of a coop. Thu Apr 08 09:32:27 2010 EST http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/04/07/2865965.htm The future supply of electricity is closely tied to the politics and economics of climate change. Thu Apr 08 09:32:27 2010 EST http://www.ctvbc.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20100406/bc_climate_change_100406/20100406?hub=BritishColumbiaHome Federal Environment Minister Jim Prentice says the agreement is a key step toward a national, coherent climate change approach. Thu Apr 08 09:32:27 2010 EST http://blog.washingtonpost.com/tomtoles/2010/04/fallback_follies.html#more Funny while it lasted! (See today's sketchpad.) Ha ha! Climate isn't completely ruined YET! It was cold for few days! Al Gore is FAT! Okay, but don't environmentalists do the exact same thing but the other way around? Don't they point to a hot day as proof of global warming? No. And we don't say that Al Gore is skinny, either. More about that in a minute (not Al Gore's weight but weather-related tactical arguments.) But first of all, the warmth of a given year isn't the real issue, anyway. Certainly the evidence for the warming trend line is compelling, not that that seems to make any impression on deniers. Thu Apr 08 09:32:27 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/sci/tech/8606011.stm Has the UN's wildlife trade treaty had its day? Thu Apr 08 09:32:27 2010 EST http://www.desmogblog.com/fox-news -ed-barnes-tries-re-ignite-attacks-climate-scientist-exonerated-penn-state Glenn Beck Cites NewsBusters to Bash TV's ClimateGate Boycott.jpg In his exclusive story, titled Top Climate Scientist's Exoneration Won't Be the Last Word, Fox News Ed Barnes suggests that the Penn State investigation that cleared Dr. Michael Mann of any wrong-doing was a whitewash designed to protect the millions of dollars in grant money it gets by having Mann on the faculty. Barnes claims that Penn State's decision to exonerate Mann generated a storm of controversy and came under severe attack. Reading his inflammatory language, you might think that a whole lot of academics and scientists ridiculed the inquiry. Thu Apr 08 09:32:27 2010 EST http://www.theecologist.org/reviews/books/457395/eaarth_by_bill_mckibben.html Pioneering environmentalist Bill McKibben hopes to take his readers by the collars and shake them in his new climate change wake-up call, Eaarth Thu Apr 08 09:32:27 2010 EST http://energybulletin.net/node/52331 Maybe we'll get a jolt of political energy from the south, courtesy of the groups and leaders assembling from across the world in Cochabamba, Bolivia. This People's Summit on Climate Change will be seen as naive by precisely the kind of people applauding the president for turning on the oil spigots today--after all, its by definition a People's Summit, free from the kind of corporate interference that helped sink the Copenhagen conference in December. read more Thu Apr 08 09:32:27 2010 EST http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10928/s/9d8e537/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Carticle0Cmg20A6275460B50A0A0Etexas0Eoil0Ecompanies0Ewill0Esoon0Ebe0Elocking0Eaway0Ecarbon0Bhtml0DDCMP0FOTC0Erss0Gnsref0Fclimate0Echange/story01.htm Oil companies are buying in waste CO2 and pumping it underground " to rejuvenate ageing oilfields Thu Apr 08 09:32:27 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/apr/07/drought-southern-china The government has embarked on a massive rain-making operation, firing thousands of cloud-seeding rockets into the sky In pictures: Drought in south-west China and the Mekong basinIt is hard to imagine a less fitting environment for a mollusc than the arid plain of Damoguzhen in south-west China.There is not a drop of water in sight. The baked and fissured earth resembles an ancient desert. Yet shellfish are scattered here in their thousands; all so recently perished that shriveled, blackened bodies are still visible inside cracked, opened shells.Far out of water, the aquatic animals are not the advance guard of evolutionary progress ... Thu Apr 08 09:32:27 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2010/apr/07/flooding-brazil Natural disaster caused by heaviest rains in decades kills dozens Thu Apr 08 09:32:27 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news189837797.html After losing one satellite and postponing the launch of its replacement, European scientists hope Thursday will yield good news in their quest to get a revolutionary climate monitor into orbit. Thu Apr 08 09:32:27 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/-pb7wc26b-c/idUSTRE6362S420100407 PAYERNE, Switzerland (Reuters) - A solar-powered airplane designed to fly day and night without fuel or emissions successfully made its first test flight above the Swiss countryside on Wednesday. Thu Apr 08 09:32:27 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news189845962.html (PhysOrg.com) -- The field of climate science is nothing if not complex, where a host of variables interact with each other in intricate ways to produce various changes. Just like any other area of science, climate science is far from being fully understood. As an example, a new study has discredited a previous hypothesis suggesting the existence of a link between solar flares and changes in the ... Thu Apr 08 09:32:27 2010 EST http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/7560235/Plants-flower-five-days-earlier-for-every-degree-of-global-warming.html Plants flower five days earlier for every degree of global warmingTelegraph.co.ukRichard Smithers, Woodland Trust Senior Conservation Adviser and one of the authors of the paper, said the study showed how climate change is already ...and more Thu Apr 08 09:32:27 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/2/hi/science/nature/8606406.stm British plants are flowering earlier now than at any time in the last 250 years, according to new analysis. Thu Apr 08 09:32:27 2010 EST http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100407/us_nm/us_climate_hansen_1 U.S. climate scientist James Hansen won a $100,000 environmental prize on Wednesday for decades of work trying to alert politicians to what he called an unsolved emergency of global warming. Thu Apr 08 09:32:27 2010 EST http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE63636N20100407 US climate scientist Hansen wins $100000 prizeReuters"Hansen has played a key role for the development of our understanding of human-induced climate change," the prize citation said. ...and more Thu Apr 08 09:32:27 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/_KFwT0vJSm8/idUSTRE6362ZE20100407 MIAMI (Reuters) - The 2010 Atlantic hurricane season is likely to be "above-average" and produce eight hurricanes, four of them major, the Colorado State University hurricane forecasting team said on Wednesday. Thu Apr 08 09:32:27 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news189847723.html (PhysOrg.com) -- It may have been a rainy winter, but there's still cause for concern about California's water supply. Just ask Jay Famiglietti, UC Irvine Earth system science professor and founding director of the new UC Center for Hydrologic Modeling, which aims to help the state tackle its drought-induced water crisis. Thu Apr 08 09:32:27 2010 EST http://www.expressmilwaukee.com/article-10424-whorss-hosting-the-tea-party-.html Big Oil funds tax rallies and global warming deniers Its tax time again, which means that anti-tax protesters will gather at the state Capitol and denounce government spending. But tax season 2010 will have one new... Thu Apr 08 09:32:27 2010 EST http://www.huffingtonpost.com/world-vision/want-a-climate-change-tha_b_525442.html This week marks World Health Day. While the mere mention of "health" may spell divisiveness after the recent political spectacle in Washington, we should not... Thu Apr 08 09:32:27 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/apr/07/arctic-sea-ice-recovers-slightly Figures from the National Snow and Ice Data Centre indicate six or seven- year low over past three decades The melting Arctic ice cap recovered slightly over the last winter, but scientists warned that it was still one of the worst years on record. The twice yearly figures published by the National Snow and Ice Data Centre of the winter high and summer low for the Arctic sea ice is seen as a ... Thu Apr 08 09:32:27 2010 EST http://news.yahoo.com/s/usnw/20100407/pl_usnw/DC82691_1 Ads feature more than 90 groups, representing more than 3,000 companies, including Google, Nike and Timberland Thu Apr 08 09:32:27 2010 EST http://www.arnnet.com.au/index.php?id=25742183&rid=-100 US-based company, American Superconductor Corporation (AMSC), has been brought on to build a smart grid for the 111 turbine Collgar wind farm in Western Australia. Thu Apr 08 09:32:27 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/apr/07/environmental-demands-for-the-2010-election With the campaign for the election well under way, we're collecting the green demands NGOs and other organisations are making of our politicians. See the full bank of 'eco asks' hereWhat green policies should the political parties commit to for the 2010 election? To find out, we are inviting NGOs and other civil society organisations to submit their political environment "wish list". We're interested in demands from climate change to conservation, and everything in between.If you represent an organisation which is campaigning to get parties to adopt a position or policy, please complete the form below. Your answers will appear on our bank of environment election demands.Find out more about the 2010 election hereClimate changeActivismWildlifeConservationGeneral election 2010guardian.co.uk © Guardian News Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms Conditions | More Feeds Thu Apr 08 09:32:27 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/interactive/2010/apr/07/activism-general-election-2010 Below we've brought together the green demands NGOs and other organisations are making of our politicians Thu Apr 08 09:32:27 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/YaleEnvironment360/~3/GJ7cayJLC7Y/digest.msp To mark the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, The Nature Conservancy is publishing The Atlas of Global Conservation, which presents a comprehensive picture of the planet's animals, plants, and habitats and the threats they face. Based on information compiled by researchers and conservationists around the world, the atlas maps the health of habitats and species on each continent, illustrating where nature is most threatened and where it is thriving. For the first time, the atlas maps specific ecosystems, such as salt marshes and kelp To mark the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, The Nature Conservancy is publishing The Atlas of Global Conservation, which presents a comprehensive picture of the planet's animals, plants, and habitats and Photo GalleryThe Nature ConservancyThe Atlas of Global Conservation forests worldwide, and depicts concentrations of freshwater birds, seabirds, and marine mammals. Thu Apr 08 09:32:27 2010 EST http://mediamatters.org/research/201004070010 In his new book Obama Zombies, author Jason Mattera uses falsehoods, out-of-context quotations, and factual omissions to attack global warming science as an "eco-hoax," and a "'scientific' shell game promulgated by the left against America's youth." Thu Apr 08 09:32:27 2010 EST http://uk.news.yahoo.com/18/20100407/tsc-asean-to-urge-for-legally-binding-cl-b1f5339.html Southeast Asian leaders will call for a legally binding global pact on climate change, according to a draft summit statement seen by AFP on Wednesday. Thu Apr 08 09:32:27 2010 EST http://feeds.grist.org/click.phdo?i=c154ecd2f4c262aad4014510ee31ed42 by Dan Lashof Larry Summers, the Director of the National Economic Council, used his luncheon speech at today's Energy Information Administration Annual Energy Outlook Conference to lay out a compelling case for comprehensive energy and climate legislation. The text of his remarks should be posted on the conference website soon and will be worth a read as he positioned his points about energy and climate in the context of an expansive overview of the economic crisis and the Obama administration's strategy to get the U.S. economy back on track. In the meantime, here is an outline of the five key points he made about the economic importance of enacting comprehensive climate and energy legislation ... Thu Apr 08 09:32:27 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/r6pdvlHNkUg/ UPDATE: Hansen just won The Sophie Prize (see below). The country's top climatologist, NASA's James Hansen, writes in HuffPost: The predominant moral issue of the 21st century, almost surely, will be climate change, comparable to Nazism faced by Churchill in the 20th century and slavery faced by Lincoln in the 19th century. Our fossil fuel addiction, if unabated, threatens our children and grandchildren, and most species on the planet. I have no doubt that this will be the predominant moral issue of the 21st century. In general, though, I don t think it's a good idea to compare un-comparable things, like unrestricted greenhouse gas emissions and slavery and Nazism. Thu Apr 08 09:32:27 2010 EST http://energybulletin.net/node/52351 Now, if you are wondering why a falling water level in the Venezuelan highlands should be if interest to Americans, the answer is easy. Despite years of political tensions between the Chavez government and Washington, the U.S. is still importing some 800,000 barrels a day of crude from Venezuela. read more Thu Apr 08 09:32:27 2010 EST http://energybulletin.net/node/52347 -The Ecological Revolution! (review)-How the Corporations Broke Ralph Nader and America, Too-10 Lessons for the Climate Movement read more Thu Apr 08 09:32:27 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/oDX5NjCg3CU/idUSTRE6365DU20100407 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Domestic deals to convert bare lands into forests and keep tree stands healthy could supply 60 percent of available offsets in any U.S. cap-and-trade plan on greenhouse gas emissions, a Barclays Capital analyst said. Thu Apr 08 09:32:27 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/asjtBg61ZaE/idUSTRE6364BS20100407 OSLO (Reuters) - Grazing by cows or sheep can cut emissions of nitrous oxide -- a powerful greenhouse gas -- in grasslands from China to the United States, according to a study that overturns past belief that farm animals stoke releases. Thu Apr 08 09:32:27 2010 EST http://feeds.grist.org/click.phdo?i=b4ba3ffaa3fb00eefab33ec45d39908c by Jonathan Hiskes It's only Wednesday and we ve already got way more than a week's worth of comically evil behavior from the fossil-fuel sector. Item the first: A Chinese coal freighter tried to take a shortcut through Australia's Great Barrier Reef Marine Park and rammed into the world-reknowned ecological treasure. The stranded ship remains in danger of breaking apart and spilling its 1,075 tons of heavy engine fuel into the marine park (2.5 tons have already leaked). Captain Wang Jichan, of the Chinese state-controlled conglomerate Cosco, doesn t get it. Thu Apr 08 09:32:27 2010 EST http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/04/07/91731/poll-californias-greenhouse-gas.html The state's controversial global warming law still has the support of a majority of Californians despite growing doubts about its potential impact on the economy, according to a Field Poll released Tuesday. The poll shows 58 percent of registered voters support Assembly Bill 32, which will require significant reductions in greenhouse-gas emissions. The poll was commissioned by Next 10, a San Francisco nonprofit group that supports green technology and reducing gases blamed for global warming. Thu Apr 08 09:32:27 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news189865161.html (AP) -- Glacier National Park has lost two more of its namesake moving icefields to climate change, which is shrinking the rivers of ice until they grind to a halt, a government researcher said Wednesday. Thu Apr 08 09:32:27 2010 EST http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2010/04/climate-scientist-bashing/ A new popular sport in some media these days is climate scientist bashing . Instead of dealing soberly with the climate problem they prefer to attack climate scientists, i.e. the bearers of bad news. The German magazine DER SPIEGEL has played this game last week under the suggestive heading Die Wolkenschieber " which literally translated can mean both the cloud movers and the cloud traffickers (available in English here ). The article continues on this level, alleging sloppy work, falsifications and exaggerations . By doing so DER SPIEGEL digs deeply into the old relic box of climate skeptics and freely helps itself on their websites instead of critically researching the issues at hand. Thu Apr 08 09:32:27 2010 EST http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2010/04/climate_roundup_glacier_fungus.html Climate Roundup: Glacier, Fungus, Cows And James HansenNPR (blog)... of the decade due to global warming. BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) - Glacier National Park has lost two more of its namesake moving icefields to climate change, ...and more Thu Apr 08 09:32:27 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/blogs/environment/~3/xgw9rxxwWbg/ " Brian Schwartz and Cindy Parker are both physicians and faculty in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, Maryland. They are also both Fellows of the Post Carbon Institute. The opinions expressed are solely their own. " How do you solve a problem like David Miller? According to the Chicago Tribune, he is the Illinois representative who last month, with little fanfare and notice at the time, attempted to modify legislation to include tire burning in the state's definition of renewable energy. The bill failed to pass initially but it isn t dead yet " supporters may attempt to add it to another bill before the General Assembly adjourns. Thu Apr 08 09:32:27 2010 EST http://www.dtnprogressivefarmer.com/dtnag/view/blog/getBlog.do?blogHandle=ethanol&blogEntryId=8a82c0bc268be2db0127d8f5aa44106d A preliminary report from the International Food Research Policy Institute found that Brazilian sugarcane ethanol could have the ability to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by as much as 90 percent, Biofuels International said. Thu Apr 08 09:32:27 2010 EST http://www.monbiot.com/archives/2010/04/08/debate-with-steve-easterbrook/ We explore the mutual incomprehension across the climate emails divide Thu Apr 08 09:32:27 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/ie6ssIocrP0/ CP: So it's friggin hot in DC and much of the country. Audience: How hot is it? CP: It's so hot that: I saw a dog chasing a cat and they were both walkin . The robins are laying their eggs sunny side up. I saw squirrels fanning their nuts. Even meteorologists are doing stories about human-caused global warming. Settle down, anti-science disinformers who try to shout down any talk of a link between climate change and extreme weather " these are only jokes. We all know that you can t use a single weather event as evidence for or against climate change " unless of course that weather event is a big snowstorm [see "Massive moisture-driven extreme precipitation during warmest winter in the satellite record " and the disinformers say it disproves (!) climate science]. Thu Apr 08 09:32:27 2010 EST http://feeds.grist.org/click.phdo?i=14706828074c3aaca29fbaee6dd4faac by Josh Nelson Via Samantha Thompson, a new Gallup poll found that, for the first time in 10 years of polling, Americans prioritize energy production over the protection of the environment. Here is the key chart: While the chart is compelling, it falls short on multiple levels. 1. The options it presents are a false dichotomy. We have several energy sources at our disposal that are environmentally sustainable such as wind, solar and geothermal. It would be interesting to see how this poll would have played out had they included a third option: methods for increasing U.S. energy production in environmentally sustainable ways should be given a priority over less environmentally friendly methods. Thu Apr 08 09:32:27 2010 EST http://feeds.grist.org/click.phdo?i=a085fd0f0308ede853c39e80fff49986 by Lester Brown As economic decisionmakers"whether consumers, corporate planners, government policymakers, or investment bankers"we all depend on the market for guidance. In order for markets to work and economic actors to make sound decisions, the markets must give us good information, including the full cost of the products we buy.Unfortunately, markets largely ignore the indirect costs of goods and services, thus grossly distorting the structure of the economy. The market price of burning coal, for example, includes only the direct costs, those of mining the coal and transporting it to the power plant. By neglecting the substantial indirect costs of burning coal"the costs of air pollution, acid rain, devastated ecosystems, and climate change"the market is giving us bad information. Thu Apr 08 09:32:27 2010 EST http://blogs.forbes.com/energysource/2010/04/07/report-says-algal-biofuels-may-not-cut-carbon-emissions-but-read-more-closely/ Growing algae to make biofuels is less effective than growing land-based crops such as soya, canola Thu Apr 08 09:32:27 2010 EST http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/08/science/earth/08energy.html WASHINGTON " Several Texas oil companies are bankrolling a petition drive to suspend California's path-breaking climate change law in a move that may prove a bellwether for national efforts to address global warming. The Valero Energy Corporation, a San Antonio-based company that is one of the nation's largest independent oil refiners and retailers, has contributed $500,000 to a ballot initiative that would halt the carrying out of the California climate law known as Assembly Bill 32, which Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, signed in 2006. At least one other Texas oil company, Tesoro, with operations in California and a prominent antitax group are helping to finance the petition drive to place the initiative on the November general election ballot. Thu Apr 08 09:32:27 2010 EST http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_round_up/458220/vote_for_your_mp_only_if_they_act_on_climate_change.html NGO groups targeting marginal seats to pressure candidates into raising the profile of climate change in their election campaigns Thu Apr 08 09:32:27 2010 EST http://filmjournal.com/filmjournal/content_display/news-and-features/features/movies/e3i66ddacf93da504a909bf2f7458ab412a?imw=Y Big-budget films with exploding cars and international locales dont immediately bring to mind environmentally friendly. Add in generators, vehicles, high-powered lights, a films worth of costumes and sets, and the numbers on the carbon calculator add up. Thu Apr 08 09:32:27 2010 EST http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/07/on-the-energy-gap-and-climate-crisis/ A less catchy definition of climate crisis and an argument for an energy quest. Thu Apr 08 09:32:27 2010 EST http://www.v3.co.uk/v3/news/2260958/sony-outlines-green-plans Shaun Nichols in San Francisco, V3.co.uk , Thursday 8 April 2010 at 02:56:00 Company vows environmental clean sheet by 2050 Sony has released a new plan which it hopes will dramatically cut its environmental footprint. The company said that the plan would cover the next 40 years, seeking to bring the company to what it calls a "zero environmental footprint" status by the year 2050. The plan ... Thu Apr 08 09:32:27 2010 EST http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/4/8/worldupdates/2010-04-08T065953Z_01_NOOTR_RTRMDNC_0_-475218-1&sec=Worldupdates WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States will host a meeting of major economies on April 18-19 in Washington to advance talks on a global deal to fight climate change, the top U.S. climate negotiator said on Wednesday. Thu Apr 08 09:32:27 2010 EST http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/blogs/thereporters/richardblack/2010/04/hair_of_the_copenhagen_dog.html Bonn voyage for the Copenhagen climate bus Thu Apr 08 09:32:27 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/apr/08/chevron-solar-panels-oilfield Chevron plans to use solar energy to power pumps at one of the oldest and dirtiest oilfields on the planetProject Brightfield has a nice ring to it. Chevron, the California-based oil giant, is turning the site of an old oil refinery into an eight-acre field of solar panels, showcasing seven new technologies from an array of cutting-edge companies. It seems to fit the company's current online slogan: "Finding newer, cleaner ways to power the world".But there is a problem for Chevron, which has over a thousand Texaco filling stations in Britain. It plans to use the solar energy to help power pumps and pipelines at what will remain one of the oldest, dirtiest and most greenhouse-unfriendly oil fields on the planet " the Kern River heavy oil facility near Bakersfield.The company is proud enough of the solar panels to have a promotional video on ... Thu Apr 08 09:32:27 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/cif-green/2010/apr/08/carbon-positive-children Unicef's new scheme urges businesses to go beyond simply reducing their emissions and to take a lead in tackling climate changeThe era of all-night illuminations in shop windows and the open-door policy favoured by shops to help entice you in as you walk by, could well be over.From the beginning of April, 5,000 organisations in both the public and private sector that use a certain level of energy " the equivalent of an annual bill of around £500,000 " will have to comply with the new "Carbon Reduction Commitment Energy Efficiency Scheme", which establishes a carbon trading scheme for large organisations.Diverse organisations from supermarkets and shopping centres, to universities, hotels and all government departments, will be part of the scheme. Thu Apr 08 09:32:27 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/georgemonbiot/2010/apr/08/hacked-emails-freedom-of-information Original requests for information from the Climatic Research Unit appear to have been genuine, but there are later enquiries that could potentially be seen as aggravatingThis is probably the last piece I'll write on the hacked emails saga. Unless the two remaining inquiries throw up something unexpected, there is not a lot more to say. The one remaining, interesting question is this: to what extent were the Freedom of Information (FoI) requests, which Phil Jones and the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) handled so badly, vexatious? Were they genuine enquiries by seekers after truth, or were they designed only to mess the unit around?The UK Information Commissioner's Office has published five criteria for judging whether or not a request is vexatious: Can the request fairly be seen as obsessive? Is the request harassing the authority or causing distress to staff? Would complying with the request ... Thu Apr 08 09:32:27 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/apr/08/tokyo-carbon-trading-scheme Japanese metropolis launches Asia's first emissions cap-and-trade scheme. From BusinessGreen, part of the Guardian Environment NetworkPlans for a national Japanese emissions trading scheme may still be mired in confusion, but that has not stopped Tokyo winning the race to launch Asia's first carbon trading initiative.The city last week kicked off its long-awaited carbon trading scheme, which will require 1,400 of Tokyo's most energy and carbon intensive organisations to meet legally binding emission targets modeled on those used in Europe's cap-and-trade scheme.During the first phase of the scheme, which runs up to 2014, participating organisations will have to cut their carbon emissions by six per cent.Those that fail to operate within their emission caps will from 2011 be required to purchase emission allowances to cover any excess emissions, or alternatively invest in renewable energy certificates or offset credits issued by smaller businesses ... Thu Apr 08 09:32:27 2010 EST http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50950 SAN JOSé, Uruguay, Apr 7 (IPS) - "We would get up and go to bed every day looking up at the sky, hoping for something to fall, but nothing happened, not even a drop fell," says Mara Inés Queiros, who makes artisanal cheese in the southern Uruguayan province of San José. Thu Apr 08 09:32:27 2010 EST http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50946 MONTPELLIER, France, Apr 7 (Tierramérica) - Billions of dollars are being mobilised to protect and increase the world's forests under a climate protection mechanism known as REDD (Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation). But many experts are unsure that it will work, and some fear it could end in disaster. Thu Apr 08 09:32:27 2010 EST http://www.bettingpro.com/category/Entertainment/Summer-Heatwave-Could-Be-on-the-Way-201004080074/ Summer Heatwave Could Be on the WayBettingpro.comThis summer could be one of the hottest on record, and WilliamHill are worried that temperatures could pass the 100f mark. The bookmaker has trimmed the ... Thu Apr 08 09:32:27 2010 EST http://www.joabbess.com/2010/04/08/george-monbiot-wrong-call/ There was a long time during my life when I refused to read British newspapers. They irritated me. The stories hinged on the opinions of a few unresearched writers; facts were dubious; the ideological cultures distinguishing the publications were artificial; and the constructed narratives offended me. I distinctly recall the day I decided I needed to read the newspapers again. It was a chance glance at the Guardian Weekly, on the shelf in an international bookshop in Brussels. In there, I read a piece by George Monbiot, and my reaction was, in paraphrase, how can he be allowed to write such a thing for publication ? I was impressed, both at his audacity and his plainspeaking, and the facts to back up his position looked credible. Thu Apr 08 09:32:27 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/K_QJhr6d_a8/idUSTRE6371TF20100408 PARIS (Reuters) - Changes in land use linked to the growing of crops like soybeans and palm oil may cancel out the benefits of biofuels in terms of emissions savings, according to an official French study released on Thursday. Thu Apr 08 09:32:27 2010 EST http://content.usatoday.com/communities/greenhouse/post/2010/04/can-earth-survive-climate-change-bill-mckibben-says-only-with-dire-action/1 USA TodayCan we survive climate change? Bill McKibben sees a chanceUSA TodayMcKibben, well-known environmentalist and author of more than a dozen books, first warned about global warming -- then called the "greenhouse effect" -- in ...and more Thu Apr 08 09:32:27 2010 EST http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LDE6371AV.htm Source: Reuters April 8 (Reuters) - U.N. climate talks in Bonn from April 9-11 will review efforts to tackle global warming after the Copenhagen summit in December fell short of a legally binding text sought by many ... Thu Apr 08 09:32:27 2010 EST http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/3560246/Drought-declared-in-North-Island The Government has declared a drought in parts of the North Island and announced farmers will be eligible for relief assistance. Thu Apr 08 09:32:27 2010 EST http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?sid=a8IlonV4pss8&pid=20601087 April 8 (Bloomberg) -- Coffee exports from Uganda , Africas biggest producer of the robusta variety of the crop, fell 15 percent in March after a drought cut yields, the Uganda Coffee Development Authority said. Thu Apr 08 09:32:27 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/DiQFPT_srYA/idUSTRE6372AT20100408 BONN, Germany (Reuters) - Climate negotiators meet in Bonn on Friday for the first time since the fractious Copenhagen summit but with scant hopes of patching together a new legally binding U.N. deal in 2010. Thu Apr 08 09:32:27 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/bLpUpjgPxNo/idUSTRE6365XH20100408 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States will host a meeting of major economies on April 18-19 in Washington to advance talks on a global deal to fight climate change, the top U.S. climate negotiator said on Wednesday. Thu Apr 08 09:32:27 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/YaleEnvironment360/~3/g-grg7qMbkM/feature.msp Once, on both sides of the Atlantic, fish such as salmon, eels, and, shad were abundant and played an important role in society, feeding millions and providing a livelihood for tens of thousands. But as these fish have steadily dwindled, humans have lost sight of their significance, with each generation accepting a diminished environment as the new norm. BY JOHN WALDMAN Thu Apr 08 09:32:27 2010 EST http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2010/04/05/study_northeast_seeing_more_fiercer_rainstorms The Northeast is seeing more frequent "extreme precipitation events" in line with global warming predictions, a study shows, including storms like the recent fierce rains whose floodwaters swallowed neighborhoods and businesses across New England. Tue Apr 06 09:50:43 2010 EST 6th April 2010 http://www.desmogblog.com/conservative-groups-ads-ask-glenn-beck-and-rush-limbaugh-audience-what-would-reagan-do-about-climate-change D-reagan-old-school.gif Radio ads airing in New Hampshire during the Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck shows ask the question What would Reagan do" about climate change? Despite the anti-environmental rants typically emanating from the right wing's favorite media darlings Beck and Limbaugh, the new ad campaign launched by Republicans for Environmental Protection (REP) seeks to remind conservatives that stewardship, including action to address climate change, is consistent with true conservative values.The ads feature a Reagan quote that few Republicans would likely recognize as coming from the mouth of the Gipper: If we've learned any lessons during the past few decades, perhaps the most important is that preservation of our environment is not a partisan challenge ... Tue Apr 06 09:50:43 2010 EST http://www.desmogblog.com/smoking-guns-and-blue-dress-moments-climategate smoking-gun.jpg In the days and weeks following the theft of climate scientists' emails from the University of East Anglia's Climatic Research Unit in November, climate change skeptics and deniers flooded the blogosphere and mainstream press with reactions suggesting that the 'scandal' had proven global warming was a myth. In many instances, the reactions sounded like a choreographed choir singing from the same sheet of talking points, or at least the same sheet of of well-worn memes and cliches, like 'smoking gun' and 'final nail in the coffin.' The Desmog team took a look at several unique phrases that flew around the denier echo chamber in the aftermath of the CRU email hack, and how those memes were often adopted by the mainstream media as a result. Tue Apr 06 09:50:43 2010 EST http://energybulletin.net/node/52302 Why not use the president's tack: just talk about the need for clean energy and energy independence? Because that approach leads to wrong policies, ineffectual legislation larded with giveaways to special interests, such as the Waxman-Markey bill in the House and the bills being considered now in the Senate. The fundamental requirement for solving our fossil fuel addiction and moving to a clean energy future is a rising price on carbon emissions. read more Tue Apr 06 09:50:43 2010 EST http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/9816234/195809/alternet_environment~What-Youre-Eating-Could-Make-or-Break-Our-Planet-Principles-of-a-ClimateFriendly-Diet Anna Lappe talks about her new book "Diet for a Hot Planet" and explains how to change our diet so it becomes part of the solution, not the problem. Tue Apr 06 09:50:43 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/apr/05/tokyo-electric-cars-better-place First step in Californian firm's bid to build the world's first infrastructure networks for electric cars by next yearThe first public trial of a system that "refills" electric cars in minutes will be launched this month. The Californian company Better Place will test its automated battery-swap stations in Tokyo.It is the latest element in the company's ambitious plans to build the world's first infrastructure networks for electric cars by the start of next year.Globally, road vehicles generate around a fifth of carbon dioxide emissions. The figure is the same for the UK. According to a study for the Department for Transport, widespread adoption of electric vehicles with a range of 30 miles or more could halve road transport emissions.One of the biggest challenges, however, to the large-scale implementation of electric cars is the problem of infrastructure for recharging.Better Place has come up with a ... Tue Apr 06 09:50:43 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/apr/05/spring-natures-winners-and-losers Spring is very late this year and the daffs are only just in bloom. But the long, cold winter hasn't necessarily been bad news for all our flora and faunaAfter the harshest winter for more than 30 years, spring 2010 is proving to be an equally unusual season. On the one hand, lambs are being born, daffodils are blooming, and the first swallows are starting to arrive. But on the other, snow is falling in Scotland, butterflies are nowhere to be seen, and our woodlands are looking more like February than April. The producers of BBC's Springwatch are certainly having an anxious time, with presenters and crews on standby up and down the country, waiting for the season to really get going.The Woodland Trust's ongoing survey, Nature's Calendar, confirms that this is one of the most unusual springs in recent years. Tue Apr 06 09:50:43 2010 EST http://feeds.grist.org/click.phdo?i=91d03dbc47b8af9c862a4324bb40f1da by Terry Tamminen Like many Americans, I battle with my waistline, watching the same twenty pounds come and go year after year. Eating everything from Tootsie Rolls to asparagus, at times the healthy fare wins over the junk food, but usually the other way around. No food is either good or bad, because consumption isn t measured against a real plan to lose weight and get fit. It now appears that President Obama has adopted this Tootsie Roll approach to the nation's energy needs.Last week the President said he would facilitate more oil drilling in U.S. coastal waters. Tue Apr 06 09:50:43 2010 EST http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kanpur/No-respite-from-sweltering-weather/articleshow/5764190.cms No respite from sweltering weatherTimes of IndiaMeanwhile, with the city heading towards heatwave, a large portion went without power for long durations in the morning and afternoon hours. ...and more Tue Apr 06 09:50:43 2010 EST http://www.joabbess.com/2010/04/05/james-delingpole-cruel-jester/ Count it all joy, my brothers and sisters (and those who are hermaphrodite, or in other ways gender-alternative) when you face trials and tribulations of many kinds, from those who have not recognised in you the Light, the Truth and the Way. James Delingpole is doing his very best-worst to be annoying, or even insulting, I m not sure, by levelling some personally negative comments towards me. But I have responded in friendliness and lovingkindness, although I might get moderated off the comments page, so I ve included my words here :- [link]news/jamesdelingpole/100032622/inside-the-seething-green-roach-pit-where-they-eat-their-own Hello Boys ! Tue Apr 06 09:50:43 2010 EST http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/04/05/91625/clean-energy-plans-stalled-in.html Efforts to encourage clean energy are losing steam in Florida. Tue Apr 06 09:50:43 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/1FLLJwdsvAE/idUSTRE63311Z20100405 OSLO (Reuters) - Thawing permafrost can release nitrous oxide, also known as laughing gas, a contributor to climate change that has been largely overlooked in the Arctic, a study showed on Sunday. Tue Apr 06 09:50:43 2010 EST http://e360.yale.edu/content/digest.msp?id=2352 China's surging wind power industry will increasingly move offshore, experts say, as the nation's first offshore wind farm reaches full power this month and government officials push several additional projects. The 102-megawatt Shanghai wind farm is the first of several offshore wind projects planned by China, which last month opened bids for three to four large-scale offshore wind farms that officials say could generate 1,000 megawatts of electricity. Beijing-based energy consultants Azure International predict that by 2020 China will have invested $100 billion to install 30,000 megawatts of capacity off the Chinese coast. Tue Apr 06 09:50:43 2010 EST http://news.scotsman.com/scotland/39Cheated39-for-going-green-too.6204955.jp AS GREEN pioneers, Anne and Chris Billing have spent thousands of pounds on cutting their carbon footprint. Tue Apr 06 09:50:43 2010 EST http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article7088297.ece The Government is considering blocking an aid project to provide reliable coal-fired electricity for millions of South Africans after coming under intense pressure from green groups in the run-up to the election. Tue Apr 06 09:50:43 2010 EST http://www.edie.net/news/news_story.asp?id=17895 Central government will invest £5m in a Cornish business park that will specialise in developing marine energy. Tue Apr 06 09:50:43 2010 EST http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2010/04/06/stories/2010040652131700.htm The arabica plants roots are deep and resistant to drought. But a combination of scanty rain and high temperatures has posed problems. Tue Apr 06 09:50:43 2010 EST http://www.good.is/post/what-we-fail-to-get-about-greenhouse-gases A new inventory of the Portland metropolitan area shows that the bulk of the region's greenhouse gases come from the production of stuff, not from cars and transportation. From Oregon Live : According to the inventory, manufacturing products and food, moving freight and managing waste produce an estimated 14.9 million metric tons of greenhouse gases annually, or 48 percent of the emissions ... Tue Apr 06 09:50:43 2010 EST http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/mankind-leaves-mark-on-the-planet-with-the-end-of-the-12000year-holocene-age-1936725.html Biologists have their principles of evolution, physicists have their laws of thermodynamics and chemists have their periodic table. For geologists, perhaps the most hallowed reference source is the Geological Time Scale, a complex timeline depicting the entire history of the Earth as a series of distinct periods, epochs and ages, from the birth of the planet 4.7 billion years ago to the present ... Tue Apr 06 09:50:43 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/tErmR30Va18/ Readers are always asking what can been done to cut carbon beyond pushing for the bipartisan climate and clean energy jobs bill. I m launching a new series aimed at the kind of serious action people can push for at a local and state level " and even at a national and global level " without waiting for politicians. After all, the biggest, most money-saving strategies to cut carbon are already profitable (see McKinsey must-read: U.S. can meet entire 2020 emissions target with efficiency and cogeneration while lowering the nation's energy bill $700 billion! ) The impetus for this new series is my interview today (below) of Jigar Shah, the uber-innovative clean energy financing guru who founded Sun Edison and now heads the new nonprofit, the Carbon War Room. Tue Apr 06 09:50:43 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/gallery/2010/mar/30/1 Sandstorms in China, dark days in Dakota and hydrogen sulphide eruption along the coast of Namibia - this month's stunning shots from space Tue Apr 06 09:50:43 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/apr/06/aviation-q-and-a Flying is a heated topic. But if there is no such thing as an 'eco-friendly' flight, is grounding planes the only option?Does air travel really have a big environmental footprint?There's no way around the fact that flights are bad news for the environment. It's not just that planes are worse than most other forms of transport in terms of the impact of greenhouse gases per passenger mile. Just as important is the simple fact that flying allows us to travel a far greater number of miles than we otherwise could. Thanks to these two factors, individual trips by air can have a remarkably large carbon footprint " which helps explain why aviation has become such a heated issue in the climate change debate.What is the total impact of flying on the climate?As the aviation industry is usually keen to point out, planes account for only ... Tue Apr 06 09:50:43 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/apr/06/geoengineering-carbon-emissions The pill, condoms and IUDs are some of the most effective " and cheap " weapons the world has to fight climate change. From Grist, part of the Guardian Environment NetworkI've written about my choice not to have children. What's all too easy to forget is that many women still don't have any reasonable choice about their fertility. An estimated 200 million women around the world don't have access to family-planning tools. If they did, 52 million unwanted pregnancies could be averted every year, according to the Guttmacher Institute [PDF]. I'm not talking government mandates or coercion or heavy-handed tactics " those approaches aren't just ethically dubious, they're wholly unnecessary. Tue Apr 06 09:50:43 2010 EST http://www.joabbess.com/2010/04/06/paleo-lorraine/ A very intriguing study from Lorraine Lisiecki, published as a Letter in Nature Geoscience, researching the Milankovitch-sourced theories, and hinting that messing with the natural Climate cycle could have very serious consequences, shaking up five million years of progress, through feedbacks, towards relative Climate calm :- Outline and Abstract :- [link]ngeo/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/ngeo828.html Links between eccentricity forcing and the 100,000-year glacial cycle : Lorraine E. Lisiecki Supplementary Information :- [link]ngeo/journal/vaop/ncurrent/extref/ngeo828-s1.pdf And yes, it's quite hard to understand her work at first reading, so she's taken the trouble to produce helpful educational material, to help with communications :- [link] [link]simple.html Journalists don t need ... Tue Apr 06 09:50:43 2010 EST http://www.nature.com/climate/2010/1004/full/climate.2010.31.html When the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released its assessment report on global warming in 2007, it was faced with a tough decision. In estimating how sea levels might rise in response to temperature, the panel had a wealth of factors to consider, such as how much the oceans will expand as they warm and how much water will be added from melting mountain glaciers and ice caps. But there was little information on the extent to which changes in the large ice sheets covering Greenland and West Antarctica could raise sea levels this century. After some consideration, the panel estimated a total sea level rise of 18 to 59 centimetres by the 2090s, a projection that excluded the contribution of the world's largest ice sheets on the basis that understanding was too limited to provide a best estimate or an upper bound . Tue Apr 06 09:50:43 2010 EST http://www.nature.com/climate/2010/1004/full/climate.2010.22.html The amount of methane being released from permafrost in the Siberian Arctic could rival that being vented from the entire world ocean, suggests new research. The study confirms what scientists have suspected for some time " that substantial quantities of the potent greenhouse gas are being released from sub-sea sites as the Arctic warms. Between 2003 and 2008, Natalia Shakhova of the University of North Carolina and colleagues measured methane levels at 1,080 locations in the sea above the East Siberian Arctic Shelf, a vast area of shallow sea floor off Russia's northeast coast. From more than 5,000 at-sea observations, they found that more than 80 per cent of the bottom waters, and over 50 per cent of the surface waters, are supersaturated with methane. Tue Apr 06 09:50:43 2010 EST http://www.nature.com/climate/2010/1004/full/climate.2010.27.html Despite the threat of rising sea levels, the drive to develop Florida's coastline continues. Mark Schrope reports. Unarrested development The last time sea level rise in Florida was as rapid as some forecasts predict for the coming century, it was about 8,000 years ago and there were Native Americans living on land that now lies beneath the Gulf of Mexico1. It's safe to assume their retreat from submerging lands was relatively uncomplicated, thanks to low numbers and a simple lifestyle. For modern-day Florida, adaptation will be a bit more challenging. More than 90 per cent of the 18.5 million residents of the Sunshine State live on the coast. Tue Apr 06 09:50:43 2010 EST http://www.nature.com/climate/2010/1004/full/climate.2010.28.html Nations threatened by sea level rise are starting to look at how they can work with nature to defend their coastlines. Mason Inman reports. Tue Apr 06 09:50:43 2010 EST http://www.nature.com/climate/2010/1004/full/climate.2010.29.html Has the IPCC underestimated the risk of sea level rise? A new view on sea level rise In its 2007 report1, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) projected a global sea level rise of 18 to 59 centimetres from 1990 to the 2090s, plus an unspecified amount that could come from changes in the large ice sheets covering Greenland and Antarctica. But the physical climate models used by the IPCC have some limitations, prompting the search for alternative approaches to estimating sea level rise. New semi-empirical approaches are based on the idea that the rate of sea level rise is proportional to the amount of global warming " the warmer it gets, the faster ice melts " and they use past sea level and temperature data to quantify this effect. Tue Apr 06 09:50:43 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news189757035.html (PhysOrg.com) -- Light-emitting diodes, which employ semiconductors to produce artificial light, could reduce electricity consumption and lighten the impact of greenhouse gas emissions. However, moving this technology beyond traffic signals and laser pointers to illumination for office buildings and homes -- the single largest use of electricity -- requires materials that emit bright, white light cheaply and efficiently. White light is the mix of all the colors, or wavelengths, in the visible spectrum. Tue Apr 06 09:50:43 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news189757644.html (PhysOrg.com) -- The new reverse-osmosis membrane resists the clogging that typically occurs when seawater and brackish water are purified. Tue Apr 06 09:50:43 2010 EST http://www.joabbess.com/2010/04/06/the-rain-in-sudan/ The account of extreme weather continues to mount up, but some Climate models have not been distinguishing between rainfall (preciptation event) changes in tropical regions and mid-latitude regions. Here's one piece of research that goes some way towards a new understanding of increased serious flooding in Tropical countries :- [link]content/107/2/571.abstract?sid=b9c6c8bb-ee22-4729-a154-5ab4423127cf Precipitation extreme changes exceeding moisture content increases in MIROC and IPCC climate models : Masahiro Sugiyamaa, Hideo Shiogama, and Seita Emori Flash flooding is not only rising in the Tropics, it's happening more frequently, elsewhere too :- [link]ViewItem.aspx?ItemId=72458&CultureCode=en&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter Tue Apr 06 09:50:43 2010 EST http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?sid=a62OZxItptKo&pid=20601087 April 6 (Bloomberg) -- Vietnam faces a power shortage this year as a drought threatens production of hydroelectricity when economic expansion has increased demand for energy. Tue Apr 06 09:50:43 2010 EST http://business.rediff.com/column/2010/apr/06/guest-impact-of-climate-change-on-indian-agriculture.htm Small and marginal farmers practising agriculture on rain-fed farms will bear the brunt of climate change Tue Apr 06 09:50:43 2010 EST http://www.pressrepublican.com/weather_news/local_story_096065529.html BOSTON (AP) The Northeast is seeing more frequent "extreme precipitation events" in line with global warming predictions, a study shows, including storms like the recent fierce rains whose floodwaters swallowed neighborhoods and businesses across New England. Tue Apr 06 09:50:43 2010 EST http://tampa.creativeloafing.com/gyrobase/will_special_paint_keep_my_house_cooler_in_summer_/Content?oid=1053394 By Cecil Adams I ran across your 1984 Straight Dope column about whether water freezes or boils in outer space. (You said it boils, then freezes.) You mentioned that polished aluminum in space can absorb enough solar radiation to reach 850 degrees, but some types of white paint will absorb so little they will reach only -40 degrees. Are any of these paints suitable for use on houses to keep them ... Tue Apr 06 09:50:43 2010 EST http://www.nature.com/news/2010/100406/full/464821a.html?s=news_rss Philanthropic support for climate-change issues tripled in 2008. Tue Apr 06 09:50:43 2010 EST http://feeds.wired.com/~r/wired/index/~3/m71jkBj7fQM/ A chain of 11 offshore wind power generators could provide all the power needed from Massachusetts to North Carolina, according to a new study. Tue Apr 06 09:50:43 2010 EST http://english.vietnamnet.vn/reports/201004/Is-Electronic-Road-Pricing-the-solution-for-HCM-City-gridlock-902791/ VietNamNet Bridge Ho Chi Minh City may experiment with collecting fees automatically from cars entering the citys centre the so-called Electronic Road Pricing system reports Doanh Nhan Saigon Cuoi Tuan . Whats so great about ERP? Tue Apr 06 09:50:43 2010 EST http://allafrica.com/stories/201004050525.html I COME to this the largest ever global conference facing the greatest global challenge of our time to appeal to you to summon up the highest level of ambition and will. Tue Apr 06 09:50:43 2010 EST http://www.abc.net.au/rn/bushtelegraph/stories/2010/2845982.htm A renewable energy project in northern NSW could close unless the rules regarding Renewable Energy Certificates are changed. Tue Apr 06 09:50:43 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/f9XqW8FbyCs/idUSTRE63208M20100403 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A federal advisory panel urged the U.S. Interior Department on Friday to block a $1 billion wind project off Cape Cod opposed by local business leaders and politicians but seen as helpful to the Obama administration's energy strategy. Mon Apr 05 07:28:55 2010 EST 5th April 2010 http://www.culturechange.org/cms/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=636&Itemid=65 We are heading toward economic, political and social collapse, and every day that passes brings it closer. But we just don't know when to stop, do we? Which part of "the harder we try, the harder we fail" can't we understand? Why can't we understand that each additional dollar of debt will drive us into national bankruptcy faster, harder and deeper? Why can't we grasp the concept that each additional dollar of military spending further undermines our security? Is there some sort of cognitive impairment that prevents us from understanding that each additional dollar sunk into the medical industry will only make us sicker? Mon Apr 05 07:28:55 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/MekIZXC9RO0/ So I was reading a major book review of Ian McEwan's new satiric novel on climate and energy, Solar, this week and came across this jaw-dropper: Whether or not carbon dioxide is accumulating in the atmosphere, there's no denying that novelists are warming up to the subject. From Michael Crichton's State of Fear, which claimed that we re being hoodwinked by faulty data, to Kim Stanley Robinson's Fifty Degrees Below, which imagined Washington encased in ice, popular fiction about climate change has been as nuanced and illuminating as a shouting match on Fox News. Mon Apr 05 07:28:55 2010 EST http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2010/apr/03/prescribed-burns-could-reduce-carbon-emissions-stu/ Western land managers could shrink the carbon footprint of wildfires by setting more prescribed burns, a new study says. Igniting small, controlled fires reduces fuel buildup in the forest, helping to stave off the catastrophic fires that release millions of tons of carbon, according to research by the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo. Mon Apr 05 07:28:55 2010 EST http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/carbon-trading-on-backburner/story-e6freon6-1225849223899?from=public_rss THE Rudd Government has transferred its entire emissions trading team into the strife-prone household insulation program, putting plans for carbon trading this year on the backburner. Mon Apr 05 07:28:55 2010 EST http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/04/04/91486/clean-water-act-might-be-used.html The Environmental Protection Agency is exploring whether to use the Clean Water Act to control greenhouse gas emissions, which are turning the oceans acidic at a rate that's alarmed some scientists. With climate change legislation stalled in Congress, the Clean Water Act would serve as a second front for the Obama administration. Mon Apr 05 07:28:55 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news189568334.html Crop residues, perennial warm season grasses, and short-rotation woody crops are potential biomass sources for cellulosic ethanol production. While most research is focused on the conversion of cellulosic feeedstocks into ethanol and increasing production of biomass, the impacts of growing energy crops and the removal of crop residue on soil and environmental quality have received less attention. Moreover, effects of crop residue removal on soil and environmental quality have not been compared against those of dedicated energy crops. Mon Apr 05 07:28:55 2010 EST http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=how-will-climate-change-impact-brea-10-04-04 Climate change may already be hitting you--in the stomach. A new analysis reveals that higher average temperatures in Montana over the last six decades equal less wheat. Plant scientist Luther Talbert of Montana State University and his colleagues looked at weather records for the Mountain State from 1950 to 2007. The month of March has had the most warming overall, increasing by nearly 0.1 ... Mon Apr 05 07:28:55 2010 EST http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20100403/sc_livescience/eveninthedesertplantsfeeltheheatofglobalwarming This Behind the Scenes article was provided to LiveScience in partnership with the National Science Foundation. Mon Apr 05 07:28:55 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/shell/lloC/~3/nOrwCVCaAfc/ Last week I was in Washington for the 30th MIT Global Change Forum. This slightly more than annual event is a core part of the MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change. Shell has been a sponsor of the program for over a decade now and the forum is always rich in content and a valuable opportunity to learn and gain a better understanding of the complexities of climate change and the potential society has for dealing with it. This was also true of the Washington event. Given the recent rancour around climate science, it was refreshing to hear Professor Ron Prinn, co-director of the program and a leading atmospheric chemist, give a very down-to-earth assessment of the state of the climate as his opening address. Mon Apr 05 07:28:55 2010 EST http://www.modbee.com/2010/04/04/1114104/evidence-for-climate-change-is.html Times OnlineEvidence for climate change is irrefutable and we need to address itModesto BeeAfter record-breaking snowfall in Washington and Virginia, many water-cooler conversations began with "What global warming? ...Letters: Get ready, global warming's thin ice is breakingOCRegisterPutting a Price Tag on the Melting Ice CapsTIMEArctic ice recovers from the great meltTimes OnlineThe Canadian Press -Globe and Mailall 49 Mon Apr 05 07:28:55 2010 EST http://winnipeg.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20100401/climate_funding_100403/20100403/?hub=WinnipegHome Climate-change research in Canada waning: scientistsCTV.caClimate change or global warming, science or hype, truth or fabrication... does nobody understand that, regardless of one's opinions or beliefs, ...Climate-change research in Canada waning: scientistsCTV.caall 2 Mon Apr 05 07:28:55 2010 EST http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/uk-treasury-lukewarm-on-plan-for-iceland-to-pay-debt-in-energy-1935130.html Iceland could pay the £3.48bn it owes the UK and Holland by providing the two countries with a steady stream of green electricity instead of cash, if an ambitious proposal by a small Dutch think-tank takes hold. Mon Apr 05 07:28:55 2010 EST http://news.scotsman.com/world/Big-thaw-kills-seals-spared.6202577.jp NATURE can be as cruel as man. Hunters of the harp seal may be staying away from Canada's east coast this year, but many of this season's pups still face certain deat Mon Apr 05 07:28:55 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/apr/04/bp-shale-gas-environment-protection-agency Oil company wants to see off potential opposition from US Environmental Protection AgencyBP is lobbying on Capitol Hill against a federal US environmental agency being given jurisdiction over the use of a controversial method of extracting gas from shale deposits, ahead of an important meeting this week.The London-based oil company wants decisions on drilling techniques such as hydraulic fracturing " which uses high-pressure liquids to force fissures " to be taken at state level, rather than being left to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), whose specialist committee meets on Wednesday to discuss its concerns.BP is also opposed to the public disclosure of the chemicals used in fracturing, on the basis that the information is commercially sensitive " something that will anger environmentalists, who are highly suspicious of the process.Although BP was unable to comment, the New York Times published a "discussion draft" said ... Mon Apr 05 07:28:55 2010 EST http://resourceinsights.blogspot.com/2010/04/faith-based-economics-in-two-graphs.html It took a French newspaper to unearth information put out by the U. S. government more than one year ago that provides a worrisome projection for world oil supplies from an agency that for years said such supplies would be no problem for the foreseeable future. Glen Sweetnam of the U. S. Energy Information Administration acknowledged in an interview that total liquid fuel supplies could actually fall between 2011 and 2015 "if the investment [in new capacity] is not there."While this report has been circulating on peak oil sites in the last week, it is a graph which accompanied Sweetnam's 2009 presentation (PDF) which I found particularly illustrative. Mon Apr 05 07:28:55 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/-CmL6M1cTyw/idUSTRE63311Z20100404 OSLO (Reuters) - Thawing permafrost can release nitrous oxide, also known as laughing gas, a contributor to climate change that has been largely overlooked in the Arctic, a study showed on Sunday. Mon Apr 05 07:28:55 2010 EST http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/the-staggers/2010/03/lynas-carbon-china-kyoto Carbon traders do not easily secure sympathy. Yet their role is vital. Wind power turbines in Dali, in China's southwestern Yunnan province. The Asian giant has adopted more green technology thanks to carbon trading. Mon Apr 05 07:28:55 2010 EST http://uk.news.yahoo.com/22/20100404/tsc-environment-us-climate-nitrous-011ccfa.html Thawing permafrost can release nitrous oxide, also known as laughing gas, a contributor to climate change that has been largely overlooked in the Arctic, a study showed on Sunday. Mon Apr 05 07:28:55 2010 EST http://energybulletin.net/node/52296 - Marijuana, dark horse savior of California agriculture- Bill McKibben: The only way to have a cow- On job creation"local fruits and vegetables vs. corn and soybeans- Farmers can return to proper role as innovators and stewards of the land- Should we be planning a new approach for producing clothing? read more Mon Apr 05 07:28:55 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/CmBeYr5sGQ0/ So, no conspiracy, no collusion, no manipulation of data, no corruption of the peer-review process, no scandal; just an understandable reluctance to hand over data to dishonest people with a history of misrepresenting it. Squibs don t get much damper than Climategate . The most worrying aspect of the drama was the way in which most of the media ditched any attempt at assessing the claims and became caught up in the frenzy, when a couple of hours spent reading the emails and talking to one of two of those involved would have made the conclusions of the House of Commons inquiry entirely predictable. Mon Apr 05 07:28:55 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/NfafiwrVH0A/ Much has been written over the past year about how other countries, particularly China, are investing heavily to increase their economic competitiveness by building domestic clean energy industries (see Lindsey Graham: Every day that we delay trying to find a price for carbon is a day that China uses to dominate the green economy ). Senior staff from the Center for American Progress will therefore be traveling to China to meet with policymakers and companies that are driving its aggressive pursuit of clean energy technology development. They ll share their findings with you on the CAP energy policy page. Mon Apr 05 07:28:55 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/global/2010/apr/05/bluebell-season-delay-weather National Trust predicts three-week wait for nature's blue carpetsUsually from about now they spring up in the far south-west then spread like a Mexican wave across Britain. But the National Trust says today that nature-lovers could have to wait until the end of the month before carpets of English bluebells begin to appear in woodlands.The charity believes that after the coldest winter for more than 30 years the English bluebell season is likely to be up to three weeks late. The plants depend on warm ground temperatures and the prolonged frosts will have impacted upon their ability to grow.In recent years milder winters and earlier springs have led to the flowers appearing as early as 1 April in west Cornwall. Mon Apr 05 07:28:55 2010 EST http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LDE6310EE.htm Source: Reuters * Electric cars win centre stage at auto shows * Cost, limited range may dent appeal * Biofuels make comeback, gasoline may dominate for decades By Gerard Wynn LONDON, April 5 (Reuters) - ... Mon Apr 05 07:28:55 2010 EST http://www.renewablepowernews.com/archives/1197 It is sad to see renewable energy grow only in some concentrated areas. Twenty-nine states have renewable goals established. California and Colorado are the leaders whereby they are heading for a portfolio of 30 percent of renewable ... Mon Apr 05 07:28:55 2010 EST http://www.alternativee.org/renewable-energy/renewable-energy-from-the-deep-ocean-us-gov-rd-9/ The $250 million successful USA renewable energy effort dismissed with one paragraph in 1997 and dropped even. Mon Apr 05 07:28:55 2010 EST http://news.yahoo.com/s/mcclatchy/20100307/sc_mcclatchy/3444187_1 WASHINGTON Lower levels of oxygen in the Earth's oceans, particularly off the United States' Pacific Northwest coast, could be another sign of fundamental changes linked to global climate change, scientists say. Mon Apr 05 07:28:55 2010 EST http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20100321/sc_livescience/antarcticicecreatureopenswindowtoextremelife A shrimp-like creature and jellyfish tentacles discovered in the darkness under 600 feet of Antarctic ice, are further evidence of how life can thrive in surprising places. Mon Apr 05 07:28:55 2010 EST http://www.bangordailynews.com/detail/140432.html DOVER-FOXCROFT, Maine -- Greg and Norma Dyer have a message for homeowners looking to harness wind power for a dependable source of electricity at low cost. Mon Apr 05 07:28:55 2010 EST http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/canada/Climate change skeptics have wrong memo minister says/2764298/story.html OTTAWA " Canadian scientists from six different federal departments have shot down a recent controversy that raised doubts about whether humans are causing global warming and have urged the government to base its climate-change policies on peer-reviewed research. In a memorandum, prepared for Environment Minister Jim Prentice prior to his participation at the Copenhagen conference last December, the top-ranking official at Environment Canada said a controversy surrounding stolen e-mails from a climate-research centre in the United Kingdom does not call into question the reliability of the science. The personal e-mails exchanged by climate scientists wound up in the hands of special-interest groups who say they are skeptical about peer-reviewed research that concludes humans are causing global warming. Mon Apr 05 07:28:55 2010 EST http://www.commodityonline.com/news/Climate-Change-Update-EU-emissions-dip-112-27113-3-1.html Emissions from companies covered under the EU Emissions Trading Scheme has fallen by 11.2% in 2009 helped largely by economic downturn, The Guardian reported (www.guardian.co.uk). This has resulted in minor gains in price of carbon credits as uncertainty over the market has been remeoved.The preliminary data revealed that carbon emissions fell right across the EU with emissions falling 12.5% in Britain, 8.4% in Germany, 16.3% in Spain and 16.4% in Italy.However, Alessandro Vitelli, director of strategy and intelligence at analyst firm IDEAcarbon, said that gaps in the data made it difficult for carbon traders to get a clear picture about potential demand for EU emission allowance credits (EUAs), The Guardian report said. Mon Apr 05 07:28:55 2010 EST http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/taiwanese-urged-to-worship-online-to-protect-environment-1935981.html Taiwan's government on Friday urged the public to stop burning incense sticks and ritual money in honour of the dead and opt instead for online worshipping to better protect the environment. Mon Apr 05 07:28:55 2010 EST http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90777/90851/6940684.html In a bid to trim greenhouse gas emissions to a considerable amount, Bangladesh has adopted smokeless brick making technology to replace the over 150-year- old traditional approach. The new technology has been introduced by the United Nations Development Program in Bangladesh through a project titled " Improving Kiln Efficiency in the Brick Making Industry", which will contribute 25 million U.S ... Mon Apr 05 07:28:55 2010 EST http://www.newkerala.com/news/fullnews-83731.html New Delhi, Apr 5 : Since the closing of the UN Climate Change conference in Copenhagen, 75 countries, including India, have submitted to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) their national pledges to cut or limit the emissions of greenhouse gases by 2020. Mon Apr 05 07:28:55 2010 EST http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/home/permalink/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20100331007082&newsLang=en PORTLAND, Ore.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--In its first attempts to regulate carbon emissions, the U.S. government is hindering its own efforts by using flawed economic models that grossly underestimate the impact of carbon dioxide (CO2) on the climate and on our economic future, says a new report issued today by America's largest network of independent climate economists. Fri Apr 02 22:11:34 2010 EST 2nd April 2010 http://www.themercury.com.au/article/2010/04/01/137291_tasmania-news.html Tasmania MercuryMarch heatwave recordTasmania MercuryThe average maximum temperature was almost 23C, three degrees above the long-term norm and the warmest in 70 years. There were eight days of 25C or more, ... Fri Apr 02 22:11:34 2010 EST http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/blogs/thereporters/richardblack/2010/03/the_first_of_the_numerous.html Climate probe finds problems, but not with warming Fri Apr 02 22:11:34 2010 EST http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/266/f/3780/s/9c1b4e2/l/0L0Sindependent0O0Cenvironment0Cclimate0Echange0Cuk0Epushes0Efor0Etwintrack0Edeal0Eon0Eclimate0Echange0E19327290Bhtml/story01.htm Britain proposed a new twin-track climate deal yesterday to end the logjam which has affected international talks on global warming since the failed Copenhagen climate conference last December. Fri Apr 02 22:11:34 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/p2iRG-YnML4/ It's pretty remarkable that we are having record rainfall and record flooding in the cold season month of March. It's much easier to set records in August, when there is much more moisture in the air available for record rains. The Northeast has been walloped with record-smashing deluges and flooding. I have called this type of rapid deluge, global warming type record rainfall, since it is one of the most basic predictions of climate science " and it's an impact that has already been documented to have started, as I ll discuss. Of course, in this country, you ll be hard pressed to find any discussion of global climate change in connection with this deluge. Fri Apr 02 22:11:34 2010 EST http://www.joabbess.com/2010/03/31/cap-and-trade-is-going-down/ Cap and Trade is .going .down. And that's probably a good thing :- [link]x-12720-DC-Policy-Reform-Examiner~y2010m3d31-Capandtrade-dropped-from-Senates-energyclimate-change-bill Cap and trade dropped from Senate's energy-climate change bill : March 31 : DC Policy Reform Examiner JoAnn Blake : Cap and trade, a centerpiece of the Waxman-Markey Bill passed by the House, won t be included in the upcoming Senate version of the bipartisan energy-climate change legislation, according to its sponsors. Viewed [ BY ECONOMISTS ] as an effective environmental program that uses the market's power to reduce pollution, the program became known as cap-and-tax, a name given to it by conservative groups in the past year. Fri Apr 02 22:11:34 2010 EST http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/03/31/91421/environmentalists-scoff-gop-shrugs.html President Barack Obama's announcement Wednesday that he'll lift bans on new drilling for oil and natural gas off much of the U.S. coastline drew criticism from environmentalists and only a lukewarm welcome from Republicans. Obama called the proposal only one part of a broad strategy to reduce foreign oil dependence and enact climate-change policy. Fri Apr 02 22:11:34 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/technology/8595734.stm Some makers are turning their attention to biology to see if they can hack DNA and the stuff that life is made from. Fri Apr 02 22:11:34 2010 EST http://energybulletin.net/node/52240 -The Tree That Changed the World-Is America Yearning for Fascism ?-America's Potemkin Village-How slums can save the planet read more Fri Apr 02 22:11:34 2010 EST http://energybulletin.net/node/52236 The December fiasco in Copenhagen has posed a major challenge to the left, indeed to everyone who wants to defend our world and humanity. read more Fri Apr 02 22:11:34 2010 EST http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/9527165/18nze6/alternet_environment~Obama-Expands-Offshore-Drilling-Far-Beyond-Bush Obama has unveiled his offshore drilling plans, and to the eyes of the environmentally conscious, it ain't pretty. Fri Apr 02 22:11:34 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/apr/01/turanor-solar-power-yacht-launch Makers hopeful that maiden voyage of world's largest solar-powered catamaran will prove that the sun can fuel the worldIn pictures: The world's biggest solar-powered boatConsidering its 85 tonnes and its potential to shape the future of maritime travel, the launch of Türanor was a surprisingly reserved affair. The world's largest solar-powered boat made a gentle plop as it was lowered by a huge crane on to the waters of the Kiel firth in northern Germany today, and triggered the polite applause of onlookers " mainly fishermen and shipyard workers. "We've made it, she's safe, and she floats," whispered its owner, Immo Ströher, with tears welling in his eyes.But the real challenges for the gleaming white catamaran still lie ahead, as its makers seek to use it to prove that the sun can fuel our world.Next year, after an intense testing phase, Türanor " the ... Fri Apr 02 22:11:34 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/gallery/2010/mar/12/eco-homes-for-sale Do your bit for the environment, and choose a home which will help reduce your carbon footprint. Huma Qureshi finds some eco homes for saleHuma Qureshi Fri Apr 02 22:11:34 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2010/apr/01/feed-in-tariff-green-energy Householders with small-scale green energy systems will receive up to £1,000 a year for electricity generated under the feed-in tariff schemeIn pictures: Eco homes for saleHouseholders with small-scale green energy systems such as solar panels and micro-wind turbines will receive up to £1,000 a year for the electricity they generate under a new government scheme that starts paying out today.The level of payments for the Clean Energy Cashback scheme " or feed-in tariff " were unveiled by the energy and climate change secretary, Ed Miliband, in February and homeowners who participate can start earning money from today.According to government figures a typical 2.5kW solar pv installation could offer a homeowner a reward of up to £900 and save them £140 a year on their electricity bill. Fri Apr 02 22:11:34 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cif-green/2010/apr/01/80-months-and-counting-andrew-simms In the odd ecosystem of politics, Obama's healthcare victory has direct implications for the viability of action on climate changeAt the turn of the 1900s in the US there was a progressive campaign to establish a shorter, eight-hour working day. It was opposed by the National Association of Manufacturers (Nam) as potentially ruinous to the economy " on much the same grounds that the abolition of slavery, the introduction of the maximum load line in shipping and most other progressive reforms throughout history have been opposed. In the 1920s Nam also lobbied against a shorter, five-day working week. Fri Apr 02 22:11:34 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/mar/31/barack-obama-drilling-offshore-approves President allows oil and gas exploration off several coastal areas to horsetrade with Republicans over climate change billsBarack Obama took the Republican slogan "drill, baby, drill" as his own today, opening up over 500,000 square miles of US coastal waters to oil and gas exploitation for the first time in over 20 years.The move, a reversal of Obama's early campaign promise to retain a ban on offshore exploration, appeared aimed at winning support from Republicans in Congress for new laws to tackle global warming. Sarah Palin's "Drill, baby, drill" slogan was a prominent battle cry in the 2008 elections.The areas opened up are off the Atlantic coast, the northern coast of Alaska and in the eastern Gulf of Mexico. Fri Apr 02 22:11:34 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/mar/31/ed-miliband-restart-climate-change-talks Ed Miliband concedes ground and offers to sign new Kyoto treaty in unilateral attempt to heal rift between rich and poor countriesBritain brandished a diplomatic olive branch today as it tried to restart global climate change negotiations with an initiative to heal the rift between rich and poor countries following the failure of the Copenhagen summit.Climate secretary Ed Miliband conceded considerable ground, offering to sign a new Kyoto treaty as developing countries' demand, but while also requiring that those nations enshrine their commitments to tackling global warming in international law.Britain's unilateral move addresses the key issue that doomed Copenhagen " that the rich accept the legally binding commitments to cut greenhouse gas emissions enshrined in Kyoto.The initiative could lead to two separate global treaties on climate change. Fri Apr 02 22:11:34 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/mar/31/china-announces-extreme-weather-measures Country invests heavily in warning systems and infrastructure to tackle effects of extreme temperatures, typhoons, fog and stormsChina will tomorrow start ramping up preparations for typhoons, dust storms and other extreme weather disasters as part of a 10-year plan to predict and prevent the worst impacts of climate change.Improved warning systems, new emergency drills and bolstered infrastructure will form the backbone of the new regulations, which are the country's most advanced measures yet to deal with natural disaster.China has a long history of devastating floods and droughts, but officials said the problems were intensifying."It is necessary to respond to the new situation under climate change to avoid and mitigate the losses caused by meteorological disasters," said Gao Fengtao, deputy director of the state council's legislative affairs office, as he unveiled the new policy.In recent years, he said, disasters were characterised by "sudden occurrence, wider ... Fri Apr 02 22:11:34 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cif-green/2010/mar/31/un-climate-finance-gordon-brown Gordon Brown is part of the UN advisory group that must agree to find the $150bn a year needed to combat climate changeToday, the high-level advisory group on climate change financing will meet for the first time in London. The group will be chaired by Gordon Brown and his Ethiopian counterpart Meles Zenawi, and will include many finance ministers as well as independent financial experts like Lord Nicholas Stern and George Soros.This gathering of financial "wizards" has been asked identify new ways to raise the money needed to protect all of us from the risks of dangerous climate change. Fri Apr 02 22:11:34 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/apr/01/edinburgh-airport-trees-carbon-emissions Edinburgh airport funding children to plant 500 trees is vastly overshadowed by its expansion and huge carbon emissionsSo that's all right then. After almost tripling the number of passengers using its runway over the past 15 years, one of Britain's fastest growing airports has given itself a green makeover. Edinburgh airport is, according to a story on the BBC website last week, to shell out so school children can plant 500 trees in a wood in Perthshire. "Airport in global warming project" is the priceless headline."It's a great example of how we can all play a part, however small, in safeguarding the natural environment," said the airport's commercial director Neil Anderson. Fri Apr 02 22:11:34 2010 EST http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/shortsharpscience/2010/03/drilling-for-climate-bill-vote.html Phil McKenna, correspondent President Barack Obama will announce plans later today to open vast swathes of US coastal waters to oil and natural gas drilling for the first time.The announcement is bound to be controversial among environmentalists and members of the president's Democratic party due to the increased risk for oil spills and a relatively small gain in domestic oil production. Previous studies by the US Department of Energy found that if offshore drilling were allowed on both coasts as close as 5 kilometres from shore, oil production from the continental states, excluding Alaska, would only increase by 7 per cent by 2030. Fri Apr 02 22:11:34 2010 EST http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LDE630001.htm Source: Reuters * Region sees fastest CO2 emissions jump in the world * Solar and wind power potential is high By Dina Zayed ALEXANDRIA, Egypt, April 1 (Reuters) - Arab states, likely to be among those hit ... Fri Apr 02 22:11:34 2010 EST http://www.mondaq.com/australia/article.asp?articleid=97368 On 18 March 2010 Greg Combet, the Minister assisting the Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency, tabled the Building Energy Efficiency Disclosure Bill 2010 ( Bill ). The tabling of the Bill is the final piece of the jigsaw puzzle which commenced in December 2004 when Mandatory Disclosure of Commercial Building Energy Efficiency was first proposed under the Stage 1 Implementation Plan ... Fri Apr 02 22:11:34 2010 EST http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/ips/6f3a9c5cdc567c1d6daa46dcb3a6fdc6.htm Source: IPS As citizens, businesses and non-profit organisations seek to transition to cleaner power sources like solar and wind, some big energy firms whose business models rely on polluting sources are standing in the way. Fri Apr 02 22:11:34 2010 EST http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2010/04/climate-and-network-connections/ by Rasmus & Jim Who would think that Internet, ideas, disease, money, birds, and climate literacy have anything in common? Recent progress on complex systems and network theory suggests that they all can be described in terms of a Levy flight . A recent and lengthy paper with the title A study on interconnections between climate related ideas in complex networks (Ann. Trans. ICCPRS Soc. 52(3):1647-71; subscription required) by John McVenus argues that new ideas can be traced over the Internet just like dollar bills are traced at Wheresgeorge. Our take on this is that this study muddles things more than clarifying the facts " probably because McVenus tries to explain almost everything. Fri Apr 02 22:11:34 2010 EST http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paula-crossfield/the-delicious-way-to-take_b_519822.html Anna Lappã©'s latest book, Diet for a Hot Planet: The Climate Crisis at the End of Your Fork and What You Can Do About... Fri Apr 02 22:11:34 2010 EST http://feeds.foxbusiness.com/~r/foxbusiness/latest/~3/lnak5ijt-2g/ Plug-In Cars Aren't 'Zero-Emissions' Under New US Rules Fri Apr 02 22:11:34 2010 EST http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100331/ts_nm/us_climate_accord_4 More than 110 countries have signed up to the Copenhagen Accord on fighting global warming, but the United Nations said on Wednesday their pledges for cutting greenhouse gas emissions were insufficient. Fri Apr 02 22:11:34 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/El-2r0N9hbA/idUSTRE6301PU20100401 ALEXANDRIA, Egypt (Reuters) - Arab states, likely to be among the hardest hit by climate change, are not doing enough to push renewable energy projects, environmental experts said at a two-day conference that ends on Thursday. Fri Apr 02 22:11:34 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/YaleEnvironment360/~3/XGNDi2xen9Y/feature.msp The Asilomar conference on geoengineering had been touted as a potentially historic event. What emerged, however, were some unexpected lessons about the possibilities and pitfalls of manipulating the Earth's climate to offset global warming. BY JEFF GOODELL Fri Apr 02 22:11:34 2010 EST http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20100401/emissions_100401/20100401?hub=TopStoriesV2&s_name= The federal government will announce today that Canada will harmonize its auto emissions standards with the United States, CTV News has learned. The move will impose drastic fuel-efficiency improvements. Fri Apr 02 22:11:34 2010 EST http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-04-01/eu-cap-and-trade-emissions-fall-more-than-forecast-update1-.html Carbon dioxide emissions from factories and power stations in the European Union's cap-and- trade program fell faster than estimated as the region's economy contracted, according to preliminary data from the regulator. Fri Apr 02 22:11:34 2010 EST http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?sid=amc4lxwmiOYE&pid=20601087 April 1 (Bloomberg) -- European Union carbon permits held steady as investors awaited the release of emissions data under the bloc's cap-and-trade program for last year. Fri Apr 02 22:11:34 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/XQ7jZmLU4d8/idUSTRE6301V820100401 OTTAWA (Reuters) - The United States and Canada will announce on Thursday that they are jointly imposing strict new vehicles emissions targets, said a source briefed on the matter. Fri Apr 02 22:11:34 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/apr/01/medupi-world-bank-loan-vote Medupi coal station would be three times larger than UK's Drax Dilemma between climate damage and South African industryBritain is likely to cast the deciding vote on whether the World Bank lends South Africa $3.7bn (£24.3bn) to build one of the largest coal-fired power stations in the world. The state-owned Medupi station would be three times the size of Britain's biggest, at Drax in Yorkshire, but would emit 25m tonnes of CO2 a year " more than 115 other countries including Kenya, Luxembourg, Burma and Croatia.The decision on what would be one of the biggest bank loans ever made will be taken next Thursday at a World Bank board meeting in Washington. Fri Apr 02 22:11:34 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/cif-green/2010/apr/01/south-africa-medupi-climate-pollution With its proposed Medupi power station, South Africa is an industrialised global climate player and major polluterJohn Vidal on Britain's key vote for the Medupi World Bank loanWith its sky-high poverty levels and average life expectancy of just 51 years, South Africa is not a country we generally associate with extravagant binge-flying lifestyles, turbo-consumerism, and shopping trips to New York. How bizarre then that per capita carbon emissions in South Africa are now higher than in many European countries. While most South Africans are unlikely to ever own a plasma screen TV or Hummer, their carbon footprints still appear to be only slightly less than your average Japanese, and their national carbon emissions are now greater than those of France.The situation becomes more comprehensible when you look at South Africa's industrial base, with 60% of South Africa's electricity being guzzled by heavy industry, and most of ... Fri Apr 02 22:11:34 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/apr/01/mobile-phone-app-barcoo-ethical Barcoo allows customers to point their phones at a product's barcode and find out the brand's ethical profileAn innovative mobile phone app could create a new generation of ethical shoppers by allowing them to check a company's social responsibility rating and environmental credentials.Barcoo, developed by a group of young Germans, allows customers to point their phones at the barcode on products in shops and find out information such as how environmentally friendly a company is and even how it treats its staff.Its makers say the app is intended to motivate the world to shop more ethically and to empower the consumer.The Barcoo package also includes an extension of the price-comparison service already available on other apps that has sparked a "savvy shopping" trend, whereby the customer can find out how the cost of a product compares with similar items being sold in the same area. Fri Apr 02 22:11:34 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/apr/01/james-lovelock-climate-change-pessimism James Lovelock's argument that we ought to suspend democracy to fix climate change is less than constructiveFew people have done as much for our understanding of the global environment as Professor James Lovelock. His remarkable career, through the combination of direct measurements and solving mathematical equations, has provided major new insights into the interactions between Earth's ecology, the atmosphere, the oceans and the ice-caps. So when he talks (as he did in a recent Guardian interview) about humans adjusting this system by putting more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, then we are wise to listen carefully.However, some of what he had to say is worthy of expansion and could raise concern. Fri Apr 02 22:11:34 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/apr/01/emissionstrading-climate-change Despite the fall, it is still difficult to draw conclusions over potential EU emissions credits in the future Bryony Worthington: Emissions have dropped, but carbon trading can mean future pollutionThe price of carbon credits in the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) edged up around 2% today after the European Commission released preliminary figures suggesting emissions from companies covered by the scheme fell 11.2% in 2009.The drop in emissions was largely the result of last year's economic downturn and was in line with analyst expectations."The fall in emissions is exactly as expected," said Kjersti Ulset from analyst firm Point Carbon. Fri Apr 02 22:11:34 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/cif-green/2010/apr/01/carbon-emissions-european-union-pollution EU greenhouse emissions have fallen by 11%, but unless caps are tightened, stored carbon credits can later be used to polluteGreenhouse gas emissions across the European Union are in steep decline, according to new figures released today. Emissions covered by the EU Emissions Trading Scheme between 2008 and 2009 dropped by 11%, following on from a cut of 6% the year before.This would be welcome news for the environment and provide a silver-lining to the grim economic recession that has contributed to the cuts, if it were not for one thing: unless caps are tightened there will be no overall reduction in pollution levels. Fri Apr 02 22:11:34 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/zvvqYNWVBjA/ Two things are clear if you visit America's leading science museum " the National Museum of Natural History. First, the Smithsonian downplays or ignores the risks posed by human-caused climate change in a number of exhibits. Second, the worst of the exhibits is the David H. Koch Hall of Human Origins. Yes, the Smithsonian took $15 million from a billionaire polluter " who is an even bigger funder of disinformation on climate science than Exxon Mobil " to fund a misleading exhibit on evolution and climate change. See also the new Think Progress post A Grateful Smithsonian Denies Greenwashing Philanthropist David H. Fri Apr 02 22:11:34 2010 EST http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10928/s/9c4b94e/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Carticle0Cmg20A6275440B40A0A0Eice0Eplumbing0Eis0Eprotecting0Egreenland0Efrom0Ewarm0Esummers0Bhtml0DDCMP0FOTC0Erss0Gnsref0Fclimate0Echange/story01.htm Greenland gets warmer than Antarctica but it's not losing as much ice " surprisingly, the heat helps, and the plumbing is also better up north Fri Apr 02 22:11:34 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/YaleEnvironment360/~3/lgFn8YKkS_E/digest.msp Government subsidies that helped fuel Europe's most successful solar markets continue to be slashed, raising concerns that the region's burgeoning renewable sector will be unable to compete with China and the U.S., according to a report on Greenwire. Germany, the world's largest market for solar power, will cut the price paid for electricity from roof-mounted panels by 16 percent and electricity from larger solar power stations by 15 percent. Analysts say the government simply underestimated how quickly the renewable sector would A solar farm in Germany grow. From 2000 to 2008, the production of photovoltaic energy in Germany rose from 32 million kilowatt hours to 4.4 billion kilowatt hours. Fri Apr 02 22:11:34 2010 EST http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bill-mckibben/bless-bolivia-for-re-char_b_521509.html Times OnlineBless Bolivia for Recharging the Fight to Rescue Our ClimateHuffington Post (blog)... doing the other things we must do to deal with climate change. Our message is not that we can solve global warming one nice project at a time--we can't. ...UN frustrated by climate effortsUPI.comUN Climate Chief:Mexico Summit Must Boost Global Warming FightNASDAQUK pushes for twin-track deal on climate changeIndependentThe Guardian -The Associated Press -Reuters UKall 416 Fri Apr 02 22:11:34 2010 EST http://www.countercurrents.org/nazareth010410.htm By Marianne de Nazareth There are few areas on the planet that do not face serious water availability or management problems like the village of Mariakani in Kenya. But although water is a global issue, the problems and solutions are highly localized Fri Apr 02 22:11:34 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/apr/01/energy-industry-policy-tariffs-renewables Wider subsidies pose risk to renewables, claim firms as Tories, green activists and Ofgem review schemeThe large energy companies that dominate the wind-power market fear the feed-in tariff that was introduced today for domestic rooftop generation could be a "trojan horse" that might endanger the wider green energy sector.RenewableUK, the former British Wind Energy Association, warned that a debate around whether the feed-in tariff could be expanded as a subsidy regime for larger schemes was "extremely unhelpful".The major wind-power groups benefit from subsidies handed out through a Renewable Obligation (RO) but fear that the government and the energy regulator, Ofgem, are looking for alternatives, while the Conservatives and Friends of the Earth have stated their interest in such a move.Gordon Edge, head of economics and markets at RenewableUK, said ... Fri Apr 02 22:11:34 2010 EST http://www.joabbess.com/2010/04/01/climate-vigil-becoming-light/ On the night of 15th May 2010 in London, England, an all-night, all-party, all-age, all-opinion vigil will be held to uphold the Climate of the Earth in the newly elected British Parliament. A candlelight service of thankfulness, commitment and prayer will be held at the ancient church of St Martin's in the Fields, just off Trafalgar Square, and then events will be held by torchlight throughout the night, in and around Parliament Square :- [link]overnightvigil The organisers of the event are asking for chamber and orchestral musicians to participate in the church service, and in some of the overnight moments, which will feature a range of artistic performances, culminating in a Vigil Breakfast in the early hours. Fri Apr 02 22:11:34 2010 EST http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/04/01/91479/shell-gets-epa-permit-to-drill.html The oil company said that obtaining the permit was critical to its decision on whether to proceed with exploration drilling in the Arctic sea this summer. Lawsuits over the federal government's leasing of tracts in the Chukchi to Shell and other companies in 2008 also are clouding the oil company's drilling decision. Fri Apr 02 22:11:34 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/tcnH8YQd2-I/ Employers in the U.S. created more jobs in March than at any time in the past three years, showing the recovery from the worst recession since the 1930s is broadening and becoming more entrenched. That's Bloomberg reporting on new data from the Labor Department, which showed that payrolls rose by 162,000 workers, the third gain in the past five months. Since bad economic news would certainly be bad for a climate bill, this must be seen as good news. I have repeatedly written about studies showing how clean energy legislation will create 1.7 million jobs and opportunities for low-income families, including lower energy bills. Fri Apr 02 22:11:34 2010 EST http://www.culturechange.org/cms/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=635&Itemid=66 The direction of the U.S. has been questioned, analyzed, feared and condemned with increasing intensity since the 1960s. Things got a little quiet and complacent in the 1980s, as cheaper oil and no major war enabled the U.S. to get on with the business of making money at the expense of the poor and Mother Nature. Income disparity and official cruelty were not outrageous enough for open revolt. Cheerleaders exercised their right to support the status quo or press for more corporate supremacy. But all the while, critical observers have anticipated or foreseen the rise of U.S. police-state totalitarianism, Fri Apr 02 22:11:34 2010 EST http://energybulletin.net/node/52265 It was with some fear and trepidation that Alexis Rowell, a Camden Borough councillor and the author of the upcoming Transition Guide to Local Authorities (LA), and I arrived in a deeply conservative part of the country, Norfolk, to do a day with them on peak oil, climate change and the Transition town model and practice. read more Fri Apr 02 22:11:34 2010 EST http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/9598889/18sc90/alternet_environment~CoalFired-Plants-Gulp-Trillion-Gallons-of-Water-and-Were-Left-to-Drink-the-Dirty-Backwash In many respects, some folks might use more water flicking on their lights, than chugging back a glass of that wondrous stuff. Fri Apr 02 22:11:34 2010 EST http://feeds.grist.org/click.phdo?i=4a3e38799493afe6316dcc76c76cda74 by Jonathan Hiskes Courtesy Nemo's great uncle via FlickrTruth be told, I m more interested in people who are overcoming barriers to progress than in the endless does global warming exist? debates. When your house is on fire, at some point you stop arguing with someone who says there's no fire, and you focus on getting your family out. Or if the house is an inescapable planet, you get to work dousing the fire. But hellip; there's this awesome metaphor in The Economist that's useful for understanding how climate realists and skeptics talk past each other. Fri Apr 02 22:11:34 2010 EST http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50886 SAN JOSé, Apr 1 (IPS) - Solutions to global warming based on the logic of the market are a threat to the rights and way of life of indigenous peoples, the Latin American Indigenous Forum on Climate Change concluded this week in Costa Rica. Fri Apr 02 22:11:34 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/msH0pPbz3-Y/idUSTRE6304GT20100401 WASHINGTON/OTTAWA (Reuters) - The United States on Thursday finalized its first greenhouse gas emissions rules on automobiles and hiked fuel efficiency standards for the first time since the 1970s, measures Canada imposed as well. Fri Apr 02 22:11:34 2010 EST http://www.countercurrents.org/sethness020410.htm By Javier SethnessSome reflections on Theodor W. Adornos account of progress Fri Apr 02 22:11:34 2010 EST http://www.countercurrents.org/murray020410.htm By Tim MurrayLike the word green, sustainable or sustainability has become the buzzword of the millennia. Corporations and governments of the left or right feel compelled to dress up the most ecologically invasive development proposal or economic activity with assurances that it is sustainable. But there is ultimately only one sustainability. The sustainability of the whole, not its constituent parts Fri Apr 02 22:11:34 2010 EST http://www.greenbiz.com/news/2010/04/01/eu-emissions-drop-inflates-carbon-permit-surplus BRUSSELS, Belgium " The global economic recession pushed greenhouse gas emissions down 11.2 percent in the European Union's cap-and-trade program last year, leaving many industries with a windfall surplus of carbon permits worth billions of dollars. Fri Apr 02 22:11:34 2010 EST http://www.brandonsun.com/story.php?story_id=193752 Arctic sea ice is nearly back to average global levels for the first time in at least a decade after years of spectacular declines. The surprise growth at a time of year when ice is normally melting has triggered a blizzard of I-told-you-sos among online climate change skeptics. Fri Apr 02 22:11:34 2010 EST http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=25197 Plagued by reports of sloppy work, falsifications and exaggerations, climate research is facing a crisis of confidence. How reliable are the predictions about global warming and its consequences? Fri Apr 02 22:11:34 2010 EST http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,686697,00.html Times OnlineA Superstorm for Global Warming ResearchSpiegel OnlineAt its center is an elite and highly influential scientific group, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Working on behalf of the United ...British lawmakers issue mixed report on 'Climategate'Washington PostHow inconvenient!Shetland NewsUK Panel Calls Climate Data ValidNew York TimesBusinessWeek -Independent -Central Florida Futureall 424 Fri Apr 02 22:11:34 2010 EST http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LDE62U1C2.htm Source: Reuters * Aim to break deadlock in U.N. climate talks * EU, U.S. prefer one single climate treaty, replacing Kyoto * Developing nations prefer two, continuing Kyoto By Gerard Wynn LONDON, March 31 ( ... Fri Apr 02 22:11:34 2010 EST http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/02/business/energy-environment/02carbon.html Figures expected Thursday are likely to confirm that carbon trading, also known as cap-and-trade, is failing to put the kinds of financial pressures on major polluters that proponents promised. Fri Apr 02 22:11:34 2010 EST http://cornellsun.com/node/41888 Amongst other current difficulties, the United States and the entire world faces the threat of climate change. Prof. Charles H. Greene, earth and atmospheric sciences, believes that the United States, among other countries, underestimates the threat of global warming, and has failed to take effective measures to address it. Fri Apr 02 22:11:34 2010 EST http://www.joabbess.com/2010/03/30/renewable-synergy/ The news is that there is continuing progress towards a fully Renewable Europe. It is, after all, the only means to ensure a sustainable Economy into the future, given the twin blended threats of Climate Change Carbon Mitigation and Peak Fossil Fuels. Dr Gregor Czisch's meisterwerk is being translated into English for publication this Summer :- Scenarios for a Future Electricity Supply: Cost-Optimised Variations on Supplying Europe and Its Neighbours with Electricity from Renewable Energies You would never know from the plainspeaking title just how exciting this is : seriously cheap Energy and peacemaking collaboration all in one shot ! Wed Mar 31 07:57:20 2010 EST 31st March 2010 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/k6v_VpziZXQ/ Anyone who has specific ideas for marketing the book or knows someone who might need review copy should email me at the address here. My new book doesn t come out until the week of April 19th. But you can pre-order it on Amazon.com (click here). You know you want to after getting all these Climate Progress posts for free for so long . Seriously, though, the timing couldn t be better for Straight Up: America's Fiercest Climate Blogger Takes on the Status Quo Media, Politicians, and Clean Energy Solutions. We were always planning for it to come out the week of the 40th anniversary of Earth Day and roughly the same time as when the Senate would start taking up the bipartisan climate and clean energy jobs bill. Wed Mar 31 07:57:20 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/KA7pfkUpCbs/ Fourteen men representing the Alliance for Energy and Economic Growth (AEEG) are meeting with Senators Lindsey Graham (R-SC), John Kerry (D-MA), and Joe Lieberman (I-CT) to negotiate the terms of comprehensive climate and clean energy legislation. Brad Johnson has the background of this remarkably non-diverse group. Per Matt Yglesias's note that the male-dominated nature of Wall Street is a source of dysfunction, meet the AEEG: Left to right, top to bottom: David N. Parker, Ed Hamberger Jr., Evan R. Gaddis, Rich Nolan, Jay Timmons, Marv Fertel, Erik Heilman, John S. Wed Mar 31 07:57:20 2010 EST http://energybulletin.net/52210 Bound by the tangled cord of its own sins, Industrial Civilization sits immobilized -- with the gun of reality pressed to its temple. Monumental changes are imminent " probably (hopefully) a swirling mix of both bad and good. In order to maintain our present sanity and maximize chances for the best possible futures, we need to both envision and embody the positive change we wish to see in the coming post-carbon era. As such, I suggest this: a return to life at a proper human scale, the reclamation of functional human communities, and the widespread internalization and application of a true morality. Wed Mar 31 07:57:20 2010 EST http://energybulletin.net/node/52209 I think we can solve this problem. If we look at it from an engineering or technical perspective, we have solutions in hand that we can build out in the next decade that would reduce our carbon dramatically. We could double our nuclear, we could double our natural gas for electric power, ramp up wind and solar dramatically while cutting back our coal use 80 percent...Just because we could do it as engineers with off-the-shelf technology that exists today within a decade does not mean that the policy, economic, or cultural hurtles are not real. read more Wed Mar 31 07:57:20 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/video/2010/mar/30/satelittes-climate-change The European Space Agency's CryoSat satellite will measure the effects of climate change on the size and thickness of the polar caps Wed Mar 31 07:57:20 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/mar/30/us-oil-donated-millions-climate-sceptics Report identifies Koch Industries giving $73m to climate sceptic groups 'spreading inaccurate and misleading information'A Greenpeace investigation has identified a little-known, privately owned US oil company as the paymaster of global warming sceptics in the US and Europe.The environmental campaign group accuses Kansas-based Koch Industries, which owns refineries and operates oil pipelines, of funding 35 conservative and libertarian groups, as well as more than 20 congressmen and senators. Between them, Greenpeace says, these groups and individuals have spread misinformation about climate science and led a sustained assault on climate scientists and green alternatives to fossil fuels.Greenpeace says that Koch Industries donated nearly $48m (£31.8m) to climate opposition groups between 1997-2008. Wed Mar 31 07:57:20 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/mar/30/water-desalination-record-droughts Fresh water production increases to 9.5m cubic metres a day " twice the annual flow of the Thames " as one-third of world goes thirstyThe world's unquenchable thirst for clean water drove a record increase in the desalination of seawater and reuse of sewage last year, new figures reveal, as water-stressed countries around the world try to build their way out of trouble.Making fresh water from the sea was once the preserve of cruise ships and oil-rich Gulf states that could afford the huge cost of energy required to remove the salt. But as rivers, lakes and aquifers dry up, rains become less reliable, and the cost of desalination has fallen, communities in all parts of the world have begun to build and plan plants to turn oceans, river estuaries, salty ground water and even sewage into clean water for factories, farms and homes.The ... Wed Mar 31 07:57:20 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/xmMApuvoAmc/idUSTRE62T3AQ20100330 LONDON (Reuters) - Global installed solar photovoltaic power grew by 44 percent in 2009 on the back of German subsidies now under threat, the European Photovoltaic Industry Association said on Tuesday. Wed Mar 31 07:57:20 2010 EST http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2167/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=2773 Join half a million people in calling on the EPA to scientifically establish national safe limits for CO2 and other greenhouse gas pollution under the Clean Air Act. In December 2009 the Center for Biological Diversity and 350.org formally petitioned the EPA to have greenhouse gases designated as "criteria" air pollutants and atmospheric CO2 capped at 350 parts per million, the level leading scientists say is necessary to avoid the worst impacts of global warming. Wed Mar 31 07:57:20 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/DxtBQyTBlPs/idUSTRE62T0MK20100330 SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The 'cloud' of data which is becoming the heart of the Internet is creating an all too real cloud of pollution as Facebook, Apple and others build data centers powered by coal, according to a new Greenpeace report. Wed Mar 31 07:57:20 2010 EST http://feeds.grist.org/click.phdo?i=3b4220c067fcd2b31d9f06af2280d0e0 by Michael A. Livermore This week, the Environmental Protection Agency will do more than set new fuel efficiency standards for cars. It will put a price on carbon. Within this historic climate change regulation is a powerful new way of thinking about greenhouse gas emissions: as costs that will borne by society. Burning oil in cars imposes a steep price tag, from dirtier air now, to more expensive flood insurance in a decade, to potential climate catastrophe for our grandchildren. The federal government has taken note of these hidden costs and is now using them to weigh the benefits of curbing our emissions. Wed Mar 31 07:57:20 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news189151394.html Cornell University researchers have found a new tool to help marine biologists better grasp the processes under the sea: They have created mathematical models to unveil the bacterial community dynamics behind afflictions that bleach and kill coral. Wed Mar 31 07:57:20 2010 EST http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-03/fda-las032910.php ( Fundação de Amparo Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo ) The resolution of the Latin American Convention of the Global Sustainable Bioenergy Project is now available to the press. The Latin American meeting, which followed the European and the African reunions, took place last week (March 23-25) in Sao Paulo, Brazil, at the Sao Paulo Research Foundation. Wed Mar 31 07:57:20 2010 EST http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2010-03/30/content_9664626.htm TIAN'E, Guangxi - The worsening drought in southwest China could force the Longtan hydropower station, the country's second largest in operation, to halt power generation in another month, a company official said Tuesday. Wed Mar 31 07:57:20 2010 EST http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-03/isu-rla033010.php ( Iowa State University ) Research being done at Iowa State University's Plant Sciences Institute could show how plants in dry areas of the world can overcome the stress of the environment and produce profitable crops. Understanding and eventually curbing crop susceptibility to certain stresses could allow for higher yields during drought years in the agricultural areas of the world. It may also ... Wed Mar 31 07:57:20 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/sXIZvi7TGN8/idUSTRE62T5QY20100330 LONDON (Reuters) - Scientists at a leading British climate research center had a culture of withholding information from global warming skeptics but did not deliberately manipulate data to support their case, lawmakers said on Wednesday. Wed Mar 31 07:57:20 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/ZJmCUcW0q38/ Do you think that having a price on carbon is crucial? I do. I absolutely believe a price on carbon is essential " that will send a very important long-term signal. [But] if it's five years from now, I think it will be truly tragic, because other countries, notably China, are moving ahead so aggressively. They see this as their economic opportunity to lead in the next industrial revolution. That's from an interview of Energy Secretary Steven Chu, by Fareed Zakaria of Newsweek and WashPost. Here's more Q&A with the Nobel Prize-winning physicist: Q ... Wed Mar 31 07:57:20 2010 EST http://www.desmogblog.com/climatgate-autopsy How did emails stolen from climate scientists snowball into a global news story in less than 48 hours? "A lot is happening behind the scenes. It is not being ignored. Much is being coordinated among major players and the media. Thank you very much. You will notice the beginnings of activity on other sites now. Here soon to follow. ~ ctm [Charles Rotter, moderator on WattsUpWithThat.com]" 'Climategate', or 'Swifthack' was a media story about a set of hacked emails that was pushed by a group of avid climate skeptics, including bloggers Steven Mosher, Steve McIntyre, Ross McKitrick, Patrick Condon, Lucia Liljegren, Charles Rotter and Anthony Watts. Wed Mar 31 07:57:20 2010 EST http://energybulletin.net/node/52220 -Martin Crawford and me speaking at the Launch of Climate Friendly Food -Churches partner with 'transition town' environmental movement-Lexicon of Change: The Rise of Transition Culture read more Wed Mar 31 07:57:20 2010 EST http://energybulletin.net/node/52223 -Joel Salatin And Polyface Farm: Stewards of Creation-Brian Kimmel looks to shine a light on the importance of eating locally with Ingredients at the CIFF-The Best Film About a Plastic Bag You'll Ever See-Green advertising rules are made to be broken-Watching the green screens at the Environmental Film Festival in D.C.-Greenpeace Takes Aim at Koch Industries read more Wed Mar 31 07:57:20 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/richard-adams-blog/2010/mar/30/climate-change-scepticism-us-television A survey of America's television weather forecasters finds that one in four of them think 'global warming is a scam'Winning over hearts and minds in the fight against climate change has run into a cold front: America's television weather forecasters.An academic survey of more than 500 US television meteorologists found that one in four of them say there is no global warming, and 27% agree with the statement "global warming is a scam".Perhaps even more worrying for the climate change camp are the 63% of weather presenters who think global warming is caused mainly by natural environmental change. A mere 31% agree with the scientific consensus that human activity is the cause.That's important, because TV weather forecasters have a daily direct line into American homes and are regarded as credible sources of information. Wed Mar 31 07:57:20 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news189190138.html Researchers from the South West are working on a £1.4 million project that could take carbon dioxide from the air and turn it into car fuel. Wed Mar 31 07:57:20 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news189181417.html (PhysOrg.com) -- A UK-led CryoSat-2 satellite designed to monitor changes in ice cover at the poles will launch at 13:57 UK time on 8 April 2010 from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Wed Mar 31 07:57:20 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news189177985.html (PhysOrg.com) -- Oxford University is involved in a research project to unearth 30,000 year old climate records, before they are lost forever. The rings of preserved kauri trees, hidden in New Zealand`s peat bogs, hold the secret to climate fluctuations spanning back to the end of the last Ice Age. Wed Mar 31 07:57:20 2010 EST http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/266/f/3780/s/9bd0965/l/0L0Sindependent0O0Cenvironment0Cclimate0Echange0Cclimate0Echange0Escandal0Emps0Eexonerate0Eprofessor0E19316310Bhtml/story01.htm Professor Phil Jones, the climate scientist at the centre of the scandal over the leak of sensitive emails from a university computer, has been largely exonerated by a powerful cross-party committee of MPs who said his scientific reputation remains intact. Wed Mar 31 07:57:20 2010 EST http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/266/f/3780/s/9bd0961/l/0L0Sindependent0O0Cnews0Cbusiness0Cnews0Cnew0Eregulations0Eon0Eenergy0Eefficiency0Emired0Ein0Econfusion0E1931580A0Bhtml/story01.htm Businesses are confused about and unprepared for the implementation of the Government's Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC), the energy efficiency scheme which starts tomorrow. Wed Mar 31 07:57:20 2010 EST http://www.countercurrents.org/auzanneau300310.htm By Matthieu Auzanneau The U.S. Department of Energy admits that a chance exists that we may experience a decline of world liquid fuels production between 2011 and 2015 if the investment is not there, according to an exclusive interview with Glen Sweetnam, main official expert on oil market in the Obama administration Wed Mar 31 07:57:20 2010 EST http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article7081921.ece The climate scientist at the centre of the row over stolen e-mails has no case to answer and should be reinstated, a crossparty group of MPs says. Wed Mar 31 07:57:20 2010 EST http://www.newkerala.com/news/fullnews-77900.html Washington, March 26 : Twenty years of field studies have revealed that as the Earth has gotten warmer, plants and microbes in the soil have given off more carbon dioxide (CO2). Wed Mar 31 07:57:20 2010 EST http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20100330/mcewan_novel_100330/20100330?hub=EntertainmentV2&s_name= British writer Ian McEwan's new novel, "Solar," tells the story of a Nobel Prize-winning physicist who stumbles on a way of making abundant clean energy, but various forces may scuttle his plans to save the planet. Wed Mar 31 07:57:20 2010 EST http://planetark.org/enviro-news/item/57380 A goal to limit global warming to "below" 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) is opening a new rift for 2010 talks on a U.N. climate treaty as developing nations say it means the rich must deepen cuts in greenhouse gas emissions. An alliance of 101 developing nations and island states says the temperature target, endorsed by major emitters since the Copenhagen summit in December, is tougher than a previous goal by industrialized nations of 2 degrees as a maximum rise. "2.0 degrees is unacceptable," said Dessima Williams, Grenada's ambassador to the United Nations who represents the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) which wants to limit temperatures to below 1.5 Celsius above pre-industrial times. Wed Mar 31 07:57:20 2010 EST http://canadianclimateaction.wordpress.com/2010/03/31/suicidal-tendencies-or-addiction/ April 21st, 2010 will Mark the fall of the Mainstream Environmental Movement For many in the climate justice movement, the growing trend of cozy alliances between many of the mainstream ENGOs with multinational corporate partners has been a toxic recipe; the price of which may be nothing less than complete ecological devastation. The result of these unscrupulous relationships is undeserved legitimacy for transnational corporations, as compromised NGOs run hand in hand with CEOs and executives in a race to the lowest common denominator. The common denominator is money and the finish line is paved in gold " but at what cost? Wed Mar 31 07:57:20 2010 EST http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/03/30/91331/commentary-going-green-the-sensible.html Amid all the vague talk and some pie-in-the-sky proposals for a "green" economy, here's something real that will move California toward that goal, more slowly perhaps, but surely. Wed Mar 31 07:57:20 2010 EST http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/03/30/91355/awakened-early-hungry-bears-wander.html The Lake Tahoe-area bears are up early, and they're ravenous. Wed Mar 31 07:57:20 2010 EST http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10928/s/9bce682/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Carticle0Cdn187150Eclimategate0Einquiry0Epoints0Efinger0Eat0Euniversity0Bhtml0DDCMP0FOTC0Erss0Gnsref0Fclimate0Echange/story01.htm British members of parliament have placed more blame on the University of East Anglia itself than on its climate scientists Wed Mar 31 07:57:20 2010 EST http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2010/03/first-cru-inquiry-report-released/ The first (of three) inquiries on the CRU email affair has reported, and this thread is for discussions of the UK Parliamentary Select Committee report. The conclusions are not un-expected, but there is bound to something for everyone to chew on. Get gnawing! p.s. there is a useful summary at DeSmogBlog. Wed Mar 31 07:57:20 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/bsNC5KWzCK4/idUSTRE62U13M20100331 OSLO (Reuters) - More than 110 nations including top greenhouse gas emitters led by China and the United States back the non-binding Copenhagen Accord for combating climate change, according to a first formal U.N. list on Wednesday. Wed Mar 31 07:57:20 2010 EST http://www.joabbess.com/2010/03/31/phil-jones-my-hero/ Phil Jones " untarnished, innocent, heroic. Clean as a recently, cleanly, cleaned clean whistle. The Media are beside themselves. No longer do they have a public victim to hold up, for us to mourn. No longer can they build the case for Phil Jones as scapegoat. No longer than they dangle Phil Jones out over the evil toothy fishes from the end of the sweating, shaking, rickety gang plank. [link]tol/news/environment/article7081921.ece [link]1/hi/sci/tech/8595483.stm [link]earth/environment/climatechange/7538446/University-of-East-Anglia-refused-to-share-information-on-global-warming.html [link]/www.ft.com/cms/s/0/6f806148-3c2b-11df-b40c-00144feabdc0.html [link]news/article-1262403/Climategate- ... Wed Mar 31 07:57:20 2010 EST http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/9455623/18j2sd/alternet_environment~Climate-Denialism-a-YearOld-Industry According to a new report by Greenpeace, companies like Exxon-Mobil have spent millions over several decades to bolster climate denial groups. Wed Mar 31 07:57:20 2010 EST http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/9452850/18j2sd/alternet_environment~Smooth-Sailing-Billionaires-Recycled-Boat-Cruise-Could-Do-More-Harm-Than-Good David de Rothschild has set sail for Australia in a boat made of plastic bottles. But is his anti-pollution crusade contributing to the problems it's supposed to critique? Wed Mar 31 07:57:20 2010 EST http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/9407599/18j2sd/alternet_environment~You-Are-Now-Paying-for-the-Next-Mile-Island The nuclear industry wants us all to pay hundreds of billions for the joy of living downwind from still more 3 Mile Islands for which they intend to assume no liability. Wed Mar 31 07:57:20 2010 EST http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2260521/marine-energy-business-park James Murray, BusinessGreen , Wednesday 31 March 2010 at 11:17:00 Government announces £5m grant for marine energy business centre The South West's credentials as one of the world's leading locations for marine energy developers was given a sizeable boost with the announcement today of plans for a marine renewable business park designed to support the flagship Wave Hub testing facility. The ... Wed Mar 31 07:57:20 2010 EST http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50851 LA PAZ, Mar 30 (IPS) - A different way of fighting global warming will be tried out in the central Bolivian city of Cochabamba when government representatives and thousands of activists gather for the World People's Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth. Wed Mar 31 07:57:20 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/lGWY2ANNUVs/idUSTRE62U1TR20100331 BERLIN (Reuters) - Al Gore raised some alarming questions about climate change in his Oscar-winning 2006 film "An Inconvenient Truth" that a German filmmaker has now tried to provide some answers for in a new documentary. Wed Mar 31 07:57:20 2010 EST http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/31/can-humans-manage-the-atmosphere/ Humanity's growing pains on a finite planet include pondering how to "manage" the atmosphere. Wed Mar 31 07:57:20 2010 EST http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/leading-articles/leading-article-climate-change-fightback-part-1-1931449.html Professor Phil Jones, head of the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia, has been vilified for allegedly hiding scientific data on "global cooling" and subverting the peer-review process. These allegations emerged from the selective leak of hundreds of emails he had sent from his university computer. The controversy resulting from the publication of these emails on the internet has now led to four different official investigations. Wed Mar 31 07:57:20 2010 EST http://energybulletin.net/node/52187 My dear ones, your generation will face a series of environmental challenges that will dwarf anything any previous generation has confronted. I'm hoping to add some insights of my own based on things I learned as a policymaker in the 1950s and '60s, when I observed and participated in some monumental achievements and profound misjudgments. As a freshman congressman in 1955, I regrettably voted with my unanimous colleagues for the Interstate Highway Program. All of us acted on the shortsighted assumption that cheap oil was super-abundant and would always be available. read more Tue Mar 30 09:16:08 2010 EST 30th March 2010 http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_8594000/8594561.stm Professor James Lovelock, the scientist who developed Gaia theory, has said it is too late to try and save the planet. The man who achieved global fame for his theory that the whole earth is a single organism now believes that we can only hope that the earth will take care of itself in the face of completely unpredictable climate change. Interviewed by Today presenter John Humphrys, videos of which you can see below, he said that while the earth's future was utterly uncertain, mankind was not aware it had "pulled the trigger" on global warming as it built its civilizations. Tue Mar 30 09:16:08 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/mar/29/james-lovelock In his first major interview since the climate-change emails scandal, James Lovelock says he is disgusted by the actions of some scientists, applauds 'good' climate sceptics, and warns that global warming could even lead to warAs you travel along the drive to James Lovelock's house, located in a remote, wooded valley on the Cornwall-Devon border, you pass a sign by a gated cattle grid. "Experimental station," it reads. "Site of a new natural habitat. Please do not trespass or disturb."Thirty years ago, Lovelock planted 20,000 trees to create the much more biodiverse habitat around his home. Tue Mar 30 09:16:08 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/mar/29/green-products-social-status Researchers found consumers are willing to sacrifice performance for perceived social status from green productsShoppers choose hybrid cars, "green" washing-up liquid and energy-saving devices over cheaper but dirtier alternatives partly to improve their social status, according to a new study published today.Researchers found consumers are willing to sacrifice luxury and performance to benefit from the perceived social status that comes from buying a product with a reduced environmental impact.Bram Van den Bergh of Rotterdam School of Management, one of the study's authors, said: "Driving a luxurious non-green car, like a Hummer, communicates one's wealth, but also suggests that the buyer is a selfish and uncaring individual who is concerned primarily about his own comfort rather than the welfare of society. Tue Mar 30 09:16:08 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/EU09PrwMOzY/ Today's guest blogger is the best science writer in the country named Easterbrook. Steve is a professor of computer science at the University of Toronto. He wrote a much admired comment on RealClimate, which offers a rare look into the scientific mindset. In the interest of bridging the two cultures, I asked if I could reprint it, and Steve expanded it to add context and links. It has been posted on his blog with the title, Academics always fight over the peer-review process. Note: This started as a comment on a thread at RealClimate about the Guardian's investigation of the CRU emails fiasco. Tue Mar 30 09:16:08 2010 EST http://www.joabbess.com/2010/03/29/green-war/ [link]2010/03/29/energy-and-global-warming-news-camelina-biofuel-air-force-test-ethiopia-hydropower/ Great news ! The militaries can now fly their planes on plants ! So as the rest of the economy crumbles under Carbon Tax or Carbon Credit Auctions or Carbon Marketeering, at least our boys can continue to fly over poor, underfed rabbles and bomb them back to the Stone Age , and thereby kill and maim them, on the cheap. Tue Mar 30 09:16:08 2010 EST http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/03/29/91259/scientists-study-500-year-dry.html Scientists are studying a warm dry period in the Sierra Nevada between A.D. 800 and 1300 for clues to how the region could change as a result of global warming. Tue Mar 30 09:16:08 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news189066777.html (PhysOrg.com) -- The rise in human emissions of carbon dioxide is driving fundamental and dangerous changes in the chemistry and ecosystems of the world`s oceans, international marine scientists warned today. Tue Mar 30 09:16:08 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/YaleEnvironment360/~3/eFEgHsd9izE/digest.msp European scientists have developed an algorithm using satellite imagery to more accurately monitor the Earth's boreal forest biomass inventory, a resource they say will help them better understand the carbon cycle and predict future climate. Using images from the European Space Agency's Envisat satellite, researchers say they are able to retrieve information on forest growing stock volume " the amount of wood in cubic meters per hectare " at resolutions never before possible, even when the forest is covered in darkness or clouds, a step toward what they call the world's first global biomass map. Scientists say protecting boreal, or northern, forest is one of the best defenses against a warming climate since it stores a third more carbon per hectare ESA/Friedrich-Schiller University JenaBoreal forest in Central Siberia than tropical forests. Tue Mar 30 09:16:08 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/blogs/environment/~3/ycuRBLP4n1A/ With an oversupply of wind turbines, why are governments subsidizing new manufacturing plants? In recent years, China has ramped up its efforts to become a world leader in manufacturing and installation of wind turbines. But the other side of the story is that China has also idled 40 percent of its industrial wind turbine manufacturing capacity as a result of oversupply and plummeting prices. In Europe, the world's largest turbine manufacturer, Vestas, announced a bond issue of 600 million euros ($807 million). This is the first bond issue in the company's history and it was due to slow growth. Tue Mar 30 09:16:08 2010 EST http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?sid=amrfizqgdVf0&pid=20601087 March 29 (Bloomberg) -- Benchmark coal prices at Qinhuangdao, China's largest port handling the fuel, rose for the first time in 10 weeks after a drought in the south cut hydropower generation and raised demand from coal-fired plants. Tue Mar 30 09:16:08 2010 EST http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-stavins/who-killed-cap-and-trade_b_517299.html In a recent article in the New York Times, John Broder asks "Why did cap-and-trade die?" and responds that "it was done in by the... Tue Mar 30 09:16:08 2010 EST http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/03/29-4 by Leo Hickman Humans are too stupid to prevent climate change from radically impacting on our lives over the coming decades. read more Tue Mar 30 09:16:08 2010 EST http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=earth-talk-getting-fresh Dear EarthTalk: If the ice caps are melting, what is happening to the salt content of the oceans? And might this contribute to weather patterns or cause other environmental problems? --George Boyer, via e-mail [More] Tue Mar 30 09:16:08 2010 EST http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2010/03/29/29greenwire-state-legislators-ramp-up-campaigns-against-ep-73429.html Illinois state Rep. Dan Reitz, a Democrat and a former coal miner, is worried that pending federal climate change rules will cripple the economy, and he wants Congress to step in and stop it. Reitz, who represents the 116th District in southern Illinois, launched his own assault against U.S. EPA climate rules when he introduced a resolution urging Congress to postpone greenhouse gas regulations for factories, power plants and other so-called stationary emission sources. The Illinois House approved his resolution earlier this month. Tue Mar 30 09:16:08 2010 EST http://energybulletin.net/node/52192 -California: climate change law won't hurt economy-Forest loss slows, as China plants and Brazil preserves-Exclusive Excerpt: Hack the Planet-Breaking the Growth Habit: A Q&A with Bill McKibben-How the Conservatives dodged the climate bullet-NASA: It is nearly certain that a new record 12-month global temperature will be sent in 2010-The Secret of Sea Level Rise: It Will Vary Greatly by Region-The Big Melt-A Pioneering Biologist Discusses The Keys to Forest Conservation read more Tue Mar 30 09:16:08 2010 EST http://www.monbiot.com/archives/2010/03/29/morality-policing/ The police treat protests and festivals as a threat to their power Tue Mar 30 09:16:08 2010 EST http://www.monbiot.com/archives/2010/03/23/war-with-the-ghosts/ What are our nuclear weapons for, and who controls them? Tue Mar 30 09:16:08 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/2EC461JqTg8/ The embattled head of the United Nations scientific panel on climate change has been cleared of allegations of financial irregularity by an independently conducted review. So the Financial Times reported Sunday in its piece, Climate chief cleared over payments (reg. req d). Here's more: KPMG, the professional services company, examined the personal finances of Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, after media suggested late last year that he received money for advising several private sector companies, including Toyota and Credit Suisse. The review found these were all paid to Mr Pachauri's non-profit organisation TERI (The Energy and Resources Institute), which commissioned KPMG. Tue Mar 30 09:16:08 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news189111461.html (PhysOrg.com) -- Every year, hurricanes and droughts wreak havoc on human lives and property around the world. And according to a pair of new NASA-funded studies, migratory birds also experience severe impacts to their habitats and populations from these events. Tue Mar 30 09:16:08 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news189110200.html Isoprene is a Jekyll-and-Hyde gas that is capable of both warming and cooling the Earth depending on the prevailing conditions. It is an important industrial gas, necessary for the manufacture of important compounds such as rubber and vitamins, but very little is known about how isoprene is cycled in the environment. Tue Mar 30 09:16:08 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news189102893.html (PhysOrg.com) -- Decades of drought, interspersed with intense monsoon rains, may have helped bring about the fall of Cambodia`s ancient Khmer civilization at Angkor nearly 600 years ago, according to an analysis of tree rings, archeological remains and other evidence. The study, published this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, may also shed light on what drives -- and disrupts -- the rainy season across much of Asia, which waters crops for nearly half the world`s population. Tue Mar 30 09:16:08 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/IJSLvBYAefM/idUSTRE62T06520100330 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration is expected to announce by Wednesday its updated plan for oil and natural gas drilling in U.S. waters, including whether to allow exploration for the first time along the U.S. East Coast. Tue Mar 30 09:16:08 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/iX6ZwvVpOjM/idUSTRE62S4SX20100329 MONTPELLIER, France (Reuters) - Feeding a fast-growing global population in the face of climate change and stagnant funding for food aid and farm research will require a fundamental revamp of agriculture, agricultural experts said. Tue Mar 30 09:16:08 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/cYTzNl0aTGA/idUSTRE62S4JT20100329 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. power plants, industrial facilities and other stationary sources of greenhouse gas emissions blamed for global warming will not be required to have Clean Air Act permits until January 2011, giving industry more time to prepare for the regulations, the Environmental Protection Agency said on Monday. Tue Mar 30 09:16:08 2010 EST http://ca.news.finance.yahoo.com/s/29032010/2/biz-finance-canada-lithium-ceo-sees-soaring-demand-electric-vehicles.html TORONTO - Demand for high-grade lithium used in rechargeable batteries could soar by as much as 150 per cent over the next six years if projections for electric vehicle sales are correct, says the CEO of Canada Lithium Corp. Tue Mar 30 09:16:08 2010 EST http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?sid=aL1nbDKlJXBg&pid=20601087 March 29 (Bloomberg) -- The Obama administration will put off until at least January requiring permits for greenhouse-gas emissions by industrial polluters such as power plants and oil refineries. Tue Mar 30 09:16:08 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/today/hi/today/newsid_8594000/8594561.stm James Lovelock's bleak prediction for planet earth Tue Mar 30 09:16:08 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/KRBnP9gdGRU/ The Hill's blog has a post, Why kill cap-and-trade? Because it's there. The NYT's John Broder had a piece, Cap and Trade Loses Its Standing as Energy Policy of Choice. CBS reports of the forthcoming Graham, Kerry and Lieberman bill, notably missing from it will likely be the cap-and-trade system that had not long ago been expected to be the centerpiece of any legislation. Peter Barnes comments on my blog, If cap-and-trade is politically dead, why not try some version of cap-and-dividend? Two points. Tue Mar 30 09:16:08 2010 EST http://www.desmogblog.com/koch-industries-extensive-funding-climate-denial-industry-unmasked koch.jpg Koch Industries has become a financial kingpin of climate science denial and clean energy opposition, spending over $48.5 million since 1997 to fund the climate denial machine, according to an extensive report today by Greenpeace. The Greenpeace report reveals how Koch Industries and the foundations under its control spent far more than even ExxonMobil in recent years to fund industry front groups opposed to clean energy and climate policies. Koch spent over half the total amount -nearly $25 million - funding climate denier groups from 2005 to 2008, a period in which Exxon only spent $8.9 million.Greenpeace's attempt to lift the veil of secrecy inherent to a private company like Koch Industries is no easy task. Tue Mar 30 09:16:08 2010 EST http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/9402711/18e7bf/alternet_environment~EPA-Wont-Regulate-Greenhouse-Gases-Until-Next-Year But the EPA will indeed commence regulation in 2011. The delay is intended to give businesses more time to prepare their carbon reduction strategies. Tue Mar 30 09:16:08 2010 EST http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/9403878/18e7bf/alternet_environment~How-Everyday-Citizens-are-Breaking-the-Law-for-Mother-Earth Meet the people who like to push the legal edge when it comes to going green. Tue Mar 30 09:16:08 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/mar/30/climate-change-adaptation-test-policies Report says hospitals and power station planners must pass 'climate adaptation test' akin to health and safety regulationsHospitals, the energy industry, government agencies and other institutions should put new policies and programmes to a "climate adaptation test" akin to to health and safety regulations, according to a new report by the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution.The report, titled Adapting Institutions to Climate Change, says the test is needed to ensure new projects take into account increasingly variable and extreme weather, as global warming continues. Candidates for adopting the test include coastal industries such as ports, power stations and oil installations " which would have to withstand storm surges and rising sea levels " and hospitals, which it says should expect a rise in admissions during heatwaves.The chair of the commission, Sir John Lawton, said ... Tue Mar 30 09:16:08 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/mar/29/james-lovelock-climate-change In his first in-depth interview since the theft of UEA emails, the scientist blames inertia and democracy for lack of action Read the full transcript of James Lovelock's G2 interview with Leo Hickman The G2 interviewHumans are too stupid to prevent climate change from radically impacting on our lives over the coming decades. This is the stark conclusion of James Lovelock, the globally respected environmental thinker and independent scientist who developed the Gaia theory.It follows a tumultuous few months in which public opinion on efforts to tackle climate change has been undermined by events such as the climate scientists' emails leaked from the University of East Anglia (UEA) and the failure of the Copenhagen climate summit."I don't think we're yet evolved to the point where we're clever enough to handle a complex a situation as climate change," said Lovelock in his first in-depth interview ... Tue Mar 30 09:16:08 2010 EST http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50829 MONTPELLIER, France, Mar 29 (IPS) - After the failures in Copenhagen to agree on a new climate protection treaty, and more recently at the Doha meetings on trade in endangered species to prevent bluefin tuna from going extinct, indigenous forest communities may offer examples of sensible governance for shared resources on a small planet. Tue Mar 30 09:16:08 2010 EST http://www.joabbess.com/2010/03/30/greenland-melts-down-greens-up/ [link]Greenland-ice-mass-loss-spread-to-northwest.html [link]pubs/crossref/2010/2010GL042460.shtml [link]earth/more-greenland-ice-melting-faster.html [link]What-CO2-level-would-cause-Greenland-ice-sheet-collapse.html [link]4/233/2010/tcd-4-233-2010.html Collapse of the ice-sheet was found to occur between 400 and 560 ppmv Today's CO2 count :- How long to we have to keep bringing the facts to general public attention before they lodge as significant in people's minds ? Tue Mar 30 09:16:08 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/52ofBhyfudQ/idUSTRE62T23R20100330 GENEVA (Reuters) - The El Nino weather pattern warming the Pacific Ocean since June, has peaked, but is expected to influence climate patterns worldwide up to mid-year before dying out, the World Meteorological Organization said on Tuesday. Tue Mar 30 09:16:08 2010 EST http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/266/f/3780/s/9ba1e57/l/0L0Sindependent0O0Clife0Estyle0Cgadgets0Eand0Etech0Cnews0Ccoal0Efuels0Emuch0Eof0Einternet0Ecloud0Egreenpeace0Esays0E19310A870Bhtml/story01.htm The 'cloud' of data that is becoming the heart of the Internet is creating an all-too-real cloud of pollution as Facebook, Apple and others build data centers powered by coal, Greenpeace said in a new report to be released on Tuesday. Tue Mar 30 09:16:08 2010 EST http://www.nytimes.com/cwire/2010/03/30/30climatewire-sudden-revolt-by-insurance-regulators-scales-8154.html A surprise rebellion by a majority of insurance regulators Sunday reversed key elements of a landmark regulation requiring th... Tue Mar 30 09:16:08 2010 EST http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/30/books/30book.html?src=me&ref=arts Despite the book's somber, scientific backdrop, Solar is Ian McEwan's funniest novel yet. Tue Mar 30 09:16:08 2010 EST http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?sid=a5PWfGpgsIH0&pid=20601087 March 30 (Bloomberg) -- Carbon dioxide output from about 11,000 factories and power stations in the European Union's emissions-trading program fell 10 percent last year, according to the average estimate of eight analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Tue Mar 30 09:16:08 2010 EST http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?sid=aBMpU_EEfIqA&pid=20601087 March 30 (Bloomberg) -- Norway changed its value-added-tax rules to prevent fraud in the market for carbon-dioxide allowances, Nasdaq OMX Group Inc., which operates the Nord pool exchange, said in an e-mailed statement to its members. Tue Mar 30 09:16:08 2010 EST http://energybulletin.net/node/52161 DARK OPTIMISM How do we handle Peak Oil AND climate change? Shaun Chamberlin from UK Transition Towns, energy writer Kurt Cobb, plus Richard Heinberg on renewable hope, with Lester Brown. read more Mon Mar 29 06:37:46 2010 EST 29th March 2010 http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/26/in-canada-tv-goes-deep-on-climate/ A rare thing: five hours of television on climate modeling, science, politics, media coverage and more. Mon Mar 29 06:37:46 2010 EST http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=climate-change-imperils-state-of-the-planet NEW YORK CITY--More than 100 countries have signed on to the Copenhagen Accord --the nonbinding agreement to combat climate change hastily agreed to this past December at a summit of world leaders. As signatories, the countries agree to cut greenhouse gas emissions to keep global average temperatures from warming more than 2 degrees Celsius. The countries that have signed up to date represent ... Mon Mar 29 06:37:46 2010 EST http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/249c20d4-3589-11df-963f-00144feabdc0.html Her words were almost instantly forgotten because a night later the Berlin Wall fell. But on November 8 1989, Margaret Thatcher gave a surprising speech to the United Nations general assembly. The British prime minister barely dwelt on politics. In Europe this year, freedom has been on the march, was her curt nod to current events. She wanted to talk about a new danger: what we now call climate change. Humans were adding greenhouse gases to the air at an unprecedented rate , Thatcher told what must have been a bemused assembly. It is mankind and his activities which are changing the environment of our planet. Mon Mar 29 06:37:46 2010 EST http://www.straight.com/article-300268/vancouver/clare-demerse-stephen-harper-government-has-no-real-plan-cut-greenhouse-gas-emissions Let's say that a friend told you that he's determined to be a PGA golfer by 2020. Unfortunately, he has barely ever set foot on a golf course. Mon Mar 29 06:37:46 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/JzQMsRvZLc0/idUSTRE62P5E420100326 LONDON (Reuters) - The reputation of a Kyoto Protocol carbon finance scheme was dealt another blow after a UN climate panel late on Friday suspended the third emissions cut verifier in 15 months, and partially suspended a fourth. Mon Mar 29 06:37:46 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/YaleEnvironment360/~3/gZDLSPH-MoM/feature.msp Environmentalists have long sought to use the threat of catastrophic global warming to persuade the public to embrace a low-carbon economy. But recent events, including the tainting of some climate research, have shown the risks of trying to link energy policy to climate science. BY TED NORDHAUS AND MICHAEL SHELLENBERGER Mon Mar 29 06:37:46 2010 EST http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/598c0dba-3587-11df-963f-00144feabdc0.html The day before last December's Copenhagen summit on climate change drew to a tortuous close, world leaders temporarily broke off their labyrinthine discussions, changed out of their business suits, put on white tie and tails and headed off in motorcades to Christiansborg Palace. It was a momentary ceasefire in the increasingly fractious gathering; warring heads of state smiled for the camera and shook hands. Mon Mar 29 06:37:46 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/1s2jcJCiCEk/ To dismiss the implications of climate change based on an error about the rate at which Himalayan glaciers are melting is an act of astonishing intellectual legerdemain. Yet this is what some doubters of climate change are claiming. But the reality is that our understanding of climate change is based on a vast and remarkably sound body of science " and is something we distort and trivialise at our peril. So writes IPCC head Rajendra Pachauri in a blunt article published by the Guardian Friday. Given how much the IPCC and climate scientists have been attacked, much of it based on falsehoods and half-truths from the anti-science disinformers, I think it only fair to reprint his entire comments ... Mon Mar 29 06:37:46 2010 EST http://news.holidayhypermarket.co.uk/Summer-Set-To-Be-Hottest-On-Record-932454841267.html The UK is set to enjoy one of the hottest summers since the heatwave of 1976. This is according to Positive Weather Solutions (PWS), which is forecasting record breaking summer temperatures. Mon Mar 29 06:37:46 2010 EST http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/266/f/3780/s/9af8174/l/0L0Sindependent0O0Cenvironment0Cclimate0Echange0Cim0Enot0Equitting0Esays0Eunderfire0Eun0Eclimate0Eboss0E19288720Bhtml/story01.htm The much-criticised head of the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Dr Rajenda Pachauri, gave a vigorous defence of his position last night, accepting there had been mistakes in the IPCC's work, taking responsibility for some of them, but robustly refusing to stand down. Mon Mar 29 06:37:46 2010 EST http://www.greenleft.org.au/2010/831/42782 Australian activist Tash Verco and US citizen Noah Weiss were arrested in Copenhagen for the crime of helping organise a mass demonstration to coincide with the December United Nations climate summit (see here). Printed below is a March 22 letter from Verco and Weiss. It is reprinted from www.climate-justice-action.org, where English versions of Danish press coverage of the trail can also be read. To send a letter in their support to the Danish government, click here. Mon Mar 29 06:37:46 2010 EST http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/leading-articles/leading-article-heathrows-clipped-wings-1928764.html It's enough to restore your faith in the battered democratic process. The High Court yesterday ordered the Government to think again about its plan to build a third runway at Heathrow on the grounds that the scheme looks incompatible with Britain's legally binding commitment to cut our carbon emissions 60 per cent by 2050. Mon Mar 29 06:37:46 2010 EST http://www.joabbess.com/2010/03/27/frying-the-sky/ What is the average temperature of the Earth ? How can we tell if it's heating up with all the confusing noise from variability in the system ? The UAH satellite data record offers a view of temperatures at different heights above the Earth's surface. It accomplishes this by analysing the outgoing radiation from the Earth. At 4.4 kilometres above the surface, on Channel 5, where you would expect things such as the Urban Heat Island effect to be insignificant, and weather systems to be less randomising, 2010 is proving to be a rather warm year, likely hotter than 1998, 2005 and 2007. Mon Mar 29 06:37:46 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/gallery/2010/mar/27/earth-hour Around 125 countries join the great Earth Hour switch-off following the UN climate talks in Copenhagen Mon Mar 29 06:37:46 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/mar/28/un-climate-change-meeting-london Political and business leaders gather this week in an attempt to revive the world's faltering challenge to global warming. But they face a battle to lift the cloud of scepticism that has descended over climate science and chart a new way forwardSome of the planet's most powerful paymasters will gather in London on Wednesday to discuss a nagging financial problem: how to raise a trillion dollars for the developing world. Those charged with achieving this daunting goal will include Gordon Brown, directors of several central banks, the billionaire philanthropist George Soros, the economist Lord (Nicholas) Stern and Larry Summers, President Obama's chief economics adviser.As an array of expertise, it is formidable ... Mon Mar 29 06:37:46 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/theobserver/2010/mar/28/raising-chickens-eglu-alex-horne As chickens increasingly swap the farmyard for the backyard, a comedian describes his personal journey from novice to bird obsessive, and finally discovers for himself why the chickens crossed the road I hadn't seen them for six months. Everyone had said a clean break would be best, so now, as I tiptoed towards their new patch, I tried to keep my expectations low. They won't remember you, Alex, I told myself. They're animals " wild, indomitable animals.Fifty yards away but still hidden by trees, I heard their familiar call once more; a low mumbling at first, then a more frenzied cry as they sensed a human approaching. Mon Mar 29 06:37:46 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/uk/8590753.stm The UK has been "disappointingly slow" at taking up low carbon technologies, a report by MPs warns. Mon Mar 29 06:37:46 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/world/middle_east/8586046.stm Abu Dhabi strives for zero-carbon comfort Mon Mar 29 06:37:46 2010 EST http://feeds.grist.org/click.phdo?i=fc0d07b0fd1767954e317d3a343221aa by Todd Woody I attended an agriculture conference this week at the Four Seasons in Palo Alto. There were no pickup trucks in the BMW-packed parking lot, and few farmers with dirt under their fingernails could be found milling about the sleek hotel lobby. But the place was swarming with venture capitalists from some of Silicon Valley's marquee firms looking to grow profits with investments in sustainable agriculture. Welcome to Agriculture 2.0. That was the name of the conference and represents a growing effort to scale up sustainable agriculture from a hodge-podge of hippies and back-to-the-land types into a viable big business by bringing together venture capitalists and startups doing everything from rooftop farming to high-tech soil mapping to identifying the best areas for growing crops. Mon Mar 29 06:37:46 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/jaFIKva6dsk/idUSTRE62Q1KR20100327 GEORGETOWN (Reuters) - Muslims across Guyana prayed for rain on Saturday to end a drought that has battered the tiny South American nation's rice and sugar exports and caused food shortages in indigenous communities. Mon Mar 29 06:37:46 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/mUoScAlDa9c/idUSTRE62Q0KX20100328 SYDNEY (Reuters) - Landmarks such as Sydney's Opera House, Beijing's Forbidden City and Taiwan's Taipei 101 office tower temporarily went dark on Saturday as nations dimmed the lights for Earth Hour 2010 to call for action on climate change. Mon Mar 29 06:37:46 2010 EST http://resourceinsights.blogspot.com/2010/03/complete-radio-ecoshock-interview.html The two-part interview which I did with Alex Smith of Radio Ecoshock is now available. In lieu of a regular post this week, I've decided to link to that interview. Part 1 is about navigating collapse. In Part 2 I discuss the scale and rate-of-conversion problems with alternative energy and touch on climate change.Part 1 - Navigating Collapse: Alex Smith interviews Kurt Cobb (23 minutes) A Lo-Fi version of Part 1 is also available.Part 2 - Alternative Energy Climate Change: Alex Smith interviews Kurt Cobb (27 minutes) A Lo-Fi version of Part 2 is also available. Mon Mar 29 06:37:46 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/in_pictures/8590756.stm Images as cities around the world turn off the lights to mark Earth Hour, an effort aimed at boosting climate change awareness. Mon Mar 29 06:37:46 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/england/cumbria/8591545.stm Plans to produce tidal energy off the Cumbrian coast would endanger wildlife, according to the RSPB. Mon Mar 29 06:37:46 2010 EST http://www.theage.com.au/world/lights-out-around-the-world-but-vision-for-future-unclear-20100328-r53c.html From Sydney Harbour to the Eiffel Tower in Paris and the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, major landmarks go dark for an hour to raise awareness over the fight against climate change. Mon Mar 29 06:37:46 2010 EST http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2010/03/27/earth-hour.html?ref=rss Millions of Canadians participated in Earth Hour on Saturday evening, once again joining a global campaign designed to bring attention to climate change by turning off their lights. Mon Mar 29 06:37:46 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/sci/tech/8587725.stm Does Russia's 'cloud seeding' trick actually work? Mon Mar 29 06:37:46 2010 EST http://www.culturechange.org/cms/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=634&Itemid=65 On Sat. Mar. 27, Portland Community Media produced and televised another edition of the 19-year running public affairs show, TV Set. The one-hour program had oil analyst/environmentalist Jan Lundberg as the guest to discuss the ramifications of the world's having reached peak oil extraction. His hosts were Jim Wrathall and Jeff Gerritsen. Follow the link below to watch and listen. Mon Mar 29 06:37:46 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/mar/29/european-commission-energy-regulator Slovenia-based energy agency to start with 50 staff European regulator seen as essential to push green energyBrussels is pressing ahead with plans to establish an energy agency which is seen as a prototype European regulator. The body could eventually restrict national policymaking but could also give important impetus to North Sea wind power and developing a European "supergrid".The European commission says it expects the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators to open for business by March next year."There is a degree of hope that the work of the agency, while not being a European regulator as such, will get the commitment of national regulators such as Ofgem in the UK [and] if it is successful then it will become the European regulator," said Philip Lowe, the EC's new director general for energy, in an exclusive interview.The agency is to be based ... Mon Mar 29 06:37:46 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/sci/tech/8589512.stm Scientists confirm that there is no slowing of the Gulf Stream ocean current, as predicted by some models of climate change. Mon Mar 29 06:37:46 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2010/mar/29/earth-hour-religion-easter Can the world be saved, or does it need redemption?Last week was Earth Hour, when we are all supposed to observe an hour's darkness, in order to save the world. This is Holy Week, when Christians remember, on Good Friday, the three hours of darkness, and the light at the end, which redeemed the world. So which of these rituals should we observe? Can the world be saved, or does it need redemption? Should we trust in science, or in a transformation of our nature?Put like this, the choices are very bald, and perhaps some people would say that we must do both, and that both observances are both symbolic and practical. Mon Mar 29 06:37:46 2010 EST http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/leading-articles/leading-article-natural-disasters-demand-a-radical-new-response-1930006.html The number of natural disasters in the world has shot up over the past two decades. Scientists argue over the extent to which climate change is responsible for this phenomenon but no one can seriously deny such disasters are increasing in scale and frequency, nor that in tandem with a rapid rise in population and the growing concentration of people in cities, the number of people affected by disasters can also be expected to rise. Mon Mar 29 06:37:46 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/qScOT01gF9w/idUSTRE62R1UJ20100328 BEIJING (Reuters) - A severe winter has left 4.5 million dead animals in stockyards across the Mongolian steppes, and many poor herders face the loss of all their property just before the important breeding season. Mon Mar 29 06:37:46 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/mnloWfQcEWw/idUSTRE62S07I20100329 LONDON (Reuters) - Siemens is set to unveil plans to invest more than 75 million pounds ($111.3 million) in a wind turbine plant off the coast of Britain, the Guardian reported on Monday, citing unnamed sources. Mon Mar 29 06:37:46 2010 EST http://www.countercurrents.org/wardrop280310.htm By Murray WardropHumans have wrought such vast and unprecedented changes on the planet that we may be ushering in a new period of geological history. The new epoch, called the Anthropocene - meaning new man - would be the first period of geological time shaped by the action of a single species. It is feared that the damage mankind has inflicted will lead to the sixth largest mass extinction in Earths history with thousands of plants and animals being wiped out Mon Mar 29 06:37:46 2010 EST http://www.countercurrents.org/brilliant280310.htm By Tod Brilliant Earlier this week, Greenpeace did the rational world a huge favor by compiling a great overview of the denial industry. Dealing in Doubt: The Climate Denial Industry and Climate Science is a brief but critical summary of the attacks on climate science, scientists and, most notably, the IPCC Mon Mar 29 06:37:46 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news189059534.html Acidification of the oceans as a result of increasing levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide could have significant effects on marine ecosystems, according to Michael Maguire presenting at the Society for General Microbiology's spring meeting in Edinburgh this week. Mon Mar 29 06:37:46 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/2/hi/business/8586617.stm Who benefits from big business's carbon offsetting? Mon Mar 29 06:37:46 2010 EST http://www.greenleft.org.au/2010/832/42797 In Copenhagen, Sydney-based climate justice advocate Natasha Verco and US activist Noah Weiss faces charges under Denmark's terrorism laws. Verco faces up to 12-and-a-half year jail for her role in organising protests against the United Nations Copenhagen climate summit in December. Mon Mar 29 06:37:46 2010 EST http://www.greenleft.org.au/2010/832/42806 The Bolivian government is seeking to use the people's summit it is organising in April to push for a global referendum on climate change, AFP said on March 17. Mon Mar 29 06:37:46 2010 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100324184556.htm Researchers in the UK are working on a project that could take carbon dioxide from the air and turn it into car fuel. The project aims to develop porous materials that can absorb the gas that causes global warming and convert it into chemicals that can be used to make car fuel or plastics in a process powered by renewable solar energy. Mon Mar 29 06:37:46 2010 EST http://www.canada.com/Canada Arctic Summit highlights global tensions competing interests/2736963/story.html As the foreign ministers of five Arctic coastal states gather Monday for talks near Ottawa on the economic and environmental challenges facing the planet's polar frontier, difficult questions linger over the region's geopolitical future " highlighted by the exclusive guest list of the Arctic Summit itself. Mon Mar 29 06:37:46 2010 EST http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50818 LONDON, Mar 28 (IPS) - A high-level meeting in London of political and business leaders will consider this week ways of raising 100 billion dollars to fight climate change. And yet another one in Washington will search for ways of finding, and funding, more three-dollar stoves around the world. Mon Mar 29 06:37:46 2010 EST http://www.joabbess.com/2010/03/29/meltdown-himalya/ In all the uproar about the typographical error, and poor research citation, about terminally melting Himalayan glaciers in the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report, the facts have been overlooked. Indian Scientists are reporting that Himalayan glaciers lost 16% in the last 50 years :- [link]home/environment/global-warming/Himalayan-glaciers-shrank-16-in-50-yrs-Isro/articleshow/5733386.cms Investigations on glacial retreat were estimated for 1,317 glaciers in 10 sub-basins from 1962. This has shown an overall reduction in glacial area from 5,866 sqkm to 4,921 sqkm since 1962, showing an overall de-glaciation of 16% , says the latest annual report of Isro. Mon Mar 29 06:37:46 2010 EST http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10928/s/99bf494/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Carticle0Cmg20A527520A0B10A0A0Estewart0Ebrand0Efrom0Ehippy0Eicon0Eto0Enuclear0Eenthusiast0Bhtml0DDCMP0FOTC0Erss0Gnsref0Fclimate0Echange/story01.htm What the world needs now is technological pragmatism, not green fundamentalism, says the man who taught a generation how to drop out Mon Mar 29 06:37:46 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/england/hampshire/8589190.stm A former worker at a wind energy firm which closed its factory on the Isle of Wight visits the company's new site in the US. Mon Mar 29 06:37:46 2010 EST http://www.asiaone.com/News/Latest News/Asia/Story/A1Story20100329-207392.html QIXINGCUN, China (AFP) - Peasant farmer Dong Guicheng wakes up every morning hoping for rain, but each day a crippling drought instead brings more disappointment and desperation. Mon Mar 29 06:37:46 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2010/mar/29/youtube-climate-change-scepticism How my Youtube channel is converting climate change scepticsThe Guardian (blog)So you have this friend who just doesn't seem to get global warming. Showing him pictures of polar bears stranded on icebergs generates no sympathy. ... Mon Mar 29 06:37:46 2010 EST http://www.marketwire.com/mw/release.do?id=1138972&sourceType=3 TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - March 29, 2010) - What: Photo opportunity with the WWF Panda holding a sign with a climate change message as the G8 Foreign Ministers meet in Gatineau to discuss the agenda for the upcoming G8 Summit. Mon Mar 29 06:37:46 2010 EST http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2260372/climategate-blow-fragments James Murray, BusinessGreen , Monday 29 March 2010 at 11:01:00 Over half of respondents believe "jury is still out" on the urgent need to tackle climate change, but 59 per cent still think emission reduction represents market opportunity The corporate response to climate change has become increasingly fragmented in the past year as the combination of the "climategate" scandal, the disappointing ... Mon Mar 29 06:37:46 2010 EST http://allafrica.com/stories/201003290481.html Lagos " The panic caused by the present unusual weather condition in the country and the belated efforts of a few experts to douse the tension, are profound testimonies of Nigerian's low level of preparedness to appropriately respond to the challenges of global climate change. Mon Mar 29 06:37:46 2010 EST http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2260358/uk-climbs-renewable-investment Rachel Fielding, BusinessGreen , Monday 29 March 2010 at 07:38:00 Reaches fifth place in Ernst Young's Renewable Energy Country Attractiveness Index The UK is rising up the rankings of the best countries to invest in renewable energy projects, largely because of new government initiatives and incentives. The latest global Renewable Energy Country Attractiveness Indices from Big Four ... Mon Mar 29 06:37:46 2010 EST http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2260359/researchers-conclude-100-per James Murray, BusinessGreen , Monday 29 March 2010 at 07:38:00 European report "debunks" criticism of renewable energy supplies as unreliable and costly Europe could generate all the electricity it needs from renewable sources by the middle of the century, according to a major new report from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) that rejects concerns about the intermittent nature of renewable energy ... Mon Mar 29 06:37:46 2010 EST http://www.desmogblog.com/monckton-utah-hitlerian-hyperbole-and-deviations-truth monckton.jpg Christopher Walter, the Third Viscount Monckton of BullTwaddle, has been enriching himself on the speaker circuit in the last couple of days, enteraining a rump of science "skeptics" in the sparsely populated halls of Salt Lake City. Monckton, who likes to scream out slanderous Nazi accusations, was at it again, accusing the world's foremost climate scientists of "wanting to impose the same kind of tyranny as Hitler." At least some of the local media were not taking the bait. Salt Lake Tribune columnist Peg McEntee pointed out that Monckton began his speech with a fair warning, saying ... Fri Mar 26 16:04:56 2010 EST 26th March 2010 http://energybulletin.net/node/52133 Bolivia is watching its glaciers melt, early casualties of a changing climate. As communities struggle to adapt and the government tries to pioneer an alternative way forward, rural Bolivians believe the answer lies not in consumerist striving to live better, but in learning to live well. read more Fri Mar 26 16:04:56 2010 EST http://feeds.grist.org/click.phdo?i=789eb41493cba36d0688a7177422f00d by David Roberts Van JonesBy now the the Strange Episode of Van Jones is well known in and outside of politics. Jones became White House Special Advisor for Green Jobs in March of 2009. Shortly thereafter began a summer of crazy, as Tea Party activists stormed congressional offices and the air waves, shouting warnings of incipient tyranny. In July, Glenn Beck became fixated on the czars in the Obama administration, who, he alleged, formed a secret, unelected shadow government devoted to instituting socialism. Among his first targets was Jones, dubbed the green jobs czar. Initiatlly it was about his connections to the Apollo Alliance, but as the teabaggers got to digging they uncovered youthful radicalism, some intemperate humor, and the coup de grace, Jones name listed on a 9/11 conspiracy site. Fri Mar 26 16:04:56 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/YaleEnvironment360/~3/5TmJhMn6v2c/digest.msp A new technology that uses aminosilicones, a product found in hair conditioners and fabric softeners, has proven successful in removing 90 percent of the carbon dioxide from the simulated flue gases created by coal-fired power plants. Chemists at General Electric Global Research, reporting their findings at the annual meeting of the American Chemical Society, said that using aminosilicones as a scrubber material holds the promise of stripping CO2 from flue gases more efficiently and cheaply that current compounds being tested as CO2 scrubbers. Robert Perry, a chemist who helped invent the aminosilicone scrubber system, said the material will soon be used on a pilot scale at a power plant. Fri Mar 26 16:04:56 2010 EST http://resourceinsights.blogspot.com/2010/03/will-enhanced-oil-recovery-be-oil.html My latest column on Scitizen entitled "Will Enhanced Oil Recovery Be An Oil Supply Savior?" has now been posted. Here is the teaser:Oil supply optimists often say that the application of enhanced oil recovery techniques to existing and future wells will vastly expand oil reserves and oil production. The trouble is these techniques aren't new, and they are already being widely applied. That means current oil reserves and production already reflect any effect they have had....Read more Fri Mar 26 16:04:56 2010 EST http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1841749/boreal_forest_biomass_maps_from_radar_satellite_data/index.html?source=r_science Image 1: Dense mature forest and regrowth in a boreal forest. Credits: Maurizio SantoroImage 2: Forest growing stock volume (GSV) map of Central Siberia, obtained with the BIOMASAR algorithm using one-year of Envisat Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (ASAR) Global Monitoring mode images acquired in 2005. GSV is represented in shades of green between 0"500 cubic meters per hectare. The GlobCover ... Fri Mar 26 16:04:56 2010 EST http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/266/f/3780/s/9aa0cd1/l/0L0Sindependent0O0Cenvironment0Cclimate0Echange0Cclimate0Echange0Eputs0Eaustralian0Ereef0Eon0Eknife0Eedge0E19276680Bhtml/story01.htm The world's southernmost coral reef is on a "knife-edge" after warmer seas blamed on climate change bleached large parts of it for the first time, an Australian scientist warned on Wednesday. Fri Mar 26 16:04:56 2010 EST http://www.enn.com/pollution/article/41143 Yesterday we posted on the just-released Clean Edge trends report for 2010 that outlines some of the prominent trends in clean tech and renewable energy. One emerging trend mentioned in the report is the commoditization of carbon, where captured emissions are bought and sold as feedstock for other industrial processes. Fri Mar 26 16:04:56 2010 EST http://www.ktuu.com/global/story.asp?s=12203105 Associated Press - March 25, 2010 12:04 PM ET DENVER (AP) - A plane outfitted to measure greenhouse gases has taken off from Colorado on the first leg of a 24-day mission that will take it back... Fri Mar 26 16:04:56 2010 EST http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/25/household-products-could_n_512916.html Scientists at GE Global Research found that aminosilicones-a group of materials found in household products like hair conditioners, fabric softeners and plastics-could trap CO2 emissions. Fri Mar 26 16:04:56 2010 EST http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/f-for-fail-on-some-targets-20100325-qzzs.html THE state government has failed to meet its targets for increasing renewable energy and reducing greenhouse emissions and is struggling to increase the supply of affordable housing. Fri Mar 26 16:04:56 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2010/mar/25/china-renewable-energy-pew-research A new report shows that China is now the world's number one investor in renewable technology. This is the data Get the dataChina has overtaken the US for the first time in a league table of investments in low-carbon energy among the G-20, according to a new report by not for profit group the Pew Charitable Trusts published this week.The report found that despite an overall 6.6 per cent global decline in clean energy investments last year, China invested almost twice as much as the United States in clean energy during 2009.But the US still leads in energy capacity. Fri Mar 26 16:04:56 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/8587516.stm Chinese soldiers are sent in to help as parts of the southwest experience their worst drought in a century. Fri Mar 26 16:04:56 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/4nt_lyVjcsc/ Yesterday I reported that tropical forest researcher Simon Lewis had filed a 31-page official complaint against the UK's Sunday Times. He made a compelling case that Jonathan Leake's January 31 story UN climate panel shamed by bogus rainforest claim was inaccurate, misleading and distorted. Now he has sent me an audio file taken from a message left on his answering machine by the Sunday Times. He also sent a statement explaining why that message is odd, and why he rejects their offer to finally publish his letter. The audio is a little faint, but you can hear the Sunday Times representative say that, following talks with the associate editor, the paper was offering to print the letter Lewis wrote immediately after the article was published nearly two months (!) ago. Fri Mar 26 16:04:56 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/-v_J-M3s2rg/ Click here to vote. I m updating this post because I now see you can vote every day (!) for Climate Progress in TreeHugger's Best of Green Awards. You ve got a whole nother week (through April 2) to vote for CP in the category of Best Political Website. Sure, you like the insider's view of climate science, solution, and politics delivered every day to you for free. But the other nominees are pretty darn good, too. Why should you vote for CP? Well, set aside all issues of merit, look at the competition, and vote strategically ... Fri Mar 26 16:04:56 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/mar/25/jeremy-leggett-solarcentury-under-attack-renewable-energy Former scientific director at Greenpeace is at the leading edge of a green energy revolution, and under fire from environmentalistsA tiny doorway next to a BetFair shop in south London is the unassuming headquarters of Solarcentury, a company that arguably stands to gain most on 1 April when the feed-in tariff " or "great green rip-off" as some call it " comes into force.The company, or at least its founder, is at the heart of the next phase of Britain's low-carbon revolution by encouraging homeowners to fix panels on their roofs to generate renewable energy.But while executive chairman Jeremy Leggett should have been devoting 24 hours a day preparing for the busiest period of his commercial life, he has been forced to spend some of his time fighting off an unexpected assault by environmentalists in the Guardian blogosphere. Fri Mar 26 16:04:56 2010 EST http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/25/new-ways-to-gauge-the-finite-atmosphere/ An illustrator finds ways to bring to life largely invisible environmental conditions and trends. Fri Mar 26 16:04:56 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/A_xWoDqaV4U/idUSTRE62O57V20100325 OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada needs a clear, sustained climate policy to help its nascent green energy sector cash in on a rapidly growing global market for climate-friendly technologies, two reports said on Thursday. Fri Mar 26 16:04:56 2010 EST http://www.huffingtonpost.com/antonio-villaraigosa/al-gore-endorses-carbon-r_b_513885.html Former Vice President Al Gore has endorsed LA's green energy plan, the Carbon Reduction Surcharge, calling it "one of the most forward-thinking clean energy plans" he's ever seen. Fri Mar 26 16:04:56 2010 EST http://georgiandaily.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=17885&Itemid=72 Russia, as experts around the world agree, is likely to be more profoundly affected by climate change than any other country, and Moscow is now focusing on the security threats global warming may entail not only within the country but in its relations with its closest neighbors. Last week, the Russian Security Council devoted its meeting to these issues, and this week, academic experts and activists discussed them at Moscow Social Forum on Energy Effectiveness and Climate change. Yury Averyanov, a Security Council official who was involved with both, spoke to the media about these issues. In an extensive interview with Rossiiskaya gazeta, Averyanov said that global warming would affect various parts of Russia differently. Fri Mar 26 16:04:56 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/mar/26/heathrow-third-runway-travel-and-transport High court rules that decision to expand Heathrow airport must be reconsidered in respect to UK climate change policyA high court judge today upheld the argument of a coalition of climate change activists that the government's support for a third runway at Heathrow needs to re-examined, particularly in respect to climate change policy.Protesters and the Department of Transport emerged from the Royal Courts of Justice this morning claiming victory in the complex legal battle.A coalition of local councils, green groups and residents had argued that the expansion decision was at odds with the UK's overall climate change targets in an alliance including six local authorities, Greenpeace and the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE).In a joint statement, the group said the government's Heathrow policy was now "in tatters" after Lord Justice Carnwath ruled the decision to give the third runway the green light was ... Fri Mar 26 16:04:56 2010 EST http://www.desmogblog.com/shell-oil-behind-london-science-museum-decision-take-anti-science-stance-global-warming London-Science-Museum.gif The Times of London reports that the London Science Museum has decided to change its position from promoting understanding of the science of global warming to one that they deem neutral in their climate science gallery. And by neutral they mean a stance at odds with the widely accepted science on climate change. Science accepted by NASA, the UN IPCC and climate scientists around the world. And science being visibly demonstrated right now " today - in places like Antarctica and Nepal where ice is shrinking and in Africa where bodies of water are rapidly decreasing from drought and climate changes and in our oceans where coral reefs are dying at an alarming rate. Fri Mar 26 16:04:56 2010 EST http://www.desmogblog.com/forest-scientist-simon-lewis-files-formal-complaint-against-uk-sunday-times-over-dishonest-reporting-“amazongate” Simon Lewis, an expert on tropical forests at the University of Leeds in the UK, says the Sunday Times "inaccurate, misleading and distorted" story by Jonathan Leake in January left readers under the wrong impression that the 2007 IPCC AR4 report made a false claim by stating that reduced rainfall could wipe out up to 40% of the Amazon rainforest. Lewis filed a formal complaint this week with the UK Press Complaints Commission.Leake's story helped to launch the Amazongate scandal that had the denialosphere all aflutter, and even made the rounds of many mainstream outlets. Leake got his story idea and research from climate change denier Richard North, a blogger who has denied the link between secondhand smoke and cancer, among other ridiculous positions. Fri Mar 26 16:04:56 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/s0NyxG8JwRo/ One of the single greatest concerns of climate scientists is that human-caused warming will cause amplifying feedbacks in the carbon-cycle. Such positive feedbacks, whereby an initial warming releases carbon into the air that causes more warming, would increase both the speed and scale of climate change, greatly complicating both mitigation and adaptation. The most worrisome amplifying feedback is the defrosting of the tundra (see Science stunner: Vast East Siberian Arctic Shelf methane stores destabilizing and venting). Another major, related feedback now appears to be soil respiration, whereby plants and microbes in the soil give off more carbon dioxide as the planet warms. Fri Mar 26 16:04:56 2010 EST http://energybulletin.net/node/52147 Professor Neil Adger is a lecturer and researcher at University of East Anglia. He is a researcher and teacher who specialises in social vulnerability, resilience and adaptation to environmental change; on justice and equity in decision-making; and the application of economics to global environmental change. He is a member of the Resilience Alliance, and is involved in a range of climate change research projects, including the IPCC and work for the Tyndall Centre. read more Fri Mar 26 16:04:56 2010 EST http://feeds.grist.org/click.phdo?i=1dd231e14d7e928b5b804ebf958d1a47 by Tom Philpott News flash: high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is a lousy product. As Tom Laskawy reported here Tuesday, a recent study by Princeton researchers found that rats fed chow laced with HFCS gained more weight than rats fed equal calories of table sugar. All processed sweeteners add empty calories to food; but calorie for calorie, HFCS appears to be even worse than white sugar. Although the two sweeteners have roughly the same fructose/glucose ratio, we mammals seem to metabolize the HFCS differently than we do cane sugar. That's grim news. On average, Americans get 10 percent of their total calories from HFCS"and kids, who rank among its heaviest users, get an even higher percentage of calories from it. Fri Mar 26 16:04:56 2010 EST http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50800 LONDON, Mar 25 (IPS) - The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has published the first details of a proposed financing framework, dubbed the 'Green Fund', intended to mobilise 100 billion dollars a year by 2020 to help developing countries cope with the consequences of climate change and mitigate further emissions. Fri Mar 26 16:04:56 2010 EST http://www.joabbess.com/2010/03/26/curru-horrible-headlines/ The Climate Unscience Rapid Response Unit would like to ask anybody out there with a few spare minutes and a reliable contact with the Daily Telegraph to have a little chat with them about this, their latest Horrible Headline , headlighted on their Science page thusly :- Will it really be a barbecue summer ? : Forecasts for a barbecue summer are as uncertain as predictions of climate change, argues Roger Highfield : 23 Mar 2010 They appear to have already bowed to some sort of internal or external pressure to change it from its original form, which appears to have had its datestamp set back to the year 2000, for some unknown reason :- [link]science/7499524/You-cant-predict-the-weather-or-climate-change.html You can t predict the weather ... Fri Mar 26 16:04:56 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/4RdaQDRxOYs/idUSTRE62P1MT20100326 LONDON (Reuters) - Environmentalists opposed to a third runway at London's Heathrow airport claimed victory on Friday after a British judge ruled the government must review the project's climate change and economic impact. Fri Mar 26 16:04:56 2010 EST http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2010/03/26/Thirty-states-to-observe-Earth-Hour/UPI-71231269614346/ WASHINGTON, March 26 (UPI) -- Thirty U.S. states have agreed to darken public buildings for an hour Saturday to draw attention to global warming, officials said. Fri Mar 26 16:04:56 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/ArcM0c5x0Lg/ The media stories have been sensational: Public scepticism prompts Science Museum to rename climate exhibition: The Science Museum is revising the contents of its new climate science gallery to reflect the wave of scepticism that has engulfed the issue in recent months. London Science Museum goes climate science neutral: A new climate gallery at London's Science Museum, sponsored byRoyal Dutch Shell will step back from pushing evidence of man-made climate change to adopt a more neutral position. The anti-science crowd has been trumpeting the news, and Anthony Watts even claims credit for duping the Museum into thinking most of the viewers voting on its website were skeptics. Fri Mar 26 16:04:56 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/mar/26/rajendra-pachauri-climate-science-persecution IPCC chair accuses politicians and sceptics of portraying scientists as 'criminals' through attacks on their credibilityRajendra Pachauri: Don't hound the scientistsThe head of the UN's climate change panel has accused politicians and prominent climate sceptics of "a new form of persecution" against scientists who work on global warming.In a strongly worded article published on the Guardian website, Rajendra Pachauri, chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), hit out at those in "positions of power and responsibility" who try to portray "dedicated scientists as climate criminals".Pachauri also accused critics who have used an error in the 2007 IPCC report to question the scientific basis of climate change of "an act of astonishing intellectual legerdemain [sleight of hand]". Fri Mar 26 16:04:56 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cif-green/2010/mar/26/dont-hound-the-climate-scientists One regrettable mistake about glaciers doesn't alter the vast evidence there is of climate changeTo dismiss the implications of climate change based on an error about the rate at which Himalayan glaciers are melting is an act of astonishing intellectual legerdemain. Yet this is what some doubters of climate change are claiming. But the reality is that our understanding of climate change is based on a vast and remarkably sound body of science " and is something we distort and trivialise at our peril.The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has published four comprehensive assessments of climate change and several important special reports since its founding in 1988. Fri Mar 26 16:04:56 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2010/mar/26/boiler-scrappage-scheme-closes Scheme worth £400 to trade up to a A-rated efficient boiler has closed after all 125,000 vouchers are used upThe government's boiler scrappage scheme, which offered £400 to householders to encourage them to upgrade to a more energy-efficient central heating scheme, has closed to new applications after running out of money.The scheme, launched in January, was aimed at cutting carbon emissions as well as helping people save money on their energy bills.Up to 125,000 households in England with working boilers with the lowest "G" rating were able to apply for vouchers from the Energy Saving Trust, which they could put towards buying an A-rated boiler or installing a renewable heating system such as a biomass boiler or heat pump.This afternoon the government announced that all 125,000 vouchers had been taken up and that the scheme is now closed."The ... Fri Mar 26 16:04:56 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/mar/25/china-drought-emergency-food Temperatures and rainfall reach worst levels since 1950s, affecting 18m people and 11m livestock in southern regionsChina has sent 1.4m tonnes of emergency grain supplies to drought-stricken southern provinces that are struggling to cope with the worst drought in decades, the local media reported today.Authorities say well digging and other relief efforts may also need to be widened as the normally lush and humid region undergoes a dry spell that threatens wildlife, crop production and hydropower generation.The drought has left 18 million people and 11m livestock in Yunnan, Guangxi, Sichuan and Chongqing without adequate water, according to the ministry of civil affairs.As Yunnan is home to several of Asia's biggest rivers, including the Yangtze, Mekong and Salween, the downstream impact of a prolonged drought is of concern to almost a billion people.The economic damage is already estimated at 24bn yuan (about £2. ... Fri Mar 26 16:04:56 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/o0Vp1fxQUCw/ In a new video, the University of Minnesota Institute on the Environment asks a critical question: Have we pushed Earth past the tipping point? Humanity developed civilization within a small zone of environmental conditions, but in the last century we have begun reshaping our planet, accelerating the process in recent years: We ve cleared, consumed and polluted our way across the globe. The planet is shrinking. Have we pushed Earth past the tipping point? Watch the video: Last September, a team of 28 scientists identified 10 separate biophysical systems crucial to humanity's flourishing and then determined safe operating boundaries for those systems within which humanity must remain if we wish to maintain the conditions in which it developed civilization. Fri Mar 26 16:04:56 2010 EST http://energybulletin.net/node/52157 -Is urban farming Detroit's cash cow?-Looming citrus disease could annihilate county's trees-The Great Sustainability Debate: Meat Or No Meat?-The London Orchard Project: bringing fruit to car parks-Don't confuse manure tea with Earl Grey-China faces 'diabetes epidemic', research suggests-Big food push urged to avoid global hunger-The Radical Necessity of Cooking: Mollie Katzen, Vegetablist read more Fri Mar 26 16:04:56 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/cif-green/2010/mar/26/earth-hour Over 125 countries will take part in Earth Hour. But how can the collective switch-off really make a difference? What will you do in the dark for Earth Hour? Earth Hour - climate change campaigners urge global switch-offTomorrow, at 8.30pm, thousands of people across the UK and maybe a billion across the world will take part in Earth Hour.It'll look impressive, no doubt. The big switch-off will make the news. But so what? We know that just one hour, even on this global scale, won't in itself save energy or reduce emissions in any significant way. Fri Mar 26 16:04:56 2010 EST http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/03/26/91148/schwarzenegger-takes-side-of-business.html Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger faces a ballot initiative that could derail a global warming law he championed. He's urging a go-slow approach that would help business. Fri Mar 26 16:04:56 2010 EST http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100326/sc_afp/euclimatewarmingtax_20100326175835 European leaders remained divided over whether or not to slap a carbon tax at EU borders at a two-day EU summit that wound up Friday. Fri Mar 26 16:04:56 2010 EST http://liberalconspiracy.org/2010/03/26/court-victory-for-anti-heathrow-protesters/ Campaigners against the third runway in Heathrow were celebrating after judges ordered a review of the plans, particularly with respect to their effect on climate change policy. Heathrow Coalition Against Aircraft Noise reported: The Government's airport expansion policy is in tatters this morning (26th March) after a Judge ruled that ministers did not properly consult on a number of key issues before attempting to give consent to a third runway at Heathrow airport. The Judge ruled that a January 2009 statement to the House of Commons by Geoff Hoon giving the green light to Heathrow expansion had no legal substance. Fri Mar 26 16:04:56 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/blogs/environment/~3/IBci3Hw2TqU/ Lights will go out around the world on Saturday from Beijing's Forbidden City to a village in the Arctic where they usually keep street lights blazing to ward off polar bears. The Earth Hour " when everyone is asked to turn off lights for an hour from 8.30 p.m. local time " is meant as a show of support for tougher action to confront climate change. Organisers say that hundreds of millions of people last year joined in the annual event that has flourished since it began in Australia in 2007 and has won support from more than 120 nations, with endorsements from companies, government leaders and U.N. Fri Mar 26 16:04:56 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/england/8584756.stm Scientists and engineers in Bath and Bristol aim to convert carbon dioxide into car fuel. Thu Mar 25 09:03:27 2010 EST 25th March 2010 http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/mar/24/endangered-species-green-banks-bioblitzing This is a weekly email briefing from environmentguardian.co.uk, bringing you the best news, analysis and debateSign up here to get the briefing delivered to your inboxConservation and Cites Internet is biggest threat to endangered species, say conservationists Large bloc of African countries oppose plan to relax 21-year ivory sales ban Endangered species: Last chance to see African nations at loggerheads over auction of ivory stockpiles Bluefin tuna fails to make UN's list of protected fish The war of the sea eaglesEndangered species have been high on the agenda this week thanks to a meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (Cites), which is now drawing to a close. Thu Mar 25 09:03:27 2010 EST http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50772 VIENTIANE, Mar 24 (IPS) - Like many residents of this slow-paced Lao capital, graduate student Packno usually enjoys meeting up with her family and friends for dinner at any of the restaurants along the Mekong River. Thu Mar 25 09:03:27 2010 EST http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50761 UXBRIDGE, Canada, Mar 23 (Tierramérica) - The survival of corals, which face grave threats from ocean acidification, bottom trawling and the jewellery and decor trade, depends in great measure on a conference under way in Doha, Qatar. Thu Mar 25 09:03:27 2010 EST http://www.joabbess.com/2010/03/24/climate-union-one-nation-under-water/ [link]greenjobs [link]overnightvigil I m in the Climate Union. Are you ? Yesterday evening, I sat in an amazing discussion. There were representatives from some of the UK's best social movements, including environmental campaigns, faith communities and trades unions. Part of a series of coalition talks, yesterday's goal was to make progress on forming a united front on Climate Change. There are some politics to do. Because, well, you know, it's not just about Global Warming. It's about Climate Change. And that will affect us all. Thu Mar 25 09:03:27 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/world/south_asia/8584665.stm Global warming claims a tiny island disputed by India and Bangladesh in the Bay of Bengal, scientists say. Thu Mar 25 09:03:27 2010 EST http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/24/a-physics-mavens-take-on-skeptical-science/ An Australian blogger takes on climate skeptics' arguments, one by one. Thu Mar 25 09:03:27 2010 EST http://timetobebold.wordpress.com/ At COP15 2010, on December 17th and 18th, presentations were made, by the heads of states, to the Plenary. The majority of heads of states were calling for the global community to maintain the rise in temperature to well below 1.5 degrees. Tragically, it was clear at COP15 that the demands of the majority of states were disregarded. On December 7th, Papua New Guinea had proposed that, rather than descend to the lowest common denominator, the parties should strive for consensus with a fallback of 75%. Unfortunately, this proposal was summarily dismissed by the Chair. If one counts the G77 representing 130 developing states along with some low -lying states or small island states which were not members of the G77 and, with some of the member states of the European Union, then possibly over 75% of the signatories of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate ... Thu Mar 25 09:03:27 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/sci/tech/8586056.stm What does latest UK Budget mean for green energy? Thu Mar 25 09:03:27 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/-4v91K3mT0M/ Colorado sets 30% target for 2020 Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter (D) signed into law yesterday a revision to the state's renewable energy standard, requiring that 30 percent of the state's electricity come from renewable sources by 2020. The state currently requires 20 percent of its electricity to come from renewable sources. Ritter said at a signing ceremony that Colorado's efforts to create a friendly business climate for renewable energy has attracted pioneering companies such as wind turbine manufacturer Vestas Wind Systems A/S. This is a commitment to clean energy that is unparalleled in the country, Ritter said. Thu Mar 25 09:03:27 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/HP1TYcm5dj4/ You can vote here on another pointless online poll. Big Oil wants us to remain addicted to oil, a major source of carbon pollution. So it and other special interests have conducted an aggressive disinformation campaign for more than a decade to convince Americans that there's a major disagreement among scientists on the dangers posed by carbon pollution, just as the tobacco industry disputed the science to keep smokers addicted . That's the opening of my op-ed in U.S. News this month, in response to the topic question, Did Climategate Expose Global Warming Fears as Unfounded? Yes, that framing is triply biased, with Climategate and fears and unfounded all crammed into one uber-lame question/push-poll that tries to push people hard to vote yes. I am pitted against Sen. Thu Mar 25 09:03:27 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/ZIg1aSEg4XI/ Accuweather's expert long-range forecaster Joe Bastardi has now firmly established himself as the least informed, most anti-scientific meteorologist in the world (see here). In this impossible-to-believe video more suitable for April 1 or The Onion, he demonstrates he doesn t even know the difference between temperature and temperature anomaly or what the Arctic Oscillation does! And while he himself is constantly citing temperature data from before the satellite era, he labels all such temperature records as based on magic. Please put your head in a vise before viewing this: Click on image to view video Bastardi tells his viewers, The picture you see here is the Goddard Institute for Space Studies temperatures for the winter and you can see it was a torrid winter according to this. He then spins a long conspiracy theory suggesting that these numbers ... Thu Mar 25 09:03:27 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/mar/24/budget-green-plans-emissions-cut Alistair Darling's low-carbon commitments were slim, but Treasury figures show plans for biomass and electric cars amount to big emissions savingsIt looked like the palest of green budgets but Treasury calculations suggested that the series of small but significant transport, tax and investment measures announced could cumulatively lead to the reduction of nearly 80m tonnes of CO2 - nearly 15% of all UK climate change emissions - by 2020.The biggest benefits, said the Treasury, should come from the new green investment bank which the government hopes will encourage a £2bn kick-start for the low carbon economy. Together with initiatives - that the chancellor did not specify in his speech - to encourage biomass burning as opposed to fossil fuels, help for electric and other ultra-low carbon vehicles, this could lead to a saving of 51m tonnes of CO2 by 2020, it says. Thu Mar 25 09:03:27 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/georgemonbiot/2010/mar/24/windfarms If every windfarm company pledged 10% of its income to the local community, many more would be approvedListening to the radio yesterday, I remembered something I've been meaning to get off my chest. The PM programme carried a report from Westray in the Orkney islands, where a 900kW wind turbine was approved without a single planning objection (BBC News of Ten has more). Given that it stands 67m high on a mostly flat island, how did this happen?It's simple: the turbine is owned by the residents. They raised £1.5m in loans and grants. Once the bank has been paid off, they'll be making £200,000 a year.I first came across the concept of community windfarms a few years ago, when I met a man in Scotland wearing a wind turbine lapel badge. Thu Mar 25 09:03:27 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2010/mar/24/basic-countries-water China, India, Brazil and South Africa will require nearly half of all the water supplies for homes, industry and agriculture by 2030In doing research for a feature related to water, I came across an almost unbelievable statistic from an otherwise sober and respectable report. A day later, I'm still unable to comprehend the scale of it; I keep re-reading it, turning the page around, and saying out aloud, so strong is the instinct that it can't quite be true.The report is Charting our water future: Economic frameworks to inform decision-making; it was put together by consultants McKinsey Company on behalf of the 2030 Water Resources Group, an alliance of concerned bodies including the World Bank Group and big private interests such as the Coca-Cola Company, SAB Miller and Standard Chartered Bank.The headline point of the report is that by 2030, unless substantial changes are made ... Thu Mar 25 09:03:27 2010 EST http://feeds.grist.org/click.phdo?i=56c245067a8bf142a9fbac6dbb5950d6 by Agence France-Presse Jane Goodall.Photo: United NationsLONDON"Humans should have fewer babies to help the global battle against climate change, according to the renowned British primatologist and conservationist Jane Goodall. Goodall, whose 1960s research on chimpanzees changed perceptions of relations between humans and animals, fears the controversial issue has slipped down the agenda in the debate about humanity's impact on the environment. It's very frustrating as people don t want to address this topic, said the 75-year-old English scientist. It's our population growth that underlies just about every single one of the problems that we ve inflicted on the planet. Thu Mar 25 09:03:27 2010 EST http://feeds.grist.org/click.phdo?i=7511fa675d632d2cde4e04264df4fa3d by Sean Casten From 1980 to 2007, total U.S. electricity consumption increased by a factor of 1.8, but total generation capacity increased by only 1.7 times. In other words, demand out-grew supply. For a while, that was fine"we had more toys than we needed, and real power prices declined for two decades as we made better use of the toys we had. By the year 2000, though, that gig was up, and we suddenly found ourselves having to run our most expensive plants harder, having fully tapped-out our low-cost supply. Electricity prices, not surprisingly, rose"and continue to do so, 10 years later. Thu Mar 25 09:03:27 2010 EST http://feeds.grist.org/click.phdo?i=d05b283c5d9de80a358b8a654187163a by Jonathan Hiskes A leading thinker on the left recently wrote that elite authorities have failed us and require grassroots input to become accountable. A leading thinker on the right recently wrote that centralized authorities have failed us and should be balanced by stronger local economic, political, and social networks. Now Woody Tasch of the Slow Money Alliance wants to get people with these sentiments working together. He's calling for a green version of the Tea Party: We all share an abiding frustration at the dysfunctions of Wall Street and Washington. We are deeply frustrated at the damage caused by money that is too fast, investment banks that are too big and government programs that are too complex. Thu Mar 25 09:03:27 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news188655982.html Relatives of ingredients in hair-conditioning shampoos and fabric softeners show promise as a long-sought material to fight global warming by "scrubbing" carbon dioxide (CO2) out of the flue gases from coal-burning electric power generating stations, scientists reported today at the 239th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS). Thu Mar 25 09:03:27 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news188655169.html Twenty years of field studies reveal that as the Earth has gotten warmer, plants and microbes in the soil have given off more carbon dioxide. So-called soil respiration has increased about one-tenth of 1 percent per year since 1989, according to an analysis of past studies in today's issue of Nature. Thu Mar 25 09:03:27 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/axxxmD1MJs0/idUSTRE62N5AO20100324 CALGARY (Reuters) - Canada's oil sands producers have pledged to improve their environmental records and do a better job communicating their efforts to the public, but environmentalists say they see no commitment to real change. Thu Mar 25 09:03:27 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/aMxnJTEDzmQ/idUSTRE62N2IN20100324 LONDON (Reuters) - Merchant ships can cut their carbon emissions by as much as 30 percent over the next three years by traveling more slowly, a Brussels-based environmental group said on Wednesday. Thu Mar 25 09:03:27 2010 EST Trend could exacerbate global warming. Soils around the globe have increased their emissions of carbon dioxide over the past few decades, according to an analysis of 439 studies. The findings1, published in Nature today, match predictions that increasing temperatures will cause a net release of carbon dioxide from soils by triggering microbes to speed up their consumption of plant debris and other organic matter. Ben Bond-Lamberty and Allison Thomson, terrestrial carbon research scientists at the University of Maryland's Joint Global Change Research Institute in College Park, conducted the study by stitching together almost 50 years of soil-emissions data - 1,434 data points - from 439 studies around the world. To compare measurements, the researchers accounted for differences between the studies, such as mean annual temperatures and techniques used to gauge carbon dioxide levels. They totalled the data for each year to create a global estimate of soil respiration - the flux of carbon dioxide from the ground into the atmosphere. The researchers found that soil respiration had increased by about 0.1% per year between 1989 and 2008, the span when soil measurement techniques had become standardized. In 2008, the global total reached roughly 98 billion tonnes, about 10 times more carbon than humans are now putting into the atmosphere each year. The change within soils "is a slow increase, but the absolute number is so large, even a small percentage increase is quite a bit," says Bond-Lamberty. "There are a few plausible explanations for this trend, but the most tempting, and perhaps most likely explanation is that increasing temperatures have increased rates of decomposition of soil organic matter, which has increased the flow of CO2," says Eric Davidson, a biogeochemist at the Woods Hole Research Center in Falmouth, Massachusetts. "If true, this is an important finding: that a positive feedback to climate change is already occurring at a detectable level in soils." Unknown cause The extra soil emissions could come from two types of sources: microbes and plants. If plant roots are emitting more carbon dioxide, the additional flux could be balanced by increasing rates of photosynthesis, resulting in no net increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide. In contrast, warming soils could prompt microbes to break down old sources of carbon that have been locked away for a long time. This would cause a net increase in the atmosphere's store of carbon dioxide. Although the study shows an increase in respiration, it can't distinguish between the two potential causes. Researchers who study soil carbon say they are impressed with the huge undertaking. "It's extremely difficult to compare soil respiration measurements between different experiments, let alone different regions of the world," says Dustin Bronson from the University of Wyoming in Laramie. William Schlesinger, president of the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook, New York, says the new study should motivate further work on the response of the carbon cycle to a warmer world. Thomson and Bond-Lamberty agree that their work is just a beginning. They have started an online global soil respiration database2 to which researchers can contribute additional studies as they are completed. Over time, says Thomson, "we can see if this relationship holds up". http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/YaleEnvironment360/~3/Pi--jjXdMOg/digest.msp Using data from GPS sensors and satellites that measure gravity, a team of scientists from Denmark and the United States has shown that melting of Greenland's massive ice sheet is now spreading to the northwest coast of the island. The rapid warming of Greenland " air temperatures there have jumped 4 degrees F in the last 20 years " led to the loss of an estimated 385 cubic miles of ice in southern Greenland from 2002 to 2009. Now, scientists have used a pair of gravity-measuring GRACE satellites and a network of GPS sensors to show that the loss of ice in northwest Greenland caused the earth's crust to rise by 1.5 inches from 2005 to 2009. Thu Mar 25 09:03:27 2010 EST http://www.newsweek.com/id/235366 Imagine another IPCC mistake. Where's the outrage when the agency lowballs the threat? The full analysis of how the IPCC has lowballed its estimate of sea-level rise, from when the IPCC report was released in 2007, is here. Now try looking for outrage over that on the blogosphere. Himalayan glacier mistake? Everywhere. Sea-level rise error? Not so much. Thu Mar 25 09:03:27 2010 EST http://www.good.is/post/can-animation-help-stop-climate-change British filmmaker Simon Robson has assembled a crack international team of animators to make a collaborative, web-based film that advocates for collective online action as a way to solve the climate crisis. The British animator Simon Robson, who works under the nom de filme Knife Party, specializes in what he calls issue animation "short-form polemics and parables that marry the perspectives of ... Thu Mar 25 09:03:27 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news188503833.html (PhysOrg.com) -- Professor Charles Greene asserts in the journal Oceanography that the world's policymakers have underestimated the potential dangerous impacts that man-made climate change will have on society. Thu Mar 25 09:03:27 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news188488633.html Under a changing climate, patterns of forest disturbance are expected to change, but how will forest diseases respond? A summary of scientific information that addresses this question is now available on the Internet at [link]psw/topics/insect_disease/. The site includes a searchable bibliography. The summary, titled "Review of Literature on Climate Change and Forest Diseases of Western North America" is sponsored by the USDA Forest Service. Thu Mar 25 09:03:27 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news188454975.html Top a building with a light-colored "cool roof," and it reflects sunlight, cutting air conditioning bills in summer, but increasing winter heating costs. Choose black shingles, and the roof soaks up sunlight to cut winter heating costs but makes the roof bake in the summer sun. One or the other. You can't have it both ways. Until now. Thu Mar 25 09:03:27 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/VlmpNexsNHA/idUSTRE62N6PJ20100324 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two U.S. senators who have been part of negotiations on climate change legislation this year said on Wednesday they disagree with the carbon emissions reduction approach being developed in a compromise bill. Thu Mar 25 09:03:27 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/sWfOq8kh7_8/idUSTRE62N6DK20100324 SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - California's economy will not be damaged by the state's 2006 climate change law and some sectors could thrive, a state agency said in a report on Wednesday that counters fears in the business community that the measure will kill jobs and economic growth. Thu Mar 25 09:03:27 2010 EST http://durangotelegraph.com/telegraph.php?inc=/10-03-25/localnews.htm Global warming will raise temperatures in Colorado, right? But will it also get drier? It depends on who you ask. A new $1 million study suggests snowier and rainier winters in the northern mountains and drier ones in the state's south by the mid-21st century. And everywhere across the Western Slope, summers are expected to be hotter, longer and drier, putting more stress on reservoirs. These tentative conclusions are found in the newly released draft Colorado River Water Availability Study, a $1 million effort described as cutting edge by state water officials, who commissioned it. Thu Mar 25 09:03:27 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/oOqdLGTrR58/ James Cameron's eco-pic has become the top grossing film of all time (see Post-Apocalypse Now ). And that did not endear him to the anti-science crowd. Glenn brainless frog Beck said Cameron is officially running for Antichrist. Cameron has now responded, as Brad Johnson reports in this repost: Avatar director James Cameron thinks global-warming deniers are boneheads who are going to have to be answerable for their denialism. With a global box office of $2.7 billion, Avatar is the highest grossing film of all time. Conservatives unnerved by the environmental themes of this sci-fi action-and-romance popcorn flick are complaining that it's a sanctimonious thud of a movie, a three-hour lecture on war, imperialism, and green awareness, every militant global warming supporter's dream come true, ... Thu Mar 25 09:03:27 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/D-BENMMnx20/ I wish to lodge a complaint about the article UN climate panel shamed by bogus rainforest claim by Jonathan Leake, published in the Sunday Times, across pages 8 and 9 on 31 January 2010. I consider it in breach of PCC Editors Code of Practice point 1) Accuracy, i) The Press must take care not to publish inaccurate, misleading or distorted information, including pictures. So begins tropical forest researcher Simon Lewis in his official complaint to the UK's Press Complaints Commission. The PCC is an independent body which deals with complaints from members of the public about the editorial content of newspapers and magazines. Finally, we have someone who understands, as Nature editorialized, Scientists must now emphasize the science, while acknowledging that they are in a street fight. The full 31-page complaint " click here (big PDF) " is a must-read ... Thu Mar 25 09:03:27 2010 EST http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2010/03/the-guardian-responds/ We recently ran two articles that were quite critical of aspects of the Guardian's coverage of the stolen emails. This is a response from Dr. James Randerson, the editor of the Guardian's environmental website. I edit the Guardian's environment website and was part of the editorial team that produced the 12-part investigation by veteran science journalist Fred Pearce into the hacked East Anglia climate emails. I m very grateful to RealClimate for giving us the opportunity to respond to the recent posts on the investigation: The Guardian Disappoints and Close Encounters of the Absurd Kind . Thu Mar 25 09:03:27 2010 EST http://climateprogress.org/2010/03/24/avatar-james-cameron-glenn-beck-global-warming-deniers/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed: climateprogress/lCrX (Climate Progress) Big Oil wants us to remain addicted to oil, a major source of carbon pollution. So it and other special interests have conducted an aggressive disinformation campaign for more than a decade to convince Americans that there's a major disagreement among scientists on the dangers posed by carbon pollution, just as the tobacco industry disputed the science to keep smokers addicted. Yes, the 3,000-page review of the scientific literature by the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in 2007 has a couple of "trivial mistakes" in it, as the Washington Post put it. But as a physicist who writes on climate issues, I've read much of the original literature and talked to dozens of the leading climate scientists. Thu Mar 25 09:03:27 2010 EST http://www.joabbess.com/2010/03/25/curru-amazongate-badge-of-honour-award/ The Climate Unscience Rapid Response Unit (CURRU) has scored another major victory this week in the ongoing struggle for accurate journalism, with the submission made to the British Press Complaints Commission by a working Climate Change Scientist, Simon Lewis, concerning poor treatment of rainforest Science by Jonathan Leake of The Sunday Times :- [link]environment/2010/mar/24/sunday-times-ipcc-amazon-rainforest [link]2010/03/24/simon-lewis-jonathan-leake-richard-north-amazon-gate-ipcc-sunday-times-complaint-pcc/ [link]deltoid/2010/03/leakegate_scientist_fights_bac.php For this, Simon Lewis deserves a strong cup of herbal tea and several congratulatory back thumps, and a glorious badge of honour, which I shall personally craft myself from twigs, leaves and spiderwebbings. Thu Mar 25 09:03:27 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/TJAWpAg5iHc/idUSTRE62O0BF20100325 LONDON (Reuters) - Britain needs to increase its efforts to adapt infrastructure and homes to cope with the effects of climate change, a UK parliamentary committee said on Thursday. Thu Mar 25 09:03:27 2010 EST http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article7073272.ece The Science Museum is revising the contents of its new climate science gallery to reflect the wave of scepticism that has engulfed the issue in recent months. The decision by the 100-year-old London museum reveals how deeply scientific institutions have been shaken by the public's reaction to revelations of malpractice by climate scientists. The museum is abandoning its previous practice of trying to persuade visitors of the dangers of global warming. It is instead adopting a neutral position, acknowledging that there are legitimate doubts about the impact of man-made emissions on the climate. Thu Mar 25 09:03:27 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/uk/8586431.stm Far more needs to be done by the government to help the UK adapt to climate change, MPs have said. Thu Mar 25 09:03:27 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/cif-green/2010/mar/25/climate-change-election-parliament The next parliament is the last one that can meet the 80% cut by 2050 target. Whoever wins the general election must tackle climate change immediatelyAt precisely the moment when this government has finally got its act together on addressing climate change, public confidence in the science of climate change would appear to have hit a new low. Depending on which opinion poll you read, the percentage of people who now believe both that climate change is happening and that it's primarily happening as a consequence of the emissions of greenhouse gases we put into the atmosphere, has gone down to less than 50% of us, and possibly as low as 30% of us.That makes it a lot harder for the politicians, in that such scepticism (and even hostility) provides little encouragement that leadership in this area will play well electorally. Thu Mar 25 09:03:27 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/mar/25/budget-2010-green-bank Sale of state-owned assets to help pay for green investment bank to finance North Sea wind farms and low-carbon transportThe government plans to take a direct equity stake in North Sea wind farms through a green investment bank, using cash raised from the sale of assets such as the Channel tunnel rail link.The move mirrors the state intervention in the early days of offshore oil, but the amount of public money involved, at £1bn, is regarded as "peanuts" by some critics, given the need for total infrastructure spending of £50bn a year.Alistair Darling said in his budget speech that a further £1bn at least would be sought from the private sector to pump into the new bank, which he hoped would open for business in the autumn of 2011. Thu Mar 25 09:03:27 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/mar/25/developing-world-un-climate-chief From Panos, part of the Guardian Environment NetworkThe race for the UN's top climate change post is heating up with calls for it to go to a candidate from a developing country. Costa Rica put its hat into the ring this week, nominating its lead climate change negotiator Christiana Figueres to succeed Yvo de Boer. Alongside South Africa, other frontrunners include India and Indonesia. Environmental journalists Pierre Fitter in Delhi and Harry Surjadi in Jakarta weigh up their chances.Harry Surjadi in JakartaIndonesia's president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono recently returned from talks in Australia, where alongside topics such as people smuggling and terrorism was another pressing issue ... Thu Mar 25 09:03:27 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/mar/25/uk-homes-climate-change-adaptation Britain must increase its efforts to adapt infrastructure and homes to cope with the effects of climate change, parliamentary committee warnsA programme to "retrofit" homes with measures to make them more energy and water efficient and resilient to flooding is needed to help households cope with climate change, MPs said today.The environmental audit committee also warned that new housing developments should only get planning approval if they are designed to suit future changes in the climate, as part of efforts to make sure the UK adapts to rising temperatures.And there needs to be greater focus on "green infrastructure" including water storage, more trees and more open spaces which can tackle flash flooding and hot city summers, the committee said.A report by the committee of MPs warned efforts to adapt to a changing climate needed to be as much of a priority as cutting the greenhouse gas emissions ... Thu Mar 25 09:03:27 2010 EST http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50780 PARIS, Mar 24 (IPS) - Even though 2009 was the fifth warmest year since 1850, and 2000-09 the warmest decade ever, according to the World Meterological Organisation, surveys show that public concern about global warming in the United States and Canada has dropped sharply in the past 18 months. Thu Mar 25 09:03:27 2010 EST http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/03/24/91000/is-climate-change-starting-to.html A low-lying island in the Bay of Bengal that India and Bangladesh both claimed has now been conquered instead by the ocean, in what may be the first instance of climate change helping to resolve an international conflict. Thu Mar 25 09:03:27 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/_1Wwhy9NUCg/idUSTRE62N6PJ20100325 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two U.S. senators who have been part of negotiations on climate change legislation this year said on Wednesday they disagree with the carbon emissions reduction approach being developed in a compromise bill. Thu Mar 25 09:03:27 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/world_news_america/8586261.stm Access to clean drinkable water has plagued communities for centuries. Drought and environmental conditions have long prevented communities with little rain from turning their situation around. Thu Mar 25 09:03:27 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/world/americas/8586429.stm President Hugo Chavez adds three days to Venezuela's Easter holiday in an effort to deal with a growing energy crisis. Thu Mar 25 09:03:27 2010 EST http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/todays-paper/Senate+climate+change+bill+details+still+unfinished/2722826/story.html France24US Senate climate-change bill details still unfinishedMontreal GazetteSenators negotiating a bill to address global warming fears and encourage the use of more alternative energy ...Senators at odds over climate billReutersClimate Changers: U.S. Senator Lindsey GrahamOnEarth MagazineMassie: Containing climate changeYale Daily NewsBBC News (blog) -BusinessWeek -AFPall 105 Thu Mar 25 09:03:27 2010 EST http://liberalconspiracy.org/2010/03/25/why-arent-our-banks-backing-green-projects/ Guest post by Adam Ramsay There is much to write about yesterday's budget, but I thought I would highlight just one paradox " one I genuinely don t understand. Alistair Darling announced a £1bn fund for low carbon projects. This green investment bank is designed to provide the stimulous which will encourage other lenders to also back renewable energy projects and the like. The Treasury reckon this will lead to a total of £2bn extra for low carbon infrastructure. In itself this is to be welcomed, but is nothing like the level of investment we need in climate protecting technologies if I am to have a comfortable retirement come 2050. Thu Mar 25 09:03:27 2010 EST http://liberalconspiracy.org/2010/03/25/earth-hour-on-saturday/ Our friends at the WWF asked us to remind our readers about Earth Hour: Earth Hour 2010 is coming up again on Saturday 27th March when people, businesses and iconic buildings around the world will switch off their lights for an hour at 8.30pm local time, in order to send a clear message to the world's governments that climate change needs to be addressed urgently. We re trying to get the word out to as many people as possible and get them to sign-up to the campaign. Hopefully we can top last year's awesome achievements, which saw hundreds of millions of people across 3,000 cities and towns in 83 countries participate. Thu Mar 25 09:03:27 2010 EST http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Environment/2010/03/25/13351721-ap.html?cid=rssnewsworld China has taken the lead in investments in clean energy, spending nearly double what the U.S. did in 2009, as it ramps up projects in both renewable and traditional energy, a report said Thursday. Thu Mar 25 09:03:27 2010 EST http://business.scotsman.com/business/The-Budget-2bn-isn39t-enough.6178781.jp A NEW £2 billion green investment bank unveiled by the government has been criticised for not going far enough to kick-start the mass development of renewable energy needed to Thu Mar 25 09:03:27 2010 EST http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2260218/uk-greenhouse-gas-emissions James Murray, BusinessGreen , Thursday 25 March 2010 at 11:55:00 Minister hails "very promising performance" The UK's greenhouse gas emissions fell by 8.6 per cent during 2009 to 574.6 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent, according to provisional government figures released today. The government said the bulk of the cut in emissions was the result of the economic downturn, but also ... Thu Mar 25 09:03:27 2010 EST http://www.thestar.com/news/ontario/article/462888--ontario-joins-carbon-plan Canadian provincial and territorial leaders could not cut a country-wide deal today to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and instead pledged to fight mounting energy prices. Thu Mar 25 09:03:27 2010 EST http://sify.com/finance/china-drills-more-wells-seeds-clouds-amid-drought-news-international-kdzoukgidjg.html Emergency wells were being drilled and cloud-seeding operations carried out in southern China, where the worst drought in decades has left millions of people without water and caused more than Thu Mar 25 09:03:27 2010 EST http://pomeradonews.com/article/Editorial/Editorial/Memes_from_the_Deep_End_Global_Warming_Too_important_to_be_left_to_ad_agencies/32607 There are two primary causes for this sorry state of affairs: First, Earth climate is very complex, involving a huge number of variables with highly non-linear interactions, operating over vastly different time scales; and second, there's Big Money at stake. Thu Mar 25 09:03:27 2010 EST http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=125075282&ft=1&f=1003 There's always been more skepticism about global warming among Republicans than Democrats, but there have also been many bipartisan efforts to address the issue. That may no longer be the case. Thu Mar 25 09:03:27 2010 EST http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2010/03/saleska-responds-green-is-green/ In a recent post here at RealClimate, Simon Lewis wrote regarding a 2010 paper by Samanta et al. on the effect of single-year drought conditions on the Amazon. Samanta et al. claimed to have contradicted a 2007 paper by Scott Saleska et al., and to have thereby overturned some IPCC conclusions. Lewis showed why Samanta's paper did not contradict the IPCC, even if it may have correctly identified an error in Saleska et al. Now Saleska has written to say that, actually, Samanta et al.'s results do not identify any error in their work: the results agree completely. Wed Mar 24 06:47:38 2010 EST 24th March 2010 http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/2/hi/uk_news/england/north_yorkshire/8577957.stm Guests including ex-Cabinet minister Clare Short attend an artist's dinner party on top of a crumbling cliff in North Yorkshire. Wed Mar 24 06:47:38 2010 EST http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/0041daa0-3366-11df-bc32-00144feabdc0.html Renewable energy companies on Friday expressed concern that the Conservatives were planning to overhaul the environmental subsidy system, by offering wind farm developers a feed-in tariff in place of the current renewables obligation system.The criticism came amid a broad welcome from business groups and environmental campaigners for Tory proposals to expand the role of green energy if the party gains power. Wed Mar 24 06:47:38 2010 EST http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2010-03/20/content_9618339.htm KUNMING - Rare drought has seriously cut down fresh flower output in Yunnan province, China's largest fresh flower production and export base, driving up market prices, the provincial flower industry office said Saturday. Wed Mar 24 06:47:38 2010 EST http://www.countercurrents.org/heinberg200310.htm By Richard HeinbergWhat should we do about Peak Oil? Start with what the U.K. Industry Task Force on Peak Oil (which included Sir Richard Branson of Virgin Airlines) has done: Acknowledge the reality of supply limits. Then study the vulnerabilities of transport and food systems to high and volatile oil prices, and start making those systems more resilient and less oil-dependent. But do it fast. Adaptation will take decades, and we are starting very late Wed Mar 24 06:47:38 2010 EST http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-world/top-climate-officials-urge-progress-at-mexico-summit-20100321-qnls.html Top climate officials urge progress at Mexico summitSydney Morning HeraldThe Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has listened to and learned from recent criticism, but the threat of global warming is real and must be ...Midkiff picks, chooses among warming factsColumbia Daily Tribuneall 4 Wed Mar 24 06:47:38 2010 EST http://www.joabbess.com/2010/03/20/uncle-toms-cabal/ This man :- said this :- [link]cgi/content/abstract/307/5716/176666 The Climate Change Commitment : Even if atmospheric composition were fixed today, global-mean temperature and sea level rise would continue due to oceanic thermal inertia. These constant-composition (CC) commitments and their uncertainties are quantified. Constant-emissions (CE) commitments are also considered. The CC warming commitment could exceed 1°C. The CE warming commitment is 2° to 6°C by the year 2400. This man :- said this :- [link]article/289310 Even if all man-made greenhouse gas emissions were stopped tomorrow and carbon-dioxide levels stabilized at today's concentration, by the end of this century, the global average temperature would increase by about 4.3 degrees Fahrenheit, or about 2.4 degrees centigrade ... Wed Mar 24 06:47:38 2010 EST http://www.joabbess.com/2010/03/20/no-more-coal/ The options are clear : either rapidly commence the largest, most complex and resource-hungry engineering infrastructure ever conceived to do Carbon Capture and Storage, or simply halt the burning of Coal to generate electricity. Simple choice, you would have thought; yet governments around the world have been sucked in by the slick allure of the all-expenses-paid lobbyists for Old King Coal. Politicians and civil servants roam the halls of power with that glazed look in their eyes as they recite the mantra Clean Coal. Clean Coal. Clean Coal Yet all is not a done deal. Wed Mar 24 06:47:38 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/mar/17/manufacturing-sector-energy-industry Sheffield Forgemasters given funding for new press as part of Lord Mandelson's low-carbon strategy Lord Mandelson is spraying cash around various business sectors this week " the car industry tomorrow and nuclear today " all in the name of industrial activism. But judging from the reaction at the Royal Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IME) headquarters today, he has some way to go to ... Wed Mar 24 06:47:38 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2010/mar/21/ethical-funds-investment-surge Global meltdown and worries about the climate have prompted a new way of looking at funds. Lisa Bachelor reportsThe global banking crisis, coupled with an increased awareness of issues such as climate change, has seen a surge in money being poured into ethical funds in the past few months.The Investment Management Association reckons investors put £62.2m into ethical funds in the fourth quarter of last year, the highest since the same three months of 2007. And the enthusiasm looks set to continue with the end-of-tax-year Isa season in full swing. Research from ICM conducted last month on behalf of Cooperative Financial Services shows 13% of investors are planning to opt for ethical or sustainable funds with their Isa allowance.Ten years ago ethical investment was seen as a high-risk gamble. Wed Mar 24 06:47:38 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/mar/21/budget-darling-green-fund Alistair Darling will announce plans to back low-carbon transport and energy projects in 'budget for growth'Alistair Darling will this week announce a £1bn fund to kick-start investment in green transport and energy projects as part of a "budget for growth".With Wednesday's budget coming weeks before an expected general election, the chancellor will use his plans for the new low-carbon infrastructure scheme to contrast Labour's support for industry with the Conservatives' more hands-off philosophy.Business secretary Lord Mandelson, who has spearheaded the government's new, more interventionist approach, told the Observer that the Conservatives "wouldn't lift a single finger" to help manufacturing.With the public finances tight, the new green fund will be relatively small in scale, but the government hopes to use the cash to tempt private investors to back innovative new ideas. Wed Mar 24 06:47:38 2010 EST http://www.greenleft.org.au/2010/831/42748 Three hundred climate activists participated in Australia's second national Climate Action Summit in Canberra on March 13-15, marking an important step forward for the grassroots climate movement in this country. Wed Mar 24 06:47:38 2010 EST http://www.greenleft.org.au/2010/831/42721 In an indication that the global climate justice movement is becoming broader, there is now intense opposition to a climate-destroying energy loan for South Africa. Wed Mar 24 06:47:38 2010 EST http://www.greenleft.org.au/2010/831/42750 Journalists at the ABC have come under strong pressure from the organisation's chairperson to give more weight to the views of climate change deniers. Wed Mar 24 06:47:38 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/Wwny1oZ4EGA/ File this under Self-fulfilling prophecy. Below is an excerpt from the Friday Greenwire story (subs. req d), Treaty, regs won t solve warming problems, former NYT reporter warns. If the quotes are inaccurate or incomplete, the former lead climate reporter for the paper of record can clarify and/or expand upon his remarks here or at DotEarth: Policymakers should abandon the notion that a binding international agreement will be the primary tool for curbing greenhouse gas emissions, a former New York Times climate reporter told an environmental law conference here yesterday. Andrew Revkin, who left the Times last year and is now a fellow at Pace University's Academy for Applied Environmental Studies, said regulations probably aren t the best way to address global warming. Wed Mar 24 06:47:38 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/XJS7WZknLaU/ I have previously noted that calling ourselves wise twice " homo sapiens sapiens " didn t take. Today's guest blogger Jeff Huggins, a frequent CP commenter, has more. Jeff is a philosopher, former McKinsey consultant, Harvard MBA, U.C. Berkeley chemical engineer, Bob Dylan fan, and concerned citizen and parent. His website is www.thewindingriver.org . Imagine that you are a parent of a young and energetic child. You and your child are on a walk, in a park, on a warm summer day. On your journey, you come across a large pond or small lake. It looks natural and inviting. Wed Mar 24 06:47:38 2010 EST http://www.desmogblog.com/harper-government-stifles-truth censorship.jpg The scandal is growing at Environment Canada of how Canadian climate researchers are being muzzled by draconian policies of Prime Minister Stephen Harper. This week the Montreal Gazette reported on a leaked document showing that the information restrictions brought in by the Harper government had severely restricted the media's access to government researchers. Scientists have noticed a major reduction in the number of requests, particularly from high-profile media, who often have same-day deadlines, said the Environment Canada document. Media coverage of climate change science, our most high-profile issue, has been reduced by over 80%. <!--break--> Since 2007 Environment Canada, has required senior federal scientists to seek permission from the government prior to giving interviews, often requiring them to get approval from supervisors of written responses to the questions submitted by journalists ... Wed Mar 24 06:47:38 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/mar/21/scientists-climate-change-debate We can be arrogant and nerdish, but overall scientists do not set out to deceive themselves or the publicLast weekend on Cif Nicholas Maxwell accused scientists of "deceiving us and themselves about the nature of science". As an experimental biomedical scientist with 30 years of research experience, I looked for my own experience of science in his critique, but could not find it.His main criticism is against the use of evidence to support scientific knowledge. He rejects as "nonsense" the idea that "nothing is accepted permanently as part of scientific knowledge independently of evidence". He cites subjects such as physics, where he says unified theories are accepted independent of evidence.In the biomedical sciences, things are rather different. Wed Mar 24 06:47:38 2010 EST http://resourceinsights.blogspot.com/2010/03/perry-mason-and-climate-change-deniers.html The fossil fuel lobby knows that much of the public's worldview is shaped by television, and television is filled with courtroom dramas. The vast majority of those dramas, however, are about criminal cases, not civil cases. (I'll come back to this difference later.)Climate change activist and 350.org founder Bill McKibben alluded to this in a recent piece appearing on "The Huffington Post." But America's and perhaps the world's love affair with defense attorneys whose clients seem to have no chance whatsoever of an acquittal goes back much further than the O. J. Simpson murder trial which McKibben mentions.Perhaps the best but certainly not the earliest example of the perpetual underdog defense attorney is Perry Mason, the main character of the eponymous television drama. Wed Mar 24 06:47:38 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/9wwOc4dCXh0/idUSTRE62K0ID20100321 MIAMI (Reuters) - Cruise companies are balking at a proposal to create a low-emissions buffer zone around the United States and Canada, saying it sets arbitrary boundaries based on faulty science that overstates the health benefits. Wed Mar 24 06:47:38 2010 EST http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/21/from-wishful-thinking-to-real-world-action-on-climate/ Moving from wishful thinking on warming to real-world actions that might blunt risk. Wed Mar 24 06:47:38 2010 EST http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2011403755_apwalowsnowpack.html?syndication=rss State and federal scientists are expecting drought conditions in the summer after snowpacks in several spots in the state fell well below averages, following a dry winter. Wed Mar 24 06:47:38 2010 EST http://www.culturechange.org/cms/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=616&Itemid=63 "If every age has its own characteristic doctrine, there are a thousand signs which point to Fascism as the characteristic doctrine of our time." Benito Mussolini, Italian Encyclopedia (1932) I sat down at my kitchen table a few days ago to pay my monthly bills. It was that time of year when several insurance bills were due. While writing the checks I fumed about the large proportion of my income that is sucked up by the insurance industry and the other corporate puppet masters. Wed Mar 24 06:47:38 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/i8uGh4f9Ghk/idUSTRE62K12320100321 WINNIPEG, Manitoba (Reuters) - The flooded Red River moved within inches of its crest at Fargo, North Dakota on Sunday, but dikes of earth and sandbags kept the water from causing major damage, officials said. Wed Mar 24 06:47:38 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/business/8577326.stm Global water shortages should be a top business concern, says the chairman of food giant Nestle. Wed Mar 24 06:47:38 2010 EST http://www.thesunnews.com/2010/03/22/1380745/ignorance-abounds-in-mans-rant.html It is unfortunate that time and energy must be spent countering the specious claims of folks like John Milyo, who recently penned a letter to this paper regarding the insignificant role carbon dioxide plays in our climate due to its minor representation among the other atmospheric gases. Wed Mar 24 06:47:38 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/sci/tech/8583308.stm UN farm experts will look at links between meat-eating and greenhouse emissions amid claims they have been exaggerated. Wed Mar 24 06:47:38 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/world/europe/8583898.stm The French government signals that it is dropping a plan for a tax on domestic carbon dioxide emissions. Wed Mar 24 06:47:38 2010 EST http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/richardblack/2010/03/the_passage_of_president_obama.html The passage of President Obama's healthcare reform package prompts the question: what might it mean for climate change legislation? Barack ObamaWill it clear the path for a climate bill this year, as some believe? Or has politicking over the healthcare bill poisoned the well of goodwill in Washington, as others argue? Around the turn of the year, things were looking fairly bleak for proponents, with delays in bringing the Kerry-Boxer bill (which evolved from the Waxman-Markey bill approved by the House of Representatives in the summer) into the Senate. Wed Mar 24 06:47:38 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/sci/tech/8579929.stm A chairman has been appointed for a review into science published by the unit at the centre of the "Climategate" row. Wed Mar 24 06:47:38 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/5T_EQzjB-Bc/ A new study has lowered the carbon pollution threshold or tipping point for collapse of the Greenland ice sheet to 400 to 560 ppm. We re currently at about 390 parts per million atmospheric concentrations of CO2, rising about 2 ppm a year (and yes, total collapse would take a while). Another new study documents the unexpectedly fast spread of ice loss into northwest Greenland (animation below). And the Director of the International Polar Year [IPY] Program Office, Dr. David Carlson, told the Senate last year: A clear consensus has emerged during IPY that the Greenland Ice sheet will disappear as a consequence of this current global warming. Carlson added that a very plausible outcome was a meter or more of sea level rise in this century from Greenland alone. So, as part of the Climate Science Project, ... Wed Mar 24 06:47:38 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/Bl_2I79oS3Y/ Wind Energy Investment of $65 Billion May Curb Carbon China WindPower Group Ltd., Iberdrola SA and Duke Energy Corp. will lead development of an estimated $65 billion of wind-power plants this year that let utilities reduce their reliance on fossil fuels. The estimate from Bloomberg New Energy Finance assumes a 9 percent annual increase in global installations of wind turbines, adding as much as 41 gigawatts of generation capacity. That's the equivalent of 34 new nuclear power stations. Utilities that built natural gas-fired generators during the last decade are increasingly erecting turbines and buying wind power from competitors, tapping a renewable-energy source as governments consider ways to penalize carbon-based fuels. Wed Mar 24 06:47:38 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/wVdg-a1wM9Y/ Memo to media: Ignore the misreporting on the Arctic that focuses on sea-ice extent or area. The big Arctic news is the staggering decline in multiyear ice " ice volume. No study has yet been published undermining our understanding that human emissions are the primary cause of that long-term decline " a decline that shows no sign of reversal. The real news from the Arctic is the staggering decline in thicker, multi-year ice [red line] " as seen in the above figure from leading cryoscientists who authored the 2009 study, Thinning and volume loss of the Arctic Ocean sea ice cover ... Wed Mar 24 06:47:38 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/r0O9oPw7EjI/ People here because of the NYT link might want to start with An Introduction to Climate Progress. My bio is here. I m quoted in today's NY Times article on Calera. The Silicon Valley start-up says it has found a way to capture the carbon dioxide emissions from coal and gas power plants and lock them into cement. I wrote about the company " and its critics " last April (see Exclusive: Does carbon-eating cement deserve the hype? ). The hype is still there, as this absurd quote from Silicon Valley billionaire Vinod Khosla makes clear ... Wed Mar 24 06:47:38 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/E1nMqANODd8/ The Office of Management and Budget is proposing to skew the formula used to weigh pending government regulations, reducing the value assigned to potential benefits The result would be to give industry a strengthened weapon to fight standards with huge claims of anticipated costs, while the anticipated benefits are greatly discounted. This puts the wide sweep of President Obama's energy and environment policies in jeopardy, as guest bloggers Dan Becker and James Gerstenzang explain. Becker is director of the Safe Climate Campaign, which advocates for strong policies to fight global warming. Gerstenzang is editorial director of the Campaign. Working quietly out of the spotlight, OMB is preparing a section of the nearly-complete automobile fuel economy and global warming pollution rule that would deeply undervalue its benefits. Wed Mar 24 06:47:38 2010 EST http://www.culturechange.org/cms/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=617&Itemid=73 Join us! To help the Sail Transport Network to make more strides, please support our work by donating at culturechange.org/donate.html ([link]donate.html). Friends, Several bits of good news on STN: B9 Shipping, part of B9 Energy that is the biggest maker of wind power units for UK's renewable energy sector, has a plan to build sail transport vessels of a major capacity. They are linking to our STN website Wed Mar 24 06:47:38 2010 EST http://www.desmogblog.com/institute-energy-research-admits-it-was-behind-anti-wind-study IER-Screen-Shot.png Danish journalists have confirmed that The Institute for Energy Research commissioned and paid for the anti-wind energy study released last year by a Danish think tank that claimed Denmark exaggerates the amount of wind energy it produces (it doesn t), questioned whether wind energy reduces carbon emissions (it does), and asserted that the U.S. should choose coal over wind because it's cheaper (it's not when you count the true costs of coal). The Copenhagen Post reports: A controversial report critical of the wind energy industry from conservative think tank CEPOS was commissioned and paid for by an American think tank with close ties to the coal and oil industries. That American think tank is the Institute for Energy Research, which has received $307,000 from ExxonMobil since 1998 and unknown additional sums ... Wed Mar 24 06:47:38 2010 EST http://energybulletin.net/52086 Stewart Brand is one of the iconic founders of the environmental movement, an original old hippy whose influence on the boomer generation should not be understated. With his latest book Whole Earth Discipline he takes that same movement to task for rejecting science and getting sidetracked by ideology at the very time when the practical application of science through engineering and technology may be the only way to save ourselves. read more Wed Mar 24 06:47:38 2010 EST http://energybulletin.net/node/52083 -The Naming of Things-CO2 at new highs despite economic slowdown-Britain. A breath of foul air-No way to treat a bee-'Alarming decline' in England's biodiversity read more Wed Mar 24 06:47:38 2010 EST http://energybulletin.net/node/52080 -Throwing the Race for Green Energy-A Rising Green-Tech Tide Will Lift All Boats-The war of words over home-produced electricity feed-in tariffs could cost dearly-Wind resistance-Marine energy projects approved for Scotland read more Wed Mar 24 06:47:38 2010 EST http://energybulletin.net/node/52076 Solastalgia " 1. A feeling of loss at demise of Earth; mourning for Gaia; profound ennui. 2. Lost connection to nature; an eco-psychological imbalance. Antidotes: Ecological restoration Permaculture read more Wed Mar 24 06:47:38 2010 EST http://energybulletin.net/node/52074 -We'll open a nuclear power station every 18 MONTHS, say Tories-UK must transform to meet future energy needs, warn top engineers-The islands of black gold-Are working hours being cut to save jobs? read more Wed Mar 24 06:47:38 2010 EST http://energybulletin.net/node/52071 Health care reform dominates the news as Dems struggle to push their reform package through Congress. I applaud the effort, but can't help wondering why climate change is being left out of the debate. read more Wed Mar 24 06:47:38 2010 EST http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/8997009/17lwjx/alternet_environment~Study-The-Environmental-Cost-of-Doing-Business-Could-Erase-a-Third-of-Corporations-Profits Environmental "externalities," says one expert, "pose a major risk to the global economy and markets are not fully aware of these risks, nor do they know how to deal with them." Wed Mar 24 06:47:38 2010 EST http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/8995085/17lwjx/alternet_environment~CoalFired-Plants-Drink-Trillion-Gallons-of-Water-and-We-Drink-the-Dirty-Backwash In many respects, some folks might use more water flicking on their lights, than chugging back a glass of that wondrous stuff. Wed Mar 24 06:47:38 2010 EST http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/8995678/17lwjx/alternet_environment~Frank-Luntz-Why-One-of-the-Most-Unlikely-People-Has-the-Best-Advice-About-Fighting-Climate-Change The author discovers that Luntz' misguided economic manifesto is much better reading with an environmental lens. Wed Mar 24 06:47:38 2010 EST http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/8900377/17lwjx/alternet_environment~Ways-Mother-Earth-Will-Strike-Back-If-We-Dont-Stop-Our-Wanton-Destruction-of-the-Environment Deniers are dancing on the graves of their reputations, to say nothing of reality itself. But Earth will still get the last laugh on all of them, and us for that matter. Wed Mar 24 06:47:38 2010 EST http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2260013/budget-set-feature-strong James Murray, BusinessGreen , Tuesday 23 March 2010 at 13:11:00 Alongside a green investment bank, the chancellor is also expected to announce a review of the energy markets and a 40-year low-carbon road map Support for the low-carbon economy is likely to be at the heart of tomorrow's Budget, according to renewable energy industry insiders who are anticipating a flurry of green announcements ... Wed Mar 24 06:47:38 2010 EST http://www.euractiv.com/en/climate-environment/france-turns-eu-carbon-tax-plan-news-375149 France will delay implementing a domestic tax on carbon dioxide emissions until it can secure an agreement with its European partners, Prime Minister François Fillon signalled on Tuesday (23 March). Wed Mar 24 06:47:38 2010 EST http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601072&sid=alq_Uf3tfNmU March 23 (Bloomberg) -- The United Nations carbon market, the world's second largest, is at risk of shrinking until regulators close a loophole that allowed Hungary to sell credits that aren t valid in Europe. Wed Mar 24 06:47:38 2010 EST http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601072&sid=ajvbpis1WKWs March 24 (Bloomberg) -- The global shipping industry can cut a third off its emissions by better utilizing an oversupply of vessels competing for cargoes, a lobby group said. Wed Mar 24 06:47:38 2010 EST http://allafrica.com/stories/201003240135.html allAfrica: African news and information for a global audience Wed Mar 24 06:47:38 2010 EST http://www.newkerala.com/news/fullnews-76428.html Washington, March 24 : A new study by scientists at the Universities of Bonn, Gottingen and Yale, has determined that climate change is set to produce worldwide changes in the living conditions for plants in the coming decades, which would threaten their diversity. Wed Mar 24 06:47:38 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/england/leicestershire/8584556.stm Residents of a Leicestershire village step up their campaign against plans to build a wind farm near homes. Wed Mar 24 06:47:38 2010 EST http://www.newkerala.com/news/fullnews-76436.html New Delhi, March 24 : A green climate fund was essential to help the poor tackle the effects of climate change, global aid agency Oxfam International said Wednesday. Wed Mar 24 06:47:38 2010 EST http://tcktcktck.org/stories/climate-news/climate-change-cost-6-gdp-each-year-imf The International Monetary Fund (IMF) yesterday said that countries in the Southeast Asia, including the Philippines, are more vulnerable to climate change, whose threat to food security and increased health risks may possibly result in the loss of more than 6 percent of gross domestic product each year. read more Wed Mar 24 06:47:38 2010 EST http://www.scientificamerican.com/video.cfm?id=73172597001 Crops are failing and clean drinking water is inaccessible to more than 16 million people as southwest China grapples with a devastating drought. Wed Mar 24 06:47:38 2010 EST http://www.kirotv.com/weather/22910238/detail.html SPOKANE, Wash. -- State and federal scientists are expecting drought conditions this summer after snowpacks in several spots in the state fell well below averages, following a dry winter. Wed Mar 24 06:47:38 2010 EST http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/126925781463.htm Source: AlertNet VIDEO: Horn of Africa Years of drought and conflict have driven millions of east Africans towards severe hunger and destitution. Video by dev.tv and the Global Humanitarian Forum. Wed Mar 24 06:47:38 2010 EST http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kevin-grandia/mark-101010-on-your-calen_b_509075.html I know, I know, work is pretty hard to sell as a party, but the Global Work Party being held on October 10, 2010 (10:10:10) is different.This... Wed Mar 24 06:47:38 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news188480278.html Cutting back on consumption of meat and dairy products will not have a major impact in combating global warming - despite repeated claims that link diets rich in animal products to production of greenhouse gases. That's the conclusion of a report presented here today at the 239th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society. Wed Mar 24 06:47:38 2010 EST http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=climate-models-predict-global-warming-effects-in-cities Scientific AmericanCan Climate Models Predict Global Warming's Direct Effects in Your City?Scientific American"The impacts of climate change are becoming more immediate and profound than anticipated," NSF Director Arden Bement said Monday during a Webcast for ...Fine-grained predictionsEnergy Collective (blog)all 27 Wed Mar 24 06:47:38 2010 EST http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sunil-sharan/resolving-the-global-warm_b_510471.html France24Resolving the Global Warming ParadoxHuffington Post (blog)Then what makes a menace of equivalent magnitude, the one potentially posed by global warming, so divisive? Proponents of emissions-induced climate change ...Global Warming Is Fact, and Denial Won't Change Climate BackU.S. News World ReportEarth Hour 2010 is opportunity to take action against climate changeExaminer.comGlobal WeaningSt. Norbert TimesWoodland Record -Wall Street Journal -BusinessWeekall 86 Wed Mar 24 06:47:38 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/YaleEnvironment360/~3/9saAepZBNp4/feature.msp As the world warms, sea levels could easily rise three to six feet this century. But increases will vary widely by region, with prevailing winds, powerful ocean currents, and even the gravitational pull of the polar ice sheets determining whether some coastal areas will be inundated while others stay dry. BY MICHAEL D. LEMONICK Wed Mar 24 06:47:38 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/YaleEnvironment360/~3/NCPG--C6yt4/digest.msp A comprehensive analysis of global air and sea temperatures by NASA climatologists shows that the planet has not experienced a cooling trend in the past decade and is continuing to warm at a rate of about .3 degrees F per decade. The NASA scientists, affiliated with the Goddard Institute for Space Studies, said the warming trend has continued despite the sun's irradiative power being at one of its lowest points in a century. The preliminary study, which NASA scientist James Hansen said will be submitted soon to a peer-reviewed scientific journal, said that only one of the past 10 winters and two of the past 10 summers were cooler than the long-term average in recent Click to enlargeGoddard Institute for Space StudiesGlobal warming trends decades. Wed Mar 24 06:47:38 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/sci/tech/8583308.stm UN farm experts will look at links between meat-eating and greenhouse emissions amid claims they have been exaggerated. Wed Mar 24 06:47:38 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/scotland/8582584.stm A conservation group is calling for the restoration of damaged peatlands to help combat climate change. Wed Mar 24 06:47:38 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/uk_politics/election_2010/8568877.stm A profile of the leader of the Green Party in England and Wales, Caroline Lucas. Wed Mar 24 06:47:38 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/wfl64AituXo/idUSTRE62M2WR20100323 LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - You drive a hybrid, eat organic, and are passionate about recycling. But how green is your love life? Wed Mar 24 06:47:38 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/11brwFLSBOQ/idUSTRE62M4J120100323 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued a new proposal on Tuesday that would expand existing rules on reporting greenhouse gas emissions to include oil and natural gas production facilities and add methane gas for the first time. Wed Mar 24 06:47:38 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/QkWqSuSw1h0/idUSTRE62M4K720100323 CARACAS (Reuters) - A blaze raged on the Avila mountain over Caracas for a third day on Tuesday, threatening wildlife in its national park and sending smoke billowing over the upper reaches of the Venezuelan capital. Wed Mar 24 06:47:38 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/3nLPHOqirqM/idUSTRE62M5GT20100323 MIAMI (Reuters) - At least 431 manatees have died in Florida waters so far this year, exceeding in less than three months the total for any full calendar year on record, authorities said on Tuesday. Wed Mar 24 06:47:38 2010 EST http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2010/03/up-is-down-brown-is-green-with-apologies-to-orwell/ In the alternate universe of Fox News, Anthony Watts, and many others, up is down. Now, it appears, brown is green. Following the total confusion over the retraction of a paper on sea level, claims of another mistake by the IPCC are making the rounds of the blogosphere. This time, the issue is the impact of rainfall changes on the Amazon rainforest. A study in 2007 showed that the forest gets greener when it rains less. A new study, by Samanta et al. in Geophysical Research Letters shows that the earlier work was flawed. Aided by an apparently rather careless press release, this is being used as evidence that the Amazon is less sensitive to rainfall changes than the IPCC claimed. Wed Mar 24 06:47:38 2010 EST http://johannhari.com//2010/03/22/conserving-their-reputations The conservation groups have come back with some extraordinarily lame responses to my expose of their financial dependency on the world's worst polluters. (Click on the second page of the forum for my response.) Wed Mar 24 06:47:38 2010 EST http://www.joabbess.com/2010/03/23/curru-first-service-award-announced/ Joe Romm from Climate Progress has been awarded the first service award of the week from CURRU, the Climate Unscience Rapid Response Unit, for his sterling, hard-working, thorough piece on the meltdown in the Arctic :- [link]2010/03/22/thin-ice-arctic-winds-sea-ice-extent-global-warming/ Misreported study: It is clear that the precipitous decline in September sea ice extent in recent years is mainly due to the cumulative loss of multiyear ice. Physicist: If temperatures change just a few tenths of a degree then this oh-so-thin ice cap is doomed. " March 22, 2010 ... Wed Mar 24 06:47:38 2010 EST http://www.joabbess.com/2010/03/23/warming-denial-backwoods-revival/ Lies and half-baked misstatements float around like flotsam and jetsam on a slopping and washing freight canal, refusing to sink, but with no legs to stand on count the errors in this Redress of Grievance, below, and you will see how the combined effect of poor Media and anti-Science wreckers have led to a remarkably bad understanding of the facts :- [link]default.asp?sourceid=&smenu=91&twindow=Default&mad=No&sdetail=1279 Opinion: Representatives receive Redress of Grievance request regarding global warming : Letter to the editor 22.MAR.10 ... Wed Mar 24 06:47:38 2010 EST http://www.joabbess.com/2010/03/24/climate-union/ I m in the Climate Union. Are you ? Finally, I have to admit that I have an personal stake in the outcomes of Climate Change and Energy policy. I have to confess to a utilitarian, yet enlightened, self-interest. And so say all of us. In the future, I want there to be jobs. New jobs, for young and old, for me. Productive, worthwhile employment, green jobs that don t permanently wreck the atmosphere for future generations. When I get sick, unabled or old, I want there to be social services. Not run on a shoestring budget owing to Carbon Taxes or Carbon Trading, but Low Carbon hospitals with well-motivated, sufficient staff ... Wed Mar 24 06:47:38 2010 EST http://www.joabbess.com/2010/03/23/everybodys-on-the-up/ Land-based and satellite measurements all agree " the Earth is warming up. And it's not a random walk :- [link]2010/03/16/still-not/ Since the world is warming up, you would expect that sceptics would roll over and sleep on it a while and come back with a different, more engaging position on things, wouldn t you ? ( Engaging , as in engaging with the facts ). Nope. Not a bit of it :- Glad to see I m not on this chart ! Wed Mar 24 06:47:38 2010 EST http://feeds.grist.org/click.phdo?i=3e5ad1f2ddff85d09f14a01527ff14bd by Jesse Jenkins South Africa's finance minister, Pravin Gordhan, has an op ed in the Washington Post that illustrates the multi-faceted challenges facing developing nations as they struggle to provide the affordable access to modern energy needed to pull citizens out of poverty. The piece highlights the current tension between such objectives and simultaneous concerns about the environmental and climate impacts of energy development. With South Africa's economy growing rapidly"it's expanded by two-thirds since 1994, when Nelson Mandela first took office"the nation's demand for energy has grown apace. As Gordhan notes, Millions of previously marginalized South Africans are now on the grid. And that's a very good thing. Wed Mar 24 06:47:38 2010 EST http://feeds.grist.org/click.phdo?i=3bbe411380dac4d243ee2f0d696ea8ec by Tyler Falk Thinking I d catch some of the conservative side-show after health care passed, I moseyed over to Glenn Beck's website to find out when the healthpocalypse will destroy our America. But I found something even more shocking. More evidence for Beck's closet treehugging is coming to the surface. Colbert slammed Beck a few weeks ago for his crisis garden advertisement, and now subliminal messages for local food and energy independence, under the guise of post-apocalyptic survival necessities, are popping up all over his site. Call it what you want, Glenn. But we can see who's side you re really on. Wed Mar 24 06:47:38 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/mar/23/green-claims A UK government checklist of claims for advertisers will fail to stop cynical greenwash without a legally enforceable frameworkFrom this week, we have a new checklist of dodgy green claims that advertisers should avoid. The list comes from the UK government's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). They are only guidelines and they won't save the planet. But, in keeping with its own strictures on greenwash, at least the department doesn't pretend that they will.Among the biggest bugbears revealed in the consultation document " the draft ppdate guidance on green claims - are general, untestable claims like products being "eco-" or "environmentally friendly". Wed Mar 24 06:47:38 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/mar/24/green-bank-budget-venture Report from British Private Equity and Venture Capital Association makes case for government-backed low carbon investment bank. James Murray for BusinessGreen, part of the Guardian Environment NetworkOne of the main arguments against the formation of a government-backed green investment bank has always been that it would step on the toes of the private sector, undermining the existing flow of investment towards low carbon projects.However, those investment firms likely to be directly affected by the introduction of a green bank appear to have allayed those fears after the British Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (BVCA) yesterday released a new report signaling the sector's support for the creation of a green investment bank.Released on the same day as it emerged that Chancellor Alistair Darling is planning to announce the formation of a £2bn green investment fund backed by around £1bn in government money in ... Wed Mar 24 06:47:38 2010 EST http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50705 MEKONG DELTA, Vietnam, Mar 18 (IPS) - He has worked this land for half of 64 years and is known among his fellow farmers in Kien Giang province here in the Mekong Delta as lao nong , or the old master of rice. Sat Mar 20 09:05:03 2010 EST 20th March 2010 http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50696 BANGKOK, Mar 17 (IPS) - As the water level in the Mekong River dips to a record 50-year low, a familiar pattern of fault-finding has risen to the surface. China, the regional giant through which parts of South-east Asia's largest waterway flows through, is again at the receiving end of verbal salvoes from its neighbours. Sat Mar 20 09:05:03 2010 EST http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50694 BUENOS AIRES, Mar 17 (Tierramérica) - Argentina is building its first solar energy park in the northwestern province of San Juan. The project calls for the manufacture of photovoltaic panels to supply the rest of the country and the other member countries of the Southern Common Market (Mercosur). Sat Mar 20 09:05:03 2010 EST http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601130&sid=a9aVTcnHvQ98 March 18 (Bloomberg) -- The global wind-turbine market is likely to shrink this year as the financial crisis curbs energy demand in the U.S., according to Suzlon Energy Ltd., India's biggest maker of the generators. Sat Mar 20 09:05:03 2010 EST http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2259766/uk-opens-first-offshore-wind James Murray, BusinessGreen , Thursday 18 March 2010 at 13:52:00 Government announces extra £4.8m to support offshore wind RD The UK's New and Renewable Energy Centre (NAREC) today officially opened its first offshore wind training tower to help technicians develop the skills that will be required to install and maintain offshore wind turbines. The opening ceremony was attended by energy ... Sat Mar 20 09:05:03 2010 EST http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10928/s/98f5742/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Carticle0Cdn186710Ebutterflies0Eemerging0Eearlier0Ebecause0Eof0Eclimate0Echange0Bhtml0DDCMP0FOTC0Erss0Gnsref0Fclimate0Echange/story01.htm For the first time, climate change has been shown to alter the timing of a natural event " the emergence of the common brown butterfly Sat Mar 20 09:05:03 2010 EST http://energybulletin.net/node/52034 In January of this year, American political consultant Dr. Frank Luntz released a 17-page talking points memo titled The Language of Financial Reform, in which he urges opponents of bank reform to reframe the effort as a mishmash of bailouts, loopholes and bureaucracy. In short order, Luntz-listening legislators lined up to shout BLACK at the kettle, before returning to their work crafting endless loopholes to bail out campaign contributors in their home states. I read the memo upon its release and promptly tossed it in my compost bin (I m always short on browns). Sat Mar 20 09:05:03 2010 EST http://energybulletin.net/node/52030 There's some fascinating new research about CO2 domes, invisible clouds of carbon pollution that hover above urban areas. read more Sat Mar 20 09:05:03 2010 EST http://energybulletin.net/52023 Just days before French President Nicolas Sarkozy urged attendees at a Paris energy conference to buy more nuclear power plants, a very different nuclear power conference was held in Potsdam, Germany. The Brookings Institution and the Global Public Policy Institute convened 35 people from governments, academia, think tanks, and industry to consider nuclear power's future. Craig Severance offers his own insights, and his conference presentation on why new nuclear power should undergo a rigorous business oriented "Due Diligence" process. read more Sat Mar 20 09:05:03 2010 EST http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/8488122/16ulza/alternet_environment~Report-Warns-Oil-Sands-Investors-of-Toxic-Waste-Waters-Financial-Risk A handful of companies are at a financial disadvantage because of their exposure to waste water remediation liabilities. Others, like Chevron, will remain relatively unaffected. Sat Mar 20 09:05:03 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/mar/18/solar-energy-feed-in-tariffs-monbiot George Monbiot is still trying wage class war on a false premiseRead the previous exchanges between Jeremy Leggett and George Monbiot George Monbiot's third article on government grants for domestic solar panels ignores the errors that I and others have protested about in the opening assertion in his first article. He alleged that the UK government's feed-in tariff regime is "about to transfer £8.6bn from the poor to the middle classes". In saying that, he managed to get three things wrong. The actual sum raised from the tariff levy from all electricity consumers, not just households, to 2030 will be £6.7bn ... Sat Mar 20 09:05:03 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/q_4y0PMUDu0/ A large majority of Americans continue to understand that global warming is real. In fact, warming of the climate system in recent decades is unequivocal, according to comprehensive analysis of observations around the globe by the world's leading climate scientists. Most of the decline in understanding seen in recent polls comes from conservatives and conservative-leaning independents, who are incessantly hammered with the myth of global cooling in the conservative and mainstream media. And, in a rather unfortunate coincidence, we ve seen below average temperatures in parts of the United States over the last two years. That's particularly true during this uber-warm winter. Sat Mar 20 09:05:03 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/p9f_2DiP8SE/ There is one question that no one who denies manmade climate change wants to answer: what would it take to persuade you? In most cases the answer seems to be nothing. No level of evidence can shake the growing belief that climate science is a giant conspiracy codded up by boffins and governments to tax and control us. That's UK Guardian columnist George Monbiot. I don t agree with everything he says " and I don t think the primary goal should be to persuade the unpersuadable. But I am trying to bring you a variety of views on this central problem of climate science messaging, and this is a pretty good piece, which I excerpt below ... Sat Mar 20 09:05:03 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/lO5QbaTeRZk/ Conservatives have been doing their best to torpedo the movement toward clean energy by hyping controversies about the science behind global warming. But whatever effect these controversies have had on the public they do not appear to have undermined support for action on the clean energy front, as polling expert and CAP Senior Fellow Ruy Teixeira explains. Take support for a cap-and-trade approach to limiting carbon dioxide emissions. Back in October, views on this approach were running 50-39 in favor according to a Pew Research Center poll. Recently, Pew tested this approach again and actually found a slight widening of support to 52-35 in favor. Sat Mar 20 09:05:03 2010 EST http://energybulletin.net/node/52040 -Money spent on tar sands projects could decarbonise western economies-China's oil demand increase 'astonishing', says IEA-OPEC sticks to its guns, demand rising read more Sat Mar 20 09:05:03 2010 EST http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/03/18/90666/new-protections-denied-for-polar.html A U.N. organization that regulates wildlife trade voted Thursday against bans on hunting polar bears threatened by shrinking Arctic ice and on fishing for the Atlantic bluefin tuna, a species that can grow to nearly 1,400 pounds and is prized in Japan for sushi and sashimi. Sat Mar 20 09:05:03 2010 EST http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/shortsharpscience/2010/03/bye-bye-bluefin.html Debora MacKenzie, correspondentAn unprecedented effort to use world trade rules to save a species from rampant overfishing has failed. A proposal to ban international trade in bluefin tuna under the Convention on Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) was defeated today at a meeting of the 175 nations that belong to the treaty in Doha, Qatar.The same meeting failed to ban trade in polar bear parts. A CITES trade ban on the fish would have massively reduced fishing for the mighty bluefin: 80 per cent of the catch is imported by Japan for luxury dishes of sushi and sashimi. Sat Mar 20 09:05:03 2010 EST http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/shortsharpscience/2010/03/proposal-to-ban-polar-bear-tra.html Andy Coghlan, reporterA US proposal to outlaw international trade in polar bear parts including paws, fur and teeth was voted down today in Doha, Qatar, at a triennial international summit on trade in wildlife products.Opposition was mainly from Canada, Norway and Greenland, whose aboriginal communities hunt the bears as a resource for food, clothing and shelter. By-products from the hunts are sold internationally, especially from Canada. The US proposal would not have affected the rights of indigenous peoples to carry on killing polar bears sustainably to obtain food and material for their own use. But it would have made it illegal to sell that material internationally. Sat Mar 20 09:05:03 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/TuT1vXlm3lo/idUSTRE62H5F520100318 VANCOUVER (Reuters) - Members of the Western Climate Initiative laid out some of the ground rules on Thursday on the use and timing of carbon-offset credits allowed under its planned emission cap-and-trade system. Sat Mar 20 09:05:03 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/otS2LC45f08/idUSTRE62H15520100318 LONDON (Reuters) - European carbon emissions futures were higher on Thursday as news broke that the EU Commission will change its carbon registry rules to prevent recycled Kyoto offsets entering the emissions trading scheme. Sat Mar 20 09:05:03 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/-4rL99Ugfyw/idUSTRE62H3K720100318 LOS SAUCOS, Mexico (Reuters) - Dense clouds of migrating monarch butterflies used to snap branches and cast shadows across the forests of central Mexico, but severe weather is posing a new threat to the annual phenomenon. Sat Mar 20 09:05:03 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/YaleEnvironment360/~3/KHHKlG0VSug/digest.msp Prescribed burns in the forests of the western U.S. will prevent larger wildfires and significantly cut the nation's carbon footprint, according to a new study. Controlled burns, a forestry management strategy used to destroy underbrush and prevent wildfires, would protect the larger trees that store carbon dioxide and help offset greenhouse gas emissions. Using satellite imagery and models that calculate carbon emissions related to wildfires from 2001 to 2008, researchers predicted that prescribed burns could reduce such emissions by 18 to 25 percent " and as much as 60 percent in some areas. The burns would cut carbon emissions by 14 million metric tons annually across 11 Click to enlargeChristine Wiedinmyer ... Sat Mar 20 09:05:03 2010 EST http://www.countercurrents.org/karlenzig180310.htm By Warren Karlenzig Last week, a report was put out by a Kuwaiti research institution forecasting global peak oil production by 2014. This follows a report last month by a broad-based British industry group that also predicted a global oil crunch, or shortage of supply, by the same period Sat Mar 20 09:05:03 2010 EST http://www.countercurrents.org/mckibben180310.htm By Bill McKibben Climate change action for 2010 Sat Mar 20 09:05:03 2010 EST http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/regions/view/20100318-259491/Drought-drives-monkeys-out-of-forests-into-streets LACK of food due to drought has forced monkeys to leave their sanctuaries in Barangay New Israel here and take refuge in nearby forested areas. Sat Mar 20 09:05:03 2010 EST http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/266/f/3780/s/991d298/l/0L0Sindependent0O0Clife0Estyle0Cmotoring0Cmotoring0Enews0Cnissan0Eturns0Eover0Ea0Enew0Eleaf0Ewith0Ea0Ezeroemission0Efamily0Ehatchback0E19238670Bhtml/story01.htm With their new Leaf, Nissan are offering motorists a potentially revolutionary choice; a useable, practical, conventional-looking electric vehicle that will be in dealer showrooms by this time next year and for the price of an equivalent Ford Focus. It differs from petrol-electric hybrid models on the market now, such as the Toyota Prius and Honda Insight, in that it entirely dispenses with the internal combustion engine. It is truly all-electric, and can be plugged in to the mains like any other appliance. As a zero emissions vehicle (not counting those produced at the power stations that generate its electricity) the Leaf is also far greener than the most fuel-miserly hybrids or small diesel and petrol models. Sat Mar 20 09:05:03 2010 EST http://www.newsweek.com/id/235084 Why scientists are losing the PR wars. Sat Mar 20 09:05:03 2010 EST http://tcktcktck.org/stories/economic-opportunity/heat-scavenging-new-technologies-allow-heat-be-recycled-too WATER, water everywhere, nor any drop to drink, lamented the becalmed Ancient Mariner. Oddly, the same is true of energy. As with the water that surrounds a desert island, there is abundant energy right under people's noses, in the form of wind, sun, tides and heat. The trouble is that, like saltwater, none of these sources is easily tapped. Wind turbines, solar panels and devices that extract energy from wave and tide have become more common in recent years. read more Sat Mar 20 09:05:03 2010 EST http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/8637600/16z8fz/alternet_environment~From-Nepal-to-the-Maldives-Eye-Witness-Sees-Impact-of-Warming-and-Melting-Glaciers Bursting glacial lakes, storm surges, and drought among the current dangers. Sat Mar 20 09:05:03 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/uk/8575537.stm The harsh winter may have had a devastating impact on UK wildlife, British Waterways warns as it launches its annual survey. Sat Mar 20 09:05:03 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/north_east/8572362.stm The potential market for the future of electric cars is to be examined by experts from the University of Aberdeen. Sat Mar 20 09:05:03 2010 EST http://www.economist.com/node/15720419 EconomistSpin, science and climate changeEconomistIf it were known that global warming would be limited to 2°C, the world might decide to live with that. But the range of possible outcomes is huge, ...Creationism and Global Warming Denial: Anti-Science's Kissing Cousins?Religion DispatchesTheir Own Worst EnemiesNewsweekA rough winter for global warmingThe Times of Trenton - NJ.comGlobe and Mail -Natural Resources Defense Council (blog)all 15 Sat Mar 20 09:05:03 2010 EST http://theweek.com/article/index/200905/Global_warming_tax_20_cents_per_gallon TreehuggerGlobal warming tax: 20 cents per gallon?The Week MagazineWould you pay an extra "carbon tax" at the pump to kick start a climate-change action plan? That's what three senators are proposing A new tax might raise ...Enviro groups hold 'encouraging' meeting with Kerry on climate billThe Hill (blog)Senate Trio Courts Industry in Bid to Pre-empt Ad WarNew York TimesThe Details of the Energy & Climate Legislation in DCHuffington Post (blog)Reuters -Los Angeles Times -BusinessWeekall 79 Sat Mar 20 09:05:03 2010 EST http://www.standard.net/topics/sports/2010/03/18/hotter-drier-conditions-predicted-new-report-could-devastate-prairie-pothol GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- A new report shows predictions for a warming climate could be devastating to duck production in the Prairie Pothole Region. Published in the February edition of the journal BioScience, the research uses a climate model that predicts average temperatures in the Prairie Pothole Region could rise from 2 to 4 degrees Celsius between 2050 and 2100. read more Sat Mar 20 09:05:03 2010 EST http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/utilities/article7068423.ece A Conservative government would penalise electricity production from fossil fuels to stimulate investment in renewable and nuclear power, under plans set out today by David Cameron. Sat Mar 20 09:05:03 2010 EST http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/19/setback-for-european-carbon-market/ Some trading in carbon dioxide credits came to a halt on two exchanges this week, representing a new crisis for the European Union's fledgling system for curbing greenhouse gas emissions. Sat Mar 20 09:05:03 2010 EST http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/3/19/worldupdates/2010-03-19T151336Z_01_NOOTR_RTRMDNC_0_-470550-2&sec=Worldupdates JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia has launched a review of laws governing a U.N.-backed carbon trading scheme aimed preserving rainforests, a forestry ministry official said on Friday. Sat Mar 20 09:05:03 2010 EST http://www.dailydemocrat.com/ci_14707659?source=rss A backlash against efforts in California and Congress to rein in greenhouse gas emissions is brewing in hard economic times.A coalition of businesses, including two Bay Area oil refiners and an anti-tax group, has begun a signature drive for a November ballot initiative that would suspend Sat Mar 20 09:05:03 2010 EST http://www.euractiv.com/en/energy/oil-industry-emissions-emissions-underestimated-study-warns-news-355612 An underestimation of the expected surge in emissions from oil-based fossil fuels could undermine the EU's climate goals, the European Biodiesel Board (EBB) warned yesterday (18 March). Sat Mar 20 09:05:03 2010 EST http://www.newstatesman.com/books/2010/03/mcewan-updike-novel-beard-bech Ian McEwan. Photograph: Getty Images Ian McEwan is a model of the artist as craftsman, or vice versa. Experience has endowed him with a range of technical skills, and he puts them to inventive use. Sat Mar 20 09:05:03 2010 EST http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/ips/9ce3118b12ee97283e8af06b56e852e6.htm Source: IPS The livestock industry has less economic clout than the oil industry, but ranchers say it has better arguments to defend itself from accusations regarding its share of responsibility for global warming. Sat Mar 20 09:05:03 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/2/hi/uk_news/8575859.stm Environmental campaigners are urging the government to tax private jets, saying they emit more carbon dioxide than commercial planes. Sat Mar 20 09:05:03 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/1CHicHa3P9U/idUSTRE62I1O520100319 BEIJING (Reuters) - A severe drought across a large swathe of southwest China is now affecting more than 50 million people, and forecasters see no signs of it abating in the short term, state media said on Friday. Sat Mar 20 09:05:03 2010 EST http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50714 RIO DE JANEIRO, Mar 18 (IPS) - The livestock industry has less economic clout than the oil industry, but ranchers say it has better arguments to defend itself from accusations regarding its share of responsibility for global warming. Sat Mar 20 09:05:03 2010 EST http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50720 KATHMANDU, Mar 19 (IPS) - When it gets cold during Nepal's winter nights, Yem Prasad Gurung turns on his heater run by liquefied petroleum gas. When it gets dark, he switches on the lights that rely on a solar inverter " and to make sure he gets water, he turns on a generator-powered water pump. Sat Mar 20 09:05:03 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/cif-green/2010/mar/19/bolivia-conference-on-climate-change Bolivia will host an international meeting on climate change next month because it is not prepared to 'betray its people'In the aftermath of the Copenhagen climate conference, those who defended the widely condemned outcome tended to talk about it as a "step in the right direction". This was always a tendentious argument, given that tackling climate change can not be addressed by half measures. We can't make compromises with nature.Bolivia, however, believed that Copenhagen marked a backwards step, undoing the work built on since the climate talks in Kyoto. That is why, against strong pressure from industrialised countries, we and other developing nations refused to sign the Copenhagen accord and why we are hosting an international meeting on climate change next month. Sat Mar 20 09:05:03 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/cif-green/2010/mar/19/no-carbon-economy Taking the 'low-carbon' path means we are designing an economy not fit for purposeWho would get on a flight across the Atlantic if most of the aeronautical engineers in the world were saying that the plane had a 50% chance of crashing before it got to the destination? No one. So why then are we prepared to take our chances on a planet which the vast majority of serious scientists say has a high chance of catastrophic system failure? I don't care whether the odds are 50% or 10% or even 1% - this is the only planet going and we're all on it.In that case, when governments talk of aiming for a "low-carbon economy" by 2050, shouldn't we all rejoice? Sat Mar 20 09:05:03 2010 EST http://www.desmogblog.com/wanted-david-and-charles-koch-climate-criminals-video If you've never heard of Charles or David Koch, I wouldn't blame. While they do run the second largest private company in the US, they don't spend much money advertising the fact. These oil barons do however spend a lot of money every year on organizations like Americans for Prosperity who attack the science of climate change and deny that it is happening. Here's a backgrounder on Koch just released yesterday by Climate Science Watch. And here's Greenpeace's "Climate Crime Unit" on the hunt for Charles and David Koch: <!--break--> Sat Mar 20 09:05:03 2010 EST http://energybulletin.net/node/52050 OPEC ministers meeting in Vienna this week caused no surprises in deciding to keep production quotas unchanged. Saudi oil minister Ali Al-Naimi described current prices as "beautiful". Indeed as the group met the oil price rose to $82/barrel, close to its 2010 high despite only 53% compliance by OPEC to its quotas and low US demand. read more Sat Mar 20 09:05:03 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/HnQuu189koU/idUSTRE62I29A20100319 LONDON (Reuters) - A Conservative British government would impose a carbon tax on electricity generation, to create a clear incentive for long-term investment in renewable energies, the party said on Friday. Sat Mar 20 09:05:03 2010 EST http://news.yahoo.com/s/usnw/20100319/pl_usnw/DC73274_1 U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood, Assistant to the President for Science and Technology Dr. John P. Holdren, Haitian Ministry of Health's Marie Denise Milord to address National Academy of Engineering Grand Challenges for the 21st Century at Midwest Summit Sat Mar 20 09:05:03 2010 EST http://www.businessday.com.au/business/we-lose-when-the-grid-keeps-us-using-more-20100319-qmbc.html Expanding coal-fired power only entrenches our climate woes. Sat Mar 20 09:05:03 2010 EST http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/bb9662f0-3350-11df-bc32-00144feabdc0.html David Cameron on Friday launched a plan for what he described as the biggest shake-up of Britain's energy policy in a generation, as he set out Conservative proposals to mobilise the massive investment needed to secure supplies and cut greenhouse gas emissions. One of the central elements of the plan is a carbon tax on electricity generation to encourage investment in renewables and nuclear power. It also includes proposals for payments for electricity companies to invest in back-up supplies for times of peak demand; support for nuclear power, clean coal, and renewable energy; a requirement for gas companies to guarantee supplies, and a promise to operate a streamlined planning process for large infrastructure investments such as power plants. Sat Mar 20 09:05:03 2010 EST http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2259805/bloomberg-predicts-renewable Cath Everett, BusinessGreen , Friday 19 March 2010 at 09:37:00 But warns investment levels must rise faster still if we are to avoid the worst effects of climate change Although annual global expenditure on renewable energy projects is expected to jump from $90bn (£59bn) last year to $150bn by 2020, it will need to increase by up to a third more if the world is to avoid dangerous levels of ... Sat Mar 20 09:05:03 2010 EST http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/03/19/90694/population-of-migrating-monarch.html Monarch butterflies, hit hard by strong storms at their winter home in Mexico, have dwindled to their lowest population levels in decades as they begin to return to Texas on their springtime flight back to the United States and Canada. The monarch loss is estimated at 50 to 60 percent and means that the breeding population flying northward is expected to be the smallest since the Mexican overwintering colonies were discovered in 1975. Sat Mar 20 09:05:03 2010 EST http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2010/03/unforced-variations-3/ Another open thread. OT comments from the Amazon drying thread have been moved over. As usual, substantive comments only please and no abuse. Sat Mar 20 09:05:03 2010 EST http://www.culturechange.org/cms/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=614&Itemid=65 Solastalgia - 1. A feeling of loss at demise of Earth; mourning for Gaia; profound ennui. 2. Lost connection to nature; an eco-psychological imbalance. Antidotes: Ecological restoration Permaculture So begins Albert Bates in his introduction to permaculture - a design system whose name originated from the idea of "permanent agriculture" and evolved into a system promoting permanence in the human culture itself. Sat Mar 20 09:05:03 2010 EST http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_round_up/443120/regulate_geoengineering_before_its_too_late_say_mps.html Climate manipulation must be regulated at the UN level to avoid countries taking matters into their own hands, says a committee of MPs Sat Mar 20 09:05:03 2010 EST http://energybulletin.net/node/52051 -Bees in the City? New York May Let the Hives Come Out of Hiding-Produce to the People: Collaborating for Food Access-Is Goat the New Cow? Why American Foodies and Environmentalists Are Reviving the Old-World Staple-Ankeny forum to examine agricultural concentration-New York rolls veggie carts into food deserts; can other cities follow?-How guerrilla gardening took root-New report reveals the environmental and social impact of the 'livestock revolution'-'I'm not a slave, I just can't speak English' " life in the meat industry read more Sat Mar 20 09:05:03 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/mar/19/low-carbon-power-law Government considers plan to oblige British Gas and others to buy proportion of their power from nuclear and clean coal plantsThe government will next week signal a move towards the introduction of a "low-carbon obligation" that would force British Gas and other suppliers of energy to buy a percentage of their power from nuclear and clean coal plants.The radical measure " an extension of the renewable obligation that is funding wind farms " will appear in a document to be published alongside the budget next Wednesday.The idea of a low-carbon obligation has been championed by Paul Golby, the chief executive of E.ON UK, which wants to build new nuclear power stations but says they will not run commercially without a change to the market.The price of carbon was meant to rise through the European commission's emissions trading scheme (ETS), pushing up the ... Sat Mar 20 09:05:03 2010 EST http://www.joabbess.com/2010/03/19/the-church-of-climate-change/ Clue for the Climate Change sceptics ( skeptics ) who pass by here : The Reverend Billy is not an ordained minister, and his organisation is not part of a religious sect. Billy Talen is a performance artist . Sat Mar 20 09:05:03 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news188220613.html Climate sensitivity is the term used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to express the relationship between the human-caused emissions that add to the Earth's greenhouse effect -- carbon dioxide and a variety of other greenhouse gases -- and the temperature changes that will result from these emissions. Sat Mar 20 09:05:03 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/blogs/environment/~3/hEBBOvtXHsE/ -Graciela Chichilnisky is the Architect of the Carbon Market of the Kyoto Protocol and the author of 'Saving Kyoto', New Holland Publishers, UK, 2009. Chichilnisky is a Professor of Mathematics and Economics at Columbia University in New York, Director of Columbia Consortium for Risk Management and Managing Director of Global Thermostat Inc. The opinions expressed are her own.- We live surrounded by uncertainty. Tsunamis, the eruption of super- volcanoes, violent floods and storms, asteroid impacts that eliminate entire species as the dinosaurs that went extinct 60 millions years ago, the recent 8.8 earthquake in Chile, not to mention the global financial crisis. Sat Mar 20 09:05:03 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/blogs/environment/~3/_PeZTDBpCJ4/ The Oil Sands, the world's second-largest proven reserves after Saudi Arabia, hold out the promise of energy security for the United States and economic security for Canada. But environmentalists fear the destructive, energy intensive process of extracting the oil will carry direct consequences for the planet. Despite the doubts, new oil sands projects are again springing up after the financial crisis halted development. How will oil companies balance the quest for more oil with environmental concerns? Mar. 22-23 we'll put those questions to the oil companies, environmental groups and government officals at the first Reuters Canadian Oil Sands Summit in Calgary. Sat Mar 20 09:05:03 2010 EST http://www.theage.com.au/environment/living-in-defiance-of-a-drying-climate-20100319-qm8v.html When Premier John Brumby travelled deep into the suburbs to relax Melbourne's water restrictions, the surprise was not in the announcement but in the bold statement that followed. Sat Mar 20 09:05:03 2010 EST http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/business/we-lose-when-the-grid-keeps-us-using-more-20100319-qmbc.html Expanding coal-fired power only entrenches our climate woes. Sat Mar 20 09:05:03 2010 EST http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LDE62I1GX.htm Source: Reuters March 19 (Reuters) - The number of nations backing the non-binding Copenhagen Accord for fighting global warming has risen to about 110 and includes all major greenhouse gas emitters, according to a ... Sat Mar 20 09:05:03 2010 EST http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nathan-havey/economic-recovery-get-off_b_505771.html This was the week of the Green California Summit in Sacramento, where all of the newest green technologies are on display. Companies like Philips were... Sat Mar 20 09:05:03 2010 EST http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/562481/?sc=rsln Iowa State University researchers used U.S. government data (1950-2008) in a climate change study that estimates an annual average temperature increase of 8 deg.F will increase the yearly murder and assault rate by 34 per 100,000 people. Sat Mar 20 09:05:03 2010 EST http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2010/03/19/19greenwire-states-take-sides-in-greenhouse-gas-endangerme-29019.html States took their places in the trenches this week as they joined the court fight either for or against U.S. EPA's Sat Mar 20 09:05:03 2010 EST http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/post.cfm?id=dismiss-dinosaurs-as-failures--and-2010-03-18 Dinosaurs are frequently cited as the ultimate exemplars of failure. Dead as a dinosaur is now deeply embedded in our vernacular. Yet death for a species, and even for groups of species, is as inevitable as your death. Somewhere around 99 percent of all species that have ever existed are now extinct. The 10 million to 50 million species that comprise the modern day biosphere (the uncertainty ... Sat Mar 20 09:05:03 2010 EST http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/562461/?sc=rssn South Dakota State University research is exploring a native perennial called cup plant as a potential new biomass crop that could also store carbon in its extensive root system and add biodiversity to biomass plantings. Sat Mar 20 09:05:03 2010 EST http://www.favstocks.com/ipcc-is-right-amazon-still-at-risk-from-drought-global-warming/195468/ IPCC is right: Amazon still at risk from drought, global warmingFavStocks (blog)Most climate change models predict that unless global greenhouse gas emissions are substantially reduced in coming years, forest in a large part of the ...and more Sat Mar 20 09:05:03 2010 EST http://feeds.grist.org/click.phdo?i=f69967e28e92fbf3ad190fdc5d5d26ea by Alan Durning In part 2, I described the extraordinary growth of electric bikes in China, which grew from novelty items in 1998 to almost one e-bike per ten people today. What caused this growth? What can we learn from China about overcoming the Northwest's four barriers to e-bikes? The economic context of e-bikes is radically different in China than in the Northwest. In China, most buyers of electric bikes are stepping up in vehicular speed and comfort from heavy, low-performance bicycles. They are opting for electric bikes not in place of cars but in place of bicycles, motorcycles, or scooters. Sat Mar 20 09:05:03 2010 EST http://www.countercurrents.org/hedges190310.htm By Chris Hedges All resistance must recognize that the body politic and global capitalism are dead. We should stop wasting energy trying to reform or appeal to it. This does not mean the end of resistance, but it does mean very different forms of resistance. It means turning our energies toward building sustainable communities to weather the coming crisis, since we will be unable to survive and resist without a cooperative effort Sat Mar 20 09:05:03 2010 EST http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/5439331-climate-change-deniers-make-head-waybut-not-much FOXNewsClimate change deniers make head way--but not muchallvoicesThe Stanford study stated: When respondents were asked to give their personal opinion in 2009, 75 percent said that global warming probably has been ...Questions Swirl Around UN's Climate AuditorsFOXNewsThe Best Argument Against Global Warming ... Oh Right, There Isn't OneAlterNetScientists and media have failed to communicate the science of climate change ...Herald SunEconomist -Greenfudge.org (blog) -Canada.comall 26 Sat Mar 20 09:05:03 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/WjF3HG415kk/ NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) has released a draft paper Current GISS Global Surface Temperature Analysis. It is a must read for warming junkies, but, as James Hansen notes in an e-mail, it is too long for popular use. So Hansen offers some of the main conclusions, as well as a description of a rather shocking hack of the GISS website (all of which is reprinted below). The first conclusion is: 1) Contrary to popular belief, global warming has not stopped nor has the rate of warming even slowed down in the past decade (Figure 21). Sat Mar 20 09:05:03 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/blog/2010/mar/20/green-alternative-to-air-conditioning A reader wonders how to keep a loft extension cool without buying an air conditioning unitEvery week a Guardian Money reader submits a question, and it's up to you to help him or her out " a selection of the best answers will appear in Saturday's paper.This week's questionWe're converting the loft but I'm worried the new bedroom could be very hot in summer. I want an air con unit, but my partner objects. Yet I'll never forget my sleepless nights in the 2006 heatwave. Is there an eco-friendly solution to our dilemma?What are your thoughts?Home improvementsEnergy efficiencyEnergy billsHilary Osborneguardian.co.uk © Guardian News Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms Conditions | More Feeds Sat Mar 20 09:05:03 2010 EST http://feeds.grist.org/click.phdo?i=4ca441c487442e5948e32132b72de1f6 by Mary Bruno Health care reform dominates the news as Dems struggle to push their reform package through Congress. I applaud the effort, but can t help wondering why climate change is being left out of the debate. Research shows that climate change is harmful to our health, raising rates of cancer and of respiratory and neurological diseases. So why aren t climate scientists taking advantage of healthcare reform to spotlight these very real and worrisome connections? What better platform from which to advocate for their own favorite cause: comprehensive climate legislation that sets a strict limit on greenhouse gases. Sat Mar 20 09:05:03 2010 EST http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50731 WASHINGTON, Mar 19 (IPS) - This time last year, United States federal legislation on climate change was starting to take shape, seemingly more pressing matters were taking up the bulk of U.S. policymakers' time, and a major climate conference was looming at the end of the year. Sat Mar 20 09:05:03 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/EMaLPOmiBwg/idUSTRE62I49Z20100319 LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Federal limits on water that can be pumped out of a major river delta for California farmers are scientifically justified, a much-anticipated report said on Friday, a finding hailed by environmentalists in the state's epic water wars. Sat Mar 20 09:05:03 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/n5f2eVuMqkg/idUSTRE62I4GS20100320 UUMMANNAQ, Greenland (Reuters) - A Dutch artist arranged two large sculptures on an iceberg in Greenland on Friday to raise awareness about climate change, and people will be able to monitor it online as the ice melts. Sat Mar 20 09:05:03 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/nqR-_efWdlA/idUSTRE62G3YG20100319 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. power generating companies would get free pollution permits, at least initially, as part of a compromise climate change bill being written in the Senate that also would give the coal industry $10 billion to develop "clean" technology, sources said on Friday. Sat Mar 20 09:05:03 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/r87xUFq3KcM/idUSTRE62I4DP20100319 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - At least 15 U.S. states have sued the Environmental Protection Agency seeking to stop it from issuing rules controlling greenhouse gas emissions until it reexamines whether the pollution harms human health. Sat Mar 20 09:05:03 2010 EST http://www.edie.net/news/news_story.asp?id=17825 The Conservatives have today (March 19) published details of an energy policy paper creating what they claim is the biggest overhaul of the market since the 1980s. Sat Mar 20 09:05:03 2010 EST http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/insideNation.htm?f=2010/march/20/nation2.isx&d=2010/march/20 THE damage wrought by El Niño to crops amounted to P8.4 billion, Agriculture Secretary Bernie Fondevilla said Friday. Sat Mar 20 09:05:03 2010 EST http://sify.com/news/scientists-exploring-cup-plant-as-potential-new-biomass-and-carbon-storing-crop-news-international-kdupOhhhged.html A new research by scientists at South Dakota State University (SDSU) is exploring a native perennial called cup plant as a potential new biomass crop that could also store carbon in Sat Mar 20 09:05:03 2010 EST http://www.dailycamera.com/business/ci_14711604?source=rss New Sky Energy, a Boulder-based startup, has a plan to make money out of thin air. Using basic electrochemical technology and waste salts, New Sky aims to create compounds that suck carbon dioxide from the air. Sat Mar 20 09:05:03 2010 EST http://www.gallup.com/poll/124733/Poll-Developed-Emerging-Nations-Cut-Emissions.aspx?utm_source=tagrss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=syndication&utm_term=Multi-country Residents in six key global economies are more likely to say developed economies such as the U.S., Germany, and Japan and fast-emerging economies such as China, India, and Brazil should reduce emissions at the same time than say one group should reduce emissions first. Sat Mar 20 09:05:03 2010 EST http://www.gallup.com/poll/124595/Top-Emitting-Countries-Differ-Climate-Change-Threat.aspx?utm_source=tagrss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=syndication&utm_term=Multi-country As leaders meet in Copenhagen to discuss climate change, Gallup's surveys of five top-emitting countries finds awareness is lowest in India and highest in Japan and the United States. Chinese respondents are least likely to perceive global warming as a serious threat, Japanese are the most likely. Sat Mar 20 09:05:03 2010 EST http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/NewsDetails.aspx?storyid=273362 Was the Copenhagen Summit a waste of time? Is there a way forward? What did it exactly achieve? It is now generally accepted by the majority of the scientific community and most countries that climate change is a fact and that we, as a world, need to do something about it. Sat Mar 20 09:05:03 2010 EST http://www.gallup.com/poll/125267/Indians-Largely-Unaware-Climate-Change.aspx?utm_source=tagrss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=syndication&utm_term=Multi-country Although India has emerged as a key player in global climate negotiations, a Gallup survey conducted shortly before the Copenhagen summit last month finds the average Indian remains largely unaware of climate change. Further, Indians are divided on their government's efforts to reduce emissions. Sat Mar 20 09:05:03 2010 EST http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/jschmidt/amazon_rainforest_still_susceptible.html Amazon Rainforest Still Very Susceptible to Dieback Due to Climate ChangeNatural Resources Defense Council (blog)... in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report (a point spun by the opponents of action on global warming as this post highlights). ...IPCC is right: Amazon still at risk from drought, global warmingFavStocks (blog)all 3 Sat Mar 20 09:05:03 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/b8RmySoYh-k/ The anti-science crowd isn t satisfied with merely spreading disinformation about climate scientists (see Error-riddled articles and false statements destroy Daily Mail's credibilty ). Now many, like Marc Morano, are unrepentantly calling for violence against them (see The rise of anti-science cyber bullying: Morano says climate scientists deserve to be publicly flogged ). Peter Sinclair, our favorite climate de-crocker, has a new video on the subject: Sinclair, of course, is the guy who proved former TV weatherman Anthony Watts knows as much about copyright laws as about climate science. More Climate Crock of the Week videos here. Thu Mar 18 06:51:06 2010 EST 18th March 2010 http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_round_up/441188/tar_sands_money_could_pay_for_desert_solar_or_electric_cars.html Oil companies planning 'billion-pound blunder' into environmentally damaging tar sands production in Canada, says Co-op/WWF report Thu Mar 18 06:51:06 2010 EST http://www.theecologist.org/how_to_make_a_difference/culture_change/441147/climate_change_needs_persuasive_art_not_propaganda.html What is art's role in raising awareness of climate change? In this extract from her passionate, poetic essay 'The Far-seers of Art', Jay Griffiths explains why culture without nature is as good as worthless Thu Mar 18 06:51:06 2010 EST http://energybulletin.net/node/51997 -The Case Against Biofuels: Probing Ethanol's Hidden Costs-Big Oil Behind Yet Another Biofuels Research Paper-Harrabin's Notes: Battle over biofuel strategy read more Thu Mar 18 06:51:06 2010 EST http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/03/16/90451/calif-gop-gubernatorial-hopefuls.html Both Republican candidates for the California governor's race would cut back the state's law to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but differ in degree. Thu Mar 18 06:51:06 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/interactive/2010/mar/16/uk-tidal-wave-technologies Find out about the marine energy technologies that will be used in a £4bn project off northern ScotlandChristine Oliver Thu Mar 18 06:51:06 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/mar/16/copenhagen-activist-trial Australian honours student 'indignant' over charges of organising violence and disorder at climate summit as trial opensTwo environmental activists appeared in court today accused of terrorism-related offences during the Copenhagen climate summit in December.Natasha Verco, an Australian honours student, and Noah Weiss, an American citizen who lives in Denmark, will face similar charges in a trial which is due to last all week.Verco, who has organised non-violent direct action in her native country and who has been part of the Climate Justice Action (CJA) network in the lead-up to the summit in Copenhagen, has been charged with organising violence, organising public disorder, significant damage to property, and organising disorder during the international talks on climate change which took place in Copenhagen last year. Thu Mar 18 06:51:06 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/mar/16/wave-and-tidal-power-scotland Crown estate and Scottish government name 10 wave and tide power installations around Orkney islands and Pentland FirthInteractive: Wave and tidal technologiesThe heavy Atlantic swell and some of the world's strongest tides are to be harnessed by a breakthrough scheme to generate clean marine energy off northern Scotland, with predictions it will rival the output of a nuclear power station.The crown estate and Scottish government today unveiled a £4bn project to build 10 wave and tidal power sites around the Orkney islands and the Pentland Firth, with the potential to power up to 750,000 homes.The devices deployed will include the Pelamis "sea snake", which uses the undulations of the sea surface to generate power, and the SeaGen tidal machine, which looks like an underwater wind turbine. Thu Mar 18 06:51:06 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news187947941.html A new study involving scientists from 13 different organizations, universities and research institutions states that forest protection offers one of the most effective, practical, and immediate strategies to combat climate change. The study, "Indigenous Lands, Protected Areas, and Slowing Climate Change," was published in PLoS Biology, a peer-reviewed scientific journal, and makes specific recommendations for incorporating protected areas into overall strategies to reduce emissions of greenhouse gasses from deforestation and degradation (nicknamed REDD). Thu Mar 18 06:51:06 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news187949507.html Climate changes will have an increasingly disruptive effect on bird species in all habitats, with oceanic and Hawaiian birds in greatest peril, according to a new report on the state of birds released March 11 by U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar. Thu Mar 18 06:51:06 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news187950445.html While marshes in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta area are currently keeping pace with rising sea levels, they may not be sustainable under future sea-level increases. Thu Mar 18 06:51:06 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news187950882.html California's goal of generating 33 percent of its power from renewable energy sources by 2020 will be challenging on days when clouds shade acres of solar photovoltaic panels or when thousands of wind turbines spin more slowly during calm weather. However, researchers at the University of California, San Diego are developing sophisticated forecasting tools that will give California electricity distributors advance notice of meteorological changes that affect solar output. The technology is being developed to allow energy suppliers to more efficiently schedule their fossil-fuel fired plants or energy-storage facilities to meet the state's demand for electricity. Thu Mar 18 06:51:06 2010 EST http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/16/postcard-from-the-arctic-sea-ice/ A geophysics class from Virginia learns about Arctic sea ice up close. Thu Mar 18 06:51:06 2010 EST http://tcktcktck.org/stories/economic-opportunity/nevada-wind-turbine-factory-create-1000-jobs-backers-say A consortium of Chinese and American renewable energy firms said last week that they had chosen Nevada as the location of a 320,000-square-foot wind turbine manufacturing and assembly plant. The turbine plant, whose precise site has yet to be announced, will create an estimated 1,000 long-term manufacturing jobs in the state and is expected to be up and running by 2011. read more Thu Mar 18 06:51:06 2010 EST http://scienceblogs.com/illconsidered/2010/03/gw_news_march_14_2010.php Logging the Onset of The Bottleneck Years This weekly posting is brought to you courtesy of H. E. Taylor . Happy reading, I hope you enjoy this week's Global Warming news roundup Read the rest of this post... | Read the comments on this post... Thu Mar 18 06:51:06 2010 EST http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/16/climate-change-negotiatio_n_500843.html What's Your Reaction? Thu Mar 18 06:51:06 2010 EST http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/local/ap/noaa-fisheries-lists-pacific-smelt-as-threatened-87824867.html GRANTS PASS, ORE. " The Pacific smelt, a small fish that is popular as food and bait, but is beset by climate change, declining river flows, and shrimp fishing, is getting federal protection. Thu Mar 18 06:51:06 2010 EST http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2010/03/16/international/i042811D94.DTL Talks on a new global climate change accord, bogged down for years in contested negotiations among nearly 200 countries, will increasingly move outside the sluggish U.N. framework and focus on a streamlined group of countries, special U.N. envoy Gro Harlem... Thu Mar 18 06:51:06 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news187970782.html Everyone knows that carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas driving climate change, is a global problem. Now a Stanford study has shown it is also a local problem, hurting city dwellers' health much more than rural residents', because of the carbon dioxide "domes" that develop over urban areas. That finding, said researcher Mark Z. Jacobson, exposes a serious oversight in current cap-and-trade ... Thu Mar 18 06:51:06 2010 EST http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/post.cfm?id=neuroframing-the-global-warming-iss-2010-03-16 Opposing Views"Neuroframing" the global warming issue won't win convertsScientific American (blog)... most pressing problem: climate change. Basically, this was a brainstorming session on how to market solutions to global warming more effectively. ...Americans Could Reduce Emissions 15% Through Simple ActionsSustainableBusiness.comCan behavioral economics help save the planet?Energy Collective (blog)15% Cut in Carbon Emissions Achievable Through Simple Personal ActionsOpposing Viewsall 11 Thu Mar 18 06:51:06 2010 EST http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andy-ridley/online-revolution-to-lead_b_501344.html GulfNewsOnline Revolution To Lead A Climate ResolutionHuffington Post (blog)Citizen journalists all over the world have an acute understanding of the reality of global warming. They realise this issue is not going away, ...Switch off for Earth HourJoburgEarth Hour's no-lights night on March 27Malay MailColumbia set to participate in Earth HourColumbia MissourianForester -Manila Bulletin -Independent Onlineall 54 Thu Mar 18 06:51:06 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/mpl9BTwzQVs/idUSTRE62G0ZF20100317 BEIJING (Reuters) - A severe drought in southwestern China has claimed a new victim -- a runway at one of the region's busiest airports. Thu Mar 18 06:51:06 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/aGHFF_WvjNw/idUSTRE62F5ZP20100316 LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - California's drought-baked cities and farms will get considerably more water this year than last from federal officials, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said on Tuesday, making good on forecasts issued in February after a series of strong winter storms. Thu Mar 18 06:51:06 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/world/africa/8571589.stm Many Africans blame themselves for climate change and lack the knowledge to discuss the issue, a new BBC report suggests. Thu Mar 18 06:51:06 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/sci/tech/8571347.stm The "disappointing" outcome from December's UN climate summit was largely down to rich nations not listening, says Lord Stern. Thu Mar 18 06:51:06 2010 EST http://www.theecologist.org/investigations/energy/441435/what_if_we_all_traded_energy_between_ourselves.html The time may soon be coming when every government will need to think about rationing fossil fuel usage. What's the quickest and most equitable way to do it? Thu Mar 18 06:51:06 2010 EST http://energybulletin.net/node/52004 People grasp what their drinking water has to do with them. Overwhelmingly, I think they do not fully grasp what global warming has to do with them - and that's a rhetorical failure...At the same time that highly effective movements are arranging million person demonstrations in the streets, most of the people who will actually tell their congressfolk whether to vote for change were watching Law and Order SVU. read more Thu Mar 18 06:51:06 2010 EST http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/07/090730-deep-fossil-fuel-supply/ Using diamonds and a laser, scientists crushed and heated methane produced from just water and minerals to create the same hydrocarbon blend found in natural gas. Thu Mar 18 06:51:06 2010 EST http://feeds.wired.com/~r/wired/index/~3/f0hwJMcNgSU/ Microbes living in lakes beneath the ice of Antarctica and Greenland could be producing methane. The greenhouse gas could be building up and released if the ice melts. Thu Mar 18 06:51:06 2010 EST http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601080&sid=aK7a7J_.Hcs0 March 17 (Bloomberg) -- Chinese water companies, led by Qianjiang Water Resources Development Co ., rallied the most in Shanghai trading on speculation they will benefit from increased demand as drought spreads across the farm belt. Thu Mar 18 06:51:06 2010 EST http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2010/20100316_globalstats.html Last month's combined global land and ocean surface temperature made it the sixth warmest February ever recorded. Additionally, the December 2009 " February 2010 period was the fifth warmest on record averaged for any similar three-month Northern Hemisphere winter-Southern Hemisphere summer season, according to scientists at NOAA's National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C. Thu Mar 18 06:51:06 2010 EST http://www.financialexpress.com/news/Low-rains-to-hit-plantation-crops-in-Kerala/591619/ Scorching temperature in the absence of summer rains is likely to impact the production of plantation crops in Kerala. Cardamom could be the worst hit and the absence of rains in Idukki district could lead to permanent damage to the plants. Thu Mar 18 06:51:06 2010 EST http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90776/90882/6922777.html The meals of Li Shaorong and his wife contain only plain rice, pickles and a few slices of radish. For months, they've had no soup. Their house is dusty, and towels are as hard as cardboard -- no one in the family remembers when was the last time they were wet. Their home village of Shiyanzi in Xundian County of southwest China's Yunnan Province is at the center of the worst drought to hit the ... Thu Mar 18 06:51:06 2010 EST http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50682 UXBRIDGE, Canada, Mar 16 (IPS) - Canada's climate researchers are being muzzled, their funding slashed, research stations closed, findings ignored and advice on the critical issue of the century unsought by Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government, according to a 40-page report by a coalition of 60 non-governmental organisations. Thu Mar 18 06:51:06 2010 EST http://biz.yahoo.com/cnnm/100317/031710_cap_and_hybrid.html?.v=2 The horse trading over climate change law is in full swing, and Senators are trying to appease interests on both sides of the aisle. Thu Mar 18 06:51:06 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news187985185.html (PhysOrg.com) -- University of Arizona engineers find swapping one chemical for another may actually result in greater energy use, compounding the problems the new chemical was supposed to fix. Thu Mar 18 06:51:06 2010 EST http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2010/03/16/Unseasonable-winds-in-Southern-California/UPI-91831268783598/ ANAHEIM, Calif., March 16 (UPI) -- A warm spell in Southern California has brought unseasonable Santa Ana winds along with warnings to motorists on one Orange County highway, officials said. Thu Mar 18 06:51:06 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/8572202.stm Soils in Scotland store more than 3,000 megatonnes of carbon posing a potential threat to the environment, an agency says. Thu Mar 18 06:51:06 2010 EST http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Asia/Story/STIStory_495192.html Straits TimesAsia swelters in heatwaveStraits TimesBy Grace Chua & Alastair McIndoe in Manila February is on track to become Singapore's driest month, as well as one of the hottest on record. ...Could this be the driest February on record?TODAYonlineall 2 Thu Mar 18 06:51:06 2010 EST http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601086&sid=ayn.xM4kWq50 March 17 (Bloomberg) -- Climate talks in Mexico at the end of this year will hinge on U.S. legislation, Abyd Karmali , global head of carbon markets at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, said today in a Bloomberg television interview. Thu Mar 18 06:51:06 2010 EST http://www.ft.com/cms/s/bf8f1010-312e-11df-8e6f-00144feabdc0.html Ban Ki-moon, the United Nations secretary-general on Tuesday appeared to be at odds with his own climate change envoy over the role the UN should play in securing international agreement on tackling global warming. Thu Mar 18 06:51:06 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/-2Fr_4tXVls/ Okay, it's not a stunner for CP readers that the NY Times doesn t get it. Still, it's nice to see independent confirmation. What's the point of having a blog if you can t say, I told you so ? In an otherwise silly article criticizing efforts to improve climate science messaging, John Horgan, a former Scientific American staff writer who directs the Center for Science Writings at Stevens Institute of Technology, reports: I teach at an engineering school, and about one third of my students identify themselves as global-warming skeptics. They tend to know more about global warming than students who accept it as a fact. Thu Mar 18 06:51:06 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/mar/17/southern-right-whales-mystery More than 300 southern right whales have been found dead in the last five years in the waters off Argentina's Patagonian coastExperts are meeting this week to try to solve the mystery of the largest ever recorded die-off of great whales.More than 300 southern right whales, most of them young calves, have been found dead in the last five years in the waters off Argentina's Patagonian coast - one of the most important breeding grounds for the species.Possible causes being examined include biotoxins - naturally occurring poisons which include the venom of some snakes and spiders and the "flesh-eating" bacteria Necrotizing fasciitis - disease, environmental factors, and lack of prey, particularly the tiny krill which make up the bulk of the southern right's diet. Thu Mar 18 06:51:06 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news188032826.html Millions of people face drinking water shortages in southwestern China because of a once-a-century drought that has dried up rivers and threatens vast farmlands, state media reported Wednesday. Thu Mar 18 06:51:06 2010 EST http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/03/17/public-concern-environmental-issues-hits-year-low-poll-finds FOXNewsPublic Concern About Environmental Issues Hits 20-Year Low, Poll FindsFOXNewsFor all but two categories, global warming and fresh water supply maintenance, the number was the lowest since Gallup started measuring 20 years ago. ...and more Thu Mar 18 06:51:06 2010 EST http://www.skynews.com.au/business/article.aspx?id=441223 The 'arrogance' of rich countries at the Copenhagen climate summit in December contributed to the negotiations' 'disappointing' outcome, a leading economist says. Thu Mar 18 06:51:06 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/WA1E9dm4ICw/ I actually think the science around climate change is real. It is potentially devastating, Obama told reporters Monday [March 24, 2009]. If you look at the flooding that's going on right now in North Dakota and you say to yourself, If you see an increase of two degrees, what does that do, in terms of the situation there? That indicates the degree to which we have to take this seriously. The media love to focus on the few extreme weather events that they (mistakenly) believe are inconsistent with human-caused climate change [see "Was the 'Blizzard of 2009' a 'global warming type' of record snowfall " or an opportunity for the media to blow the extreme weather story (again)?"]. Thu Mar 18 06:51:06 2010 EST http://energybulletin.net/node/52016 David Orr was in the UK recently, and the two of us were part of a panel at an event organised by the Prince's Foundation for the Built Environment. After the event, we retired to the bar of a rather grand London hotel, and chatted for an hour about energy, climate change, the Precautionary Principle, Transition and whether or not we are beyond talk of solutions . Part two will follow shortly. read more Thu Mar 18 06:51:06 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8572000/8572807.stm Populations of many species living in the high Arctic have declined by one quarter, according to a new assessment measuring how the wildlife there is responding to environmental change. Thu Mar 18 06:51:06 2010 EST http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/blogs/thereporters/richardblack/2010/03/climate_ads_far_from_divine.html Complex climate message of UK ads and African divinity Thu Mar 18 06:51:06 2010 EST http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10928/s/98c6c3a/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Carticle0Cmg20A5275220B50A0A0Epolluting0Eships0Ehave0Ebeen0Edoing0Ethe0Eclimate0Ea0Efavour0Bhtml0DDCMP0FOTC0Erss0Gnsref0Fclimate0Echange/story01.htm New restrictions on sulphur emissions from shipping will save thousands of lives " but cutting back will take another brake off global warming Thu Mar 18 06:51:06 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/rimoETefhHE/ Last month, NOAA reported the world experienced the warmest January in both satellite records. And NOAA just reported (here) that it was the second warmest February on record in both satellite records. Now the UAH satellite data shows record-smashing temperatures in the first half of March: The yellow line is the 20-year average temperature, the purple line is of the 20-year record highs, and the green line is the 2010 temperature [make your own chart here]. Other temperature datasets show slightly different results. For NASA, January and February were tied for the second hottest on record. Thu Mar 18 06:51:06 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/mar/17/carbon-traders-recycled-credits Resale of surrendered Certified Emission Reduction credits by Hungarian government prompts warning that "double counting" could damage the integrity of the EU emissions trading scheme. From BusinessGreen, part of the Guardian Environment NetworkThe integrity of the EU's emissions trading scheme could be badly undermined unless governments resist the temptation to sell on "recycled" certified emission reduction (CERs) credits that have already been surrendered by businesses.That is the stark warning from the International Emissions Trading Association (IETA), after the Hungarian government last week agreed to sell on two million "recycled" CERs to an undisclosed intermediary.Government officials confirmed the CERs had been provided by Hungarian companies that had surrendered the UN-approved carbon offset credits to help them comply with the emission caps imposed on them through the EU emissions trading scheme (ETS).The government subsequently swapped the CERs with Assigned Amount Units, cheaper carbon ... Thu Mar 18 06:51:06 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/mar/18/uk-transform-energy The changes include a transformation of draughty homes, plus vast expansion of renewable and nuclear powerThe UK's most eminent engineers have warned that the biggest set of investments and social changes ever seen in peacetime are needed to meet the country's energy needs in the coming decades, while cutting greenhouse gas emissions.The changes include a transformation of the nation's draughty homes and cuts in how far people commute to work, as well as a vast expansion of wind and solar power and dozens of new nuclear or "clean coal" power plants.The authors of the Royal Academy of Engineering report, published today , say the existing level of political will and the market-led approach to energy planning cannot deliver the fundamental restructuring needed."We are nowhere near having a plan," said Prof Sue Ion, who led the report. Thu Mar 18 06:51:06 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/mar/17/manufacturing-sector-energy-industry Institution of Mechanical Engineers says new apprenticeships not enough to fill skills gapLord Mandelson is spraying cash around various business sectors this week " the car industry tomorrow and nuclear today " all in the name of industrial activism.But judging from the reaction at the Royal Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IME) headquarters today, he has some way to go to convince many his strategy is as bright as the spring crocuses outside.Unveiling an £80m loan to a key company at the heart of the nuclear supply chain, the business secretary said he was determined to make finely focused interventions that could kickstart the low-carbon economy both here and abroad."This is government and industry working together to build the success of British manufacturing. Thu Mar 18 06:51:06 2010 EST http://www.joabbess.com/2010/03/17/entropy-one-way-chang/ On the big red sofa with a highly intelligent polyglottal friend after a smoking vegan roast supper, discussing the notion of pricing Carbon Dioxide emissions, with some mint tea. She said like, the Polluter pays ? Yes , I said, that Polluter pays principle ; except it should be the Polluter pays to clean up , but it doesn t work like that. Either the corporates mess up and the governments take the money and don t clean up; or the corporates mess up, pay the money, then try to recoup the cost from their customers, and don t clean up ... Thu Mar 18 06:51:06 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news188056335.html Graphene -- carbon formed into sheets a single atom thick -- now appears to be a promising base material for capturing hydrogen, according to recent research* at the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the University of Pennsylvania. The findings suggest stacks of graphene layers could potentially store hydrogen safely for use in fuel cells and other applications. Thu Mar 18 06:51:06 2010 EST http://resourceinsights.blogspot.com/2010/03/regrettably-comments-policy.html The vast majority of comments on Resource Insights come from thoughtful people trying to advance our understanding of resources, climate change and sustainability. I thank them for helping me and my readers expand our awareness of these critical issues, and I invite them to continue our journey together. Some recent comments on this blog, however, have prompted me to institute a comments policy. Previously, the only comments which I deleted were either spam, direct attacks on individuals, or in some way clearly abusive. But now I feel compelled to respond to those who want to use this blog as a depot for disinformation generated by the fossil fuel lobby. Thu Mar 18 06:51:06 2010 EST http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/314679,crops-hit-as-drought-worsens-in-south-west-china.html Beijing - The worst drought in 60 years is expected to cut crop yields by more than half in much of south-western China, bringing more misery to some of the nation's poorest villages, state media said on Thursday. Dry weather since August has left at... Thu Mar 18 06:51:06 2010 EST http://www.thestar.com/business/article/781426--co2-eating-algae-turns-cement-maker-green A mixture of hot gas rises out of a flue stack at the St. Marys Cement plant about 50 kilometres west of Waterloo. But not all the CO2-rich exhaust is vented to the open air. Thu Mar 18 06:51:06 2010 EST http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/860/f/415777/s/98b2a00/l/0Len0Brian0Bru0Crussia0C20A10A0A3170C15822670A90Bhtml/story01.htm Russian President Dmitry Medvedev ordered the government on Wednesday to adopt measures aimed at implementing the national climate doctrine authorized last year. Thu Mar 18 06:51:06 2010 EST http://www.forbes.com/2010/03/17/greenhouse-gases-environment-technology-ecotech-europe.html?feed=rss_home Why the U.S. should consider a similar system. Thu Mar 18 06:51:06 2010 EST http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/1110155c-3205-11df-a8d1-00144feabdc0.html Energy policy is nowhere near having the right framework in place to deliver the investment and job creation that will be needed to hit government targets for cutting greenhouse gas emissions, a group of leading academics backed by the Royal Academy of Engineering warns. Thu Mar 18 06:51:06 2010 EST http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/de3841c4-31e9-11df-a8d1-00144feabdc0.html Enel , Italy's largest power company, has warned European ministers against changes to rules for carbon emissions permits, saying tighter restrictions could hit investment in projects to cut greenhouse gas emissions. Thu Mar 18 06:51:06 2010 EST http://www.enn.com/energy/article/41112 NEW YORK (March 12, 2010) " New analysis released today at a symposium on "Climate, Mind and Behavior" reveals that Americans can reduce U.S. carbon pollution by 15 percent " or one billion tons of global warming pollution " through collective personal actions that require little to no cost. The analysis released by NRDC and the Garrison Institute's Climate Mind Behavior (CMB) Project is part of ... Thu Mar 18 06:51:06 2010 EST http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/article7066030.ece Telegraph.co.ukIs global warming the new apocalypse?Times OnlineThe new bogeyman is climate change: submerger of nations, polluter of skies, slayer of polar bears. This week the Advertising Standards Authority issued a ...Too scary? UK's 'bedtime stories' on climate change spark outrageUSA TodayBritish Ads Ignore Uncertainties of Climate Change, Watchdog Agency FindsNew York Times (blog)Climate change adverts 'simplistic tools'Telegraph.co.ukABC Online -NewsBusters (blog)all 348 Thu Mar 18 06:51:06 2010 EST http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/news/2010/03/100317_kenya_environment_wt_sl.shtml Africa is responsible for only about 3-4% of global carbon emissions and yet Africans are disproportionately exposed to the effects of global warming. Despite that, a research study called "Africa Talks Climate" suggests many Africans continue to take the blame for the impact of climate change, citing local activities like tree cutting and bush burning rather than global industrial emissions. Thu Mar 18 06:51:06 2010 EST http://www.straight.com/article-298192/vancouver/get-ready-rising-sea Granville Island, Kitsilano and Jericho beaches, the Stanley Park seawall, the Downtown Eastside, and the port all help to define Vancouver in the eyes of the world. But try to imagine what this city would look like if all of these local landmarks were underwater. Thu Mar 18 06:51:06 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/3N7lGBFbpMo/ Another op-ed by Bjorn Lomborg, another Gish Gallup of non-stop disinformation. The good news is that the task of debunking the Septical Environmentalist (sic), has been made easier by the publication of whole book dedicated to that tedious task, The Lomborg Deception. And yes, Septical Environmentalist is not a typo. Sure, it may seem like a mistake to use the word environmentalist to describe Lomborg. But it's the very fact that he calls himself an environmentalist while dedicating his life to spreading disinformation and delaying serious action on the seminal environmental issue of our time that makes him septical. Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST 16th March 2010 http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/mar/15/charlie-brooker-time The hands of time move slowly. And they're tightening round your neck . . . but fear notTime is the strangest substance known to man. You can't see, touch, hear, smell, taste or avoid it. Time makes you stronger-minded but weaker-bodied, gradually transforming you from blushing grape to ornery, grouching raisin. Time is the most precious thing you have, yet you're happiest when you're wasting it. Time will outlive you, your offspring, your offspring's robots and your offspring's robots' springs. It will outlive the wind and the rocks, the sun and the moon, Florence and the Machine. Time, in short, is King of Things.Because time is invisible, it's hard to work out which bit to focus on at any given moment. Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://www.greenleft.org.au/2010/830/42684 Cuba's successful models of sustainable development " in areas of food, housing and health " are now being widely replicated throughout Latin America. Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://wiki.climatechangeadaptation.org.au/ The Built Environment Climate Change Adaptation (BECCA) Wiki is an online encyclopaedia of topics which focus on climate change impacts and adaptation options for the built environment. It aims to provide practical information about climate change impacts on different types of infrastructure organisations, such as electricity generators and railways, and the various options for adapting efficiently to these impacts. The key audience for the BECCA Wiki includes: * academics and researchers working in the climate change and adaptation field, and * engineers and related professionals in the following sectors: o Electricity generation o Electricity transmission and distribution o Railways Please note that the Wiki will be expanded to include other sectors in the future. Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article7061938.ece Energy bills will rise but thousands of jobs could be created in green industries under a European plan to impose the world's most stringent restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions. Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601091&sid=aSk2DK7U3h.g March 15 (Bloomberg) -- China's power to set prices for electricity from windfarms is dictating the supply of tradable emission credits in the UN carbon market, the world's second biggest, according to a report from Stanford University. Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article7061646.ece If the IPCC has a fault, it is that its reports have been too cautious, not alarmist. In the UK only about 26 per cent of the population believe the scientific consensus that climate change is happening and is man-made. Many feel they are being steamrollered into believing something false or flakey that will make them poorer or stop them flying. Given this dangerous mood of scepticism, it is no surprise that the IPCC - the body that represents the integrity of climate-change scientists across the world - is being attacked. Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1971702,00.html Globe and MailReport: The Case for Global Warming Stronger Than EverTIMEYet a search through the much vilified Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports shows that absolute certainty is notably absent. ...The best argument against global warmingSan Francisco Chronicle (blog)Scientists urge Senate action on global warmingChristian Science MonitorClimate Myths and Questions, Part IIIDiscovery NewsCNNMoney.com -CBC.ca -TVNZall 755 Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/scotland/article7061797.ece Plans for a green coal-fired power station in Ayrshire, the first in the UK with carbon capture technology, are to be lodged with the Scottish government today. Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://uk.news.yahoo.com/22/20100315/tsc-environment-us-climate-emissions-011ccfa_1.html OSLO (Reuters) - Levels of the main greenhouse gas in the atmosphere have risen to new highs in 2010 despite an economic slowdown in many nations that braked industrial output, data showed Monday. Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/uk/8567455.stm The UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband is in China to hold discussions with the country's political leaders. Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/mar/15/bp-shell-tar-sands-green-energy Production from tar sands will rise to 4m barrels a day by 2025 Shareholders seek review of environmental impact of tar sandsThe £250bn cost of developing Canada's controversial tar sands between now and 2025 could be used to decarbonise the western economy by funding ambitious solar power schemes in the Sahara or a European wide shift to electric vehicles, according to a new report released today.The same amount of investment would also help the world to hit half of the Millenium Development Goals in the 50 least-developed countries, says the research from The Co-operative and conservation group, WWF, which is released to coincide with a new film, Dirty Oil, being premiered in 25 cinemas around the UK today. Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/mar/15/ipcc-sea-level From RealClimate, part of the Guardian Environment NetworkImagine this. In its latest report, the IPCC has predicted up to 3 meters of sea level rise by the end of this century. But "climate sceptics" websites were quick to reveal a few problems (or "tricks", as they called it).First, although the temperature scenarios of IPCC project a maximum warming of 6.4 °C (Table SPM3), the upper limit of sea level rise has been computed assuming a warming of 7.6 °C. Second, the IPCC chose to compute sea level rise up to the year 2105 rather than 2100 " just to add that extra bit of alarmism. Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://feeds.grist.org/click.phdo?i=c75a4bee89114ec438810a2cee80162b by David Roberts Representative Baird. There aren t many psychologists in Congress (though many members could probably use one), so Rep. Brian Baird (D) brings a unique perspective. He has a PhD in clinical psychology and published two books in the field before coming to D.C. to deal with dysfunctions of a different sort. He has represented Washington's 3rd congressional district for 12 years, but after this year, he's calling it quits and heading back home. Before he retires, he hopes to help his colleagues understand the critical role that human behavior can play in reducing energy use. Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50662 KOTAGIRI, NILGIRI MOUNTAINS, India, Mar 15 (IPS) - Seemingly unstoppable development has made a mockery of the protected status of this southern Indian region, which houses vast biodiversity and some of the finest examples of moist deciduous and tropical forests. Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/5R0KfCUMNY0/idUSTRE62E2KJ20100315 OSLO (Reuters) - Levels of the main greenhouse gas in the atmosphere have risen to new highs in 2010 despite an economic slowdown in many nations that braked industrial output, data showed Monday. Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/Y-npHTJ1ZTc/idUSTRE62E0O520100315 SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia circa 2050, population 35 million, climate change induced rising sea levels have flooded the Gold Coast resort region, apartment blocks are now used to grow food and people commute in monorail pods above the sea. Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/56GSLabpFCE/idUSTRE62E0QJ20100315 SINGAPORE (Reuters) - A vast network of under-sea volcanoes pumping out nutrient-rich water in the Southern Ocean plays a key role in soaking up large amounts of carbon dioxide, acting as a brake on climate change, scientists say. Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/bF_af-xpCEM/idUSTRE62E14Z20100315 SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia's top scientists on Monday released a "State of the Climate" report at a time of growing scepticism over climate change as a result of revelations of errors in some global scientific reports. Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/YaleEnvironment360/~3/ey1Iv3g9Auw/feature.msp Across western North America, huge tracts of forest are dying off at an extraordinary rate, mostly because of outbreaks of insects. Scientists are now seeing such forest die-offs around the world and are linking them to changes in climate. Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/20100315/NEWS11/3150364/LOCALNEWSFRONT/New+climate+report+details+extreme+risk+to+Isle+birds The Money TimesNew climate report details extreme risk to Isle birdsHonolulu Advertiser... data gathered over 40 years and projected forward using conservative estimates of the effects of global warming, its authors say. "Climate change is one ...Climate Change Affecting Avian LifeRedOrbitClimate Change Could Make Birds Smaller The conclusion belongs to a study ...SoftpediaLouisiana's birds threatened by climate change, report saysNOLA.comThe Nature Conservancy -Santa Rosa Press Democrat -NatGeo News Watch (blog)all 307 Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://www.ptinews.com/news/565823_Pachauri-not-to-quit-IPCC New Delhi, March 15 (PTI) Apparetly buoyed by government support, Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change chief RK Pachauri today said he was in no mood to follow the footsteps of Yvo de Boer, the UN's top climate change official who has quit the post unhappay over the outcome of Copenhagen summit. Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/marketforceslive/2010/mar/12/2 Climate Exchange , the carbon emissions exchange operator, has pleased the market with better than expected full year profits. The company, whose marketplaces include the European Climate Exchange and the Chicago Climate Futures Exchange, said pre-tax profits had climbed from £2.8m to £6.8m, helped by a jump in trading volumes. Chairman Richard Sandor said: Some political momentum is returning ... Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/100315/eu_eu_climate_change.html?.v=2 European Union governments can and should step up cuts in their greenhouse gas emissions because the economic recession has already made significant reductions for them, according to research commissioned by the European Green lawmakers. Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/regions/view/20100315-258858/Drought-drives-Cotabato-monkeys-deeper-into-forests Lack of food due to the drought has forced monkeys to leave their sanctuary in the village of New Israel here and seek refuge in nearby forested areas. Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/ycdfJqtcST8/ I was on a pretty thoughtful panel discussion, The Media, the Scientists and the Planet, broadcast on TV Ontario. The other guests on The Agenda with Steve Paikin included Curtis Brainard, who critiques science and environment reporting for the Columbia Journalism Review, Walter Russell Mead, who is Henry A. Kissinger senior fellow with the Council on Foreign Relations, and everybody's favorite Canadian energy and technology columnist, the Toronto Star's Tyler Hamilton. Here is the hour-long video: The other two guests were Nicola Jones, Science Journalist in Residence at the UBC School of Journalism, who also acts as a commissioning editor for the Opinion section of the Nature Network, and Quentin Chiotti, a senior climate change scientist and senior director of Atmospheric Issues at Pollution Probe. Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/yqoML94NAo4/ Here is our Nobel prize-winning physicist Energy Secretary, Steven Chu, in a San Jose Mercury News interview: SJMN: Are you worried that the political will to enact a national policy or somehow tax or price carbon emissions is gone now? If you look at recent polls, the number of Americans who believe that global warming is real and man-made is declining. The political trends are not in your favor. Chu: Americans were believing because of sound bites, and now they re disbelieving because of sound bites. One can honestly say that if we don t do this, we will not be economically competitive. Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://www.tax-news.com/news/NZ_Emissions_Tax_Attacked____42212.html The ACT New Zealand Party, a member of the country's present coalition government, has continued its opposition to New Zealand's new carbon emissions trading scheme (ETS), calling it a tax that will increase inflation in the economy. Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://energybulletin.net/node/51954 The subject of taxes certainly isn t the most riveting topic for cocktail party conversations...But we believe that the time has come to reframe the debate on taxes and build up some popular passion and energy for a few basic adjustments to the tax code. With these simple, easy-to-implement changes, it turns out that we could move the economy in a direction that works much better for people and the planet, including a more stable climate. read more Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://www.desmogblog.com/does-ipcc-harbor-death-wish A new study, funded by Nasa, has found that the most serious drought in the Amazon for more than a century had little impact on the rainforest's vegetation. The findings appear to disprove claims by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that up to 40% of the Amazon rainforest could react drastically to even a small reduction in rainfall and could see the trees replaced by tropical grassland. The IPCC has already faced intense criticism for using a report by environmental lobby group WWF as the basis for its claim, which in turn had failed to cite the original source of the research. Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://www.desmogblog.com/canadian-government-muzzling-messengers A dramatic reduction in Canadian media coverage of climate change science issues is the result of the Harper government introducing new rules in 2007 to control interviews by Environment Canada scientists with journalists, says a newly released federal document. "Scientists have noticed a major reduction in the number of requests, particularly from high profile media, who often have same-day deadlines," said the Environment Canada document. "Media coverage of climate change science, our most high-profile issue, has been reduced by over 80 per cent." <!--break--> Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/YaleEnvironment360/~3/tH6nKHLA2v8/digest.msp A new 42-floor London skyscraper will be the world's first building to incorporate wind turbines in the design, an innovation developers say will generate 8 percent of the building's electricity needs. The Strata Tower, a 408-unit apartment building scheduled to open in July, will be topped with three 19-kilowatt turbines " each with five 29.5-foot blades designed to suck wind from various angles and accelerate it through tubes, generating as much as 50 megawatt-hours of electricity annually. It will also generate about £16,000 to £17,000 annually through the nation's new feed-in tariff, the developers say. Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://feeds.grist.org/click.phdo?i=8a01b06277d95d928acb5065c6785476 by Agence France-Presse AUSTIN, Texas"Techno-hip trend-setters that design online services, software, buildings, and other components of modern life were told Sunday to get off the sidelines and start saving the planet.Designers Accord founder Valerie Casey issued the rallying cry at a South by Southwest (SXSW) gathering considered spring break for geeks and a Mecca for those that deftly wield Internet Age tools. Despite the fact that the interactive community has been virtually absent in the talk of sustainability, almost to the point of complicity, it is that community which will take the lead, Casey said in a keynote presentation. Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/gleick/detail??blogid=104&entry_id=58962 Here is the best argument against global warming: . . . . Deniers don't like the idea of climate change, they don't believe it is possible for humans to change the climate, they don't like the implications of climate change, they don't like the things we might have to do to address it, or they just don't like government or science. But they have no alternative scientific explanation that works. Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601130&sid=akz_at7AC8pQ March 15 (Bloomberg) -- European countries should avoid setting national taxes or minimum prices for emissions trading as they seek to boost investments in low-carbon energy generation, E.ON AG Chief Financial Officer Marcus Schenck said. Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://telluridenews.com/articles/2010/03/15/news/doc4b11d09262588458709105.txt SALT LAKE CITY (AP) " Ski resorts across the U.S. are using this Thanksgiving holiday weekend to jump start their winter seasons, but with every passing year comes a frightening realization: If global temperatures continue to rise, fewer and fewer resorts will be able to open for the traditional beginning of ski season. Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/YaleEnvironment360/~3/LcxkVYbaLgo/digest.msp Hot, nutrient-rich water seeping from a network of deep-sea volcanoes provides a consistent source of iron for the phytoplankton that soaks up carbon dioxide, playing a key role in limiting climate change, according to a new study by French and Australian scientists. The world's oceans capture about 25 percent of the carbon dioxide emitted by human activities, including the burning of fossil fuels, scientists say. Among the largest carbon sinks is the Southern Ocean between Antarctica and Australia. Underpinning that cycle is the microscopic plant phytoplankton, which absorbs the carbon dioxide at the ocean surface and then eventually carries it to the ocean floor. Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2259529/carbon-trust-launches-green Cath Everett, BusinessGreen , Monday 15 March 2010 at 15:56:00 New £7m research project to accelerate the development of pyrolysis-based biofuels made from waste materials The Carbon Trust has today launched a new consortium of UK businesses committed to developing a commercially viable process for converting municipal and wood waste into a biofuel boasting higher levels of environmental ... Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/WPC3zdO1-Rg/ For the first time since the yellow journalism of a century ago, the United States has a major news organization devoted to the promotion of one political party . In a bygone era of fact-based commentary typified, left to right, by my late colleagues Scotty Reston and Bill Safire, these deceptions would have been given their proper label: disinformation . [Ailes] and his video ferrets have intimidated center-right and center-left journalists into suppressing conclusions " whether on health-care reform or other issues " they once would have stated as demonstrably proven by their reporting. As for Fox News, lots of people who know better are keeping quiet about what to call it. Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2010/03/up-is-down-brown-is-green-with-apologies-to-orwell/ In the alternate universe of Fox News, Anthony Watts, and many others, up is down. Now, it appears, brown is green. Following the total confusion over the retraction of a paper on sea level, claims of another mistake by the IPCC are making the rounds of the blogosphere. This time, the issue is the impact of rainfall changes on the Amazon rainforest. A study in 2007 showed that the forest gets greener when it rains less. A new study, by Samanta et al. in Geophysical Research Letters shows that the earlier work was flawed. Aided by an apparently rather careless press release, this is being used as evidence that the Amazon is less sensitive to rainfall changes than the IPCC claimed. Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/8569006.stm Tidal energy plans for thousands of green jobs Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/15/scientists-defend-climate-panel-and-seek-changes/ Scientists sign up to defend and nudge the intergovernmental climate panel. Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cif-green/2010/mar/15/common-english-species-driven-towards-extinction If a country that takes conservation so seriously can still be losing plants and animals every year, where does hope lie?The names alone should cause anyone whose heart still beats to stop and look again. Blotched woodwax. Pashford pot beetle. Scarce black arches. Mallow skipper. Marsh dagger. Each is a locket in which hundreds of years of history and thousands of years of evolution have been packed. Here nature and culture intersect. All are species that have recently become extinct in England.I cannot claim that I've been materially damaged by their loss, any more than the razing of the Prado would deprive me of food or shelter. Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/blogs/environment/~3/FY-2Ty5xDJ8/ By Helen Hughes " Special to GlobalPost SANTIAGO, Chile " Jacquelin Marin has no running hot water at home. For a while, she had no real home at all. But soon she ll have both, with the sun heating water for her showers. Marin and her neighbors are part of a pilot program to install solar water heaters in the houses of low-income families. For Chile " a country with stark economic inequality and few fossil fuels " it's a way to help the poor while also reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Chile's drastically different climate zones mean it's hard to devise any nationwide energy solution. Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/sci/tech/8569351.stm Spreading iron in the oceans as a climate "fix" could poison marine mammals and birds, scientists show. Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_round_up/440648/climate_activists_threaten_direct_action_against_scotlands_kingsnorth.html Ayrshire Power starts planning process for power station which would be UK's first to use carbon capture and storage Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://www.joabbess.com/2010/03/16/hot-start/ Hot Start by Jo Abbess 04 February 2010 An assessment of the technology and policy for de-Carbonising the Energy systems of developed societies 1. The Aligned and Related Risks from Climate Change and Peak Fossil Fuels 1a. Key Conclusions The Low Carbon Transition in Energy in developed countries is inevitable (Climate Change Act, 2008; EU Package, 2008; UNFCCC Kyoto Protocol, 1997); yet policy thinking and decision-making seems to still focus on the debateable how to do it rather than the more essential how long do we have ? If the window of opportunity for industrialised society to de-Carbonise proves to foreshorten rapidly, then the next few decades could be a story of economic collapse, unless there is concentrated, concerted endeavour (Sustainable Business, 2010). Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://www.joabbess.com/2010/03/16/the-gospel-according-to-nasa/ Here at the Church of Holy Science, we believe the precept of Following the Truth of the Data, wherever that data leads us. The two month period January to February 2010 was the (wait for it ) third warmest January-February out of the whole 131 years of the instrumental record. Yeah, I know what you re thinking. It was cold where I was, as well. But cold here does not mean cold everywhere. The Blog Chart tells the story of the warming trend of Earth, and February 2010 gets a resounding HOT marker :- The surface of the Earth is warming up. Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/8385033/16lemm/alternet_environment~The-Woman-Who-Just-Might-Save-the-Planet-and-Our-Pocketbooks What if our economy was not built on competition? Nobel Prize winner Elinor Ostrom talks about her work on cooperation in economics. Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://www.centerforinvestigativereporting.org/blogpost/20100315falseprofits Knowing they will face climate legislation sometime in the future, a number of U.S. corporations have already begun to offset their greenhouse gas emissions. The utility giant American Electric and Power is buying forest projects in Brazil and the disposal company Waste Management is recovering methane from landfills to use in its trash trucks in California. But a preliminary report commissioned ... Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2010/0315/As-Climate-Change-debate-wages-on-scientists-turn-to-Hollywood-for-help Politicians and the public question global climate change evidence, so scientists look to Hollywood and websites for a new voice. Lights, camera, science! Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/mar/16/europe-butterflies-decline Insects hit by loss of grassland habitats due to intensification of agriculture and abandonment of farming landAlmost one-third of Europe's butterflies are in decline and nearly one in 10 species is threatened with extinction in the region, conservationists warned today.The large blue butterfly " which was successfully reintroduced to the UK after dying out here " is endangered throughout Europe, according to the European red list assessment of species at risk.And the Duke of Burgundy and Lulworth skipper, which both suffered their worst year in the UK last year, are in decline in many countries across the continent.The release of the red list, commissioned by the European commission, also revealed that 14% of dragonflies and 11% of a group of beetles which rely on decaying wood were at risk of extinction.Some 22 species of butterfly, 29 types of the "saproxylic" beetles and five different dragonflies ... Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/green-living-blog/2010/mar/16/power-off Helping the planet can be fun with Power Off " just turn off the electricity at home for the weekend, and enjoy the adventureOn Friday night, we are turning our electricity off for 48 hours. It is not the first time, and we are not alone.A growing number of people are turning off the power for a weekend of adventure at home, for fun. We did it back in December along with a hundred or so people around the UK and the world.This time, we thought we'd time it to coincide with the spring equinox, because without electric lights the sun suddenly seems important and useful once more.If you're familiar with ideas such as WWF's Earth Hour, Satish Kumar's Slow Sunday or E-day on the Isles of Scilly, you'll know where our "Power Off" concept is coming from. Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/video/2010/mar/16/seasonal-local-vegetables-riverford-organic We all like to talk about sourcing our vegetables locally but there's no shame in admitting that after a long winter a fridge full of carrots can be hard to bear. Anyway, isn't provenance more important? Tim Hayward meets Guy Watson, founder of the Riverford vegetable box schemeShehani FernandoTim Hayward Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/heatwave-looms-for-west-australians-20100224-p38i.html Heatwave looms for West AustraliansSydney Morning HeraldWest Australians have been urged to guard against heat stress as a prolonged heatwave looms. A high of 38C was forecast for Perth on Wednesday, ...and more Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/sci/tech/8568377.stm Recent controversies have failed to undermine the fundamental findings of climate science, and the need to address them. Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://www.asiaone.com/News/Latest News/Asia/Story/A1Story20100316-204906.html [Above: Farmers study the drought situation in Huishan village, Zhongjiang county of Southwest China's Sichuan province, on Monday.] BEIJING: Extreme weather caused by climate change is posing a grave threat to China's food supply and its targeted growth, experts warn. Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/3N7lGBFbpMo/ Another op-ed by Bjorn Lomborg, another Gish Gallup of non-stop disinformation. The good news is that the task of debunking the Septical Environmentalist (sic), has been made easier by the publication of whole book dedicated to that tedious task, The Lomborg Deception. And yes, Septical Environmentalist is not a typo. Sure, it may seem like a mistake to use the word environmentalist to describe Lomborg. But it's the very fact that he calls himself an environmentalist while dedicating his life to spreading disinformation and delaying serious action on the seminal environmental issue of our time that makes him septical. Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST 16th March 2010 http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/mar/15/charlie-brooker-time The hands of time move slowly. And they're tightening round your neck . . . but fear notTime is the strangest substance known to man. You can't see, touch, hear, smell, taste or avoid it. Time makes you stronger-minded but weaker-bodied, gradually transforming you from blushing grape to ornery, grouching raisin. Time is the most precious thing you have, yet you're happiest when you're wasting it. Time will outlive you, your offspring, your offspring's robots and your offspring's robots' springs. It will outlive the wind and the rocks, the sun and the moon, Florence and the Machine. Time, in short, is King of Things.Because time is invisible, it's hard to work out which bit to focus on at any given moment. Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://www.greenleft.org.au/2010/830/42684 Cuba's successful models of sustainable development " in areas of food, housing and health " are now being widely replicated throughout Latin America. Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://wiki.climatechangeadaptation.org.au/ The Built Environment Climate Change Adaptation (BECCA) Wiki is an online encyclopaedia of topics which focus on climate change impacts and adaptation options for the built environment. It aims to provide practical information about climate change impacts on different types of infrastructure organisations, such as electricity generators and railways, and the various options for adapting efficiently to these impacts. The key audience for the BECCA Wiki includes: * academics and researchers working in the climate change and adaptation field, and * engineers and related professionals in the following sectors: o Electricity generation o Electricity transmission and distribution o Railways Please note that the Wiki will be expanded to include other sectors in the future. Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article7061938.ece Energy bills will rise but thousands of jobs could be created in green industries under a European plan to impose the world's most stringent restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions. Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601091&sid=aSk2DK7U3h.g March 15 (Bloomberg) -- China's power to set prices for electricity from windfarms is dictating the supply of tradable emission credits in the UN carbon market, the world's second biggest, according to a report from Stanford University. Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article7061646.ece If the IPCC has a fault, it is that its reports have been too cautious, not alarmist. In the UK only about 26 per cent of the population believe the scientific consensus that climate change is happening and is man-made. Many feel they are being steamrollered into believing something false or flakey that will make them poorer or stop them flying. Given this dangerous mood of scepticism, it is no surprise that the IPCC - the body that represents the integrity of climate-change scientists across the world - is being attacked. Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1971702,00.html Globe and MailReport: The Case for Global Warming Stronger Than EverTIMEYet a search through the much vilified Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports shows that absolute certainty is notably absent. ...The best argument against global warmingSan Francisco Chronicle (blog)Scientists urge Senate action on global warmingChristian Science MonitorClimate Myths and Questions, Part IIIDiscovery NewsCNNMoney.com -CBC.ca -TVNZall 755 Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/scotland/article7061797.ece Plans for a green coal-fired power station in Ayrshire, the first in the UK with carbon capture technology, are to be lodged with the Scottish government today. Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://uk.news.yahoo.com/22/20100315/tsc-environment-us-climate-emissions-011ccfa_1.html OSLO (Reuters) - Levels of the main greenhouse gas in the atmosphere have risen to new highs in 2010 despite an economic slowdown in many nations that braked industrial output, data showed Monday. Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/uk/8567455.stm The UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband is in China to hold discussions with the country's political leaders. Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/mar/15/bp-shell-tar-sands-green-energy Production from tar sands will rise to 4m barrels a day by 2025 Shareholders seek review of environmental impact of tar sandsThe £250bn cost of developing Canada's controversial tar sands between now and 2025 could be used to decarbonise the western economy by funding ambitious solar power schemes in the Sahara or a European wide shift to electric vehicles, according to a new report released today.The same amount of investment would also help the world to hit half of the Millenium Development Goals in the 50 least-developed countries, says the research from The Co-operative and conservation group, WWF, which is released to coincide with a new film, Dirty Oil, being premiered in 25 cinemas around the UK today. Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/mar/15/ipcc-sea-level From RealClimate, part of the Guardian Environment NetworkImagine this. In its latest report, the IPCC has predicted up to 3 meters of sea level rise by the end of this century. But "climate sceptics" websites were quick to reveal a few problems (or "tricks", as they called it).First, although the temperature scenarios of IPCC project a maximum warming of 6.4 °C (Table SPM3), the upper limit of sea level rise has been computed assuming a warming of 7.6 °C. Second, the IPCC chose to compute sea level rise up to the year 2105 rather than 2100 " just to add that extra bit of alarmism. Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://feeds.grist.org/click.phdo?i=c75a4bee89114ec438810a2cee80162b by David Roberts Representative Baird. There aren t many psychologists in Congress (though many members could probably use one), so Rep. Brian Baird (D) brings a unique perspective. He has a PhD in clinical psychology and published two books in the field before coming to D.C. to deal with dysfunctions of a different sort. He has represented Washington's 3rd congressional district for 12 years, but after this year, he's calling it quits and heading back home. Before he retires, he hopes to help his colleagues understand the critical role that human behavior can play in reducing energy use. Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50662 KOTAGIRI, NILGIRI MOUNTAINS, India, Mar 15 (IPS) - Seemingly unstoppable development has made a mockery of the protected status of this southern Indian region, which houses vast biodiversity and some of the finest examples of moist deciduous and tropical forests. Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/5R0KfCUMNY0/idUSTRE62E2KJ20100315 OSLO (Reuters) - Levels of the main greenhouse gas in the atmosphere have risen to new highs in 2010 despite an economic slowdown in many nations that braked industrial output, data showed Monday. Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/Y-npHTJ1ZTc/idUSTRE62E0O520100315 SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia circa 2050, population 35 million, climate change induced rising sea levels have flooded the Gold Coast resort region, apartment blocks are now used to grow food and people commute in monorail pods above the sea. Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/56GSLabpFCE/idUSTRE62E0QJ20100315 SINGAPORE (Reuters) - A vast network of under-sea volcanoes pumping out nutrient-rich water in the Southern Ocean plays a key role in soaking up large amounts of carbon dioxide, acting as a brake on climate change, scientists say. Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/bF_af-xpCEM/idUSTRE62E14Z20100315 SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia's top scientists on Monday released a "State of the Climate" report at a time of growing scepticism over climate change as a result of revelations of errors in some global scientific reports. Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/YaleEnvironment360/~3/ey1Iv3g9Auw/feature.msp Across western North America, huge tracts of forest are dying off at an extraordinary rate, mostly because of outbreaks of insects. Scientists are now seeing such forest die-offs around the world and are linking them to changes in climate. Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/20100315/NEWS11/3150364/LOCALNEWSFRONT/New+climate+report+details+extreme+risk+to+Isle+birds The Money TimesNew climate report details extreme risk to Isle birdsHonolulu Advertiser... data gathered over 40 years and projected forward using conservative estimates of the effects of global warming, its authors say. "Climate change is one ...Climate Change Affecting Avian LifeRedOrbitClimate Change Could Make Birds Smaller The conclusion belongs to a study ...SoftpediaLouisiana's birds threatened by climate change, report saysNOLA.comThe Nature Conservancy -Santa Rosa Press Democrat -NatGeo News Watch (blog)all 307 Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://www.ptinews.com/news/565823_Pachauri-not-to-quit-IPCC New Delhi, March 15 (PTI) Apparetly buoyed by government support, Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change chief RK Pachauri today said he was in no mood to follow the footsteps of Yvo de Boer, the UN's top climate change official who has quit the post unhappay over the outcome of Copenhagen summit. Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/marketforceslive/2010/mar/12/2 Climate Exchange , the carbon emissions exchange operator, has pleased the market with better than expected full year profits. The company, whose marketplaces include the European Climate Exchange and the Chicago Climate Futures Exchange, said pre-tax profits had climbed from £2.8m to £6.8m, helped by a jump in trading volumes. Chairman Richard Sandor said: Some political momentum is returning ... Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/100315/eu_eu_climate_change.html?.v=2 European Union governments can and should step up cuts in their greenhouse gas emissions because the economic recession has already made significant reductions for them, according to research commissioned by the European Green lawmakers. Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/regions/view/20100315-258858/Drought-drives-Cotabato-monkeys-deeper-into-forests Lack of food due to the drought has forced monkeys to leave their sanctuary in the village of New Israel here and seek refuge in nearby forested areas. Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/ycdfJqtcST8/ I was on a pretty thoughtful panel discussion, The Media, the Scientists and the Planet, broadcast on TV Ontario. The other guests on The Agenda with Steve Paikin included Curtis Brainard, who critiques science and environment reporting for the Columbia Journalism Review, Walter Russell Mead, who is Henry A. Kissinger senior fellow with the Council on Foreign Relations, and everybody's favorite Canadian energy and technology columnist, the Toronto Star's Tyler Hamilton. Here is the hour-long video: The other two guests were Nicola Jones, Science Journalist in Residence at the UBC School of Journalism, who also acts as a commissioning editor for the Opinion section of the Nature Network, and Quentin Chiotti, a senior climate change scientist and senior director of Atmospheric Issues at Pollution Probe. Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/yqoML94NAo4/ Here is our Nobel prize-winning physicist Energy Secretary, Steven Chu, in a San Jose Mercury News interview: SJMN: Are you worried that the political will to enact a national policy or somehow tax or price carbon emissions is gone now? If you look at recent polls, the number of Americans who believe that global warming is real and man-made is declining. The political trends are not in your favor. Chu: Americans were believing because of sound bites, and now they re disbelieving because of sound bites. One can honestly say that if we don t do this, we will not be economically competitive. Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://www.tax-news.com/news/NZ_Emissions_Tax_Attacked____42212.html The ACT New Zealand Party, a member of the country's present coalition government, has continued its opposition to New Zealand's new carbon emissions trading scheme (ETS), calling it a tax that will increase inflation in the economy. Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://energybulletin.net/node/51954 The subject of taxes certainly isn t the most riveting topic for cocktail party conversations...But we believe that the time has come to reframe the debate on taxes and build up some popular passion and energy for a few basic adjustments to the tax code. With these simple, easy-to-implement changes, it turns out that we could move the economy in a direction that works much better for people and the planet, including a more stable climate. read more Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://www.desmogblog.com/does-ipcc-harbor-death-wish A new study, funded by Nasa, has found that the most serious drought in the Amazon for more than a century had little impact on the rainforest's vegetation. The findings appear to disprove claims by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that up to 40% of the Amazon rainforest could react drastically to even a small reduction in rainfall and could see the trees replaced by tropical grassland. The IPCC has already faced intense criticism for using a report by environmental lobby group WWF as the basis for its claim, which in turn had failed to cite the original source of the research. Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://www.desmogblog.com/canadian-government-muzzling-messengers A dramatic reduction in Canadian media coverage of climate change science issues is the result of the Harper government introducing new rules in 2007 to control interviews by Environment Canada scientists with journalists, says a newly released federal document. "Scientists have noticed a major reduction in the number of requests, particularly from high profile media, who often have same-day deadlines," said the Environment Canada document. "Media coverage of climate change science, our most high-profile issue, has been reduced by over 80 per cent." <!--break--> Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/YaleEnvironment360/~3/tH6nKHLA2v8/digest.msp A new 42-floor London skyscraper will be the world's first building to incorporate wind turbines in the design, an innovation developers say will generate 8 percent of the building's electricity needs. The Strata Tower, a 408-unit apartment building scheduled to open in July, will be topped with three 19-kilowatt turbines " each with five 29.5-foot blades designed to suck wind from various angles and accelerate it through tubes, generating as much as 50 megawatt-hours of electricity annually. It will also generate about £16,000 to £17,000 annually through the nation's new feed-in tariff, the developers say. Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://feeds.grist.org/click.phdo?i=8a01b06277d95d928acb5065c6785476 by Agence France-Presse AUSTIN, Texas"Techno-hip trend-setters that design online services, software, buildings, and other components of modern life were told Sunday to get off the sidelines and start saving the planet.Designers Accord founder Valerie Casey issued the rallying cry at a South by Southwest (SXSW) gathering considered spring break for geeks and a Mecca for those that deftly wield Internet Age tools. Despite the fact that the interactive community has been virtually absent in the talk of sustainability, almost to the point of complicity, it is that community which will take the lead, Casey said in a keynote presentation. Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/gleick/detail??blogid=104&entry_id=58962 Here is the best argument against global warming: . . . . Deniers don't like the idea of climate change, they don't believe it is possible for humans to change the climate, they don't like the implications of climate change, they don't like the things we might have to do to address it, or they just don't like government or science. But they have no alternative scientific explanation that works. Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601130&sid=akz_at7AC8pQ March 15 (Bloomberg) -- European countries should avoid setting national taxes or minimum prices for emissions trading as they seek to boost investments in low-carbon energy generation, E.ON AG Chief Financial Officer Marcus Schenck said. Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://telluridenews.com/articles/2010/03/15/news/doc4b11d09262588458709105.txt SALT LAKE CITY (AP) " Ski resorts across the U.S. are using this Thanksgiving holiday weekend to jump start their winter seasons, but with every passing year comes a frightening realization: If global temperatures continue to rise, fewer and fewer resorts will be able to open for the traditional beginning of ski season. Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/YaleEnvironment360/~3/LcxkVYbaLgo/digest.msp Hot, nutrient-rich water seeping from a network of deep-sea volcanoes provides a consistent source of iron for the phytoplankton that soaks up carbon dioxide, playing a key role in limiting climate change, according to a new study by French and Australian scientists. The world's oceans capture about 25 percent of the carbon dioxide emitted by human activities, including the burning of fossil fuels, scientists say. Among the largest carbon sinks is the Southern Ocean between Antarctica and Australia. Underpinning that cycle is the microscopic plant phytoplankton, which absorbs the carbon dioxide at the ocean surface and then eventually carries it to the ocean floor. Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2259529/carbon-trust-launches-green Cath Everett, BusinessGreen , Monday 15 March 2010 at 15:56:00 New £7m research project to accelerate the development of pyrolysis-based biofuels made from waste materials The Carbon Trust has today launched a new consortium of UK businesses committed to developing a commercially viable process for converting municipal and wood waste into a biofuel boasting higher levels of environmental ... Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/WPC3zdO1-Rg/ For the first time since the yellow journalism of a century ago, the United States has a major news organization devoted to the promotion of one political party . In a bygone era of fact-based commentary typified, left to right, by my late colleagues Scotty Reston and Bill Safire, these deceptions would have been given their proper label: disinformation . [Ailes] and his video ferrets have intimidated center-right and center-left journalists into suppressing conclusions " whether on health-care reform or other issues " they once would have stated as demonstrably proven by their reporting. As for Fox News, lots of people who know better are keeping quiet about what to call it. Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2010/03/up-is-down-brown-is-green-with-apologies-to-orwell/ In the alternate universe of Fox News, Anthony Watts, and many others, up is down. Now, it appears, brown is green. Following the total confusion over the retraction of a paper on sea level, claims of another mistake by the IPCC are making the rounds of the blogosphere. This time, the issue is the impact of rainfall changes on the Amazon rainforest. A study in 2007 showed that the forest gets greener when it rains less. A new study, by Samanta et al. in Geophysical Research Letters shows that the earlier work was flawed. Aided by an apparently rather careless press release, this is being used as evidence that the Amazon is less sensitive to rainfall changes than the IPCC claimed. Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/8569006.stm Tidal energy plans for thousands of green jobs Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/15/scientists-defend-climate-panel-and-seek-changes/ Scientists sign up to defend and nudge the intergovernmental climate panel. Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cif-green/2010/mar/15/common-english-species-driven-towards-extinction If a country that takes conservation so seriously can still be losing plants and animals every year, where does hope lie?The names alone should cause anyone whose heart still beats to stop and look again. Blotched woodwax. Pashford pot beetle. Scarce black arches. Mallow skipper. Marsh dagger. Each is a locket in which hundreds of years of history and thousands of years of evolution have been packed. Here nature and culture intersect. All are species that have recently become extinct in England.I cannot claim that I've been materially damaged by their loss, any more than the razing of the Prado would deprive me of food or shelter. Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/blogs/environment/~3/FY-2Ty5xDJ8/ By Helen Hughes " Special to GlobalPost SANTIAGO, Chile " Jacquelin Marin has no running hot water at home. For a while, she had no real home at all. But soon she ll have both, with the sun heating water for her showers. Marin and her neighbors are part of a pilot program to install solar water heaters in the houses of low-income families. For Chile " a country with stark economic inequality and few fossil fuels " it's a way to help the poor while also reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Chile's drastically different climate zones mean it's hard to devise any nationwide energy solution. Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/sci/tech/8569351.stm Spreading iron in the oceans as a climate "fix" could poison marine mammals and birds, scientists show. Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_round_up/440648/climate_activists_threaten_direct_action_against_scotlands_kingsnorth.html Ayrshire Power starts planning process for power station which would be UK's first to use carbon capture and storage Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://www.joabbess.com/2010/03/16/hot-start/ Hot Start by Jo Abbess 04 February 2010 An assessment of the technology and policy for de-Carbonising the Energy systems of developed societies 1. The Aligned and Related Risks from Climate Change and Peak Fossil Fuels 1a. Key Conclusions The Low Carbon Transition in Energy in developed countries is inevitable (Climate Change Act, 2008; EU Package, 2008; UNFCCC Kyoto Protocol, 1997); yet policy thinking and decision-making seems to still focus on the debateable how to do it rather than the more essential how long do we have ? If the window of opportunity for industrialised society to de-Carbonise proves to foreshorten rapidly, then the next few decades could be a story of economic collapse, unless there is concentrated, concerted endeavour (Sustainable Business, 2010). Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://www.joabbess.com/2010/03/16/the-gospel-according-to-nasa/ Here at the Church of Holy Science, we believe the precept of Following the Truth of the Data, wherever that data leads us. The two month period January to February 2010 was the (wait for it ) third warmest January-February out of the whole 131 years of the instrumental record. Yeah, I know what you re thinking. It was cold where I was, as well. But cold here does not mean cold everywhere. The Blog Chart tells the story of the warming trend of Earth, and February 2010 gets a resounding HOT marker :- The surface of the Earth is warming up. Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/8385033/16lemm/alternet_environment~The-Woman-Who-Just-Might-Save-the-Planet-and-Our-Pocketbooks What if our economy was not built on competition? Nobel Prize winner Elinor Ostrom talks about her work on cooperation in economics. Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://www.centerforinvestigativereporting.org/blogpost/20100315falseprofits Knowing they will face climate legislation sometime in the future, a number of U.S. corporations have already begun to offset their greenhouse gas emissions. The utility giant American Electric and Power is buying forest projects in Brazil and the disposal company Waste Management is recovering methane from landfills to use in its trash trucks in California. But a preliminary report commissioned ... Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2010/0315/As-Climate-Change-debate-wages-on-scientists-turn-to-Hollywood-for-help Politicians and the public question global climate change evidence, so scientists look to Hollywood and websites for a new voice. Lights, camera, science! Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/mar/16/europe-butterflies-decline Insects hit by loss of grassland habitats due to intensification of agriculture and abandonment of farming landAlmost one-third of Europe's butterflies are in decline and nearly one in 10 species is threatened with extinction in the region, conservationists warned today.The large blue butterfly " which was successfully reintroduced to the UK after dying out here " is endangered throughout Europe, according to the European red list assessment of species at risk.And the Duke of Burgundy and Lulworth skipper, which both suffered their worst year in the UK last year, are in decline in many countries across the continent.The release of the red list, commissioned by the European commission, also revealed that 14% of dragonflies and 11% of a group of beetles which rely on decaying wood were at risk of extinction.Some 22 species of butterfly, 29 types of the "saproxylic" beetles and five different dragonflies ... Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/green-living-blog/2010/mar/16/power-off Helping the planet can be fun with Power Off " just turn off the electricity at home for the weekend, and enjoy the adventureOn Friday night, we are turning our electricity off for 48 hours. It is not the first time, and we are not alone.A growing number of people are turning off the power for a weekend of adventure at home, for fun. We did it back in December along with a hundred or so people around the UK and the world.This time, we thought we'd time it to coincide with the spring equinox, because without electric lights the sun suddenly seems important and useful once more.If you're familiar with ideas such as WWF's Earth Hour, Satish Kumar's Slow Sunday or E-day on the Isles of Scilly, you'll know where our "Power Off" concept is coming from. Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/video/2010/mar/16/seasonal-local-vegetables-riverford-organic We all like to talk about sourcing our vegetables locally but there's no shame in admitting that after a long winter a fridge full of carrots can be hard to bear. Anyway, isn't provenance more important? Tim Hayward meets Guy Watson, founder of the Riverford vegetable box schemeShehani FernandoTim Hayward Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/heatwave-looms-for-west-australians-20100224-p38i.html Heatwave looms for West AustraliansSydney Morning HeraldWest Australians have been urged to guard against heat stress as a prolonged heatwave looms. A high of 38C was forecast for Perth on Wednesday, ...and more Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/sci/tech/8568377.stm Recent controversies have failed to undermine the fundamental findings of climate science, and the need to address them. Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://www.asiaone.com/News/Latest News/Asia/Story/A1Story20100316-204906.html [Above: Farmers study the drought situation in Huishan village, Zhongjiang county of Southwest China's Sichuan province, on Monday.] BEIJING: Extreme weather caused by climate change is posing a grave threat to China's food supply and its targeted growth, experts warn. Tue Mar 16 08:09:16 2010 EST http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/03/lets-talk-about-it-discussing-the-science-and-politics-of-global-warming/ New York Times (blog)Let's Talk About It: Discussing the Science and Politics of Global WarmingNew York Times (blog)Despite the discovery of at least two mistakes in scientific work published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), global warming is ...Darwin Foes Add Warming to TargetsNew York TimesGetting global warming rightLos Angeles TimesWhat should schools teach about global warming?USA TodayFOXNews -Chicago Tribune -Wall Street Journalall 194 Sun Mar 14 15:18:06 2010 EST 14th March 2010 http://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change-is-real-and-its-here-report-20100314-q63a.html NEWS.com.auClimate change is real and it's here: reportSydney Morning Herald... Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) findings showing human processes, such as burning fossil fuels, was the main cause of global warming. ...Climate snapshot reveals things are heating upSydney Morning Heraldall 18 Sun Mar 14 15:18:06 2010 EST http://www.joabbess.com/2010/03/13/amazongate-media-entanglement/ There's this crazy effect in sub-atomic Physics, where bits and bobs (to give them their proper names) get quantum entangled under certain scenarios, and can affect each other at a distance, immediately, without any apparent need of communication. This effect seems to happen in the Media, too. Perhaps journalists talk to each other. They certainly all read the same Press Releases and draw research from each others articles. This must explain why the Daily Telegraph repeats all the errors of other articles this week about the Amazon and Climate Change :- [link]earth/environment/climatechange/7437016/UN-climate-change-claims-on-rainforests-were-wrong-study-suggests.html [link]2010/03/12/amazongate-redux-jonathan-leake-still-misguided/ Sun Mar 14 15:18:06 2010 EST http://www.joabbess.com/2010/03/13/curry-and-rice/ The Royal Statistical Society publishes a truly readable magazine called Significance , and until today I hadn t realised it's available online. The front cover of the March 2010 Volume 7 Issue 1 edition shows an artist's mock-up of severe drought and the headline question is After Copenhagen : What can be done ? The magazine contains three really helpful articles on Climate Change :- [link]cgi-bin/fulltext/123300803/PDFSTART Copenhagen 1 : Climate change : making certain what the uncertainties are [link]cgi-bin/fulltext/123300799/PDFSTART Copenhagen 2 ... Sun Mar 14 15:18:06 2010 EST http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2010/03/ebg031010.html The Pentagon is going full steam ahead on a massive renovation project focused on efficiency, recycling, and conservation. Sun Mar 14 15:18:06 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news187622107.html (PhysOrg.com) -- Buried below the tundra of China`s Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is a type of frozen natural gas containing methane and ice crystals that could supply energy to China for 90 years. China discovered the large reserve of methane hydrate last September, and last week the Qinghai Province announced that it plans to allow researchers and energy companies to tap the energy source. Although ... Sun Mar 14 15:18:06 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/bCJHI62iisM/idUSTRE62D0ES20100314 BEIJING (Reuters) - China's Premier Wen Jiabao hit back on Sunday at critics who blamed China for the feeble outcome of the Copenhagen climate conference, saying he was not even invited to a key meeting he was accused of skipping. Sun Mar 14 15:18:06 2010 EST http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=who-is-to-blame-for-global-greenhou-10-03-14 [More] Sun Mar 14 15:18:06 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/theobserver/2010/mar/14/africa-land-grab Governments rich and poor have failed to support smallholder farmers in the developing worldSovereign African governments are complicit in the new scramble for Africa ("How food and water drive a new foreign land grab in Africa", News). The result will be recently disenfranchised farmers working for wages. Oil supplies are being depleted and soon the major land grab in Africa will be to grow sugar cane and palm oil to keep the gas guzzlers running. The African governments may call it development but the fact is they are selling off their resources to line their own pockets " just as the chiefs once sold off their human resource.Vali JamalNairobi, KenyaOne billion people live with hunger and there are more than 100 million hungry people today than there were 18 months ago. Sun Mar 14 15:18:06 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/feb/25/greenwash-drax-power-plant Drax has shelved its biofuel plans, yet still boasts publicly about 'undertaking the largest biomass co-firing project in the world'Drax is Britain's biggest power station. In fact, it is western Europe's biggest. It produces 7% of the country's electricity. By burning coal. For years, it has promised to replace some of that coal with locally grown biomass. But last week, its chief executive, Dorothy Thompson, appeared to tear up those plans.If you travel north on the train from London towards York, you will have seen Drax. It is one of three gigantic power stations near the River Trent, in an area of lowland often called Megawatt Valley. Sun Mar 14 15:18:06 2010 EST http://resourceinsights.blogspot.com/2010/03/ocean-acidification-why-climate-change.html Most people know that the release of carbon dioxide into the air from human sources has contributed to rising global temperatures and massive increases in the rate of melting of the ice at the poles and on Greenland. One of the major consequences they may not know about is the acidification of the oceans.The chemistry is quite straightforward. It's the same process that occurs when bottled water is carbonated. Most of the carbon dioxide simply dissolves in the water. But some of it reacts with the water to form carbonic acid. And, that's what's happening in the world's oceans as humans release more and more carbon dioxide into the air.Climate change deniers love to dispute climate modeling, to talk about short-term weather phenomena, and to pick on minor citation errors in official reports. Sun Mar 14 15:18:06 2010 EST http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10928/s/97675c6/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Carticle0Cmg20A5275140B10A0A0Ebattle0Eover0Eclimate0Escience0Espreads0Eto0Eus0Eschoolrooms0Bhtml0DDCMP0FOTC0Erss0Gnsref0Fclimate0Echange/story01.htm In three states, alternatives to the scientific consensus on global warming must be taught " and there seem to be links to efforts to teach creationism Fri Mar 12 08:27:09 2010 EST 12th March 2010 http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2010/03/ippc-sealevel-gate/ Imagine this. In its latest report, the IPCC has predicted up to 3 meters of sea level rise by the end of this century. But climate sceptics websites were quick to reveal a few problems (or tricks , as they called it). First, although the temperature scenarios of IPCC project a maximum warming of 6.4 °C (Table SPM3), the upper limit of sea level rise has been computed assuming a warming of 7.6 °C. Second, the IPCC chose to compute sea level rise up to the year 2105 rather than 2100 " just to add that extra bit of alarmism. Fri Mar 12 08:27:09 2010 EST http://www.theguardian.pe.ca/index.cfm?sid=332061&sc=98 Environment Canada says the winter we just experienced was one of the warmest and driest across the country since 1948. Fri Mar 12 08:27:09 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/dyBvNRKJq2g/ The partisan divide on climate science has been growing for a while, as I discussed in a 2008 review of the Gallup polling. No surprise, really, since the anti-science disinformation campaign uses experts that are more credible to conservatives, and that disinformation is repeated to death on conservative media outlets. Now Gallup has updated its polling and just now released its own analysis, Conservatives Doubts About Global Warming Grow, with this fascinating ideological breakdown that shows how the divide has grown in the past 2 years: Josh Nelson at Enviroknow explains further: Newly released Gallup polling seems to show a sharp drop in the percentage of Americans who know about, are concerned about and understand the threat of global warming. Fri Mar 12 08:27:09 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/hYwHP35taVg/ The American Petroleum Institute is using fake Americans to defend billions in tax subsidies, as WonkRoom's Brad Johnson explains in this repost. API is running full-page ads in Politico and Roll Call that attack Congress for new energy taxes " using stock photos: Congress will likely consider new taxes on America's oil and natural gas industry. These new energy taxes will produce wide-reaching effects, and ripple through our economy when America " and Americans " can least afford it. These unprecedented taxes will serve to reduce investment in new energy supplies at a time when most Americans support developing our domestic oil and natural gas resources. Fri Mar 12 08:27:09 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8560000/8560694.stm Songbirds on the US east coast are becoming smaller, a trend thought to be driven by the warming temperatures caused by climate change. Fri Mar 12 08:27:09 2010 EST http://energybulletin.net/node/51925 We ve been hearing for years that the mainline Protestant churches are on the wane in the United States, emptying out in an increasingly atomized society. And Catholicism has been clearly weakened by recent internal events. Is the Christian church only a force on the Right in the United States? read more Fri Mar 12 08:27:09 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/mar/11/americans-climate-change-threat US belief in climate science lowest since polling began 13 years ago, with 31% saying the threat is 'definitely' a realityPublic belief in climate science has seen a precipitous slide in the US, according to new polling that suggests fewer Americans are concerned about the threat posed by global warming.Nearly half of Americans " 48% " now believe the threat of global warming has been exaggerated, the highest level since polling began 13 years ago, the poll published today by Gallup said.It directly linked the decline in concern to the controversies about media coverage of stolen emails from the University of East Anglia climate research unit and a mistake about the Himalayan glaciers melting by 2035 in the UN's authoritative report on global warming."These news reports may well have caused some Americans to re-evaluate the scientific consensus on global warming," Gallup said.Half of Americans ... Fri Mar 12 08:27:09 2010 EST http://www.joabbess.com/2010/03/11/gravity-causes-global-warming/ Oh yes, it does ! Without gravity, that strange attractive force that keeps chunks of solid matter, and even gas, falling towards each other, there would be no Atmosphere to speak of, because all the little Carbon Dioxide molecules, and Methane molecules and all the other little Greenhouse Effect Gases would all zither and wiggle off into Space and there would be no radiation trapping and no extra heating of the Earth's surface. There would be nothing to breathe or exhale, there would be no life, no fish, no trees, no puppy dogs, no lichen, no sunflowers, no Polar Bears, no humankind or human-unkind and all the injustices of History would just not have happened. Fri Mar 12 08:27:09 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/shell/lloC/~3/iy2E75M7cSM/ Over the coming months as the energy and climate discussion plays out in Congress there will doubtless be much discussion regarding the appropriate emission reduction target for the USA. Setting the scene for this, besides the bill itself, will be the US pledge under the Copenhagen Accord to reduce emissions by 17% from 2005 by 2020 " which in turn was the 2020 cap under Waxman-Markey. With this pledge as a basis for analysis, it is possible to do some simple back of the envelope calculations to gauge the scale of change that will be required over the coming ten years, assuming a rise in population to 340 million and that the USA does this on the basis of domestic action only. Fri Mar 12 08:27:09 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news187537818.html The increased frequency and intensity of oxygen-deprived "dead zones" along the world's coasts can negatively impact environmental conditions in far more than just local waters. In the March 12 edition of the journal Science, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science oceanographer Dr. Lou Codispoti explains that the increased amount of nitrous oxide (N2O) produced in low-oxygen (hypoxic) waters can elevate concentrations in the atmosphere, further exacerbating the impacts of global warming and contributing to ozone "holes" that cause an increase in our exposure to harmful UV radiation. Fri Mar 12 08:27:09 2010 EST http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/11/new-u-n-climate-change-group-is-all-male/ A group of women are upset that a new United Nations climate change financing group has 19 members, but no women. Fri Mar 12 08:27:09 2010 EST http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/11/a-new-unit-for-saved-energy/ A pioneer in energy efficiency is poised to have an energy unit named for him. Fri Mar 12 08:27:09 2010 EST http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/03/11/90244/us-firms-working-to-lower-cost.html One piece of the American effort to find a way to make solar energy cheap enough that everyone will want it is unfolding in a modest redbrick building in this Midwestern city once known as one of the nation's top makers of glass. Fri Mar 12 08:27:09 2010 EST http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/8113154/163uex/alternet_environment~How-Some-Leading-Environmental-Groups-Are-Putting-Profit-Before-Planet They are supporting a system they know will lead to ecocide, because more revenue will run through their accounts, for a while, as the collapse occurs. Fri Mar 12 08:27:09 2010 EST http://feeds.grist.org/click.phdo?i=381f82162e1f54c51d92a1fcfa7eaceb by Eric Roston First things first: The absence of an actual bill is one impediment to the Senate taking up climate legislation, The Hill reported earlier this week. The climate leadership troika of Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) continue to work behind the scenes to steer the many interests toward a common framework. Key business leaders and allied politicians are reportedly encouraged by movement away from the comprehensive approach that passed the House of Representatives last summer. The oil industry, which found the House bill rather expensive, is listening cautiously to a policy that would require them to pay a carbon fee rather than buy into an economy-wide fix. Fri Mar 12 08:27:09 2010 EST http://energybulletin.net/node/51919 -World's Pall of Black Carbon Can Be Eased With New Stoves-Treasure Trove in World's E-Waste-City sets out healthy ambitions for local food-Galleria mall is giant greenhouse, raising organic crops in Cleveland read more Fri Mar 12 08:27:09 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/ZPFca2A0KeQ/idUSTRE62A5S320100311 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House is finalizing rules on the first U.S. greenhouse gas emission standard for automobiles, which would raise average fuel economy 42 percent by 2016 in a bid to slash oil imports and fight climate change. Fri Mar 12 08:27:09 2010 EST http://www.smh.com.au/business/us-carbon-traders-fear-pink-slips-20100312-q2cr.html Wall Street was supposed to become the capital of a global carbon trading market worth a trillion dollars a year but now many who thought green trading desks would be the next big thing are fearing the pink slip. Fri Mar 12 08:27:09 2010 EST http://www.pollutiononline.com/article.mvc/More-Maize-Ethanol-May-Boost-Greenhouse-Gas-0001?atc~c=771 s=773 r=001 l=a In the March 2010 issue of BioScience, researchers present a sophisticated new analysis of the effects of boosting use of maize-derived ethanol on greenhouse gas emissions. The study, conducted by Thomas W. Hertel of Purdue University and five co-authors, focuses on how mandated increases in production of the biofuel in the United States will trigger land-use changes domestically and elsewhere. Fri Mar 12 08:27:09 2010 EST http://www.theecologist.org/how_to_make_a_difference/climate_change_and_energy/437729/beyond_white_middle_class_environmentalism.html Akashi is a grassroots campaign that gives a bigger voice to black and minority ethnic groups on climate change issues Fri Mar 12 08:27:09 2010 EST http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_round_up/437071/europe_should_forget_about_emissions_cuts_say_policy_experts.html Study says neither China, India or US likely to accept legally binding cuts and that new approach is needed on reducing greenhouse gas emissions Fri Mar 12 08:27:09 2010 EST http://www.theecologist.org/Interviews/436419/erik_assadourian_our_society_needs_some_serious_cultural_engineering.html The editor of the influential Worldwatch 'State of the World' report on the best ways to transform cultures from consumerism to sustainability Fri Mar 12 08:27:09 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/mar/12/polar-bears-endangered-species-listing Melting sea ice in the Arctic will kill thousands of bears in coming years, the US says, and continued commercial trade must not be allowed to make the situation worseIt is a familiar story in the climate change debate. The US government is at odds with the rest of the world and, despite criticism, wants other countries to change their minds and fall in line behind Uncle Sam.This time, the tale comes with an unexpected twist. This weekend, the US will warn that the threat from climate change to the future survival of the polar bear is so great that the world must grant the animal the highest possible protection.At the annual meeting of the international body that regulates trade in animals, the US will push for a total ban on the sale and movement of polar bear products that are used for furs, rugs and taxidermy. Fri Mar 12 08:27:09 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2010/mar/12/climate-change-belief-polls It has taken a perfect storm of snow, scientific doubt and political failure to dent public acceptance of the reality of global warming - but these factors will passIs the world warming and are we causing it? The number of people confidently saying yes to that question has slipped sharply over recent weeks, if opinion polls on both sides of the Atlantic are to be believed. That looks like bad news for those arguing that major changes to how we travel, power our homes and feed ourselves are needed to avoid catastrophe.Yet a longer-term take on the data shows that interpreting the results as a collapse in confidence in climate science due to the release of the University of East Anglia emails or mistakes by the UN's climate body is not sustainable " or at least a long way from the full story. Fri Mar 12 08:27:09 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news187595837.html Illegal fishing and climate change are decimating shrimp and lobster populations in Central America, threatening a two-billion-dollar industry and 136,000 jobs, regional experts said Thursday. Fri Mar 12 08:27:09 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/36JGZBKZxyE/idUSTRE62A28720100312 TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan faces a rocky path to launching an emissions trading system after the government approved legislation on Friday that was vague on how the scheme would set limits on emissions. Fri Mar 12 08:27:09 2010 EST http://liberalconspiracy.org/2010/03/11/half-of-americans-think-global-warming-exaggerated/ Bad business: Gallup's annual update on Americans attitudes toward the environment shows a public that over the last two years has become less worried about the threat of global warming, less convinced that its effects are already happening, and more likely to believe that scientists themselves are uncertain about its occurrence. In response to one key question, 48% of Americans now believe that the seriousness of global warming is generally exaggerated, up from 41% in 2009 and 31% in 1997, when Gallup first asked the question. A majority of Americans still agree that global warming is real, as 53% say the effects of the problem have already begun or will do so in a few years. Fri Mar 12 08:27:09 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/blogs/environment/~3/JnbIpf8o5UQ/ Fred Krupp is president of the Environmental Defense Fund. The views expressed are his own. It's as though three mammoth challenges facing America are intertwined like the strands of a rope: reducing our dependence on Mideast oil; creating new American jobs from clean energy; and reducing pollution responsible for climate change. Together, those strands are a lifeline to the future. While the House of Representatives passed comprehensive energy and climate legislation last summer, polarization has created gridlock in Washington, paralyzing most major legislative initiatives, including clean energy. But a new, tripartisan partnership has emerged in the Senate that offers a hopeful way forward. Fri Mar 12 08:27:09 2010 EST http://blogs.nationalgeographic.com/blogs/news/chiefeditor/2010/03/american-oceanic-birds-threatened.html NatGeo News Watch (blog)All American oceanic birds threatened by climate change, research findsNatGeo News Watch (blog)... of climate change, and many bird species that are now doing well may soon become conservation priorities as global warming progresses," Pashley said. ...and more Fri Mar 12 08:27:09 2010 EST http://www.enn.com/pollution/article/41093 The White House is finalizing rules on the first U.S. greenhouse gas emission standard for automobiles, which would raise average fuel economy 42 percent by 2016 in a bid to slash oil imports and fight climate change. The Environmental Protection Agency and the Transportation Department sent the final rules this week to the White House's Office of Management and Budget, according to a notice ... Fri Mar 12 08:27:09 2010 EST http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nathanael-greene/study-shows-tax-payers-su_b_494877.html A new study by University of Missouri Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (PDF) reveals that the current corn ethanol tax credit is effectively costing... Fri Mar 12 08:27:09 2010 EST http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Environment/2010/03/11/13195136-cp.html?cid=rssnewscanada A senior climatologist with Environment Canada says the balmy winter conditions seen across the country have left him shaking his head and worrying about what's in store for the summer. Fri Mar 12 08:27:09 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/e2mWX2a-1II/ A few weeks ago, Obama tripled the budget for the nuclear loan guarantee program, though there hasn t been a single promising application in two years. CAP Policy Analyst Richard W. Caperton explains what that risky move means for American taxpayers in this repost. President Obama has made two major announcements in recent weeks regarding loan guarantees for nuclear power. Loan guarantees commit the government to repaying a loan if the original borrower can t pay back the loan. His proposed fiscal year 2011 budget would triple nuclear loan guarantees to $54.5 billion. And on February 16, the Department of Energy issued an $8 billion guarantee for two proposed Southern Company nuclear reactors in Georgia. Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST 11th March 2010 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/9aBkcLosE20/ Colorado isn t waiting for Washington to move aggressively on clean energy, as CAP Senior Fellow Tom Kenworthy explains here. On March 5, the state Senate approved a measure to increase Colorado's renewable energy standard (RES) to 30% by 2020, and on March 8th, the House finalized the bill, sending it to Gov. Bill Ritter for his signature. The legislation confirms Colorado's leadership in nurturing the development of clean, renewable energy just six years after voters approved the state's first RES " 10% by 2015. In 2006 the state legislature doubled the RES to 20% by 2020, and with enactment of the latest measure only California will have a set a more ambitious state requirement than Colorado, 33% by 2020. Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://energybulletin.net/node/51873 A popular idea at the moment to address climate change is biochar - essentially taking organic materials, charring them, and burying them in the soil...Now, the biofuel story has given me a bit of a horror of ideas that sound cool to environmentalists, are fine on a small scale, but are a disaster when scaled up by industrial society. So I wanted to do a few quick back-of-the-envelope calculations of the limits of this approach. read more Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://energybulletin.net/node/51871 Should climate activists and feminists support campaigns to slow population growth? Laurie Mazur says that alliance will strengthen the movement. Ian Angus strongly disagrees read more Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://energybulletin.net/node/51879 -A March Round-up of What's Happening out in the World of Transition-Transition on One Planet on BBC World Service-Transition Sunshine Coast delivers EDAP- Genuine resilience results from expanding the human footprint . Discuss read more Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://energybulletin.net/node/51883 -Green fuels cause more harm than fossil fuels, according to report-Chemists create biofuel from plant waste-Seeking a More 'Poplar' Biofuel read more Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://energybulletin.net/node/51884 -Are we really going to let ourselves be duped into this solar panel rip-off?-Solar panels are not fashion accessories-There is no 'green treachery' in questioning this solar panel rip-offI accept George Monbiot's £100 solar PV bet read more Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://www.timescolonist.com/braces summer/2660390/story.html British Columbians should brace for possible drought in many areas of the province this summer, following two months of unusually warm and dry weather, B.C. Environment Minister Barry Penner said yesterday. Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/09/on-the-causes-of-climate-deadlock/ Is the deadlock on climate policy a result of failed communications or failed policy making and politics? Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://theenergycollective.com/TheEnergyCollective/60549 Book of OddsWhat's Better? Climate Change OR Climate DisruptionEnergy Collective (blog)I've laid out my arguments and why I now use the word 'climate disruption' when talking about 'climate change' or 'global warming'. ...Climate changeWorcester TelegramPlaying the climate change oddsBook of Oddsall 6 Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://voices.washingtonpost.com/capitalweathergang/2010/03/scientists_hit_the_blogosphere.html Washington Post (blog)How to calm the climate science confidence crisisWashington Post (blog)CNN now has panels on global warming with more skeptics than warmists. So CNN has come a long way and we have nothing but the recession to thank for that. ...and more Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/SPUjuhKfiFs/idUSTRE6283CD20100309 BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Europe's new climate chief sought to reinvigorate international climate talks on Tuesday, laying out a strategy for the EU to lead the world by example. Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/YaleEnvironment360/~3/dT4iv05YtVQ/digest.msp Researchers at IBM and Stanford University say they have found a way to produce plastics that can be recycled continuously or used as higher-value products such as for the pharmaceutical industry. By using organic catalysts in the production of plastic polymers, rather than metal catalysts, the scientists say it is possible to produce a new class of plastics that will not degrade as quickly when recycled, according to a paper published in the journal Macromolecules. If you use organic reactants, you can make certain types of new polymers that are quite different and have other properties plastics don t have, said Chandrasekhar Narayan, who leads the IBM science and technology team in San Jose, Calif. Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/313251,us-greenhouse-gas-emissions-fell-29-per-cent-in-2008.html Washington - US greenhouse gas emissions fell 2.9 per cent in 2008 amid a recession and record high petrol prices, according to a preliminary estimate Tuesday from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Lower demand for electricity and petrol ... Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://feeds.grist.org/click.phdo?i=82780dc0860bd4ffc828eb4fb4d316a5 by Agence France-Presse Online electric vehicleCredit: Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology SEOUL"South Korean researchers on Tuesday launched an environmentally friendly public transport system using a recharging road "with a vehicle sucking power magnetically from buried electric strips. The Online Electric Vehicle (OLEV), towing three buses, went into service at an amusement park in southern Seoul. If the prototype proves successful, there are plans to try it out on a bus route in the capital. The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), which developed the system, says OLEV needs a battery only one-fifth the size of conventional electric vehicles and eliminates the need for major recharging. Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://feeds.grist.org/click.phdo?i=da0155107a6fcec57b3e7638361d4114 by David Roberts Tom Friedman had a column over the weekend lauding a couple of American clean-energy innovators and entrepreneurs. Like almost all his green-focused columns, it's good stuff. However! In the course of accomplishing his worthwhile objective, Friedman and one of his subjects both say something I just can t let pass without comment. I hate to make a big kvetch out of what is otherwise a good column, but this particular error really needs to be called out. Discussing Khosla's big new investment, in a company that can trap carbon into concrete and other useful products, Friedman says ... Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/yl7_37Q3DNo/idUSTRE6284M120100309 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Like a savvy Madison Avenue advertising team, senators pushing climate-control legislation have decided to scrap the name "cap and trade" and rebrand their product as "pollution reduction targets." Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/Tz8ClRQfQVY/idUSTRE62854V20100309 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama still wants Congress to pass a climate bill this year, Republican Senator Susan Collins told reporters on Tuesday after meeting with the president. Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/AJdh8L_g3QQ/ <!-- BODY { FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial } .aolmailheader { FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial } A.aolmailheader:link { FONT-WEIGHT: normal; COLOR: blue; TEXT-DECORATION: underline } A.aolmailheader:visited { FONT-WEIGHT: normal; COLOR: magenta; TEXT-DECORATION: underline } A.aolmailheader:active { FONT-WEIGHT: normal; COLOR: blue; TEXT-DECORATION: underline } A.aolmailheader:hover { FONT-WEIGHT: normal; COLOR: blue; TEXT-DECORATION: underline } --> <!-- BODY { FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial } .aolmailheader { FONT-SIZE ... Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://www.culturechange.org/cms/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=611&Itemid=66 What was required for a growing economy, that was supposed to uplift all of modern humanity, is at root a false notion for the manipulated public: the overwhelming majority must work for others to enrich the few so that all of society benefits through unlimited expansion. This problematic profit-scheme is failing to hold up, what with general economic uncertainty on the rise (apart from "Hope") and the advanced depletion of easily extracted, cheap oil. Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://feeds.grist.org/click.phdo?i=cd780ef1b4d95b7e9a9afbdd5a50000a by Lester Brown The harnessing of solar energy is expanding on every front as concerns about climate change and energy security escalate, as government incentives for harnessing solar energy expand, and as these costs decline while those of fossil fuels rise. One solar technology that is really beginning to take off is the use of solar thermal collectors to convert sunlight into heat that can be used to warm both water and space. China, for example, is now home to 27 million rooftop solar water heaters. With nearly 4,000 Chinese companies manufacturing these devices, this relatively simple low-cost technology has leapfrogged into villages that do not yet have electricity. Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://feeds.grist.org/click.phdo?i=d8b379305402a353da628de4b330e882 by Gar Lipow Last week, I documented that the public supports trains and auto efficiency standards and renewable requirements, along with other policies sometimes slandered as command & control over emissions pricing. This week: some historical perspective on why the public is right, and mainstream environmental groups are wrong. Historically U.S. infrastructure, the basis on which this nation developed, was never some magical response to supply and demand. The Erie Canal would not have been built without rights of way given away to the builders. Land given to homesteaders and farmers made us one of the world's great farming nations. Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://www.desmogblog.com/new-naomi-oreskes-talk-available University of California (San Diego) science historian Naomi Oreskes has a new lecture on line, promoting her upcoming book: Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming <!--break--> Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/mar/09/china-india-copenhagen-accord China and India formally endorse the last-minute climate agreement struck at the Copenhagen summitChina and India wrote to the UN's climate secretariat today agreeing to be "listed" as a parties to the Copenhagen accord, the last-minute agreement that emerged from the chaos of the UN's summit in Copenhagen.The action falls short of full "association" and highlights the gulf between the US " the strongest backer of the accord " and the other key nations on how to deliver a global deal to combat climate change.Since Copenhagen, there has been confusion over how a legally binding treaty to reduce greenhouse gas emissions can be achieved. Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/mar/09/xeros-washing-machine-bills New machine by Xeros cleans clothes with beads and a tiny amount of water and may cut household bills by 30%"Dry" cleaning is set to become a domestic activity with a washing machine that uses 90% less water than a normal laundry cycle and could be available by the end of 2011. The device, developed by Leeds-based Xeros Ltd, replaces water with tiny plastic beads that suck up stains and its producers claim it will shift stubborn pounds from household energy bills as well.The Xeros process uses 3mm-long nylon beads that can get into all the crevices and folds of clothing and can also be re-used hundreds of times. Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/mar/09/extinction-dinosaurs-losing-species Not all dinosaurs were wiped out by the Chicxulub meteorite. We too may be in the midst of mass extinctionEveryone loves an apocalypse, and none more so than the one that sped the dinosaurs to their now legendary status. Having been a popular theory for 30 years, last week scientists finally reached a consensus that it was indeed the after-effects of a juggernaut meteorite crashing 65 million years ago into what we now call Chicxulub in Mexico that triggered the end of the dinosaurs' reign on Earth.The reasons for loving this particular catastrophe are easy to understand. Dinosaurs are awesome. Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://www.joabbess.com/2010/03/09/gaps-in-the-evidence/ [link]sotc/?report=national&year=2010&month=2&submitted=Get+Report Two pieces of Global Warming evidence : it's been rather cold in the USA of late but then it's been rather warm (and wet) in Australia :- [link]blogs/news/story/25600/record-heat-and-flooding-for-a.asp Record Heat and Flooding for Australia : Mar 3, 2010 : Perth, Australia, has experienced one of its hottest and driest [Southern Hemisphere, lasting from December to February] summers on record. Since November, temperatures have averaged nearly 5 degrees F (3 degrees C) above normal. Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/school_report/8556090.stm Young journalists in Brighton and Hove decided to cover a climate change expedition called Atlantic Rising for their school report. The BBC's John Murphy describes how the project came together. Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://sify.com/news/scientists-figure-out-way-to-convert-co2-into-carbon-monoxide-using-visible-light-news-international-kdjpEfjadjj.html A team of scientists has figured out a way to efficiently turn carbon dioxide (CO2), a greenhouse gas, into carbon monoxide using visible light, like sunlight. Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1970662,00.html?xid=rss-topstories The carbon equation isn't as straightforward as we might think. Scientists find that rich nations are essentially outsourcing some of their carbon emissions to developing nations through global trade Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/7905772/15v0d7/alternet_environment~Star-of-Oscar-Winning-The-Cove-Recaps-His-OnStage-Political-Action-and-the-Academys-Censorship Ric O'Barry make the best of his few moments on stage at the Oscars to make a brave gesture in defense of dolphins. Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/7907200/15v0d7/alternet_environment~How-Much-Will-Obamas-Nuclear-Blind-Spot-Cost-America Is the administration ignoring the potential financial fallout of its plans for a nuclear expansion? Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://www.countercurrents.org/castro090310.htm By Fidel Castro You can believe it or not, challenging the data in my view irrefutable of the most serious scientists of the world and the overwhelming majority of the most knowledgeable and honest people worldwide, who think that at the current pace the planet is warming up, the greenhouse gases will rise temperature not only by 1.5 degrees, but up to 5 degrees, and that the medium temperature is already the highest of the past 600 thousand years, long before the existence of human beings as a species on the planet. It is absolutely unthinkable that nine billion human beings who will inhabit the world by 2050 could survive such a catastrophe Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-na-climate-politics10-2010mar10,0,32332.story CBC.caGlobal warming skepticism rising in the GOPLos Angeles Times... Republicans -- reflects the rising power of climate change skeptics in the GOP, where global warming is becoming a litmus test for conservatives. ...Climate-change deniers take a lesson from anti-evolution activistsWashington Post (blog)CLIMATE CHANGE: Politics and global warmingRochester City NewspaperUN to review errors made by Intergovernmental Panel on Climate ChangeTimes OnlineCBC.ca -Edmonton Journal -The Associated Pressall 340 Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/lHiePszEuYM/idUSTRE62833H20100310 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama, weighing in on the Senate's efforts to pass a climate change bill, gathered Republican and Democratic lawmakers on Tuesday to try to jumpstart an overhaul of U.S. energy policy. Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://www.desmogblog.com/lorne-gunther-denial-and-dumb-analogies-are-us car-off-cliff.jpg In a wonderfully silly update of the (Canadian newspaper the) National Post's campaign of climate change denial, columnist Lorne Gunther (picked up here in the Edmonton Journal) argues that global warming has ended - and to prove it, he imagines the earth as an out-of-control Toyota which he decides has run out of gas. What good fortune that might be (running out of gas in time to stop before you hit the cliff). But how can we think that our careering planetary heating system - which appears to have it its top speed and has been holding steady for more than a decade - is "out of gas" when we're pumping the stuff into the atmosphere at an unprecedented rate?<!--break--> Look, for example, at the graph to the right. Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://www.joabbess.com/2010/03/10/earth-hour-2010/ Earth Hour 2010 will be on Saturday 27 March 2010 20:30 8.30pm everywhere Being involved in a collective effort may yet help the human race overcome its problem with excessive emissions. It will look like the United Nations Climate Change Conferences, yet it will be an standing session, not just one fortnight a year. And it will be distributed over the entire world, not just in one location. And it will involve a whole lot more people than just official national delegates. Help start the process by taking part in a token gesture of support for a cleaner, greener, cooler Earth ... Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/green-living-blog/2010/mar/09/plasma-screens-posters What is the environmental impact of installing plasma screens to display adverts, and is it worse than traditional posters?I was wondering if you could help with something that's really getting on my nerves " not least because it seems to necessitate closing Archway tube station at frequent yet random intervals, leaving me with a long and unexpected walk home in the driving rain after 10pm. Transport for London are going to much effort and expense installing plasma screens to display adverts on the Underground system. Surely these screens have a far bigger carbon footprint than the traditional printed posters, what with the initial impact of manufacturing the things, the energy used to keep them all day long and finally the problem of disposing of them safely when they break down and have to be replaced?Victoria, by emailThey do seem to be popping up everywhere nowadays, don't they?I've ... Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cif-green/2010/mar/10/global-warming-science-climate-change Doomsaying precludes the possibility of ingenious solutions " and indicates a morbid vanity that we must be the savioursIsn't it welcome to have Ian McEwan as an advocate for a little optimism in the climate change debate? His hope, expressed in his new novel Solar, that humanity will prove ingenious enough to solve the problem through the skill of coming generations is a welcome change from those who portray our descendants as helpless victims of our "excess".Their injunctions to "save the world for our children and grandchildren" fly in the face of history, which repeatedly shows how progress " from the wheel to the internet " transforms the world picture as time marches on. Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50613 UNITED NATIONS, Mar 9 (IPS/TerraViva) - The negative fallout from climate change is having a devastatingly lopsided impact on women compared to men, from higher death rates during natural disasters to heavier household and care burdens. Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50607 UXBRIDGE, Canada, Mar 9 (Tierramérica) - Climate change science has come under full-scale attack in a last-ditch effort to delay or prevent action by the U.S. government against global warming, experts warn. Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50618 DAR-ES-SALAAM, Mar 10 (IPS) - Changes in weather patterns have turned agriculture into a gamble with nature for Tanzanian farmers. Prolonged droughts and floods have made the lives of small-scale farmers, who don t have access to irrigation, extremely difficult. Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50614 WASHINGTON, Mar 9 (IPS) - An international initiative that seeks to reform how governments profit from their natural resources should not reduce its existing standards of membership solely because candidate countries have been reluctant or incapable of meeting them, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Tuesday. Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://www.joabbess.com/2010/03/10/open-season-on-science/ Like several commentators, I am picking out a trend in Internet communications that indicates that there is a tribe of "doubt believers" out there, proselytising for their cause : bringing down the Science of Climate Change. These evangelists often write and reply to web posts with statements of alarmingly high confidence levels, assuming authority they cannot possibly claim, sometimes using anonymity to cloak their network connections. Here are just a few examples :- Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100309/sc_afp/philippinesdroughtheritageenvironment_20100309181327 A worsening drought is exacting a terrible toll on the world-famous mountain rice terraces of the northern Philippines, local officials said Tuesday. Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://qcl.farmonline.com.au/news/nationalrural/grains-and-cropping/general/combat-carbon-emissions-with-legumes/1772660.aspx?src=rss LEADING soil scientists are promoting legumes within grain rotations as the key to reducing carbon emissions related to grain growing, primarily through their nitrogen replacing qualities. Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://www.csmonitor.com/Money/The-Adam-Smith-Institute-Blog/2010/0310/The-EU-green-complex-How-the-EU-funds-green-lobby-groups Demonstrators in Marienborg, Denmark, protested outside a United Nations climate change conference in November. A new report finds that nine members of a coalition of 10 NGOs that lobbies the EU on environmental issues also receive EU funding. Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/fashion/news/chanel-does-climate-change-with-real-icebergs-1919041.html Designer Karl Lagerfeld looked Tuesday to global warming, turning the melting of the polar ice caps into fodder for Chanel's fall-winter 2010-11 ready-to-wear look. Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://www.anorak.co.uk/241767/media/global-warming/global-warming-introducing-the-battery-farmed-methane-cow.html Are you ready for the battery farmed cow? It will save the world from cow-made global warming. An article in the Western Mail gives a clue as to what is going on,... Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/20100310/BREAKING01/303100006?source=rss_breaking More than 600 box jellyfish were spotted on Waikiki Beach and more than 75 at Ala Moana Beach Park Tuesday morning. Lifeguards posted warning signs at both beaches. Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://www.vancouversun.com/Stop+giving+climate+change+deniers+forum/2665645/story.html Stop giving climate-change deniers a forumVancouver SunI was irate to open your paper and discover The global warming alarmists, by Christopher Booker. ...Stop giving climate-change deniers a forumVancouver Sunall 4 Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/business/8558306.stm Whatever the theory of renewable energy-generating technology in the home, an expert asks how can it work in practice? Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/sci/tech/8559821.stm The science spokesmen of the three main political parties cross swords on the issue of UK research funding. Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://www.joabbess.com/2010/03/10/imagine-theres-no-medicine/ Imagine there's no Medicine; no doctors, nurses, hospitals, surgeons, ward administrators, paramedics on bicycles in bright yellow and green jackets, ambulances, medical technology or pharmaceuticals. It's not easy, even if you try. What would your life be like ? Pretty painful and quite possibly nastily shortened, I d hazard. There are people in the world who still do not have access to medical care (let's think all those Americans without basic health care insurance), so they know the grim realities of it all " but the reason I m considering this is there could have been a point in human history where the development of Medicine was thwarted by sceptics and people with ulterior motives. Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/mar/10/feed-in-tariffs-turbine-solar RenewableUK says inconsistencies in tariff favour solar panels, which takes microgeneration business out of UKUK small wind turbine manufacturers say they will lose out to foreign solar panel manufacturers in the race to cash in on the UK government's new feed-in tariff scheme.They claim their products will be penalised because solar panel owners will receive higher government subsidies than wind turbine buyers. As the arrangement stands, a wind turbine would qualify for 26.7-34.5p per KWh in government subsidies, while solar panels would typically bring in 41p per KWh.Turbine manufacturers will also have to pay a fee of up to £100,000 to have their models certified for the scheme, and they argue that planning rules make it harder for customers to get approval for turbines.Due to come into effect on 1 April, the tariff " also known as Clean Energy Cashback " ... Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/P6zvZA1sosM/idUSTRE6292PZ20100310 LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's science academy said on Wednesday it would take part in a review of U.N. climate science intended to restore trust after a 2007 report was found to have exaggerated evidence for global warming. Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/DZFCOKC4SH0/idUSTRE62924T20100310 BEIJING (Reuters) - China's top climate negotiator said on Wednesday that the cause of global warming was still not clear but the problems it was creating were so serious that the world must anyway act to cut greenhouse gas emissions. Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/03/10/90106/schwarzenegger-defends-california.html On Monday, the state's nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office concluded that the landmark 2006 law that mandates cuts in greenhouse gas emissions would cost the state jobs in the near term, and have uncertain effects in the long term. On Tuesday, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has ardently championed the law, dismissed the LAO report as so much armchair analysis. Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://www.upi.com/Science_News/Resource-Wars/2010/03/10/IEA-calls-for-low-carbon-revolution/UPI-71241268234591/ PARIS, March 10 (UPI) -- The International Energy Agency and technology officers from 30 global companies in Paris called Wednesday for dramatic action to usher in a low-carbon economy. Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/03/10/india.climate.change/index.html?section=cnn_latest India has signed onto a U.N. climate change agreement aimed at reducing global greenhouse gas emissions, becoming one of the last major nations to do so, the country's environment minister told parliament. Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601085&sid=ar5C0aTULCmQ March 10 (Bloomberg) -- Credits from projects aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions under a UN program will increase by about a fifth this year, a member of the oversight board said, less than analysts have forecast. Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://www.joabbess.com/2010/03/10/dont-you-just-love-china/ I really love China. It's a country with noble ambitions, to protect and prosper its people, and to advance its economic development through trade across the world. The rest of the world love China, too. They have outsourced all their manufacture, and other services such as recycling, to the powerhouse that is China, where the labour is cheap and the people work willingly. Ah ! The joys of the globalisation of trade ! Now we can have everything we want and somebody else can burn the Fossil Fuels to make it all, and we can t be blamed ! Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://www.joabbess.com/2010/03/10/permanent-session-of-the-climate-security-council/ Ed Miliband put on his favourite suit, shirt and cufflinks today and ruminated at the Environmental Audit Committee in the House of Commons in the United Kingdom Parliament (all you Americans can stop reading now : none of what follows will concern you) :- [link]Main/Player.aspx?meetingId=6084 One of his many views was that there should be a more permanent nature to the ongoing international Climate Change negotiations, and I entirely agree. Ed Miliband said he didn t think that there should be a repeat of what happened at the Copenhagen UNFCCC conference in December 2009. Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/sci/tech/8561004.stm The UN Secretary-General asks the world's leading science academies to review the UN's climate science body. Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/htdi1Nn06LI/ As long as we keep taking no serious action on climate and clean energy, there's nothing to stop the energy bills of Americans from rising. Daniel J. Weiss, CAP's Director of Climate Strategy, explains what's in store this summer. The mounds of snow blackened by auto exhaust have barely melted in Washington, D.C, yet the Energy Information Administration's Short Term Energy Outlook already predicts that: Average U.S. pump prices likely will exceed $3 per gallon at times during the forthcoming spring and summer driving season. EIA projects gasoline consumption will begin to show modest, but consistent, increases over the previous year, growing by 60,000 bbl/d in 2010 and 70,000 bbl/d in 2011. Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/yJkKzFCq1JI/ Polling data is misunderstood and misread all of the time. The public strongly supports action on climate and clean energy legislation, even if it raises their energy bill by $10 a month, but even (lazy) environmentalists are unaware of that. Now it turns out that polling on the science may be equally misunderstood, as USA Today reported Tuesday: The recent controversies have really shaken the confidence of the public in the conduct of science, according to atmospheric scientist Ralph Cicerone, head of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. Cicerone was speaking at the American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting last month on a panel calling for more communication and release of data to rebuild lost trust for scientists. Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://www.culturechange.org/cms/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=612&Itemid=73 My lovely little sailboat just completed a most unusual catastrophe trifecta: she and I have now ridden out an earthquake in San Francisco, a multitude of hurricanes in Key West and a nasty flood in Panama. During the hurricanes my land-dweller friends ridiculed me exuberantly for staying aboard. But then enormous trees fell on their apartments. And when a devastating tidal surge destroyed their ground floor belongings, while my sloop just floated above it, they gained a reinvigorated appreciation for my "stubborn stupidity." Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://energybulletin.net/node/51894 As signs of climate instability increase, radical and rapid action is becoming ever more urgent...Yet even within the environmental movement there is no unanimity on this thorny question: should the countries of the South have the right to increase their emissions as they industrialize and "develop"? read more Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://energybulletin.net/node/51892 The piece builds on Lynas's previous much publicised conversion to nuclear power, arguing that if we are to apply the scientific rigour that underpins climate science to all other areas of life, in the same way that nuclear power is supported by the science, so is GM. While I strongly disagree with him on both, I want here to challenge Lynas's conversion to GM, and the belief that if we are serious about climate change, we have no option other than to embrace GM. read more Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/mar/10/ipcc-himalayan-glaciers-un-review Moves aims to restore public confidence in science of global warming after mistake over melting rates of glaciersThe UN called in the world's top scientists today to review a report by its climate body, four months after public confidence in the science of global warming was shaken by the discovery of a mistake about the melting rates of Himalayan glaciers.In an announcement at the UN in New York Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary general, and Rajendra Pachauri, the much-criticised head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, said the InterAcademy Council, which represents 15 national academies of science, would conduct the independent review.The announcement follows months of controversy which, while not altering the scientific consensus on climate change, has given fresh ammunition to opponents of action on global warming.Pachauri has faced calls for his resignation, a controversy he acknowledged obliquely today. Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news187450080.html (PhysOrg.com) -- A joint report from the law schools at UC Berkeley and UCLA recommends ways that farmers and ranchers can mitigate the impact of climate change. "Room to Grow" identifies barriers to lowering emissions and proposes concrete steps to overcome them. Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/eGsTd-0qlUI/idUSTRE62939O20100310 OSLO (Reuters) - A dimming of the sun to match conditions in the "Little Ice Age" of the 17th century would only slightly slow global warming, a study indicated on Wednesday. Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://e360.yale.edu/content/digest.msp?id=2315 A U.S. startup has developed a process that uses concentrated solar heat to vaporize biomass into synthetic fuels, a system the company says is cleaner and more efficient and can produce twice as much fuel per ton of biomass as existing systems. In the process, a network of solar mirrors direct sunlight at a mounted gasifying unit, heating ceramic tubes to 1,200 to 1,300 degrees C. Any biomass, such as wood and crop waste, that is passed through the tubes becomes vaporized and is converted into synthetic gas, the company says. At such extreme temperatures, the process leaves behind little tar residue, which the developers say can be expensive to get rid of and can kill the catalysts that reform the product into liquid fuel later in the process. Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://e360.yale.edu/content/digest.msp?id=2314 More than one-third of the carbon dioxide emissions associated with consumer goods used in developed nations is actually emitted in other nations where the products are made, according to a new study. In the U.S., about 2.5 tons of carbon produced per person annually " or about 11 percent of U.S. per capita emissions " are emitted elsewhere, researchers at the Carnegie Institution for Science say. In Europe, it's about four tons of carbon per person. In fact, in smaller European nations like Switzerland, the emissions associated with products manufactured outside the borders exceed the actual emissions produced at home. Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news187462358.html Since 2004, University at Buffalo anthropologist Ezra Zubrow has worked intensively with teams of scientists in the Arctic regions of St. James Bay, Quebec, northern Finland and Kamchatka to understand how humans living 4,000 to 6,000 years ago reacted to climate changes. Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://www.joabbess.com/2010/03/10/zombie-climate-change-sceptic-arguments/ Some bad ideas just won t die. Here's Skeptical Science's regularly updated list of the hottest and battiest Climate Change sceptic arguments :- [link]argument.php And here's the full, and updateable list of nearly 250 sceptical arguments that have been weighed in the balance and found erroneously wanting :- [link]resources.php Why do these arguments keep coming back from the grave with their great big evil green zombie eyes and their matted, bird's nest zombie hair and their outstretched murderous arms ? Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/FrWEllD8i60/idUSTRE62955X20100310 BOSTON (Reuters) - Corporate America needs to track its use of energy and resources as closely as it does its hiring and cash flow if it wants to keep pace with social concern about climate change and other sustainability issues, an activist U.S. investor group argues in a new report. Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news187443399.html When people talk about global warming or the greenhouse effect, the main underlying scientific concept that describes the process is radiative forcing. And despite all the recent controversy over leaked emails and charges of poorly sourced references in the last Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, the basic concept of radiative forcing is one on which scientists -- whatever their ... Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://www.countercurrents.org/ehlers100310.htm By Elizabeth Becker Suzanne Ehlers U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced an important new climate change financing group last week, but out of the 19 people named, no women were included. This is unfortunate because women will bear the brunt of the effects of climate change and are key to any climate solutions Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://www.fastcompany.com/1577089/methane-ageddon-time?partner=rss What does a climate change "tipping point" look like? We may be about to find out first hand. Carbon dioxide isn't the only greenhouse gas out there. Other substances, such as water vapor and nitrous oxide, also trap heat to varying degrees. Discussions about global warming focus on CO2 for a couple of key reasons: the first is that human activities have demonstrably increased carbon dioxide ... Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://www.theecologist.org/how_to_make_a_difference/climate_change_and_energy/433139/the_solar_powered_house_of_the_future.html This gallery of images shows a prototype solar powered, zero carbon house designed by students at Nottingham University Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://www.dtnprogressivefarmer.com/dtnag/view/blog/getBlog.do?blogHandle=ethanol&blogEntryId=8a82c0bc268be2db012748d4534f0932 U.S. fuel ethanol and biodiesel production would be cut by 10 percent if Congress allows biofuel tax credits to expire this year, according to a new report from the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute at the University of Missouri, Reuters said. Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://www.joabbess.com/2010/03/10/the-dutch-will-get-wet/ When are the Media going to get their own School of the Environment, where all the journalists can come and learn the Science of Climate Change ? The Times of London continues to mangle the facts, it seems to me; this time from the pen/fingers of Ben Webster, perhaps a Mini-Me version of that accreditable journalist Jonathan Leake :- [link]tol/news/environment/article7056173.ece [The IPCC] also claimed that global warming could cut rain-fed North African crop production by up to 50 per cent by 2020. A senior IPCC contributor has since admitted that there is no evidence to support this claim I don t think that quite pins it down accurately. Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2010npc/2010-03/11/content_9570227.htm China DailyUS urged to step up climate bidChina DailyChina wants the United States to take more radical steps in tackling global warming, though the Obama administration ...China's Climate Change SkepticismAtlantic Online (blog)China unsure on warming cause, to stick with CO2 cutsTimes of IndiaClimate change is a fact, says ChinaABC OnlineUPI.com -NASDAQ -The Associated Pressall 188 Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news187462358.html Since 2004, University at Buffalo anthropologist Ezra Zubrow has worked intensively with teams of scientists in the Arctic regions of St. James Bay, Quebec, northern Finland and Kamchatka to understand how humans living 4,000 to 6,000 years ago reacted to climate changes. Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/-IR95OfGYXY/ Nature, the highly respected British scientific journal, has an excellent editorial and news story tomorrow on the recent assault on climate science (excerpted below). Taking Nature's advice, I urge the administration to send science advisor Holdren and NOAA Administrator Lubchenco and Energy Secretary Chu on a media blitz and national tour to explain and emphasize the science. Nature is among the few journals that still publish original research articles across a wide range of scientific fields, including climate science. It has been a leader in defending climate science (see the December Nature editorial: Nothing in the e-mails undermines the scientific case that global warming is real " or that human activities are almost certainly the cause. ) The news story (subs. Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/mar/11/independent-inquiry-nuclear-power-stations Lobby consists of 90 academics, politicians and experts Claim appropriate information has not been made availablePressure on the government to organise an independent inquiry into a new generation of nuclear power stations will intensify today with a call for action from a group of 90 high-ranking academics, politicians and technical experts.The huge lobby says the "climategate" email scandal and other events have shaken public trust in the scientific governance of environmental risk, making a wider assessment of nuclear power more important than ever.Paul Dorfman, an energy policy research fellow at Warwick University who has been coordinating support for an inquiry, said more debate was needed for a decision on nuclear to have full democratic backing. Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/mar/11/extinct-species-england The biggest national study of threats to biodiversity found nearly 500 species that had died out in England, nearly all in last two centuriesJuliette JowitMore than two animals and plants a year are becoming extinct in England and hundreds more are severely threatened, a report published today reveals.Natural England, the government's agency responsible for the countryside, said the biggest national study of threats to biodiversity found nearly 500 species that had died out in England, all but a dozen in the last two centuries.The losses recorded compare with a natural rate of about one extinction every 20 years before humans dominated the planet, but are almost certainly an underestimate because of poor records of any but the "biggest, scariest" creatures before the 1800s.The high rate at which species are being lost is set to continue. Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/313125,vietnam-forest-fires-rise-sharply-in-drought.html Hanoi - Drought-driven forest fires in Vietnam this year have already consumed an area greater than the entire area burned in 2008 or 2009, officials said Tuesday. Fires have destroyed 1,600 hectares of forest so far this year, said Do Thanh Hai, a s... Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/8560424.stm Politicians look away as Cyprus dies of drought Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/mxSsS9uBSlg/ A must-see video, but it only works if you have a Facebook account (click here). Be sure to watch until the very end. The last joke is just laugh out loud funny, especially if you have a young daughter. Related Posts: Beck escalates feud with Lindsey Graham: I m going to stick with the angry people ; Pence, chair of House GOP Conference, sides with Beck Glenn Beck proves he's a brainless frog, warning (?) Barack Obama has galvanized the country . He's forced us to think! Fox News blurts out its agenda ... Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/gallery/2010/mar/11/beauty-of-wind-power A collection of images that show the beauty of wind power Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/mar/11/greenwash-noel-kempff-forests Forest conservation project in Bolivia proves that unless a nation as a whole cuts deforestation, individual carbon offset schemes are worthlessIt is the ultimate greenwash nightmare. A tough international deal to curb emissions of greenhouse gases is passed in Mexico later this year. Companies then meet their targets not by cutting their own pollution but by buying into hundreds of forest "conservation" projects round the world. But those projects then fail to deliver real benefits for forests or staunch the flow of carbon into the atmosphere.Some big-time green groups prosper but the planet burns.Exhibit A in this doomsday scenario is a 14-year-old forest conservation project in Bolivia called the Noel Kempff Climate Action Project, one of the world's largest schemes to fix carbon in protected forests. Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/georgemonbiot/2010/mar/11/solar-power-germany-feed-in-tariff Our tariff plan is near-identical to Germany's " that's the one that produced woeful amounts of energy, jobs and innovationJeremy Leggett: I accept George Monbiot's £100 solar PV betLet me begin with a plea to tone down this debate on feed-in tariffs. Jeremy Leggett and I have addressed each other politely and stuck to the facts. I have no ill feelings towards him; I simply believe that he is wrong about solar power. But the level of viciousness displayed on the comment threads, by email and on other sites has to be seen to be believed.Where does fury of this kind come from? Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://www.joabbess.com/2010/03/11/lets-do-some-science-communication/ Imagine, if you will, that we can peer deep into a solid object, and looking very, very closely, smaller than the eye can actually see, we can begin to make out the internal structure of that object, and zooming even closer in, we find what appear to be the smallest things that make up this object. Let's call these things ATOMS. That's a bit of Ancient Greek (or Jain) philosophy, the theory of the atomisation of matter, the idea that there are small things that make up large things, and that these small things cannot be made any smaller. Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://www.joabbess.com/2010/03/11/bringing-physics-into-disrepute/ I first commented on the suspected link between the Institute of Physics and the noted Climate Change sceptic Piers Corbyn in a previous post :- [link]2010/03/02/fred-pearce-still-crucifying-phil-jones/ One of my commentators challenged what I had written, so I edited it out, awaiting the opportunity to discover more. More has now been uncovered; not my me, I hasten to add, but by another commentator :- [link]2010/03/06/institute-of-physics-nosedive/#comment-600 Following the link given, I find this :- [link] Thursday 11 Mar 2010 ... Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/shortsharpscience/2010/03/the-green-revolution-sweeps-in.html The humble toilet is set for a techno upgrade that could reduce pollution and save water, says Helen Knight Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news187510055.html (AP) -- French President Nicolas Sarkozy will open a daylong conference Thursday of some 40 nations to start turning plans into action to save the world's forests and help rein in the noxious gases blamed for climate change. Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news187509206.html In the March issue of BioScience, researchers present a sophisticated new analysis of the effects of boosting use of maize-derived ethanol on greenhouse gas emissions. The study, conducted by Thomas W. Hertel of Purdue University and five co-authors, focuses on how mandated increases in production of the biofuel in the United States will trigger land-use changes domestically and elsewhere. In response to the increased demand for maize, farmers convert additional land to crops, and this conversion can boost carbon dioxide emissions. Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/aoMyMtVBmBE/idUSTRE62A2KI20100311 BRUSSELS (Reuters) - New forecasts suggest the European Union will exceed its target of getting 20 percent of its energy from renewable sources in 2020, the European Commission said Thursday. Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/oklPsJOhEq0/idUSTRE62A28720100311 TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan watered down legislation to fight climate change on Thursday after weeks of wrangling within the government over plans for an emissions trading system that has met stiff opposition from industry. Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://uk.news.yahoo.com/22/20100311/tpl-environment-us-climate-france-04b64de.html France will push the Group of 20 countries to impose a tax on financial transactions to raise billions of dollars to help developing nations fight climate change, President Nicolas Sarkozy said Thursday. Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Environment/2010/03/11/13190126-qmi.html?cid=rssnewscanada An admission by Premier Ed Stelmach that he had not seen recent photos of dying ducks at a Syncrude tailings pond has ruffled the feathers of Greenpeace. Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/YaleEnvironment360/~3/cjfyR8jU1pw/feature.msp <!--StartFragment-->Despite strong evidence that growing food crops to produce ethanol is harmful to the environment and the world's poor, the Obama administration is backing subsidies and programs that will ensure that half of the U.S.'s corn crop will soon go to biofuel production. It's time to recognize that biofuels are anything but green. Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://www.marines.mil/unit/mciwest/Stories/Greenhousegaslimitstochangeops.aspx MARINE CORPS AIR STATION YUMA, Ariz. In June, the air station will know how much it needs to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions and that could lead to some big changes in station operations. Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://www.staffnurse.com/nursing-news-articles/britain-gets-heatwave-warning-3935.html Britain Gets Heatwave WarningStaffNurse.comOzone, flooding and heatwaves may be some of the main threats to the health of Britons if climate change gets worse, a European conference was told ...and more Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://money.cnn.com/2010/02/25/news/economy/climate_change/ Globe and MailTrusting science on climate changeCNNMoney.comNEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Those beating the global warming drum have sure taken a few lumps ...Questions about research slow climate change effortsUSA TodayPoll shows shift in attitudes on global warmingThe Hill (blog)Rick Chamberlin: Public opinion experiencing climate change tooCapital TimesThe Citizen Daily -AFP -National Journal (blog)all 589 Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE62A0MF20100311 Political ads: new weapon in US climate change war?ReutersLegislation to battle global warming is stalled in the US Senate and there is growing pessimism that a law can be passed before November's elections. ...and more Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-climate11-2010mar11,0,1476411.story Times LIVEGoing green vs. going brokeLos Angeles TimesRepublicans say California can't afford its global warming law. But can we afford not to cut pollution? Will cutting carbon kill jobs in California? ...Report Says California Global Warming Law Will Cause Job LossesNewsBusters (blog)Union of Concerned Scientists: LAO Study on AB 32 "Baseless Attack"California Majority Reportall 79 Thu Mar 11 10:11:07 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/DkePLPoXrZU/idUSTRE6275EQ20100308 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Environmental Protection Administrator Lisa Jackson fought back on Monday against Senate attempts to challenge EPA's authority to regulate emissions while lawmakers work on a climate bill, saying delaying agency action would be bad for the economy. Tue Mar 09 08:53:43 2010 EST 9th March 2010 http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10928/s/96a24ef/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Carticle0Cdn18620A0Eus0Estill0Eresponsible0Efor0Emost0Eco20Eemissions0Bhtml0DDCMP0FOTC0Erss0Gnsref0Fclimate0Echange/story01.htm Europeans import nearly twice as much carbon dioxide per head as US citizens " but the US is still the world's largest emitter Tue Mar 09 08:53:43 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/_f6Xe8So19I/ The serial misinformers and misrepresenters demand equal time for their misinformation and misrepresentations. What should climate science defenders and the media do? Here's how the strategy works: Step 1: Some misinformer or anti-science group puts out misinformation on the science or misrepresents the views of some scientist or expert. Step 2: They get debunked, by that person and/or others. Step 3: They demand equal time for their misinformation or misrepresentation, either through formal debates or balanced media coverage. Step 4: If they get the equal time, their strategy has worked, and they can go on to fabricate more misinformation and misrepresent the views of other scientists. Tue Mar 09 08:53:43 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/23gebJOFZVo/ Contrary to what one might read in newspapers, the science of climate change is strong. Our own work and the immense body of independent research conducted around the world leaves no doubt regarding the following key points: * The global climate is changing . * Human activities produce heat-trapping gases . * Heat-trapping gases are very likely responsible for most of the warming observed over the past half century . * The higher the levels of heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere, the higher the risk of potentially dangerous consequences for humans and our environment. That's from a Houston Chronicle op-ed by these leading Texas climate scientists ... Tue Mar 09 08:53:43 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/F6QrUF9KMzc/ Valero and Tesoro have reportedly pledged as much as $2 million to help gather signatures for a ballot initiative to suspend the greenhouse-gas-cutting law until the jobless rate improves. For those still operating under the delusion misimpression that the main opposition to climate action is not funded by the polluters: The companies, Valero Energy Corp. and Tesoro Corp., own refineries in California that would be forced under the law to slash emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases. Campaign workers began collecting signatures Tuesday for the initiative, which would delay regulations to implement the nation's most comprehensive climate legislation until California's unemployment level drops to 5.5% for at least a year. Tue Mar 09 08:53:43 2010 EST http://energybulletin.net/node/51853 -Arctic arch failure leads to sea-ice exodus-World's temperature record to be re-analysed-In India, a Clear Victor on The Climate Action Front-Is Arctic methane on the move?-Methane Releases from Arctic Shelf May Be Much Larger and Faster Than Anticipated-Climate scientists must be ruthlessly honest about data read more Tue Mar 09 08:53:43 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cif-green/2010/mar/08/belief-in-climate-change-science There is no simple way to battle public hostility to climate research. As the psychologists show, facts barely sway us anywayThere is one question that no one who denies manmade climate change wants to answer: what would it take to persuade you? In most cases the answer seems to be nothing. No level of evidence can shake the growing belief that climate science is a giant conspiracy codded up by boffins and governments to tax and control us. The new study by the Met Office, which paints an even grimmer picture than the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, will do nothing to change this view.The attack on climate scientists is now widening to an all-out war on science. Tue Mar 09 08:53:43 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/mar/08/carbon-emissions-carbonfootprints Study finds 253m tonnes of CO2 are released annually in the manufacture of products bound for UK shores - mostly in the developing worldBritain's demand for imported goods is responsible for more greenhouse gas emissions abroad than any other European country, according to a new study published today.The report shows that 253m tonnes of carbon dioxide are released overseas each year in the manufacture of products bound for UK shores, the equivalent of 4.3 tonnes per person. The average Briton's carbon footprint is 9.7 tonnes, not including emissions from goods.Only the US and Japan have higher emissions linked to their imports, at 699m tonnes and 284m tonnes of carbon dioxide per year respectively, the study found.The majority of the emissions are released in rapidly industrialising parts of the developing world, such as China and India.The study, by scientists at the Carnegie Institute of Washington ... Tue Mar 09 08:53:43 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/mar/08/imf-climate-change The head of the International Monetary Fund says countries should adopt a quota system to raise money needed to adapt to climate changeThe head of the International Monetary Fund has proposed a plan for the world's governments to pool together to raise money needed to adapt to climate change, a rare step for an organisation that normally does not develop environmental policies.The IMF managing director, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, said the fund is concerned by the huge amount of money needed and the effect this will have on the global economy. He added that the proposal may help efforts to reach a binding agreement on climate change this year.Strauss-Kahn proposed that countries adopt a quota system similar to the one the fund uses to raise its own money, which could bring in money faster than proposals to increase carbon taxes or other fundraising methods. Tue Mar 09 08:53:43 2010 EST http://www.monbiot.com/archives/2010/03/08/the-unpersuadables/ In fighting for science, we subscribe to a comforting illusion: that people can be swayed by the facts. Tue Mar 09 08:53:43 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news187280409.html In his recent book, "Strategic Bargaining and Cooperation in Greenhouse Gas Mitigations," Binghamton University's Zili Yang suggests ways governments might realistically work together to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. He also makes a case for curbing the use of fossil fuels - whether they contribute to climate change or not. Tue Mar 09 08:53:43 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news187282192.html A new study by scientists at the Carnegie Institution finds that over a third of carbon dioxide emissions associated with consumption of goods and services in many developed countries are actually emitted outside their borders. Some countries, such as Switzerland, "outsource" over half of their carbon dioxide emissions, primarily to developing countries. The study finds that, per person, about 2.5 tons of carbon dioxide are consumed in the U.S. but produced somewhere else. For Europeans, the figure can exceed four tons per person. Most of these emissions are outsourced to developing countries, especially China. Tue Mar 09 08:53:43 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news187280297.html A recent discovery in understanding how to chemically break down the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide into a useful form opens the doors for scientists to wonder what organism is out there - or could be created - to accomplish the task. Tue Mar 09 08:53:43 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/YaleEnvironment360/~3/NCR6w3PlCbU/digest.msp Wind power generation in Texas is growing so quickly that it is testing the limits of the state's electrical grid. The state set a record on March 5 when wind turbines generated 6,272 megawatts of energy, or about 19 percent of the electricity on the state's main power grid. That peak far exceeded the 6.2 percent average for wind power in Texas, whose 9,410 megawatts of total wind capacity make it the nation's wind power leader. But wind power's growth poses a critical challenge for the state's booming wind industry, which includes a 180-megawatt wind farm completed last fall near Corpus Christi in South Texas. Tue Mar 09 08:53:43 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/YaleEnvironment360/~3/WVAFtSucAHI/digest.msp A California-based startup company claims it has developed an improved version of the internal combustion engine that boosts gas mileage by more than 50 percent and enabled a prototype vehicle to get 64 miles per gallon on the highway in recent test drives. Transonic Combustion, backed by Vinod Khosla and other venture capitalists, says it has invented a new fuel injection system that heats and pressurizes gasoline before injecting it into the combustion chamber, placing the fuel in a supercritical state that allows for clean and fast combustion. Once the fuel is injected into the piston, the heat and pressure enable the fuel to combust Transonic CombustionTransonic Combustion's new fuel-injection technology without a spark. Tue Mar 09 08:53:43 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/YaleEnvironment360/~3/w8xEMUDam68/feature.msp Two billion people worldwide do their cooking on open fires, producing sooty pollution that shortens millions of lives and exacerbates global warming. If widely adopted, a new generation of inexpensive, durable cook stoves could go a long way toward alleviating this problem.<!--EndFragment--> BY JON R. LUOMA Tue Mar 09 08:53:43 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/mar/05/venezuela-lightning-el-nino Lake Maracaibo left in darkness as drought caused by El Niño disrupts weather patterns that cause constant lightning storms In pictures: Venezuela's vanishing lightning Darkness rarely lasted long in the skies over Lake Maracaibo. An hour after dusk the show would begin: a lightning bolt, then another, and another, until the whole horizon flashed white. Electrical storms, product of a unique ... Tue Mar 09 08:53:43 2010 EST http://www.northernexpress.com/editorial/features.asp?id=4454 The Rush to Biomass Environmentalists plead: Slow down! By Anne Stanton Al Gore wrote recently that we can t wish away climate change. Tue Mar 09 08:53:43 2010 EST http://www.alternet.org/environment/145912/sweden_labels_food_with_co2_data_ Experts say these guidelines, if heeded by consumers, could decrease Sweden's emissions by 20 to 50 percent. Tue Mar 09 08:53:43 2010 EST http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d4fe86d0-2ace-11df-886b-00144feabdc0.html The world will almost certainly fail to draw up a new treaty on climate change this year, the minister in charge of last year's Copenhagen summit has admitted, delivering a heavy blow to the barely flickering hopes for a swift global settlement. Connie Hedegaard, the Danish minister who masterminded the summit of world leaders on global warming last year and is now the European commissioner for climate change, told the Financial Times negotiations were not progressing fast enough for a treaty to be signed soon. Tue Mar 09 08:53:43 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/wB6WIgRv3SI/idUSTRE62768X20100308 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Women hit hard by the effects of climate change -- drought, floods, sea level rise and crop failure -- gathered on Monday to plan a Capitol Hill push for U.S. legislation to curb greenhouse gas emissions. Tue Mar 09 08:53:43 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/J6_r6Yz0wsE/idUSTRE62801Q20100309 BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Four environmental groups have sued the European Union's executive for withholding documents they say will add to a growing dossier of evidence that biofuels harm the environment and push up food prices. Tue Mar 09 08:53:43 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/Wfe-1LFVY9U/idUSTRE6275SZ20100308 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Environmental Protection Agency chief Lisa Jackson said she was "very concerned" about the composition of fluids used to extract natural gas from shale deposits. Tue Mar 09 08:53:43 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/mar/09/solar-by-ian-mcewan Cape, £18.992000 He belonged to that Salman class of short, fat, ugly, clever men who were unaccountably attractive to women. But Michael Beard was anhedonic; his fifth marriage was disintegrating and he should have known how to behave as his philandering had ended the previous four. This time, though, it was his wife, Patrice, who was having an affair with Tarpin, a horny-handed Essex builder who knew nothing about cavity-wall insulation.Beard waited for Aldous to collect him. Gosh, how he hated the polar bear rug in the hall. Still, everyone would soon have one, he supposed, if the polar ice-cap continued to melt. Tue Mar 09 08:53:43 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/mar/09/avoid-climategate-foi-requests-academics Leaked emails between climate scientists at the University of East Anglia have caused a furore. Phil Jones on how not to get caught out by freedom of information requestsThe "climategate" scandal involving the University of East Anglia has sent shockwaves through universities, but many academics still do not fully appreciate the full implications of freedom of information legislation.The problems at UEA arose when emails allegedly written by some of the world's leading climate scientists were stolen by hackers and published on websites run by climate change sceptics. The story broke just before the Copenhagen conference on climate change and appeared to call into question the validity of some of the leading scientists' claims.But as well as this, Graham Smith, deputy information commissioner, said the emails between scientists at the UEA's Climatic Research Unit (CRU) revealed that freedom of information (FoI) requests were "not dealt with as ... Tue Mar 09 08:53:43 2010 EST http://www.wsaz.com/home/headlines/87008757.html A Roane County couple decided to take on alternative energy and invest in solar technology. Tue Mar 09 08:53:43 2010 EST http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124454924&ft=1&f=1006 China is criticized for being the world's largest producer of carbon dioxide, but a new report shows that a quarter of that is emitted while making things for Western consumers. Researchers say that climate policy must account for emissions resulting from trade. Tue Mar 09 08:53:43 2010 EST http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20100308/ts_csm/285868_1 A recent poll suggests that high-profile controversies regarding climate science are weakening public confidence in the validity of global warming, And that could endanger congressional efforts to pass climate legislation. Tue Mar 09 08:53:43 2010 EST http://news.yahoo.com/s/mcclatchy/20100307/sc_mcclatchy/3444187 Yahoo! News : Lower levels of oxygen in the Earth's oceans, particularly off the United States' Pacific Northwest coast, could be another sign of fundamental changes linked to global climate change, scientists say. Tue Mar 09 08:53:43 2010 EST http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/CU1003/S00134.htm What do Te Puke's kiwi fruit and Paeroa's LP bottle have in common with the world's tallest building - the Burj Khalifa, London Eye and Table Mountain? They are all taking action against climate change in the biggest environmental event the world has seen. Tue Mar 09 08:53:43 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/1auzSe17-nc/idUSTRE62809G20100309 SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - California is likely to see modest job losses in the near term from its aggressive climate change policy due to higher energy costs and other factors, the state's independent Legislative Analyst's Office said. Tue Mar 09 08:53:43 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/mar/08/carbon-emissions-carbonfootprints Study finds 253m tonnes of CO2 are released annually in the manufacture of products bound for UK shores - mostly in the developing world Britain's demand for imported goods is responsible for more greenhouse gas emissions abroad than any other European country, according to a new study published today. The report shows that 253m tonnes of carbon dioxide are released overseas each year in the ... Tue Mar 09 08:53:43 2010 EST http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/articles/20100309101432/Article/index_html PORT ELIZABETH, South Africa: The green pitch at Port Elizabeth's World Cup stadium has become an island in a sea of brown, exempt from water limits imposed due to a drought that has scorched the land outside. Tue Mar 09 08:53:43 2010 EST http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU1003/S00219.htm Post-Copenhagen, global investors collaborate to consider the impact of climate change on strategic asset allocation Tue Mar 09 08:53:43 2010 EST http://www.newkerala.com/news/fullnews-66571.html Berlin, March 9 : Germany called for tough action to combat climate change Monday following a new warning from Maldivian President Mohamed Nasheed about the threat posed to his nation by global warming. Tue Mar 09 08:53:43 2010 EST http://feeds.grist.org/click.phdo?i=99d3652a2347d8db87f97011ac67f315 by Brad Johnson Cross-posted from the Wonk Room. The effort of Senators John Kerry (D-Mass.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) to craft comprehensive clean energy legislation that caps global warming pollution has brought some positive words from Big Oil and their political allies. In particular, the senators are considering a proposal by ConocoPhillips, BP America, and Exxon Mobil to exclude petroleum producers and refiners from a carbon market and instead levy a carbon fee. Once you have oil people saying, We can live with this, this was our idea, then hopefully everybody else begins to look at this thing anew, Graham told reporters. Tue Mar 09 08:53:43 2010 EST http://feeds.grist.org/click.phdo?i=200e712bc40415ad228ab8d238317497 by Michael A. Livermore Some small hope has been renewed for a climate change bill out of Congress this year. But if the legislative process fails to produce a law, Obama's regulatory levers will become more and more important"and how they evaluate new rules will come under scrutiny. So is it a problem that industry groups are meeting with key regulatory officials in the White House in much bigger numbers than environmentalists? The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) is the powerful behind-the-scenes agency that review cost-benefit analyses of major environmental regulations like CAFE standards or coal ash regulation. Tue Mar 09 08:53:43 2010 EST http://feeds.grist.org/click.phdo?i=580b20ca55c530c5384485a7875dede9 by Ashley Braun Passetti via Flickr You may snort at the news, but it's the real snuff: Cocaine is hard on your sinuses, but it's not crazy fun for the planet either. Celebs favorite nose candy is knocking down rainforest in party favor of coca plants, thus speeding up climate change. In fact, for every few lines of cocaine snorted in a London club, four square meters of rainforest is destroyed. That's hard to take. Why don t users drop the bad habit and drink cocaine or hit up some killer cheese instead? Related Links ... Tue Mar 09 08:53:43 2010 EST http://feeds.grist.org/click.phdo?i=20b8940b8c58e6ebd55dc6b4fa6a7cd8 by Erich Pica On Feb. 16, while President Obama was in Maryland announcing an $8.3 billion taxpayer-backed loan guarantee for Southern Company to build two new nuclear reactors in Georgia, inspectors at the Vermont Yankee reactor were finding dangerously high levels of tritium, a radioactive cancer-causing chemical, in the groundwater near the plant. The next week, the Vermont state Senate voted overwhelmingly to shut down Vermont Yankee when its current license expires in 2012. Vermont Gov. Jim Douglas (R) called the timing of the nuclear loan guarantee announcement and the Vermont Senate's decision ironic. More than just some coincidence, though, the Vermont Yankee situation demonstrates that from the mining of uranium ore to the storage of radioactive waste, nuclear reactors remain as dirty, risky, and as costly as they ever were. Tue Mar 09 08:53:43 2010 EST http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50580 BRUSSELS, Mar 8 (IPS) - A plan to give the European Union's lending arm a beefed-up mandate for financing the fight against climate change has drawn a sceptical response from campaigners on green and economic justice issues. Tue Mar 09 08:53:43 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/JFEdqfzAi1Y/idUSTRE6281I720100309 IJMUIDEN, Netherlands (Reuters) - Germany's largest fishing vessel will leave the Netherlands this week, towed by a giant kite harnessing trade winds for South America that will help cut its fuel consumption by up to a third. Tue Mar 09 08:53:43 2010 EST http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2010/03/more-on-sun-climate-relations/ Four new papers discuss the relatiosnhip between solar activity and climate: one by Judith Lean (2010) in WIREs Climate Change, a GRL paper by Calogovic et. al. (2010), Kulmala et al. (2010), and an on-line preprint by Feulner and Rahmstorf (2010). They all look at different aspects of how changes in solar activity may influence our climate. The paper by Judith Lean (2010) has the character of a review article, summarizing past studies on the relationship between solar forcing and climate. The main message from her article is that the solar forcing probably plays a modest role for the global warming over the last 100 years (10% or less). Tue Mar 09 08:53:43 2010 EST http://energybulletin.net/node/51864 It's almost too easy to vilify corporations. What, with all the evil stuff they do. Take the coal industry for example, who blow up our mountains, poison our air and water, contribute massively to global climate change, and spend untold millions of dollars on disinformation campaigns, lobbying Congress, buying Senators, and lying to block efforts to tackle the climate crisis. I mean, they are practically begging for our hatred, right? Right. read more Tue Mar 09 08:53:43 2010 EST http://energybulletin.net/node/51869 On Friday, journalist John Fleck made a great point, comparing coverage of two new pieces in Science. One is about the latest potential climate disaster: methane venting from the seafloor in the Arctic. The second is about a promising new climate solution: using behavioral science to influence energy use. Not surprisingly, the disaster got tons of coverage. The solution got none. This is entirely typical. As Fleck says, "The problem space gets more attention than the solution space." read more Tue Mar 09 08:53:43 2010 EST http://energybulletin.net/51861 ...Most of us know in our bones that a sea change is coming in agriculture. But the biggest driver of that change is not going to come from the issues that I ve mentioned so far. The biggest driver is going to be the increasing cost and decreasing availability of fossil fuels, especially oil. Because agriculture is so dependent on oil, the entire system is extremely vulnerable to oil depletion"and to oil price spikes. The situation brewing on the horizon regarding oil compels us to begin rethinking how we grow our food, and even how we eat. Tue Mar 09 08:53:43 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/mar/09/obama-nuclear-power Last month, inspectors found dangerous chemicals in the groundwater near the Vermont Yankee nuclear reactor. The situation demonstrates that from the mining of uranium ore to the storage of radioactive waste, nuclear reactors remain as dirty, risky, and as costly as they ever were. If President Obama's recent enthusiasm for nuclear reactors has led you to believe otherwise, you've bought in to the administration's greenwashing of nuclear. From Grist, part of the Guardian Environment NetworkOn February 16, while President Obama was in Maryland announcing an $8.3bn taxpayer-backed loan guarantee for Southern Company to build two new nuclear reactors in Georgia, inspectors at the Vermont Yankee reactor were finding dangerously high levels of tritium, a radioactive cancer-causing chemical, in the groundwater near the plant.The next week, the Vermont state Senate voted overwhelmingly to shut down Vermont Yankee when its current license expires in 2012.Vermont Gov. Tue Mar 09 08:53:43 2010 EST http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LDE6272DL.htm Source: Reuters * Collect relatives of crops able to resist heat, drought * $50 million project could bolster food security-Fowler By Alister Doyle, Environment Correspondent OSLO, March 9 (Reuters) - Farm ... Tue Mar 09 08:53:43 2010 EST http://english.vietnamnet.vn/social/201003/Drought-sends-farmers-rushing-to-rescue-rice-897935/ VietNamNet Bridge - Unusually hot, dry weather has put thousands of hectares of rice in the country's central and Mekong Delta regions at risk of a poor harvest. Residents and local leaders are now undertaking drastic measures to ensure the winter-spring crop does not go to waste. Tue Mar 09 08:53:43 2010 EST http://uk.news.yahoo.com/18/20100309/tsc-india-backs-copenhagen-climate-deal-f86fa4c.html India has decided to formally back a climate change accord struck in Copenhagen last year that includes non-binding limits on global warming, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said Tuesday. Tue Mar 09 08:53:43 2010 EST http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/08/AR2010030802308.html Post CarbonWashington PostThe researchers found "adults under the age of 35 are significantly less likely than their elders to say that they had thought about global warming before ... Tue Mar 09 08:53:43 2010 EST http://www.csmonitor.com/Money/Green-Economics/2010/0309/New-York-City-s-green-defense-against-sea-levels-rising If water levels rise due to climate change, New York City is particularly at risk. Tue Mar 09 08:53:43 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/sci/tech/8557461.stm Research shows some EU countries "import" about a third of their carbon emissions from developing countries. Tue Mar 09 08:53:43 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/cif-green/2010/mar/09/george-monbiot-bet-solar-pv I wish to make nine points in my response to George Monbiot's latest round in our disagreement about the importance of solar photovoltaics (PV) and the UK government's upcoming feed-in tariffs. I have posted a longer version of this comment on my website (doc)1. Monbiot argues that "either solar photovoltaic (PV) power in the United Kingdom is, as (Leggett) claims, a cheap, efficient technology, or it isn't. If it is, why should we be subsidising it to the tune of 41p per kilowatt hour? If it needs this subsidy, it is neither cheap nor efficient. Tue Mar 09 08:53:43 2010 EST http://www.joabbess.com/2010/03/09/how-you-were-taken-in-media-balance/ Poor (middle-aged) old George Monbiot ! He really feels like he's been wasting his time trying to get through to people to communicate about Climate Change :- [link]archives/2010/03/08/the-unpersuadables/ [link]commentisfree/cif-green/2010/mar/08/belief-in-climate-change-science Let me begin by asking a question : is it right and fair and balanced to pitch Dr Benny Peiser against Professor Phil Jones on the subject of the Science of Global Warming ? I ask this, because this is effectively what happened during the hearings of the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee on 1st March 2010, when Dr Benny Peiser and Lord Nigel Lawson were first in the seats, and then Professor Phil Jones and Professor Edward Acton sat in the seats later on :- ... Tue Mar 09 08:53:43 2010 EST http://www.joabbess.com/2010/03/09/how-you-were-taken-in-the-manufacture-of-doubt/ [link]deltoid/2010/03/naomi_oreskes_on_merchants_of.php Please do watch Naomi Oreske's magristral (not magisterial , since she's female) presentation on her new publication Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming in the YouTube above. The presentation is somewhat marred by poor audiovisual capture, but it's fascinating, all the same, and good to hear her logical argumentation; and be reminded of what has been happening for the last 50 years in the public debates on Science. Tue Mar 09 08:53:43 2010 EST http://www.wri.org/stories/2010/03/forests-climate-change-and-challenge-redd To combat global warming, forests must be part of the solution. How can we make good forest stewardship a reality? Tue Mar 09 08:53:43 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/uk/8551416.stm The Met Office stops publishing seasonal forecasts after it came in for criticism for failing to predict extreme weather. Mon Mar 08 07:47:25 2010 EST 8th March 2010 http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/sci/tech/8550090.stm The UK Met Office says evidence that human activity is causing climate change is stronger now than in a 2007 assessment. Mon Mar 08 07:47:25 2010 EST http://www.desmogblog.com/breaking-evidence-provided-uk-parliamentary-inquiry-climate-scientists-was-prepared-oil-and-gas-industry-consulta The Guardian just broke the news that a consultant to Shell and other oil and gas interests was the source of evidence provided by the Institute of Physics in the current UK parliamentary review of the controversy in England over climate scientists emails stolen from servers at the University of East Anglia.The Guardian reports: Evidence from a respected scientific body to a parliamentary inquiry examining the behaviour of climate-change scientists, was drawn from an energy industry consultant who argues that global warming is a religion hellip;The Guardian has established that the institute prepared its evidence, which was highly critical of the CRU scientists, after inviting views from Peter Gill, an IOP official who is head of a company in Surrey called Crestport Services.According to Gill, Crestport offers "consultancy and management support services hellip ... Mon Mar 08 07:47:25 2010 EST http://energybulletin.net/node/51838 As Iraqi's prepare to go to the polls on Sunday the country has been subjected to a month of increased violence including a string of blasts in Baghdad on Thursday targeting early voters which killed at least 14 people. The election, which will decide the next chapter of Iraq's future, is being keenly watched by the oil industry... read more Mon Mar 08 07:47:25 2010 EST http://energybulletin.net/node/51837 -Empires on the Edge of Chaos-Majoring in Idiocy-Climate-Resilient Industrial Development Paths-Can we design cities for happiness?-What Every Environmentalist Needs to Know About Capitalism read more Mon Mar 08 07:47:25 2010 EST http://energybulletin.net/node/51836 KMO welcomes Albert K. Bates back to the program to talk about the themes of his forthcoming book, The Biochar Solution. Could a form of homebrewed carbon sequestration provide a stopgap measure that could buy us time to implement effective atmospheric remediation? Should biochar be considered a form of geo-engineering? How do we prevent carbon credits from becoming the new credit default swaps? All this and music by Zarathrutra. read more Mon Mar 08 07:47:25 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2010/mar/05/arctic-sea-ice-climate-change-visualisation Scientists are fighting back over climate change. Get the data behind the latest battle - and see how we visualised it Get the dataClimate change scientists have started a fightback against sceptics who argue that the observed changes in the Earth's climate can largely be explained by natural variability. This comes after the email hacking furore.A major Met Office review of more than 100 scientific studies tracking the observed changes in the Earth's climate system finds that it is an "increasingly remote possibility" that human activity is not the main cause of climate change.We visualised this information for the Guardian today - click on the image above to see how we did it. Mon Mar 08 07:47:25 2010 EST http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50544 PORT OF SPAIN, Mar 4 (Tierramérica) - Caribbean countries are considering options like desalination plants and cloud seeding to confront a drought that threatens the regional economy and which experts warned about years ago. Mon Mar 08 07:47:25 2010 EST http://www.monbiot.com/archives/2010/03/05/treachery-or-common-sense/ I m being hounded for taking a stand against feed-in tariffs: here's a riposte to the critics. Mon Mar 08 07:47:25 2010 EST http://www.monbiot.com/archives/2010/03/05/is-the-earth-flat/ A TV debate about whether climate change is happening Mon Mar 08 07:47:25 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/GTokKaIUgKE/idUSTRE6241K620100305 TOKYO (Reuters) - A rift within Japan's government over legislation to fight climate change has raised the risk of it watering down plans for an emissions trading system that is at the core of its drive for greener policies. Mon Mar 08 07:47:25 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/f3WGDQ9cDJw/idUSTRE6241JZ20100305 BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union executive is tempering its hopes of securing a legally binding climate deal in talks this year culminating in Cancun, Mexico, focusing instead on a 2011 summit in South Africa, a source said. Mon Mar 08 07:47:25 2010 EST http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88320 HANOI, 5 March 2010 (IRIN) - As temperatures rise in Vietnam, a nationwide drought has dried up riverbeds, sparked forest fires and now threatens one of the world's richest agricultural regions, upon which millions depend for their livelihoods. Mon Mar 08 07:47:25 2010 EST http://www.uni-protokolle.de/nachrichten/id/193319/ The powerful greenhouse gas methane is being released into the atmosphere from an area of the East Siberian Sea equivalent to more than four times the area of Sweden. Mon Mar 08 07:47:25 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news186835365.html (PhysOrg.com) -- The Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy has awarded researchers at UT Dallas $1 million over three years to create a new class of membranes that produce hydrogen from coal while scrubbing out greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide. Mon Mar 08 07:47:25 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news186751127.html Following an intense study of agricultural ecosystems near Montreal, a new tool that enables the simultaneous analysis and management of a wide range of ecological services has been developed by Ciara Raudsepp-Hearne of McGill University's Department of Geography, Elena Bennett of the McGill School of Environment, and Garry Peterson of the Stockholm Resilience Centre at Stockholm University. Environmental management typically focuses on nature's resources like food, wildlife and timber, but can miss hidden ecosystem services such as water purification, climate moderation and the regulation of nutrient cycling. Mon Mar 08 07:47:25 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news186741532.html (PhysOrg.com) -- Climate change is one reason malaria is on the rise in some parts of the world, new research finds, but other factors such as migration and land-use changes are likely also at play. The research, published in The Quarterly Review of Biology, aims to sort out contradictions that have emerged as scientists try to understand why malaria has been spreading into highland areas of East Africa, Indonesia, Afghanistan and elsewhere. Mon Mar 08 07:47:25 2010 EST http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/32315/f/482669/s/95b2097/l/0L0Sfinanceasia0N0CNews0C16870A80Hcloudy0Eoutlook0Efor0Ecarbon0Emarkets0Baspx/story01.htm Carbon market participants are downbeat on future expansion thanks to global politicians' failure to make any binding decisions in Copenhagen in December. Maybe it's time to rethink the United Nations' role in climate change management. Mon Mar 08 07:47:25 2010 EST http://www.smh.com.au/business/carbon-scheme-critic-profits-up-20100228-pb45.html Truenergy, an outspoken critic of the emissions trading scheme, enjoyed a hefty rise in earnings last year after record output from one of the country's most carbon-intensive power stations. Mon Mar 08 07:47:25 2010 EST http://liberalconspiracy.org/2010/03/05/us-defense-rpt-warns-of-climate-change-danger/ In January this year the US Department of Defense, that bastion of socialists, published its Quadrennial Defense Review Report. The report not only implicitly accepts climate change but also points to the dangers it poses to national security. It's worth reading how it expects climate change to impact the armed forces: Crafting a Strategic Approach to Climate and Energy (pg84) Climate change and energy are two key issues that will play a significant role in shaping the future security environment. Although they produce distinct types of challenges, climate change, energy security, and economic stability are inextricably linked. The actions that the Department takes now can prepare us to respond effectively to these challenges in the near term and in the future. Mon Mar 08 07:47:25 2010 EST http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/7370389/Britains-hydro-electric-projects-under-threat-from-lack-of-funds.html Europe's biggest renewable energy producer has withdrawn from the race to build Britain's first wave and tidal plants, as industry warned that marine power needs an extra £200m from taxpayers to be viable. Mon Mar 08 07:47:25 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/mar/03/fears-over-feed-in-tariff-delay Energy minister to be questioned about plans at London summit The government will come under fire tomorrow from a renewable energy sector increasingly concerned about potential delays in the implementation of a "feed-in tariff" meant to kickstart a domestic green power revolution. David Kidney, an energy minister, will be questioned at a summit in London organised by Renewables UK, formerly the ... Mon Mar 08 07:47:25 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/blogs/environment/~3/P6fSSSEmhhQ/ American sci-fi blockbuster The Day After Tomorrow warned global audiences about climate change as it showed New York smothered by ice as temperatures plunged worldwide. But the 2004 movie evidently made little impact on growth-crazy Asia, which has gone ahead spewing pollutants without imagining risks that they might disrupt the climate. This year a group of filmmakers in newly modernised, consumption-happy Taiwan is going to the densely populated western Pacific island's public with an hour-long alarmist movie showing the world's second-tallest building Taipei 101 as an island in a flood that has drowned the capital after a reservoir collapses in a freak super-strength typhoon. Mon Mar 08 07:47:25 2010 EST http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/leading-articles/leading-article-climate-change-is-not-a-matter-of-faith-1916393.html If opinion polls are right, fewer people "believe" in climate change now than a few months ago, prior to the leak of emails from the University of East Anglia and the emergence of embarrassing errors in one of the reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The science of global warming, it seems, has taken a severe hit in terms of the public's credulity. Mon Mar 08 07:47:25 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/mar/05/met-office-analysis-climate-change This is LondonMet Office analysis reveals 'clear fingerprints' of man-made climate changeThe GuardianScientists used a technique called 'optimal detection', which showed clear fingerprints of human-induced global warming. Photograph: MODIS/Terra/NASA It is ...INVESTIGATE CLIMATE CHANGE/GLOBAL WARMINGGather.comNew evidence for man-made global warmingTelegraph.co.ukGlobal warming 'caused by humans'The Press AssociationFinancial Times -Daily Mail -eTalkingheadall 116 Mon Mar 08 07:47:25 2010 EST http://www.theglobalist.com/storyid.aspx?StoryId=8321 The basic pitch of those promoting population growth is straightforward in its appeal: "More is better." Mon Mar 08 07:47:25 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/mar/05/ian-mcewan-climate-copenhagen-solar Author's forthcoming novel, Solar, is about a scientist working on a technology to address global warmingThe novelist Ian McEwan changed the finished manuscript of his new book about a scientist working on a technology to address global warming to reflect the failure of the Copenhagen climate talks, he said today.McEwan told the Guardian he watched the outcome of the Copenhagen summit in December "very closely and with some despair" and then went back to his novel, Solar, to rewrite a section a few pages from the end.The end of the book is set in summer 2009, and McEwan introduced a scene in which Michael Beard, the chief protaganist and a Nobel-prize winning physicist, recieves an email that invites him to address a meeting of foreign ministers at the coming summit. Mon Mar 08 07:47:25 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/mar/05/global-warming-thinktank-double-standards Global warming thinktank has made exactly the kind minor factual error that would have been seized on by scepticsSome climate change sceptics have been guilty of applying double standards in their condemnation of alleged misdeeds by researchers at the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia.On 25 February, I wrote to Dr Benny Peiser, the director of the Global Warming Policy Foundation which is chaired by Lord Lawson, to warn him that a graph of "21st century global mean temperature" displayed prominently on his group's website contains an error.Instead of showing that 2009 was the warmest year since 2005, the foundation's graph portrays it as slightly cooler than 2006 and 2007.While it is a relatively small error, it is the kind of discrepancy that many sceptics would be seizing upon if it had been found on the website of the Climatic Research Unit.Yet Peiser ... Mon Mar 08 07:47:25 2010 EST http://www.eubusiness.com/news-eu/climate-warming.3hm (PARIS ) - Europe's system for industrial carbon quotas has enriched the continent's biggest polluters, with ten firms together reaping permits for 2008 alone worth 500 million euros, a new report revealed. Mon Mar 08 07:47:25 2010 EST http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/politics/in-bangladesh-things-are-hotting-up-20100305-posn.html A focus on climate change is crucial. We owe that much to the world's poor. Mon Mar 08 07:47:25 2010 EST http://csnews.com/csn/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1004072675&imw=Y March 04, 2010 - LOS ANGELES -- Texas-based refinery giants, Valero Energy Corp. and Tesoro Corp. , reportedly pledged as much as $2 million to help gather signatures for a ballot initiative to suspend California's landmark greenhouse-gas-cutting law until the jobless rate improves, the Los Angeles Times reported, citing Sacramento sources. Mon Mar 08 07:47:25 2010 EST http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601130&sid=aIgsjzVmdWzw March 5 (Bloomberg) -- Germany's greenhouse-gas emissions fell 8.4 percent in 2009 as factories and power plants cut output in a contracting economy, the nation's environment ministry said today. Mon Mar 08 07:47:25 2010 EST http://www.todayonline.com/Singapore/EDC100226-0000070/Could-this-be-the-driest-February-on-record Could this be the driest February on record?TODAYonlineSINGAPORE - This month could turn out to be the driest February ever recorded in Singapore, if current conditions continue. The National Environment Agency ...and more Mon Mar 08 07:47:25 2010 EST http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/05/the-heat-over-bubbling-arctic-methane/ Amid heated headlines over Arctic methane bubbles, scant evidence for scary outcomes. Mon Mar 08 07:47:25 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/world/europe/8552604.stm The European Commission plans an EU-wide tax on carbon as part of the EU's green energy agenda - but the UK opposes such a move. Mon Mar 08 07:47:25 2010 EST http://www.hindustantimes.com/rssfeed/india/The-human-condition-is-just-the-wriggling-on-a-pin/Article1-515616.aspx You don t ask Ian McEwan, one of the greatest novelists in any language of our times, a banal question. Mon Mar 08 07:47:25 2010 EST http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2010/03/05/Warming-data-said-stronger-than-IPCC-claim/UPI-98751267808630/ LONDON, March 5 (UPI) -- Evidence of manmade global warming is stronger than the besieged U.N. climate panel claimed, with rainfall changes altering the Earth, British scientists said. Mon Mar 08 07:47:25 2010 EST http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2010/03/05/05greenwire-epa-sends-johnson-memo-reconsideration-on-co2-51429.html U.S. EPA sent its final reconsideration yesterday of a George W. Bush-era memorandum detailing when the government should reg... Mon Mar 08 07:47:25 2010 EST http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124361795&ft=1&f=1007 Energy Star labels and miles-per-gallon vehicle ratings aren't enticing enough consumers toward energy-saving options, according to economist Hunt Allcott. Allcott explains how new research in behavioral economics might help lead consumers to more energy-efficient choices. Mon Mar 08 07:47:25 2010 EST http://www.alternet.org/environment/145912/sweden_labels_food_with_co2_data_/ The Swedish government in 2009 announced new food guidelines that recommend eating habits based on greenhouse-gas emissions. Experts say these guidelines, if heeded by consumers, could decrease Sweden's emissions by 20 to 50 percent. More than 92 percent of Swedes want more information about the "green credentials" of their food, and producers responded to satisfy customers. Some Swedish companies have labeled their products to show how many kilograms of carbon dioxide were released into the atmosphere during production. Mon Mar 08 07:47:25 2010 EST http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/7621943/15dj9r/alternet_environment~Just-What-Exactly-Are-Lieberman-Kerry-and-Graham-Cooking-Up-for-a-New-Climate-Bill The senators have been meeting for months behind closed doors about a new climate bill and word is coming out that the bill will scrap the cap-and-trade piece. Mon Mar 08 07:47:25 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/tvOf675rFz0/ In a new report, Out of the Running? America Progress's Kate Gordon , Julian L. Wong, and JT McLain explain how Germany, Spain, and China are seizing the clean energy opportunity and why the United States risks getting left behind. The below video and memo summarize their findings, but you can download the full report here (pdf). A clean-energy call to arms As the United States debates comprehensive clean-energy legislation, it is confronted with a simple choice: come to the table and feast on the enormous economic opportunity that comes with reducing global warming pollution or be an item on the menu as our economic competitors forge ahead to build prosperity. Mon Mar 08 07:47:25 2010 EST http://www.joabbess.com/2010/03/05/green-energy-stuck-in-the-sidings/ If you can imagine the engine for new, renewable and sustainable Energy systems as a train which should by now be thundering down the tracks, get this : it left the depot only to get stuck in the sidings. Enough of the locomotive metaphors, already. On to the analysis. Here's an excerpt from Catherine Mitchell's fine book The Political Economy of Sustainable Energy (2008, 2010) :- Breaking Free of the Band of Iron : Over the last few years, in response to climate change, the UK Government has produced a range of policies to stimulate the development of sustainable energy technologies. Mon Mar 08 07:47:25 2010 EST http://www.desmogblog.com/canabalizing-environmentalism-tzeporah-berman-under-attack berman campbell.jpg There's nothing mainstream media loves more than the spectacle of environmentalists ripping one another limb from limb. Witness, for example, the CBC Vancouver Early Edition interview this morning (starting at 1:23:21) in which a little-known activist (Macdonald Stainsby) was invited to slag Tzeporah Berman, co-founder of Forest Ethics, founder of PowerUp Canada and, soon, the chief climate campaigner for Greenpeace International. Stainsby was all fired up, questioning Berman's environmental bona fides and calling her "a Trojan horse" whose true purpose was to "hand all power over to corporations." As proof, Stainsby said that "Ms. Mon Mar 08 07:47:25 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/2/hi/europe/8552604.stm The European Commission plans an EU-wide tax on carbon as part of the EU's green energy agenda - but the UK opposes such a move. Mon Mar 08 07:47:25 2010 EST http://feeds.grist.org/click.phdo?i=03d7d2a4b78d595c658647032243516f by Gar Lipow Mainstream environmentalists tackling the climate crisis prioritizepricing greenhouse gas emissions overalternative policies to cool our fevered planet. The ACESclimate bill that passed the House would weaken renewable rules, addmassive offsets, and kill much existing EPA authority to fight climatechange.The simple Cantwell-Collins cap-and-dividend bill focuses onan auctioned permit system that returns revenues to the public, with apractically undefined CERT fund the only supplement to this pricemechanism. As most supporters will freely admit, neithermainstream bill aims at emission reductions anywhere near as large asscience tells us we need. The theory is that if we can pass somethingpolitically practical, then we can fix problems later. Mon Mar 08 07:47:25 2010 EST http://www.joabbess.com/2010/03/06/christopher-bookers-international-campaign/ Not content with apparently intentionally polluting the minds of British thinkers with Climate Change scepticism that appears to be of the most vituperous kind, Christopher Booker now turns his money-raking skills to Canada, with a syndicated column in the Vancouver Sun, that reads like outright propaganda to me. To help evaluate its content, please keep in mind that his article is not written by a scientist, nor does it express the position of the current science :- [link]global+warming+alarmists/2649497/story.html The global warming alarmists : Glacial melting, rainforest and crop failures, extreme weather, rising seas ... Mon Mar 08 07:47:25 2010 EST http://www.newsweek.com/id/234543?from=rss When Congress all but dropped the idea of broad, national emissions limits, the fight against global warming appeared to be lost"at least for 2010. But there may be reason for environmentalists to hope. Later this year a federal judge will decide if the protection of polar bears can justify a cap on greenhouse gases"clearing the way for lawsuits nationwide against the country's worst polluters. Mon Mar 08 07:47:25 2010 EST http://www.officialwire.com/main.php?action=posted_news&rid=107952&catid=2 Evidence of manmade global warming is stronger than the besieged U.N. climate panel claimed, with rainfall changes altering the Earth, British scientists said. Mon Mar 08 07:47:25 2010 EST http://www.theage.com.au/national/divisive-he-stands-20100305-powu.html James Hansen, elder statesman of the climate change debate, doesn't call the opposition sceptics. He prefers another name: contrarians. Mon Mar 08 07:47:25 2010 EST http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2010/03/a-mistaken-message-from-iop/ The Institute of Physics (IoP) recently made a splash in the media through a statement about the implications of the e-mails stolen in the CRU hack. A couple of articles in the Guardian report how this statement was submitted to an inquiry into the CRU hack and provide some background. The statement calls for increased transparency, and expresses concerns about the public confidence in science if the transparency is absent. The IoP statement, however, fails to note that the issue of transparency is far more general applicable than just to mainstream climate science. It should also involve the critics of climate change, as noted by New Scientist. Mon Mar 08 07:47:25 2010 EST http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2010/03/arctic-methane-on-the-move/ Methane is like the radical wing of the carbon cycle, in today's atmosphere a stronger greenhouse gas per molecule than CO2, and an atmospheric concentration that can change more quickly than CO2 can. There has been a lot of press coverage of a new paper in Science this week called Extensive methane venting to the atmosphere from sediments of the East Siberian Arctic Shelf , which comes on the heels of a handful of interrelated methane papers in the last year or so. Is now the time to get frightened? No. CO2 is plenty to be frightened of, while methane is frosting on the cake. Mon Mar 08 07:47:25 2010 EST http://www.kpua.net/news.php?id=19753 HONOLULU (AP): The National Weather Service says areas of the Big Island have reached the most intense drought classification. It marks the first time since the inception of the drought monitor in 1999 that an area in Hawaii has received the D4 designation. Mon Mar 08 07:47:25 2010 EST http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/civilsociety/articles/pp030610.shtml Like many other farmers in the remote village of Barchid, lying in the shadow of Tajikistan's Pamir Mountains, Makbulsho Yakinshoev knows little about issues like greenhouse-gas emissions or global warming. Mon Mar 08 07:47:25 2010 EST http://www.onearth.org/node/1979?comments=all Climate Deniers, Global Warming, and Darwin's Theory of EvolutionOnEarth MagazineIt appears that these two strains of deniers -- those questioning climate change and evolution -- have joined forces to supplant scientific knowledge with ...and more Mon Mar 08 07:47:25 2010 EST http://www.countercurrents.org/henderson060310.htm By Bill HendersonWhat would constitute a due diligence process for quantifying climate change dangers, local and global, immediate and for the future? Is our present way of doing climate change science the best way of quantifying the climate change dangers? Mon Mar 08 07:47:25 2010 EST http://johannhari.com//2010/03/07/the-real-climategate Why did America's leading environmental groups jet to Copenhagen and lobby for policies that will lead to the faster death of the rainforests--and runaway global warming? Why are their lobbyists on Capitol Hill dismissing the only real solutions to climate change as "unworkable" and "unrealistic," as though they were just another sooty tentacle of Big Coal? At first glance, these questions will seem bizarre. Groups like Conservation International are among the most trusted "brands" in America, pledged to protect and defend nature. Yet as we confront the biggest ecological crisis in human history, many of the green organizations meant to be leading the fight are busy shoveling up hard cash from the world's worst polluters--and burying science-based environmentalism in return. Mon Mar 08 07:47:25 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/mar/07/extinction-species-evolve Conservationists say rate of new species slower than diversity loss caused by the destruction of habitats and climate changeFor the first time since the dinosaurs disappeared, humans are driving animals and plants to extinction faster than new species can evolve, one of the world's experts on biodiversity has warned.Conservation experts have already signalled that the world is in the grip of the "sixth great extinction" of species, driven by the destruction of natural habitats, hunting, the spread of alien predators and disease, and climate change.However until recently it has been hoped that the rate at which new species were evolving could keep pace with the loss of diversity of life.Speaking in advance of two reports next week on the state of wildlife in Britain and Europe, Simon Stuart, chair of the Species Survival Commission for the International Union for the Conservation of Nature " the body which ... Mon Mar 08 07:47:25 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/mar/07/climate-change-inertia-prophet People are drifting into a lethal slumber on climate change. More of the same won't wake them upIt's an exceptionally inconvenient truth. Only one American in three believes that human beings are responsible for climate change: a polling result 10% down on where opinion rested the year before. Worse, the number of Americans who believe that climate change is a hoax or a scientific conspiracy " not doubting, just damned blank certain " has doubled since 2008. Add in those who assert that the changes, if any, are of "no significant concern", and you've got 30% of the US denying, scoffing and just walking on by.Are the issues clearer, the people more committed, here in Britain? Mon Mar 08 07:47:25 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/mar/07/carbon-dioxide-global-warming-soil Soil deposits of CO2 'not fuelling global warming yet " but will in future'A major study for the UK government has cast doubt over claims that rising temperatures are causing soil to pump greater amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, further fuelling global warming.In 2005 it was reported in the science journal Nature that over the past 25 years 100m tonnes of carbon dioxide had been released by the soil of England and Wales. The figure cancelled out all emissions cuts in the UK since 1990.However, a national survey of the soils of Great Britain, funded by the department for environment food and rural affairs, claims to have found no net loss of carbon over approximately the same period.Scientists have now proposed that a special study group, with an independent statistical expert, should examine why the reports differ and which result is more likely to be ... Mon Mar 08 07:47:25 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/mar/07/food-water-africa-land-grab An Observer investigation reveals how rich countries faced by a global food shortage now farm an area double the size of the UK to guarantee supplies for their citizens Read the expert's viewWe turned off the main road to Awassa, talked our way past security guards and drove a mile across empty land before we found what will soon be Ethiopia's largest greenhouse. Nestling below an escarpment of the Rift Valley, the development is far from finished, but the plastic and steel structure already stretches over 20 hectares " the size of 20 football pitches.The farm manager shows us millions of tomatoes, peppers and other vegetables being grown in 500m rows in computer controlled conditions. Mon Mar 08 07:47:25 2010 EST http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50572 LILONGWE, Mar 5 (IPS) - As they slept soundly on the night of Feb. 28, a family of four was killed when their house collapsed over their heads in Malawi's southern district of Chikhwawa. Mon Mar 08 07:47:25 2010 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100304142247.htm Researchers have uncovered details about how cyanobacteria, one of the most abundant organisms on Earth, digest carbon. These bacteria build miniature factories inside themselves that turn carbon into fuel. A new study shows the bacteria organize these factories spatially, lining them up in a neat row, revealing a structural sophistication not often seen in single-celled organisms. Mon Mar 08 07:47:25 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/mar/08/environment-agency-hydropower-schemes Report identifies thousands of potential small-scale hydropower sites in English and Welsh rivers that could power 850,000 homesThousands of small-scale hydroelectric schemes could power 850,000 homes and produce 1.5% of the UK's electricity needs, according to an Environment Agency study (EA) published today (pdf).The agency mapped the energy hotspots of English and Welsh rivers and identified almost 26,000 locations where turbines could be installed to generate electricity from the water.Not all those sites could be developed, as some could damage the environment or are in places with practical constraints, such as difficulty accessing the local electricity grid.Around half the sites are in environmentally sensitive areas and would need fish-friendly measures such as screens to stop fish getting killed by turbines.But the EA said that with many of the potential locations in areas where humans have interfered ... Mon Mar 08 07:47:25 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/mar/08/arctic-methan-carbon In today's atmosphere, methane is a stronger greenhouse gas per molecule than CO2. Is now the time to get frightened?From RealClimate, part of the Guardian Environment NetworkMethane is like the radical wing of the carbon cycle, in today's atmosphere a stronger greenhouse gas per molecule than CO2, and an atmospheric concentration that can change more quickly than CO2 can. There has been a lot of press coverage of a new paper in Science this week called "Extensive methane venting to the atmosphere from sediments of the East Siberian Arctic Shelf", which comes on the heels of a handful of interrelated methane papers in the last year or so. Mon Mar 08 07:47:25 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2010/mar/06/solar-panels-pay-as-you-save Get a loan of up to £15,000 to green your house " but the scheme could falter if the government loses the electionIf you want to install solar panels on your roof and take advantage of lucrative new feed-in tariffs but have been put off by a lack of funds, you could soon get a loan to cover the whole cost.This week the government unveiled plans to offer homeowners 20-year loans of up to £15,000 to allow families to invest in green technologies, safe in the knowledge that their loan would be taken over by the purchaser if they move before it's paid off.This follows an announcement by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) that it will start paying feed-in tariffs to households installing green technologies, most notably solar water heaters, typically costing £4,000, and electricity ... Mon Mar 08 07:47:25 2010 EST http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10928/s/968701a/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Carticle0Cdn186180Ehighcarbon0Eice0Eage0Emystery0Esolved0Bhtml0DDCMP0FOTC0Erss0Gnsref0Fclimate0Echange/story01.htm It turns out carbon dioxide levels at the time of the Ordovician ice age were not that high after all Mon Mar 08 07:47:25 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/l92_De82GIQ/idUSTRE6272RA20100308 BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Loopholes in the United Nations climate treaties could actually amount to an increase in global climate-warming emissions over the next decade, and must be closed, a draft European Union report shows. European Climate Commissioner Connie Hedegaard will announce her strategy on Tuesday for advancing international climate talks after the conclusion of a weak deal in Copenhagen in December. Mon Mar 08 07:47:25 2010 EST http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90778/90860/6912507.html Drought had affected 61.31 million mu (4.09 million hectares) of farmland in southwestern China as of March 5, according to the latest figure from the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA). About half of the affected, or 32.95 million mu (2.20 million hectares), was seriously damaged, according to the MOA. The affected acreage was in Yunnan province, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, Guizhou province ... Mon Mar 08 07:47:25 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/2/hi/uk_news/wales/8554966.stm A map is produced by the Environment Agency identifying thousands of rivers that could provide electricity. Mon Mar 08 07:47:25 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/blogs/environment/~3/O9V-xX0IOFs/ Scientists studying remote Arctic seas north of Siberia have found high levels of the powerful greenhouse gas methane, in some places bubbling up from the seabed. But is it new (extremely alarming as a possible sign of climate change), impossible to know how long it's been going on (still worrying), or might it have been happening for a long time (less alarming)? Even the scientists involved seem unsure. In the worst case, the leaks are recent and caused by global warming " a thaw of the seabed permafrost linked to rising sea temperatures that could go on to release vast buried stores of the heat-trapping gas that would further stoke global warming. Mon Mar 08 07:47:25 2010 EST http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2010/03/08/errors_thefts_eroding_confidence_in_climate_science/ Times of MaltaAfter errors, global warming gets a cold shoulderBoston GlobeIn 2007, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a United Nations scientific body considered the leading authority on global warming, concluded the ...Climate Change as an Act of Faith?Discovery NewsClimate change and sciencePatriot-NewsClimate change scientists hit backRadio AustraliaThe Guardian -Chicago Tribune -Los Angeles Timesall 141 Mon Mar 08 07:47:25 2010 EST http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-nw-climate-politics-20100305,0,5256789.story?track=rss But scandals, doubts have had little impact on the Senate " It wasn't long ago that Marco Rubio and Tim Pawlenty, two of the brightest fresh faces in the Republican Party, supported legislation to limit the greenhouse gas emissions that are blamed for global warming. But in recent weeks both have suddenly begun to express doubts about whether burning coal, powering cars with gasoline and other ... Mon Mar 08 07:47:25 2010 EST http://toronto.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20100306/warm_weather_100306/20100306?hub=TorontoNewHome While parts of Asia, Europe and the United States have suffered through unusually cold and snowy winter months, Canada is emerging from its warmest and driest winter in at least six decades, a senior climatologist says. Mon Mar 08 07:47:25 2010 EST http://resourceinsights.blogspot.com/2010/02/uneven-collapse-hint-its-already.html When we think of collapse, we often think of a building or bridge or other structure suddenly giving way. We have a tendency to take this physical model of collapse and translate it into the social and political world.Thus, when Joseph Tainter or Jared Diamond write of societal collapse, we are inclined to think of a relatively rapid process that acts equally across an entire area and even perhaps across the entire globe. But I believe that the collapse of the globalized society we now inhabit will be exceedingly uneven geographically and one that is spread over many years. And, I believe that that collapse has already started to appear in places which might be considered the periphery of our global system.My index of collapse in this case will be reasonably objective ... Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST 5th March 2010 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/z9TE4n5dxkQ/ Rep. Tom Perriello (D-VA) is sick of the insider baseball crap dominating the Senate debate over global warming and energy reform. In an interview with Grist, the first-term congressman stated in no uncertain terms that the country is at risk from global warming and our economy is at risk of losing the clean energy race. Like Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Perriello has not one lick of sympathy for those in the Senate who deny these threats: That's more insider baseball crap. Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://www.sunstar.com.ph/pampanga/dry-spell-threatens-worth-billions-crops CITY OF SAN FERNANDO--- About P21 billion worth of rice crops are threatened of being damaged by the continuing onslaught of El Niño phenomenon, the Department of Agriculture (DA) said Sunday. read more Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://www.malaysianmirror.com/homedetail/45-home/31971-greed--stupidity--doomsday MANKIND could just as well do themselves in within the next two hundred years, according to famed physicist Stephen Hawking, the author of "A Brief History of Time". Hawking, who is almost completely paralyzed by motor neurone disease, is optimistic of space expansion - if humans manage not to destroy themselves either through nuclear weapons or by wreaking havoc on the environment. "The ... Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/sci/tech/8543289.stm The climate scientist at the centre of the row over stolen e-mails faces his first public questioning. Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/RTNEsu0SshQ/ Researchers must purge e-mail in-boxes daily of threatening correspondence, simply part of the job of being a climate scientist That's the subhed for a new Scientific American piece on cyber bullying. It comes fast on the heels of Bullying, lies and the rise of right-wing climate denial, the first part of the terrific series by Clive Hamilton, reprinted below (followed by an excerpt of the SciAm piece): Hamilton, Professor of Public Ethics at Australia's Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethic, is the author of the forthcoming book Requiem for a Species. Two years ago the Labor Party won a decisive election victory in part by riding a public mood demanding action on climate change after years of stonewalling. Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/lfD_z1isoOg/ This is a Wonkroom repost. According to the mainstream media, there is a controversy over the validity of climate science, in particular the conclusion that the warming of the planet by greenhouse gas emissions poses a risk to the public: Iceberg Ahead: Climate scientists who play fast and loose with the facts are imperiling not just their profession but the planet " Newsweek, 2/19/10 Controversies Create Opening for Critics " Wall Street Journal, 2/17/10 Series of missteps by climate scientists threatens climate-change agenda " Washington Post, 2/14/10 Climate-Change Debate Is Heating Up in Deep Freeze " The New York Times, 2/11/10 Let's take a look at who is on either side of this so-called climate-change debate ... Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/XRN502N3ykU/ You can get daily email updates on climate science, solutions, and politics by clicking here. If you want to know more about this website, start with An Introduction to Climate Progress. This is a Think Progress repost. Last week, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) spoke with New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman to discuss clean energy legislation. During the interview, Graham warned his party that it will fall into irrelevancy if it continues to embrace climate change disinformers: I have been to enough college campuses to know if you are 30 or younger this climate issue is not a debate. Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/HKL2GllAqUk/ UPDATE: Pielke challenges me to a debate and I reply. Warning: Please put your head in a vise before reading further. Andy Revkin has just written the most illogical climate post on Earth. Or maybe he's written the most logical climate post on the Bizarro World Htrae. Revkin asserts (here) that a key litmus test of whether the IPCC is serious about restoring its credibility and good name is if it puts Roger Pielke, Jr. (!!!) on the author team of a special panel report, Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation. Revkin sheds his reporter's hat in the piece to campaign for Pielke, his long-time Rolodex BFF, since he manages to omit every single reason why that would be a uber-low priority for the IPCC as it goes about making a ... Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/NGjTFex9Duw/ A stink in Central California over converting cow manure to electricity Central California is home to nearly 1.6 million dairy cows and their manure " up to 192 million pounds per day. It's a mountain of waste and a potential environmental hazard. But for dairyman John Fiscalini, the dung on his farm is renewable gold: He's converting it into electricity. At his farm outside Modesto, a torrent of water washes across the barn's concrete floor several times a day, flushing tons of manure away from his herd of fuzzy-faced Holsteins and into nearby tanks. There, bacteria consume the waste and release methane, which is then burned in a generator capable of producing enough power to run Fiscalini's 530-acre farm, his cheese factory and 200 additional homes. Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://www.culturechange.org/cms/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=610&Itemid=66 Humanity has struggled to survive through the millennia in terms of balancing population size with food supply. The same is true now, but population numbers have been soaring for over a century. The limiting factor has been hidden, but this factor -- oil and natural gas, or petroleum -- is close to or beyond its peak extraction. Without ample, free-flowing petroleum, it will not be possible to support a population of several billion for long. Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://www.desmogblog.com/inhofe-wants-prosecute-criminal-scientists The US Congress's most ardent global warming sceptic is being accused of turning the row over climate science into a McCarthyite witch-hunt by calling for a criminal investigation of scientists. Climate scientists say Sen. James Inhofe's call for a criminal investigation into American as well as British scientists who worked on the UN climate body's report represents an attempt to silence debate on the eve of new proposals for a climate change law. <!--break--> Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://energybulletin.net/node/51772 I ended up spending much of my weekend going through Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States, and I have to say I'm pretty gutted by the experience. The report is written by a large collaboration of 30 or so authors, and a slew more reviewers, drawn from a variety of US agencies, with NOAA as the lead. So it's in the character of an official US government assessment of the science. It seems worth while really understanding humanity's best guess about what the situation is. read more Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://energybulletin.net/node/51766 Last week I had the honor of speaking with Kathleen Krevetski of Rutland, Vermont who has worked hard to publicize the adverse effects of radiation from nuclear power plants on people's health, especially on women and children who are the most vulnerable...Thanks to these dedicated activists, the Vermont Senate voted to close Yankee on February 24. read more Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/mar/02/energy-saving-targets-cost-homeowners Homeowners will be able to take out loans for thousands of pounds to pay for insulation and solar panels, under legislation proposed by the governmentWell-off homeowners will be expected to borrow more than £7bn over the next decade to meet ambitious government energy saving targets announced today.Local authorities will be encouraged to borrow the money needed to make buildings greener and meet local carbon emission reduction targets, for example by entering into public-private partnerships.Energy suppliers will be required to meet about 60% of the estimated £18.6bn cost of insulating most of the UK's homes, for which the poorest households will not have to pay. Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/mar/02/institute-of-physics-emails-inquiry-submission Strongly worded submission to the parliamentary inquiry is being used to imply the institute questions the scientific evidence for climate change, statement saysThe Institute of Physics has been forced to clarify its strongly worded submission to a parliamentary inquiry into climate change emails released onto the internet.The institute's submission, to the science and technology select committee, said the emails from scientists at the University of East Anglia (UEA) contained "worrying implications for the integrity of scientific research in this field".The submission has been used by climate sceptics to bolster claims that the email affair, dubbed "climategate", shows the scientists did not behave properly and that the problem of global warming is exaggerated.The committee held its only evidence session yesterday and interviewed witnesses including Phil Jones, the climate scientist at the centre of the media storm.In a statement issued today the institute said its written submission ... Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/mar/02/ed-miliband-loans-green-home Under the scheme loans will be attached to the property in order to overcome the financial barriers householders faceThe energy and climate change secretary, Ed Miliband, today announced details of a "green loans" scheme to help people pay for improvements to their homes to make them more energy efficient.The scheme, which would see loans remain attached to the house where insulation, solar panels or other green technology was installed, aims to overcome the financial barriers and upfront costs people face when trying make their homes greener.With the expense of green technology and people moving house on average every nine to 12 years, householders may not have a long enough period for paying back the loan before they move to ensure they save more on their bills than the cost of the repayments.Around 500 homes in Birmingham, Sunderland, Stroud and the London borough of Sutton have been testing ... Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/mar/02/pay-as-you-save-loans-decc-answers We asked the Department of Energy and Climate Change to explain how the loans for homeowners will workWhen can I apply for a loan to improve the energy efficiency of my home?Pay As You Save green finance, with repayments linked to the property, will require primary legislation and we'd expect them to be in available by 2012.What is the most I can borrow?Our current measures are tackling the easy-to-achieve measures, like loft insulation, so the point of making green finance available in the future is to remove the upfront costs of relatively expensive improvements. The cost to each household will be different depending on which measures they install, which will in turn depend on the type of property but the average upgrade would be about £8,000-£10,000.What measures are eligible for funding?By an eco-upgrade we mean the installation ... Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/cif-green/2010/mar/02/chris-goodall-save-money-energy-bills The UK government's 'green loans' scheme is worth waiting for, but there are simple energy efficiency measures that can save homeowners money nowThe government's announcement today on "green loans" to help homeowners make their property more energy efficient focuses on expensive investments in major improvements in Britain's housing. These proposals are an important step forward, but much cheaper measures can be implemented now by householders eager to reduce their energy bills. In many cases, the financial return will be much faster than the big expenditures mentioned in the latest policy document. For every pound invested, the cash savings will also be better than putting up solar panels or even replacing your central heating boiler with an air source heat pump.Simple DIYFirst things first ... Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/mar/02/ipcc-hacked-climate-science-emails A handful of errors does not mean that human-induced climate change is an illusion or that CO2 emissions do not need to be cut, writes the former chairman of the IPCC. From Yale Environment 360, part of the Guardian Environment NetworkUntil last December, a very large majority of the scientific community and most politicians would have agreed that the scientific evidence of human- induced climate change was unequivocal and that the sole question was whether the world's political leaders could agree in Copenhagen to meaningful, legally binding greenhouse gas emission reduction targets. But, as we now know, the negotiations only produced an aspirational target of limiting the global mean surface temperature to no more than 2 degrees C above pre-industrial levels and an accord that does not bind any country to reduce its emissions.Since then, there have been reported errors and imprecise wording in the Fourth Assessment ... Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/cif-green/2010/mar/01/phil-jones-commons-emails-inquiry Commons committee tiptoed round embattled scientist and sidestepped crucial questionsParliamentary climate emails inquiry - as it happenedGaunt and nervous, but with his ever-smiling University of East Anglia vice-chancellor beside him, Phil Jones survived his grilling by MPs " probably profoundly grateful that he did not have to face questioning from an earlier witness, the equally gaunt but far from nervous climate sceptic, Lord Lawson.Jones did his best to persuade the Commons science and technology committee that all was well in the house of climate science. If they didn't quite believe him, they didn't have the heart to press the point. Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/mar/01/climate-chaos-final-scenes Like a bad disaster film, the naysayers have been in charge over climate change. It's not too late to rewrite the final scenesEvery disaster movie has a stock character " the person who tells everyone else that there's nothing to worry about. Shark? There's no shark. What could possibly go wrong with that tower block, ship, plane, volcano, dinosaur safari park or paramilitary robot cop with a slightly psychopathic glint in its eye?Such "don't worry" confidence is always bullish and reassuring. The motives are mostly financial: to open in time for the holiday season or launch the product ahead of a few safety checks. Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2010/mar/01/ask-leo-domestic-microgeneration Will the government's feed in tariff scheme which guarantees a rate of payment for renewable energy sold back to the grid tempt you to install your own solar panels or wind turbine?Is it now the right time to invest in micro-generation?P Moore, by emailIt would appear that now is possibly the best time ever to consider installing some form of domestic microgeneration, be it solar photovoltaic panels for electricity, solar thermal energy for hot water or even wind turbines in some circumstances.Well, that's what the government want us to believe with its recent announcement that feed-in tariffs will commence from 1 April.But the government hasn't always got it right in this area " look at the fiasco with domestic wind turbines.I would be interested to hear readers' thoughts on all this, particularly if you are considering taking the plunge, or if you have ... Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/world/8547114.stm NASA releases the most detailed satellite images to-date of the earth. The so-called Blue Marble pictures have been pieced together following months of observations. Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://www.joabbess.com/2010/03/03/israel-steals-gazas-gas/ As suspected, the State of Israel has declared the Natural Gas off the coast of Gaza as theirs, and are seeking to develop it, for their own profit, naturally :- [link]hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gyOgkiUE3uul0OXEW-VL-E9k6aKgD9E6JMI80 Energy exec: Israel could end natural gas imports : By KAROUN DEMIRJIAN (AP) : TEL AVIV, Israel " A U.S. energy company announced Tuesday that a project it is developing off the Israeli coast could soon end the country's longtime dependence on natural gas imports. Noble Energy Chief Executive Charles D. Davidson said the Tamar gas field " set to become operational in 2012 " will allow Israel to meet its own energy needs, and potentially even become an exporter of fuel. Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://www.joabbess.com/2010/03/02/fred-pearce-still-crucifying-phil-jones/ [ CORRECTIONS FROM JOABBESS.COM : ON THE ADVICE OF inel CERTAIN INFORMATION PREVIOUSLY GIVEN ABOUT THE INSTITUTE OF PHYSICS HAS BEEN REMOVED. ] I m sorry to note that Fred Pearce, writing for The Guardian newspaper is still hanging Phil Jones out on a crucifix to bake in the burning Sun :- [link]environment/cif-green/2010/mar/01/phil-jones-commons-emails-inquiry Fred Pearce quotes the withering coruscating evidence submitted by one or more members of the Energy sub-group of the Institute of Physics, and demands us to accept that it is adequate commentary on Phil Jones behaviour (behaviour that we don t accurately know, but has been described to us by people misinterpreting his e-mails, which were stolen). Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://www.joabbess.com/2010/03/01/the-truth-tellers-collective/ There appears to be a group of reliable truth-tellers building, out there in Web Log Land. The YouTube at the top is from Peter Sinclair and his Climate Denial Crock of the Week series. Always worth watching. A calming breath of fresh sane air for the mind :- Here are some other active minds that I highly recommend :- Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://www.joabbess.com/2010/03/01/recession-kills-dissent/ The Economic Recession has been an excellent excuse to stop funding Charities, Aid and Development agencies and other Non-Governmental Organisations. Whether or not there is still money in the pot for campaigns and other kinds of communicating with the public on subjects of philanthropic interest, funders (which include Government bodies) have been finding reasons to cut off the lifeblood of groups with large memberships. NGOs that have been targeted with funding cuts recently include Stop Climate Chaos. The evolution of the Stop Climate Chaos umbrella organisation has seen them move from a fairly anodyne philosophy to one that is more critical of national Energy policy and the pace of change on Climate ... Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/266/f/3780/s/9224c9a/l/0L0Sindependent0O0Cenvironment0Cclimate0Echange0Cnorway0Eplans0Ethe0Eworlds0Emost0Epowerful0Ewind0Eturbine0E190A0A80A70Bhtml/story01.htm Norway plans to build the world's most powerful wind turbine, hoping the new technology will increase the profitability of costly offhsore wind farms, partners behind the project said Friday. Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/266/f/3780/s/94f3199/l/0L0Sindependent0O0Cenvironment0Cclimate0Echange0Cgore0Etakes0Eaim0Eat0Eclimate0Echange0Eskeptics0E19138710Bhtml/story01.htm Former US Vice President Al Gore on took aim at skeptics who doubt the reality of human-caused climate change, saying he wished it were an illusion but that the problem is real and urgent. Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/7300380/14zhmz/alternet_environment~How-the-Mountain-of-Climate-Change-Evidence-Is-Being-Used-to-Undermine-the-Cause As the backlash against climate science grows, the number of Americans who believe humans are to blame for warming the planet is shrinking. Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://www.monbiot.com/archives/2010/03/01/a-great-green-rip-off/ The feed-in tariffs about to be introduced here are extortionate, useless and deeply regressive. Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://feeds.nature.com/~r/climate/rss/current/~3/bf-af2Y-H4I/climate.2010.20 Recent controversies in climate science - namely the emails purloined from the University of East Anglia in Norwich, UK (see page 26), and the erroneous statements on the fate of Himalayan glaciers (see page 28) - raise several issues about professional conduct, some more genuinely concerning than others. One that goes straight to the heart of sound scientific practice is the issue of data transparency. Sharing data is not only crucial for the progress of science: in areas of controversial research, such as climate change, it's one of the cornerstones of public trust in science. Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://www.nature.com/climate/2010/1003/full/climate.2010.19.html The remote glaciers of the Himalayan mountains have been the subject of much controversy, yet little research. Mason Inman looks at the clues scientists have garnered on the fate of these glaciers from ground- and space-based studies. Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://www.nature.com/climate/2010/1003/full/climate.2010.18.html The United States and European Union will face off against China and Russia as climate change starts to alter the geopolitical gameboard. Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://feeds.nature.com/~r/climate/rss/current/~3/Ru4LwqmoiB8/climate.2010.14 A recent growth spurt among forests in the Northern Hemisphere may be the result of climate change, suggests new research. Until now, regrowth as a part of natural ecosystem recovery after disturbances such as logging or clearing has obscured the influence of climate change on recent boosts in forest biomass. Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://feeds.nature.com/~r/climate/rss/current/~3/bXzcBo-ON58/climate.2010.15 Conventional wisdom holds that as ice sheets grew over Europe and North America during the last glacial period - about 120,000 to 20,000 years ago - sea level fell in bumpy fits and starts, eventually dropping to about 130 metres below today's levels. Scientists now report that 81,000 years ago, sea levels reached about 1 metre higher than today, owing to ice sheets rapidly melting between periods of growth. Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://www.nature.com/climate/2010/1003/full/climate.2010.16.html Recent changes in the seasonal timing of biological events such as flowering and migration have been linked to warmer temperatures. Now a study shows that such seasonal shifts are becoming increasingly common in the UK and could wreak havoc across ecosystems as they disturb the delicate balance of nature. Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://www.nature.com/climate/2010/1003/full/climate.2010.17.html Marine plankton survived a period of intense ocean warming and acidification some 55 million years ago. But their future descendants might not be so lucky, suggests a new study. They found that in the future the deep ocean could become undersaturated with carbonate, the mineral form of carbon used by calcareous organisms for building shells and skeletons, to an even worse extent than during the PETM. At the ocean surface, the rate of acidification could exceed that experienced during the PETM, potentially challenging the ability of plankton to adapt. Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://feeds.nature.com/~r/climate/rss/current/~3/GUDlVg2R0Mk/news.2010.71 'Climategate' scientist speaks out Nature Reports: Climate Change(2010). doi:10.1038/news.2010.71 Author: Olive Heffernan Climatologist Phil Jones answers his critics in an exclusive interview with Nature. Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://www.nature.com/climate/2010/1003/full/climate.2010.12.html A loss of water vapour in the Earth's upper atmosphere may have slowed the rate of global warming over the past decade, suggests new research. Although the decade 20002009 was the warmest on record, average global temperatures levelled off during this period despite a continued rise in greenhouse gas emissions. Now a team led by Susan Solomon of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Boulder, Colorado, reports that water vapour concentrations in the stratosphere fell by 10 per cent from 2000, offsetting - by 25 per cent - the warming that would otherwise have occurred since then. The team used an atmospheric model and a range of recent observations of stratospheric water vapour to reach their conclusion. Using more limited data, they also found that water vapour in the stratosphere probably increased between 1980 and 2000, a period of rapid warming. The increase in water vapour between 1990 and 2000 may have amplified the rapid warming of that period by as much as 30 per cent, they say. The study confirms earlier work showing that water vapour has an important role in warming. It also partly explains the drop in warming over the past decade. Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://feeds.nature.com/~r/climate/rss/current/~3/Vg2Ngkej6fA/climate.2010.13 Clarity on clouds Nature Reports: Climate Change24 (2010). doi:10.1038/climate.2010.13 Author: Olive Heffernan Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10928/s/954872f/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Carticle0Cmg20A527490A0B10A0A0Etheres0Eno0Ewar0Eto0Efight0Eover0Eglobal0Ewarming0Bhtml0DDCMP0FOTC0Erss0Gnsref0Fclimate0Echange/story01.htm How should beleaguered climate scientists advance their cause? They shouldn't, argues veteran meteorologist Alan Thorpe Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/1vCkLdP9O98/idUSTRE62142T20100303 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The idea of imposing a broad cap-and-trade system to cut America's greenhouse gas emissions is dead and will be replaced with a new approach, an influential Republican senator said on Tuesday. Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/lu0Zps8p5bQ/idUSTRE6205BV20100302 VANCOUVER (Reuters) - Sustainable Energy Technologies Ltd, a solar equipment maker that recently relocated to Toronto from Calgary, may soon land its first large-scale orders in its new home province, the world's newest "go-to" region for solar power. Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/D3OyeDK1BUQ/idUSTRE62137020100302 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Sneezing, congestion, and runny noses from hay fever may be lasting longer because climate change may be extending pollen seasons, doctors in Italy said on Monday. Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/Hrqcw-2aCHg/idUSTRE6212CD20100302 LONDON (Reuters) - British households will be able to take out soft loans to improve the efficiency of their homes, under a new proposed law to fight climate change and cut fuel poverty, the government said on Tuesday. Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://www.countercurrents.org/creagh010310.htm By Sunanda Creagh An independent board of scientists is to review the work of a U.N. climate panel, whose credibility came under attack after it published errors, a U.N. environment spokesman said on Friday Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://www.countercurrents.org/hodge280210.htm By Helena Norberg-Hodge As signs of climate instability increase, radical and rapid action is becoming ever more urgent. One of the biggest obstacles to global collaboration, however, has been the foot-dragging and obstructionism of the US government, much of it based on the fear of giving Southern economies a competitive advantage if they are permitted to emit greenhouse gases at higher rates than the North. Yet even within the environmental movement there is no unanimity on this thorny question: should the countries of the South have the right to increase their emissions as they industrialize and develop? Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-03/nsf-mrf030410.php ( National Science Foundation ) A section of the Arctic Ocean seafloor that holds vast stores of frozen methane is showing signs of instability and widespread venting of the powerful greenhouse gas, according to the findings of an international research team led by University of Alaska Fairbanks scientists Natalia Shakhova and Igor Semiletov. Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/environment/2010-03-05-methane05_ST_N.htm?csp=34 The potent greenhouse gas appears to be seeping through the Arctic Ocean floor and into the Earth's atmosphere, research shows. Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/03/05/2837124.htm Scientists have discovered the Arctic ocean seabed is leaking huge amounts of methane into the atmosphere. Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://www.canada.com/Scientist ozone destroying methane escaping Arctic Ocean/2641636/story.html Large amounts of methane, a potent climate warming gas, are escaping from a remote swath of the Arctic Ocean that holds vast stores of the gas. Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/u2Gnw-f8BIQ/ Vote Vets launches its toughest ad to date on behalf of bipartisan action on climate and clean energy: For more videos " and a petition you can sign " go to BillionDollarsaDay.com. Related Posts: Veterans Day, 2029 Oil Dependence Is a Dangerous Habit Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://www.desmogblog.com/intelligent-designers-enlist-climate-skeptics-war-reality Critics of the teaching of evolution in the nation's classrooms are gaining ground in some states by linking the issue to global warming, arguing that dissenting views on both scientific subjects should be taught in public schools. The linkage of evolution and global warming is partly a legal strategy: courts have found that singling out evolution for criticism in public schools is a violation of the separation of church and state. By insisting that global warming also be debated, deniers of evolution can argue that they are simply championing academic freedom in general. They are also capitalizing on rising public resistance in some quarters to accepting the science of global warming, particularly among political conservatives who oppose efforts to rein in emissions of greenhouse gases. Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://energybulletin.net/node/51826 A lot of what I write works from the assumption that we all agree that peak oil and climate change are happening and going to be life-changing events. And yet, some people who read this blog don't necessarily agree on this subject, or they don't see the effects has being as profound as I do, or perhaps the idea of peak oil or climate change is fairly new to them, and they don't know what to believe. read more Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/mar/04/rbs-tar-sands-publi-investment RBS investment in tar sand exploitation is a highly irresponsible use of public bailout moneyDo you feel comfortable about your money financing global warming and weakening government transparency in poor countries? If not, take a hard look at the Royal Bank of Scotland and ask yourself ask why a bank that depends on public funds is subverting national policies on climate change and international development.Unlike banker bonuses, the lending practices of recapitalised banks have so far escaped scrutiny. When RBS issued its recent results statement media interest locked on to operating losses and pay awards. Few questions have been asked about what the bank has been doing with the government's 84% stake.But next week, parliament's environmental audit committee will hold an inquiry on the mandate of UK Financial Investments (UKFI) " the body charged with looking after the taxpayer interest in RBS and other banks. Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/mar/04/ipcc-major-change-needed Well before the recent controversies, the work of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was marred by an unwillingness to listen to dissenting points of view, an inadequate system for dealing with errors, conflicts of interest, and political advocacy. The latest allegations of inaccuracies should be an impetus for sweeping reform. From Yale Environment 360, part of the Guardian Environment NetworkIt has been a rough couple of months for the climate science community. Last November someone stole or released over 1,000 e-mails from the University of East Anglia. The e-mails revealed that some scientists were so entrenched in battle with their scientific and political opponents that they lost their perspective, going so far as to suggest improperly influencing the scientific process of peer review and evading legal requirements to disclose their data upon request. Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/mar/03/fears-over-feed-in-tariff-delay Energy minister to be questioned about plans at London summitThe government will come under fire tomorrow from a renewable energy sector increasingly concerned about potential delays in the implementation of a "feed-in tariff" meant to kickstart a domestic green power revolution.David Kidney, an energy minister, will be questioned at a summit in London organised by Renewables UK, formerly the British Wind Energy Association, over its failure to pass a statutory instrument needed for the introduction of the tariff.The power companies told the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) that it should introduce the legislation before Christmas if they were to be ready to start the clean energy scheme by the agreed date of 1 April. Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/mar/01/solar-panel-feed-in-tariff Plans for the grid feed-in tariff suggest we live in southern California. And at £8.6bn, this is a pricey conceit with little benefitThose who hate environmentalism have spent years looking for the definitive example of a great green rip-off. Finally it arrives, and nobody notices. The government is about to shift £8.6bn from the poor to the middle classes. It expects a loss on this scheme of £8.2bn, or 95%. Yet the media is silent. The opposition urges only that the scam should be expanded.On 1 April the government introduces its feed-in tariffs. Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/mar/01/carbon-tax-trade-china Lord Turner proposes levy on cheap imports Tariffs could antagonise developing countriesMinisters should consider a carbon tax on imports to help struggling British manufacturers, according to one of the government's key advisers, despite fears such a measure could lead to a global trade war.Lord Turner, who heads the UK committee on climate change, said the government should "rigorously assess" bringing in levies on cheap imports from countries outside the European Union, which are not subject to carbon-related costs such as the EU emissions trading scheme.Ministers have in the past resisted calls from European counterparts to introduce such carbon levies, arguing they would be anti-competitive. Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://www.joabbess.com/2010/03/04/the-climate-obstructers-gameplan/ If you have any doubt that Science is under assault from the Climate Change Obstructers (self-styled sceptics ), you need look no further than this piece of what I consider to be utter, utter, fetid 30-day-old left-in-the-sun tripe :- [link]archives/2010/03/04/global-warming-flaks-reduced-t The number of outright inaccuracies in the piece is astonishing, including the switch on what Phil Jones really claimed about statistically significant global warming. And it concludes with clear evidence of a globally organised campaign to bring down Climate Change Science, by hook or by crook :- There is vastly more material here than you will ever be able to absorb. Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://www.joabbess.com/2010/03/04/james-delingpole-vs-george-monbiot/ [link]iplayer/episode/b00r9-9n/The_Daily_Politics_04_03_2010/ James, James, yet again you betray your apparent lack of comprehension about Science, the way it works, the things it says, the truth it holds. Your accusations are in my opinion completely unfounded, baseless. It seems your inquiring mind has been corrupted by the Climate Obstructers continual rant of denial after denial. Here's a challenge : read up about the time lag , the warming inertia in the Climate system, and then come back with an alternative scenario that other people can accept, with facts, figures and falsifications of mainstream opinion. Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/7602796/15955r/alternet_environment~An-Australian-Group-Rolls-Out-Plan-for-Percent-Renewable-Energy-by This is huge considering Australia now gets nearly 80 percent of its power from coal plants. Is their plan feasible? Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/7528440/15955r/alternet_environment~EPA-Drastically-Underestimates-Coal-Waste-Pollutions-Threat-to-Human-and-Environmental-Health The EPA's tally of coal ash contamination locations last year did not include an additional 31 sites that should have been included in the totals, a new study contends. Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/7525345/15955r/alternet_environment~Were-Screwing-the-Environment-the-Same-Way-We-Screwed-the-Economy The captains of industry and government admittedly blew the economic meltdown; too bad the environmental meltdown is following the same, lame script. Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/7497803/15955r/alternet_environment~Can-a-New-Bill-on-Climate-Legislation-Get-Things-Back-on-Track-and-Counter-Rising-Attacks-Against-Science Denialists have taken their rhetoric as far as to have one state rule climate change should be taught as a "debate." Can new efforts for a green economy set things right again? Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/7496705/15955r/alternet_environment~Climate-Hope-How-a-New-Rebellion-Against-Coal-Is-Fueling-the-Drive-for-Clean-Energy Ted Nace talks about his new book, "Climate Hope," and gives a behind-the-scenes look at the intense mobilizations that are working to overturn Big Coal. Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/kL3pCKnFlao/idUSTRE6233ZU20100304 OSLO (Reuters) - Large amounts of a powerful greenhouse gas are bubbling up from a long-frozen seabed north of Siberia, raising fears of far bigger leaks that could stoke global warming, scientists said. Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/Fr0RKxTcpAM/idUSTRE62302A20100304 SINGAPORE/ANCHORAGE (Reuters) - The world has become far too hot for the aptly named Exit Glacier in Alaska. Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://feeds.grist.org/click.phdo?i=2f1f97099f9e26060efb8fea7067a66f by Tom Philpott There are three things onwhich the mighty engine of U.S. agriculture depends: water, fuel, and syntheticnitrogen. Like water, nitrogen is elemental to life. It's the essentialbuilding block of the plants we eat.Farmers remove it from the soil when they harvest the year's crop, and theymust replenish it for the following year s.Compared with water and fuel,nitrogen is actually in one sense quite plentiful: it makes up about 80 percentof the air we breathe. Yet for all that ubiquity, it's also in a sense scarce:its extremely strong chemical bond"it exists in the air in triple-bondedpairs of nitrogen known as N2"makes it difficult for plants to use.The N of the world as we know it Less than 100 years ago, welearned"in the process of perfecting bomb-making technology"how to createreadily available nitrogen on a ... Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://e360.yale.edu/content/digest.msp?id=2303 Although they have grown up during an era when global warming has emerged as a major issue, Americans between the ages of 18 and 34 are relatively apathetic about the threat, according to a new survey. And even when they do think about it, young Americans are just as divided as older Americans about whether global warming is real, according to results of the survey conducted by the Yale Project on Climate Change and the George Mason University Center for Climate Change Communication. Adults under 35 are significantly less likely than older Americans to say they have thought about global warming, with 22 percent saying they have never thought about the issue. Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://e360.yale.edu/content/digest.msp?id=2301 After sequencing the mitochondrial DNA of an ancient polar bear, scientists have determined that the great Arctic bears probably split off from brown bears roughly 150,000 years ago, far more recently than previous estimates. The ancient bear's DNA was decoded after scientists on Norway's Spitzbergen Archipelago made a rare find of a polar bear jawbone estimated to be 110,000 to 130,000 old. By comparing the ancient bear's DNA with that of two modern polar bears and four brown bears, researchers from the State University of New York at Buffalo estimated that polar bears split off from brown bears 150,000 years ago at a time when a colder climate made it advantageous for polar bears to specialize in Arctic living. Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10928/s/95e6e19/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Carticle0Cdn186140Emethane0Ebubbling0Eout0Eof0Earctic0Eocean0E0Ebut0Eis0Eit0Enew0Bhtml0DDCMP0FOTC0Erss0Gnsref0Fclimate0Echange/story01.htm An expanse of seabed is leaking the greenhouse gas into the air, rekindling fears that global warming might unlock billions of tonnes of the stuff Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10928/s/95cb21b/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Carticle0Cdn1860A90Ewhy0Escientists0Emust0Ebe0Ethe0Enew0Eclimate0Esceptics0Bhtml0DDCMP0FOTC0Erss0Gnsref0Fclimate0Echange/story01.htm The reputation of climate science is taking a battering, but don't just blame the media or closed-minded sceptics, says Jim Giles Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2010/03/climate-change-commitments/ There is an interesting letter in Nature Geoscience this month on what climate changes we have actually already committed ourselves to. The letter, by Mathews and Weaver (sub. reqd.), makes the valid point that there are both climatic and societal inertias to consider. Their figure neatly demonstrates the different issues: The upper line is often what is referred to as the climate change commitment (for instance Wigley, 2005). This is the warming you get if we keep CO2 (and other GHG and pollutant levels) constant at today's values. (Technically, the figure shows the case staying at year 2000 values). Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/health/8547208.stm Climate change: Your comments on this week's Scrubbing Up Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news186920485.html A section of the Arctic Ocean seafloor that holds vast stores of frozen methane is showing signs of instability and widespread venting of the powerful greenhouse gas, according to the findings of an international research team led by University of Alaska Fairbanks scientists Natalia Shakhova and Igor Semiletov. Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news186922901.html Geologists have found evidence that sea ice extended to the equator 716.5 million years ago, bringing new precision to a "snowball Earth" event long suspected to have taken place around that time. Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news186859045.html Increasing the federal gasoline tax would have only minimal effects in reducing vehicle carbon dioxide emissions, says a University of Michigan economist. Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news186859821.html Early in our history it didn't make any difference how we viewed our environment. We could change it, and if we didn't like what we did to it, we could move and natural processes would soon obliterate whatever we had done. Over the years, models of our relationship to the environment have been based on religious views, with the world provided for us to dominate and subdue as described in Genesis, and philosophical views, seeing wisdom and virtue in nature as described by Thoreau. Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://tcktcktck.org/stories/economic-opportunity/future-energy-bloom-energy-boxes Over the past several years, there's been no shortage of talk about alternative energy, and its potential to change the world. The problem is that most of it is just that " talk. But tonight, a report that aired on 60 Minutes showed one alternative that is not only real, it's already being tested by companies such as Google and eBay. You simply have to watch this. read more Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/266/f/3780/s/95efe5e/l/0L0Sindependent0O0Cenvironment0Cclimate0Echange0Chumans0Eumustu0Ebe0Eto0Eblame0Efor0Eclimate0Echange0Esay0Escientists0E191650A60Bhtml/story01.htm Climate scientists have delivered a powerful riposte to their sceptical critics with a study that strengthens the case for saying global warming is largely the result of man-made emissions of greenhouse gases. Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/03/forest-fire-report-warmer_n_483834.html What's Your Reaction? A new report by four forest ecologists says climate rather than beetles is the main cause of forest fire risk, and that risk is best addressed by creating defensible spaces around homes instead of logging in the backcountry. Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://www.good.is/post/crop-mobs-wannabe-farmers-dabble-in-sustainable-agriculture Urban living has its perks, but sometimes, the old fire escape garden just isn t enough. Now, when the mood strikes to dig in the dirt on a larger scale, wannabe farmers can now simply join a Crop Mob and get to work on somebody else's land. Crop Mob is a monthly event that spreads mostly through word-of-mouth and the web, wherein volunteers meet up on a local small farm and spend a few hours ... Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://uk.news.yahoo.com/18/20100302/tsc-sweden-to-build-2-000-new-wind-turbi-b1f5339.html Sweden will build 2,000 new wind turbines over the next decade as part of a bid to dramatically increase its production of renewable energy, Enterprise and Energy Minister Maud Olofsson said Tuesday. Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6205BV20100302?feedType=RSS&feedName=scienceNews VANCOUVER (Reuters) - Sustainable Energy Technologies Ltd, a solar equipment maker that recently relocated to Toronto from Calgary, may soon land its first large-scale orders in its new home province, the world's newest "go-to" region for solar power. Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2258758/spain-proposes-doubling Rachel Fielding, BusinessGreen , Tuesday 2 March 2010 at 11:09:00 Government sets out plan to generate over 22 per cent of energy from renewable sources by 2020 Spain is hedging its bets on renewable energy sources as a means to revive its recession-hit economy " with a proposal to more than double production from clean energy to over 20 per cent of total energy use by 2020. According to Reuters ... Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/867d8542-24f7-11df-a189-00144feab49a.html Showa Shell , the Japanese affiliate of Royal Dutch Shell, is placing a $1bn bet on the future of thin-film solar panels as it seeks to become the world's largest producer of the renewable-energy technology. Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2258824/india-proposes-coal-tax-pay James Murray, BusinessGreen , Wednesday 3 March 2010 at 00:15:00 Levy on coal production and imports to help pay for new renewable energy fund The Indian government is expected to back up its recent commitment to curb carbon emissions with a controversial move to levy a new tax on coal in order to pay for the roll out of renewable energy technologies. Speaking in his annual budget speech to the ... Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/03/fears-of-undersea-methane-leaks-already-coming-true/ Methane is leaking into the atmosphere from the floor of the Arctic Ocean faster than previously known, a situation that could speed global warming. Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/shortsharpscience/2010/03/which-climate-changes-can-be-b.html Human "fingerprints" have been detected on all sorts of aspects of the climate, from rainfall to the salt content of the oceans Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/02/28/al-gore-ipcc-mistakes-don_n_480099.html What's Your Reaction? Al Gore at Copenhagen. I, for one, genuinely wish that the climate crisis were an illusion. Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2010-03/01/content_9521265.htm BEIJING - China's top economic planning body has confirmed the government will take concrete actions to develop a low-carbon economy after it pledged to substantially reduce carbon intensity at last year's Copenhagen Conference. Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://www.countercurrents.org/heinberg040310.htm By Richard Heinberg We are in for some very hard times. The transitional period on our way toward a post-growth, equilibrium economy will prove to be the most challenging time any of us has ever lived through. Nevertheless, I am convinced that we can survive this collective journey, and that if we make sound choices as families and communities, life can actually be better for us in the decades ahead than it was during the heady days of seemingly endless economic expansion Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-03/hms-sdh030310.php ( Harvard Medical School ) Researchers have uncovered details about how cyanobacteria, one of the mostabundant organisms on Earth, digest carbon. These bacteria build miniaturefactories inside themselves that turn carbon into fuel. A new study showsthe bacteria organize these factories spatially, lining them up in a neatrow, revealing a structural sophistication not often seen in single ... Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/yTobKcofo6o/ Methane release from the not-so-perma-frost is the most dangerous amplifying feedback in the entire carbon cycle. Research published in Friday's journal Science finds a key lid on the large sub-sea permafrost carbon reservoir near Eastern Siberia is clearly perforated, and sedimentary CH4 [methane] is escaping to the atmosphere. Scientists learned last year that the permafrost permamelt contains a staggering 1.5 trillion tons of frozen carbon, about twice as much carbon as contained in the atmosphere, much of which would be released as methane. Methane is is 25 times as potent a heat-trapping gas as CO2 over a 100 year time horizon, but 72 times as potent over 20 years! Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/mar/04/butterfly-extinction-threat-duke-burgundy Duke of Burgundy needs cowslips and rough grassland to survive after UK survey records worst ever year in 2009Britain's rarest butterfly, the Duke of Burgundy, is teetering on the brink of extinction after suffering its worst summer since records began.Fifty years ago this small, pugnacious insect was a common sight in English woods, but intensive farming and changing woodland management mean it is now found in significant numbers in just five countryside colonies."I'm not sure it's at a point of no return but it is in the last-chance saloon," said Martin Warren, chief executive of the charity Butterfly Conservation.In the last decade the number of Duke of Burgundy colonies has fallen from 200 to fewer than 80, most of which contain a tiny number of adults that could be wiped out in a single poor summer.Despite a fine spring and above average summer temperatures, ... Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/mar/04/coal-gasification-ccs The coal 'gasification' stakes are high " not least because the company behind the plan is called Clean Coal LtdKing coal is ready for a British comeback in a form that sounds more like medieval hellfire than an energy source for the 21st century. But could it be green? The stakes are high " not least because the company behind the plan has captured the high ground in environmental marketing by calling itself Clean Coal Limited.The idea is this. Forget about mining coal, and instead burn entire coal seams in situ underground, then tap the gases that the fires give off to put in gas turbines and generate electricity. Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/mar/03/solar-panel-workable-future Economies of scale in manufacturing are causing rapid reductions in costs and solar energy has a bright futureGeorge Monbiot's attack on solar energy and the government's "cash-back" solar photovoltaic (PV) market-building scheme paints a distorted picture of the industry I work in, and government policy towards it (Are we really going to let ourselves be duped into this solar panel rip-off?, 2 March).First, Monbiot gets the workability of solar wrong. He says: "The amount of power PV panels produce at this latitude is risible, [and] they also produce it at the wrong time." Those who buy panels, therefore, will own a mere "fashion accessory". Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601081&sid=arHr7BXpQIfQ March 5 (Bloomberg) -- China may start its first city-wide carbon cap-and-trade system by June as the world's biggest polluter seeks to rein in emissions, a project adviser said. Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/shell/lloC/~3/DfuioPesDxY/ Last week the International Emissions Trading Association (IETA) held a seminar in Washington on the Clean Air Act and its potential role in the management of greenhouse gases in the US economy. Specifically, the IETA seminar focussed on the potential for a cap-and-trade system under the Clean Air Act. The seminar had an excellent turnout, with about 70 people from US industry, Capitol Hill, various Washington based concerns and a spattering of international visitors such as myself. For starters, there was little disagreement amongst the speakers that a cap-and-trade type construction is feasible under the Clean Air Act, so the discussion quickly progressed from feasibility to possibility. Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/02/fuel-taxes-must-rise-harvard-researchers-say/ Harvard researchers find that fuel taxes may need to go up in order to meet the Obama administration's greenhouse gas emission targets. Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://allafrica.com/stories/201003040668.html Nairobi " Africa has over 120 carbon market projects up and running or in the pipeline, in areas ranging from wind power to forestry schemes, a new assessment, published today shows. Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://en.ce.cn/National/Local/201003/01/t20100301_21029662.shtml Nine hundred ships jammed before a navigation lock of a reservoir in south China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region amid falling water level caused by severe drought, local authorities said Saturday. Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601089&sid=a96FtjycYFlU March 3 (Bloomberg) -- China's stocks rose, led by low- carbon companies, on expectations the government will make cutting so-called carbon intensity a priority this year. Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://shanghaiist.com/2010/03/03/cold_front_coming_in_on_warmest_win.php While my feet would think different, apparently this has been one of the warmest winters Shanghai's ever known. The average temperature in the past three months this winter was 6.8 degrees, a full 1 degree above the 30 year average. Despite this being a "warm winter" - the 21st such since 1986 - seems like we're about to get another cold front. Temperatures will be dropping to a chilly 2 degrees ... Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://asia.news.yahoo.com/ap/20100303/tap-as-china-drought-bb10fb8.html Workers have begun tapping into underground water reserves to help the nearly 6 million people who have been affected by the worst drought to hit China's southern province of Yunnan in 60 years, a local official said Wednesday. Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aj5si5DHQo38 March 2 (Bloomberg) -- A few miles beyond an irrigated golf course on the outskirts of Damascus, scores of refugees fleeing drought in Syria's northeastern breadbasket have settled into tents on a rocky field. Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/09/090921-kenya-animals-drought-water/ Scores of animals are dying of thirst, starvation, and disease amid the country's worst drought in over a decade, conservationists say. Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601130&sid=aKSMAygH8OOA March 4 (Bloomberg) -- Regulators overseeing the world's second-biggest emissions market are concerned that low prices for emissions credits are sapping support for carbon trading, a UN board member said. Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20100302/cm_csm/284276_1 Skepticism about climate change is going mainstream, and that is worrying. One-third of Americans now say global warming doesn t exist " triple the percentage of three years ago. Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90778/90862/6909541.html China will build an "industrial system" and "consumption pattern" with low carbon emissions, according to a government work report to be delivered by Premier Wen Jiabao at the parliament's annual session Friday. China will work hard to develop low-carbon technologies as well as new and renewable energy resources to actively respond to climate change. The report also outlines plans to increase ... Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/reuters/100302/business/cbusiness_us_biofuels_1 Canada will invest nearly C$80 million ($77 million) to expand a Quebec ethanol plant, the government said on Tuesday, as it promotes the use of the grain-based fuel as a substitute to gasoline and creates jobs. Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/03/02/2834299.htm?site=southeastsa&section=news SA records hotter summerABC Local"It started off relatively mildly in December but for summer as a whole we had a fairly warm January and February, people might remember that heatwave event ...and more Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/04/what-have-you-been-taught-about-global-warming/ USA TodayWhat Have You Been Taught About Global Warming?New York Times (blog)But interest in making climate change a standard part of school curriculum is growing. Under President Obama, for example, the Climate Education Interagency ...What should schools teach about global warming?USA TodayAl Gore Needs To Step Up His GameDeath + Taxes MagazineFresh evidence global warming is man-madeThe HeraldTopNews United States -Dakota Voice -Politics Daily (blog)all 191 Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://www.boulderweekly.com/article-1903-do-melting-ice-caps-affect-salt-levels.html Dear EarthTalk: If the ice caps are melting, what is happening to the salt content of the oceans? And might this contribute to weather patterns or cause other environmental problems? Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news186839827.html (AP) -- The moon was full, the wind roared, the tide was high and people died by the dozens. After a wall of ocean water engulfed picturesque towns along France's Atlantic coast, residents, officials and experts are all asking why. Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/olives-pomegranates-to-rule-farms-20100303-pgnd.html Australian farmers will be told to grow olives, jojoba, pomegranates and other hardy crops in a bid to foil the impending climate change threat. Thu Mar 04 22:42:14 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/sci/tech/8538060.stm A vast iceberg that broke off eastern Antarctic earlier this month could disrupt marine life in the region, scientists warn. Sun Feb 28 08:11:34 2010 EST 29th February 2010 http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/blogs/thereporters/richardblack/2010/02/forget_the_norfolk_polices_cri.html 'Tough love' for troubled UN climate panel Sun Feb 28 08:11:34 2010 EST http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/8538033.stm A century of whaling may have released more than 100 million tonnes of carbon into the atmosphere, scientists say. Sun Feb 28 08:11:34 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/ZUX5H5r4bMY/ Senators to propose abandoning cap-and-trade Three key senators are engaged in a radical behind-the-scenes overhaul of climate legislation, preparing to jettison the broad cap-and-trade approach that has defined the legislative debate for close to a decade. That's the lead WashPost story today. My sources say the final proposal is not fully baked, so this scoop is closer to a leaked trial balloon [shaped like a flag, of course, to put all my metaphors in the mixing bowl]. Indeed it's not even clear whether Graham, Kerry, Lieberman will float a final bill or something closer to a discussion draft. Sun Feb 28 08:11:34 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/T2YUtbl17dw/ What do you think of the sustainability efforts of the retail giant? Our guest blogger is Sarah Collins, intern with CAP's Energy Opportunity team at the Center for American Progress. In 2009, Wal-Mart received the Aspen Institute Energy and Environment award for Corporate Energy Efficiency. To build on this success, Wal-Mart just announced its new sustainability goal: to eliminate 20 million metric tons of greenhouse gases from the supply chain by 2015. This amount, roughly equivalent to the company's total corporate emissions last year, is the equivalent of taking more than 3.8 million cars off the road for a year. Efforts to reach this goal involved extensive collaboration with the Environmental Defense Fund, ClearCarbon Inc., the Carbon Disclosure Project, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and the University of Arkansas Applied Sustainability Center. Sun Feb 28 08:11:34 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/wPrdLAWcLGg/ The Met Office has called for a re-examination of more than 150 years of global temperature records as part of a new comprehensive approach for analysing temperature data " to better assess the risks posed by changes in extremes of climate. Great idea, especially since an independent December 2009 analysis found The global temperature rise calculated by the Met Office's HadCRUT record is at the lower end of likely warming. Everybody but the anti-science disinformers has known for a long time that the Hadley/CRU (Climatic Research Unit) temperature data UNDERestimates " not OVERestimates " the recent global temperature rise. Sun Feb 28 08:11:34 2010 EST http://www.culturechange.org/cms/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=609&Itemid=63 The U.S. appears to be breaking down on all levels, probably taking the rest of the modern world with it. Noticing this helps us understand the hopelessness of our intrinsically flawed system. Also, recognizing breakdown is helpful for seeing impending collapse in a new light. Breakdown should be seen in such a way to realize that order is becoming an illusion. Breakdown is preceding and adding to future collapse. Simultaneously there are myriad magnificent yet small-scale efforts to improve people's lives and the health of our Earth. Sun Feb 28 08:11:34 2010 EST http://www.culturechange.org/cms/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=607&Itemid=65 Is global warming unstoppable now? Could we be saved by total economic collapse? If so, should we help civilization fall? Last night I recorded another glimpse of the climate apocalypse, with the author of Climate Wars Gwynne Dyer. He outlined the short distance from here to the cliff where long-known natural feed-backs leading to runaway global warming begin, and continue on for millennia. That limit is known as two degrees. Sun Feb 28 08:11:34 2010 EST http://www.desmogblog.com/common-sense-and-attack-ipcc When all logic leaves an argument, which is something that seems to happen on a daily basis in politics, it is good to step back and lay things out in black and white. Give some perspective to a situation to show just how ridiculous the situation has become. The unprecedented attack on the Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change (IPCC) has reached new heights with Republican Senator James Inhofe now calling for criminal investigations into the work of prominent climate change scientists. Inhofe makes some very broad claims, based on a very narrow band of evidence, saying that, "the Minority Staff believes the emails and accompanying documents seriously compromise the IPCC-based "consensus" and its central conclusion that anthropogenic emissions are inexorably leading to environmental catastrophes." Inhofe is claiming that based on statements made in 3 emails, by a single person, he has enough evidence to now claim that ... Sun Feb 28 08:11:34 2010 EST http://www.desmogblog.com/bill-mckibben-oj-simpson-and-attack-climate-science oj-simpson-mug-shot.jpg The award-winning author Bill McKibben has penned a great piece today comparing the OJ Simpson trial to the attack underway on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Chage (IPCC) and climate science in general. McKibben writes: "In 1989, I could fit every scientific study on climate change on top of my desk. Now, you could fill the Superdome with climate-change research data. Yet somehow, the onslaught against the science of climate change has never been stronger." And, "The campaign against climate science has been enormously clever, and enormously effective. It's worth trying to understand how they ve done it. Sun Feb 28 08:11:34 2010 EST http://energybulletin.net/node/51744 In a new NASA analysis, motor vehicles emerged as the greatest contributor to atmospheric warming now and in the near term. Cars, buses, and trucks release pollutants and greenhouse gases that promote warming, while emitting few aerosols that counteract it. read more Sun Feb 28 08:11:34 2010 EST http://energybulletin.net/node/51735 The campaign against climate science has been enormously clever, and enormously effective. It's worth trying to understand how they ve done it. read more Sun Feb 28 08:11:34 2010 EST http://energybulletin.net/node/51727 -Health: the challenge of improving nutrition-Small family farms in tropics can feed the hungry and preserve biodiversity-Jonathan Safran Foer: the truth about fish farming-Scientists unite to combat water scarcity; solutions yield more crop per drop in drylands-Potatoes, Not Just Pistons, Take Root in Detroit-She Farms-New Investments in Agriculture Likely to Fail Without Sharp Focus on Small-Scale 'Mixed' Farmer read more Sun Feb 28 08:11:34 2010 EST http://energybulletin.net/node/51722 ...The Culture of Maximum Harm tries to achieve its journey by taking as much as it possibly can, and by doing as much damage as it possibly can. And the reason it does this is because it has one primary goal, which is achieve continuous growth " and that's economic growth, in terms of the word growth " and economic growth cannot be sustainable. So, this culture, which I believe is unique in human history, is doing something that is uniquely destructive. In other words, it is the Culture of Maximum Harm " it is the most harmful way that humans can exist. Sun Feb 28 08:11:34 2010 EST http://energybulletin.net/node/51705 -Sharp decline in public's belief in climate threat, British poll reveals-Methane levels may see 'runaway' rise, scientists warn-World's coral reefs could disintegrate by 2100-We're Headed for the Greatest Resource-Sharing Problem of All Time read more Sun Feb 28 08:11:34 2010 EST http://energybulletin.net/node/51697 For all of its ecological baggage, synthetic nitrogen does one good deed for the environment: it helps build carbon in soil. At least, that's what scientists have assumed for decades. If that were true, it would count as a major environmental benefit of synthetic N use...Well, that logic has come under fierce challenge from a team of University of Illinois researchers led by professors Richard Mulvaney, Saeed Khan, and Tim Ellsworth. read more Sun Feb 28 08:11:34 2010 EST http://energybulletin.net/node/51684 One almost expected to see a Monsanto executive among the honored guests and presenters at the 19th annual Farming for the Future Conference held Feb. 4 " 6 in State College, Pa. After all, the St. Louis-based agri-giant was recently named Company of the Year by Forbes magazine. And in its well-funded advertising campaign that strategically targets such media outlets as National Public Radio, Monsanto proclaims itself to be the very champion of sustainability. read more Sun Feb 28 08:11:34 2010 EST http://resourceinsights.blogspot.com/2010/02/do-texas-and-north-sea-foretell-future.html My latest column on Scitizen entitled "Do Texas and the North Sea Foretell the Future of Oil Production?" has now been posted. Here is the teaser:Oil supply optimists claim that new technology combined with private development of the world's remaining oil resources--most of which are now under the control of government-owned companies--would vastly increase global oil production and put off any decline for decades. Texas oilman Jeffrey Brown isn't buying it, and he cites the history of oil production in Texas and the North Sea to explain why....Read more Sun Feb 28 08:11:34 2010 EST http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10928/s/9489fee/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Carticle0Cmg20A5274940B70A0A0Ea0Equiet0Esun0Ewont0Esave0Eus0Efrom0Eglobal0Ewarming0Bhtml0DDCMP0FOTC0Erss0Gnsref0Fclimate0Echange/story01.htm Even if there's a "grand minimum" in the sun's output over the next century, it won't be enough to counter rising temperatures caused by humans Sun Feb 28 08:11:34 2010 EST http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10928/s/9476883/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Carticle0Cmg20A5274940B10A0A0Earctic0Earch0Efailure0Eleads0Eto0Eseaice0Eexodus0Bhtml0DDCMP0FOTC0Erss0Gnsref0Fclimate0Echange/story01.htm Dams of ice that usually plug straits leading out of the Arctic Ocean are failing to form, letting sea ice escape to the Atlantic and Pacific Sun Feb 28 08:11:34 2010 EST http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10928/s/94026fc/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Carticle0Cmg20A5274930B70A0A0Ecan0Ewe0Etrust0Ethe0Eipcc0Eon0Ethe0Ebig0Estuff0Bhtml0DDCMP0FOTC0Erss0Gnsref0Fclimate0Echange/story01.htm As the media scrambles to pick holes in the IPCC's climate impact report, New Scientist checks its headline forecasts for food, water and biodiversity Sun Feb 28 08:11:34 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/feb/27/science-celebrity-anecdote As celebrities endorse nonsensical diets and journalists lend credence to anecdote over science, are we heading for disaster?Will anecdote, rumor and buzz oust science as the basis for individual decision-making and public policy? If so, will it give rise to societal disintegration and disaster? Climate historian and physicist Spencer Weart thinks it's possibleWeart mused recently on what a historian 200 years from now might say about early 21st century discussions of climate change, but his speculations are also relevant to other areas of science.Weart predicted that a future historian might conclude: "The media coverage [of East Anglia Unversity's controversial climate change emails] represented a new low ... Sun Feb 28 08:11:34 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/feb/26/un-climate-existential-crisis UN climate chiefs meet in Bali, admitting they face 'existential challenge' after failure of Copenhagen climate change talksEnvironmental officials on Friday urged industrialised and developing countries to stop bickering in climate change negotiations, as a Chinese delegate accused rich nations of reneging on commitments to fight global warming.Officials from more than 100 countries are attending an annual UN environmental meeting on Indonesia's resort island of Bali. They said trust must be restored among nations following the failure at talks in Copenhagen in December create a binding accord on cutting CO2 emissions."There was a very strong message from many countries that this is actually an existential challenge," Indonesian foreign minister Marty Natalegawa told a news conference."One overriding sentiment" expressed by many countries "was the need to rebuild confidence, to address the question of trust deficit," he said.At Copenhagen, nations only agreed on a voluntary plan ... Sun Feb 28 08:11:34 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/feb/25/green-sports-cars-subsidise-taxpayers Slow roll-out of electric vehicles means pricey Tesla Roadster and Mitsubishi i-Miev will be only two cars eligible for new £5,000 grantSubsidising expensive sports cars is not the most obvious way to fight global warming. But soon, anyone with £87,000 will be able to claim a UK taxpayer-funded £5,000 grant to help them buy Tesla's electric car, the Roadster, in the name of cutting carbon emissions.The Guardian has learned the Tesla Roadster is one of just two cars that will be available from the start of a new government grants scheme announced today to encourage the take-up of greener cars. Sun Feb 28 08:11:34 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/feb/26/antarctica-iceberg-global-ocean-circulation Ice broken off from Mertz glacier is size of Luxembourg and may decrease oxygen supply for marine life in the areaAn iceberg the size of Luxembourg that contains enough fresh water to supply a third of the world's population for a year has broken off in the Antarctic continent, with possible implications for global ocean circulation, scientists said today.The iceberg, measuring about 50 miles by 25, broke away from the Mertz glacier around 2,000 miles south of Australia after being rammed by another giant iceberg known as B-9B three weeks ago, satellite images reveal. The two icebergs, which both weigh more than 700m tons, are now drifting close together about 100 miles north of Antarctica.Rob Massom, a senior scientist at the Australian Antarctic Division and the Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre in Hobart, Tasmania, said the location of the icebergs could affect global ocean ... Sun Feb 28 08:11:34 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/feb/26/uk-land-management Government adviser calls for smarter management of land because of climate change and population increasesParts of the UK could face water shortages, rapidly rising house prices and threats to wildlife and landscapes without major changes to how land is managed, a report warned today.The chief scientific adviser, professor John Beddington, said sticking with "business as usual" management of land was not an option in the face of pressures such as climate change and population increases over the next 50 years.The Foresight report on the future of land use said addressing these major challenges would need a strategic and integrated approach, rather than the fragmented policies of the past.Land is also likely to come under pressure from an increasingly wealthy population to provide more living space and recreation, and the need to produce food and green energy " from wind farms to fuels made from crops " to ... Sun Feb 28 08:11:34 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/feb/25/energy-emissions-renewables-councils-generation Climate change secretary wants to legislate for 'local energy revolution' in next parliamentLocal councils will be allowed to start generating and selling electricity back to the grid, in legislation being planned to bring about a "local energy revolution".Ed Miliband, the climate change secretary, intends to help councils to become energy providers, individually or jointly, by setting up renewable energy companies. The plan is the latest attempt to shake up the energy provision and encourage sustainable sources. Councils are responsible for some 10% of UK carbon emissions and Miliband thinks they need incentives to move to lower carbon energy.The plans amplify existing reforms that allow a community to make money from generating sustainable energy by selling it back to the grid via feed-in tariffs. Sun Feb 28 08:11:34 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2010/feb/25/climate-change-movement Climate change activists are regrouping post-Copenhagen " and some are reasserting their radical rootsThe climate change movement is dead, long live the climate change movement! was the proclamation made last week by Rising Tide North America, as green campaigners around the world begin coming to terms with the switchback ride of the last three months. "A particular model of dealing with climate change is dying. It is revealing itself before the world as nothing more than a final scramble for the remaining resources of a planet in peril," states a quote from Naomi Klein at the beginning of the document, before stating ... Sun Feb 28 08:11:34 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/feb/25/uea-rejects-lost-data-claims Submission ahead of next week's parliamentary inquiry 'strongly rejects' accusations university lost or manipulated climate dataThe university at the centre of the row over emails sent by climate scientists today rejected accusations that it had lost or manipulated scientific research.The University of East Anglia's Climatic Research Unit (CRU) has been under fire since hacked emails, which sceptics claimed showed scientists manipulating climate data, were leaked online last year.In a submission to parliament's science and technology committee, which is investigating the disclosure of climate data from the unit, the university said it "strongly rejected" accusations that it had manipulated or selected figures to exaggerate global warming.The university also denied suggestions that it had breached Freedom of Information rules by refusing to release raw data.And it insisted the CRU had not lost any primary data gathered from monitoring stations around the world.According to the submission, allegations ... Sun Feb 28 08:11:34 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/feb/25/low-carbon-housing-technologies-uk-trial Eighty-seven differents projects will each receive £150,000 and two years to demonstrate success in cutting CO2 emissionsThe enormous task of making Britain's existing homes greener will be boosted today with the launch of a £17m government initiative to trial different low-carbon housing technologies in projects across the UK.Eighty-seven social housing units will be retrofitted with the different packages of techniques to make them more energy-efficient and produce fewer CO2 emissions. Around 27% of the UK's carbon emissions come from the housing sector, with social housing comprising almost 20% of UK homes."We have to tackle the existing housing stock. Sun Feb 28 08:11:34 2010 EST http://feeds.grist.org/click.phdo?i=cf7e9cbcba3eebe0e9823db945e984e9 by Jonathan Hiskes Wal-Mart made big news today with a major commitment to trim its greenhouse-gas emissions.Here's the context: Over the past five years the retail giant has taken big, splashy steps to save energy, reduce waste, and sell cleaner products, like compact-fluorescent light bulbs. It's given less focus to the impact of the factories that churn all over the world to keep the chain's shelves and display cases full. Today's announcement"a goal to cut 20 million metric tons of greenhouse-gas emissions by the end 2015"focuses on those factories.Wall Street Journal reporter Miguel Bustillo reads this as a cop-out, which is odd:Wal-Mart will make its suppliers do the dirty work of reducing the carbon footprints of their global supply chains.But the focus on suppliers is the best part of the new plan, according ... Sun Feb 28 08:11:34 2010 EST http://feeds.grist.org/click.phdo?i=ba6acdd810e2f0346682a19066ebe92b by Ashley Braun Being a good stewardess of resourcesNext time the state of the planet has you down in the dumps, remember you ve got a reason to look up. By 2014 British Airways will be filling up with 10% waste to keep landfilling down. Sure, they have airways to go in green, but it's plane to see why one person's trash should be another person's travel.Top: Francois Roche Bottom: D arcy Norman (Flickr) Related Links: Making sense of Wal-Mart's big green announcement World's biggest solar-powered boat unveiled Chinese pollution concerns dash Hummer deal, analysts say Sun Feb 28 08:11:34 2010 EST http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50448 LIMA, Feb 24 (Tierramérica) - Peru's lack of disaster prevention policies and measures, combined with climate imbalances in South America, have led to the loss of dozens of lives and thousands of homes in this Andean country in the last few months. Sun Feb 28 08:11:34 2010 EST http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50451 NUSA DUA, Indonesia, Feb 24 (IPS) - Two months after the Copenhagen conference on climate change, which was widely regarded as a fiasco, the international community is meeting on the Indonesian island of Bali to discuss biodiversity and ecosystems, promote the green economy and carry out institutional reforms. Sun Feb 28 08:11:34 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/whJaKSbh6f8/idUSTRE61Q14C20100227 WARSAW (Reuters) - The European Union's aim to lead the world in adopting ambitious emission cuts has failed and the bloc needs a new strategy for global climate talks, a Polish official was quoted on Saturday as saying. Sun Feb 28 08:11:34 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/h1shpd9uI2Y/idUSTRE61O5GR20100226 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senator John Kerry said a bipartisan climate change bill would emerge soon in the U.S. Senate, contradicting what he called the "conventional wisdom" that the legislation was dead this election year. Sun Feb 28 08:11:34 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/P1uTEm_Iui0/idUSTRE61O16A20100225 SINGAPORE (Reuters) - The pace of global warming continues unabated, scientists said on Thursday, despite images of Europe crippled by a deep freeze and parts of the United States blasted by blizzards. Sun Feb 28 08:11:34 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/lp4tAaQ4s1o/idUSTRE61O5GR20100225 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate is unlikely to pass a comprehensive climate change bill to reduce greenhouse gas emissions this year, according to a Reuters survey of 12 key Democrat and Republican Senators who could hold the swing votes. Sun Feb 28 08:11:34 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/gtgH3XAtP2s/idUSTRE61M23G20100223 NUSA DUA, Indonesia (Reuters) - Emission cuts pledges made by 60 countries will not be enough to keep the average global temperature rise at 2 degrees Celsius or less, modeling released on Tuesday by the United Nations says. Sun Feb 28 08:11:34 2010 EST http://www.physorg.com/news186418664.html Coffee producers say they are getting hammered by global warming, with higher temperatures forcing growers to move to prized higher ground, putting the cash crop at risk. Sun Feb 28 08:11:34 2010 EST http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2010/01/2009-temperatures-by-jim-hansen/ This is Hansen et al's end of year summary for 2009 (with a couple of minor edits). Update: A final version of this text is available here. If It's That Warm, How Come It's So Damned Cold? by James Hansen, Reto Ruedy, Makiko Sato, and Ken Lo The past year, 2009, tied as the second warmest year in the 130 years of global instrumental temperature records, in the surface temperature analysis of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS). The Southern Hemisphere set a record as the warmest year for that half of the world. Sun Feb 28 08:11:34 2010 EST http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2010/02/ipcc-errors-facts-and-spin/ Currently, a few errors "and supposed errors" in the last IPCC report ( AR4 ) are making the media rounds " together with a lot of distortion and professional spin by parties interested in discrediting climate science. Time for us to sort the wheat from the chaff: which of these putative errors are real, and which not? And what does it all mean, for the IPCC in particular, and for climate science more broadly? Let's start with a few basic facts about the IPCC. The IPCC is not, as many people seem to think, a large organization. In fact, it has only 10 full-time staff in its secretariat at the World Meteorological Organization in Geneva, plus a few staff in four technical support units that help the chairs of the three IPCC working groups and the national greenhouse gas inventories group. Sun Feb 28 08:11:34 2010 EST http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/blogs/environment/~3/hYiojvBPJkE/ John Laforet is president of Wind Concerns Ontario, a coalition of 42 grassroots organizations aiming to curtail development of wind farms in the central Canadian province of Ontario. He is also running for municipal public office. Governments around the world are actively seeking private development of renewable energy projects by offering generous feed-in tariffs that often see developers paid many times the market rate for the power they produce. This has encouraged a surge of applications, but the volume of applications and other challenges associated with these projects present potential risks to prospective investors. Projects require transmission capacity to carry their energy to market, but the agencies accepting applications for a given jurisdiction often aren t responsible for managing transmission systems. Sun Feb 28 08:11:34 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/feb/25/greenwash-drax-power-plant Drax has shelved its biofuel plans, yet still boasts publicly about 'undertaking the largest biomass co-firing project in the world'Drax is Britain's biggest power station. In fact, it is western Europe's biggest. It produces 7% of the country's electricity. By burning coal. For years, it has promised to replace some of that coal with locally grown biofuel. But last week, its chief executive, Dorothy Thompson, appeared to tear up those plans.If you travel north on the train from London towards York, you will have seen Drax. It is one of three gigantic power stations near the River Trent, in an area of lowland often called Megawatt Valley. Sun Feb 28 08:11:34 2010 EST http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/ips/9998e44e0240cca7541e565541d96dd1.htm Source: IPS The past two years have witnessed the emergence of a powerful movement opposing the construction of new coal-fired power plants in the United States. Sun Feb 28 08:11:34 2010 EST http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/SGE61P01N.htm Source: Reuters * Australia revises renewable energy target scheme * Changes aim to drive big investments in wind, solar * Offers fixed price reward for household installations (Adds ... Sun Feb 28 08:11:34 2010 EST http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2010-02/27/content_9514218.htm BEIJING: Severe drought will continue to ravage southwest China as no major rainfalls are expected in the next three days, the China Meteorological Administration (CMA) warned on Saturday. Sun Feb 28 08:11:34 2010 EST http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2010-02/28/content_9514321.htm NANNING: Nine hundred ships jammed before a navigation lock of a reservoir in south China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region amid falling water level caused by severe drought, local authorities said Saturday. Sun Feb 28 08:11:34 2010 EST http://business.rediff.com/report/2010/feb/25/budget-economicsurvey-per-capita-carbon-dioxide-emissions-to-rise.htm India's per capita carbon dioxide emissions will increase by nearly three-fold to 3.5 tonnes by 2030, the Economic Survey 2009-10 said on Thursday. Sun Feb 28 08:11:34 2010 EST http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/JAK197575.htm Source: Reuters * UN official sees poor countries paid to protect oceans * Study on ocean carbon storage launched * Carbon capture and storage a gamble, official says By Sunanda Creagh NUSA DUA, Indonesia, ... Sun Feb 28 08:11:34 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/climateprogress/lCrX/~3/inrxQMqZFnA/ It would be an enormous relief if the recent attacks on the science of global warming actually indicated that we do not face an unimaginable calamity requiring large-scale, preventive measures to protect human civilization as we know it. That how Al Gore's op-ed big Sunday NY Times op-ed begins. Since the anti-science disinformers get such absurdly unjustified amount of ink these days " even in the paper of record (see NYT Faces Credibility Siege over Unbalanced Climate Coverage " the least I can do is excerpt an actual science-based analysis at length. I ve added links to the relevant scientific literature ... Sun Feb 28 08:11:34 2010 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/feb/28/canada-tar-sands-investor-protest Lobbyists bid to turn RBS, BP and Shell annual meetings into green referendumsBritish companies spearheading the drive to exploit the Canadian tar sands will come under renewed assault this week from an increasingly vocal group of shareholders and environmentalists who are planning to turn the forthcoming BP, Shell and Royal Bank of Scotland annual meetings into a referendum on these controversial operations.The Co-operative and the Fair Pensions lobby group are releasing a special briefing paper designed to counter recent statements by the oil companies that sought to justify their involvement in carbon-intensive oil extraction in Alberta on the basis that it was needed to meet rising oil demand.Friends of the Earth, Platform and other green groups are publishing a new report, Cashing in on Tar Sands " RBS, UK Banks and Canada's Blood Oil, which claims RBS has provided loans of $7.5bn (£ ... Sun Feb 28 08:11:34 2010 EST http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/311399,huge-opportunity-for-stronger-climate-deal-in-mexico-de-boer-says.html Bali Island, Indonesia - The conference on climate change scheduled for December in Mexico represents a huge opportunity for a stronger global agreement, UN climate chief Yvo de Boer said Friday. While Copenhagen focused very much on very big poli... Sun Feb 28 08:11:34 2010 EST http://www.cfr.org/publication/21512/new_approach_to_tackling_climate_change.html The resignation last week of Yvo de Boer, the Dutch diplomat, as executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, reflected his frustration over the Copenhagen meeting and problems in climate change treaty design. Sun Feb 28 08:11:34 2010 EST http://www.thehindu.com/2010/02/28/stories/2010022854960800.htm NEW DELHI: India has caught out an American attempt to go back on an agreement not to push for international scrutiny of voluntary attempts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, negotiated between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, U.S. President Barack Obama and the heads of government of China, Brazil and South Africa at the UN climate change talks in Copenhagen last December. Sun Feb 28 08:11:34 2010 EST http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/World/Story/STIStory_494919.html BEIJING - CHINA'S top climate change negotiator has said the world's biggest carbon polluter has no intention of capping greenhouse gas emissions for the time being, state media reported on Thursday. Su Wei, who led China's negotiating team at the UN climate change talks in Copenhagen in December, said the country's carbon emissions had to increase because the economy is still developing, the ... Sun Feb 28 08:11:34 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/YaleEnvironment360/~3/VjmhfROQeoY/digest.msp Grizzly bear sightings have increased in a Canadian province long considered prime polar bear habitat, setting up potentially deadly conflicts, according to a new report published in Canadian Field Naturalist. While there is no evidence that grizzly bears ever reached the Wapusk National Park area in Manitoba before 1996, there were nine sightings between 1996 and 2008. Three more grizzlies were spotted in the region last summer, researchers say. It was long believed that grizzly bears would be unable to pass through the barren region north of Hudson Bay " where food supplies are scarce " and into polar bear territory. Sun Feb 28 08:11:34 2010 EST http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/YaleEnvironment360/~3/4WN_g1hUG6s/feature.msp The former chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says the organization he once headed needs to improve its work and openly acknowledge its mistakes. But, he writes, a handful of errors does not mean that human-induced climate change is an illusion or that CO2 emissions do not need to be cut. BY ROBERT T. WATSON Sun Feb 28 08:11:34 2010 EST http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/7300380/14mx0d/alternet_environment~How-the-Mountain-of-Climate-Change-Evidence-Is-Being-Used-to-Undermine-the-Cause We've gotten to a point where fewer Americans believe humans are warming the planet than before -- here's how it happened. Sun Feb 28 08:11:34 2010 EST http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/7267402/14mx0d/alternet_environment~We-May-Lose-the-Worlds-Coral-Reefs Rising acidity of the oceans is threat to marine ecosystems, including coral reefs, new research shows. Sun Feb 28 08:11:34 2010 EST http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/7208333/14mx0d/alternet_environment~Nuclear-Energys-Comeback-Is-Fueled-By-Lobbying-Dollars-Not-By-Safer-or-Better-Technology Over 10 years, the industry has spent $1 million per every U.S. Senator and Representative, plus another $100 million for the White House, courts and media. Sun Feb 28 08:11:34 2010 EST http://www.countercurrents.org/deprez270210.htm By Alexandra DeprezNow that Chile has just been visited by a huge quake, the world has good cause to harbor grave apprehensions over a situation where no region is spared good grounds to fear the consequences of such phenomena. The second segment of this research document identifies Mexico as an environmentally-induced migration hotspot, discusses development impacts in Latin America, and speculates on potential responses from Washington Sun Feb 28 08:11:34 2010 EST http://www.countercurrents.org/monbiot260210.htm By George Monbiot Peak oil should be good news for the environment, but not if it stimulates investment in even dirtier sources of energy Sun Feb 28 08:11:34 2010 EST http://www.countercurrents.org/athanasiou250210.htm By Tom AthanasiouFor all its complexity, the core of this problem can be stated simply enough: What kind of a climate transition would be fair enough to actually work? Sun Feb 28 08:11:34 2010 EST http://www.countercurrents.org/deprez260210.htm By Alexandra Deprez Relegated to less productive lands, small farmers in Latin America face undeniable economic hardships as their produce customarily has to compete against strongly subsidized American and European agricultural goods. The migratory pressures already in place due to these hardships will most likely be cemented by climate change, and the inequality in land distribution only further underscor