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News Archive September to December 2007 back to archive main page

Graphic Novel Review: As The World Burns - 50 Things You Can Do To Stay In Denial - Blogcritics.org This is definitely not a graphic novel for those looking to escape the troubles of the world... As The World Burns: 50 Simple Things You Can Do To Stay In Denial is unabashedly radical in its call for change, and provides convincing arguments that we aren't doing enough to prevent the destruction of the natural world. The decision is ours: trust the politicians and the leaders of industry who tell us that everything will be fine, or trust our senses: sight, smell, sound, touch, and taste, that tell us the world has changed irrevocably for the worse and that we need to do something about it.	31st December 2007
The Free Market: A False Idol After All? - NYTimes.com via Yahoo! Finance FOR more than a quarter-century, the dominant idea guiding economic policy in the United States and much of the globe has been that the market is unfailingly wise. So wise that the proper role for government is to steer clear and not mess with the gusher of wealth that will flow, trickling down to the every level of society, if only the market is left to do its magic. That notion has carried the day as industries have been unshackled from regulation, and as taxes have been rolled back, along with the oversight powers of government. Faith in markets has held sway as insurance companies have fended off calls for more government-financed health care, and as banks have engineered webs of finance that have turned houses from mere abodes into assets traded like dot-com stocks. But lately, a striking unease with market forces has entered the conversation. The world confronts problems of staggering complexity and consequence, from a shortage of credit following the mortgage meltdown, to the threat of global warming. Regulation — nasty talk in some quarters, synonymous with pointy-headed bureaucrats choking the market — is suddenly being demanded from unexpected places.	31st December 2007
Japan to back targets for new climate deal - Adelaide Now JAPAN will accept numerical targets to cut global warming emissions in a new climate change pact, reversing its stance which came under fire at this month's UN-led talks over the deal, a newspaper reported.	31st December 2007
ENERGY: German Biodiesel Forced to Compete BERLIN, Dec 29 (IPS/IFEJ) - Until a few months ago, the production of crop-based fuels was the best energy business imaginable in Germany, thanks to growing demand supported by the government. That's no longer the case.As of Jan. 1, 2008, the German government will receive nine cents on the dollar per litre of biodiesel. That tax will increase to more than 65 cents on the dollar in 2012. The tax exemption and subsidies for biofuels represented nearly three billion dollars in 2006. Because the new taxes imply an increase in the price, biodiesel will lose its ability to compete with fossil fuels, prompting predictions of a decline in demand. "Maintaining the tax exemptions for plant-based fuels doesn't make sense," said Dautzenberg in an interview for this article. What's more, the environmental benefits of biofuels compared to petroleum-based fuels are increasingly challenged by scientists and activists. A study by the Hamburg Environmental Institute presented Nov. 26 concludes that the reduction of greenhouse-effect gases from the use of biofuels is negligible.	31st December 2007
Significant decline in monsoon rainfall - The Hindu Bangalore: The southwest monsoon, responsible for 80 per cent of the country's annual rainfall and the basis of Indian agriculture, has substantially reduced in the last 50 years, shrinking in duration, spatial distribution and quantum.	31st December 2007
Terror of the north on the brink - Globe and Mail The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is expected to announce within days whether, in light of the animal's shrinking habitat, it will classify the polar bear as a threatened species under the U.S. Endangered Species Act.	31st December 2007
US drought spans coast to coast; dancing for rain - EARTHtimes.org The drought gives a glimpse of what climate scientists are predicting for the coming century if global warming continues and greenhouse gasses are not brought under control.	31st December 2007
Netherlands Has Another Record Warm Year in 2007 - Planet Ark AMSTERDAM - The average temperature in the Netherlands in 2007 matched 2006, the warmest year in 300 years, and the Dutch meteorological institute said it was a sign of global warming.	31st December 2007
Food security hobbles SA biofuel strategy - Mail and Guardian Worried that it may be seen as insensitive to the food needs of Africa, the South African government, which is facing a general election in 2009, has chosen food security in framing a biofuel policy.	31st December 2007
Why the era of cheap food is over - The Christian Science Monitor via Yahoo! News Food prices worldwide hit record highs in 2006, and all the signs are that they will go on rising this year, and for the foreseeable future.	31st December 2007
Adelie penguins in Antarctica in danger of extinction within 10 years - TopNews Adelie penguins Ecologists have warned that Adelie penguins in Antarctica face extinction within five to ten years, because of the rapid warming of the region due to climate change.	31st December 2007
UK species 'need new habitats' - BBC News Climate change will force some UK species of wildlife to find new habitats, the Wildlife Trusts warn.	31st December 2007
'Green fatigue' leads to fear of backlash over climate change - Guardian Unlimited British people are now convinced about the dangers of global warming but are either baffled about how to stop it or are ignoring the issue. Analysts say few people are taking action to deal with the threat of climate change, although over the past 12 months the vast majority have come to accept that it poses a real threat to the world. Opinion polls reveal much confusion among the public about what Britain should do to combat the problem. A backlash is now a real threat, said Phil Downing, head of environmental research for Ipsos Mori. 'There's cynicism because on the one hand we're being told [the problem] is very serious and on the other hand we're building runways, mining Alaskan oil; there's a lot going on that appears to be heading in the opposite direction.'	31st December 2007
Hilary Benn: With the will, we can save the Earth - Guardian Unlimited Hilary Benn: The world now understands that climate change is not just an environmental problem. It's also a security, economic, political and migration problem	31st December 2007
Bali: An Initial Balance Sheet - International Viewpoint Bali: The compromise is not a win for Bush. Rather, it anticipates the rather predictable shift in the US political climate after Bush leaves.	31st December 2007

The Forecast in the Streets - RealClimate A new report called The Age of Consequences, just released by the Center for Strategic and International Studies and the Center for a New American Security, tries to bring the social sciences, in particular history, geography, and political science, into the forecast of climate change in the coming century. It makes for fascinating if frightening reading.	29th December 2007
Globalization Is Fueling Global Warming - AlterNet Unfettered global trade will make efforts to reverse global warming and deliver safe products to our country all the more difficult.	29th December 2007
Australia braced for extreme weather - BBC News BBC's Phil Mercer takes a look at an extreme weather year even by Australian standards.	29th December 2007
New efficient bulb sees the light - BBC News A new super-efficient light bulb could spell the end of regular ones, Glasgow scientists claim.	29th December 2007
Panels start solar power revolution - Guardian Unlimited The holy grail of renewable energy came a step closer yesterday as thousands of mass-produced wafer-thin solar cells printed on aluminium film rolled off a production line in California, heralding what British scientists called "a revolution" in generating electricity.	29th December 2007
Sheila Watt-Cloutier - Globe and Mail This week, as a prelude to Saturday's announcement of The Globe's Nation Builder of 2007, we introduce the four other finalists/runners-up who have made a major contribution to Canadian society. Today, we profile Inuit environmentalist Sheila Watt-Cloutier.	29th December 2007
Cause for alarm - Guardian Unlimited The year that was: Climate change went mainstream in 2007, but there is still a gap between the urgency of the science and our willingness to act	29th December 2007
Bittersweet gains for Green Party - CNews OTTAWA -- The Green Party is poised to make political history in 2008 by electing its first MPs to the House of Commons, Leader Elizabeth May predicts.	29th December 2007
The Top 5 YouTube Global Warming Videos of 2007 - DeSmogBlog At DeSmogBlog we monitor Youtube on a daily basis looking for the videos that effectively convey the reality and urgency of global warming.Here's this year's top 5: #5 The Ranting Gryphon on Global WarmingWinner of the moviebakery global warming award.#4 Boxer Tells Inhofe Who the Boss is Now Not a true youtube video, but definitely a highlight of the year. #3 "Arctic Sea Ice Loss 1979 to 2007Courtesy of NASA's Goddard Scientific Visualization Studio #2 "Fox Attacks the Environment"By Robert Greenwald and Bravenew Films #1 "The Most Terrifying Video You'll Ever See"The video is the work of Oregon school science teacher, Greg Craven, who has become a youtube sensation since posting his insightful and humorous reasoning for why we need to act now to reduce our energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.	29th December 2007
Brit's Eye View: A shift in business attitudes? - GristMill Peter Madden, chief executive of Forum for the Future, writes a monthly column for Gristmill on sustainability in the U.K. and Europe. Forum for the Future recently asked a selection of top business and branding folk to give us the lowdown on the recent trend toward sustainable business. The gurus included Rita Clifton of Interbrand, Stuart Hart of Cornell University, William Kramer of the World Resources Institute, and Jonathon Porritt of Forum for the Future. I have distilled their wisdom into six insights. 1. A real sea change is underway. Looking at the current trends and recent announcements, there are signs of real progress and positive signals of change.	29th December 2007
The climate threat to Japanese rice - BBC News In Japan government scientists are trying to find ways to reduce the impact of global warming on the country's rice crop. There are fears that the extremes of temperature that some researchers are predicting could affect both the yield and the quality of rice, a staple of the Japanese diet. .	29th December 2007
The Year in Review: The planet - The Independent The sheer scale of what happened hasn't sunk in, it probably hasn't sunk in at all, with most people. They're not looking back on 2007 and talking about it, in the office, in pubs or over dinner. Listen to them: they're talking about Brown taking over from Blair, or David Cameron's prospects, or England failing to qualify for the European football championships. Or they're talking about getting and spending, or love and hate, as they always have. But what happened in September dwarfs all that.	28th December 2007
Insured losses from natural disasters nearly double, risks up on global warming - CBC News From winter storms in Europe, flooding in Britain and wildfires in the U.S., losses to insurers from natural disasters nearly doubled this year to just below US$30 billion globally after an unusually quiet 2006, a leading reinsurer said Thursday. Munich Re warned that climate change could mean a growing number of weather-related catastrophes in coming years. "The trend in respect of weather extremes shows that climate change is already taking effect and that more such extremes are to be expected in the future," board member Torsten Jeworrek said in a statement. "We should not be misled by the absence of mega-catastrophes in 2007."	28th December 2007
Fruit, vegie price up as heat burns crops - The West Australian Australia: Shoppers looking forward to cheaper fresh fruit and vegetables following the Christmas buying frenzy face disappointment after temperatures of up to 45C this week damaged crops from Bunbury to Lancelin.	28th December 2007
Prince Charles to Work With Norway to Save Forests - Planet Ark OSLO - Britain's Prince Charles has offered to team up with Norway in projects to save forests around the world, Norwegian officials said on Thursday.	28th December 2007
Manitoba to adopt Calif.-like vehicle emission limits: Doer - CNews Canada: Manitoba will soon set down new vehicle emission standards similar to those in California, Premier Gary Doer said Thursday.	28th December 2007
Yellowknife looks to old gold mine for new source of energy - CNews Canada: Early in 2008, Yellowknife will begin studying what could eventually become Canada's first large-scale geothermal heat plant.	28th December 2007
Global warming brings busy year for UN disaster teams - Guardian Unlimited The UN office that helps governments deal with natural disasters was busier than ever in Latin America this year, a fact it at least partially blames on climate change	28th December 2007
Green energy is the bottomless well - Gristmill Martin Wolf makes what I think is a really bad argument in the Financial Times:We live in a positive-sum world economy and have done so for about two centuries. This, I believe, is why democracy has become a political norm, empires have largely vanished, legal slavery and serfdom have disappeared and measures of well-being have risen almost everywhere. What then do I mean by a positive-sum economy? It is one in which everybody can become better off. It is one in which real incomes per head are able to rise indefinitely ... This is why climate change and energy security are such geopolitically significant issues.	28th December 2007
Year hottest ever in N. Hemisphere - Toronto Star When the calendar turned to 2007, the heat went on and the weather just got weirder. January was the warmest first month on record worldwide – 0.85 degrees Celsius above normal. It was the first time since record-keeping began in 1880 that the globe's average temperature has been so far above the norm for any month of the year. And as 2007 drew to a close, it was also shaping up to be the hottest year on record in the Northern Hemisphere. See also: Melting Arctic ice cap top weather story: Environment Canada - CNews Weather odds could become the norm - CBC North	27th December 2007
Climatic Chain Reaction Caused Runaway Greenhouse Effect 55 Million Years Ago - Environmental News Network Analogous to the Earth's current situation, greenhouse warming 55 million years ago was caused by a relatively rapid increase of CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere. This phase, known as the Paleocene-Eocene thermal maximum (PETM), was studied using sediments that accumulated 55 million years ago on the ocean floor in what is now New Jersey. The new study shows that a large proportion of the greenhouse gases was released as a result of a chain-reaction of events. Probably due to intense volcanic activity, CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere became higher and the ensuing greenhouse effect warmed the Earth. As a result, submarine methane hydrates (ice-like structures in which massive amounts of methane are stored) melted and released large amounts of methane into the atmosphere.	27th December 2007
Japan Plays Russian Roulette in its Energy Quest - DeSmogBlog Fifty-five million years ago the world's climate was catastrophically changed when volcanoes melted natural gas frozen in the seabed. Now Japan plans to drill for the same icy crystals to end its reliance on imported energy. Billions of tons of methane hydrate, frozen chunks of chemical-laced water buried in sediment some 3,000 feet under the Pacific Ocean floor, may help Japan win energy independence from the Middle East and Indonesia. Japanese engineers have found enough ``flammable ice'' to meet its gas use demands for 14 years. The trick is extracting it without damaging the environment. Ryo Matsumoto Toshiharu Okui Hironori Watanabe	27th December 2007
Despite EPA, smart carmakers will be green - Times-Standard The bottom line is that the company that acts on the California standards first will be the one that does best for years, maybe decades, afterward. Those that fight hardest against the new reality will become dinosaurs, perhaps even moving into the automotive boneyard now occupied by the likes of Kaiser, Studebaker, NSU and Daihatsu.	27th December 2007
NY to reduce gas emissions - BBC News New York City begins an ambitious project to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 30% by 2030.	27th December 2007
Government still searching for heir to Kyoto deal - Toronto Star The ghosts of Kyoto treaties past and future haunted the beginning and end of 2007.	27th December 2007
Donnachadh McCarthy: My carbon-free year - The Independent Donnachadh McCarthy has turned his Victorian house into one of Britain's greenest homes. He explains how he did	27th December 2007
Julia Stephenson: The Green Goddess The news that retailers have had a poor Christmas and that we're about to slide into recession has been relayed in sombre voices by newscasters and gloomy economics pundits. Perhaps they could cheer themselves up if they had a word with the king of Bhutan, who reckons that gross national happiness is more important than gross national product because "happiness takes precedence over economic prosperity in our national development process".	27th December 2007
Rich life emerges from nature's freezer - BBC Tiny channels in the Arctic ice support creatures that play a crucial role in climate-affected ecosystems.	27th December 2007
Climate change adversely affecting predators in world's oceans - TopNews Climate change adversely affecting predators in world's oceansTopNews, India. "Global warming may lead to severe contraction of favorable reproductive zones for some species of tunas that will have larger effects than fisheries on ...	26th December 2007
Low carbon work boosted by £80m - BBC News A new £80m programme of European funding to support low carbon economic growth in the East of England over the next seven years has been announced..	26th December 2007
China to see huge increase in coal consumption - Houston Chronicle China promised today to develop renewable energy for its fast-growing economy but warned that coal consumption will grow dramatically and avoided embracing binding limits on its greenhouse gas emissions.	26th December 2007
News Anchors Don't Ask Candidates About Global Warming - Daily Green USA: Why aren't they talking about – let alone doing anything tangible – about global warming? Why have we heard more questions about aliens (both the outer space kind and the cross-the-border kind) than climate change? That's the question the League of Conservation Voters is posing, and while its new campaign's ultimate aim is to influence the presidential candidates on both the Democratic and Republican tickets (and by extension the future of the country and world), the LCV campaign is taking aim at the news media. Particularly, the group has singled out the following personalities for the dearth of attention they've paid to the issue when questioning presidential candidates, either in a major interview or during a debate.	26th December 2007
CHALLENGES 2007-2008: Climate Change Gives Rise to New World Order - IPS Brazil is pushing for a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council, but enlarging the membership of the Council will not solve anything, he said. Instead, he argued, "its functions and agenda need to be updated to include food security and climate security."	26th December 2007
MERRY CHRISTMAS! and may we all have many many more to come	25th December 2007
Big wake-up to global warming - Philadelphia Enquirer An attitude shift as inexorable as climate change itself this year brought world groups together to debate risks.	25th December 2007
Population, consumption drive global climate change and environmental degradation - Energy Bulletin The impact of population and consumption is so profound that they may outpace any potential environmental benefits from industrial modernization and improving technologies.	24th December 2007
Cheney accused of blocking bid to cut car fumes - Guardian Unlimited Dick Cheney behind decision to block California's attempt to impose tough emission limits on car manufacturers	24th December 2007
Scientist Shearer brings odd bedfellows together to save the Earth - San Francisco Chronicle MMA Renewable Ventures, Burning Man and Sierra Pacific Power announced a new 90-kilowatt solar power plant that will save the Nevada school district of Gerlach $20,000 a year in energy costs. Shearer was the man behind the scenes of the project, and it's a role he's obviously warmed to. His approach doesn't rely on graphs or charts or dire studies warning that the planet is dying. Instead, he tells the story through both artistic, new media and entrepreneurial projects. He talks about "messaging" cultural change by making environmental choices hip, like how he helped market Toyota's hybrid Prius car..	24th December 2007
Erosion threatens Canada's coastlines - Times Colonist Crumbling coastlines are hardly a problem unique to P.E.I. Bigger storms are eroding Canadian shorelines, particularly throughout the North and the Atlantic region. Scientists identify climate change as one of the culprits.	24th December 2007
Cereal crop halved by drought - ABC via Yahoo!7 News Australia: Sheep and lamb numbers have fallen to an 80-year low in Victoria and the national cereal crop was halved by the impacts of drought last financial year.	24th December 2007
UN Sees No Climate Change Solution Without US - Planet Ark NAIROBI - The United States will suffer from global warming along with other nations if there is no broader agreement on cutting carbon emissions, the United Nations environment chief Achim Steiner said.	24th December 2007
Federal election will be fought over hot air - Prince George Citizen Canada: With a federal election likely in the new year, Canada's two main political parties appear to have picked their issues. For Liberals, it's the environment. For Conservatives, it's Stephane Dion. The two partisan forces are targeting what they perceive to be their opponent's weakest link. And a just-released Angus Reid opinion poll suggests they've chosen wisely. Twenty-six per cent -- the highest percentage -- say the most important issue facing Canada is the environment. And Harper is the preferred prime minister for 33 per cent, Dion for 14 per cent.	24th December 2007
Earth feels the cost of humanity staying cool - Sydney Morning Herald THE humble air-conditioner, quietly purring away in millions of homes and cars this summer, has become the unknown player in Australia's growing contribution to global warming.	24th December 2007
Uganda's President Revives Plan to Axe Rainforest - Planet Ark KAMPALA - Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni on Friday revived a controversial plan to hand over a swathe of rainforest to a local company to be destroyed and replaced with a sugarcane plantation.	24th December 2007
Climate Change Malpractice - Washington Post EPA decision: The larger point is the irrationality of blocking an initiative that would help slow climate change.	24th December 2007
Loss of Sea Ice Could Harm Walrus (AP) -- Federal marine mammal experts in Alaska studying the effects of global warming on walrus, polar bears and ice seals warn there are limit to the protections they can provide.	24th December 2007
Britons seek greener Christmas and a planet-friendly new year Britain is embarking on its greenest Christmas, according to an astonishing series of studies.	23rd December 2007
Group says warming imperils ribbon seals - Seattle Times The Center for Biological Diversity on Thursday filed a 91-page petition with the National Marine Fisheries Service seeking to list ribbon seals as threatened or endangered. The group says the classification is needed because sea ice is disappearing because of climate change brought on by humans.	23rd December 2007
Grumbling Harper fumbling on warming - Toronto Star Saving the planet has for too long been regarded by the likes of Harper as a strictly environmental issue. Global warming is actually an economic threat, requiring not incrementalism but a sweeping economic transformation. Harper, even though he is a trained economist, has been slow to grasp that.	23rd December 2007
Wilder parks can tame climate change - Guardian Unlimited National parks must undergo a conservation revolution if they are to meet the challenges of climate change, says expert	23rd December 2007
Heavy rains not enough to break drought - Perth Now THE recent heavy rains experienced across three states were not drought-breaking but were "very positive", chief executive of the Murray Darling Basin Commission Wendy Craik has said.	23rd December 2007
Japan's Emperor Akihito voices worry over climate change in birthday comments - International Herald Tribune Japanese Emperor Akihito expressed concern about global warming in comments marking his 74th birthday Sunday, but declined to discuss issues in his family.	23rd December 2007

For New Orleans, for the survivors of Katrina, for climate justice - It's Getting Hot In Here While I’ve been following this situation go from grave to worse for two years, I reached a breaking point of despair these last 2 days when it got personal. At least 2 people I know in New Orleans, including one close friend, were TASERed by police while loudly, but peacefully, demanding entry into their city council meeting where the approval of the demolitions of these homes. Despite (police initiated) physical strife both inside and outside the chambers, the council approved the demolitions. Dozens more people, public housing residents and supporters alike, were pepper sprayed and beaten by police. 4 people, including my friend, were hospitalized.	22nd December 2007
Arrogance and Warming - New York Times The Bush administration’s decision to deny California permission to regulate and reduce global warming emissions from cars and trucks is an indefensible act of executive arrogance that can only be explained as the product of ideological blindness and as a political payoff to the automobile industry.	22nd December 2007
Ministers ordered to assess climate cost of all decisions - Guardian Unlimited Ministers must factor in 'carbon price' for decisions on transport, energy, construction, housing and planning.	22nd December 2007
Who's the meanest of them all? - GristMill Check out our nominations for the most reprehensible eco-villain of 2007, then vote at the bottom of this post. (And tell us who we missed.) See also: Who's the greenest of them all? - GristMill Check out our nominations for the most ass-kicking hero of 2007 The underground food movement gains force - GristMill Top green food stories of 2007	22nd December 2007
Books ‘07 - RealClimate We have a minor tradition of doing a climate-related book review in the lead up to the holidays and this year shouldn't be an exception. So here is a round-up of a number of new books that have crossed our desks, some of which might be interesting to readers here.	22nd December 2007
CLIMATE CHANGE: Solar Energy Firm Says Carbon Credits Don't Work BANGALORE, Dec 21 (IPS) - A small but successful solar energy company involved in rural electrification in India is complaining that the Kyoto Protocol's clean development mechanism (CDM) has been of no practical use to it. Selco (Solar Electric Light Company), winner of the 2005 - 2007 London-based Ashden Awards for outstanding achievement in sustainable energy, has found it impossible to harness any benefits from CDM, forcing it to turn to the voluntary emissions market instead.	22nd December 2007
CLIMATE CHANGE-US: Wildfires Rekindle Global Warming Debate BOSTON, Dec 21 (IPS/IFEJ) - The massive wildfires that roared and twisted their way through southern California in 2007 are a glimpse of what a future of global warming may hold, scientists say.	22nd December 2007
Farewell from the man who kept Britain on doomwatch - Times Online The UK's departing Chief Scientific Adviser on culls, global warming and pandemics ...worries that Bali was a rerun of Kyoto in 1997, all talk, little action. “We’ve lost ten years, ten crucial years. We can never take them back. We cannot avoid dangerous climate change now. In 1997 we could have. I’m really worried now that people are talking about it and there’s a sense in which talking is all you have to do. Action is required.”	22nd December 2007
400 Prominent Scientists Dispute Global Warming - Bunk - DeSmogBlog Climate change denial lives - though not nearly to the extent that Swiftboater Marc Morano would have you believe in his latest overstatement about "prominent scientists" who dispute man-made global warming.Morano's list of "over 400" alleged climate quibblers includes the usual deniers for hire Fred Singer, Tim Ball, Christoper Monckton, PR people who have no credibility on issues scientific and who each have a handsome record of saying things widely and demonstrably at variance with the truth.There is also a group of second-order "scientists," who are not scientists at all. There's "Dr. Richard Courtney, a British coal journal editor whose PhD is rumoured to have issued from a Crackerjack box.	22nd December 2007
Chocolate fuels a carbon-negative voyage from England to Timbuktu - The Christian Science Monitor via Yahoo! News While others eat their way through advent calendars this Christmas season, two Britons are doing something quite different with their chocolate: using it to drive across the Sahara.	22nd December 2007
Focus On The Corporation - Eat the State "The Story of Stuff with Annie Leonard" is an engaging new short film that explains the "materials economy" in 20 fun-filled minutes. Yes, fun-filled. Produced by Free Range Studios, which developed "The Meatrix"--an animated short about factory farming that ranks among the cleverest uses of Internet technologies to deliver a politically progressive message--The Story of Stuff features the wonderful Annie Leonard, amusing graphics, lots of humor, and a complicated analysis presented in an easy-to-understand conversational tone. You can watch the whole thing at www.storyofstuff.com. You'll have to watch the film to enjoy the humor--there's no easy way to convey the playful cartooning with serious purpose. But I guarantee chuckles even for the most austere.	21st December 2007
A battle Bush's EPA can't win - Salon.com The Terminator and the EPA's own lawyers agree: The decision to deny California's right to restrict greenhouse gas emissions from automobiles is indefensible	21st December 2007
Money falls from the sky in Germany - Reuters In an age of global warming, rising fossil fuel prices and dwindling natural resources, I've learned that in Germany and a growing number of countries, solar power can give you more than just a feeling of "doing something" for the environment. It can also give you a steady stream of income. My roof has been turned into a cash machine, thanks to a state-mandated "feed-in tariff" that requires utilities to pay anyone who installs a photovoltaic system more than double the market rates for the electricity produced for the grid.	21st December 2007
Al Gore: "Thus Far I Have Failed" - Time Magazine QA: The Nobel Prize winner - and runner-up for TIME Person of the Year - talks about why it's hard to celebrate his honor	21st December 2007
Hurray! We're Going Backwards! - Monbiot.com Bush trashed the climate talks. But look what Gore did.	21st December 2007
The Bush administration's hypocrisy on federalism - Gristmill Bushies laud state policies when excusing inaction, shut them down when they threaten contributors	21st December 2007
EU sets 2012 for air emissions cap - BBC EU environment ministers agree to include airlines in the emissions trading scheme a year later than MEPs wanted.	21st December 2007
US Tax Credit Expiry Endangers Wind, Solar Expansion - Planet Ark WASHINGTON - Growth of a nascent US industry to build and install clean energy sources, like windmills and solar cells, could be stunted if Congress doesn't extend tax incentives set to expire next year, industry officials and lawmakers said Wednesday.	21st December 2007
Hotter Than a Britney Video - ABC News On YouTube's all-time list of most-watched news videos -- just behind the sex and flash of Britney Spears -- is the newest online sensation: a decidedly unfunny, perhaps unsexy science teacher from Central High School in Independence, Ore., who wanted to reach a lot of people. So he created a YouTube video called "Most Terrifying Video You'll Ever See." So what's so terrifying about a nine-minute video showing Greg Craven with a pen and white board? Craven makes a compelling case that humans need to fight global warming or be prepared to face disastrous consequences. "We only get to play this game once, so ask yourself -- 'How lucky do you feel?'" Craven says in the video.	21st December 2007
EPA denies California waiver on auto emissions - Los Angeles Times U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Stephen Johnson today denied California's long-standing request for a waiver from federal law to be able to implement its own landmark regulations to slash greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles. See also: Governor Schwarzenegger Scolds Environmental Protection Agency - Imperial Valley News "While the federal energy bill is a good step toward reducing dependence on foreign oil, the President's approval of it does not constitute grounds for denying our waiver. The energy bill does not reflect a vision, beyond 2020, to address climate change, while California's vehicle greenhouse gas standards are part of a carefully designed, comprehensive program to fight climate change through 2050," said Governor Schwarzenegger. "It is disappointing that the federal government is standing in our way and ignoring the will of tens of millions of people across the nation. We will continue to fight this battle. California sued to compel the agency to act on our waiver, and now we will sue to overturn today's decision and allow Californians to protect our environment." Pelosi Statement on EPA Decision Denying California Waiver Request - PR Newswire via Yahoo! News "What is clear is that the Administration's announcement undermines the ability of the states to protect their citizens from the dangers of global warming. "The Bush Administration has repeatedly blocked federal and international action on global warming. When the states took action, the Administration chose to stifle true progress on preventing global warming and protecting our children's heritage. "The threat of climate change to California's communities, coastline, ecosystems, water supply and health of its citizens is clear and compelling. Two federal courts have ruled that California has the legal right to set its own greenhouse gas standards for vehicles, and other states have the right to follow.	20th December 2007
Support For Harper Government "Plunges" - Global Warming Seen as Key Facto - DeSmogBlog A Harris-Decima poll released shows that the governing Tory party in Canada, under the leadership of Prime Minister Harper is losing popularity quickly due in large part to their performance at the recent United Nation's global warming conference held in Bali, Indonesia.The Harper government now finds itself in a statistical tie at 30% with the opposition Liberal Party.Support for the Tories has dropped across all regions and demographic groups. The poll conducted by Harris-Decima finds that Tory popularity has dropped 11% in Quebec, 17% in British Columbia and a whopping 20% in Prime Minister Harper's home-province of Alberta.While stating various causes for the recent drop, Harris-Decima president Bruce Anderson speculated that the government's reluctance to sign onto global greenhouse gas reduction targets in Bali cost the Tories support among urban, women and Quebec voters, who tend to be more environmentally conscious.	20th December 2007
EU unveils plans to cut car emissions - Guardian Unlimited The European Commission has proposed new legislation to reduce the average C02 emissions of new cars by nearly 20% by 2012 See also: German ire at EU fine on car CO2 - BBC	20th December 2007
Being green online: Let's get together - The Independent Being green's more fun when you do it with online 'friends'. Meg Carter meets the men who believe that social networking can save the planet. www.dothegreenthing.com	20th December 2007
Seabed microbe study leads to low-cost power, light for the poor A Harvard biology professor`s fascination with seafloor microbes has led to the development of a revolutionary, low-cost power system consuming garbage, compost, and other waste that could provide light for the developing world.	20th December 2007
Grow More Food in Cities, UN Agency Tells Asia - Planet Ark GENEVA - Asian nations, many at risk from climate change, must invest more in urban and indoor farming to help feed the hundreds of millions of people in their growing cities, the World Meteorological Organisation said on Wednesday.	20th December 2007
What are they waiting for? - Grist Magazine A new site asks political talk show hosts to address climate change.	20th December 2007
US Congress approves energy bill - BBC News The US Congress passes a "historic" energy bill to improve fuel economy and reduce demand for oil. See also: Have we lost more ground than we gained? - Grist Magazine	19th December 2007
Ministers 'to reject airline cap' - BBC News EU ministers are poised to agree a deal on aviation that would see aircraft emissions continue to rise.	19th December 2007
Belated Bali blogging - Gristmill I feel somewhat guilty for not following the goings-on in Bali more closely. A few of you have written to ask why. It's just that every single international meeting on climate since I started covering this stuff has gone down the exact ... same ... way. It's like clockwork: everyone arrives full of hope, because now, finally, there's real momentum, people really get the problem; midway through, everyone's getting more and more pissed at the U.S. for its intransigence; the U.S. works diligently to water down every possible declaration or statement; and finally, the event culminates with everyone making the best of it, signing some weak-ass, vague piece of paper that commits no one to any concrete action.	19th December 2007
'Green' plan for new Routemaster - BBC News Plans which could see the iconic Routemaster bus return to regular service are unveiled.	19th December 2007
Rising seas 'to beat predictions' - BBC News Global sea levels could rise twice as high this century as UN climate scientists had predicted, a study suggests.	18th December 2007
Environment: Bali: World Suckered by the U.S. Once Again - Altertnet America will keep on wrecking climate talks as long as those with vested interests in oil and gas fund its political system.	18th December 2007
Many Americans aim to go "green" in 2008: survey - Environmental News Network NEW YORK (Reuters) - Three-quarters of Americans, the world's largest polluters, plan to be more environmentally responsible in 2008 by reducing household energy or recycling more, a survey showed on Monday. Half of those polled said they would make a "green" New Year's resolution, according to the survey by GfK Roper and commissioned by marketing consultancy Tiller LLC.	18th December 2007
Sweden Beats Kyoto Targets On CO2 Emissions By Almost 9% -AFP - Nasdaq STOCKHOLM (AFP)--Sweden reduced its carbon dioxide emissions by almost 9% from 1990 to 2006, largely exceeding the target set by the Kyoto Protocol, the Swedish environment ministry said Tuesday.	18th December 2007
UN warns on soaring food prices - BBC News Dramatic increases in international food prices are threatening millions of people in poor countries, the UN warns.	18th December 2007
Rising CO2 might mean wetter storms - Moldova.org A U.S. study suggested that wetter Arctic and Northern Hemisphere storms due to global warming but whether there are more such storms depends on the latitude.Scientists at the University of Colorado-Boulder's Institute for Research in Environment Sciences said two studies suggest the wetter storms will be caused by rising carbon dioxide levels.Global climate model predictions for the 21st ...	18th December 2007
All new schools to be zero-carbon by 2016 - Guardian Unlimited Schools will install wind turbines and solar power systems in a multi-million pound drive to reduce carbon emissions	18th December 2007
Is a New Solar Cycle Beginning? - PhysOrg The solar physics community is abuzz this week. No, there haven't been any great eruptions or solar storms. The source of the excitement is a modest knot of magnetism that popped over the sun's eastern limb on Dec. 11th, pictured below in a pair of images from the orbiting Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO).	18th December 2007
CLIMATE CHANGE: Measuring Bali by a Scientific Yardstick - IPS BROOKLIN, Canada, Dec 17 (IPS) - A tiny step was taken Saturday in meeting the greatest challenge humanity has ever faced.	18th December 2007
EU eyes phasing in CO2 fines for carmakers: source - Environmental News Network BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Commission is considering phasing in fees it charges to carmakers who fail to meet ambitious targets to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) by 2012, a European Union source said on Monday. Amid fierce lobbying, the EU executive is due to announce on Wednesday how it will share out cuts in the main gas blamed for global warming between makers of light and ...	18th December 2007
DEVELOPMENT: NGOs Regroup Around Climate Change After Bali - IPS BALI, Indonesia, Dec 18 (IPS) - This resort island, better known for drawing foreign tourists due to its tropical splendour and its deep spiritual traditions, is poised to enter the vocabulary of another international set -- the rapidly expanding global civil society movement.	18th December 2007
Deep thought - Energy Bulletin Staff, Energy Bulletin. Interview with Ronald Cooke (Cultural Economist) Albert Bartlett interview (population) Some convenient truths 2007: The Great Unraveling begins Astyk: The best books about nearly everything Monbiot: Leave fossil fuels in the ground	18th December 2007
Britain's carbon strategy 'up in smoke' - The Independent Britain's plans to build new coal-fired power stations as part of the country's efforts to address its looming energy crisis will completely undermine the Bali agreement on climate change and discredit Gordon Brown's commitments to reduce greenhouse gases, according to one of the world's leading climate scientists.	17th December 2007
Season's greetings: Oregon Peaceworks starts on a 5% solution A long-established statewide peace organization in Oregon has initiated a new project called "The 5% Solution" as a way to give people a SMART (specific, measurable, appropriate, realistic, and timed) goal for climate action. It asks people to pledge to reduce their own carbon footprint 5% a year, each year, and to spread that commitment through their communities, and then states, and then country.As the material here notes, if the developed world stops increasing emissions and makes 5% cuts per year from 2008 to 2050, its emissions will go down about 88% and the developing world will have some flexibility to increase emissions for a few more years before joining the rich countries on the glide path to an overall drop of about 80%.	17th December 2007
South China in the midst of its worst drought in 50 years - BBC News More than one million people in south China are now without water as the country suffers from its worst drought in over 50 years.	17th December 2007
IEA urges bold steps to cut CO2 emissions - report - Reuters via Yahoo! India News BERLIN (Reuters) - The head of the International Energy Agency urged world politicians to take bolder, if unpopular, action to curb CO2 emissions to fight climate change in an interview with a German magazine on Sunday.	17th December 2007
Bali roadmap full of blind corners- News Analysis - EARTHtimes.org Bali, Dec 16 - Almost a full day after schedule, the seminal UN conference on climate change has come up with a roadmap that satisfies most governments because it is vague on all major issues in the fight against global warming that is already having a huge adverse impact on the world.	17th December 2007
CLIMATE CHANGE: Forward, Hopefully Past the Hurdles - IPS BONN, Dec 17 (IPS) - Despite scepticism about the 'Bali roadmap', the international community has come a long way in hammering out a truly global response to the serious threat posed by climate change.	17th December 2007
Carbon Cuts a Must to Halt Warming - US Scientists - Planet Ark SAN FRANCISCO - There is already enough carbon in Earth's atmosphere to ensure that sea levels will rise several feet (meters) in coming decades and summertime ice will vanish from the North Pole, scientists warned on Thursday. To mitigate global warming's worst effects, including severe drought and flooding, people must not only cut current carbon emissions but also remove some carbon that has collected in the atmosphere since the Industrial Revolution, they said.	17th December 2007
EU emissions row may stall green campaign - Guardian Unlimited EU plans to slash carbon dioxide emissions from all new cars and impose savage penalties on manufacturers failing to meet binding targets are in disarray	17th December 2007
At a glance: Bali climate deal - BBC News What are the key points emerging from the UN climate meeting in Bali? See also: Winners and Losers at Bali - Time Magazine	16th December 2007
A Carbon Tide: Past, Present and Future - New York Times Global emissions of carbon dioxide, measured by the weight of carbon it contains.	16th December 2007
Low turnout for fuel price demos - BBC News Nationwide protests against the rising cost of fuel have failed to attract as many demonstrators as organisers hoped.	16th December 2007
US sets terms for climate talks - BBC The US insists developing states must take their fair share of cuts under the Bali climate change process.	16th December 2007
A Carbon Cap That Starts in Washington - New York Times While a binding global agreement would be the best way to cut back on carbon emissions, a more limited approach is wending its way through Congress.	16th December 2007
Bali's crying shame - Times Online The drama of the UN climate change talks caught the world's attention. But are they a meaningful step in securing its future?	16th December 2007
Letter from Bali: A tragic truth - Gristmill By Guest author Professor Andrew Light laments the unnecessary line in the sand the U.S. has drawn in Bali	16th December 2007
German ship fights climate change with high-tech kite - Reuters via Yahoo! News Turning ocean winds into gold while cutting greenhouse emissions in the process might sound like some sort of alchemy for the 21st century.	16th December 2007
The big picture - Gristmill The Worldwatch Institute has produced an interesting summary of what's happening in the world of grain supplies. They also just published a book called Biofuels for Transport. Along with all of the positive potential for biofuels, I'm sure it also discusses the "potential" problems with "first generation" biofuels. These are some of the latest buzzwords being used to support industrial agrofuels. The word "potential" suggests that there are not yet any actual problems. The words "first generation" suggest that all of these "potential" problems will fail to materialize thanks to the timely arrival of "second generation" fuels.The reality, of course, is that these fuels (i.e., industrially grown food monocrops) are already wreaking all kinds of havoc and are likely to remain the only commercially viable biofuels for the foreseeable future (i.e., forever).	16th December 2007
It's Too Late for Later - New York Times If there is one change in global consciousness on climate change that seems to have settled in the past couple of years, it is the notion that later is over.	16th December 2007

Climate deal sealed by US U-turn - BBC News Delegates at the UN summit in Bali agree a deal on curbing climate change after days of bitter wrangling.	15th December 2007
Environment: The Top Ten Best Environment Stories of 2007 From the top 100 ways global warming with change your life to anti-environmental homeowners associations to the biofuel hoax, read this year's best.	15th December 2007
Acidic seas may kill 98% of world's reefs by 2050 - Guardian Unlimited The majority of the world's coral reefs are in danger of being killed off by rising levels of greenhouse gases, scientists warned yesterday	15th December 2007
Live - almost from AGU–Dispatch #6 Today was the all-Union session on Tipping Points, and several people have asked for comments on what went on there. I suppose this session might have been useful for people who had to miss the more detailed discussion in specialized sections, but I don't have much to say about most of the talks, since they for the most part went over issues like ice sheet dynamics and rapid arctic sea ice loss, which I've discussed in earlier dispatches. Myself, I never found the notion of "tipping points" to be a very useful contribution to public discourse. The concept is ill-defined and very prone to be misunderstood - as in ...	15th December 2007
Research: The New Economics of Global Warming - DeSmogBlog Economists no longer debate the realities of anthropomorphic climate change--that's so 1993! Instead, they squabble over how much we should be spending today to lessen the sting of the much bigger invoices that will inevitably come due tomorrow, should we insist on carrying on with all this fossil-fuel nonsense. To do their apocalyptic calculus, they attach hard--and rather large--numbers to phenomena such as rainforest loss, and plug them into cost-benefit analysis models. In the end, the bean counters determine a so-called social cost of carbon, and recommend a percentage of GDP for present-day investments in clean-energy research and the like.Until now, the economic models have not included "unlikely but extreme events," such as a global temperature rise of--gulp!--six degrees, mostly because Sir Nicholas Stern and friends have dismissed them as simply too ...	15th December 2007
Q&A: "Where Has All the Water Gone?" - IPS HALIFAX, Canada, Dec 14 (IPS) - Imagine a planet where nuclear-powered desalination plants ring the world's oceans; corporate nanotechnology cleans up sewage water so private utilities can sell it back to consumers in plastic bottles at huge profit; and the poor who lack access to clean water die in increased numbers.	15th December 2007
Festivities 'raise carbon output' - BBC News Hi-tech gadgets and mindless consumerism is exacting a high carbon cost at Christmas.	15th December 2007
Waiting for America - Guardian Unlimited While Tony Blair has been passing his time sending Christmas wishes to George Bush's pet dog, the rest of the world has been attempting to persuade his administration that it must act to limit climate change.	15th December 2007
Europe Blinks; U.S., Canada Win Lame Bali Compromise - DeSmogBlog Honoring the will of the lowest common denominator - the worst polluters and most resistant policy makers in the world - 191 countries negotiating global greenhouse emission limits in Bali have come to a "compromise" that doesn't mention actual limits.Canada can take much of the credit for this non-result. With the United States and Japan, Canada was one of the most enthusiastic holdouts against making binding commitments. But having refused to sign the original Kyoto Accord, the U.S. was not allowed to attend some of the Bali meetings, leaving it to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper's minions to run interference for the Americans.Job well done, apparently. See also:Baird regrets 'watered down' climate deal - CTV.ca [I'm not calling you a liar, Mr. Baird, but I don't want anybody here to think I believe you]	15th December 2007
12 cities, including Toronto, to darken skylines in global warming initiative - CNews SYDNEY, Australia - Twelve cities around the world, including Toronto, have agreed to darken their skylines for an hour as part of an Australian initiative to raise awareness about climate change, organizers said Friday.	15th December 2007
Glaciers in West China shrink by up to 18% - China Daily Lanzhou -- Glaciers in China's high-altitude western areas have shrunk seven to 18 percent over the past five years, according to a new survey by Chinese scientists.	15th December 2007
Carbon dioxide levels at 650,000-year high - Denver Post More than two miles above the Pacific surf, at the summit of the world's largest volcano, the evidence of human influence on global warming is in the air.	15th December 2007
Measuring the human cost of climate change - Guardian Unlimited Rich countries are inching towards an acceptance that they must pay to climate-proof people living in the developing world, but money must first be spent to find out what is really needed. Katherine Demopoulos reports from Bali	15th December 2007
China to reach limits of available water by 2030 - The Globe and Mail Government warns officials to prepare for the worst as global warming and economic expansion exhausts water supplies	15th December 2007
Hydrogen Dream Not Adding Up - in News - The Tyee BC's new buses aren't 'zero-emission solution' as claimed.	15th December 2007
100000 Canadians Call on Harper to Stop Opposing UN Climate Targets - PR Newswire 100000 Canadians Call on Harper to Stop Opposing UN Climate TargetsPR Newswire (press release), NY. "By cynically blocking the un's sincere and desperate efforts to address climate change, Mr. Harper's misleadership is devastating Canada's global ...	15th December 2007
Q&A: "Where Has All the Water Gone?" - IPS HALIFAX, Canada, Dec 14 (IPS) - Imagine a planet where nuclear-powered desalination plants ring the world's oceans; corporate nanotechnology cleans up sewage water so private utilities can sell it back to consumers in plastic bottles at huge profit; and the poor who lack access to clean water die in increased numbers.	15th December 2007
Twisting the Pope's words on climate change - Guardian Unlimited Ben Goldacre: 'The Pope condemns the climate change prophets of doom,' roared the headline on Thursday. Basically, if the Daily Mail goes out of business, I'll have to give up this column	15th December 2007
Points of no return ahead - Gristmill For the last few years, James Hansen, the man who first warned Congress of global warming in testimony last century, and the man considered NASA's "top scientist" on climate questions, has been giving talks around the country asking can we avoid dangerous climate change(PDF)? But Hansen has changed his tune: no longer does he ask if we have passed the tipping points of climate change. In a press conference Thursday morning at the American Geophysical Union, he stated that we have passed several tipping points. He said scientists now know that soon the Arctic will be ice-free in the summer, that huge ice sheets will melt, and the climactic zones will shift towards the poles of the earth, among other consequences.	15th December 2007
For more news, click here >> News from previous days is below
Notes from The Gathering #5: Arctic sea ice: is it tipped yet? - RealClimate The summer of 2007 was apocalyptic for Arctic sea ice. The coverage and thickness of sea ice in the Arctic has been declining steadily over the past few decades, but this year the ice lost an area about the size of Texas, reaching its minimum on about the 16th of September. Arctic sea ice seems to me the best and more imminent example of a tipping point in the climate system. A series of talks aimed to explain the reason for the meltdown. Sea surface temperatures were warmer this past summer also; I forget how many standard deviations the temperature was off the trend, but it was definitely anomalous.	14th December 2007
2007 data confirms warming trend - BBC News This year has been one of the warmest since 1850, despite the cooling influence of La Nina conditions, according to scientists..	14th December 2007
Al Gore: The world can't wait for George Bush - The Independent We, the human species, face a planetary emergency. That phrase still sounds shrill to some ears but it is deadly accurate as a description of the situation that we now confront.	14th December 2007
Banks Finance Climate Change, Need New Policies - NGO - Planet Ark SINGAPORE - Banks are contributing to global warming by funding coal and oil exploration, and should adopt policies that cut their negative impact on the environment, according to a report by a network of NGOs.	14th December 2007
EU leads last-gasp effort to salvage climate-change deal - The Independent Deadlocked UN talks on a timetable for an ambitious global climate change deal went to the wire last night in Bali. With only 24 hours left to secure an agreement, the EU led an unprecedented assault on the US delegation and its refusal to commit to binding targets on greenhouse gas emissions. The Europeans were joined by the Nobel Prize-winner Al Gore in heaping pressure on the US. He appealed to delegates to sign up to the timetable in the belief that a new administration would be in place in Washington in time to complete the process in two years' time.	14th December 2007
Ban Ki-moon issues climate warning - Guardian Unlimited UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon issues a warning to the world (video).	14th December 2007
Automakers Lose California Global Warming Lawsuit - A Short-Lived Victory? - DeSmogBlog And just like that it's over, kind of. After years of effectively blocking California's 2002 law calling for strict new greenhouse gas emissions standards for all new vehicles, a lawsuit filed against the State by major automakers was thrown out of court yesterday. Federal district court Judge Anthony Ishii issued a strong rebuke to the automobile industry's attempt to derail the California Clean Car program that would reduce global warming pollution from motor vehicles.At the heart of the lawsuit was whether the State of California has the legal authority to regulate greenhouse gas as a pollutant, and if considered a pollutant whether California was superseding the authority of the federal government's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).For a comprehensive backgrounder on this lawsuit go here.	14th December 2007
Coral Reefs Unlikely to Survive in Acid Oceans - PhysOrg Carbon emissions from human activities are not just heating up the globe, they are changing the ocean`s chemistry. This could soon be fatal to coral reefs, which are havens for marine biodiversity and underpin the economies of many coastal communities.	14th December 2007
China, U.S. intransigence over climate policy hijacks Bali talks - DeSmogBlog Instead of mandatory cuts, the Bush administration wants individual countries to set their own goals. It also favors private-sector initiatives to develop energy-saving technology and alternative sources such as ethanol, and says industry should devise ways to burn coal and other fossil fuels more cleanly. The U.S. rejected Kyoto, which commits three dozen industrialized countries to cut their greenhouse gases an average of 5 percent below 1990 levels between next year and 2012, largely because developing countries such as China, India and Brazil were not required to cut emissions. Though it also rejects binding cuts, China has expressed support for a post-Kyoto agreement and used the Bali conference to show it is doing something to address climate change, like boosting renewable energy use to 10 percent by 2010 and improving efficiency by 20 percent.	14th December 2007
Coal likely to boost U.S. 2007 carbon emissions - Environmental News Network NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. emissions of the main greenhouse gas carbon dioxide will likely rise this year as power plants turn to cheap and plentiful coal, which could add pressure on the government to regulate the gases scientists blame for global warming.	14th December 2007
Q&A: 'Melting Himalayan Glaciers Threaten India, China' - IPS NEW DELHI, Dec 12 (IPS) - Precious little is expected to emerge from the ongoing United Nations climate change conference in Bali, but climatologists and scientific experts warn that time is rapidly running out for planet earth.	14th December 2007
Arctic summers ice-free 'by 2013' - BBC News Scientists present one of the most dramatic forecasts for the disappearance of Arctic summer sea-ice.	13th December 2007
Do we see a trend here? By Joseph RommAccording to NASA scientists (PDF): Through the first 11 months, 2007 is the second warmest year in the period of instrumental data, behind the record warmth of 2005, in the Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) analysis. The unusual warmth in 2007 is noteworthy because it occurs at a time when solar irradiance is at a minimum and the equatorial Pacific Ocean has entered the cool phase of its natural El Niño -- La Niña cycle. ... barring the unlikely event of a large volcanic eruption, a record global temperature exceeding that of 2005 can be expected within the next 2-3 years.	13th December 2007
Quebec adopts California's stringent emissions controls - CNews BALI, Indonesia - Quebec is the first Canadian province to adopt California's stringent auto-emissions standards. Environment Minister Line Beauchamp made the announcement early Wednesday at a UN climate-change summit in Indonesia.	13th December 2007
Without its insulating ice cap, Arctic surface waters warm to as much as 5 C above average - PhysOrg Record-breaking amounts of ice-free water have deprived the Arctic of more of its natural "sunscreen" than ever in recent summers. The effect is so pronounced that sea surface temperatures rose to 5 C above average in one place this year, a high never before observed, says the oceanographer who has compiled the first-ever look at average sea surface temperatures for the region.	13th December 2007
Live - almost from AGU–Dispatch #2 Before I get started with a few hasty remarks on today's events, let me remind you that Lonnie Thompson's Frontiers in Geophysics lecture will be webcast live on Wednesday at 1815 Pacific time. A link to the webcast can be found here. The lecture is entitled "Abrupt Climate Change and Our Future". At the same page you'll find links to Arvidson's Whipple lecture on Mars exploration, which will be webcast at 14:20. Enjoy! Wish you were here. Now, let me say at once how inspiring it is to see so much first-rate innovative science arrayed here. There are a lot of geophysicists in the world, and most of them are very, very good.	13th December 2007
After centuries of keeping water out, the Dutch now letting it in - PhysOrg For centuries the low-lying Netherlands has fought to reclaim land from water by creating polders. Now, with flood risk increasing thanks to climate change, it is giving the land back.	13th December 2007
The winds of climate change - Guardian Unlimited Bangladesh has always suffered more than its share of natural disasters, but the recent cyclone is only part of worsening climatic instability that is threatening ordinary people's ability to survive. Annie Kelly reports	13th December 2007
'Crunch time' for climate change - BBC The head of the UN opens high-level talks at the climate change conference in Bali with a call to action.	13th December 2007
TEXT-Ban Ki-moon's speech at U.N. Bali climate talks - AlertNet Source: Reuters NUSA DUA, Dec 12 (Reuters) - Following are highlights of a speech by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at the opening of a meeting of more than 120 environment ministers in Bali laying the groundwork ...	13th December 2007
Anglican Head Urges 'Moral Vision' on Climate Change - Christian Post Anglican Head Urges 'Moral Vision' on Climate ChangeChristian Post. ... Tuesday at an ecumenical gathering that a clear moral vision is needed to deal with global warming. “Ultimately the control of climate change, ...	13th December 2007
Seven Questions: Planning for a Climate Catastrophe - Foreign Policy Passport Seven Questions: Planning for a Climate CatastropheForeign Policy Passport. With a key climate-change conference wrapping up this week in Bali, Indonesia, esteemed judge and public intellectual Richard Posner says we must confront ...	13th December 2007
Pricing the Indonesian forests - BBC News Tucked into the Borneo rainforest, a community is getting involved in a carbon trading project focusing on protecting the area's trees.	13th December 2007
Hot off the projector #3: Atmospheric CO2 to 800 kyr ago Just a few minutes ago Chappellaz et al presented the deepest dregs of greenhouse gas concentration data from the EPICA ice core in Antarctica, extending the data back to 800,000 years ago. In Al Gore's movie you saw what was at that time the longest record of atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations, back to 650 kyr, and their astonishing correlation with Antarctic temperature. This iconic superstar record has probably consumed as many eyeball-hours as any in climate science, alongside other classics such as the Jones et al. global temperature trends, the Moana Loa recent CO2 record, and the hockey stick.	13th December 2007
Judge throws out automaker's suit, say California can regulate emissions - CNews SACRAMENTO - A U.S. federal judge has rejected an automakers' lawsuit against California, saying the state has the authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles.	13th December 2007
Getting to know our planet - CNews We know that our planet is heating up. And we know that international climate negotiations like the ones that are winding down in B