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News Archive 2009 back to archive main page

ENVIRONMENT: Could Food Shortages Bring Down Civilisation? WASHINGTON, Sep 29 (IPS) - In early 2008, Saudi Arabia announced that, after being self-sufficient in wheat for over 20 years, the non-replenishable aquifer it had been pumping for irrigation was largely depleted. See also: Climate change will hit developing world harvests hardest - Nature	30th September 2009
Common environments, Diggers, and Climate Campers Thoughts on the relationship between food issues, rural movements, and Climate Camps. To be more specific: this post mainly compares the distinct focuses and limitations of the Diggers' movement toward agricultural autonomy, and the Climate Campers' rallies and interventions against coal plants, airport expansion projects, and other commercially-driven operations. read more	30th September 2009
'Catastrophic warming in our lifetimes' Study says 4C rise in temperature could happen by 2060 Increase could threaten water supply of half world populationUnchecked global warming could bring a severe temperature rise of 4C within many people's lifetimes, according to a new report for the British government that significantly raises the stakes over climate change.The study, prepared for the Department of Energy and Climate Change by scientists at the Met Office, challenges the assumption that severe warming will be a threat only for future generations, and warns that a catastrophic 4C rise in temperature could happen by 2060 without strong action on emissions.Officials from 190 countries gather today in Bangkok to continue negotiations on a new deal to tackle global warming, which they aim to secure at United Nations talks in December in Copenhagen. See also: The Four Degrees No rainforest, no monsoon: get ready for a warmer world	30th September 2009
"Climate illiterate" U.S. seen risking warming inaction OXFORD, England (Reuters) - U.S. wavering on climate commitment could undermine action to save the planet, the director of Germany's Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research said on the sidelines of a conference on Monday.	30th September 2009
Cassandras of Climate - New York Times New York TimesCassandras of ClimateNew York Times... event can be attributed to global warming. The point, however, is that climate change will make events like that Australian dust storm much more common. ...and more	30th September 2009
Life altering planetary experience - CNews Insurance companies, politicians, and businesspeople often use the expressions natural disaster or act of God to deflect responsibility for events beyond our control. Today, human activity and technology have become so powerful that we are contributing to what were once natural disasters.	30th September 2009
Two meter sea level rise unstoppable: experts OXFORD, England (Reuters) - A rise of at least two meters in the world's sea levels is now almost unstoppable, experts told a climate conference at Oxford University on Tuesday. [The key words are "after temperatures stabilized". - and how is that going to happen?] See also: Sea level rise could lead to 'ghost states'	30th September 2009
On Cathedrals, Dreams and Climate What do cathedrals and climate policy have in common?	30th September 2009
Post-human Earth: How the planet will recover from us If our civilisation collapses, what will happen to the planet itself? The best way to work that out might be like is to look back at the Earth's past See also: Let's Talk Paleoclimatology	30th September 2009
Drought Threatens Ukraine's Winter Crops, Weather Center Says - Bloomberg Sept. 28 (Bloomberg) -- Winter-grain sowing in Ukraine, the world's biggest barley exporter, is under threat because of drought, the state-run Hydrometeorology Center said.	30th September 2009
Kenya's heart stops pumping Kenya's 'paradise' lake vanishes as forests fall See also: East Africa drought in fifth year, millions hungry - Reuters via Yahoo!7 News	30th September 2009
Drought looming Disastrous drought threaten Iraq's farmlands	30th September 2009
India drought 'worst since 1972' - BBC News India suffered its weakest monsoon for nearly 40 years, the country's meteorological department says.	30th September 2009
Climate change will hit developing world harvests hardest - Nature Report quantifies link between global warming and food security.	30th September 2009
Dust storms spread deadly diseases worldwide - Guardian Unlimited Dust storms like the one that plagued Sydney are blowing bacteria to all corners of the globe, with viruses that will attack the human body. Yet these scourges can also help mitigate climate change	30th September 2009
Prolonged Drought and Salinity Threaten Water Supplies in Australian City Portions of Australia's largest river are running so low and have become so salty because of a crippling drought and increased consumption that the nation's fifth-largest city may soon have to deliver bottled water to its residents. Government officials warn that some stretches of the Murray River could be undrinkable by next week, particularly in 11 rural townships east of the city of Adelaide. Salinity levels in parts of the river already are higher than the World Health Organization's recommended drinking water standard. Experts point to population growth, increased agriculture use, and a decade-long drought as contributing factors. See also: The Great Repatriation	30th September 2009
Climate link to rise of parasite - BBC News Vets are warning warmer and wetter weather is leading to an increase of a parasite that can be fatal to livestock.	30th September 2009
The Saviour of Africa - and the Environment? An Exclusive Interview With Nobel Prize-winner Wangari Maathai "As human beings, we are attacking our own life-support system," she says. "And if we carry on like this, we are digging our own grave."	30th September 2009
California establishes nation's first statewide carbon fee - CNews Despite industry objections and threats of lawsuits, California air regulators on Friday approved the nation's first statewide carbon fee on utilities, oil refineries and other polluting industries.	30th September 2009
NIKE Quits Chamber of Commerce Board Over Climate Rift The exodus continues. Nike announced today that the company simply cannot stand by and watch the Chamber of Commerce continue its campaign to derail much-needed action to address climate change. So Nike Just Did It. Here is Nike's statement [PDF copy courtesy of NRDC here]: Nike believes US businesses must advocate for aggressive climate change legislation and that the United States needs to move rapidly into a sustainable economy to remain competitive and ensure continued economic growth.As we've stated, we fundamentally disagree with the US Chamber of Commerce on the issue of climate change and their recent action challenging the EPA is inconsistent with our view that climate change is an issue in need of urgent action.We believe businesses and their representative associations need to take an active role to invest in sustainable business practices and innovative solutions. See also: Strike Three: Exelon Leaves Chamber of Commerce Over Climate Stance	30th September 2009
G20 leaders fail on climate, as civil society challenges them to act It was the week that wasn't at the G20 Summit in Pittsburgh, at least when it comes to seeing any strong commitment from world leaders on the issue of climate change. read more	30th September 2009
India to launch energy-efficiency trading - Financial Times India plans to launch a domestic energy-efficiency trading scheme as part of its efforts to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and combat climate change.	30th September 2009
A Subsidy By Any Other Name There’s the real world. And then there’s “Daily Telegraph world”, a fantasy mindscape, it seems to me. In yet another piece that seems to be written for the sole purpose of attacking wind power, massaged in under the banner of standing up for the fuel poor :- http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/6236920/Taxing-the-fuel-poor-to-bolster-subsidised-companies-is-a-waste-of-energy.html is this outstanding piece of reporting about Atomic Energy in the United Kingdom :- “Nuclear, by contrast, is unsubsidised.” Now, call me picky, but all it takes is a brief history of time to discount this theory. What about all the “re-financing” of British Energy that happened a few years ago ?	30th September 2009
James Hansen on Obama, climate legislation, and the scourge of coal by Nell Greenberg Cross-posted from Earth Island Institute.A recent article in the New York Times pointedly asked whether NASA climate scientist Dr. James Hansen still matters. The subtext to the story was, has Hansen been too vocal and too unconventional in his criticism of Washington's response to climate change to be taken seriously?Hansen, dubbed by some as the father of global warming, has been connecting the dots between science and politics since his groundbreaking 1988 testimony to Congress about the greenhouse effect. In the last year, however, Hansen has gone far beyond talking about climate change.	30th September 2009
EU, U.S. eye green goods tax pact in climate fight NEW YORK (Reuters) - The European Union and the United States are holding talks on forging a pact with OECD countries and China to eliminate duties on green goods as part of incentives to Beijing in a potential global climate deal.	30th September 2009
What Makes Europe Greener than the U.S.? The average American produces three times the amount of CO2 emissions as a person in France. A U.S. journalist now living in Europe explains how she learned to love her clothesline and sweating in summer. BY ELISABETH ROSENTHAL	30th September 2009
We need climate change action, not Kyoto II Climate is too complex an issue to get in one gulp. If Copenhagen can pave the way for practical steps, an agreement can waitThe Copenhagen climate-change negotiations are 10 weeks off, and time has run out to reach a detailed international agreement. Yet failure to reach a comprehensive agreement need not be a cataclysm, if the US, Europe, China, India and a few others take some important practical steps while a new protocol continues to be negotiated.The UN summit on climate change last week, followed by the Pittsburgh G20, made clear the broad global consensus on the seriousness of the climate crisis, and the need to act.	30th September 2009
Asia-Pacific at risk if climate change ignored: ADB BANGKOK (Reuters) - Asia-Pacific countries face food and energy shortages, worsening poverty and declining crop yields if they ignore climate change, according to studies released on Wednesday.	30th September 2009
Engineering giants follow the money to green power SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A green power building spree is on the way, and much of it will be brought to you by the same people who built the nuclear and coal-fired power plants that keep the lights on now.	30th September 2009
World religions plead for action at climate talks - AP via Yahoo! Asia News Adherents of the world's major religions urged political leaders, businessmen and individuals Wednesday to renounce short-term gains and greed, telling a U.N. climate conference in Bangkok that reversing global warming is a moral duty.	30th September 2009

The people's planet: On the road to Copenhagen - Independent Eco-campaigners offer their own solutions to climate change ahead of the UN summit in New York this week – a meeting that holds the key to striking a new 'Kyoto' treaty in Denmark in December.	20th September 2009
China hydropower to near double by 2020: state media - AFP via Yahoo! UK & Ireland News China's hydropower capacity is expected to nearly double to 300,000 megawatts by 2020, state media said, as the nation powers ahead with the development of renewable energy sources. [suppose it's a bit better than coal...]	20th September 2009
Danish Conservative Prepares for Climate Debate - International Herald Tribune Denmark's minister of climate and energy will host United Nation-sponsored global climate treaty negotiations in December.	20th September 2009
Drought-stricken streams threaten California salmon - Greenwich Time California's third year of drought has worsened the already dire outlook for endangered coho salmon, as coastal creeks used for spawning dwindle into disconnected pools where fish get trapped and die.	20th September 2009
SOUTH ASIA: Disunity Hovers over a Region Battling Climate Change KATHMANDU, Sep 20 (IPS) - As the Copenhagen Conference on climate change draws nearer, South Asia, which appears poised for severe threats from the impacts of climate change, faces a stiff challenge on two fronts.	20th September 2009
United States: The great success of a carbon trading failure It happened in Europe earlier this year for the second time. And now it has happened again.	20th September 2009
Research: Climate change a threat to crops worldwide - The Montclarion RALEIGH Even if global temperatures rise slowly, climate change could slash the yields of some of the world's most important crops almost in half, according to a new study co-authored by a North Carolina State University scientist.	20th September 2009
A lot more work needs to be done on climate change: Rudd - Sydney Morning Herald Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has warned there's still a lot of work to be done if the world is to reach agreement on reducing greenhouse gas emissions in Copenhagen in December.	20th September 2009
Japan eyes mandatory cap-and-trade in 2011/12-Nikkei - AlertNet Source: Reuters (For more on Japanese politics, click [ID:nPOLJP]) TOKYO, Sept 20 (Reuters) - Japan's new government wants to introduce a compulsory cap-and-trade system for greenhouse gas emissions as early as the ...	20th September 2009
Sarkozy, Merkel want carbon tax on imports - SpaceDaily PARIS, Sept 18 (AFP) Sep 18, 2009 The leaders of France and Germany called Friday for the United Nations to support a carbon tax on imports from countries who fail to back international efforts to fight global warming. See also: U.S. group urges "peace clause" in Senate climate bill	19th September 2009
Climate-Related Business Surges Past Aerospace and Defense Sectors The world s climate-related business sector grew by 75 percent in 2008, with revenues climbing to $530 billion, passing global aerospace or defense industries, HSBC Global Research has reported. By 2020 it could reach $2 trillion, far exceeding a 2006 Stern Review analysis that predicted climate-related revenues reaching $500 billion by 2050. HSBC analysts say revenue has shattered forecasts because more and more businesses are adapting their business models in the face of climate change concerns. Seventy-six percent of revenue occurred in the United States, Japan, France, Germany, and Spain. To reach the projected $2 trillion figure by 2020, the report notes, the climate sector will need continued government support and the world must continue to change the types of energy it produces.	19th September 2009
China’s rearview mirro r Even as China overtakes the US in the dubious category of world s leading greenhouse gas producer, it is also well ahead of the US in developing the technologies and policies to solve the problem and selling those solutions to us at massive profits which could have been ours. On a recent trip, I saw entire Chinese towns powered by farm waste and enough windmills for jousts with ten thousand Don Quixotes. As you read this, China will have just surpassed the US as the leading producer of wind turbines, many of which are exported at very high margins.	19th September 2009
CBS’s Declan McCullagh promotes another false CEI attack on clean energy reform by Brad Johnson Cross-posted from Wonk Room. According to Declan McCullagh, a libertarian blogger who works for CBS Interactive, secret Obama administration documents reveal that the cost of clean energy cap-and-trade legislation would be $1,761 per household despite official estimates from the Environmental Protection Agency, the Congressional Budget Office, and the Energy Information Administration of about a postage stamp a day. Based on Treasury Department documents acquired by the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), McCullagh claims that a cap and trade law would cost American taxpayers up to $200 billion a year, the equivalent of hiking personal income taxes by about 15 percent ... See also: U.S. climate bill could cut GDP 3.5 percent by 2050	19th September 2009
Giles Slade: Methane Seeps Into the UN - The Huffington Post Pure methane gas is now bubbling up from underwater vents across our polar regions and escaping into the atmosphere where it adds to global-warming.	19th September 2009
Sea Stars Grow Faster as Water Warms - LiveScience.com via Yahoo! News Climate change will deal clams, mussels, and other marine bivalves a double whammy. Biologists already expect them to have trouble making their shells because elevated carbon dioxide (CO2) levels will acidify seawater. Now it seems they'll also have to contend with brawnier predatory starfish.	19th September 2009
Severe drought affects 1.3 million in Syria - The Christian Science Monitor More than 800,000 people have lost their livelihoods in a four-year dry spell exacerbated by climate change and rising food prices. Almost half of them live in urban makeshift camps.	19th September 2009
Drought in China leads to water shortages - UPI CHONGQING, China, Sept. 19 (UPI) -- A severe drought has led to a shortage of drinking water for 1.5 million people in south and central China, a government spokesman said.	19th September 2009
Kumi Naidoo: Will world leaders hear this global wakeup call? Next week President Obama and more than 100 world leaders gather at the United Nations in New York for the Climate Summit, in what will be an intriguing precursor to December s crucial climate talks in Copenhagen.	19th September 2009
Coal - Sept 17 - Energy Bulletin -World Bank spends billions on coal-fired power stations -EPA moves to block W.Va.'s largest mining permit -"The Coal Nightmare" read more	18th September 2009
Developing countries and global warming A bad climate for development - Economist TreehuggerDeveloping countries and global warming A bad climate for developmentEconomistCounting the cost of global warming is hard because no one really knows how much to attribute to climate change and how much to other factors. ...Poorer Countries Hardest Hit by Climate ChangeVoice of AmericaOp-Ed Contributor The Ice Is MeltingNew York TimesClimate change threat for developing nationsBusiness StandardBNET -Air Options -Treehuggerall 49	18th September 2009
Contraception vital in climate change fight: expert LONDON (Reuters) - Contraception advice is crucial to poor countries' battle with climate change, and policy makers are failing their people if they continue to shy away from the issue, a leading family planning expert said on Friday. See also: POPULATION: Where's Family Planning on Climate Change Radar? Population - Energy Bulletin Sept 17	18th September 2009
NOAA Reports World's Oceans Had Warmest Summer Temperatures on Record Surface temperatures of the world's oceans were warmer this summer than for any Northern Hemisphere summer since records were first kept in 1880, according to data released by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. From June to August, ocean temperatures reached an average of 62.5° F worldwide, about 1.04° warmer than the 20th century average of 61.5°. NOAA s National Climatic Data Center also reported that the average global land and ocean temperature for August was the second-warmest on record, behind only 1998.	18th September 2009
Volcanoes stirred by climate change - Nature Impact of global warming on geological hazards 'poorly understood', experts warn.	18th September 2009
Invasive species on the march: variable rates of spread set current limits to predictability - EurekAlert! ( National Science Foundation ) Whether for introduced muskrats in Europe or oak trees in the United Kingdom, zebra mussels in United States lakes or agricultural pests around the world, scientists have tried to find new ways of controlling invasive species by learning how these animals and plants take over in new environs.	18th September 2009
Almost 4 million Kenyans on food aid as drought deepens - Guardian Unlimited The devastating drought sweeping across Kenya is causing widespread hunger, thirst and, in the case of cattle, death.	18th September 2009
Global Warming - Can Self-interest And Science Save Australia, US And The Planet? By Dr Gideon PolyaThe World is facing a Climate Emergency but you wouldnt think so from the response by governments. Carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration in the atmosphere is 390 parts per million (ppm), well outside the range of 180-300 ppm over the last 600,000 years during which Man (Homo sapiens) finally evolved	18th September 2009
India ready to quantify emission cuts: minister - Gulf Times India is ready to quantify the amount of planet-warming gas emissions it could cut with domestic actions to fight climate change, the environment minister said yesterday, but added it will not accept internationally binding targets.	18th September 2009
A warming world will make love and war minor concerns If documentaries are the new rock and roll, then it's time for the world to face the music about climate change"But didn't Al Gore already make the climate change documentary?" has been a common question over the five years we've been making The Age of Stupid. It never fails to raise a weary smile. Casablanca had already done love, so why bother with Brokeback Mountain? Apocalypse Now did war. What's the point of Three Kings?Love and war will soon become minor concerns, as the full horrors of climate change begin to unfold.When I started my first documentary, McLibel, I never for a moment thought it would have any effect on that immovable corporate mountain called McDonald's.	18th September 2009
Cutting carbon emissions must be highest priority say leading environmental groups - Daily Telegraph Cutting carbon emissions and restoring the natural world must be given the ''highest priority'' by the next government the UK's leading environment groups urged today as they unveiled a manifesto for the coming election.	18th September 2009
US battles for credibility on climate change - INO News (AP:WASHINGTON) With Congress moving slowly on a measure to curb industrial greenhouse gas emissions, the United States may find itself with little sway at the coming international conference to construct a new pact aimed at easing global warming.	18th September 2009
Siberian thaw - BBC News Mercury rising in one of the coldest places on Earth	17th September 2009
Polar bears run riot as ice melts Hungry bears raid towns for food as climate change reduces their hunting season	17th September 2009
Pine beetle infestation continues to spread - Ravalli Republic Montana s mountain pine beetle infestation is continuing to spread steadily and could reach two million acres, according to a preliminary review of information from the Forest Service s summer monitoring flights.	17th September 2009
Arctic ice third smallest on record OSLO (Reuters) - Ice on the Arctic Ocean has started to expand after a summer thaw to the third smallest area on record allowed ships to test a new sea route past north Russia.	17th September 2009
Warming Arctic 'halts migration' Milder winters in the Arctic region means fewer Pacific brants - a species of goose - are migrating southwards, say researchers.	17th September 2009
Sceptics seize on climate cooling model Research suggesting that global temperatures may fall is being used by deniers and sceptics to dismiss the entire canon of climate scienceCould it be true that global temperatures will fall before they rise? That's the thrust of a presentation at last week's World Climate conference. Mojib Latif of Kiel University in Germany suggested that cooling caused by natural factors could suppress global temperatures for several years, after which they will start to rise again.His presentation, first reported by the eagle-eyed Fred Pearce in the New Scientist, has been seized upon by sceptics and deniers all over the blogosphere. It was picked up this morning by the BBC's Today programme, which invited my old friend Philip Stott (who spends his time championing such dubious productions as The Great Global Warming Swindle and Michael Crichton's State of Fear) to raise questions about the global warming thesis.Professor Latif suggested ...	17th September 2009
Global warming may bring tsunami and quakes: scientists LONDON (Reuters) - Quakes, volcanic eruptions, giant landslides and tsunamis may become more frequent as global warming changes the earth's crust, scientists said on Wednesday.	17th September 2009
Q&A: "Climate Change Reinforcing Political Problems" UNITED NATIONS, Sep 16 (IPS) - The negative fallout from climate change, including drought, floods, melting glaciers, mass migration, and sea level rise, is being increasingly viewed as a potential security threat to nation states worldwide.	17th September 2009
Chinese adviser: 2C target unrealistic China's emissions unlikely to fall low enough because 2C target 'does not provide room for developing countries'Don't expect China to keep global warming below 2C, a senior government adviser warned in Beijing today at the launch of an influential report on the nation's prospects for low-carbon growth.Even in a best-case scenario with massive investment in solar energy and carbon capture technology, Dai Yande, deputy chief of the Energy Research Institute, said China's emissions were unlikely to fall low enough to remain below the temperature goal recommended by the G8 and European Union. His prediction will alarm those governments and scientists who warn that a rise more than 2C risks disastrous consequences in terms of food security, migration, sea-level rises and extreme weather events."You should not target China to fulfill the two degree target.	17th September 2009
Economic case flawed, figures show Critics say the new figures show the government's support for the new runway is a 'sham' and have demanded that plans to expand the airport are scrappedThe economic benefits of expanding Heathrow airport will almost entirely be wiped out by the increased costs to the environment, a new analysis shows.The government's own figures suggest that ministers have underestimated by several billion pounds the financial impact of the extra greenhouse gases produced by a third runway at the airport.	17th September 2009
Suddenly, a few reasons to be optimistic about Copenhagen by Geoffrey Lean Suddenly, unexpectedly, there is a ray of hope in the air, hope that a significant global climate deal may yet be struck at December s talks in Copenhagen. It could herald the start of a successful agreement, or it could dissolve just as rapidly into despair. And the coming week will do much to determine which. Key high-level meetings, starting Thursday and running until Friday next week, offer an unprecedented and probably unrepeatable chance to inject political will into the bogged down international negotiations. But back to that rare ray of optimism. The last session of international climate negotiations, in Bonn in August, got virtually nowhere, just like two others before it, leaving 2,500 points of disagreement to be settled in just 15 days of negotiating time before the delegates assemble in the Danish capital.	17th September 2009
Global investors call for binding climate policy NEW YORK (Reuters) - Banks, pension funds and other investment groups representing more than $13 trillion in assets called for a strong global agreement on climate policy on Wednesday, saying it would lead to a flood of investment into the low-carbon economy.	17th September 2009
Offshore energy could cover 10% of Europe's electricity needs: report - Eu Business A new report published by the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) predicts that European offshore wind projects - both existing and planned - could soon supply 10% of Europe's electricity. The report, entitled 'Oceans of opportunity', was presented at the European Offshore Wind 2009 conference in Stockholm, Sweden on 14 September.	17th September 2009
New Jersey has best paypack on residential solar in U.S. California may be the Golden State, but it s New Jersey where U.S. residents get the best deal on their solar power systems, new research shows. A survey by Global Solar Centertried to give an apples to apples comparison for the cost of solar power in all 50 states, the center s chairman Jack Hidary told Reuters. The common denominator turned out to be the cash payback, or how many years it would take a residential or commercial customer to recoup their investment and start seeing real savings, Hidary said. That takes into account the cost of the system, the sun at that spot, the incentives of that region, utility rates. See also: Cheap solar? Texan house aims low to win contest	17th September 2009
Schwarzenegger boosts clean energy plan SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - California's governor on Tuesday ordered that a third of the state's electricity come from renewable resources by 2020, the same amount as a legislature plan but with promises to let power companies get more electricity from outside the state.	17th September 2009
Asia wants climate deal, Obama crucial: survey SINGAPORE (Reuters) - More than half the people in Asia believe sealing a new climate deal later this year depends on the leadership of U.S. President Barack Obama, according to a survey released on Thursday by conservation group WWF.	17th September 2009
Some Bad Climate News and Some Good - New York Times Senators Barbara Boxer and John Kerry have delayed the introduction of their long-awaited climate change bill until the end of this month - one more sign that Congress will be hard pressed to get a bill to President Obama's desk before the international summit on global warming in Copenhagen in December. The chances of action this year, never all that good, are even slimmer now that the White House and the Senate leadership have pretty much agreed to keep controversial issues and a bill limiting greenhouse gas emissions certainly falls into that category on the back burner until the health care debate is resolved. Though smart politics, it is a disappointment to everyone who hoped that the United States would be able to go to Copenhagen with a clear strategy in hand.	17th September 2009
Car firms disagree about electric future - BBC News The Frankfurt motor show is awash with electric concept cars from carmakers with visions of a future where motoring is emissions free, but scepticism remains. See also: How many electric vehicles??	17th September 2009
US and Europe clash over Copenhagen deal Exclusive: Key differences between the US and Europe could undermine a new worldwide treaty on global warming to replace Kyoto, sources sayEurope has clashed with the US Obama administration over climate change in a potentially damaging split that comes ahead of crucial political negotiations on a new global deal to regulate greenhouse gas emissions.The Guardian understands that key differences have emerged between the US and Europe over the structure of a new worldwide treaty on global warming. Sources on the European side say the US approach could undermine the new treaty and weaken the world's ability to cut carbon emissions.The treaty will be negotiated in December at a UN meeting in Copenhagen and is widely billed as the last chance to save the planet from a temperature rise of 2C or higher, which the EU considers dangerous."If we end up with a weaker framework with less stringent ...	16th September 2009
If Obama doesn't win, our planet is doomed One year on, the world still looks to the US and holds its breath. The fate of a global climate treaty rests in American handsAnyone who cares about the survival of our planet should start praying that Barack Obama gets his way on reforming US healthcare. That probably sounds hyperbolic, if not mildly deranged: even those who are adamant that 45 million uninsured Americans deserve basic medical cover would not claim that the future of the earth depends on it. But think again.Next week, world leaders will attend the first UN summit dedicated entirely to climate change. Their aim will be to plunge a shot of adrenaline into stuttering efforts to draw up a new global agreement on carbon emissions.	16th September 2009
China think-tank bleak on global climate goal BEIJING (Reuters) - An international goal to limit global warming to no more than 2 degrees Celsius appears unreachable even if China embarks on a vast effort to tame its growing greenhouse gas emissions, a Beijing think-tank has said.	16th September 2009
DEVELOPMENT: NGOs Question World Bank's Clean Energy Roadmap WASHINGTON, Sep 15 (IPS) - The World Bank's 2010 World Development Report (WDR), released Tuesday, calls on the developed world to lead global efforts to cut carbon emissions, but some civil society groups remain highly sceptical of the bank's role in brokering climate finance.	16th September 2009
U.S. CO2 Emissions Plan Depends on Unlikely Offsets - Bloomberg Sept. 15 (Bloomberg) -- The cap-and-trade bill for greenhouse gases that passed the U.S. House June 26 depends on an unlikely supply of cheap carbon credits from developing countries, the National Commission on Energy Policy said today.	16th September 2009
China May Need Extra $249 Billion Low Carbon Spending in 2050 - Bloomberg Sept. 16 (Bloomberg) -- China, the world s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, may have to spend an additional 1.7 trillion yuan ($249 billion) in 2050 to shift the country to a low-carbon model of economic growth. See also: FACTBOX-China think-tank energy, CO2 scenarios - AlertNet	16th September 2009
Doctors warn on climate failure Failure to agree a new UN climate deal in December will usher in a "global health catastrophe", according to medical leaders.	16th September 2009
Brixton introduces its own currency Tomorrow the Transition Town movement launches a currency designed to boost local trade and bring communities closer togetherIt has all the makings of a taxing pub quiz question: what links dub poet Linton Kwesi Johnson, environmental scientist James Lovelock, black civil rights activist Olive Morris and comedian Chris Morris with David Bowie, the Clash, Harold Macmillan and Sharon Osborne?The canny among you will have spotted that they are all one-time residents of Brixton in south London but the more astute answer is that they have also all been in the running to appear on one of Brixton's new bank notes, a local currency that is officially launched tomorrow night at Lambeth town hall.	16th September 2009
Better world: Generate a feed-in frenzy Paying people who generate green energy and feed it back to the grid is the best way to boost uptake of renewable energy	16th September 2009
Smart thinking - BBC News Changes to energy meters in your home	16th September 2009
EU plans 30 cities to lead world on "smart" energy - Reuters via Yahoo! UK & Ireland News Europe will select 30 cities to pioneer "smart" electricity grids and space-age insulation as it seeks to lead the global race for green technology, a draft European Union document shows.	16th September 2009
Northwestern United States could face more tamarisk invasion by century's end If the future warming trends that scientists have projected are realized, one of the country's most aggressive exotic plants will have the potential to invade more U.S. land area, according to a new study published in the current issue of the journal Invasive Plant Science and Management. The study found that tamarisk -prevalent today in some parts of the region, but generally limited to warm and dry environments -could expand its range into currently uninvaded areas.	16th September 2009
One in six Mediterranean mammals face extinction One in six Mediterranean mammals is threatened with extinction at the regional level, mainly due to the destruction of their habitat from urbanization, agriculture and climate change, nature body IUCN said Tuesday in a new study.	16th September 2009
Protesters target oil sands before Harper meets Obama WASHINGTON/CALGARY (Reuters) - Environmentalists shut down a Canadian oil sands mine on Tuesday in a series of protests on the eve of Prime Minister Stephen Harper's visit with President Barack Obama, aimed at pressing their case that the projects undermine the fight against climate change.	16th September 2009
Climate goals must be achievable: U.S. official VIENNA (Reuters) - Nations aiming to agree on a new global climate deal should focus on achievable greenhouse gas emissions targets, to involve as many nations as possible, U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu said on Tuesday.	16th September 2009
Iraq seeks 30-year water plan to fight drought BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq is studying offers from three foreign companies on putting together a strategic 30-year plan for managing its water resources during a lingering and damaging drought, the water resources ministry said on Tuesday.	16th September 2009
China's Hu to unveil new climate proposals to U.N. BEIJING (Reuters) - China's President Hu Jintao will present China's new plans for tackling global warming at a United Nations summit on climate change later this month, the country's senior negotiator said on Tuesday.	16th September 2009
Surviving Kyoto's 'do or die' summit - BBC News The Copenhagen summit is billed as a "do or die" moment for climate negotiators, but there is a way to satisfy all nations.	16th September 2009
China terms carbon tax protectionism - UPI BEIJING, Sept. 16 (UPI) -- China says a proposed carbon tax on imported goods from countries without stringent environmental laws would violate World Trade Organization rules.	16th September 2009
EU researcher: World needs geo-renovating rather than geo-engineering - EurActiv People should not meddle with Earth's complex climate system by experimenting with futuristic geo-engineering options, but softer approaches have the potential to relieve the planet's climate woes, Frank Raes, head of the climate change unit at the European Commission's Joint Research Centre, told EurActiv in an interview.	15th September 2009
Answers Come There None As the Plimer affair shows, climate change deniers are all leaf and no plums	15th September 2009
Time To Decide What Matters Editor's note: the author has just come out with his excellent book Time's Up!, joining the Chelsea Green stable of works on sustainability. How important do you think humans are? For millennia we have been taught that human beings have a vital almost divine role in the Great Chain of Being, and to look around the cities where most of us now live you could indeed be forgiven for thinking that we are ecologically dominant, if not vital to the functioning of life on Earth: I think it's about time this was put into some kind of perspective.	15th September 2009
Report Says Wind Energy Could Meet China 's Energy Needs for Two Decades With steady growth in wind power capacity each of the last five years, China is expected to pass the United States as the fastest-growing market for wind installations this year. But this may only hint at the potential for wind energy in China, according to a new study published in the journal Science. After modeling China s wind availability and profitability, researchers from Harvard University and Tsinghua University in Beijing calculated that wind resources, particularly in the country s northern and western regions, could meet all of China s electricity demands until at least 2030. Specifically, researchers say wind turbines could produce 6.96 trillion kilowatt-hours of energy at a price of 0.516 Chinese yuan, or about 7.5 cents per kilowatt-hour, which is in keeping with the current government-set rates for wind energy.	15th September 2009
Will China's Planned Solar Field Lower the Cost of Alternative Energy? (PhysOrg.com) -- One of the biggest complaints that some have about solar power (and other forms of alternative energy) is that it is so much more expensive than the fossil fuels that are more commonly used today. However, this might change with China's ambitious plans to build a 2-gigawatt solar field in Inner Mogolia.	15th September 2009
Europe's $57 billion plan to put windmills in the ocean - The Christian Science Monitor Though questions remain about how to bring electricity to shore, Europe sees offshore wind power as a crucial component in its effort to reduce carbon emissions.	15th September 2009
A Cheap Fix for Climate: Retrofitting - International Herald Tribune More than one-third of all global energy is consumed by, or in, buildings, which in turn account for about 15 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions.	15th September 2009
Carbon Trust gives a boost to marine power - vnunet.com The Carbon Trust is providing half a million pounds to help two marine energy firms develop technology needed to deploy their systems in the sea. Installation and maintenance currently account for up to 50 per cent of the project costs of wave and tidal energy and could delay more widespread deployment if not reduced. The Carbon Trust is providing £250,000 to help move a 180-metre electricity-generating "sea snake" developed by Pelamis Wave Power onto a mooring many kilometres offshore. The Carbon Trust and Pelamis are investigating a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) that will assist with manoeuvring these giant machines into position. They will also integrate remote control technology into existing systems which will enable deployment in rougher seas. The Pelamis wave power project is sited off the coast of Portugal and consists of a series of semi-submerged hinged cylindrical sections. According to the backers, once the project is complete, it should provide enough energy for about 15,000 Portuguese households and potentially displace about 60,000 tonnes of C02 per year, which would have otherwise been consumed from conventional energy sources.	15th September 2009
Le réchauffement climatique rend l'Arctique méconnaissable Année après année, les symptômes de fièvre de notre planète sont de plus en plus évidents	15th September 2009
Cost of fighting L.A. wildfire tops $92 million - Reuters LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The financial cost of battling a deadly arson fire in the mountains above Los Angeles topped $92 million on Monday, with full containment of the stubborn blaze expected by week's end, fire officials said.	15th September 2009
Birds In Sierra Nevada Seek Out Warmer, Wetter Climate - redOrbit Image 1: This adult male Anna's Hummingbird, Calypte anna, is an urban-adapted species. Unlike many other bird species in the Sierra Nevada mountains, the Anna's Hummingbird did not track its climatic niche. Instead, it moved away from it. Credit: Morgan TingleyImage 2: Here, Morgan Tingley (right) and Pascal Title (left) are conducting a point count in the field for a resurvey of wildlife in ...	15th September 2009
Forest Ecologist Sees Climate Consequences - redOrbit Climate Central's climate characters: Now appearing on TIME.comMany people worry about the link between rising bark-beetle infestations and an increase in western wildfires. But Dr. Susan Prichard, a Research Scientist at the University of Washington, adds another concern: what happens after the fires go out?Prichard's story is the latest in a series of video shorts featured on TIME.com and ...	15th September 2009
Social tensions rise as Mexico suffers worst drought in 60 years - The Scotsman MEXICO is enduring its worst drought in 60 years, with crops drying up in the fields and water being rationed in the capital. See also: Warming may cut risky states' GDP by a fifth: study - Reuters	15th September 2009
Humpback whale found dead in Thames 28ft carcass of juvenile off Gravesend was first ever found in riverA juvenile male humpback whale has been found dead in the Thames near Dartford Bridge, Kent, the first ever to be stranded in the river.The 9.5m (28ft) carcass of the humpback had been spotted by members of the British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR) off Gravesend on Thursday, who had initially guessed it was a minke whale, but no further sightings were reported until the animal was found dead on Saturday. It was subsequently recovered by a Port of London Authority (PLA) patrol boat.A postmortem examination indicated the whale had died of starvation, and was estimated to be about two years old.	15th September 2009
Sink or swim? - BBC News Flooding wreaks havoc in Senegalese capital	15th September 2009
Australia not carbon competitive: report - Live News Australia has ranked among the worst in the developed world for being carbon competitive, potentially threatening future investment.	15th September 2009
Scientists find CO2 link to Antarctic ice cap origin SINGAPORE (Reuters) - A team of scientists studying rock samples in Africa has shown a strong link between falling carbon dioxide levels and the formation of Antarctic ice sheets 34 million years ago.	15th September 2009
California feud breaks out on clean energy plan SAN FRANCISCO/LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger will veto a bill requiring the state to get a third of its electricity from solar, wind and other renewable sources, his staff said on Monday in a fight that shows the difficulties of addressing climate change fast.	15th September 2009
Amid war, recession and health care debate, politicians loath to mention sacrifice - The Kansas City Star Reversing climate change will create green jobs. Tax cuts spur the economy. Everybody wins when everybody is covered by health insurance. Putting the American military to work in the Middle East could bring democracy to the region and American security in its wake. That s what we re told, what we re sold.	15th September 2009
Weak ETS gives taxes to polluters - Scoop.co.nz By using taxes to subsidise the polluters, New Zealand is going backwards while the rest of the world goes forward, the Green Party said today.	15th September 2009

No power cuts danger - Miliband - BBC News There is "no danger" of mass power cuts in the UK the next decade, Energy Secretary Ed Miliband says.	13th September 2009
Personal carbon trading urged for UK - BigPond News The government in the UK is being warned it may need to introduce personal carbon trading to cut pollution.	13th September 2009
Why France Wants to Introduce A New Tax on Carbon Emissions - Time.com via Yahoo! News Europe already has a cap and trade system in place -- but if the E.U. wants to hit its ambitious targets for carbon emissions reduction it has to do more	13th September 2009
Better world: Tax carbon and give the money to the people Goods should be taxed to reflect the damage they do to the planet, with revenues redistributed to society	13th September 2009
Anti-methane feed for cattle: marine algae - Queensland Country Life SLIMY green algae are usually a sign of something wrong with a river or backyard pool, but a team of James Cook University (JCU) researchers believes these much-villified organisms might have a role to play in reducing methane production in livestock.	13th September 2009
Climate change depresses beer drinkers - New Scientist The quality of hops is falling due to rising temperatures	13th September 2009
Mexico Now Enduring Worst Drought in Years - International Herald Tribune Crops are drying up in the fields and water is being rationed in the capital as Mexico struggles with its worst drought in six decades.	13th September 2009
Meanwhile, nitrous oxide levels have been climbing as a result of increased emissions from agricultural fertilizers ... - Sunday Observer Atmospheric chemist A. R. Ravishankara and his colleagues at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in Boulder, Colorado, have now used a chemical model of stratospheric ozone to calculate the ozone-depleting potential (ODP) of nitrous oxide.	13th September 2009
The last nomads: drought drives Kenya's herders to the brink - Guardian Unlimited In the isolated border lands between Kenya and Somalia, families have always clung to a precarious existence. Now a decade of droughts has tested their endurance	13th September 2009
Senators Drift Apart on Climate - Washington Post After long teaming on warming issues, McCain limits role in debate while Kerry goes full throttle.	13th September 2009
For more news, click here >> News from previous days is below
Better world: Find out if we can cool the planet We need to do our homework rather than simply assume geoengineering can stave off disaster	12th September 2009
UK climate scepticism spreads The British public has become more sceptical about climate change over the last five years, according to a survey.	12th September 2009
Emission impossible? - The New Statesman Would Ed Miliband swap the life of a leading cabinet minister for that of a street activist? There was a revealing moment in New Delhi at the start of this month when he said in an aside that he sometimes had the "fantasy" of doing so.	12th September 2009
Dramatic biological responses to global warming in the Arctic "The Arctic as we know it may soon be a thing of the past," says Eric Post, associate professor of biology at Penn State University. Post leads a large, international team that carried out ecosystem-wide studies of the biological response to Arctic warming during the fourth International Polar Year, which ended in 2008. The team's results will be reported on 11 September 2009 in the journal Science.	12th September 2009
Arctic thaw brings boom in reindeer population - Times Online Climate change may be bad for polar bears but one type of reindeer and several other species are thriving in the rising temperature, according to a comprehensive study of the impact of global warming in the Arctic.	12th September 2009
German ships blaze Arctic trail Two German merchant ships negotiate the North East passage in the Russian Arctic, which was ice-bound until recently.	12th September 2009
Dramatic biological responses to global warming in the Arctic "The Arctic as we know it may soon be a thing of the past," says Eric Post, associate professor of biology at Penn State University. Post leads a large, international team that carried out ecosystem-wide studies of the biological response to Arctic warming during the fourth International Polar Year, which ended in 2008. The team's results will be reported on 11 September 2009 in the journal Science.	12th September 2009
Can he fix it? Sarkozy's carbon-tax plan derided by environmentalists A "carbon" tax on transport, homes and factories, intended to make France a "green" model for other large economies, was unveiled yesterday by President Nicolas Sarkozy.	12th September 2009
Winds of change Wind farms can be self-sustaining, concluded two Northeastern finance professors in a recent journal article. A few measures to increase productivity and decrease equipment costs could reduce the current dependence on government subsidies and incentives designed to make wind farms viable.	12th September 2009
People power key to Copenhagen success A huge show of popular support should empower our political leaders to reach a wise and visionary agreement in CopenhagenWe have reached a defining moment in the global battle against climate change, and the role of the public is now more crucial than ever.There are now less than 100 days until the United Nations climate change conference in Copenhagen in December, which my colleague Nicholas Stern, the former head of the UK Government Economic Service and author of the Stern review has described as "the most important international meeting since the second world war".A strong international agreement on climate change can still be achieved at Copenhagen, which would set the world on a path that avoids the huge risks from "business as usual" emissions of greenhouse gases.	12th September 2009
World must help China shift to clean growth: Stern BEIJING (Reuters) - China will have to retool its engines of economic growth to help the world avoid increasingly dangerous levels of greenhouse gas emissions in coming decades, a leading expert on the economic impact of climate change said. See also: US and China to unveil joint plan to 'take over' cleantech market - Guardian Unlimited	12th September 2009
Five EU states vow to step up climate diplomacy COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Britain, France, Denmark, Sweden and Finland agreed Thursday to intensify "green diplomacy" to rescue an ambitious global climate agreement in Copenhagen in December, officials said.	12th September 2009
Buddhist Bhutan warns felling trees a threat to happiness Bhutan has warned its citizens over cutting down thousands of young trees every year to make prayer flags, a threat to the tiny kingdom's lush scenery and the government's duty to bring "Gross National Happiness". Himalayan Buddhists put up prayer flags for good luck or to help the dead find the right path to their next life. The more flag poles put up for the departed the better, and Buddhist monks say fresh poles must be used each time. Having failed to convince its citizens to switch from wood to steel for prayer flags, the government of the Himalayas' last Buddhist kingdom is growing bamboo, which it hopes will be an attractive alternative.	12th September 2009
Carbon Auction in Northeast Draws Record Low Price - Update3 - Bloomberg Sept. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Carbon dioxide permits in the U.S. Northeast s cap-and-trade program drew a record low price at auction amid the recession and delays in setting up a national greenhouse gas market.	12th September 2009
There Will Be Bells - the Global Climate Wake-Up Call There will be a lot of noise around the world on Sept. 21st when people all over the globe - from New York to Guatemala to Dakar - join together in a Global Climate Wake Up Call. Organized by the amazing folks at Avaaz, Oxfam, Greenpeace and 350.org the Global Wake-Up Call , will see people from all walks of life get together in public places to sound the alarm and urge our political leaders to stand up and take bold action at the Copenhagen Climate Treaty Summit scheduled for December of this year. These will be peaceful, spontaneous "flash mobs" in public places where people will sound the alarms on their mobile phones, flood their governments with phone calls urging climate action, and make a tremendous noise.	12th September 2009
"Dramatic" rise in renewables needed for 2 Celsius goal OSLO (Reuters) - The share of renewable energy will have to rise "dramatically" if the world is to have a chance of limiting global warming to a maximum 2 Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) temperature rise, a leading expert said Wednesday.	10th September 2009
Gwynne Dyer: Emissions must be cut or developing world will pay - The Georgia Straight If the Copenhagen climate summit in December does not make a serious start at getting climate change under control, neo-fascist rhetoric may become mainstream rhetoric in Europe in 20 years time.	10th September 2009
Inside India's Intransigence on Climate Change Talks - Time Magazine If you ask India's climate change negotiators, the December summit in Copenhagen will be not about how to save the planet, but how to accommodate the rights and aspirations of millions of Indians	10th September 2009
Civil Disobedience Against False Climate Bill Press release: MASS CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE TO DEFEAT "FALSE" CLIMATE BILL. (Sept. 8, 2009) Climate SOS, a grassroots network of environmentalists, scientists, and social justice activists, is launching a nationwide car-free tour	10th September 2009
Is the government up for the challenge? - Guardian Unlimited Comment On 15 July, the same day the government set out its ambitious plans for climate-changing emissions reductions, TV broadcasts featured the imminent closure of one of the UK's few wind-turbine manufacturing facilities. Owned by Denmark-based Vestas, the closure of the Isle of Wight turbine blade plant was a tragic blow to the firm's 625 employees. It was also symbolic of the setbacks that ...	10th September 2009
The Right Wing Attack Machine Behind the Van Jones Affair You probably won't be surprised when I tell you that Glenn Beck wasn't the mastermind behind the campaign to remove Van Jones from his position as a special advisor to the White House Council on Environmental Quality... that would be giving Beck way too much credit. Turns out that the attack was orchestrated by a fringe group of free-marketeers called the Americans for Prosperity (AFP) who describe themselves as "grassroots leaders who engage citizens in the name of limited government and free markets on the local, state and federal levels." You can read a complete backgrounder on AFP here.	10th September 2009
Home power plants project unveiled in Germany by Agence France-Presse BERLIN - An ambitious project was unveiled in Germany on Wednesday to install mini gas-fired power plants in people s basements and produce as much electricity as two nuclear reactors within a year. The Hamburg-based renewable energy group Lichtblick and its automaker partner Volkswagen say the plants would produce not only heating and hot water but also electricity, with any excess power fed into the local grid. The two firms said the concept of SchwarmStrom (literally, swarm power ) would allow Germany to abandon nuclear and coal power stations sooner and help compensate for the volatility of renewables like wind and solar power.	10th September 2009
Google plans new mirror for cheaper solar power Google is disappointed with the lack of breakthrough investment ideas in the green technology sector but the company is working to develop its own new mirror technology that could reduce the cost of building solar thermal plants by a quarter or more.	10th September 2009
Scotland's first offshore wind farm starts producing energy - BBC News Scotland's first offshore wind farm development starts producing energy as one of its 60 turbines begins to turn.	10th September 2009
Sarkozy carbon tax to help 'save the human race' - Guardian Unlimited From 2010, France will become the biggest European economy to levy a carbon tax, following other successful schemes introduced by Nordic countries in the 1990s.	10th September 2009
'Sustainable' palm oil campaign banned - Guardian Unlimited Advertorial claimed that controversial oil business was 'green answer' and was important to alleviating poverty A press campaign making environmental claims about the controversial product Malaysian Palm Oil, including that it is "sustainable", has been banned as misleading by the advertising regulator. Palm Oil, which is used in a third of all groceries, has been at the centre of an ...	10th September 2009
Scale Within the span of a couple generations, we abandoned a durable, finely textured, life-affirming set of living arrangements characterized by self-sufficient family farms intermixed with small towns that provided commerce, services, and culture. Worse yet, we traded that model for a coarse-scaled arrangement wholly dependent on ready access to cheap fossil fuels. read more	10th September 2009
Grizzlies starve as salmon disappear As salmon numbers drop, bears are also few and far between along B.C.'s wild central coast - signalling what conservationists say is an unfolding ecological disaster.	10th September 2009
Walruses congregate on Alaska shore as ice melts (AP) -- Thousands of walruses are congregating on Alaska's northwest coast, a sign that their Arctic sea ice environment has been altered by climate change.	10th September 2009
Kenya's elephants dying amid drought - AP via Yahoo! News A drought in Kenya has gotten so bad that it is felling even the giants of the animal kingdom the country's famed elephants which are dying as rivers dry up and grasslands shrivel in parched game reserves.	10th September 2009
German ships navigate Northeast Passage - but is it a good thing? Two German ships have successfully navigated their way through the fabled Northeast Passage on the first commercial journey by a western shipping company on the Northern Sea Route along Russia s Arctic-facing northern shore a new cost-cutting passageway from Asia to Europe made possible by climate change. The MV Beluga Fraternity and the MV Beluga Foresight (pictured above) arrived safely at Novvy Port/Yamburg in Russia at the delta of the river Ob on Monday after a 17-day trip through the icy cold but briefly ice-free Arctic Ocean after departing from Vladivostok on Aug.	10th September 2009
EPA could create U.S. CO2 cap-and-trade: Sierra SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency would step in and regulate carbon dioxide emissions by creating a cap-and-trade system or take other measures if Congress fails, but is likely to wait for 2010 elections, the head of the Sierra Club said on Tuesday.	10th September 2009
Leading scientist calls on religious leaders to tackle climate change - Guardian Unlimited President of the British Science Association, Lord May, says faith groups could lead policing of social behaviour Religious leaders should play a frontline role in mobilising people to take action against global warming, according to a leading scientist. Lord May, a former chief scientist to the government, said religious groups could use their influence to motivate believers into reducing the ...	10th September 2009
Drought-hit Indian farmers sell wives to pay debts - AFP via Yahoo! News Drought-hit farmers in northern India are resorting to selling their wives to repay debts to local loan sharks, activists say, as one of the weakest monsoons in years takes its toll.	10th September 2009
Climate Services I recently attended the World Climate Conference-3 (WCC-3), hosted by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in Geneva. Most of the talk was of providing climate services (CS) and coordinating these globally. But what are climate services, and how much of what was envisaged is scientifically doable? Climate services is a fairly new term that involves the provision of climate information relevant for adaptation to climate change and climatic swings, long-term planning, and facilitating early warning systems (EW). CS includes both data describing past and future climate, and usually involves downscaling to provide information on regional and local scales.	10th September 2009
Success of US climate bill hinges on health care reform Partisan division over health care reform could hinder attempts to agree on a climate change bill, says a US senator	10th September 2009
September U.N. summit seen key to climate deal OSLO (Reuters) - A drive to agree a U.N. climate pact in Copenhagen in December risks failure unless world leaders revive bogged-down negotiations at a U.N. summit in New York on September 22, experts say.	10th September 2009
Senate Democrats skeptical about climate bill WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Several U.S. Senate Democrats, including a top leader, on Wednesday questioned whether it would be possible to vote on a climate change bill this year, especially with healthcare reform eating up so much of the lawmakers' time.	10th September 2009
Brazil says U.S. climate goal unacceptable BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazil's Environment Minister Carlos Minc said on Wednesday that U.S. targets for greenhouse gas emissions are unacceptably weak and that Brazil will place new restrictions on its huge farm sector to cut deforestation.	10th September 2009
New York City Girds Itself for Heat and Rising Seas By the end of the century, New York's climate could resemble that of present-day Raleigh, North Carolina and its harbor could easily rise by two feet or more. Faced with this very real prospect, the city is among the first urban centers to begin changing the way it builds its infrastructure and the way it thinks about its future. BY BRUCE STUTZ	10th September 2009
Climate advisers urge air fare hikes - Guardian Unlimited Government advisory body on climate change says ticket prices should rise to ensure emissions fall to 2005 levels The cost of air travel must rise to an extent that it deters people from flying and to compensate developing countries for the damage it does to the environment, according to the government's advisory body on climate change. Ticket prices should rise to ensure that carbon dioxide ...	10th September 2009
More oxygen -- colder climate Everybody talks about CO2 and other greenhouse gases as causes of global warming and the large climate changes we are currently experiencing. But what about the atmospheric and oceanic oxygen content? Which role does oxygen content play in global warming?	10th September 2009
Climate Activists Wait for an Obama Speech to Call Their Own - New York Times As President Obama delivered a possible make-or-break speech on health care last night, climate change activists said they we...	10th September 2009
Why We Needed Van Jones On The Inside - CBS News Los Angeles TimesWhy We Needed Van Jones On The InsideCBS NewsConservation and climate-change environmentalism has dominated both federal policy and the national imagination. The local movements were often effective in ...Van Jones resigns: US looses green jobs czar over Labor Day weekendExaminer.comDid Big Oil Swiftboat Van Jones?East Bay ExpressDespite Resignation, Green Jobs Czar Van Jones "Still a Hero"Opposing ViewsGreen Right Now -Reason Onlineall 1,966	10th September 2009
Behaving badly Green concerns mean totems such as GDP have to go	8th September 2009
Last chance to change our behaviour - BBC News Despite a growing awareness of the damage humans are doing to the planet, we still refuse to radically changes our behaviour.	8th September 2009
'Real danger' climate change deal attempt could fail Efforts to secure a new global deal to tackle climate change hang in the balance, with a "real danger" they could fail, Foreign Secretary David Miliband warned today.	8th September 2009
Climate change: no Eden, no apocalypse Rather than placing ourselves in a "fight" against climate change, or lament a lost Eden, we should take the chance to rethink how we live, says Mike Hulme	8th September 2009
Seed variety loss seen hampering climate response LONDON (Reuters) - Farmers in developing countries are losing traditional varieties because of growing corporate control of the seeds they plant, hampering their ability to cope with climate change, a London-based think tank said on Monday.	8th September 2009
Floating challenge World's first full- size floating wind turbine is unveiled	8th September 2009
Scots emissions 'down by fifth' - BBC News Scottish greenhouse gas emissions fell by almost a fifth between 1990 and 2007, new figures suggest.	8th September 2009
New start - BBC News Japan's emission pledge is a clear break with the past	8th September 2009
Implementing the Wedge Approach to Climate Change - World Resources Institute As the world rapidly reaches consensus on the scientific understanding of climate change, policymakers are increasingly looking at how to address the challenge. There is no doubt that new and especially low-carbon technologies will be essential to the effort.	8th September 2009
Japan vows big climate change cut - BBC News Japan's PM-elect Yukio Hatoyama pledges a 25% cut in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020, much more than his predecessor.	8th September 2009
Warmest August to date melts away winter that came early - The New Zealand Herald This year's winter was a season of extremes, starting off early and extra frosty and ending unusually warm. A summary shows the cold season arrived in May and was extra chilly this year, but also ended earlier with the warmest...	8th September 2009
Ozone: Climate change boosts ultraviolet risk for high latitudes Climate change will disrupt Earth's precious ozone layer, boosting ultraviolet (UV) radiation in the deep southern hemisphere and reducing UV in far northern latitudes, a study warned on Sunday.	8th September 2009
Seas 'threaten 20m in Bangladesh' - BBC News Up to 20 million people in parts of Bangladesh are at risk from sea-level rise in the coming decades, says new research.	8th September 2009
SOUTH AMERICA: Glaciers - Going, Going Gone? BUENOS AIRES, Sep 6 (IPS) - South America is perhaps most often associated with the Amazon jungle, the world's largest tropical rainforest. But along its western edge, from Ecuador to southern Chile and Argentina, it also harbours huge glaciers which are rapidly melting due to global warming.	8th September 2009
Methane Gas Could Increase From Oceanic Vents - Environmental News Network New MIT research by Denise Brehm, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, funded by the U.S. Department of Energy looked at the potential for a compound affect of warming global temperatures on the level of methane being released by oceanic vents. The premise is that rising global temperatures could be accompanied by melting permafrost in arctic regions and that this could initiate ...	8th September 2009
Thoughts on Van Jones’ resignation by David Roberts Van Jones had to resign. It became inevitable when Gibbs offered no support. Much of the blame for this incident lies squarely on the White House. The information used against Jones was freely available on the web. All it took was a search. I thought by hiring Jones they intended to take a chance on a real left progressive, but now it appears they were simply caught flat-footed. Either Valerie Jarrett Jones champion in the upper echelons of the administration didn t know much about him or didn t widely share what she knew. They certainly seemed disinclined to mount a vigorous defense with Glenn Beck gnoshing on his favorite new chew toy and the health care reform battle about to heat up again.	8th September 2009
This is an idiot's version of Naomi Klein's masterpiece he takes the central myth of the right that since the fall of Soviet tyranny, free elections and free markets have marched skipped hand in hand together towards the shimmering sunset of history and shown that it is, simply, a lie	8th September 2009
Climate Denial Crock of the Week/1998 Revisited One of the enduring myths of climate denialism is that global warmingstopped sometime in the last decade. I see it in the blaring headlines of pseudoscience websites, in comments on my videos, even some of our most "distinguished" journalists have been taken in.	8th September 2009
Miliband: India a key climate player - Guardian Unlimited Climate change secretary praises India's renewable targets and 'big ambitions', cementing cordial relations between the countries Ed Miliband, Britain's climate change secretary, hailed India as a potential "deal maker" in the forthcoming talks in Copenhagen for an international treaty to tackle global warming , stating that the country would not face targets to cut its emissions in the near ...	8th September 2009
Van Jones Goes, But His Ideas on Green Jobs Should Stay - Time Magazine Van Jones at a National Clean Energy Summit in August. I met Van Jones , the social activist turned environmental czar, a few times before he joined the Obama Administration, when he was still criss-crossing the country spreading his message: that the creation of green jobs could revitalize America's eroding blue-collar class.	8th September 2009
Climate and dirty-energy groups were busy over summer vacation by Grist National lawmakers did next to nothing about climate change over the August congressional recess, but climate activists and their fossil-fuel foes were busy. Here are highlights from their summer antics: Clean-energy activists at a Maine rally.Photo: 1Sky The climate activists The Alliance for Climate Protection s Repower America campaign and the Blue Green Alliance kicked off a Made in America Jobs Tour to promote the benefits of a clean energy economy. 1Sky organized more than 100 Back to D.C. events during the last week of the congressional recess, pushing lawmakers to pass a strong climate and energy bill ...	8th September 2009
Climate treaty hinges on China and India: Denmark ABERDEEN, Britain (Reuters) - A new global treaty on climate change hinges on China and India agreeing to limit their CO2 emissions but it is unclear whether they will do so, Denmark's climate and energy minister said.	8th September 2009
Prospects for U.N. climate deal brighter: de Boer OSLO (Reuters) - Prospects for a new U.N. climate pact in Copenhagen have brightened but negotiations must speed up to meet a December deadline, the head of the U.N. Climate Change Secretariat said on Tuesday.	8th September 2009
Global climate deal only 50:50 chance: Flannery SYDNEY (Reuters) - The chances of a global agreement to fight climate change at U.N. talks in Copenhagen in December are only 50:50, said Australia's leading environmentalist, who warned of "full climactic destabilization" without a pact.	8th September 2009
Planes 'to reset climate targets' The UK economy may have to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 90% by 2050 to make space for aviation.	8th September 2009
Climate deal is 'in the balance' There is a "real danger" that a UN climate deal will not be reached this year, says the UK's foreign secretary, as he embarks on a new diplomatic push.	8th September 2009
CLIMATE CHANGE: Survival Means Anticipating and Adapting GENEVA, Sep 8 (IPS) - Imagine being able to know months in advance when and where floods or droughts may occur. That is what over 150 countries participating in the third World Climate Conference, which concluded last Friday in Geneva, pledged to achieve through the creation of a Global Framework for Climate Services.	8th September 2009
After Van Jones resignation, Glenn Beck to go after ‘other radicals’ by Joseph Romm Following Van Jones resignation Saturday night, Glenn Beck has released a statement vowing to go after other radicals in the administration. What could be scarier than the nation s clean energy and climate policy being affected by uber-wingnut Glenn Beck. In a January attack on Obama s energy and environment adviser, Carol Browner, Beck said on his national radio show: It s just that almost everyone who does believe in global warming is a socialist. I mean, believes in manmade global warming that now can be fixed and reversed or whatever. And we ve got the tools to fix it.	8th September 2009
Climate change: melting ice will trigger wave of natural disasters - Guardian Unlimited Scientists at a London conference next week will warn of earthquakes, avalanches and volcanic eruptions as the atmosphere heats up and geology is altered. Even Britain could face being struck by tsunamis	6th September 2009
The planet-saver that's still just a pipe dream - Sydney Morning Herald THERE may be a few forced smiles when Martin Ferguson dishes out $2.4 billion in funding for a handful of "flagship" carbon capture and storage projects (CCS), intended to clean up carbon dioxide emissions from coal-fired power stations. See also: Clean Coal in China Said to Face Staggering Costs - Bloomberg	6th September 2009
World heading for climate 'abyss': UN chief - SpaceDaily GENEVA, Sept 3 (AFP) Sep 03, 2009 The world is speeding towards a climate catastrophe, UN chief Ban Ki-moon warned on Thursday, urging rapid progress in talks to cut emissions and tackle global warming.	6th September 2009
Current economic growth model is 'immoral', says Prescott With the world's population growing to nine million by 2050, the Britain's former deputy PM predicts far more crucial and complex talks in Copenhagen than in Kyoto. John Prescott, the former UK climate negotiator, called on developed nations today to accept a new model of economic growth that would create a more equitable spread of carbon emissions in the world. Speaking to the Guardian in Beijing, Prescott said talks at Copenhagen would probably not be decided until an 11th-hour crisis, but that no global consensus could be reached without a fairer spread of emissions.Since helping to bang heads together to set the first targets on carbon in Kyoto in 1997, Prescott said the world had started to develop a new model of restraint."The reality is that the world has found a rationing process.	6th September 2009
Climate change funding talks stall at G20 LONDON (Reuters) - Differences between rich and developing countries prevented G20 finance ministers from agreeing measures on Saturday to curb global warming, casting more doubt on U.N. efforts to agree a new climate treaty.	6th September 2009
Obama adviser Van Jones resigns - Guardian Unlimited An adviser to Barack Obama has resigned in a row over past inflammatory statements, the White House said .	6th September 2009
Global warming and bushfires: what to expect In the last week of winter, something strange happened: bushfires raged across New South Wales, with major fires in the Shoalhaven and Eurobodalla in the south of the state.	6th September 2009
Can renewables re-power Australia? "Forget alternative energy it can't work!" That and in almost those exact words was among the messages of an article published in the Rupert Murdoch-owned Weekend Australian on August 8 by journalist Terry McCrann.	6th September 2009
Syria, Turkey, Iraq sign ministerial meeting minutes of cooperation to overcome Drought - MENAFN Syria, Turkey, Iraq sign ministerial meeting minutes of cooperation to overcome Drought	6th September 2009
Study: Greenhouse gases from wildfires damaging - The Press-Enterprise Wildfires raging across California have belched out hundreds of millions of tons of greenhouse gases since the beginning of the century, significantly adding to the problem of global warming, a new study has concluded. State and federal officials have speculated for years that increasingly long and severe fire seasons can be partly attributed to the effects of climate change.	6th September 2009
American Petroleum Institute Astroturf campaign: When Does "Spin" Become a Lie? The New York Times added its voice today to those condemning the American Petroleum Institute's Astroturf campaign to set up phony "citizen" protests that are actually populated by paid energy industry employees. Beyond the fundamental duplicity of API's actions, the NYT complains in its editorial that it finds some elements of the industry campaign "particularly annoying." For example, API says the Waxman-Markey climate legislation will result in $4-a-gallon gasoline, while two very reputable analyses have said the bill will add, at most, 20 cents a gallon. In a world polluted by some of the worst kind of public relations spin, people have grown too ready to accept this kind of dramatic overstatement as "part of the game." Even the NYT finds this exaggeration merely "annoying," even if particularly so.	6th September 2009
Has runaway Arctic warming already begun? Rapid ice-loss may spread climate havoc across the globe in the coming decades, says a new WWF report, but some claim it understates the danger	5th September 2009
Methane gas likely spewing into the oceans through vents in sea floor - w/ Video - PhysOrg Scientists worry that rising global temperatures accompanied by melting permafrost in arctic regions will initiate the release of underground methane into the atmosphere. Once released, that methane gas would speed up global warming by trapping the Earth's heat radiation about 20 times more efficiently than does the better-known greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide.	5th September 2009
Summer Sea Ice in Arctic Could Disappear by 2016, Scientists Say Summer sea ice covering the Arctic Ocean could disappear by 2016 and the thawing of the Greenland ice sheet is occurring so rapidly that the meltwater from Greenland alone could raise sea levels by one meter this century. Meeting in Greenland, scientists from the Danish Meteorological Institute, the Greenland Climate Center, and other organizations said that the thickness and volume of Arctic ice is decreasing at an even more rapid rate than the precipitous decline in ice extent; Arctic Ocean winter ice thinned by 2.2 feet from 2004 to 2008. As a result, the Danish researchers said it is quite likely that much of the Arctic ocean could be NASA ice-free in summer by 2016.	5th September 2009
Arctic 'warmest in 2,000 years' The Arctic region cooled for two millennia, research reveals, before warming abruptly in the last century.	5th September 2009
Australia's warm winter a record Australia records its warmest ever winter - partly caused by climate change - and fears the coming bush fire season.	5th September 2009
Fall colors fade in U.S. west as aspen trees die SALMON, Idaho (Reuters) - The American West is losing its autumn colors as global warming begins to bite and there is far more at stake than iconic scenery.	5th September 2009
Climate will cost much more than UN thinks Adapting to climate change will cost at least two to three times more than claimed by the UN climate change convention, says a new study	5th September 2009
'Climate change is here, it is a reality' As one devastating drought follows another, the future is bleak for millions in east Africa. John Vidal reports from Moyale, KenyaWe met Isaac and Abdi, Alima and Muslima last week in the bone-dry, stony land close to the Ethiopia-Kenya border. They were with five nomad families who have watched all their animals die of star vation this year in a deep drought, and who have now decided their days of herding cattle are over.After three years of disastrous rains, the families from the Borana tribe, who by custom travel thousands of miles a year in search of water and pasture, have unanimously decided to settle down.	5th September 2009
Why coral reefs face a catastrophic future Destroyed by rising carbon levels, acidity, pollution, algae, bleaching and El Niño, coral reefs require a dramatic change in our carbon policy to have any chance of survivalAnimal, vegetable and mineral, a pristine tropical coral reef is one of the natural wonders of the world. Bathed in clear, warm water and thick with a psychedelic display of fish, sharks, crustaceans and other sea life, the colourful coral ramparts that rise from the sand are known as the rainforests of the oceans.And with good reason. Reefs and rainforests have more in common than their beauty and bewildering biodiversity. Both have stood for millions of years, and yet both are poised to disappear.If you thought you had heard enough bad news on the environment and that the situation could not get any worse, then steel yourself.	5th September 2009
Ocean acidification may be trouble for Alaskan fish ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) - The waters off Alaska, teeming with enough fish to support more than half the U.S. commercial seafood catch, face a new threat -- increasing acidification from the same atmospheric carbon linked to global warming.	5th September 2009
Interview: Dieter Helm - Nature Anna Barnett Oxford economist Dieter Helm co-edits a new book, The Economics and Politics of Climate Change, due out next month. Anna Barnett caught up with him in London to get his take on a long-term strategy for reducing emissions.	5th September 2009
U.N. climate talks bogged down, need impetus GENEVA (Reuters) - Talks on a U.N. climate pact have become bogged down like "walking in wet sand" but a U.N. summit this month could give impetus for a deal due in December, the head of a key U.N. negotiating group said on Wednesday.	5th September 2009
People won't change lifestyle for planet: straw poll LONDON (Reuters) - People want to save the planet but are unwilling to make radical lifestyle changes like giving up air travel or red meat to reduce the effects of climate change, a straw poll by Reuters showed.	5th September 2009
India emissions 'triple by 2030' - BBC News The amount of greenhouse gases India produces will more than triple by 2030 - but its per-capita rate will remain relatively low, a report says.	5th September 2009
Deep Geothermal Project Suspended in California After Setbacks A $17 million renewable energy project designed to tap into the earth s heat more than 2 miles deep has been suspended because of difficulty drilling through rock formations. The project, run by AltaRock Energy and partially funded by Google, was designed to drill down to about 12,000 feet, fracture rock at the bottom of the hole, and then circulate water to create steam. But the company reported that it had encountered anomalies in the rock that had prevented it from drilling deeper than 4,000 feet. State and federal officials and residents at the Geysers site, not far from San Francisco, also are concerned that the fracturing process could set off local earthquakes, as happened with a similar project in Switzerland.	5th September 2009
The US freezes on climate change The stalled US climate change debate has killed the hope of reaching a final agreement at the Copenhagen summit. The prospects for an international agreement to tackle the causes of climate change are looking slim. They got even slimmer earlier this week, after the leading US senators crafting a climate bill announced that they're pushing back the release of their legislation indefinitely. While Barbara Boxer and John Kerry say the bill "is moving along well" and promise it will be ready for release "later in September", the delay makes the chances of passing it before the looming international negotiations in Copenhagen even less likely.Without concrete action in the Senate, there will not be an actual deal ready to sign in Copenhagen.	5th September 2009
POLITICS: Developing Nations Sceptical of Climate Summit UNITED NATIONS, Sep 3 (IPS) - The 130-member Group of 77, the largest single coalition of developing nations, is at loggerheads with Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon over an upcoming one-day global summit on climate change in New York on Sep. 22.	5th September 2009
Widen global warming fight beyond CO2: U.N. GENEVA (Reuters) - The world should widen a fight against global warming by curbing a string of pollutants other than carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, the U.N. Environment Programme (UNEP) said on Friday.	5th September 2009
World's climate could cool first, warm later Natural variations in ocean currents could mean we're in for a cool spell before warming from the greenhouse effect takes over	5th September 2009
Wearing thermals won't save the planet Why is the 10:10 campaign, with its pledges to turn off lights and grow more veg, taken more seriously than geo-engineering?It never ceases to amaze me that people who say we can "save the planet" by wearing a jumper or growing our own veg are treated with the utmost seriousness, while those who argue that tackling climate change might require some larger-scale projects such as geo-engineering the Earth are treated as sci-fi freaks who should stick to reading Philip K Dick novels and stop polluting public debate with their insane ideas.When it comes to climate change, the only acceptable debate, it seems, is how we can encourage ordinary people to do less, consume less and fly less. See also: 10:10 vision for the future of planet Earth - Guardian Unlimited	2nd September 2009
Earth experiment could buy precious time - BBC News Cloud whitening must be tested, if we are to find out what options we have in the fight against global warming.	2nd September 2009
Everybody Dance Now ! Dancing with Bicycles. Whenever you hear government ministers or public figures telling the people that technology will save us, remember this : the word technology is synonymous with the word business . Technology is Big Engineering, and this is what is done by large companies and corporations. Large organisations that make profit by selling manufactured products and Energy always have a surplus set aside for their communications budgets, and that includes persuading government people that their business is invaluable and needs promoting. Of course the Big Organisations want to save themselves from Climageddon more than they want to save the planet.	2nd September 2009
Sea levels could rise more than a meter by 2100: WWF GENEVA (Reuters) - The world's seas could rise by more than a meter (3 feet) by 2100 as the melting Arctic has an impact on weather across the planet, the environmental group WWW said in a report on Wednesday. See also: On thinning Arctic ice, U.N.'s Ban urges climate deal	2nd September 2009
India's Economic Growth May Falter as Drought Threatens Crops - Bloomberg Sept. 1 (Bloomberg) -- India s economic rebound, which last quarter lagged behind recoveries in China and Japan, may falter as a drought threatens to curb harvests and rural incomes. See also: India to Import 30% of Sugar Demand Due to Drought - Bloomberg	2nd September 2009
No rain on roof of the world - Australian Broadcasting Corporation Himalayan nations have held talks about mounting concern over the impact of global warming.	2nd September 2009
CLIMATE CHANGE: Earth's Fridge Defrosting, With Dire Results GENEVA, Sep 2 (IPS) - The rapidly warming Arctic region is destabilising Earth's climate in ways science is just beginning to comprehend.	2nd September 2009
87 months and counting Today marks the start of a drive towards Britain making real cuts in carbon emissions. Will the government join in?It could be the premise for a zeitgeist science-fiction thriller about global warming. Secrets, lies, and breathless chases along corporate corridors. Millions of pounds at stake, and ultimately millions of lives too. The UN suspends an auditor at the heart of a mechanism key to the success of the international climate change treaty. In another country, a multimillion carousel fraud in the carbon emissions trading market leads to a swoop on homes in London and the south-east, and multiple arrests.	2nd September 2009
Coal Plant Buries U.S. Taxpayers $1.5 Billion Along With CO2 - Bloomberg Sept. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Interior Secretary Ken Salazar sang the praises of a North Dakota coal plant he visited in May. The Great Plains facility is the world s largest that captures and buries carbon dioxide emissions.	2nd September 2009
UN: Rich countries will suffer unless they help poor on climate change £300bn needed by poor nations to tackle carbon emissions Failure to give could reduce world gross product by 20%.The world's rich countries need to embark on a huge transfer of funds to developing countries in order for both groups to grow richer and reduce their carbon emissions significantly, a United Nations report urges today.Delaying spending on mitigating climate change in the developing world "runs the real danger of locking in dirtier investments for several more decades", says the annual survey from the UN's Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA).Ahead of this weekend's meeting of G20 finance ministers in London, the report estimates that developed countries need immediately to transfer around 1% of world gross product (WGP), or $500-600bn (£300-370bn), to poor countries.	2nd September 2009
Outlook "poor" for Great Barrier Reef: study CANBERRA (Reuters) - Australia's Great Barrier Reef, the world's largest living organism, is under grave threat from climate warming and coastal development, and its prospects of survival are "poor," a major new report found on Wednesday.	2nd September 2009
Severn Estuary could solve UK s looming energy shortage - icWales THE power of the Severn estuary must be harnessed to prevent millions of families being plunged into darkness through a lack of electricity, it was claimed yesterday.	2nd September 2009
Wildfires could just be tip of iceberg - Albany Times Union LOS ANGELES -- Firefighters reported progress Tuesday against a gigantic blaze on the edge of Los Angeles that might be just a preview of even greater dangers ahead. The peak Southern California fire season hasn't even started yet.	2nd September 2009
India's greenhouse gas pollution to jump - Financial Times NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India expects its greenhouse gas emissions to jump to between 4bn tonnes and 7.3bn tonnes in 2031, a report said on Wednesday. Per capita emissions are estimated to rise to 2.1 tonnes by 2020 and 3.5 tonnes by 2030.	2nd September 2009
US climate change bill faces fresh delays Despite growing support for a change in energy policy, delays over the bill will undermine the US position at the climate change talks in CopenhagenThe Obama administration has reportedly been meeting with clean-technology executives to help flesh out a new energy strategy to be unveiled later this month.The unveiling of the energy strategy, which is expected to coincide with a high-level UN meeting on climate change to be held in New York, will punctuate a set of increasingly bold moves on the part of the Obama administration intended to secure support for the proposed Waxman-Markey climate change bill as it awaits a crucial Senate vote.However, that vote now looks set to face further delays after Senate Democrats announced yesterday that the latest version of the legislation would not be unveiled until "later in September".A Senate vote on the bill, which had originally been passed ...	2nd September 2009
With Clouds Over Health Care, Can Climate Change Fly? - Wall Street Journal Blogs The health care fight is the center of attention as Congress and the president return to the fray. One casualty appears likely to be the climate change legislation that narrowly passed the House of Representatives this spring.	2nd September 2009
We're pumping out CO2 to the point of no return. It's time to alter course Scientists now say peak temperatures will not fall back. Join me in taking the 10:10 pledge – it's the best shot we've got left. See also: The beauty of 10:10 is that it's both achievable and meaningful	1st September 2009
If you’re not worried about melting permafrost, you should be If we lost just 1 percent of the carbon in permafrost today, we d be close to a year s contributions from industrial sources. I don t think policymakers have woken up to this. It s not in their risk assessments. Permafrost expert Chris Burn of Carleton Universiy See also: Identifying Arctic Methane s Climate Risk Factors - redOrbit Our best guess about global warming may be wrong - The Christian Science Monitor	1st September 2009
Astroturf attack on democracy is intentional - and should be illegal adfero-logo.jpg Adfero and Bonner's actions are planned and deliberate You can't convict someone of a crime unless you can prove that the accused was acting with intent - that they did what they did on purpose. By that standard, Astroturfing specialists at the Washington, D.C., PR firms Adfero Group and Bonner & Associates have demonstrated that they are guilty, even if what they are doing is - at this point - not technically a crime. It should be. Because the Astroturfers are subverting democracy. By their own description, the firms are holding the U.S. democratic system up for sale.	1st September 2009
Heatwave burns Qld horticulture - Stock and Land Queensland's heatwave has had a devastating effect on the State's $5.65 billion agricultural sector, The Australian Financial Review reports. Some produce in the middle of their peak season may be in abundance now, but the heat is expected to have brought forward stocks and left many growers struggling to pick their crops.	1st September 2009
Drought cost Mexico 1.5 million tons in food - AP via Yahoo! Finance Mexico's agriculture secretary says drought has cost the country 1.5 million tons of food production, most of it corn. Alberto Cardenas said Friday that crops on at least 313,000 hectares have been ruined because of lack of rain during July and most of August.	1st September 2009
Greenland offers a chilling view 'We all live on the Greenland ice sheet now. Its fate is our fate'It is calving season in the Arctic. A flotilla of icebergs, some as jagged as fairytale castles and others as smooth as dinosaur eggs, calve from the ice sheet that smothers Greenland and sail down the fjords. The journey of these sculptures of ice from glaciers to ocean is eerily beautiful and utterly terrifying.The wall of ice that rises behind Sermilik fjord stretches for 1,500 miles (2,400km) from north to south and smothers 80% of this country. It has been frozen for 3m years.	1st September 2009
California wildfire more than doubles on sixth day LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A massive wildfire roaring through mountains north of Los Angeles forced some firefighters to retreat Monday as it menaced foothill homes and Mount Wilson, a broadcasting hub and site of an historic observatory.	1st September 2009
Human Impacts and Environmental Factors Are Changing the Northwest Atlantic Ecosystem (PhysOrg.com) -- Fish in U.S. waters from Cape Hatteras to the Canadian border have moved away from their traditional, long-time habitats over the past four decades because of fundamental changes in the regional ecosystem, according to a new report by NOAA researchers.	1st September 2009
Hippos Hurt By Kenyan Drought - redOrbit According to an AFP report, Kenya's drought is having an impact on the country's wildlife, causing the Kenya Wildlife Service to feed hippos to keep them alive. In Tsavo West national park hippos are dying in large numbers, and other species are being forced to change their diet.	1st September 2009
Enabling Wind, Sun To Be Our Main Power Supplies: Quest for Storage -- "Holy Grail" of New Energy Economy -- Nears Goal For decades the "Holy Grail" of the New Energy Economy has been to find ways to store wind and solar energy. The answers are here, and they are much more plain and simple than we thought. Like Indiana Jones in his Last Crusade, we need to see the Grail that is right before our eyes. The means to enable solar and wind energy to serve as our primary energy supplies are at hand. read more	1st September 2009
Ups and downs of sea level projections By Stefan Rahmstorf and Martin Vermeer The scientific sea level discussion has moved a long way since the last IPCC report was published in 2007 (see our post back then). The Copenhagen Synthesis Report recently concluded that The updated estimates of the future global mean sea level rise are about double the IPCC projections from 2007 . New Scientist last month ran a nice article on the state of the science, very much in the same vein. But now Mark Siddall, Thomas Stocker and Peter Clark have countered this trend in an article in Nature Geoscience, projecting a global rise of only 7 to 82 cm from 2000 to the end of this century.	1st September 2009
Chinese-made wind turbine prices down 15 pct over the last year - Interfax Baotou. August 31. INTERFAX-CHINA - The average bidding price of Chinese-made wind turbines has fallen by about 15 percent from July 2008 to July 2009, an industry executive said at a forum in Baotou, the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, on Aug. 28.	1st September 2009
Climate camp protesters stage demo at Treasury Climate camp activists staged a "clean-up" protest outside the Treasury yesterday. Wearing boiler suits and brandishing cleaning equipment they said they wanted to expose the Treasury's "dirty practices", including the use of taxpayers' money to fund fossil fuel extraction despite the Government claiming to be a global leader in the fight against climate change.	1st September 2009
UGANDA: Carbon Trading Scheme Pushing People off Their Land MOUNT ELGON, Uganda, Aug 31 (IPS) - With the world s attention focused on climate change, one of the methods suggested to reduce global carbon emissions is causing the displacement of indigenous persons as western companies rush to invest in tree-planting projects in developing countries.	1st September 2009
Three Months From a Climate Summit, Agreement Far Off - Time Magazine With a new, more eco-friendly U.S. President, there were high hopes for Copenhagen. But little progress has been made toward a meaningful agreement	1st September 2009
Laughing gas is biggest threat to ozone layer Nitrous oxide, produced by the bacterial breakdown of nitrogen, is now the dominant ozone-depleting substance emitted by humans, a new study shows	29th August 2009
Oxfam warning over Nepal climate - BBC News International aid agency Oxfam warns that millions of rural poor in Nepal could face hunger as a result of climate change.	29th August 2009
Climate Wizard of Oz condemns Kansas US bread basket states to be worst hit by global warming, according to a new interactive map created by the Nature Conservancy, says Shanta Barley	29th August 2009
Richard Black Hijacks Debate Environmentalism has trudged a long, winding, often silent road, with many cul-de-sacs of defeat, desperation and despair. In the last few years there has been a raising of the collective consciousness about how many problems are interrelated with an obscure corner of gas chemistry, which offers grave prospects for the whole of Life on Earth. Ecologists and treehuggers of all varieties have started to gather round the camp fire of Climate Change, finding that people will pay attention to the destruction of Nature if they pay attention to their own fate first. A new unity has been forged, centred around the most important problem ...	29th August 2009
Why bicycles are a must-have for modern civil disobedience What is it that makes the bicycle and the demonstration such good companions?When the location of this year's Climate Camp protest was finally revealed on Wednesday, the first activists to arrive were a select group in rented vans, tasked with setting up tripods and fencing off a section of the land at Blackheath, south-east London.But shortly afterwards, the first influx of protesters taking part in the "swoop" on the site from a series of meeting points around the capital was a contingent of around 150 people, all riding bicycles. They with me in tow had spent about 90 minutes pedalling en mass around central London, awaiting word on where the camp would be.It's a fair bet these days that whenever there is an environmentally based protest, particularly in an urban area, a gang of cyclists will be involved somewhere or other.	29th August 2009
Activists seek tough UN climate pact in 100 days OSLO (Reuters) - Activists launched what they called the world's biggest campaign to combat global warming on Friday, urging governments to agree a tough U.N. climate pact at talks in Copenhagen starting in 100 days' time. See also: A Call to Re-Think Expectations For the Climate Summit in Copenhagen	29th August 2009
Radio Ecoshock: Jan Lundberg interviewed by Alex Smith Former oil and gas analyst Jan Lundberg says declining energy and climate ends globalization. It's time to launch the lifeboats of localization and sustainable energy. Why big government can't fix it -- and why do we need big government at all? Lundberg sees an inevitable rebuild from his website culturechange.org. First of his two part interview on the big picture.http://www.ecoshock.net/gn960/gn960_090830_Lundberg_LoFi.mp3).	29th August 2009
A Sometimes Lonely Trek for Global Warming Awareness - New York Times Greta Browne has encountered more than one global warming naysayer since last March, when she began a trek up the Eastern seaboard to draw attention to climate change.	29th August 2009
Scorching heat fuels Los Angeles wildfires LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Firefighters battling four wildfires around Los Angeles saved hundreds of homes in an affluent coastal community but struggled against a larger fire coming down the mountains toward another exclusive suburb.	29th August 2009
Climate hijack - BBC News Has climate change taken over the green agenda?	27th August 2009
Methane seepage heightens pressure for climate treaty - EurActiv Evidence that methane, a dangerous greenhouse gas, is escaping from the warming Arctic seabed makes securing a new international agreement to slash global-warming gas emissions even more urgent, scientists warn.	27th August 2009
Climate protection 'to cost more' Protecting societies against impacts of climate change will be much more expensive than the UN believes, a study concludes.	27th August 2009
Climate tipping point defined for US crop yields When farms start spending too long above 29 °C, yields will nosedive, says a new study	27th August 2009
History can no longer guide farmers, investors: U.N. GENEVA (Reuters) - Climate change has made history an inaccurate guide for farmers as well as energy investors who must rely on probabilities and scenarios to make decisions, the head of a United Nations agency said on Wednesday.	27th August 2009
Water shortage threatens two million people in southern Iraq Electricity supply to Nasiriyah has dropped by 50% because of falling levels of Euphrates river A water shortage described as the most critical since the earliest days of Iraq's civilisation is threatening to leave up to 2 million people in the south of the country without electricity and almost as many without drinking water.An already meagre supply of electricity to Iraq's fourth-largest city of Nasiriyah has fallen by 50% during the last three weeks because of the rapidly falling levels of the Euphrates river, which has only two of four power-generating turbines left working.If, as predicted, the river falls by a further 20cm during the next fortnight, engineers say the remaining two turbines will also close down, forcing a total blackout in the city.Down river, where the Euphrates spills out into the Shatt al-Arab waterway at the north-eastern corner of the Persian Gulf, ...	27th August 2009
Pakistan's cry for water Pakistan is running out of water so fast that the shortage will strangulate all water-based economic activity by 2015, a Pakistani thinktank says. And that pretty much covers 70 percent of the population who are involved in farming. This is not a new warning. In recent months, as this blog itself has noted, experts have painted an increasingly bleak scenario of Pakistan's rivers drying up, the ground water polluted and over-exploited and the whole water infrastructure in a shambles. But Pakistan, as the Islamabad-based Centre for Research and Security Studies says, is not listening. Pakistan has gone from a "water scarce" country to a "water-stressed" country, worse than Ethiopia, the Centre says quoting a 2006 World Bank study.	27th August 2009
It's officially our warmest ever winter - Perth Now WEATHER records have been smashed from one end of the country to the other as Australia swelters through its warmest-ever winter.	27th August 2009
Steamy heat more common in California: study LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Bouts of extreme muggy heat lasting for days, once rare in California, are becoming more frequent and intense due to ocean patterns altered by climate change, scientists said in a study released on Tuesday.	27th August 2009
More natural disasters due to climate change? - Deutsche Welle Natural disasters have become extremely commonplace all over the world. It is not clear if climate change has a role in this but we may have to adapt to catastrophes striking more often, say experts.	27th August 2009
Canadians want action on environment: poll - CNews OTTAWA - Canadians are telling governments not to let the recession become an excuse for easing up on efforts to protect the environment, a new poll suggests.	27th August 2009
Islay to be entirely powered by tides Exclusive: ScottishPower is to build turbines in the Sound of Islay that will generate enough electricity for the island's 3,500 inhabitants and its famous distilleriesScottishPower is planning a tidal energy project that will supply all the electricity for one of Scotland's most famous islands, the Guardian can reveal.The company is close to signing a supply contract with Diageo, the drinks group, to provide electricity from the project to eight distilleries and maltings on Islay including the makers of the renowned Laphroaig and Lagavulin whiskies.The 10MW tidal project, one of the world's largest, will provide enough electricity for Islay's 3,500 inhabitants for 23 hours a day.ScottishPower will submit a planning application in the next couple of months and expects the ten 30-metre underwater turbines to be operational in 2011.	27th August 2009
A breakthrough moment: IPCC's Dr. Pachauri supports 350 target Amazing news just arrived at 350 headquarters. Rajendra Pachauri, the U.N.'s top climate scientist, announced his support for a target of 350 ppm (parts per million of CO2). Dr. Pachauri leads the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which every five years produces the authoritative assessment of climate science. Previously, the IPCC had helped establish a target of 450 ppm. read more	27th August 2009
Chinese legislature passes its first climate change resolution New laws to combat global warming are highly likely, according to the state mediaChina's top legislative body approved its first climate change resolution today and announced plans to draw up new laws to combat global warming, according to the state media.The moves by the rubber-stamp National People's Congress are timed to strengthen China's negotiating position as it prepares a new announcement on emissions policy before the UN climate change talks in Copenhagen in December.Environmentalists welcomed the unusually high degree of attention that the NPC's standing committee paid to the environment during a week-long session in which lawmakers also debated a more ambitious target for renewable energy.Details of the final resolution were not immediately available, but a draft submitted this week called on the government to take further measures to control greenhouse gas emissions and invest more in low carbon technology.But there was tough language ...	27th August 2009
Perfect Storm: China's energy hunger - BBC News The BBC's Quentin Somerville visits China's massive wind farm projects in Inner Mongolia, but finds a new generation of hungry consumers could negate any environmental benefits.	27th August 2009
U.S. chamber wants Scopes trial on climate change The biggest business lobby in the United States wants to hold a public hearing to put the science of global warming on trial, The Los Angeles Times reports. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, trying to drive back major emission limits, wants the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to hold the hearing on evidence that climate change is man-made. Chamber officials say it would be the Scopes monkey trial of the 21st century complete with witnesses, cross-examinations and a judge who would rule, essentially, on whether humans are warming the planet to dangerous effect, the newspaper reported.	27th August 2009
ENVIRONMENT: Ozone Treaty May Hold Key to Halting Climate Change UXBRIDGE, Canada, Aug 25 (IPS) - Will the world take the easy step to phase out "super" greenhouse gases hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) - using the existing Montreal Protocol ozone treaty? Doing so would be equivalent to preventing the release of 118 to 224 billion metric tonnes of carbon dioxide by 2050, according to a report by the Environmental Investigation Agency.	27th August 2009
New "Grassroots" Pro-Coal Group backed by K-Street PR Firm FACES clean coal.jpg "The Federation for American Coal, Energy and Security (FACES of Coal)." the latest "grassroots" organization to join the public conversation on behalf of the coal industry, appears to be a project of the K-Street public relations firm, the Adfero Group, one of industry's most accommodating voices in Washington, D.C. The FACES website, which includes no contact information, is registered to Adfero. FACES describes itself as "an alliance of people from all walks of life who are joining forces to educate lawmakers and the general public about the importance of coal and coal mining." But Adfero's client list includes Koch Industries and the US Chamber of Commerce, two leaders in the fight to confuse, distort and deny the science of climate change - and especially to block government action that might affect their bottom line.<!--break- ...	27th August 2009
What are big companies not telling you now? - The Christian Science Monitor via Yahoo! News What do human rights abuses associated with oil drilling in Sudan, the nanotechnology used in your suntan lotion, and growing concerns about climate-related water shortages in the southwestern United States have in common?	27th August 2009
'Artificial trees' to cut carbon Engineers launch a plan to start removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere within 10 to 20 years.	27th August 2009
In pictures: London climate camp - BBC News Pictures taken in Blackheath where climate change protesters have set up camp for the week.	27th August 2009
Marine energy promise 'untapped' - BBC News More than 12,000 jobs could be created in Scotland if investment in wave and tidal power is increased, a study finds.	27th August 2009
Oil companies undermining climate partnership - San Francisco Chronicle Early in 2007, a coalition of big companies broke ranks with corporate America and declared that global warming was a real, grave threat. The United States Climate Action Partnership changed the national debate over warming. Executives from member companies... Sponsored Topics: United States - Global warming - Environment - Climate change - US Climate Action Partnership	27th August 2009
Has northern-hemisphere pollution affected Australian rainfall? New research announced at the International Water in a Changing Climate Science Conference in Melbourne 24-28 August, implicates pollution from Asia, Europe and North America as a contributor to recent Australian rainfall changes. Australian scientists using a climate model that includes a treatment of tiny particles - or aerosols - report that the build up of these particles in the northern hemisphere affects their simulation of recent climate change in the southern hemisphere, including rainfall in Australia.	27th August 2009
A crucial climate vote lost with Ted Kennedy's death The push for a climate-change bill in the Senate lost a reliable supporter with the death of Edward Kennedy. From Grist, part of the Guardian Environment NetworkSen. Edward M. Kennedy's environmental legacy was remarkable, wide-ranging, and not all roses. Joe Romm's got an early look at his record.But there's one clear and simple impact of Kennedy's death late Tuesday night: The push for a climate-change bill in the Senate lost a reliable supporter.That push needs absolutely every vote it can get. Check out Grist's running count of Senate votes to see just how close a vote could be.It will take months to get a replacement for Kennedy in the Senate.	27th August 2009
Branson's green claims run on hot air Branson's stunts have earned him a green repuatation. Yet Virgin Atlantic's emissions are higher than most nations in AfricaSir Richard Branson has somehow over the years persuaded us that he and his Virgin empire are green, or at any rate greener than their rivals. One green website calls him an eco-entrepreneur. The Huffington Post advises us to "follow Richard Branson's green example" Even the Sunday Times was at it recently.This is weird. Branson doesn't do greenwash advertising so much as headline-earning stunts and initiatives that build the aura of a cool, progressive, green guy.A cynic would say that his $25m Virgin Earth Challenge prize for a new low-carbon technology is worth the price in free editorial.	27th August 2009
Poor People Gonna Rise Up Talking About a Revolution : Tracy Chapman When are the intellectual and political ranks going to stop trying to apply universal guilt ? The real question to ask is not, how are we going to get average emissions down ? You can t treat all the people in the United Kingdom as one blurred lump. Around 20% of consumers are conscious. Another 20% to 30% are going to be hit directly by any measure designed to put an environmental tax on Carbon, and will have no choice about responding. Climate Change worldwide is affecting the poorest first and hardest an expression used by everyone from Nicholas Stern through to Christian Aid.	27th August 2009
CUBA: El Niño Taming the Hurricanes HAVANA, Aug 27 (Tierramérica) - The cyclical climate phenomenon known as El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) in the equatorial Pacific Ocean this year is helping weaken cyclone activity in the Northern Atlantic and the Caribbean. But Cuban meteorologists are warning against complacency.	27th August 2009
Perfect storm Will water, energy and food run low worldwide in 2030?	25th August 2009
Plimer's homework assignment - RealClimate Some of you may be aware of George Monbiot s so-far-unsuccessful attempt to pin down Ian Plimer on his ridiculous compendium of non-science. In response to Monbiot s request for explanation and sources for some of Plimer s more bizarre claims, Plimer has responded with a homework assignment that is clearly beyond even his (claimed) prowess. This is quite transparently a device to avoid dealing with Monbiot s questions and is designed to lead to an argument along the lines of Monbiot can t answer these questions and so knows nothing about the science (and by the way, please don t notice that I can t cite any sources for my nonsense or even acknowledge that I can t answer these questions either) .	25th August 2009
Tipping elements remain a 'hot' issue (PhysOrg.com) -- Research published by climate scientists at the University of East Anglia (UEA) has been named one of the most highly-cited in its field in the last two years.	25th August 2009
U.S. needs climate law before Copenhagen: officials WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States needs to have a climate change law in place before international talks on a climate pact begin in December, two top Obama administration officials said on Monday.	25th August 2009
A Dow Jones For Climate: The Case for a Warming Index If a cap-and-trade bill passes Congress this year, it may include weak emissions targets and will likely need to be strengthened in the years to come. One way to guide future policy: create a Global Climate Change Index that could be used to track global warming s impacts. BY DANIEL R. ABBASI	25th August 2009
Are Climate Deniers Crazy? Because the end of the world has never happened before, it s understandable many people have a hard time wrapping their heads around the potential apocalyptic consequences of climate change. Floods, famines, mass-migrations it might be a little too Old Testament for many folks to want to think about. But what about climate deniers? Those people who don't react with honest skepticism or debate, but vitriol and spleen-venting anger? Psychologist Linda Buzzell was wondering the same thing. In an interesting post last week on Huffington, she tried to plum the depths of why some people can t seem to have a civilized conversation about climate science.	25th August 2009
Trees advance in a warming world Trees around the world are colonising new territories in response to higher temperatures, a new global analysis reveals.	25th August 2009
Research finds higher acidity in Alaska waters (AP) -- Erosion threatens to topple coastal Alaskan villages. Melting ice threatens polar bears. Now, a marine scientist says the state's marine waters are turning acidic from absorbing greenhouse gases faster than tropical waters, potentially endangering Alaska's $4.6 billion fishing industry.	25th August 2009
US crop yields could wilt in heat - EurekAlert! Yields of three of the most important crops produced in the United States -- corn, soybeans and cotton -- are predicted to fall off a cliff if temperatures rise due to climate change.	25th August 2009
Dust to dust - BBC News California farms revert to desert as water runs out	25th August 2009
Climate Camp's YouTube letter shows the police's charm offensive has failed It looks as if all the recent efforts by the police to put their best caring-sharing face forward have fallen a little flatIs this really the way to get the police onside? Climate Camp, apparently un-charmed by the police's recent charm offensive, have replied via YouTube to the Met's request for details of this week's camp location. Their reply is not exactly a model of diplomacy: watch the video above.With chintzy background music and a soothing compilation of pictures of happy, smiling activists from earlier Climate Camps, it's clearly a bit of a send-up of infommercial videos.	25th August 2009
Bug power makes salt water sweet A bacterial fuel cell can provide the charge for desalinating seawater - a possible replacement for existing power-hungry plants	25th August 2009
Climate change could swamp Venice's flood defence A new study suggests that sea level rises by the end of the century will mean Venice is inundated up to 250 times a year and flood barriers may not be enough to save it	25th August 2009
Aggravation Mounts in Minn. Over Governor's Shift on Climate - New York Times Minnesota's Republican governor used to make soaring speeches about defusing climate change. Now he's making jokes, and some ...	25th August 2009
We re Toast, John Prescott World leaders must not get bogged down in precise percentages when they negotiate a successor the Kyoto climate change treaty in Copenhagen, Tony Blair has said. http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/aug/23/copenhagen-carbon-emissions Carbon targets may be too tough, says John Prescott : Emissions plan may have to be watered down to reach a deal, claims former deputy prime minister ...	25th August 2009
Coal : Burning the Future Here's one for all my States-side buddies, because nobody in Euroland will get to see this for a while (please correct me if I'm mistaken) : the trailer for the film "Burning the Future". It's all about the toxic, dirty nature of Coal Energy :-http://burningthefuture.semkhor.com/page.asp?s=burningthefuture&content_id=14092	25th August 2009
The fallacy of climate activism by Adam D. Sacks In the 20 years since we climate activists began our work in earnest, the state of the climate has become dramatically worse, and the change is accelerating this despite all of our best efforts. Clearly something is deeply wrong with this picture. What is it that we do not yet know? What do we have to think and do differently to arrive at urgently different outcomes?[1] The answers lie not with science, but with culture. Climate activists are obsessed with greenhouse-gas emissions and concentrations. Since global climate disruption is an effect of greenhouse gases, and a disastrous one, this is understandable.	24th August 2009
Minister met BAA chief before Climate Camp to discuss tactics Activists say memos point to culture of collusion Whitehall worked with 'key parties' on 2007 eventA government minister met the chief executive of the UK's largest airport owner in private to discuss how to "limit" the impact of climate change protests directed against the firm, documents obtained by the Guardian reveal.Jim Fitzpatrick, then a transport minister, met the head of BAA a week before Climate Camp protesters held peaceful demonstrations at Heathrow airport.At the time Fitzpatrick was receiving regular "situation reports" about the protesters. In one, he was told: "It is thought that key members of the camp are getting more frustrated as things are not going as they would have liked.	24th August 2009
Early farming methods caused climate change, say researchers - Guardian Unlimited Farmers thousands of years ago cleared land by burning forests and moved to a new area once the yields declined, say scientists Farmers who used "slash and burn" methods of clearing forests to grow crops thousands of years ago could have increased carbon dioxide levels enough to change the climate, researchers claimed today. The US scientists believe that small populations released carbon ...	24th August 2009
"Global starvation imminent as US faces crop failure" - comment by Jan Lundberg Editor's commentary: The above headline and first sentences of a recent report from CommodityOnline.com grab one's attention: "The world faces 'mass starvation' following North America's next major crop failure. And it could even happen before year's end." World leaders and the corporate media don't appreciate the role of petroleum in food production and distribution. On top of that typical error in the report, several other contradictions make for a jaw-dropping reading experience.	24th August 2009
Rainfall needed for NSW crops - BigPond News New figures show about 64 per cent of NSW is still in drought.	24th August 2009
Nile Delta: 'We are going underwater. The sea will conquer our lands' The Nile Delta is under threat from rising sea levels. Without the food it produces, Egypt faces catastropheMaged Shamdy's ancestors arrived on the shores of Lake Burrulus in the mid-19th century. In the dusty heat of Cairo at the time, French industrialists were rounding up forced labour squads to help build the Suez Canal, back-breaking labour from which thousands did not return. Like countless other Egyptians, the Shamdys abandoned their family home and fled north into the Nile Delta, where they could hide within the marshy swamplands that fanned out from the great river's edge.As the years passed, colonial rulers came and went.	24th August 2009
Cattle, crop losses mount in Texas drought DALLAS (Reuters) - A vast swathe of Texas remains in the grip of a scorching drought, which has cost billions of dollars and is cleaving America's largest beef cattle herd.	24th August 2009
Climate change threatens Central American coffee CERRO DE ORO, Guatemala (Reuters) - Scientists expect climate change to dramatically affect coffee production in Central America in the coming decades, but some lowland farmers in Guatemala say they are already feeling the effects.	24th August 2009
Millions at risk in China drought - BBC News More than 4.5m people are short of drinking water in northern China during a severe drought, says state media.	24th August 2009
India to import food amid drought - BBC News India will import food as shortages caused by drought hit up to 700 million people, the finance minister says.	24th August 2009
City farmers - BBC News Organic fruit and veg gives Cubans edge in food crisis	24th August 2009
Climate change doubles tundra plant life - CNews Climate change is already having a dramatic effect on plants in the High Arctic, turning the once rocky tundra a deep shade of green and creating what could be another mechanism speeding up global warming.	24th August 2009
Climate change opens Arctic s Northeast passage Two German ships set off on Friday on the first commercial journey from Asia to western Europe via the Arctic through the fabled Northeast Passage a trip made possible by climate change. Niels Stolberg, president and CEO of Bremen-based Beluga Shipping, said the Northern Sea Route will cut thousands of nautical miles off the ships journey from South Korea to the Netherlands, reducing fuel consumption and emissions of greenhouse gas. I had the chance to ask Stolberg a few questions about the Arctic expedition: Question: What s the status of the voyage? Stolberg: MV Beluga Fraternity and the MV Beluga Foresight have just started to sail from Vladivostok (on Friday) with the destination Novyy Port at the river Ob.	24th August 2009
Billions of beetles, wildfire spread imperil the northern forests of a warmer world - The San Francisco Examiner HAINES JUNCTION, YUKON TERRITORY A veil of smoke settled over the forest in the shadow of the St. Elias Mountains, in a wilderness whose spruce trees stood tall and gray, a deathly gray even in the greenest heart of a Yukon summer.	24th August 2009
World Ocean Temperatures Set Record High in July, U.S. Agency Says The world s oceans were warmer in July than at any time in the 130 years of record-keeping, averaging 62.6 degrees F (17 C), according to the U.S. National Climate Data Center. July s temperature was 1.1 degrees F warmer than the 20th century average. Scientists say the high ocean temperatures are primarily the result of global warming and an El Nino climate cycle in the Pacific, which boosts ocean temperatures. Unusually warm sea temperatures were recorded from the Gulf of Mexico where temperatures hovered near 90 degrees F to the Arctic, where ocean temperatures as much as 10 degrees F above normal were measured in some places.	24th August 2009
Hundreds flee wildfire burning homes near Athens - Reuters ATHENS (Reuters) - Wildfires burned scores of homes and thousands of acres of forest near Athens as flames raged out of control for a second day on Sunday, sending huge clouds of smoke over the Greek capital, authorities said.	24th August 2009
Native Americans to join climate protest Canadian First Nations seek to highlight UK's 'criminal' role in CO2-heavy oil schemesNative Americans are to join the Climate Camp protests in the City of London this week in an attempt to draw attention to corporate Britain's "criminal" involvement in the tar sands of Canada.Five representatives from the Cree First Nations are coming to co-ordinate their campaign against key players in the carbon-heavy energy sector with British environmentalists.Eriel Tchekwie Deranger, from Fort Chipewyan, a centre of Alberta's tar sands schemes, said: "British companies such as BP and Royal Bank of Scotland in partnership with dozens of other companies are driving this project, which is having such devastating effects on our environment and communities."It is destroying the ancient boreal forest, spreading open-pit mining across our territories, contaminating our food and water with toxins, disrupting local wildlife and threatening our way of life," she ...	24th August 2009
Coal aid rides high above wave power Amount invested in marine energy is a drop in the ocean against more than £50m for collieries. The government has spent 20 times more subsidising the coal industry over the past six years than it has put into marine energy, new figures show.Ministers have given away £52.8m of a £60m coal investment aid scheme to extend operations at a range of mines around Britain, including Daw Mill in Warwickshire where energy minister Mike O'Brien is the local MP. This contrasts with the £2.3m handed out from a £50m pot created under the Marine Renewables Deployment Fund, which started in 2004 just 12 months after the launch of the latest coal scheme."At a time when we need to deliver a major expansion in renewable energy, it's astonishing to find that less than 5% of the investment promised to give Britain a lead in ...	24th August 2009
We believed Obama was going to tackle climate change. It isn't that easy Barack Obama might be the most powerful man in the world, but he faces tough opposition from all sides over climate-change legislationAl Gore made a surprise appearance on the sketch comedy programme Saturday Night Live in May 2006, to offer an alternative-universe United States, one in which he'd become president after the 2000 election fiasco. Global warming was so soundly defeated that glaciers stood poised to attack Michigan and Maine. All Americans enjoyed free health care. The rest of the world held the US in such high esteem that Americans were afraid to travel to Europe for fear of being hugged too much.By January of this year, many believed that this liberal fantasy had become liberal promise.	24th August 2009
Africa seeks climate change cash - BBC News The leaders of 10 African countries meet to decide how to pursue their demand for compensation for global warming.	24th August 2009
Climate demo police 'not trusted' - BBC News Activists refuse to reveal the London location of a planned week-long protest camp despite police requests.	24th August 2009
Demand for tariffs in global-warming legislation splits allies - Los Angeles Times Reporting from Perrysburg, Ohio - A group of Midwestern Democrats is pushing for tariffs on products from countries that don't limit greenhouse gas emissions, a controversial step that the legislators say is needed to help American manufacturers survive expected emissions restrictions here.	24th August 2009
Steven Chu, A Political Scientist - Time Magazine Steven Chu, the Nobel-winning Secretary of Energy, says people caused global warming. He also says people, with science's help, can solve it	24th August 2009
A new generation of turbines - Guardian Unlimited Faced with the need to cut fuel costs, an Oxford professor has invented a cheap wind turbine that uses an induction motor Professor John Gregg at the University of Oxford is an international expert in the fields of spin electronics, spintronics and magnetic instrumentation. But he has designed and built something for homeowners facing high energy costs: a new-generation wind turbine. He is ...	24th August 2009
Tony Blair : Uncounting Irresponsibility Climate Change is a problem quintessentially expressed in numbers : how many degrees of warming, how many parts per million of Carbon Dioxide in the air, how much Carbon Dioxide the Oceans, Forests, Rocks, Plants and Soils soak up, how many lives will be affected by drought, famine and sickness, how much Methane could be released from tundra and hydrates, how many species will be lost, perhaps including our own. Science indicates what our targets on Greenhouse Gas Emissions should be, numbers expressed in terms of confidence bands and scenario risks. If we want to prevent the risks we have to follow the numbers.	24th August 2009
Majority of ‘Energy Citizens’ rallies organized by oil-industry lobbyists by Kate Sheppard Here s more evidence that the Energy Citizens rallies against climate legislation are anything but grassroots uprisings. We already knew that the American Petroleum Institute was behind the whole idea. Now it turns out that even the local organizers of individual rallies are oil-industry lobbyists. Grist obtained a copy of API s list of coordinators for the 21 planned rallies, and 15 of them are registered lobbyists, mostly for API or its state-level affiliates. There have already been three Energy Citizens rallies in Houston, Texas, on Tuesday; in Roswell, N.M., on Thursday ...	24th August 2009
Is the methane time bomb about to go off? Methane is one of the most potent greenhouse gases. In the atmosphere it has a warming effect more than 20 times that of carbon dioxide.	24th August 2009
Unscientific America: How Scientific Illiteracy Threatens our Future Science matters- to politics, the economy, and our future. But do Americans really understand and appreciate that?	24th August 2009
Gas seeps from Arctic sea-bed The powerful greenhouse gas methane is escaping from the sea bed off Norway as the ice it is trapped in melts, scientists say.	21st August 2009
US congress inquiry reveals fake letters from 'voters' opposed to climate bill Bonner Associates, lobbyists hired to campaign against climate change bill, admit letters sent by sacked employeeDon't blame it on granny. A US congressional inquiry has found more than a dozen forged letters to members of Congress purportedly from voters opposed to a climate change bill including a number from old people's homes.The house select committee on energy independence and global warming now says it has confirmed 13 fake letters to members of Congress apparently from old people's centres and Latino and African-American groups opposing climate change legislation.The committee is still investigating 45 other letters sent by the lobbying firm Bonner Associates, which was hired to campaign against the climate change bill.	21st August 2009
Is there any point in fighting to stave off industrial apocalypse? The collapse of civilisation will bring us a saner world, says Paul Kingsnorth. No, counters George Monbiot we can't let billions perishDear GeorgeOn the desk in front of me is a set of graphs. The horizontal axis of each represents the years 1750 to 2000. The graphs show, variously, population levels, CO2 concentration in the atmosphere, exploitation of fisheries, destruction of tropical forests, paper consumption, number of motor vehicles, water use, the rate of species extinction and the totality of the human economy's gross domestic product.What grips me about these graphs (and graphs don't usually grip me) is that though they all show very different things, they have an almost identical shape.	21st August 2009
Firefighters battle wildfires in Portugal, Spain - Channel NewsAsia LISBON : Hundreds of firefighters struggled to control raging wildfires in northern Portugal and Spain Wednesday, as the flames cut off an international train route and sparked the evacuation of a village.	21st August 2009
Lloyd's Assesses Impact of Heat Waves and Wildfires - Insurance Journal The recent series of wildfires that ravaged parts of Spain, France, Greece and Italy in late July may well be symptomatic of the warming trend in global weather patterns according to experts at ...	21st August 2009
China's central government allocates 182 mln yuan for drought relief - People's Daily The central Chinese government has so far allocated 182 million yuan (26.65 million U.S. dollars) as of Wednesday to fight the ongoing drought, the Ministry of Finance said Wednesday. The fund has been allocated to the provincial and regional governments of Liaoning and Jilin provinces and Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, according to the ministry. About 182 million mu (12.13 million hectares) ...	21st August 2009
New report shows record drought, heat - KXAN 36 Austin With 60th day of triple-digit heat this summer expected, State Climatologist John Nielsen-Gammon releases a new drought report. Nielsen-Gammon says any place south of Waco, Llano or Del Rio is suffering from severe to exceptional drought. Adding this summer is "one for the history books." Austin area farmers agree.	21st August 2009
Half of India affected by drought - BBC News Nearly half of India's districts have been hit by drought that could affect the production of rice, a minister says.	21st August 2009
Victorian Fires Fanned by Record Heat... - Bloomberg Brisbane TimesVictorian Fires Fanned by Record Heatwave, Panel SaysBloomberg... southeastern state of Victoria were the result of a record heatwave and a failed warning system, a panel examining the causes of the blazes said. ...Protection plans boosted ahead of fire seasonABC OnlineCool heads in Black Saturday studyNEWS.com.auall 383	21st August 2009
Montreal in midst of longest heatwave... - CJAD Montreal in midst of longest heatwave in yearsCJADIf we get just one more day of 30-plus on Tuesday, we will have had the longest unbroken heatwave since august, 2005. Ed figures we'll be more comfortableby ...	21st August 2009
Heatwave sweeps Italy - iAfrica.com iAfrica.comHeatwave sweeps ItalyiAfrica.comA heatwave stifled Italy on Wednesday, with temperatures up to 41 degrees Celsius (106 Fahrenheit) and civil protection authorities issuing warnings for ...and more	21st August 2009
Heatwave drives French into fountains - Sky News Australia Heatwave drives French into fountainsSky News AustraliaFrench citizens and tourists alike are diving into fountains and taking cold showers to try to cope with a heat wave hitting the country. ...and more	21st August 2009
London to enjoy scorching temperature... - the london paper London to enjoy scorching temperatures in one-day heatwavethe london paperA MINI heatwave is set to hit London today as forecasters predict scorching temperatures and wall-to-wall sunshine. The mercury is tipped to reach a ...	21st August 2009
Ocean Temperature Record and Other Clues: What Is Your Response? In this report we look at recent news on global warming, the positioning of denialists (the bad cop) and the more insidious "limited-measure-ists" (the good cop), and lastly the direct action approach. The news on global climate change does not get better, but patterns are emerging right now that may help us cut through the obstacles to acting forthrightly.	21st August 2009
Warming Of Arctic Current Over 30 Years Triggers Release Of Methane Gas - Science Daily The warming of an Arctic current over the last 30 years has triggered the release of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, from methane hydrate stored in the sediment beneath the seabed. Scientists have found that more than 250 plumes of bubbles of methane gas are rising from the seabed of the West Spitsbergen continental margin in the Arctic.	15th August 2009
Climate change already visible on Greenland - Deutsche Welle Many scientists and governments are talking about what will happen once climate change begins to occur, but on the great island of Greenland global warming isn't just a future problem - it's happening now.	15th August 2009
Trees are going up in the world Trees are living further and further uphill, thanks to warmer winters caused by climate change. It's good news for them, says Michael Marshall, but is it good news for us?	15th August 2009
Deep-fried locust, anyone? Insects may be the answer to our looming food crisis Sustainable and nutritious, it's time insects were seen as another source of protein. The problem is how to make them desirableAs with gingerbread men and gummy bears, the dilemma when served a locust is whether to begin eating it head or legs first. I choose to start with the six little legs (sometimes you need to fold them in a bit because they tend to trail out of your mouth otherwise), then the abdomen and finally (gulp) the head. Crunch, crunch, swallow. Think: bbq prawns, but unshelled.I'll be honest, deep-fried locust is not the most delicious snack I've ever had.	21st August 2009
Asia facing unprecedented food shortage, UN report says Major investment in irrigation systems needed to feed population expected to grow by 1.5 billion over next 40 yearsAsia faces an unprecedented food crisis and huge social unrest unless hundreds of billions of dollars are invested in better irrigation systems to grow crops for its burgeoning population, according to a UN report published today.India, China, Pakistan and other large countries avoided famines in the 1970s and 1980s only because they built giant state-sponsored irrigation systems and introduced better seeds and fertilisers. But the extra 1.5 billion people expected to live on the continent by 2050 will double Asia's demand for food, says the report from the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the World Bank-funded International Water Management Institute (IWMI).A combination of very little new land left for cultivation, an increasingly unpredictable climate and water supplies stretched to the limit ...	21st August 2009
Almost half of India under drought: Pawar - The Times of India NEW DELHI: With the government declaring that almost half the country is already under drought, the Union cabinet will on Thursday consider a proposal to increase the minimum support price (MSP) for paddy to Rs 1,000 per quintal from the existing rate of Rs 850. The government will also mull whether to increase the support price for arhar (tur) dal from Rs 2,000 to Rs 2,300 and of moong dal from ...	21st August 2009
Drought hastens Argentina's first beef imports - People's Daily Argentina, the biggest beef-consuming nation, may resort to imports for the first time within two years as a drought kills cattle and export controls prompt ranchers to quit the business. Pastures have dried up and forage prices gained so much that farmers are allowing livestock to die in the fields, said Arturo Llavallol, a director of Buenos Aires-based farm group The Rural Society. Ranchers ...	21st August 2009
Indian drought threatens rice, sugar output - AFP via Yahoo! News India said Wednesday it would step up its food distribution programme for the poor as a widening drought threatened to cut rice production by 10 percent and sharply reduce sugar supplies.	21st August 2009
Kenyan farmers hit by drought - AFP via Yahoo! News In Kenya a bruising and recurring drought is driving huge numbers of subsistence farmers away from rural areas, where they are increasingly reliant on hand-outs, into congested slums.	21st August 2009
Mekong Delta may be inundated by rising sea HANOI (Reuters) - More than a third of the Mekong Delta in Vietnam, where nearly half of the country's rice is grown, will be submerged if sea levels rise by 1 meter (39 inches), an environment ministry scenario predicted.	21st August 2009
Met police turns on charm ahead of climate protest Climate Camp will be first big test of policing since G20 Metropolitan police to disseminate information via TwitterScotland Yard is overhauling its tactics for policing protests by reaching out to activists in advance of its first big test since the controversy surrounding the handling of the G20 demonstrations.Senior officers have told representatives from Climate Camp, who are planning to construct a huge campsite next week at an undisclosed location in London, that they will be met with a "community-style" policing operation that will limit the use of surveillance units and stop-and-searches wherever possible.In a further effort to disseminate real-time information, the Metropolitan police has activated an account on Twitter, named CO11MetPolice after its public order unit codename, which will be used to send operational information to protesters taking part in the camp.Separately, a delegation from this year's Climate Camp will be taken ...	21st August 2009
Brazil's former environment minister leaves ruling party over 'destruction of natural resources' Marina Silva is expected to make a 2010 presidential bid and put the environment back on the agendaBrazil's former environment minister, the rainforest defender Marina Silva, has resigned from the ruling Workers' party, paving the way for a 2010 presidential bid, which supporters hope will put the environment back on the political agenda of South America's largest country.For weeks speculation has been growing that Silva, who resigned from government last May after a dispute over the development of the Amazon region, would defect to the Green party in order to dispute the presidential elections next October.Speaking at a press conference in Brasilia earlier today, Silva, who has been a Workers' party member for over 30 years, said politicians had failed to give sufficient attention to the environmental cause.In her resignation letter to the president of the Workers' party, Silva said her decision was an attempt to break ...	21st August 2009
Australian politicians commit to 20% renewable target by 2020 Law would double production of electricity from sun and windAustralia's main political parties struck an agreement today on a new law requiring that 20% of the country's electricity comes from renewable sources such as the sun and wind by 2020, more than twice the current level.The law would quadruple the renewable energy target set by the previous government in 2001 and provide enough clean electricity to power the households of all 21 million Australians.The target matches one set in 2007 by the European Union, which leads the world in green power technology. Many US states also have set renewable energy targets although there is no national goal.But critics argue the Australian target will make electricity more expensive in coal-rich Australia without curbing the amount of climate-warming carbon gases that the nation emits, as overall electricity consumption rises.Currently, 8% of Australia's electricity comes from renewable ...	21st August 2009
Major Solar Project Announced for Mojave Desert First Solar, a maker of thin-film solar cells, has signed an agreement with Southern California Edison to sell the utility 550 megawatts of electricity produced by two massive photovoltaic solar farms in the Mojave Desert. The plants, expected to go online by 2015 and produce enough electricity to power 170,000 homes, would be built on federal land set aside for such solar projects. Analysts say that the First Solar deal is a sign that large arrays of solar photovoltaic panels can produce electricity competitively with so-called solar-thermal plants, which generate electricity by using mirrors to focus sunlight on liquid-filled boilers to produce steam.	21st August 2009
Virtuous cannot afford renewable energy now - Times Online Virtue is never a good selling proposition booze and cigarettes generate better cashflow than good books do.	21st August 2009
FACTBOX-Key facts about Australia's renewable energy law - AlertNet Source: Reuters (For related story, click on [ID:nSYD429219] August 20 (Reuters) - Australia's Senate approved laws on Thursday requiring 20 percent of the country's energy to come from renewable sources by 2020, ...	21st August 2009
Stressed Crops Emit More Methane Than Thought - Science Daily Scientists have found that methane emission by plants could be a bigger problem in global warming than previously thought. They say an uncounted-for source of greenhouse gas could promote global warming.	21st August 2009
It's time for a new economic paradigm - CNews I've heard economists boast that their discipline is based on a fundamental human impulse: selfishness.	21st August 2009
Targeted investments in climate science could present enormous economic savings across the globe Targeted investments in climate science could lead to major benefits in reducing the costs of adapting to a changing climate, according to new research published by scientists from the UK's National Centre for Atmospheric Science (NCAS). Published in the scientific journal, the Bulletin for the American Meteorological Society, the study shows that investments made now, can lead to as much as 10-20% improvement in climate predictions for the UK and Europe in the coming decades, and up to 20% across the rest of the globe.	21st August 2009
Those dog days of August: 3 times the heat by 2050? If you are wilting under the summer heat, consider this: your child may one day think of summer 2009 as "back in the cool old days." To illustrate expected increases in extreme summer heat, scientists at Climate Central have analyzed climate change projections made with global climate models.	21st August 2009
Water in Earth's mantle may be associated with subduction A team of scientists from Oregon State University has created the first global three-dimensional map of electrical conductivity in the Earth's mantle and their model suggests that that enhanced conductivity in certain areas of the mantle may signal the presence of water.	21st August 2009
POLITICS: U.N. Summit on Climate Change Under Fire UNITED NATIONS, Aug 18 (IPS) - A much-ballyhooed U.N. summit on climate change, scheduled to take place on Sep. 22 in New York, is mired in controversy even before it gets off the ground.	21st August 2009
Leading article: Lessons from a Siberian disaster The accident at Russia's largest hydro-electric power station, the Sayano-Shushenskaya plant in Siberia, has so far cost more than 70 lives. The pictures show utter devastation in the cavernous turbine hall. As much as one quarter of the electricity Russia generates by hydro-power has been knocked out. The authorities say repairs will take many months and the expense will run into billions of roubles.	21st August 2009
Our addiction to cheap stuff has become very expensive, new book argues by Vanessa Kerr American retail is riddled with cheap, fall-apart merchandise. We know this. Sales are a ploy to get a shopper to spend, as opposed to a boon for penny pinchers. Right. And how much mileage do we get from that old, overused adage, You get what you pay for ? More than we d like to admit. So why is Ellen Ruppel Shell s new book, Cheap: The High Cost of Discount Culture, so shocking? Shell deftly weaves a compelling, cautionary tale out of disparate strands: the psychology of manipulating shoppers, the environmental costs of our lust for inexpensive things, the deskilling of the retail industry, and the loss of appreciation for quality. Tracing the history of discount culture from the yesteryear excitement over brown paper packages to today s ambivalence about crammed plastic bags, Shell shows us why we feel we ve ...	21st August 2009
Climate Catastrophe: At Some Point, It Gets Personal It was meeting a family with a mother working through typhoid fever to serve me breakfast, lunch and dinner everyday for two weeks that finally made me realize that the way we North Americans lead our unsustainable lives can not go on without doing unforgivable damage to the world and its people.I was in Nepal, resting after an exhausting three-week trek through the mountains part of a long adventure I took to see the world as I had never known it mid-career.Having spent the previous 12 years managing public relations programs for Fortune 500 technology companies like Intel, IBM and Microsoft, I had quit my job and was in the midst of a trip that included eight months motorcycling across India, two months trekking through the Himalayas and a month each in Laos, Cambodia, Thailand and Malaysia.	21st August 2009
Congress Should Expose or Outlaw Astroturfers oil.pump_.jpg The venerable New York Times has reported the discovery of More Fake Letters To Congress by Bonner & Associates, the Astroturf specialists hired by Americans for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCE) to interfere with the vote on the Waxman-Markey bill. As much as Bonner has tried to deny its involvement, the agency was clearly the source of forged letters, purporting to come from charitable organizations opposed to the climate bill. But then, Bonner s record is well-recorded. As William Greider described in his book, Who Will Tell the People, Bonner has operated a "boiler room" that featured "300 phone lines and a sophisticated computer system, resembling the phone banks employed in election campaigns.	21st August 2009
Money Is God, Greed Is King And Corruption Runs The Game By Siv ONeall Civilization is dying. The very notion of civilization is dead. Money has taken over. Money has been the heir apparent for centuries and in the Empires frantic reaching out of its tentacles over the rest of the world, it has already managed to convert a majority of the Western world, and more, to the belief that the Free Market is the solution to global well-being	21st August 2009
China seen looking to bigger climate change steps BEIJING (Reuters) - China appears committed to stronger steps to contain swelling greenhouse gas emissions, the former British Prime Minister Tony Blair said after meetings in Beijing, urging practical hopes of climate treaty negotiations.	21st August 2009
Australia government seeks talks on emissions scheme CANBERRA (Reuters) - Australia's government challenged conservative rivals on Thursday to support deadlocked emissions trade laws after both sides reached agreement on a new national target to sharply lift the use of renewable energy.	21st August 2009
Budget cut to keep Maldives away from U.N. climate talks MALE (Reuters) - The Maldives on Wednesday said a budget crisis will keep its president from attending landmark U.N. climate talks, the results of which could have a huge effect on the future of the low-lying archipelago.	21st August 2009
Ontario to launch wind forecasting service in 2010 VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Reuters) - The Canadian province of Ontario plans to launch a centralized wind forecasting service next year, its bulk electricity manager said on Tuesday, as it tries to add more wind-generated energy to its grid.	21st August 2009
Heatwave attracts an unwelcome visitor - Independent Heatwave attracts an unwelcome visitorIndependentA combination of calm, sunny weather and high concentrations of nitrate pollutants running into the sea from local farms and ...and more	21st August 2009
Heatwave brings ozone warnings - World Radio Switzerland Heatwave brings ozone warningsWorld Radio SwitzerlandUnusually hot weather in August may be filling up swimming pools around the country, but it's also causing an increase in air pollution. ...	21st August 2009
How psychology can help the planet stay cool Insights from marketing and psychology can encourage us all to do our bit to combat global warming	21st August 2009
Cockroaches future-proofed against climate change The mystery of why the widely loathed insects hold their breath has been solved: it's an adaptation to save water	21st August 2009
Is Cash for Clunkers stalling out? - The Christian Science Monitor The so-called "Cash for Clunkers" program started out as a cash cow, spurring a big increase in automotive sales this summer. Now, the program itself may be turning into a clunker. What's happening is that the people most interested in trading in an old car and getting a generous credit ...	21st August 2009
Carbon emissions trading for dummies - University of Sydney News Emissions Trading for Dummies, hosted by the Institute for Sustainable Solutions.	21st August 2009
Lawmakers weigh views in climate-chan... - Salt Lake Tribune Lawmakers weigh views in climate-change debateSalt Lake TribuneWhile many critics of climate change science and policy contend there's flimsy evidence global warming is happening and humans are behind it, that's not the ...	21st August 2009
BP and Shell warned to halt campaign against US climate change bill - guardian.co.uk BP and Shell are being told to tear up their membership of the American Petroleum Institute (API) in protest at the organisation's attempts to incite a public backlash against Barack Obama's energy and climate change bill. The two oil companies are also being asked to bring a halt to their own political lobbying in Washington in letters sent to their chief executives from Greenpeace and the Platform environmental group.	21st August 2009
Bjørn Lomborg : Climate Joker In his own, special, blond, way, I feel Bjørn Lomborg is as dangerous as Martin Durkin. They both act like incarnations of The Climate Joker in my view, showing different capricious sides to the destructive force of mankind s inhumanity to man (and beast and tree). Martin Durkin directs documentaries and films apparently claiming the authority to speak about Nature and Climate, without any basis in reality. It seems he tries to usurp the public mind, and it is alleged he has a barely-hidden agenda of destroying confidence in Science (and the United Nations). He is in my opinion an arch-propagandist without wide-ranging knowledge, and without an accurate comprehension of what he attempts to speak to. See aslo: Cheap Climate-Change Fix Needed, Lomborg Center Says - Bloomberg	15th August 2009
Climate Lobbyists Overwhelming Washington A total of 1,150 different companies and advocacy organizations have participated so far this year in lobbying Congres on climate change, an increase of more than 30 per cent this year alone. According to records compiled by the Center for Public Integrity, energy interests and heavy industry led the charge, with agri-business coming in with a huge new push to protect or promote the (highly debatable) benefits of biofuels. The Centre for Public Integrity couldn't attach a dollar figure to the over all lobbying effort, but the Associated Press had already reported that oil and gas lobbyists had spent $44.5 million in lobbying in the first quarter alone - a rate of spending that will shatter last year's record-breaking annual total of $129 million.	15th August 2009
Climate Disobedience Is on the Rise and It's Not Just for Radical Activists Anymore An emerging movement is determined to use direct action to combat the depredations of climate change and they've got some big names on board.	15th August 2009
Oil lobby to fund phoney campaign against US climate change strategy Email from American Petroleum Institute outlines plan to create appearance of public opposition to Obama's climate and energy reformThe US oil and gas lobby are planning to stage public events to give the appearance of a groundswell of public opinion against legislation that is key to Barack Obama's climate change strategy, according to campaigners.A key lobbying group will bankroll and organise 20 ''energy citizen'' rallies in 20 states. In an email obtained by Greenpeace, Jack Gerard, the president of the American Petroleum Institute (API), outlined what he called a "sensitive" plan to stage events during the August congressional recess to put a "human face" on opposition to climate and energy reform.After the clamour over healthcare, the memo raises the possibility of a new round of protests against a key Obama issue."Our goal is to energise people and show them that they are not alone," ...	15th August 2009
Opencast coalmine rise 'makes UK a joke' Britain will be a joke at Copenhagen, warns Nasa scientist James Hansen, as government authorises more minesCoal production in Britain has increased sharply after a surge in new opencast coal mines, undermining the government's claim to be a world leader on combating climate change.Dozens of opencast coal mines have been authorised by ministers and local councils across the UK, reversing a decade-long decline in coal production in Britain and often against intense local opposition.As a result, mining companies are now sitting on 71m tonnes of coal in licensed opencast mines, compared with 55m tonnes in 2007. And over the next few months, the industry is likely to win permission to mine another 15m tonnes from across the UK.The rise prompted condemnation from leading Nasa climate scientist Prof James Hansen.	15th August 2009
Climate sceptics and believers unite Australia's Green and Coalition parties have voted down an emissions plan. It's bad news for the environmentIt was a rare moment in the Australian environment this week when two hostile political species, the climate change sceptics and the believers, united to defeat the Labor government's plan to help abate global warming. Normally sworn enemies, the Greens, the conservative Liberal-National coalition and minor parties set aside their environmental differences to vote against the government's carbon emissions trading scheme.Australians, individually, are the worst polluters on the planet but polling consistently shows the vast majority view climate change as a big problem.	15th August 2009
Climate talks risk failure unless they accelerate: U.N. BONN, Germany (Reuters) - U.N. talks on a new climate treaty due to be agreed in December risk failure unless negotiations accelerate, a senior U.N. official said on Friday after a sluggish week-long session involving 180 countries.	15th August 2009
Vulnerable states team up for tougher climate pact BONN, Germany (Reuters) - The world's poorest nations joined small island states on Friday to urge far tougher global goals for fighting climate change, saying their people were at risk from everything from droughts to rising sea levels.	15th August 2009
Senate climate bill to include free permits WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A climate control bill that Democratic leaders hope to move through the U.S. Senate will seek to give companies a substantial number of pollution permits, potentially worth billions of dollars, rather than sell them, an aide to a key Democratic senator said on Friday.	15th August 2009
Rising temperature will affect palm oil, other crops: Experts - Business Times - Malaysia THE world's temperature is intensifying, with climatologists forecasting up to three degree celcius increase by 2050. This will have a serious impact on palm oil and other crops, they told an international conference on palm oil in Serdang, Selangor, yesterday.	15th August 2009
People suffer water shortage as prolonged drought hits NE China - People's Daily More than 362,500 people in northeast China's Liaoning province are suffering from drinking water shortage due to an ongoing drought, local officials said Saturday. The flood control and drought relief headquarters in Liaoning said the daily water shortage is 101,200 tons, causing a drinking water shortage for 362,500 people and 108,700 heads of livestock. The northwestern part of the province ...	15th August 2009
Changes in net flow of ocean heat correlate with past climate anomalies Physicists at the University of Rochester have combed through data from satellites and ocean buoys and found evidence that in the last 50 years, the net flow of heat into and out of the oceans has changed direction three times.	15th August 2009
Wilder, wetter cyclones will hit Japan's economy Subtropical twisters could have a financial impact on Japan before the end of the century but developing countries will be harder hit	15th August 2009
Antarctic glacier 'thinning fast' One of the largest glaciers in Antarctica is thinning four times faster than 10 years ago, according to research seen by the BBC.	14th August 2009
Atlantic hurricanes 'at 1,000-year high' - BBC News Hurricanes in the Atlantic Ocean are more frequent than at any time in the last 1,000 years, scientists say.	14th August 2009
Big Dry : Global Drought Update It's not the Polar Bears in a remote, formerly ice-locked location that I'm talking about. It's the humans, in previously luscious fertile parts, now facing extraordinary and continuing drought. Let's do a quick review of some global human habitat locations and see how much good quality rain is no longer falling. Oh yes, there are sometimes storms, hurricanes, typhoons and flash floods, but this is "bad water", running straight off the parched un-absorbing un-receptive land straight back into the waterways.	14th August 2009
Drought costs NZ $2.8 billion - Scoop.co.nz Agriculture Minister David Carter has revealed that the nationwide drought between spring 2007 and autumn 2008 cost the New Zealand economy $2.8 billion. A Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry report outlining the effects of the 2007-2008 drought ...	14th August 2009
Leaked Memo - Oil Lobby's Energy Citizens Astroturf Campaign Exposed Before Launch An internal memo obtained recently by Greenpeace USA details polluting interests plans to launch a nationwide Astroturf campaign attacking climate legislation at public events scheduled throughout the final weeks of recess before the Senate returns to debate the issue in September.The email memo (download a PDF copy), which appears to come from the desk of American Petroleum Institute president Jack Gerard, asks API s member companies to recruit employees, retirees, vendors and contractors to attend Energy Citizen rallies in key Congressional districts nationwide in the closing weeks of the August recess. The campaign plan places a special focus on 21 states picked by API for having a significant industry presence or assets on the ground.	14th August 2009
Carbon Dioxide is not the only Greenhouse Gas The Global Warming Potential, or GWP, of various substances in the atmosphere is an indication as to how much extra heat it will make the Earth system retain from the Sun s light falling on it. The effect of the basket of Greenhouse Gases has to be added to that of soot and other particles and aerosols in the air above us; something which Al Gore neatly summarises as Global Warming Pollution , another GWP, confusingly. I m going to call Global Warming Potential GWPot , and Global Warming Pollution GWPol . The blanket, ovecoat, effect of GWPol is not something that reverses instantly you remove the gases and dust from the air.	14th August 2009
Comment: Australian carbon defeat is bad news for Copenhagen summit - Daily Telegraph The failure to pass new climate change legislation in Australia does not bode well for a global agreement to replace the Kyoto Protocol at the end of the year in Copenhagen.	14th August 2009
Climate Change Measure Should Be Set Aside, U.S. Senators Say - Bloomberg Aug. 14 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Senate should abandon efforts to pass legislation curbing greenhouse-gas emissions this year and concentrate on a narrower bill to require use of renewable energy, four Democratic lawmakers say.	14th August 2009
Australia emissions plan rejected - BBC News Australia's Senate votes down a plan to introduce a carbon trading scheme to cut greenhouse gas emissions. See also: Australia government faces "day of reckoning" on carbon plans The defeat of Australia’s climate plan doesn’t bode ill for cap-and-trade	13th August 2009
The Axis of Climate Change Who will be the next Enemy of The States ? This week, the Pentagon have bested their Climate Change report of 2004 (The Hague flooded by 2007, yeah, right) with yet another hard-hitting doom-laden warning. And it looks like the new enemy will be any people from any country afflicted by Climate Change. The world's poor, in other words. See also: Climate Change: Get Smarter: Turbocharging Democracy Online	13th August 2009
A civilizational tipping point by Lester Brown. In recent years there has been a growing concern over thresholds, or tipping points, in nature. For example, scientists worry about when the shrinking population of an endangered species will fall to a point from which it cannot recover. Marine biologists are concerned about the point where overfishing will trigger the collapse of a fishery. We know there were social tipping points in earlier civilizations, points at which they were overwhelmed by the forces threatening them. For instance, at some point the irrigation-related salt buildup in their soil overwhelmed the capacity of the Sumerians to deal with it.	13th August 2009
Gas-guzzling cars top US 'cash for clunkers' trade-ins SUVs and pick-up trucks make up 83% of the 316,189 cars that have been traded under the schemeAre Americans really over their love of big, gas-guzzling automobiles? Not entirely, but there is a chill coming on, as 83% of the top trade-ins under the Obama administration's "cash for clunkers" scheme have been SUVs or pick-up trucks.The two-week-old scheme to boost auto sales has been popular, with 316,189 cars worth $1,326m (£802m) turned in as of 7am today. Statistics provided by the Department of Transport suggest that Americans are now fleeing from SUVs, which reached their peak in popularity in the middle of this decade.Six of the top 10 trade-ins were SUVs, with two mini-vans and two pick-up trucks rounding off the list.	13th August 2009
Is it time to start worrying about Copenhagen? The gap between rich nations and emerging economies over carbon emissions targets is beginning to look unbridgable. From BusinessGreen.com, part of the Guardian Environment NetworkI am starting to get very worried.This week, another round of the UN's climate change talks gets underway in Bonn, Germany and once again all the key factions look as far from reaching a meaningful agreement on carbon emissions targets as they ever were.It is far too early to give up hope on a deal being reached, particularly given that any exercise in international diplomacy is always characterised by the kind of posturing and brinkmanship we can expect to see again over the next five days.	13th August 2009
El Nino scare for drought-hit India - NDTV India staring at a drought, thanks to a delayed and weak monsoon. The crops hardest hit by drought are rice, sugar and soyabean. Trade sources said that India's sugar stocks on July 31 were 60 per cent lower than a year ago. It is a bigger year-on-year decline than the 54 per cent drop a month ago. See also: Drought affect swells as half of monsoon is over - New Kerala	13th August 2009
Will 'Energy Crops' Become the Next Kudzu? - New York Times U.S. policies are subsidizing new energy crops that are likely to spread off the farm and wreak economic and ecological havoc...	13th August 2009
Homes Go From 'Superefficient' to Zero Carbon Emissions in Europe - Environmental News Network With various degrees of urgency, E.U. countries are moving toward requiring new homes to only use clean energy and have zero net carbon emissions, despite some real estate developers' complaints that such homes cost more to build and will be harder to sell.	13th August 2009
UN climate pact seen hinging on deeper CO2 cuts - Reuters BONN (Reuters) - A U.N. climate deal due in December will be a flop unless industrialized nations sharply increase promised cuts in greenhouse gas emissions for 2020, the chair of a key U.N. group said on Wednesday. John Ashe, who leads work at Aug 10-14 U.N. climate talks looking at planned cuts by rich nations, said existing pledges were far short of the range of 25-40 percent below 1990 levels outlined by a U.N. scientific panel as required to avoid the worst of climate change.	13th August 2009
Obama Administration Okays Major Mountaintop Removal Coal Project After vowing to crack down on the controversial practice of leveling the tops of Appalachian mountains to get at the coal seams below, the Obama administration has quietly approved a major mountaintop removal project in West Virginia. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has approved the issuance of a Clean Water Act permit for CONSOL Energy s Peg Fork Surface Mine, an 817-acre project that would permanently bury nearly three miles of Appalachian streams in mining debris. The Peg Fork mine was one of six mountaintop removal projects that Obama's EPA initially said it opposed because they all would result in significant adverse impacts to high-value streams.	13th August 2009
China's great wall to foreign green tech - The Christian Science Monitor Protecting domestic firms from foreign competition in alternative energy only hurts efforts against global warming.	13th August 2009
Alberta oilsands cited in acid rain - CNews Environmentalists want Ottawa to set caps on emissions from Alberta's oilsands that are likely responsible for acid rain falling over northern Saskatchewan's pristine rivers and lakes.	13th August 2009
Ontario: polar bears now a threatened species - CNews TORONTO - Polar bear populations in Ontario's north are on the decline, turning cautious concern for the animal's survival into planned action.	13th August 2009
Vestas confirms closure of Isle of Wight and Southampton factories Turbine maker says closures will balance demand, as boss criticises UK's commitment to wind and hints at redundancy reinstatement for protestersVestas has confirmed the closure of two sites on the Isle of Wight and Southampton with the loss of 425 jobs. Employees at both factories were informed of the decision today.The closures follow a sit-in protest by 11 employees which began on July 20 and ended on August 7 after the company obtained a repossession order and sent in bailiffs to remove the protesters.The protest was hugely embarrassing for the government at a time when it is promoting wind energy and green jobs.	13th August 2009
Greenwash: How a wind farm could emit more carbon than a coal power station | Fred Pearce Building wind farms built on peat bogs, which can release their huge carbon stores when damaged, is not sensibleLet's be clear: Britain needs wind turbines. Lots of them. But just about the worst place to erect them is on top of peat bogs, which are huge stores of carbon that can easily leak carbon dioxide into the air when damaged by the inevitable roads or drains.So there are serious questions about the green credentials of plans to build Europe's largest onshore wind farm on 187 square kilometres of thick peat on the Shetland Islands. The fate of the £800m project will be decided by the Scottish government in the coming weeks.More than half of the wind turbines in Scotland are on highland peat.	13th August 2009
China signals long-term plans to curb greenhouse gases BEIJING (Reuters) - China will make "controlling greenhouse gas emissions" an important part of its development plans, the government said, as pressure on the world's top emitter grows ahead of global talks on tackling climate change.	13th August 2009
Lobbyists elbow for influence on U.S. climate bill NEW YORK (Reuters) - Manufacturers and energy companies sent squads of lobbyists to the U.S. Congress earlier this year to influence the climate bill, an indication the U.S. Senate will face pressure to adjust the legislation ahead of its vote, a nonprofit investigative group said.	13th August 2009
21st Century Climate Blueprints By Andrew GliksonThe severe disturbance of the energy balance of the atmosphere ensuing from the emission of over 320 billion tonnes of carbon since 1750 threatens a shift in the state of the atmosphere/ocean system to ice free greenhouse Earth conditions	13th August 2009
Vast expanses of Arctic ice melt in summer heat (AP) -- The Arctic Ocean has given up tens of thousands more square miles (square kilometers) of ice on Sunday in a relentless summer of melt, with scientists watching through satellite eyes for a possible record low polar ice cap.	12th August 2009
Hundreds of New Species Found in Warming Eastern Himalayas - Environment News Service The world's smallest deer, a new species of monkey, and a flying frog are among the 353 new species that have been identified in the Eastern Himalayas between 1998 and 2008, but conservationists warn that global warming is threatening to alter the native habitats of these unique plants and animals.	12th August 2009
UN chief warns of dire future without climate deal - Reuters SEOUL, Aug 11 (Reuters) - Failure to act quickly on climate change could eventually lead to violence and mass unrest as global weather patterns drastically change, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Tuesday. "If we fail to act, climate change will intensify droughts, floods and other natural disasters," Ban said at a forum near Seoul that came weeks ahead of his own conference on climate change in September. "Water shortages will affect hundreds of millions of people. Malnutrition will engulf large parts of the developing world. Tensions will worsen. Social unrest -- even violence -- could follow," Ban said according to a prepared text of his remarks to a global environment forum in Incheon, west of Seoul.	12th August 2009
Climate models confirm more moisture in atmosphere attributed to humans (PhysOrg.com) -- When it comes to using climate models to assess the causes of the increased amount of moisture in the atmosphere, it doesn't much matter if one model is better than the other. See also: Climate Acceleration and Critical Mass	12th August 2009
Ozone depletion reduces CO2 uptake of Southern Ocean - New Kerala Washington, August 9 : In a new research, scientists have determined that depletion in the ozone layer is reducing the atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) uptake of the Southern Ocean.	12th August 2009
The limits of today’s electric car technology We will likely ship a billion new cars worldwide in the next 15 or so years. The key question is not whether hybrid or EV cars/batteries will be successful financially (they probably will), but rather what it will take to get 80% of these billion cars to be low-carbon cars.	12th August 2009
US military engages climate change US military experts have warned that 'climate-induced crises could topple governments, feed terrorist movements or destabilise entire regions'. Lock and load, says Shanta Barley	12th August 2009
Cloud Ships. Yes, But Geoengineering. Sounds great. Treat the Earth like one big motoring machine, get under the hood (bonnet) and tinker with it. But what if actually this is the equivalent of putting the Planet on a life support system ventilator, and the plug could be pulled at any time ? How sustainable are some of the Geoengineering proposals ? Are they guaranteed to work ? Won t they have knock-on side-effects ? Are they reversible if they prove unhelpful ? And how much will they cost ? Attempts to seed clouds have been going on for decades, for the express purpose of creating rain, but this is perhaps the first time this mechanism has been seriously suggested as a way to slow down Global Warming.	12th August 2009
Van Jones explains the “double, triple, quadruple” benefits of clean energy investment by Grist Related Links: Van Jones on a green collar economy Surprisingly popular Cash for Clunkers program raises hopes and questions Green electronics registry goes international	12th August 2009
Zogby Poll Confirms That Americans Want Strong Action on Climate and Energy A new Zogby poll commissioned by the National Wildlife Federation found that 71% of respondents supported the Waxman-Markey energy and climate bill recently passed in the House of Representatives. Only 19% of respondents said they were strongly opposed to the House bill, indicating that polluting industries and their front groups have failed in their grandiose efforts to convince the public that the House bill amounted to a sinister, hidden energy tax . Fifty-four percent of respondents to the Zogby poll agree that the Senate needs to act immediately to pass legislation to fight global warming. "We need a new energy plan right now that invests in American, renewable energy sources like wind and solar, in order to create clean energy jobs, address global warming and reduce our dependency on foreign oil," the 54% agreed.While support for Congressional action is overwhelming, 45% of respondents believe ... See also: Dueling Polls on Support for Climate Change Legislation - BusinessWeek	12th August 2009
What should we be asking world leaders to agree to in Copenhagen? The UN's Copenhagen climate summit in December could be make or break for preventing runaway global warming. We've brought together the demands NGOs and charities are making of the negotiators	12th August 2009
Big Coal Impersonating Charities? dirtycoal.jpg The most sinister PR campaign in history just hit a new ethical low when it was revealed that forged letters appearing to be from charities were sent to lawmakers urging them to vote against the Waxman Markey climate bill. Congressman Tom Perriello was shocked to find that anti climate letters claiming to be from the NAACP and a local Latino non-profit were instead sent by DC lobby firm Bonner & Associates a company apparently subcontracted by Big Coal astroturf group American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE). In total, twelve phony letters have surfaced so far, sent to three freshmen Congress members all representing coal producing districts.	12th August 2009
Gas levels to explode by 2020 Federal prediction - Sydney Morning Herald THE Federal Government is putting more pressure on the Coalition to support its emissions trading legislation, releasing a report estimating Australia's output of greenhouse gases would be 20 per cent above 2000 levels by 2020 if the scheme is rejected.	12th August 2009
Incorrigible Lomborg: Defending the right of rich people to pollute lomborg.jpg The Disingenuous Environmentalist Bjorn Lomborg has once again celebrated a public epiphany on climate change, bringing him. once again, to the conclusion that the globe is warming, that humans are to blame and that we - especially we rich people - shouldn't do anything about it. In Lomborg's latest feint, he suckered some reporter at London's Financial Times into reporting that he has broken common cause with the "climate sceptics" and called for an a global agreement on climate change in this December's Kyoto negotiations in Copenhagen. But if you read the details, his position is the same as ever ...	12th August 2009
Time 'runs short' on climate deal - BBC News The UN's top climate official warns that progress towards a new treaty is "too slow", as talks convene in Bonn.	12th August 2009
A biased economic analysis of geoengineering Guest commentary by Alan Robock Rutgers University Bjorn Lomborg s Climate Consensus Center just released an un-refereed report on geoengineering, An Analysis of Climate Engineering as a Response to Global Warming, by J Eric Bickel and Lee Lane. The consensus in the title of Lomborg s center is based on a meeting of 50 economists last year. The problem with allowing economists to decide the proper response of society to global warming is that they base their analysis only on their own quantifications of the costs and benefits of different strategies. In this report, discussed below, they simply omit the costs of many of the potential negative aspects of producing a stratospheric cloud to block out sunlight or cloud brightening, and come to the conclusion that these strategies have a 25-5000 to 1 benefit/cost ratio.	12th August 2009
PETM Weirdness The Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) was a very weird period around 55 million years ago. However, the press coverage and discussion of a recent paper on the subject was weirder still. For those of you not familiar with this period in Earth s history, the PETM is a very singular event in the Cenozoic (last 65 million years). It was the largest and most abrupt perturbation to the carbon cycle over that whole period, defined by an absolutely huge negative isotope spike (> 3 permil in 13C). Although there are smaller analogs later in the Eocene, the size of the carbon flux that must have been brought into the ocean/atmosphere carbon cycle in that one event, is on a par with the entire reserve of conventional fossil fuels at present.	12th August 2009
EXCLUSIVE: Energy bill requires doubling nuke use - The Washington Times To satisfy House Democrats' low-cost solution to global warming, Americans would have to double their reliance on nuclear energy by 2030 - a target the nuclear industry says is unlikely and that many environmentalists and Democrats dislike. That is the conclusion of a new Energy Information Administration report that looked at the House Democrats' global warming bill.	12th August 2009
Climate Disobedience - Middle East Online The idea that now is the right time for more resolute action to address the climate crisis is spreading fast enough to dot the global map with hot spots of disobedience. As it turns out, the Kingsnorth Six are part of a rapidly growing population.	12th August 2009
Global 2008 CO2 emissions rose 2 pct-German institute - AlertNet Source: Reuters FRANKFURT, Aug 10 (Reuters) - Global carbon dioxide emissions in 2008 rose 1.94 percent year-on-year to 31.5 billion tonnes, German renewable energy industry institute IWR said on Monday, based on ...	12th August 2009
The lastest on hydrofluorocarbons - The Christian Science Monitor A new study finds that hydrofluorocarbons could become a significant factor in future warming.	12th August 2009
Forests fall to beetle outbreak MEDICINE BOW NATIONAL FOREST, Wyoming (Reuters) - From the vantage point of an 80-foot (25 meter) tower rising above the trees, the Wyoming vista seems idyllic: snow-capped peaks in the distance give way to shimmering green spruce.	7th August 2009
Earth's Cycles, Once in Concert, Falling Out of Sync - US News & World Report Climate change, land-use patterns are culprits, scientists report.	7th August 2009
B.C. to burn 'until the snow comes': Official - Victoria Times Colonist Though the fight against fires in British Columbia is looking promising, the struggle is far from over, an official said Friday.	7th August 2009
Vanishing Bolivian Glacier Ends Highest Ski Run - Bloomberg Aug. 5 (Bloomberg) -- When the Chacaltaya glacier vanished six years sooner than scientists predicted, a victim of global warming, so too did the world s highest ski run.	7th August 2009
Alaska glaciers shrinking fast: survey ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) - Three major glaciers in Alaska and Washington state have thinned and shrunk dramatically, clear signs of a warming climate, according to a study released Thursday by the U.S. Geological Survey.	7th August 2009
Global Warming Could Be To Blame For Tick Surge - CattleNetwork.com MINNEAPOLIS (AP) Deer ticks are expanding their range in the Upper Midwest and southern Canada, new ticks are moving into the area and existing ticks are picking up new diseases, increasing the threat of illness to hikers tramping through the region's woods.	7th August 2009
World Forum: Cut CO2 80% by 2020, not 2050 - redOrbit Greenhouse gases must be cut 80 percent by 2020, not by 2050	7th August 2009
Arctic Ocean may be polluted soup by 2070 Without drastic cuts in emissions, the Transpolar Drift, one of the Arctic's most powerful currents and a key disperser of pollutants, is likely to disappear because of global warming	7th August 2009
Psychological barriers hobble climate action WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Psychological barriers like uncertainty, mistrust and denial keep most Americans from acting to fight climate change, a task force of the American Psychological Association said on Wednesday.	7th August 2009
Oil Supplies Are Running Out Fast The first detailed assessment of more than 800 oil fields in the world, covering three quarters of global reserves, has found that most of the biggest fields have already peaked and that the rate of decline in oil production is now running at nearly twice the pace as calculated just two years ago. On top of this, there is a problem of chronic under-investment by oil-producing countries, a feature that is set to result in an oil crunch within the next five years which will jeopardise any hope of a recovery from the present global economic recession	7th August 2009
Sugar Jumps to 28-Year High in N.Y. as Weather Curbs Cane Crops - Bloomberg Aug. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Sugar jumped to a 28-year high in New York as low monsoon rainfall in India threatens to damage cane crops and excess precipitation curbed output in Brazil, prolonging a global production deficit.	7th August 2009
Carbon credits: 'Cure worse than the disease' - Canada.com Carbon credits - to package and trade offsets to greenhouse gas emissions - won't work, says McGill University economist Christopher Green.	7th August 2009
Sick fish may get sicker: Climate change and other stresses expected to affect entire populations of fish Entire populations of North American fish already are being affected by several emerging diseases, a problem that threatens to increase in the future with climate change and other stresses on aquatic ecosystems, according to a noted U.S. Geological Survey researcher giving an invited talk on this subject today at the Wildlife Disease Association conference in Blaine, Wash.	7th August 2009
Ice memory Ice memory Nature Reports: Climate Change91 (2009). doi:10.1038/climate.2009.76 Author: Anna Barnett Ice has become an unequalled resource for studying the Earth's climatic history. Anna Barnett rounds up several new features on our site that pay tribute to the field of paleoclimatology, from the initial discovery of climatic clues in ice through to current efforts to recover a core that stretches back over a million years.	7th August 2009
The Busybody State Why was the Big Green Gathering shut down by the authorities?	7th August 2009
Climate fixes 'pose drought risk' The use of geo-engineering to slow global warming may increase the risk of drought, according to a paper in Science journal.	7th August 2009
The fast and the furious why new rail link will be controversial Secret London to Birmingham line planned in detail Fears of property blight and threat to countrysideThe exact route for the new high-speed rail line from London to Birmingham is being planned in secret to within a few metres, officials behind the project have told the Guardian.Details of the controversial line, which would run from London through protected countryside in the Chilterns, will be made public in December, handing thousands of homeowners an unwelcome Christmas present."We will meet our deadline and produce route alignment with options. In urban areas and pinch points it will be down to a few metres of where it will be and in open countryside 25 metres," said Sir David Rowlands, the project's chairman.	7th August 2009
Drax coal supply disrupted after Scottish mine sabotage The activists damaged a 6.5km conveyor belt which transports 200,000 coal each year from Glentaggart to RavenstrutherClimate protesters today claimed to have disrupted the flow of coal from one of Scotland's largest opencast mines to the Drax power station in north Yorkshire by sabotaging an major coal conveyor belt.The activists who are believed to come from a Climate Camp, which opened earlier this week at Mainshill, the site of a planned opencast coalmine damaged the conveyor belt at Glentaggart late yesterday, forcing the conveyor belt to be entirely closed down.At 6.5km long, the conveyor belt is one of the longest in Europe and transports about 200,000 tonnes of coal each year from the Scottish Coal mine at Glentaggart to a dedicated railway depot at Ravenstruther.	7th August 2009
India sets out ambitious solar power plan to be paid for by rich nations India plans to generate 20GW from sunlight by 2020, putting green energy targets of developed nations in the shadeIndia has decided to push ahead with a vastly ambitious plan to tap the power of the sun to generate clean electricity, and after a meeting chaired by the prime minister, Manmohan Singh, it wants rich nations to pay the bill.Although India has virtually no solar power now, the plan envisages the country generating 20GW from sunlight by 2020. Global solar capacity is predicted to be 27GW by then, according to the International Energy Agency, meaning India expects to be producing 75% of this within just 10 years.Four-hundred million Indians have no electricity and the solar power would help spark the country's development and end the power cuts that plague the nation.	7th August 2009
"Serious" climate talks hinge on U.S. bill: lawmaker CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts (Reuters) - The fate of a U.S. climate change bill will send signals to the rest of the world as to whether upcoming global climate talks will be "serious or not," one of the bill's co-authors said on Thursday.	7th August 2009
China keen to see CO2 emissions peak: diplomat BEIJING (Reuters) - China is keen to halt growth in its greenhouse gas emissions as soon as possible, but lifting tens of millions out of poverty must remain its primary goal, the country's climate change ambassador said on Wednesday.	7th August 2009
Swiss seek Pope's blessing to stop glacier melting - Reuters ZURICH (Reuters) - After centuries of praying for a local glacier to stop growing, Swiss villagers are now seeking an audience with Pope Benedict to get his blessing for prayers against the global warming that is causing it to recede.	7th August 2009
Team Obama's Environmental Irony Tour Okay, so it's August in Washington. It's hot. Congress has gone home. Even the summer interns are packing up and getting out of town. So it's not surprising that top members of the Obama administration might be ready for a road trip. That's basically what the White House announced in a statement headlined: "Obama Administration Officials Travel America, Talk Clean Energy Economy." President Obama went to Indiana to announce $2.4 billion in funding for advanced battery and electric drive projects; Energy Secretary Steven Chu headed for Minnesota to look at renewable energy projects and North Carolina to announce a big grant to a lithium battery firm, finishing up the week in Massachusetts to talk about clean energy jobs at Harvard ...	7th August 2009
Geoengineering schemes under scrutiny - Nature Researchers divided over the wisdom of climate manipulation.	7th August 2009
Climate experts criticize 'cash for clunkers' - CNews The popular program "Cash for clunkers" could have the same effect on global warming pollution as shutting down the entire country - every automobile, every factory, every power plant - for an hour per year. That could rise to three hours if the program is extended by Congress and remains as popular as it is now.	7th August 2009
Climate change poker: The barriers which are preventing a global agreement As the world's environment ministers, government officials, diplomats and campaigners prepare to attend the COP15 conference in Copenhagen in December 2009 to unite in the battle against climate change in one of the most complicated political deals the world has ever seen, the increasingly complex territory of climate negotiations is being revealed in an article published today, 5 August, 2009, in IOP Publishing's Environmental Research Letters.	7th August 2009
The Oceans Aren't Heating !!! - Quite so fast .... Deniers Water Down Ocean Heating Trends Have a look at the graph at left and ask yourself: does this indicate warming or cooling in the earth's ocean? Or check out this graph: If you said that these images appear to indicate an alarming warming trend, give your head a shake, because the people posting and commenting on these graphs are arguing exactly the opposite.	7th August 2009
Jharkhand farmers despair at drought - BBC News Farmers in Jharkhand battle drought and official apathy, says the BBC's Geeta Pandey in Ranchi	3rd August 2009
Global Warming a Fact in Three Western Countries - Angus Reid (Angus Reid Global Monitor) - A majority of adults in Canada, the United States and Britain believe global warming is a fact and is mostly caused by emissions from vehicles and industrial facilities, according to a poll by Angus Reid Strategies. At least 51 per cent of respondents in the three countries agree with this statement.	3rd August 2009
Huge Bolivian glacier disappears - BBC News Scientists in Bolivia say that one of the country's most famous glaciers has almost disappeared as a result of climate change.	3rd August 2009
Climate change a present threat to Pacific nations Speakers from Micronesia, Kiribati, Tuvalu and the Torres Strait Islands described how climate change affects their everyday lives at meetings of 180 people in Brisbane on July 28 and 170 people in Melbourne on July 30	3rd August 2009
The seven terrors of the world - Sunday Herald A new report highlights the biggest problems now facing the world. It warns that the environmental crisis is deepening every year. Human consumption is now 30% larger than nature s capacity to regenerate.	3rd August 2009
10 x 10 : Cut Carbon 10% by 2010 The Campaign against Climate Change has been running a very thought-provoking extending compendium of ideas on how to reduce British Carbon Emissions by ten percent by (the end of) 2010, to which you are all welcome to contribute	3rd August 2009
Corporate Lobbyist Dick Armey: God Wouldn't Allow Global Warming - ChattahBox Corporate Lobbyist Dick Armey: God Wouldn't Allow Global WarmingChattahBox... novel argument against global warming on Thursday, while appearing on Capitol Hill to testify before a Republican hearing on climate change legislation. ...Lobbyist Dick Armey's Pollution Gospel: 'As An Article Of Faith ...Think Progressall 4 [ ...suppose it depends on which god he means...]	3rd August 2009
Will a warmer world make us sicker? Scientists are piecing together how climate impacts disease, strange patterns are emerging: mosquito outbreaks can follow drought, shorter migrations can make butterflies sick, and more birds (not fewer) can ward off West Nile virus. From Conservation magazine, part of the Guardian Environment NetworkIn the late 1990s, a set of alarming maps created a stir in the scientific community. Based on predictions by a team of Dutch and Australian researchers and initially published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, the maps charted how global warming could increase the risk of malaria in seemingly unlikely locales: northern countries such as Poland, the Netherlands, and Russia.Over the next several years, versions of the maps continued to appear in journals and at scientific meetings as researchers raised the disquieting possibility that climate change could trigger an expansion of disease.	3rd August 2009
Govts 'know climate strategy won't work' - Sydney Morning Herald An international pledge to peg global warming to two degrees is a pipe dream, and most governments know it, says an Australian researcher.	1st August 2009
GERMANY: Nuclear Power Fails, And Nobody Notices BERLIN, Jul 31 (IPS) - Seven German nuclear plants have failed to generate any electricity this month due to technical breakdowns. They have about half the production capacity of Germany's 17 nuclear reactors, but Germany did not suffer any power shortages.	1st August 2009
Alaska's biggest tundra fire sparks climate warning A charred region of the Arctic is pumping large amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere, finds an ecological assessment	1st August 2009
Climate concerns Are monsoon seasons becoming weaker?	1st August 2009
Rodent size linked to human population and climate change You probably hadn't noticed -- but the head shape and overall size of rodents has been changing over the past century. A University of Illinois at Chicago ecologist has tied these changes to human population density and climate change.	1st August 2009
CO2 emissions from deforestation in the Amazon on the rise - New Kerala London, July 30 : A new study has suggested that carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from deforestation in the Amazon are increasing as loggers and land developers move deeper into dense regions of the forest.	1st August 2009
Global poll finds 73% want climate as higher priority Britons among the most enthusiastic about action to stop global warming, while Americans among least willing to put environment first, according to global public opinion pollA majority of peoples around the world want their governments to put action on climate change at the top of the political agenda, a new global public opinion poll suggests.Unfortunately for Barack Obama though, who has put energy reform at the top of his White House to-do list, Americans are not necessarily among them.Only 44% of Americans thought climate change should be a major preoccupation for the Obama administration, the survey co-ordinated by the University of Maryland's Programme on International Policy Attitudes said.	1st August 2009
ENERGY: "Nuclear Steals Billions from Other Technologies" BERLIN, Jul 31 (IPS) - Why is nuclear energy back on the table? See also: Lavish US Lobbying Pushes Nuclear Energy	1st August 2009
Climate change deniers claim they're censored. What hypocrites Anthony Watts, sceptic and scourge of climate change science, has used copyright laws to censor an opponentOne of the allegations made repeatedly by climate change deniers is that they are being censored. There's just one problem with this claim: they have yet to produce a single valid example. On the other hand, there are hundreds of examples of direct attempts to censor climate scientists.Most were the work of the Bush administration. In 2007 the Union of Concerned Scientists collated 435 instances of political interference in the work of climate researchers in the US.Scientists working for the government were pressured by officials to remove the words "climate change" and "global warming" from their publications ...	1st August 2009
A rocket man's view of solar energy After nearly 25 years in the computer science and aerospace industries, including a stint at NASA s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Doug Caldwell decided to pursue a career-long dream of putting his engineering skills to use for the environment. So the Southern California native left his own start-up, a company that builds cameras for spacecraft launch systems, to explore his options. He didn t have to look far, or for very long. Within months Caldwell had landed work on a solar power development project, recruited by an old buddy from his days launching model rockets in the desert. Perhaps more ironic is the company he ended up working for Boeing Co.	1st August 2009
Alcoa Razes Rain Forest in Court Case Led by Brazil Prosecutors - Bloomberg July 31 (Bloomberg) -- For four decades, Edimar Bentes and his family have survived by farming tiny clearings in the jungle near their dirt-floor shack in the state of Para in the Brazilian Amazon.	1st August 2009
How secret US-China 'back channel' lead to climate deal The signing of a memorandum of understanding between the US and China mean the anticipated climate wars may have been averted, says Fred Pearce	1st August 2009
Carbon Capture Needs Decade of Subsidy, Harvard Researcher Says - Bloomberg July 31 (Bloomberg) -- Technology to remove and bury carbon dioxide emissions from coal-fired power plants will require at least a decade of government subsidies before becoming economically viable, a Harvard University researcher said.	1st August 2009
Methods for monitoring CO2 emissions have limitations, inadequate for international climate treaty - PhysOrg Current methods for estimating greenhouse gas emissions have limitations that make it difficult to monitor CO2 emissions and verify an international climate treaty, says a new National Research Council letter report to the administrator of NASA, Charles F. Bolden Jr.	1st August 2009
Is That All There Is ? - Jo Abbess For all we know, Professor David Rutledge could be more correct than incorrect. If so, the world has far less in terms of remaining Fossil Fuel resources than most people think. That will create problems if if turns out to be true. However, the most important problem for me is what Professor Rutledge does with the figures he gets. He plugs them into a software program called MAGICC and his conclusion is that Climate Change is no longer a problem if the remaining world Fossil Fuels are as low as he calculates ! I have been in correspondence with him asking about Methane issues, because Carbon Dioxide is not the only Greenhouse Gas. He has been very helpful. Today I have written a further e-mail to him regarding Global Warming. I await his reply...	1st August 2009
We Have Forgotten How Real Political Change Happens When you are just one person sitting on a warming planet, how should you react?	30th July 2009
Arctic tundra hotter, boosts global warming: expert - Reuters OTTAWA (Reuters) - Regions of Arctic tundra around the world are heating up very rapidly, releasing more greenhouse gases than predicted and boosting the process of global warming, a leading expert said on Wednesday.	30th July 2009
World will warm faster than predicted in next five years, study warns - Guardian New estimate based on the forthcoming upturn in solar activity and El Niño southern oscillation cycles is expected to silence global warming scepticsThe world faces a new period of record-breaking temperatures as the sun's activity increases, leading the planet to heat up significantly faster than scientists had predicted over the next five years, according to a new study.The hottest year on record was 1998, and the relatively cool years since have led to some global-warming sceptics claiming that temperatures have levelled off or started to decline. However, the new research firmly rejects that argument.The work is the first to assess the combined impact on global temperature of four factors ...	30th July 2009
Boiling The Frog: Nuclear Optimism Hides True Costs Till It's Too Late There is a well-known story about how to boil a frog. If you try to throw a frog into a pot already boiling, he'll jump out. However, put a frog into a pot and slowly raise the temperature - and you get frog legs for dinner. read more	30th July 2009
US satellites reveal true extent of melting polar summer ice Photos from US spy satellites declassified by the Obama administration provide the first graphic images of how the polar ice sheets are retreating	30th July 2009
Climate change clouds fate of ancient Polish woods BIALOWIEZA, Poland (Reuters) - Europe's last ancient forest, home to its largest herd of bison, faces an uncertain future because of climate change, but residents worry that tougher conservation efforts will damage the local economy.	30th July 2009
Melting hopes Bolivian community fears loss of mountain glaciers	30th July 2009
Lucky find of undersea methane bubbles - Nature While testing equipment off the Californian coast last month, a newly refitted research vessel stumbled across plumes of methane gas rising 1,400 metres from the sea floor.	30th July 2009
Poisonous Portuguese man o' war washed up on Cornish coast Conservationists warn beach-goers in the south-west to look out for jellyfish-like creatures that can deliver potentially deadly stingConservationists are warning beach-goers in the south-west to look out for poisonous Portuguese man o'war that are washing up on beaches on the south coast of Cornwall and Devon.The translucent pink and purple floating creatures, which look like jellyfish, can deliver a painful sting which can potentially trigger a deadly allergic reaction.Tom Hardy, marine conservation officer with the Cornwall Wildlife Trust, said the organisation was still pulling together information of beach sightings. "They are popping up along the south coast of Cornwall," he said.	30th July 2009
Colorado river running on empty by 2050 There is a one-in-two chance of fully depleting reservoir storage by 2050, says University of Colorado study. From the Ecologist, part of the Guardian Environment NetworkThe lifeblood of the American west, the Coloradoc river, is running dry under current usage, according to a study from the University of Colorado.Travelling almost 1,500 miles, the river supplies drinking and irrigation water for about 30 million people from Colorado to the Gulf of California.The study looked at how water supplies would be affected by climate fluctuations and water demand. Reservoirs lowIn 2000 reservoirs fed by the river were at 95 per cent of capacity.	30th July 2009
Global warming pushes up building insurance costs Flash floods and giant hailstones help increase claims by 15% and insurance premiums by 10%Householders face higher building insurance premiums after a sharp increase in property damage blamed on climate change. A rise in insurance claims has been caused by flash floods and storms in areas of Britain previously immune to severe weather events.The AA, which produces an insurance premium index monitoring costs, reports a 15% rise in claims in the first six months of 2009 over the same period in 2008 "in the number and cost of payments for buildings damaged by flash floods and storms in areas with little or no previous record of such claims."It cited one village, Carbrooke in Norfolk, where homes were damaged by giant hailstones during an ice storm in late spring.	30th July 2009
Fertile Crescent 'will disappear this century' Diverting water from the Tigris and Euphrates rivers to supply agriculture, alongside a warming climate, means the once-bountiful region is becoming desert	30th July 2009
Spain grain crops hit by fires, concern in Greece - Forexyard Spain grain crops hit by fires, concern in GreeceForexyardMADRID, July 27 (Reuters) - A heatwave stoking forest fires in Spain has done considerable damage to the import-needy country's wheat and ...and more	30th July 2009
Energy efficiency could save U.S. $600 billion WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States could save about $600 billion in energy costs by 2020 if it hiked annual efficiency spending about five-fold, business consultants McKinsey and Co said in a report on Wednesday.	30th July 2009
Infrastructure woes hamper China wind farms' push for profitability Rapid build-out of capacity has caused bottlenecks in connecting turbines to the grid. From BusinessGreen.com, part of the Guardian Environment NetworkChinese wind farm operators are struggling to earn a profit as a lack of wind resources and an insufficient power infrastructure has hampered efforts to provide clean energy to the grid.A report posted earlier this week on the web site of the State Electricity Regulatory Commission (SERC), a government agency that oversees China's power sector, noted that some wind farms are suffering from a lack of wind, with many recording lower utilisation hours than had been estimated by feasibility studies.The industry is also encountering problems stemming from the government's aggressive plan to expand its wind power capacity, which doubled in 2008 to 12.8GW, up from 6GW the previous year, according to figures from the China Electricity Council (CEC), a government-backed ...	30th July 2009
Why some Russians look forward to global warming Brad Plumer walks through a dispatch from the Abu Dhabi newspaper The National that outlines what Russia stands to gain from a warming climate, and why it may have little interest in curbing greenhouse gas emissions.	30th July 2009
The psychology of change: cultivating resilience at the point of no return In his famous work "The Waking." Michigan poet, Theodore Roethke, offered sage advice for navigating unprecedented transitions and cultivating resilience. Wisely, the Transition Handbook by Rob Hopkins establishes three domains for people who are awake to these transitions as they endeavor to journey through them into a post-industrial world. read more	30th July 2009
A carbon protection racket - The Christian Science Monitor The Waxman-Markey bill's 'international offsets' amount to paying polluting countries not to pollute.	30th July 2009
You Laughed, You Cried Social engineering is simple : if you don t want something to happen, starve it of funding, create lots of dodgy Press, and create artificial divisions between factions. Climate Camp has been a hoot, until an accidental bystander got pushed to his death caught in a kettle formed by Riot Police in London, England in April 2009 on Fossil Fools Day. Some of the protest actions have been daredevil, some truly revolutionary, most have been properly educational. In fact my main interest and energy in the Climate Camp has been the Workshop Programme, trying to increase general awareness, circulating information, encouraging people to lead workshops, bringing research from their diverse fields.	30th July 2009
Australia mulling more coal support in carbon plans CANBERRA (Reuters) - Australia's government is considering doubling compensation for coal miners under its carbon trade scheme, media reports said on Tuesday, as a new poll found Australians want carbon laws delayed to next year.	30th July 2009
Engineers accused of taking 'tidal reef' idea in Severn estuary competition Decc rejects proposal from Rupert Armstrong-Evans but accepts very similar project from Rolls-Royce and WS AtkinsThe government and two of Britain's biggest engineering companies have been accused of taking the idea of a leading marine engineer who came up with a novel plan to harness vast amounts of tidal energy from the Severn estuary while causing only minimal ecological damage.Rupert Armstrong-Evans, who pioneered renewable energy in Britain and now runs a marine engineering firm in Cornwall, spent 18 months researching the idea of a 12-mile long "tidal reef" for the estuary. His construction, planned to run between Minehead in Somerset and Aberthaw in the Vale of Glamorgan, would be cheaper to build and could generate as much electricity as several nuclear power stations without destroying tens of thousands of hectares of internationally protected wetlands, he claimed.The idea was last year picked up by the ...	30th July 2009
Latest protest leaves UK climate strategy twisting in the wind From Shetland to the Isle of Wight, feelings run high as plans to transform the UK into a low-carbon economy hit further troubleEurope's largest onshore windfarm project has been thrown in severe doubt after the RSPB and official government agencies lodged formal objections to the 150-turbine plan, it emerged today.The setback adds to the problems facing the government's ambition to install 10,000 new turbines across the UK by 2020 as part of its plan to cut the carbon emissions causing climate change.The proposed 550MW windfarm, sprawling across the centre of Shetland's main island, would add almost 20% to existing onshore wind capacity.	30th July 2009
Vestas workers eviction attempt fails Danish owners of wind turbine company unable to force workers out of Isle of Wight factoryWorkers occupying a wind turbine factory on the Isle of Wight vowed to continue their protest for another week today after a legal attempt to evict them quickly failed.For the past nine days, about 20 workers have occupied the Vestas Wind Systems plant near Newport, which is due to close tomorrow. The company sought a possession order at Newport county court today in an attempt to remove the workers from the factory, where 625 staff are set to lose their jobs.But, adjourning the hearing until Tuesday, the judge, Graham White, said papers had not been properly served on individuals occupying the property.Papers were served last Thursday to Mark Smith, the one worker that the factory's Danish owners know for certain is occupying the factory.In the court papers, Vestas named 13 individuals ...	30th July 2009
Bush White House was Willfully Blind to Arctic Ice Melt ostrich.jpg During the eight years the Bush Administration denied that climate change was a problem, they were concealing spy satellite images showing the frightening loss of summer artic sea ice. The de-classified images were released last week by the Obama Whitehouse in an effort to build support for the beleaguered Waxman Markey bill now moving through the Senate. The satellite pictures clearly show how rapidly the arctic is vanishing due to climate change. In years such as 2007, more than one million square kilometers of summer ice disappeared and has never recovered. The one-meter resolution images produced by the military spy satellites were far better than anything available to the world s climate scientists.	30th July 2009
Clouds in climate 'vicious cycle' - BBC  Low-level clouds dissipate as the ocean warms, causing a positive feedback in global warming, research suggests.	27th July 2009
Earth bears scars of human destruction: astronaut - CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - A Canadian astronaut aboard the International Space Station said on Sunday it looks like Earth's ice caps have melted a bit since he was last in orbit 12 years ago.	27th July 2009
Caribou populations fall sharply - The Christian Science Monitor Scientists look at why the numbers of caribou are declining.	27th July 2009
Melting Ice Off Baffin Island A rare cloudless day in the Arctic summertime allowed a NASA satellite to capture this image of melting sea ice off the coast of Canada s Baffin Island. Coastal eddies Click to EnlargeNASAIce melt during Arctic summer create the swirling patterns as ice, which clings to the shore during the winter, begins to melt and retreat in the summer sunshine. While this summertime melt, captured by NASA s Terra satellite on July 11, is typical for the season, satellite imagery shows that the extent of Arctic sea ice has declined sharply in recent decades, with this year's Arctic sea ice extent expected to be the second-lowest ever recorded.	27th July 2009
Climate change pact 'needs' China There can be no global climate change agreement without China on board, UN chief Ban Ki-moon says in Beijing.	27th July 2009
People steal meat from wild lions Lions in Cameroon are having their kills stolen from under their noses by hungry villagers, say conservationists.	27th July 2009
Getting a grip How fast is the Greenland Ice Sheet melting?	27th July 2009
A message to Copenhagen Got something to say to those deciding the world's fate? Get your voice heard by sharing your message with our Flickr group, A Message to Copenhagen and we'll feature the best hereThis December, governments meet in Copenhagen to thrash out a successor to the Kyoto Protocol that will hopefully make a historic commitment to cut international greenhouse gas emissions. Governments have already started setting out their stalls. Environmental campaigners have called on world leaders to attend.But what about you? What message do you have for the environment ministers and officials deciding the world's fate this December? Get your voice heard and share your message by adding it to our new Flickr group, A Message to Copenhagen.We want to collect as many photos from Guardian readers and Flickr users as possible, to show governments how people feel about the Copenhagen talks and climate change.We'll feature the ...	27th July 2009
'I am not going to run away' This week, after nine years of leading the Sustainable Development Commission, Jonathan Porritt left his post. So what now for Green party member and Treasury antagonist who was brought into government as a 'critical friend'?When Jonathon Porritt official government green adviser this week left his Whitehall office after nine years trying to crash the gears of the machine of state, his staff of 60 in the Sustainable Development Commission (SDC) didn't just say cheerio; they hired an old ship on the Thames, formed a blues band and sang him out to a Muddy Waters tune:For nine long years this green guru reignedWatching over Whitehall, his eye keenly trainedTree-hugger-in-chief or simply JPHowever you know him you should start to seeHe's a true ninja of sustainabilityPorritt stood to one side of the crooning SDC backing singers, delighted but emotional at his send off.	27th July 2009
Australian carbon plan divides opposition parties CANBERRA (Reuters) - Australian plans for a sweeping carbon trade scheme opened new divisions within the opposition parties on Friday, boosting hopes Prime Minister Kevin Rudd will win approval for his plan and avoid a possible snap election.	27th July 2009
U.S. must move faster on climate change: Sweden ARE, Sweden (Reuters) - Sweden, which currently holds the European Union presidency, urged the United States on Thursday to move faster to tackle climate change ahead of a major environmental summit in Copenhagen later this year.	27th July 2009
Is time running out to seal post-Kyoto climate pact? SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Negotiators face a mammoth task to try to agree by the end of the year on the outlines of broader climate pact to replace the U.N.'s Kyoto Protocol.	27th July 2009
Spread of Feed-in Tariffs Will Expand U.S. Renewable Energy Use A popular consumer program that has helped catalyze Germany s solar-power boom is beginning to spread throughout the United States. The policy, known as feed-in tariffs, offers homeowners and other small-scale producers of renewable energy favorable long-term contracts often above market rates when they sell electricity to the central power grid. The New York Times reports that Washington state, Vermont, and cities such as Sacramento, Calif. and Gainesville, Fla. have all adopted feed-in tariff programs. The program approved by the Sacramento Municipal Utility District, which serves 1.4 million people, will offer homeowners with solar panels or windmills contracts of up to 20 years to sell electricity to the grid.	27th July 2009
Wind turbine workers continue occupation at axed plant - Daily Mail: World News Workers were last night occupying a wind turbine factory for the sixth day in protest at the imminent closure of the plant.	27th July 2009
Act now on climate change or pay later: expert - Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Climate Change Institute in Canberra has warned that Australia must think beyond the emissions trading scheme, if it wants to have an impact on global warming.	27th July 2009
Revealed: the secret evidence of global warming Bush tried to hide - Guardian Unlimited Photos from US spy satellites declassified by the Obama White House provide the first graphic images of how the polar ice sheets are retreating in the summer.	27th July 2009
Guardian Environment Network: Climate insurance: what kind of deal can be made in Copenhagen? - Guardian Unlimited One key challenge on the climate change agenda is a fairer system to protect the world's poorest farmers from failing crops and extreme weather variations. From Climate Feedback part of Guardian Environment Network As even the staunchest advocates will tell you, climate insurance is by no means a magic bullet. But clearly the tools of modern finance could certainly help make poor nations prepare ...	27th July 2009
Permafrost Could Be Climate's Ticking Time Bomb - LiveScience.com via Yahoo! News This Behind the Scenes article was provided to LiveScience in partnership with the National Science Foundation. The terrain of the North Slope of Alaska is not steep, but Andrew Jacobson still has difficulty as he hikes along the spongy tundra, which is riddled with rocks and masks multitudes of mosquitoes. Jacobson, a professor of earth and planetary sciences at Northwestern University, ...	27th July 2009
Rains fail to curb drought conditions - BigPond News Consistent rain throughout NSW has had little impact, with almost two thirds of the state still in drought.	27th July 2009
Futurist says dollars mean bright future for solar energy Solar power may bring us cleaner air and clearer skies. Nice, yes. But it s money not saving Mother Earth that will catapult solar energy past dirty coal-fueled power plants. That s the theory of Ray Kurzweil, a futurist and inventor. At a technology conference on Friday, Kurzweil said billions are being invested into solar power and new advances in the technology are driving down the cost of powering by the sun. As a result, the amount of solar energy is doubling every year two years, Kurzweil said. But ultimately it will be very inexpensive.	27th July 2009
The unfathomable universe The one thing we know for certain about the universe is that it is unfathomable. We try to come to terms with this fact by telling stories, by creating narratives that are an attempt to abstract general principles from day-to-day events. In fact, making narratives is the primary way in which we transform brute events in our lives into what we call experience. Experience we can remember and reflect upon. Experience is the stuff from which we derive great artistic and scientific expression.The inability to narrate the events of one's life creates a mere jumble of disconnected elements in the mind, a source of mental anguish and even mental illness.	27th July 2009
Friday round-up Two items of interest this week. First, there is an atrocious paper that has just been published in JGR by McLean, de Freitas and Carter that is doing the rounds of the denialosphere. These authors make the completely unsurprising point that that there is a correlation between ENSO indices and global mean temperature something that has been well known for decades and then go on to claim that that all trends are explained by this correlation as well. This is somewhat surprising since their method of analysis (which involves taking the first derivative of any changes) eliminates the influence of any trends in the correlation.	27th July 2009
Global warming may impede eelgrass growth Scientist Ron Thom probably knows more than anyone else about the growth of eelgrass, the humble marine plant commonly found in sheltered bays, inlets and other shallow waters.	27th July 2009
CLIMATE CHANGE-CHINA: Reluctance to Curb Emissions BEIJING, Jul 22 (IPS) - China has welcomed Obama administration s efforts to lead a global movement to curb greenhouse gas emissions, but it has spawned concerns in Beijing that international pressure to cap emissions could mount, thus slowing the pace of economic growth.	27th July 2009
Brown condemned by his green guru Gordon Brown does not see the environment as important and spent years as Chancellor preventing British domestic action on climate change, the Government's chief environmental adviser says today.	27th July 2009
This Year's Model Climate science is not completely dependent on climate models. There are many threads of supporting evidence. Still, it is clear that climate models are telling us something important that we cannot afford to ignore. <!--break-->	27th July 2009
Spotlight on Russia's Role in Climate Control - International Herald Tribune Russia has stayed out of view amid the global hunt for an agreement on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. But that could change.	27th July 2009
The big switch A low-carbon future will only happen with real leadership See also: The Low Carbon Transition #1 : It s Gonna Cost Ya	21st July 2009
Serious About Green Jobs? It's Time to Throw 'Free Trade' out the Window If we want a greener world and green jobs for our citizens, we have to ditch the 'free-trade' ideal -- markets on their own won't do it. See also: China wind turbine makers blow over foreign rivals - vnunet.com	21st July 2009
IPCC chief: Benefits of tackling climate change will balance cost The cost of tackling climate change will be paid for by benefits that would come from better energy security, employment and health, Rajendra Pachauri says ahead of major announcement on 2013 reportsMeasures needed to tackle global warming could save economies more money than they cost, the world's top climate change expert said today.Rajendra Pachauri, the head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), told the Guardian: "The cost could undoubtedly be negative overall." This is because of the additional benefits that reducing greenhouse gas emissions could bring, beyond limiting temperature rises.Until now, estimates of the price of preventing dangerous climate change have all indicated significant costs.	21st July 2009
Britain 'must grow more crops' to avoid global food crisis Britain must not bury its head in the sand over food supplies, warns the environment, food and rural affairs committeeBritain should grow far more fruit, vegetables and cereals to help feed the extra 2.7 billion people there may be in the world within 40 years, said a powerful committee of MPs in a report published today.Michael Jack, who chairs the environment, food and rural affairs (Efra) committee, said: "If people go hungry then political stability goes out of the window. This is a key lesson that government must learn from last year's global food price rises when some countries ran short of food.	21st July 2009
Food products should carry 'water footprint' information, says report The hidden amounts of water used in manufacturing food and drink products should be made known to customers, according to lobby groupsFood and drink products should carry a new label to give consumers more information about their "water footprint" the hidden amount of water used in the manufacturing process two health and food lobby groups will recommend this week. More transparency is needed about the huge volumes of water used to produce food, which most consumers are unaware of, said the joint report by the Food Ethics Council (FEC) and the health and food group Sustain.It is calling for the proposed new label to reflect good practice, by taking into account the extent to which some companies and manufacturers are already working to use water in ways that are fair and environmentally sustainable.Water scarcity is now a fast-growing sustainability problem across the world, the ...	21st July 2009
Scientists plant trees where they don t belong - Corvallis Gazette-Times LOS ANGELES On naked patches of land in western Canada and United States, scientists are planting trees that don t belong there. It s a bold experiment to move trees threatened by global warming into places where they may thrive amid a changing climate.	21st July 2009
Fish Getting Smaller as Their Habitats Become Warmer - Update1 - Bloomberg July 20 (Bloomberg) -- Fish in French rivers and the Baltic Sea are getting smaller as their habitats warm up, more evidence that climate change is forcing species from bacteria to sheep to adapt to a hotter planet, a new study said.	21st July 2009
Bye Bye, Birdie: Global Warming Pushes Migratory Species North - Bloomberg July 21 (Bloomberg) -- My guide risks his fingers and our canoe by reaching into the water and pulling a fat snapping turtle weighing maybe 25 pounds out of the marsh bottom s muck.	21st July 2009
Texas drought losses reach $3.6 billion - Texas A&M AgNews COLLEGE STATION Lack of rainfall and record triple-digit temperatures have scorched crops and rangeland throughout parts of Texas causing drought losses to reach $3.6 billion, Texas AgriLife Extension Service economists reported Monday. By the end of the year, losses could exceed $4.1 billion, the loss estimated in Texas in 2006, if sufficient rainfall isn't received to revive crops and forage, ...	21st July 2009
Western Reservoirs Could Be Dry By 2050 - LiveScience.com via Yahoo! News There's a one-in-two chance that the water reservoirs of the Colorado River will dry up by 2050 if water management practices remain unchanged in our warming world, a new study finds.	21st July 2009
Staff occupy Isle of Wight wind plant in protest against closure Workers staged an occupation of one of Britain's only wind turbine factories last night to protest against the imminent closure of the plant and the loss of hundreds of jobs.About 25 workers entered the administration block of the Vestas Wind Systems factory in Newport, Isle of Wight, at around 7.30pm and vowed to remain there until the government discusses their proposal to save it from closure by nationalising the plant.In April the Danish firm announced that the factory, which employs 525 people, as well as another in Southampton, employing 100 people, would close because of a lack of demand.Vestas, which is the world's biggest wind energy group and recently reported a quarterly sales rise of 59%, up to 1.1bn (£0.95bn), cited a slowdown in demand when it announced the closure of the factory.	21st July 2009
Climate engineering research gets green light Geoengineering schemes to rein in humanity's effect on the climate get the go-ahead for further research, alongside more traditional methods	21st July 2009
Electric cars: Juiced up and ready to go The compact, powerful batteries needed to create viable electric cars are tantalisingly close, but which of the competing options will become the next power player? See also: Lithium: Are “blood batteries” next?	21st July 2009
Malaysian Forests Felled For Massive Rubber Tree Plantations Malaysia s remaining rainforests are rapidly being clear-cut and replaced with plantations of cloned trees that yield latex rubber and can also be harvested for timber, according to a report in The Star in Malaysia. The newspaper says that permanent forest reserves protected areas in which some selective logging is allowed are being converted to monoculture plantations that grow not only the latex-timber clone but also stands of African mahogany, teak, Acacia, and other species. Up to 80 percent of Malaysia s remaining intact rainforests are threatened by the plantations, which harbor a fraction of the biodiversity found in pristine rainforests, the newspaper reported. See also: INTERVIEW-Indonesia forest projects target 13 mln CO2 offsets - AlertNet	21st July 2009
Is Bill Clinton s climate legacy a problem for Obama? Who was president when U.S. greenhouse gas emissions rose most sharply since 1990, the U.N. benchmark year for action to fight climate change? George W. Bush (2001-2007) Bill Clinton (1993-2000) George H.W. Bush (1990-1992) (I m giving presidents responsibility for the full calendar year of their inauguration in January; official U.S. data are only available until 2007) Answer Bill Clinton (by a long way). Many people might have thought the worst scorecard was by George W. Bush, who gave up plans to implement the 1997 Kyoto Protocol for cutting greenhouse gas emissions, signed by the Clinton administration but never submitted to a hostile Senate for ratification.	21st July 2009
India Refuses to Bend to Obama Pressure on Carbon Emission Caps - Bloomberg July 20 (Bloomberg) -- India won t bend to demands from the Obama administration or threats from the U.S. Congress to adopt legally binding caps on its carbon emissions, the country s environment minister told visiting U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton yesterday.	19th July 2009
The big question In 1883 renown Yale professor William Graham Sumner examined the question of what the social classes owe to each other. Sumner was a classical liberal--what we might call a conservative today if only we could find a real one--and his answer to this question can be summarized in one word: Nothing.In 2009 in the grip of advancing climate change and rapidly depleting resources we are confronted with a more radical question: What do the generations owe to each other? The easy answer is to copy Sumner's. And, some people have. (Scroll down to Sam Vaknin and expand his essay.) But given that most people have offspring, we can expect that their sympathies might extend to their children and grandchildren, but not much beyond.	19th July 2009
Carbon emissions trading system 'seriously flawed' - Guardian The system of trading carbon emissions at the heart of the ambitious low-carbon plan announced by the government last week is seriously flawed and close to becoming irrelevant, according to researchers behind a new analysis. So-called "hot air" carbon credits – those which do not result in any actual emissions cuts – could be so numerous that companies covered by the EU Emissions Trading Scheme would not have to make any cuts to their own emissions until 2015, says the report from climate campaign group, Sandbag. The hot air permits result from the over-allocation of emissions allowances and from those going unused as the recession cuts economic activity. The ETS covers 50% of the UK and EU's carbon emissions, mainly in the energy, cement, steel, glass and manufacturing sectors. Companies in these sectors are allocated allowances for the carbon they emit, with the total number shrinking over time, theoretically forcing companies to buy additional permits to pollute if they do not cut their emissions.	19th July 2009
B.C. fire forces 10,000 to evacuate - Toronto Star Firefighters in B.C. were hoping that predictions of dying winds and cooler temperatures today would mean they could get the upper hand in fighting a forest fire that has forced 10,000 to flee their homes.	19th July 2009
At risk from rising seas, Tuvalu seeks clean power OSLO (Reuters) - The Pacific island state of Tuvalu set a goal Sunday of a 100 percent shift to renewable energy by 2020, hoping to set an example to industrialized nations to cut greenhouse gases it blames for rising sea levels.	19th July 2009
Climate change threatens more hunger Zero point eight of a degree of warming may not seem like that much. This is how much average temperatures have risen over the past two centuries as a result of carbon pollution.	19th July 2009
Is China Winning the Clean Energy Race? Industrialized nations may find themselves borrowing and begging for new technologies that China has been busy perfecting all along.	19th July 2009
A Transition Take on the UK Low Carbon Transition Plan After many months of Ed Milliband putting himself out there as a Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change that actually gets climate change, finally his big Plan, the UK Low Carbon Transition Plan was unveiled on Wednesday, in a speech in the House of Commons that namechecked Transition Towns and which is the boldest national vision for a low carbon society yet seen. Many others have since pitched in with their thoughts, I thought it might be useful here to offer an analysis from a Transition perspective. read more	19th July 2009
Green dream runs low on power - Guardian Unlimited The closure of a turbine plant on the Isle of Wight is symbolic of a dangerously becalmed renewables sector.	19th July 2009
AUSTRALIA: Rod Quantock: If you re not scared shitless, you don t understand the science Comedian Rod Quantock launches his new show, Bugger the Polar Bears, This is Serious, in Melbourne on July 21. He spoke to Green Left Weekly s Jay Fletcher about climate change, government inaction and the urgent need to create a global movement to save the planet.	19th July 2009
El Nino threat blows commodity prices higher With the El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) on the horizon and concerns over food shortages, crops are locked in a bull market.	19th July 2009
G8 CO2 Pledge Falls Short Of Climate Change Needs - IPCC Chief - Nasdaq PARIS (AFP)--The head of the U.N.'s panel of climate-change experts said Friday he was encouraged by climate pledges at last week's G8 summit but warned commitments still fell short of what was required by science. See also: Trapping Carbon Dioxide Or Switching To Nuclear Power Not Enough To Solve Global Warming Problem	17th July 2009
U.S. should pay for carbon content of imported goods: Locke SHANGHAI (Reuters) - To address the serious threat of global warming, Americans should be required to "pay" for the carbon content of goods they consume from countries around the world, a top U.S. official said on Friday.	17th July 2009
Mystery methane belched out by megacities A study of the greenhouse gases from the Los Angeles metropolitan region finds a large amount of methane, which had been previously unaccounted for	17th July 2009
Denmark plans forces for Arctic - BBC News Denmark plans to create an Arctic military command and task force as global warming fuels rivalry in the region.	17th July 2009
U.S. releases unclassified spy images of Arctic ice WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States released more than a thousand intelligence images of Arctic ice to help scientists study the impact of climate change, within hours of a recommendation by the National Academy of Sciences.	17th July 2009
In Montana, The Retreat of Glaciers - CBS News Warmer Temps Mean Glacier National Park May be "Glacier-free by 2030;" Wildlife in Peril	17th July 2009
San Diego menaced by jumbo squid Scuba divers off the Californian city of San Diego report unnerving encounters with large numbers of Humboldt squid.	17th July 2009
World's Ocean Temperatures Reach Warmest on Record for June - Bloomberg By Jim Efstathiou Jr. July 17 (Bloomberg) -- The world s ocean temperature in June rose to the warmest since 1880, breaking the previous record set in 2005, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said.	17th July 2009
Sea ice minimum forecasts One of the interesting things about being a scientist is seeing how unexpected observations can galvanize the community into looking at a problem in a different way than before. A good example of this is the unexpectedly low Arctic sea ice minimum in 2007 and the near-repeat in 2008. What was unexpected was not the long term decline of summer ice (this has long been a robust prediction), but the size of 2007 and 2008 decreases which were much larger than any model had hinted at. This model-data mismatch raises a number of obvious questions were the data reliable?	17th July 2009
ENVIRONMENT-BRAZIL: Take the Squeaky Clean Hydro Bus SAO PAULO, Jul 16 (IPS) - The government of the state of Sao Paulo in southern Brazil has launched the first hydrogen-fuelled bus in Latin America - the first step towards environmentally sustainable public transport of the future.	17th July 2009
Pakistanis set tree planting record: 1,800 each a day If you feel proud about having planted a tree sometime to help protect the environment, you may have to think again. Pakistan has apparently set a record for tree plantings, with volunteers planting about 1,800 mangroves each in a day in mud and temperatures of up to 37 Celsius, according to the WWF International conservation group. Maybe such competitions will catch on if a new U.N. climate treaty due to be agreed in Copenhagen in December includes measures to combat deforestation. Trees soak up greenhouse gases as they grow and release them when they burn or rot. According to a WWF statement, 300 volunteers planted 541,176 young mangroves without any mechanical equipment in the Indus River Delta, about 150 km south east of Karachi.	17th July 2009
Real-time 'CO2 intensity' site makes the case for midnight dishwashing The launch of the website Realtime Carbon could change the way we think about the environmental impact of electricityToday sees the launch of Realtime Carbon, a neat website that could change the way we think about the environmental impact of electricity. The purpose of the site is to report the carbon footprint of a unit of power as it changes over time.It may sound geeky but it's hugely significant. Over the course of 24 hours, demand for electricity fluctuates widely. Demand is lowest in the small hours hence energy tariffs such as Economy 7 and highest in the daytime and early evening, when the largest number of appliances and lights are in use.Demand also changes over the course of the year, as there's greater need for electric lighting and heating during dark, cold winter evenings.It goes without saying that the more electricity we consume, the ...	17th July 2009
Activists: we'll 'rush' parliament to pressure Copenhagen climate summit It may not have been the 'summer of rage' that was feared, but environmental activists have big plans for CopenhagenEnvironmental activists last night set up an alternative People's Parliament and called for drastic action to jolt the government into action, even as some of them admitted that the green movement is just temporarily a little "stuck".Beneath a rainy sky in the Old Palace Yard opposite the Houses of Parliament, around a hundred campaigners gathered to berate the government for dragging its feet. While speakers broadly welcomed yesterday's plan for a low carbon Britain, Darren Johnson of the Green Party said he deeply regretted the "dismal failure we've seen from the government," and Colin Challen MP revealed that direct government action since 1990 had cut carbon emissions by a dismal 15%.	17th July 2009
Is the clean energy cashback tariff high enough to stimulate investment? After months of deliberation, the UK government has announced a range of illustrative figures for feed-in tariffs. From Carbon Commentary, part of the Guardian Environment NetworkAfter months of deliberation, the UK government has announced a range of illustrative figures for feed-in tariffs (FITs), which it's calling a Clean Energy Cashback scheme. FITs are fixed payments made to the owners of small generating stations for the electricity that they export to the grid. Micro-generators need high payments to justify their expensive investment in buying and installing green generation.The proposed levels of FIT vary by the type of technology. See also: Home Solar Arrays Expand Rapidly in California	17th July 2009
First 'climate friendly' labels appear on foods Sweden has brought in the stickers in the hope is that consumers will buy greener products but will companies make claims they can't back up? See also: Wal-Mart Labels Will Rate Sustainability of Products	17th July 2009
AIG Closed Climate Change Program Last Month - Environmental News Network Last month American Insurance Group (AIG) closed its climate change program, which included keeping an inventory of greenhouse gas emissions.	17th July 2009
34 Nobel winners write President about the lack of support for Energy R&D in the Climate/Energy Bill Concerned about the lack of stable and specific funding for research and development in the ACES bill, 34 Nobel Prize laureates write to President Obama, asking him to urge Congress to send him a bill that commits to the $15 billion the President originally proposed.	17th July 2009
'Motion Picture' of Past Warming Paves Way for Snapshots of Future Climate Change - Newswise By accurately modeling Earth's last major global warming -- and answering pressing questions about its causes -- scientists led by a University of Wisconsin-Madison climatologist are unraveling the intricacies of the kind of abrupt climate shifts that may occur in the future.	17th July 2009
Shipping emissions plan 'stalls' Plans to reduce rising emissions from global shipping have faltered at a key international meeting.	17th July 2009
Severn tidal power scheme should not go ahead, warns Environment Agency The contentious Weston barrage would be the largest renewable energy project in Europe but comes with a huge ecological costA giant tidal energy scheme which the government is counting on to meet ambitious new green energy targets set this week should not be built because it would be so ecologically destructive, the chair of the Environment Agency has warned ministers.The government's roadmap to a low-carbon UK called for a 34% cut in emissions by 2020, with the power sector contributing the bulk of that saving. The Weston barrage, running 10 miles across the Severn estuary between Weston-super-Mare and Cardiff, is by far the largest of four tidal power schemes being considered by government and would be the centrepiece of the nation's renewable energy plan.It could generate 8.6 gigawatts of zero-carbon electricity from the Severn the equivalent of eight large coal-fired power ...	17th July 2009
Energy bill rises will be tiny Compared with wildly fluctuating wholesale gas and electricity prices, the cost of cutting emissions will scarcely be detectable on future energy billsThe ink isn't dry on the government's low carbon transition plan, and already the whingeing has begun. The talkshows are buzzing with complaints about the impact on energy prices. Some punters suggest that this will be the end of life as we know it: the government's plans will wreck the economy and bankrupt struggling families. There's no doubt that fuel poverty remains an important issue in this country. It still accelerates the deaths of elderly people every winter. Being able to maintain your home at a habitable temperature is a basic human right.	16th July 2009
Low carbon plan An ambitious new road map or yet another dead-end?	16th July 2009
Miliband's manifesto to make Britain a low-carbon economy Thousands more wind turbines, millions of "smart" electricity meters for homes and new cars emitting 40 per cent less pollution than they do now all are on the way in the next decade under ambitious plans to slash CO2 emissions from every sector of the economy.	16th July 2009
Harming the environment is bad for the economy - CNews The argument is that we simply can't afford to protect the environment - that the costs will be so high as to ruin the economy.	16th July 2009
UN tackles 'climate harm' ships The UN discusses rules aimed at cutting the emission of greenhouse gases from shipping.	16th July 2009
Labour orders green energy revolution Miliband takes control of power grid and lays out plan for low-carbon UKThe government seized control of key levers in the energy sector today in an attempt to kickstart a stalling "green energy" revolution and head off the threats of global warming and a rundown in North Sea oil.Ministers plan to take over the allocation of electricity grid connections in order to favour renewable schemes, force the industry regulator, Ofgem, to tackle carbon pollution and pass laws to compel power companies to help poorer families meet rising energy bills.The moves came as Ed Miliband, energy and climate change secretary, set out an ambitious road map for the UK to meet its legally binding target of a 34% cut in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020.	16th July 2009
Senators seek climate bill analysis for farmers WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two Republican senators are pressing the administration ahead of an Agriculture Committee hearing next week for a detailed analysis of the impact of climate change legislation on U.S. farmers and ranchers.	16th July 2009
U.S. commerce, energy secretaries highlight co-op with China on climate change - China Economic Net U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke and Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, both Chinese Americans, began their China tour by stressing the importance of cooperation between the two nations in slowing global warming.	16th July 2009
Grace Boyle: 'It will take much more than threats of climate change to spur this mighty elephant into action' The following is by Akhila Vijayaraghavan, a friend of mine who works as a campaigner on sustainable agriculture at Greenpeace. She returned to India in March of this year having spent six years studying in Glasgow, and still retains much of the excellent accent. With this perspective, I asked her to write something on her impressions of the Indian attitude to environmentalism. See also: Why Poor Countries Won't Curb Emissions - Forbes	15th July 2009
Taking Shorter Showers Doesn't Cut It: Why Personal Change Does Not Equal Political Change Are we taking the easy route? Dumpster diving wouldn't have stopped Hitler, and composting wouldn't have ended slavery.	15th July 2009
Arctic glacier to lose Manhattan-sized 'tongue' A vast chunk of ice is about to detach from the biggest glacier in the Arctic researchers worry that it could be a result of a warming climate	15th July 2009
Northwest Passage Crew Hopes to Tell Global Warming Tale - Alaska Public Radio Network Sailors like adventures, but some want adventures with a greater purpose. Another sailboat passed through Unalaska recently to attempt the Northwest Passage. This time, the crew of the 40-foot sailboat want to educate people about climate change in the Arctic. Anne Hillman, KUCB - Unalaska Download Audio (MP3)	15th July 2009
Assam declares 14 districts drought-hit - The Times of India The Assam government has declared more than half of the state as drought-hit, saying agriculture was badly hit due to scanty monsoon rains, officials said.	15th July 2009
Cricket replace skylark as sound of English summer - Daily Telegraph The sound of the English summer is changing due to global warming as the song of the skylark is overwhelmed by the chirrup of crickets.	15th July 2009
Dead Heat My two favourite charts are the ones that say the most powerful thing in the most simple way. The Ranking chart which changes its name and content each year is a simple way of comparing the current year to two previously hot years :- And the chart I call the Blob Chart shows in a very non-verbal, non-numerical way just what is happening with Global Warming :- NOAA release their data for June on 15th July.	15th July 2009
Energy strategy boosts wave hub - BBC News A wave energy poject in Cornwall is to receive nearly £30m as part of moves to make the South West of England a world centre for wave and tidal energy.	15th July 2009
Capturing CO2 in a bowl - PhysOrg The accidental discovery of a bowl-shaped molecule that pulls carbon dioxide out of the air suggests exciting new possibilities for dealing with global warming, including genetically engineering microbes to manufacture those CO2 "catchers," a scientist from Maryland reports in an article scheduled for the August 3 issue of ACS' Inorganic Chemistry.	15th July 2009
How to store excess electricity - Guardian For years, the stumbling block for renewable energy has been how to store electricity for days when the sun isn't shining and the wind isn't blowing. But new technologies suggest this goal may be within reach, writes Jon R Luoma from Yale Environment 360, part of the Guardian Environment Network"Why are we ignoring things we know? We know that the sun doesn't always shine and that the wind doesn't always blow." So wrote former U.S. Energy Secretary James Schlesinger and Robert L. Hirsch last spring in the Washington Post, suggesting that because these key renewables produce power only intermittently, "solar and wind will probably only provide a modest percentage of future U.S.	15th July 2009
Marine energy firm gets £8m boost - BBC News An Orkney-based marine energy firm is given £8m funding by the UK Government to reduce carbon emissions from fossil fuels.	15th July 2009
Sun energy empowers Ethiopian village - BBC News A solar energy project is transforming the lives of people in rural Ethiopia	15th July 2009
The dawn of carbon budgeting: now every tonne counts The government's new climate change strategy should mean greater emphasis on emissions savings rather than trading and shared responsibilityThe publication of the government's climate change strategy tomorrow should herald the beginning of a new era in the fight against climate change. While the public-facing, energy-saving policies may catch the headlines, what is going on behind the scenes is in reality more important.In order to meet the requirement of the Climate Change Act, and the carbon budgets it created, the government has had to adopt a new approach to managing carbon. In this new regime every tonne counts and all government departments with an influence over policies affecting emissions will need to play their part in keeping reductions on track.	15th July 2009
Miliband promises more green jobs but Vestas wind turbine plant is closing - Times Online One of Britain s biggest employers in the green energy industry is to cease production within hours of a government announcement today pledging as many as 400,000 green jobs by 2015.	15th July 2009
UK needs total energy revamp for 2050 carbon goal - Reuters via Yahoo! UK & Ireland News Britain will need completely new transport and energy infrastructure to meet its ambitious carbon emissions target for 2050, the head of the Energy Technologies Institute (ETI) said.	15th July 2009
China Will Be Hero If Its Emissions Peak in 2020, Stern Says - Bloomberg July 14 (Bloomberg) -- China will be regarded as a hero should its greenhouse gas output per person peak in 11 years, former World Bank Chief Economist Nicholas Stern said.	15th July 2009
Ed Miliband has his head in the clouds He is the latest politician to fall for the aviation lobby's social class argument but it just doesn't stand up to scrutinyVery interesting and telling words this week from Ed Miliband regarding the so-called "right to fly". The climate change and energy secretary told the Guardian that he didn't "want to have a situation where only rich people can afford to fly", and would therefore not be seeking to include aviation within the government's broad commitment to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 80% by 2050."Where I disagree with other people on aviation is if you did 80% cuts across the board, as some people have called for on aviation, you would go back to 1974 levels of flying," he said.	15th July 2009
HOME documentary - Earth's unsustainable energy and environmental situation - Culture Change The film HOME by Yann Arthus-Bertrand is a beautifully shot panorama of the Earth and the damage done to it by modern humanity. It includes a moving narration about the evolution of the Earth, nature, agriculture, humans, and the crises of habitat destruction, energy depletion, climate disruption, degradation of the environment, health, economic disparity, and more. They are well integrated in the film, but many assumptions in the script make this film hard to recommend unless accompanied by a reality check on energy and the value of traditional ways.	15th July 2009
Swapping technologies fails to address the root causes of climate change The environmental and social crisis that threatens us requires deeper solutions than new technology alone can provideTechnology is part of the solution to climate change. But only part. Techno-fixes like some of those in the Guardian's Manchester Report simply cannot deliver the carbon cuts science demands of us without being accompanied by drastic reductions in our consumption. That means radical economic and social transformation. Merely swapping technologies fails to address the root causes of climate change.We need to choose the solutions that are the cheapest, the swiftest, the most effective and least likely to incur dire side effects. On all counts, there's a simple answer stop burning the stuff in the first place.	15th July 2009
Carbon dioxide forcing alone insufficient to explain Palaeocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum warming - Nature The PalaeoceneEocene Thermal Maximum (about 55 Myr ago) represents a possible analogue for the future and thus may provide insight into climate system sensitivity and feedbacks1, 2. The key feature of this event is the release of a large mass of 13C-depleted carbon into the carbon reservoirs at the Earth's surface, although the source remains an open issue3, 4. Concurrently, global surface temperatures rose by 59 C within a few thousand years5, 6, 7, 8, 9. Here we use published palaeorecords of deep-sea carbonate dissolution10, 11, 12, 13, 14 and stable carbon isotope composition10, 15, 16, 17 along with a carbon cycle model to constrain the initial carbon pulse to a magnitude of 3,000 Pg C or less, with an isotopic composition lighter than -50permil. As a result, atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations increased during the main event by less than about 70% compared with pre-event levels. At accepted values for the climate sensitivity to a doubling of the atmospheric CO2 concentration1, this rise in CO2 can explain only between 1 and 3.5 °C of the warming inferred from proxy records. We conclude that in addition to direct CO2 forcing, other processes and/or feedbacks that are hitherto unknown must have caused a substantial portion of the warming during the PalaeoceneEocene Thermal Maximum. Once these processes have been identified, their potential effect on future climate change needs to be taken into account. See also: Mystery mechanism drove global warming 55 million years ago - AFP via Yahoo! News	14th July 2009
The Spectator Is Hot for Global Warming Denial - Huffington Post If there is any credit due to the monstrous legacy of Britain's Margaret Thatcher it is that she -- with her background in science -- always accepted the reality of man-made global warming. The British Conservative Party never took the route of denial that Republicans in the U.S or the Liberal Party in Australia followed. The same cannot be said, alas, for Britain's predominantly right-wing press which has given a great deal of space to Global Warming time-wasting as it once did to denying the link between HIV and AIDS. This week, the Spectator (a bit like a British counterpart to the National Review) has a front page splash: "Relax: Global Warming is All a Myth" with James Delingpole interviewing Australian denier, Ian Pilmer, publicising his new book. Global warming denial is not a set of scientific ideas -- it's a collection of bogus factoids which have a zombie-like ability to keep returning to life, seeking new brains to feed on no matter how many times they are shot down.	14th July 2009
Pulling Yourself Off the Ground By Your Whiskers - Monbiot Here is the simple mathematical reason why large scale carbon offsets can t work	14th July 2009
Gwynne Dyer: At the G8 Summit, two cheers for two degrees - Georgia Straight This is how the human race does business. What the G8 Summit in Italy decided to do about climate change last week was much less than is necessary, but the very best that a realist could have hoped for. Some tens of millions of people will probably die as a result, or some hundreds of millions if we are really unlucky. But there is still time to avoid the worst. And anyway, it can't be helped: this is the way we do business. If we are lucky, some early disasters that don't kill too many people will frighten the world's countries into accepting tougher cuts in emissions while there is still time to avoid the worst, but this is the best that we are going to get for now. So two cheers for the two-degree limit. See also: 80 Percent of What ?	14th July 2009
Spot The Fatal Flaw #1 : Oil From Algae But, you’ve guessed it from the title of this post, there is a fatal flaw, and it flows from that little mention of “a large source of carbon dioxide”. You see, the birth and growth and death rates of algae in normal atmospheric concentrations of Carbon Dioxide are unlikely to yield more than a trickle of car juice. So more dense flows of CO2 are required. If this method of making liquid fuels takes off and dominates the vehicle fuel market in the future, it would force us to continue to burn Coal and refine Petroleum to create the kind of quantities of Carbon Dioxide-rich gas that the process needs. Put it another way : algal oil will be used as a justification for Coal-fired power plants. “Ah”, the CEOs will say, “algal oil sucks up all that CO2 to make fuel. What a wonderful way to sequester it !” And the driving public will be bowled over. But what will happen when the fuel is burned ? Why, naturally, all that Carbon Dioxide will be released into the air once more. What an omission about emissions ! Yes, algal oil would give us more Energy per tonne of Carbon Dioxide emitted. It will give us a greater Carbon “intensity”, doing more with less, but it won’t halt emissions and it won’t reduce them.	14th July 2009
Iraq's Euphrates River Dries Up, Adding to Drought, NYT Reports - Bloomberg July 14 (Bloomberg) -- The Euphrates River in Iraq is drying up because of upstream dams in Syria and Turkey, adding to a drought that s lasted two years, the New York Times reported , citing local residents and officials.	14th July 2009
Obama team sees jobs growth in health, environment - Reuters WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Jobs in the healthcare and environmental sectors are growing at a faster rate than those of the U.S. economy as a whole, President Barack Obama's Council of Economic Advisers will say a report to be released on Monday.	14th July 2009
Desert dreams of the solar age - BBC Could Europe be powered from the Sahara Desert? The Desertec project's initial goal is "to produce sufficient power to meet around 15% of Europe's electricity requirements and a substantial portion of the power needs of the producer countries". These will be in North Africa and the Middle East, probably stretching round as far as Jordan, whose Prince Hassan bin Talal declared that "partnerships that will be formed across the regions as a result of the Desertec project will open a new chapter in relations between the people of the EU, West Asia and North Africa". But the dreams are even bigger. Why not power much more of Europe from the region? Why not electrify much of South America from the Atacama desert and the mountain tops of Patagonia? Sydney and Melbourne from the Simpson desert, and western China from the expanding Gobi?	14th July 2009
Exxon to invest $600 million in making fuel from algae - Reuters LONDON (Reuters) - Exxon Mobil Corp has agreed to invest possibly more than $600 million in a venture to develop biofuels from algae, the oil major, which previously dismissed renewable energy as uneconomic, said on Tuesday. BUT - see also: Spot The Fatal Flaw #1 : Oil From Algae	14th July 2009
Scotland could be powered only by renewable energy in 20 years - The Herald A Green Scotland could scrap its fossil fuel power plants and still more than meet all its electricity demands from renewable sources by 2030, according to a major new study seen by The Herald.	14th July 2009
U.S. to press China on tariffs on clean energy trade - Reuters SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The United States will press China this week to lower its tariffs on clean energy technology as one of many steps the two countries can take to fight global warming, U.S. officials said on Monday.	14th July 2009
E.ON and EDF have drawn the battle lines between renewables and nuclear - Guardian Energy bosses don't like the idea that renewable energy delivers power to the people both literally and metaphoricallyIn 2003, the nuclear industry was very nearly killed off in Britain. In 2009, it is so resurgent that captains of the energy industry are arguing it is renewables that should be killed off, or at least kept on a starvation diet.Today, the Confederation of British Industry has thrown its weight behind the nuclear industry's calls for the government to scale back "overambitious" wind power targets in favour of atomic energy. Two foreign-owned energy giants, E.ON and EDF, have recently told the government it must essentially choose between new nuclear and major renewables developments.	14th July 2009
Airline CO2 Cap in EU to Start at 210 Million Tons, Group Says - Bloomberg July 13 (Bloomberg) -- Airlines will probably face a European Union carbon-dioxide limit of about 210 million metric tons when they join the EU s emissions-trading system in 2012, the region s main industry lobby group predicts as regulators prepare to decide on the matter.	14th July 2009
EU approves state aid for British CO2 scheme - Reuters BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Commission approved on Tuesday state aid involved in a British scheme for trading carbon dioxide emissions, part of the country's effort to fight global warming.	14th July 2009
We will protect air travel for the masses, says Ed Miliband - Guardian Mass air travel will be preserved even in a low-carbon Britain because the government will find deeper emissions cuts in other areas, the climate change secretary Ed Miliband said today. Dismissing demands for punitive sanctions to curb flying, Miliband said the government was determined to ensure that airline travel remains affordable for ordinary people. See also: Ed Miliband : Lost in TV	14th July 2009
Brothel offers 'green' discount - BBC News A German brothel goes green to boost its business, offering customers money off if they arrive by bicycle.	14th July 2009
'Social tariff' to offset cost of green power - Guardian Unlimited The government will soften the blow to hard-up families worried about rising bills to pay for greener power generation with promises of a compulsory "social tariff" as part of an energy white paper to be published on Wednesday. British Gas, npower and others have been told they will no longer be able to choose whether they keep price increases lower for worse-off customers and will instead have to act according to planned new legislation, industry sources say. The government last night declined to comment directly on its plans, but Ed Miliband told the Commons last week that the social tariff system needed reform. "At present, the system tends to be piecemeal - who gets into it and who does not is often an arbitrary process. We shall have more to say about it in the future."	14th July 2009
UK to set out route map for cutting emissions - Reuters LONDON (Reuters) - The British government will set out a route map on Wednesday showing how it plans to meet its 2020 target of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 34 percent compared to 1990 levels, a minister said on Sunday. See also: Centrica and npower set to green light huge offshore wind farm projects - Guardian Unlimited Number of wind turbines to quadruple under Renewable Energy Strategy - Times Online Energy policy 'too wind focused' - BBC Gordon Brown: "Britain's green revolution will power economic recovery - Observer" Government rejects claims renewables will add £200 to energy bills - vnunet.com	13th July 2009
Solar power plants planned for Sahara - Financial Times Around a dozen companies are set to launch a renewable energy initiative on Monday that its backers claim could within a decade provide Europeans with electricity generated from the Sahara at a cost of 400bn ($557bn).	13th July 2009
Wild weather ahead, scientists predict - Guardian Climate scientists have warned of wild weather in the year ahead as the start of the global "El Niño" phenomenon exacerbates the impact of global warming. As well as droughts, floods and other extreme events, the next few years are also likely to be the hottest on record, scientists say.In the UK, a Met Office spokesman said yesterday that the El Niño event was likely to cause a hot, dry summer following a warm June, but said it could have other unpredictable effects on weather in Britain and north-west Europe. "Much depends on how much the El Niño deepens in the next few months."El Niño - "the child" in Spanish - was named by fishermen in Peru and Ecuador because the phenomenon arrives there at Christmas.	13th July 2009
Water wars turn deadly as wells run dry - Guardian The monsoon is late, the wells are running dry and in the teeming city of Bhopal, water supply is now a deadly issue. Gethin Chamberlain reportsIt was a little after 8pm when the water started flowing through the pipe running beneath the dirt streets of Bhopal's Sanjay Nagar slum. After days without a drop of water, the Malviya family were the first to reach the hole they had drilled in the pipe, filling what containers they had as quickly as they could. Within minutes, three of them were dead, hacked to death by angry neighbours who accused them of stealing water.In Bhopal, and across much of northern India, a late monsoon and the driest June for 83 years are exacerbating the effects of a widespread drought and setting neighbour against neighbour in a desperate fight for survival.India's vast farming economy is on the verge of crisis.	13th July 2009
Grains and how we get them - Energy Bulletin This post talks about a seldom-mentioned aspect of local sustainable food production: how do we get our carbs? Local and urban fruit and veg production is all very well and needs to be encouraged, but as East Anglia Food Link Coordinator Tully Wakeman says, "...fruit and veg supplies only about 10% of our calories". How and where our grains are grown, and how they can be sustainably transported and processed form the crux of this issue.	13th July 2009
U.S. officials to prod China on climate change WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu and Commerce Secretary Gary Locke visit their ancestral homeland this week to press China to join with the United States in stepped-up efforts to fight global warming.	13th July 2009
Al Gore: carbon bill should pass - The Age Former US vice-president Al Gore has waded into the Australian carbon trading debate, suggesting passing even an imperfect bill this year could help secure a new treaty to cut greenhouse gas emissions.	13th July 2009
EU president Sweden says U.N. climate talks too slow BEIJING (Reuters) - Global climate talks are progressing too slowly and too many countries are demanding action from others rather than acting by themselves, Sweden's Environment Minister Andreas Carlgren said on Monday in Beijing.	13th July 2009
Make your home greener or pay higher council tax, Government says - Daily Mail UK: Householders should face higher council tax and stamp duty if they refuse to make their homes greener, Government advisers say.	13th July 2009

The planet's future: Climate change 'will cause civilisation to collapse' - Independent An effort on the scale of the Apollo mission that sent men to the Moon is needed if humanity is to have a fighting chance of surviving the ravages of climate change. The stakes are high, as, without sustainable growth, "billions of people will be condemned to poverty and much of civilisation will collapse".	12th July 2009
G8 Failure Means Climate Genocide For Developing World - Counter Currents By Dr Gideon Polya The grossly inadequate response of the G8 nations is effectively a statement of climate racism and a declaration of prospective climate genocide	12th July 2009
Developing countries urge G8 to impose 40% emissions cut by 2020 - Guardian Developing nations are prepared to make concessions on climate change targets if the G8 fulfils its side of the bargain in the run-up to the climate change talks in Copenhagen in December, a key negotiator told the Guardian today. The developing countries want the G8 nations to sign up to a 40% cut by 2020, but that figure is off the radar of the EU and, given the unwieldy legislation laboriously passing through the senate, not a possibility for the US. In important forward steps this week, the G8 agreed to cut its emissions by 80% by 2050 and said worldwide emissions should fall 50% by the same date. However, the value of this pledge has been reduced by the lack of an agreed start date from which the emission cuts should be measured, making it a distant promise.	12th July 2009
People paid for supplying power - BBC People that contribute electricity to the National Grid are to receive payments under a new UK government scheme.	12th July 2009
Big Oil/Lundberg Survey Scare Tactics Against Climate Legislation Lundberg Survey is regularly quoted across the U.S. on gasoline prices and related oil industry developments, even though the firm has dwindled from the 1970s and '80s when it was more widely known and called "the Bible of the oil industry." It changed from an independent family business to a 100tool for Big Oil, decrying "burdensome environmental regulations" while the corporation's head says global warming is "political hot air." So how can Lundberg Survey's new study on climate legislation be accepted as credible?	12th July 2009
Climate-change challenge shifts to the US Senate - San Francisco Chronicle Which bothers you more: rising sea levels, shrinking ice caps and global weather twirling out of control - or do you worry about the health of the coal industry, a potential bump in gas prices and jobless rates a year before mid-term elections? If you chose the second set of concerns, you're a prime example of why climate change legislation is in deep trouble. A flawed but worthy plan to cut greenhouse gases barely cleared the House and now faces high hurdles in the Senate, whose members are a far tougher sell.	12th July 2009
Gore backs Rudd on emissions trading - AAP via Yahoo!7 News Climate change guru Al Gore has backed the Rudd government's decision to push ahead with emissions trading legislation before global talks in Copenhagen.	12th July 2009
What We Have Here Is A Failure To Innovate My view is that we know all we need to know about Energy, we just need to apply it. Yes, there will be some efficiency gained with new machines, and there will be price advantages with reconfiguring designs, but the technology will remain the same. You know, harness the wind (various devices); harness the power of the waves and tides; harness the power of the sun. Energy Conservation. Break the back of Energy Demand increases… There’s really no point in spending spiralling sums of money on Research and Development. Demanding public money for technological development is the logic of corporate interest lobbying. The large corporates want to stay in business : continued profit-making in constrained economic times. Management people know a gravy train when they smell one. From “The Road…” : “In most cases innovation is at its greatest when there are strong market incentives and a high level of competition: companies race to be the first to bring new technologies to market.” That could read something like this, if you’re being honest about the limitations of “innovation” and the progress of “technology” : “In most cases marketing spin is at its greatest when there are strong signals of public funding and a high level of corporate lobbying: companies race to be the first to bring new sources of financial return to their shareholders“.	12th July 2009
George Monbiot's Troll Problem - and Ours - DeSmogBlog monbiot.jpg George Monbiot has a great article this week citing DeSmog Blog, regarding the vexing issue of trolls . Not the kind that live under bridges, but those faceless cyberspace monikers that pop up frequently in comment sections of blogs likes this one, to repetitively froth away against the climate science. Are these real people? Or are they operatives in the employ of Big Oil s PR campaign to confuse the public on climate science? Paul S? Phlogiston? I m talking to you. It seems that Monbiot has same problem that we do. On the Guardian website, a small minority of anonymous skeptics often dominate the discussion by regurgitating talking points from well-known climate deniers.	11th July 2009
The New Energy Bill May Create a 'Super Lobby' of Powerful Opposition - Alternet If we don't act now to strengthen the bill, it could create a "super lobby" that will diminish the possibility of achieving future reforms.	11th July 2009
Boxer faces 'challenge of a lifetime' on climate change bill - McClatchy Newspapers via Yahoo! News WASHINGTON If the Senate doesn't pass a bill to cut global warming, Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer says, there will be dire results: droughts, floods, fires, loss of species, damage to agriculture, worsening air pollution and more.	11th July 2009
Cap-and-trade support hinges on economy: survey - Grist NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. manufacturers would be much more likely to support cap-and-trade legislation to limit pollution if they believed the industrial economy was about to improve, according to a survey.	11th July 2009
UK renewable energy plans spark cost fears - Financial Times A huge expansion of renewable energy will be launched by the government next week, when it sets out its plans for meeting its commitments to cut carbon dioxide emissions.	11th July 2009
G8 action without China and India would be pointless - Guardian Developing countries will not surrender trump card for a handshake they want hard cash and firm commitmentsWith barely five months until make-or-break climate talks in Copenhagen, where the world will attempt to agree a new treaty on climate change, how significant are the G8 announcements?Headline writers have drooled over the "historic" agreement to limit the global temperature rise to 2C, to cut world emissions 50% by 2050, and for the G8 to reduce its own pollution 80% by that date.The numbers may sound reassuringly low, large and colossal, respectively, but there is significant political sleight of hand at play here. See also: Full text: Energy and climate declaration - BBC News CLIMATE CHANGE: G8 Declares a Lack of Promise G8 leaders: still around to keep 2050 climate promises?	10th July 2009
The Big Question: Will it really be possible to meet the G8's climate change targets? - Independent Why are we asking this now? Because the leaders of the rich countries, at their meeting in Italy, have just made a great headline-grabbing pledge to cut their emissions of carbon dioxide, in the fight against climate change, by 80 per cent by 2050. See also: The last 20% - David Hone	10th July 2009
Overheated by clean energy - Salon.com As the debate over the Waxman-Markey climate bill rages on, Harvard's top environmental economist sheds some light See also: Obama's drive for climate change bill hits delay	10th July 2009
Survey Shows Gap Between Scientists and the Public - New York Times When it comes to climate change, the teaching of evolution and the state of the nation's research enterprise, there is a large gap between what scientists think and the views of ordinary Americans, a new survey has found.	10th July 2009
Thousands of plant species likely to go extinct in Amazon As many as 4,550 of the more than 50,000 plant species in the Amazon will likely disappear because of land-use changes and habitat loss within the next 40 years, according to a new study by two Wake Forest University researchers.	10th July 2009
Indian monsoon among risks from rapid climate change - Reuters SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Rising seas, a rapid weakening of the Indian monsoon and spiraling costs of adapting to a warmer, drier world are just some of the looming risks from rapid climate change, a report for the Australian government says.	10th July 2009
Domestic wind turbines could 'power 800,000 UK homes' - Guardian Unlimited Small domestic wind turbines could provide enough clean electricity to power more than 800,000 UK homes, according to the Energy Saving Trust (EST). Previous studies have suggested that small turbines in residential areas fail to generate enough power to justify their installation. In total, small-scale wind in domestic properties could supply around 3.1% of the UK's energy demand from homes.	10th July 2009
G-8 Failure Reflects US Failure on Climate Change - Huffington Post The fact is that the climate course set by Waxman-Markey is a disaster course. Their bill is an astoundingly inefficient way to get a tiny reduction of emissions. It's less than worthless, because it will delay by at least a decade starting on a path that is fundamentally sound from the standpoints of both economics and climate preservation. Former Defense Secretary Robert McNamara, who died this week, suffered for 40 years -- as did our country -- from his failure to turn back from a failed policy. As grave as the blunders of the Vietnam War were, the consequences of a failed climate policy will be more severe by orders of magnitude. With the Senate debate over climate now beginning, there is still time to turn back from cap-and-trade and toward fee-and-dividend. We need to start now. Without political leadership creating a truly viable policy like a carbon fee, not only won't we get meaningful climate legislation through the Senate, we won't be able to create the concerted approach we need globally to prevent catastrophic climate change.	9th July 2009
Ban criticises G8 climate efforts - BBC UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon criticises G8 nations for not going far enough to combat climate change.	9th July 2009
Climate targets around the world - BBC News The BBC looks at the targets countries and supra-national bodies have already set on climate change and greenhouse gas emissions.	9th July 2009
Nasa satellites reveal extent of Arctic sea ice loss - Guardian The Earth is going thin on top. A new study has revealed that the Arctic Ocean's permanent blanket of ice around the North Pole has thinned by more than 40% since 2004. Scientists said the rapid loss was "remarkable" and could force experts to reassess how quickly the Arctic ice in the summer may disappear completely. They blame the loss on global warming, which has driven temperatures in the Arctic to record highs and summer ice extent to recent lows. The study, based on satellite measurements, is among the first to estimate the thickness of the Arctic ice, rather than just its surface area. Ron Kwok, senior research scientist at Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, said: "Even in years when the overall extent of sea ice remains stable or grows slightly, the thickness and volume of the ice cover is continuing to decline, making the ice more vulnerable to continued shrinkage."	9th July 2009
Jellyfish are swarming in the warm weather, say marine experts - BBC Marine experts say warm weather has prompted reports of large numbers of jellyfish in the waters around Scotland.	9th July 2009
Global warming shrinks glacier at alarming rate - Daily Telegraph One of the world's largest glaciers on the west coast of Greenland is shrinking at an alarming rate as a result of global warming with potentially dire consequences.	9th July 2009
Warming arctic could teem with life by 2030 - New Scientist An influx of tiny organisms could lead to an Arctic rich with life during the summers in the next few decades, a study of ice cores suggests	9th July 2009
Project to 'grow carbon sinks' - BBC News Ambitious plans to grow 24 million trees to soak up carbon dioxide and restore the rainforest have got underway in Ghana.	9th July 2009
Solar-powered blimp to fly across Channel - Guardian The blimp was designed and built by French students and its first flight will prove that CO2-free air travel is now a reality.	9th July 2009
Climate denial 'astroturfers' should stop hiding behind pseudonyms online - Guardian To stop oil, coal and electricity companies inserting their views into the media by stealth, we need to make blog commenters accountableWhen the Guardian launched its Comment is free threads, it was one of the most exciting developments in journalism I had ever witnessed. Suddenly, everyone could play. Columnists and leader writers were no longer the voice of God: they could be immediately challenged, corrected, held to account. People with something to say could say it, expertise from every field and every part of the world was harnessed. The early discussions were invigorating, fascinating, thrilling. They forced me to smarten up my act, to try to close the gaps in my thinking, to consider the argument more carefully before setting it out.	9th July 2009
Copenhagen climate deal depends on U.S.: analyst - Reuters LONDON (Reuters) - The emergence of a global deal to cut greenhouse gas emissions in Copenhagen in December hinges on the United States passing its own climate bill before then, analysts at Point Carbon said on Wednesday. "The probability that an international agreement with quantative targets will be signed in Copenhagen in December is at least 50 percent," the research group said in a report.	9th July 2009
Greenpeace Unfurls Banner Next to Mount Rushmore - Washington Post Greenpeace activists draped an enormous banner next to the carved stone faces of Mount Rushmore today, calling for more-aggressive action to fight climate change. The banner showed President Obama's face -- Greenpeace said it was an unfinished portrait, implying that Obama's legacy was in question -- and the words "America honors leaders not politicians: Stop Global Warming."	9th July 2009
How much would you pay? - Reuters What s the real cost of global warming? More to the point, how much would you the person reading this blog be comfortable paying to stave off the worse ravages of climate change? A hundred bucks to keep the rising seas out of your back yard? A thousand to replenish mountain snowpack? Maybe a few dollars to put more trees back in the rainforest? Luckily, there s no shortage of estimates of how much each individual in the United States might have to pay to curb the greenhouse emissions that spur climate change. One particularly pertinent estimate was delivered on Capitol Hill by EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson at a Senate hearing geared to send the message that, yes, the United States Congress is getting serious about tackling the problem.	9th July 2009
Two degrees The countries of the G8 today approved a target of 2° C rise in global average temperature above the natural, preanthropogenic climate, that they resolve should be avoided. The Europeans have been pushing for 2 degrees as a target maximum temperature for several years, but this is something of a development for the Americans. We posted recently on two new papers about what it would take to limit global average warming, finding that it would require fairly strong change in trajectory. About 2° C as a target, we wrote, even a moderate warming of 2°C stands a strong chance of provoking drought and storm responses that could challenge civilized society, leading potentially to the conflict and suffering that go with failed states and mass migrations.	9th July 2009
Nature can't take unrestrained growth: Prince Charles - Reuters LONDON (Reuters) - The quest for unlimited economic growth is unsustainable and could bankrupt the environment through climate change and depleted natural resources, Britain's Prince Charles said on Wednesday.	9th July 2009
US Power Industry Urges Senators To Relax CO2 Targets - Nasdaq WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- The U.S.'s largest utility group Wednesday pressed the Senate to modify a landmark climate bill in ways that would lower the cost of transitioning to a lower-carbon economy.	9th July 2009
G8: World leaders fail to agree specific target for climate cuts World leaders, including the developing nations, yesterday committed themselves only to "substantially reducing global emissions by 2050", but failed to agree a specific target, according to a draft of the communique due to be issued later today. The draft states: "We recognise the scientific view that the increase in global average temperature above pre-industrial levels ought not to exceed two degrees centigrade." The draft is due to be issued by the Major Economies Forum under the chairmanship of Barack Obama. The MEF contributes 80% of world emissions. The lack of a substantive agreement, other than the desire to keep global temperatures down, leaves world leaders facing daunting negotiations to reach agreement at the Copenhagen conference in December, which is due to set the entire climate change framework covering the period from 2012 to 2050.	9th July 2009
Greenwash: The Responsible Business Awards defy parody The self-congratulatory masters of greenwash gathered to applaud one other with an audacity that defies beliefThe shortlist read like a who's who of Greenwash over the past few months. Toyota, Coca Cola and EDF for starters.But no, this column has not decided to hand out a set of glittering emerald prizes. Monday night was showtime for the Responsible Business Awards, with Business in the Community (BITC) and its president, Prince Charles handing out the gongs.We've had a go at BITC here before. Well meaning it may be, but it seems to have tipped over from being a promoter of ethical business practice to an apologist for greenwash.	9th July 2009
MoveOn calls on Senate to preserve Clean Air Act in climate bill MoveOn is running full-page ads in D.C.-based publications urging the Senate to maintain the EPA s authority to regulate carbon dioxide.	9th July 2009
Stern Remarks #3 : The Law of Diminishing Energy Returns - JoAbbess Nicholas Stern, and other more bog standard Economists, all seem to believe in the magical power of Innovation. He writes about it in a reverential way in his book A Blueprint for a Safer Planet . Innovation : gleaming, sparkling, wondrous dexterity : if there s a buck to be made from shaving a saving, or fishing for an efficiency, it is assumed the holy Market Economy will be in there, innovating away. Or that s what Economists believe anyway, wholeheartedly, generally, generously, neo-liberally. Innovation is the mother of Technology, but can also shape it and change it, always able to make the good, better and the better, totally awesome.	9th July 2009
Obamas Cap And Trade Carbon Emissions Bill - A Stealth Scheme To License Pollution And Fraud By Stephen Lendman Its to let corporate polluters reap huge windfall profits by charging consumers more for energy and fuel as well as create a new bubble through carbon trading derivatives speculation. It does nothing to address environmental issues, yet on June 26 the House narrowly passed (229 - 212) and sent it to the Senate to be debated and voted on. More on that below	9th July 2009
Ozone, nitrogen change the way rising CO2 affects Earth's water Through a recent modeling experiment, a team of NASA-funded researchers have found that future concentrations of carbon dioxide and ozone in the atmosphere and of nitrogen in the soil are likely to have an important but overlooked effect on the cycling of water from sky to land to waterways.	9th July 2009
Major nations drop goal of halving C02 - Independent Major nations have failed to agree to set a goal halving greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, according to a draft document ahead of talks tomorrow - a setback to efforts to secure a new UN climate pact.	8th July 2009
Reith lectures: Of markets and morality - Guardian Unlimited If exposing public goods to market forces changes the way that people feel about them, the implications could be profound. Carbon-trading markets, for instance, are designed to encourage the outsourcing of pollution control to places where it is cheapest to do. That should help save the planet. But if the by-product of the western wheeling and dealing in such markets is to encourage the belief that the climate's health is another commodity - rather than something for which we all bear moral responsibility - then these markets could defeat themselves. Cost-benefit analysis - which governments use to mimic the judgment of markets in contexts where no markets exist - can also have nasty results. When bureaucracies price things which should not be priced - endangered species, future generations or even individual lives - they start trading them off against other objectives, instead of appreciating their absolute obligations.	8th July 2009
Green expert sees red over UK climate pledges - Reuters Professor Sir David King, the British government's former top scientific adviser, is no stranger to controversy. He ruffled feathers on both sides of the Atlantic in 2004 when he described climate change as a more serious threat to the world than terrorism. Earlier this year, he said the Iraq war may come to be seen as the world first s resource war , based on oil rather than weapons of mass destruction. Now the South African-born academic risks putting more politicians' noses out of joint. In a speech in Oxford this week, King accused Gordon Brown of talking tough on climate change, but failing to follow his words up with action, mainly due to a lack of public money.	8th July 2009
I Am Not A Campaigner - Jo Abbess As a bright-eyed Gospel-touting young person from a God-fearing Bible-bashing breast-beating Protestant Evangelical Christian family, one-time members of a troubled sect, I was drawn to the victim narrative of the Aid and Development agencies. Those poor people in those dirt-poor countries with their cripplingly poor lifestyles. I needed to be a Campaigner, I reasoned. I needed to tell the World, make some converts to the Poverty and Development cause, draw some attention, create some devotion, raise some cash, raise some banners, wave some placards, get some pledges signed. Not realising that this kind of missionary zeal marked me out as a complete lunatic, I applied to a Famous Development Agency for a job.	8th July 2009
Fish suffering in heatwave - TeleText UK: Efforts are underway to save fish in South Yorkshire which are suffering from the effects of the warm weather. The recent heatwave has been causing problems for fish in watercourses across Yorkshire. A combination of low water flows and high temperatures are thought to have reduced oxygen levels in some areas, making it harder for fish to breathe.	8th July 2009
Italian Power Plants Occupied by Greenpeace Activists - Bloomberg July 8 (Bloomberg) -- Greenpeace activists occupied four Italian coal-fired power plants, demanding action from world leaders to stave off climate change on the opening day of a Group of Eight summit being hosted by Italy.	8th July 2009
Obama makes nuclear compromise to pass clean energy bill - Guardian The Obama administration endorsed a revival of America's nuclear industry yesterday in an effort to build forward momentum for climate change legislation before the Senate. The seal of approval for nuclear power – a cause embraced by Republican senators – came on day one of a full-on lobbying effort by the White House for one of Obama's signature issues. Obama sent four of his top lieutenants to the Senate – his secretaries of energy, interior, agriculture and the head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) – to try to drum up support for a global warming bill. The PR effort saw direct appeals to the farming and nuclear lobbies – some of the fiercest critics of Obama's clean energy agenda – with Steven Chu, the Nobel-winning energy secretary, calling for new nuclear plants to re-establish America's technological dominance in the world.	8th July 2009
Senate begins push for climate change bill - Reuters WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrats in the Senate on Tuesday began a drive to advance climate change legislation, a top Obama administration priority, amid warnings that a bill recently passed by the House of Representatives to reduce carbon emissions would have to be changed.	8th July 2009
Billionaire Pickens Shelves Massive Wind Farm Project in Texas Texas billionaire T. Boone Pickens has shelved his plan to build the world s biggest wind farm in Texas, citing a tight credit market, low natural gas prices, and inadequate transmission lines. The ambitious 4,000-megawatt wind farm plan which would have included 100,000 wind turbines and 40,000 miles of transmission lines to large cities was the centerpiece of the Texas oilman s high-profile plan to help break the nation s dependence on foreign oil. The project was estimated to cost $10 billion. Boone still remains committed and focused on developing wind energy in T.	8th July 2009
Two cannot be the only number to fight climate change - UN Dispatch The world's largest carbon emitters, meeting at the tail end of the, er, rather tumultuous G8 summit in L'Aquila, Italy, look like they're going to take an unfortunate step backward (or at best sideways) in the rapidly dwindling months before global climate negotiations in Copenhagen begin in December. The promises of these countries have gone from, a year ago, a pledge to reduce emissions by 50% by 2050 -- albeit passing over the very relevant detail of specifying 50% of levels from which year, 1990 or 2005 -- to an agreement to drop all numbers whatsoever from this year's text.	8th July 2009
G8 emissions pledge is 'scientifically illiterate' - New Scientist This week, world leaders are expected to pledge to halve global emissions by 2050, but Fred Pearce argues that the science is moving faster	7th July 2009
Emerging El Nino set to drive up carbon emissions - Reuters via Yahoo! UK & Ireland News Across the globe an emerging El Nino weather pattern threatens to cause droughts and floods and trigger a spike in planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions from burning forests.	7th July 2009
New climate strategy: track the world's wealthiest - Reuters WASHINGTON (Reuters) - To fairly divide the climate change fight between rich and poor, a new study suggests basing targets for emission cuts on the number of wealthy people, who are also the biggest greenhouse gas emitters, in a country.	7th July 2009
Subsidising the Climate Crash - Monbiot Why have government agencies been paying to increase the number of flights? Demand for new routes and airports comes not from passengers but unelected, unaccountable development agenciesHere's an odd thing. Air travel to and from the United Kingdom has plummeted. Several small airlines have gone bust; British Airways has deployed its landing gear. In some respects, according to the industry, this descent could be permanent. Yet the government is still planning to double the capacity of our airports by 2030.Between the first quarter of 2008 and the first quarter of 2009, the number of people using airports in the UK fell by 6.4 million, or 13%. Convinced that its estimates for the growth of demand were wrong, the airport operator BAA has delayed its plans for a second runway at Stansted.	7th July 2009
The Climate Imperative - Counter Currents By Rajendra Kumar Pachauri Today, international action on climate change is urgent and essential. Indeed, there can no longer be any debate about the need to act, because the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), of which I am chairman, has established climate change as an unequivocal reality beyond scientific doubt	7th July 2009
Gore says climate deal needs more public pressure - Reuters OXFORD (Reuters) - Public awareness about the "catastrophe" of climate change is not high enough to pressure politicians into taking action, former Vice President Al Gore said on Tuesday. See also: Al Gore: climate change battle like that against Nazis - Times Online	7th July 2009
Arctic ice thinned dramatically since 2004: NASA - Reuters WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Arctic sea ice has thinned dramatically since 2004, with the older, thicker ice giving way to a younger, thinner kind that melts in the northern summer, NASA scientists reported on Tuesday.	7th July 2009
CO2 levels already condemns coral to extinction, warns Attenborough - Guardian Coral is the canary in the cage as damage can be seen most quickly, veteran naturalist tells Royal SocietyDavid Attenborough joined scientists yesterday to warn that carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is already above the level which condemns coral reefs to extinction in the future, with catastrophic effects for the oceans and the people who depend upon them.Coral reefs support a quarter of all marine life including more than 4,000 species of fish. They also provide spawning, nursery, refuge and feeding areas for creatures such as lobsters, crabs, starfish and sea turtles. This makes them crucial in supporting a healthy marine ecosystem upon which more than 1bn people depend for food.	7th July 2009
Central Texas farmers struggle in drought - KVUE-TV Austin	7th July 2009
Drought threat looms over north India - The Times of India	7th July 2009
Assam flooding 'strands 500,000' - BBC News	7th July 2009
Mumbai faces acute water shortage - BBC News	7th July 2009
Benin declares state of emergency over floods - Reuters	7th July 2009
Climate & environment - Energy Bulletin Global Warming May Sap Productivity for Those With Outdoor Jobs With Something for Everyone, Climate Bill Passed Politics-as-Usual While the Planet Burns A House in the Woods, After the Woods Are Gone	7th July 2009
Rethinking food production for a world of 8 billion - Grist While hunger has been disappearing in China, it has been spreading throughout much of the developing world, notably sub-Saharan Africa and parts of the Indian subcontinent.	7th July 2009
A new take on Kyoto - Guardian Obama faces major challenges on carbon emissions at the G8 but the best solution is a new, global system of regulationPresident Obama is facing a problem at this week's G8 meeting in L'Aquila