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| 4th May 2008 |
| positive news |
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| China warms to emissions goals - Trading Markets China is expected to express support for Japan's sector-by-sector approach to setting goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, a senior Foreign Ministry official. The announcement, to be made in a joint statement on environmental issues Tokyo and Beijing are working on, is likely to follow the bilateral summit Wednesday between Chinese President Hu Jintao and Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda in Tokyo. If the two leaders agree to issue the statement, it will mark a significant policy shift for China in taking a positive stance toward international efforts to reduce global warming emissions, said the official, on condition of anonymity. |
4th May 2008 | |
| Algae May Solve Ethanol vs. Gas Dilemma - AnandTech Gas costs are soaring, but adopting cheaper ethanol is sending food costs into the stratosphere as well. What is the answer to this troubling predicament? Some say the solution is old -- very old. There is growing hope that one of the planet's most ancient organisms, algae, can be used to produce economically viable biofuel without the negative societal impact of ethanol. |
3rd May 2008 | |
| Ethical bank offers wind of change for green consumers - Guardian Unlimited Energy: £8.5m public share issue will fund alternative power sources around the UK. Rupert Jones reports |
3rd May 2008 | |
| High petrol prices see Americans ditch SUVs - The Independent America's love affair with sports utility vehicles (SUVs) and pick-up trucks is finally over. |
3rd May 2008 | |
| Block by Block, Communities Fight Global Warming - Washington Post SEATTLE -- King County Executive Ron Sims has a simple test for every new public works project, building plan or government land purchase: Will it increase the region's total greenhouse-gas emissions, or reduce them? |
3rd May 2008 | |
| U.S. to support some solar power research - PhysOrg The U.S. Department of Energy says it will fund up to $60 million to support development of low-cost concentrating solar power, or CSP, technology. |
2nd May 2008 | |
| Rockefeller's descendants tell Exxon to face the reality of climate change - The Independent Descendants of John D Rockefeller, America's first and biggest oil industry magnate, say that ExxonMobil, a company spawned from his 19th-century monopoly Standard Oil, faces becoming obsolete if it does not step up the search for alternative fuels. |
1st May 2008 | |
| ITV survey reveals public fears over climate change - Easier UK: A recent survey commissioned by ITV1 to support the transmission of Flood this weekend has found that over two-thirds of those surveyed (71%) feel that global warming is having an effect on weather conditions in the UK, with almost half (44%) believing that climate change poses a direct threat or risk to their lifestyle or home. |
1st May 2008 | |
| Two-Thirds of Americans Want Next President to Act on Climate Change - Earthtimes A new poll released today shows that two-thirds of all U.S. adults (66%) believe it is important that the next president of the United States have a policy which addresses climate change. Almost half, or 44%, believe it is extremely or very important, and only 14% believe it is not at all important. A significant majority of Americans -- sixty-three percent (63%) of U.S. adults -- say it is important that the new president, soon after taking office, initiates strong action to address global warming/climate change. |
1st May 2008 | |
| Wave power firm eyes £10m prize - BBC News A renewable energy company is to double its workforce, partly in a bid to secure a government award. |
1st May 2008 | |
| Burying trees to fight climate change - New Scientist It sounds like a long shot, but Zeng is convinced it could work. In a recent paper in the journal Carbon Balance and Management (vol 3, p 1), he calculated that if we buried half of the wood that grows each year, in such a way that it didn't decay, enough CO2 would be removed from the atmosphere to offset all of our fossil-fuel emissions. It wouldn't be easy, but Zeng believes it could be done. Zeng's is not the only proposal of its kind. Other researchers are totting up the amount of carbon that could be sequestered in various kinds of biomass and are finding that it is a surprisingly large amount. Not enough to halt climate change on its own, perhaps, but enough to make a sizeable dent in atmospheric carbon and to buy us the time we need to sort out the mess we've made. |
1st May 2008 | |
| Terra Preta, Biochar, Black Gold: a Climate Change Solution - DeSmogBlog It's no silver bullet, but Terra Preta de Indio, a centuries-old agricultural-waste management and fertilization practice, may provide part of the solution to global warming - and to the gathering world food shortage.Terra Preta is a literal description of the "dark earth" that European explorers first discovered in the Amazon basin, earth that researchers now believe was enriched with charred agricultural waste. Preparing and mixing this biochar into the earth is a great way to sequester carbon AND to fertilize crops. There are a host of challenges - a large number of hurdles to clear before biochar can be guaranteed as a useful solution to climate change - but when asked if it's a possible goal, Cornell University Assoc. |
30th April 2008 | |
| StatoilHydro Storing 10 Million Tonnes of CO2 - Rigzone StatoilHydro reported that ten million tonnes of carbon dioxide are now stored underground at Sleipner in the North Sea. 2,800 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) are removed from natural gas produced on the Sleipner West field in the North Sea every day. |
30th April 2008 | |
| Real Solutions to the Climate Crisis - AlterNet A look at climate-friendly options for buildings, electricity production, transportation, and food and forestry. |
29th April 2008 | |
| Breakthrough in battle to curb greenhouse gases - New Kerala London, April 27 : A team of scientists has developed a highly energy-efficient method of converting waste carbon dioxide into chemical compounds, marking a breakthrough in the fight to cut greenhouse gases. |
28th April 2008 | |
| Zeppelins: a low-impact alternative to flying - The Christian Science Monitor These airships cause less environmental damage than planes. But journeys would test passengers' patience. |
28th April 2008 | |
| Easing greenhouse gas emissions won't crimp the economy, study says - The Kansas City Star WASHINGTON | Legislation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions won't send utility costs or unemployment through the roof, nor will it damage the economy, according to a study released last week. |
28th April 2008 |
| essential news |
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| The Ecological Challenge: Three Revolutions are Necessary - Infoshop News We could be satisfied to say that only one revolution is necessary: the socialist revolution. This is, in itself, completely accurate. But "socialism,"even when libertarian, does not in itself resolve the question of the model of development. Beyond the question of owning the means of production and abolishing wage labor, socialism must raise the question of humanity's ecological footprint. And this prospect invites us to "think" now about what revolutions in the modes of production, trade and consumption that the planet needs. Revolution in trade: putting an end to globalization, Revolution in the modes of consumption: the question of décroissance ("de-growth"), Revolution in the modes of production: energy saving |
4th May 2008 | |
| ENVIRONMENT: "Doctor" Nature in Danger - IPS CAPE TOWN, South Africa, May 3 (Tierramérica) - "When we harm nature, we are harming ourselves," says Aaron Bernstein, a doctor at Harvard Medical School and one of the authors of the upcoming book "Sustaining Life: How Human Health Depends on Biodiversity". |
4th May 2008 | |
| Can Green Trade Tariffs Combat Climate Change? - Environmental News Network In recent months, China has taken center stage in the international debate over global warming. It has surpassed the United States as the world's largest source of greenhouse gases, and it became developing nations' diplomatic champion at the recent United Nations climate negotiations in Bali. Now China may become the target of a full-fledged trade war that could destroy—or perhaps rescue—the chances of bringing rich and poor nations together to fight global warming. The tariff proposal—contained in the central piece of global warming legislation now before Congress—would impose emission controls on domestic industries starting in 2012. It would also levy punitive tariffs on greenhouse-gas-intensive products imported from countries that lack "comparable action" to that of the United States, starting in 2020. Industrial lobbies and labor unions are pushing hard for these sanctions to take effect more quickly. Although China may not like it, the international trading system may provide more leverage than any other post-Kyoto mechanism over developing countries' environmental policies. Despite the threat of trade wars, trade sanctions could emerge as the most effective means of forcing international action on global warming. |
3rd May 2008 | |
| No time at all - Guardian Unlimited We can no longer delay taking action to make deep cuts in emissions. Big oil's short-sighted pursuit of profit is suicidal. |
3rd May 2008 | |
| Shell ditches renewable stake amid fears of a retreat to carbons - Guardian Unlimited The future of the world's largest offshore wind farm and a symbol of Britain's renewable energy future was thrown into doubt last night after it emerged that Shell was backing out of the project and indicated it would prefer to invest in more lucrative oil schemes. See also: In search of some wind in their sails - The Independent |
2nd May 2008 | |
| Gas emissions 'will double by 2020' - Perth Now GLOBAL greenhouse-gas emissions will almost double by 2030, a rate much faster than previously predicted, according to a paper co-written by the Federal Government's top climate change adviser. |
2nd May 2008 | |
| Nuclear's CO2 cost 'will climb' - BBC News The case for nuclear power as an alternative, low carbon source of energy is challenged in a new report. |
1st May 2008 | |
| The New Security - Huffington Post The next president will face the following security threats, most new and different from the previous Cold War era: proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their availability to stateless nations (i.e. jihadists); ground forces exhausted by two protracted wars; energy dependence in the Persian Gulf; America's disproportionate role in protecting the global flow of oil; the security implications of climate change, and the list continues. Issues that were recently separated into policy "boxes" are now interrelated. Consider the linkages among the cost of food and fuel, the world price of oil, increase in demand for oil in coming decades, the cost to U.S. taxpayers to protect global oil supplies, the impact of oil consumption on climate, two wars in the Persian Gulf, and so forth. Consider also how global warming is changing weather patterns. In the American West and elsewhere aquifers and reservoirs are drying up. Crops are becoming scarce and costly, thus leading to massive instability among the world's poor. In South Asia, over a billion people may lose their source of fresh water as Himalayan glaciers recede. Two of these nations are India and Pakistan -- nuclear states with indigenous terrorist movements and a history of conflict between them. |
30th April 2008 | |
| Hansen for the plebes - Gristmill By Joseph Romm The nation's top climate scientist, James Hansen, has just published a general-audience article, "Tipping Point" [PDF], in State of the Wild 2008-2009 from Island Press. It is well worth sending to folks who don't like all the math. His key points: We are at the tipping point because the climate state includes large, ready positive feedbacks provided by the Arctic sea ice, the West Antarctic ice sheet, and much of Greenland's ice. ... Prior major warmings in Earth's history, the most recent occurring 55 million years ago ... resulted in the extinction of half or more of the species then on the planet. |
30th April 2008 | |
| Earth stewardship - Common Ground.ca When we stand four-square to the future and observe the simultaneous incoming storms of global warming, food shortages, peak oil, mass extinctions, and a host of other crises any one of which is enough to make us cry a global “ouch”, how can we not notice that the culprit behind all these problems is capitalism, the system of laws and entitlements created 250 years ago? |
29th April 2008 |
| canaries - news about first signs of climate change |
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| Baltic sea ice cover hits an all-time low: meteorologists - PhysOrg The extent of ice covering the Baltic sea this winter reached an all-time low, since measurements began more than a century ago, Swedish meteorologists said. |
4th May 2008 | |
| California drought fears mount - Contra Costa Times SACRAMENTO - Californians are being asked to water their lawns less, plant native shrubs and install more-efficient irrigation systems to stave off water shortages and mandatory rationing amid growing worries about a possible long-term drought. |
3rd May 2008 | |
| Federal agency declares West Coast salmon fishery a disaster - PhysOrg (AP) -- Federal authorities have declared the West Coast ocean salmon fishery a failure, opening the way for Congress to appropriate economic disaster assistance for coastal communities in California, Oregon and Washington. |
3rd May 2008 | |
| Major Arctic sea ice melt is expected this summer - PhysOrg (AP) -- The Arctic will remain on thinning ice, and climate warming is expected to begin affecting the Antarctic also, scientists said Friday. "The long-term prognosis is not very optimistic," atmospheric scientist Jennifer Francis of Rutgers University said at a briefing. |
3rd May 2008 | |
| Murray-Darling woes linked to global warming: report - ABC via Yahoo!7 News A group of Australian researchers claim to have found further evidence that lower rainfall and reduced run-off in the south-east of the country are linked to global warming. See also: Australia Loses 10% of Farm Families During Drought, ABC Says - Bloomberg.com |
3rd May 2008 | |
| Growing ocean dead zones leave fish gasping - New Scientist Ocean "deserts" containing too little oxygen for animals to breathe are expanding, possibly as a result of rising surface temperatures caused by global warming |
2nd May 2008 | |
| World's largest lake warming rapidly - Reuters Siberia's Lake Baikal has warmed faster than global air temperatures over the past 60 years, which could put animals unique to the world's largest lake in jeopardy, U.S. and Russian scientists said. The lake has warmed 1.21 degrees Celsius (2.18 degrees Fahrenheit) since 1946 due to climate change, almost three times faster than global air temperatures, according to a paper by the scientists to be published next month in the journal "Global Change Biology." |
1st May 2008 | |
| Big squid imperil fish, people - Times Colonist Canada, BC: Nightmarish packs of rapacious giant devil squid are hunting off the B.C. coast -- and as their numbers increase, scientists are worrying about an attack on fish stocks. Humboldt squid, called diablos rojos or red devils in Mexico, have been known to attack scuba divers and were once a rarity in B.C. waters. But a changing ocean environment has brought them northward, and they may now be permanently establishing themselves off the B.C. coast. |
29th April 2008 |
| food news |
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| Farmers face climate challenge in quest for more food - guardian.co.uk If farmers think they have a tough time producing enough rice, wheat and other grain crops, global warming is going to present a whole new world of challenges in the race to produce more food, scientists say. |
4th May 2008 | |
| UN chiefs hold food crisis summit - BBC News UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is due to announce details of new measures to tackle the global food crisis. "In the long term we need to address the challenges caused by climate change," UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon |
29th April 2008 | |
| Corn-fuel bill will worsen hunger, critics say - CNews Canada: Food will be turned into fuel and people will go hungry if Parliament passes a new bill demanding greater use of corn-fuels like ethanol, critics say. |
29th April 2008 |
| action |
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31st May - Demonstration at Heathrow 'We want a massive show of force to make sure we win our first big victory in the war to redirect Britain towards a low carbon future. Come and be part of it – join a Spring Carnival of Resistance to the Third Runway, Airport Expansion and the insanity of government decisions that would lock us into climate catastrophe.' New site for global warming action - We Can Solve It No single person will stop global warming, but by working together, we can make it a priority for government and business. We'll succeed because when people unite and call for action, change is inevitable. Together we can solve the climate crisis. 350.org If we don't get our Co2 level down to 350 parts per million we're all going to be toast. Bill McKibben of Step It Up wants this magic number to be imprinted, implanted, implaneted and indelibly fused into the minds of everyone on this planet. If you're on side visit www.350.org |
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