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		News Archive     04/01/2010 07:00 PM Taiwan's temperatures, emissions rise United Press International: Taiwan's temperatures have risen by an average of 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit over the past century, according to a government study. Despite Taiwan's rise in temperatures, sunny hours in the country have fallen. The decline -- attributed to air pollution and suspended particles that had blocked the sunshine -- ranges from 176 hours per year in the north to 552 hours per year in central Taiwan, the Central News Agency reports. Taiwan's sea level has risen an average of 1.18 inches ... read more 04/01/2010 07:00 PM Study says Mich. climate plan would boost economy Associated Press: Michigan could gain a significant economic boost and thousands of new jobs by reducing emissions of gases that cause climate change, according to an analysis released Monday. The report by the Center for Climate Strategies said a plan devised last year for battling global warming in Michigan would help limit the state's heat-trapping gas emissions over the next 15 years. But more than the environment would benefit, the nonprofit group said. It projected gains of 129,000 jobs, a ... read more 04/01/2010 07:00 PM China: Hong Kong air pollution at 'life-threatening' levels Independent (UK): Hong Kong's roadside air pollution reached life-threatening levels one in every eight days last year, a report said Monday, citing figures obtained from the government. The roadside air pollution index recorded by the Environmental Protection Department showed there were 44 days of "very high pollution" in the Central district last year, the South China Morning Post said. The figure was significantly higher than 39 days in 2008 and 13 days in 2005, the newspaper ... read more 05/01/2010 07:00 PM C.I.A. Data Sharing With Environmental Scientists Is Revived New York Times: The nation's top scientists and spies are collaborating on an effort to use the federal government's intelligence assets – including spy satellites and other classified sensors – as sensitive instruments that can assess the hidden complexities of environmental change. They seek insights from natural phenomena like clouds and glaciers, deserts and tropical forests. The collaboration restarts an effort the Bush administration shut down and has the strong backing of the director of the ... read more 04/01/2010 07:00 PM Gordon Brown to announce £100bn offshore wind winners Business Green: Prime minister Gordon Brown will this week confirm the winners of the long-running auction to build the UK's next wave of giant offshore wind farms, officially firing the starting pistol on the race to deliver more than 25GW of renewable energy. The Crown Estate, which manages UK waters, is expected to announce the award of nine offshore sites for the so-called Round 3 developments. The prime minister is scheduled to attend the announcement of the winners at an event in Exeter, ... read more 04/01/2010 07:00 PM Sarkozy fights to save French carbon tax plan Business Green: The French government has vowed to press ahead with reformed plans for a national carbon tax, after the French Constitutional Council last week blocked the original proposal. Chantal Joanno, France's junior minister for ecology, announced late last week that a new version of the controversial tax legislation will be put before parliament next month and could still come into force as early as April, despite the Council's surprise decision to annul the first version of the ... read more 04/01/2010 07:00 PM Clean tech venture capital posts second-best year ever in 2009 Business Green: Despite global recession and plummeting levels of investment in the wider economy, venture capital firms pumped nearly $5bn (£3bn) into clean tech businesses last year, according to new figures from analyst Greentech Media. The company reported that global venture capital investment in clean tech firms reached $4.85bn during 2009. The performance marked a fall of 36 per cent on the $7.6bn invested in 2008, but it still represented the second-best year on record for the sector, ... read more 04/01/2010 07:00 PM United Kingdom: Government data reveals public buildings' poor carbon performance Business Green: The UK public sector is failing to lead by example in reducing the amount of greenhouse gases emitted by its buildings, according to government figures which show that public buildings are responsible for about one third of emissions from the UK's non-domestic properties. An audit, undertaken by the Communities and Local Government Department, has revealed that the 28,000 public buildings in England and Wales emit almost 14 million tonnes of carbon dioxide each year. The figure ... read more 04/01/2010 07:00 PM EU carbon price starts strongly after sluggish 2009 Business Green: The price of carbon futures rose to more than EUR13 (£11.58) a tonne this morning in a surprise new year surge that followed a weak end to 2009. The price of EU Allowances (EUAs) slumped from EUR15 at the start of December to about EUR12.50 at the end of the month as confidence in the market was dented by the failure of the Copenhagen summit to deliver an ambitious and binding agreement. Prices initially fell eight per cent to EUR12.41 in the wake of the fallout from the ... read more 04/01/2010 07:00 PM Angry farmers rally outside Australian parliament Associated Press: Angry farmers wearing broad-brimmed hats and cracking kangaroo-hide whips rallied outside Parliament Monday as one of their colleagues continued a hunger strike to demand compensation for Australian climate change policy. The protest by 250 farmers and their supporters drew public attention to the plight of sheep farmer Peter Spencer, who they say is on the 43rd day of his hunger strike to protest that he is not allowed to clear vegetation from his 20,000 acre (8,000 hectare) ... read more 04/01/2010 07:00 PM United States: Small-scale solar plan clashes with big energy San Francisco Chronicle: When it comes to renewable power, Californians tend to think big. Big wind farms sprawl across our hills. Big solar power plants will soon blanket acres of desert. Big new power lines will bring that electricity to our cities. This, Bill Powers insists, is exactly the wrong approach. He wants us to think small. Powers, an engineer and energy consultant, argues that California should cover every available rooftop with photovoltaic solar panels, especially commercial ... read more 04/01/2010 07:00 PM Appliance rebates off to a slower start in N.J Press of Atlantic City: New Jersey consumers expecting to earn federal stimulus dollars in return for buying energy-saving appliances will have to wait until April before the rebates are released. The state Board of Public Utilities initially said last fall that the appliance-rebate program would begin this month. The program is beginning, but the rebates related to the purchase of refrigerators, clothes washers and dishwashers will not be available until the spring. Why make people wait, particularly ... read more 04/01/2010 07:00 PM Bangladesh: Environmental refugees unable to return home New York Times: Mahe Noor left her village in southern Bangladesh after Cyclone Sidr flattened her family's home and small market in 2007. Jobless and homeless, she and her husband, Nizam Hawladar, moved to this crowded megalopolis, hoping that they might soon return home. Two years later, they are still here. Ms. Noor, 25, and Mr. Hawladar, 35, work long hours at low-paying jobs – she at a garment factory and he at a roadside tea stall. They are unable to save money after paying for food and rent on ... read more 04/01/2010 07:00 PM Fault lines remain after climate talks New York Times: The recently concluded climate talks in Copenhagen suggested to many commentators and participants that the global community, as represented by the United Nations, was incapable of broad agreement on just about anything. Others argued that such judgments were too swift and praised the outcome – a five-page document – as an historic first-step toward meaningful global action on the climate. Opinions have been as varied and discordant in the aftermath of the meeting as they were ... read more 04/01/2010 07:00 PM South Korea: Lee, U.N. chief agree to cooperate for global warming deal Korea Herald: The Korea Herald : The Nation's No.1 English Newspaper Register Find ID/PW Lee, U.N. chief agree to cooperate for global warming deal President Lee Myung-bak and United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon agreed to work together to forge a binding global warming deal in the New Year, the presidential office said Sunday, according to Yonhap News. The presidential office, Cheong Wa Dae, said Lee spoke with Ban for 20 minutes on the phone and concurred on the ... read more 04/01/2010 07:00 PM Bahrain: $55m carbon dioxide recovery plant opens Gulf Daily News: The Middle East's first carbon dioxide recovery plant has been opened at the Gulf Petrochemical Industries Company (GPIC). The $55 million facility at the company's Sitra facility was formally inaugurated by GPIC chairman and adviser to the Prime Minister for oil and industrial affairs Shaikh Isa bin Ali Al Khalifa, in the presence of board members, company officials and guests. Speaking at the event, Shaikh Isa said with the use of this environmentally friendly technology, ... read more 04/01/2010 07:00 PM United Kingdom: Eat less meat to help planet, says minister (who just happens to be a vegetarian) Daily Mail: Families are to be encouraged to switch away from red meat and eat a vegetable-based diet to help combat climate change. The idea is among a raft of proposals that ministers also hope will fight rising food prices and help the country cope with a soaring population. Livestock production is one of the biggest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions. But encouraging consumers to eat less is likely to generate an angry reaction from farmers. Environment Secretary ... read more 03/01/2010 07:00 PM EPA regional chief's 'activist' stance gets mixed reaction Houston Chronicle: They huddled over Christmas cookies in a cozy conference room on a dreary December afternoon, a few Houston environmentalists chatting about policy with the Environmental Protection Agency's new regional chief. While the two-hour meet-and-greet with Al Armendariz didn't amount to headlines, it says a great deal about the change in power at the EPA, particularly in Texas. After nearly a decade of feeling unheard by federal regulators, the activists say they now have one of their ... read more 04/01/2010 07:00 PM Italians trying to keep Venice above water Deutsche Presse Agentur: The scene in Venice in November was one that for many is becoming all too familiar: residents waddling in their gumboots on raised wooden walkways to cope with the "acqua alta," or high water. The Italian lagoon city's famed St. Mark's Square is now flooded more than 100 times a year, compared to around seven times a year a century ago. That makes the walkways placed along some of the city's submerged alleys and squares more than necessary. Some predict that the city could ... read more 04/01/2010 07:00 PM Vietnam: Bio-diversity plan to curb impact of climate change Vietnam News Agency: The bio-diversity conservation plan for the southern coastal provinces is expected to reduce impact of climate change to the region, according to experts. Government experts and citizens of three Mekong coastal provinces examined the impact of climate change on their provinces at a forum organised by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) at the end of last month. Tra Vinh, Ben Tre, and Soc Trang, situated at the mouth of the Mekong River, are rich in alluvium, mangrove, and ... read more 03/01/2010 07:00 PM United Kingdom: Brown says climate change agreement possible Reuters: Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Sunday he believed a global agreement to combat climate change might still be possible despite the limited results of last month's Copenhagen meeting. "I've got an idea about how we can actually move this forward over the next few months and I'll be working on this," Brown told the BBC, when asked what came next after the U.N. climate talks in Copenhagen. "I think it's not impossible that the groundwork that was done at Copenhagen could lead ... read more 04/01/2010 07:00 PM Deadly animal diseases poised to infect humans Independent (UK): The world is facing a growing threat from new diseases that are jumping the human-animal species barrier as a result of environmental disruption, global warming and the progressive urbanisation of the planet, scientists have warned. At least 45 diseases that have passed from animals to humans have been reported to UN agencies in the last two decades, with the number expected to escalate in the coming years. Dramatic changes to the environment are triggering major alterations to ... read more 04/01/2010 07:00 PM United Kingdom: Brown insists there is a "way forward" after Copenhagen Business Green: Gordon Brown has vowed to keep up the momentum towards delivering a binding international climate change agreement later this year, despite the recriminations that dominated the fallout from last month's Copenhagen summit. Speaking in an interview with the BBC yesterday, Brown said he has a plan which he believes will ensure negotiations continue to progress ahead of the major UN climate change summit in Mexico in December, which is likely to mark the last chance to agree a treaty to ... read more 04/01/2010 07:00 PM Climate change has no time for delay or denial Guardian: It is often said by perceptive observers that a disconnect is in evidence in many countries between a public that want stringent action to tackle climate change and what governments are actually doing. The United States, for example - which for many years has had no forward-looking policies in reducing emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) - is still encumbered with a large number of senators unwilling to act on account of partisanship or scepticism about the science of climate ... read more 04/01/2010 07:00 PM Climate change scepticism will increase hardship for world's poor: IPCC chief Guardian: Climate change scepticism is likely to surge in 2010 and could exacerbate "hardship" for the planet's poorest people, one of the world's leading authorities on climate change has told the Guardian. Writing on environmentguardian.co.uk today, Rajendra Pachauri, the chair of the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, also dismisses suggestions that he is personally profiting from policies to tackle global warming. Climate sceptics gained media attention in the run up to ... read more 04/01/2010 07:00 PM U.S. December weather coldest since 2000: Planalytics Reuters: The United States experienced its coldest winter in nine years in December as snow storms swept across the country, private weather forecaster Planalytics said on Monday. Every region in the United States trended colder than normal, Planalytics said, which helped boost energy prices as consumers nationwide turned up their heating. "Following the warmest November since 2001, the month of December 2009 ended the coldest since 2000," Planalytics said on Monday. The highly ... read more 04/01/2010 07:00 PM Climate deal 'satisfies' Saudis BBC: Saudi Arabia says it is "satisfied" with the conclusion of last month's UN climate summit in Copenhagen. However, the country's lead negotiator Mohammad Al-Sabban told BBC News that the UN climate process may be heading for stalemate, like world trade talks. Meanwhile, India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has become the latest world leader to admit that last month's summit made little progress. The status of the agreement made in Copenhagen remains unclear. The ... read more 04/01/2010 07:00 PM Mexico City battles water crisis with taxes, pleas Reuters: Lake Avandaro has long been the emblem of leisure in this wealthy, colonial town west of Mexico City, but the capital sucked it half-dry last spring. Ever thirstier, Mexico City diverted tonnes of water from the lake to the capital, putting the quaint village of Valle de Bravo in jeopardy as a popular weekend vacation spot for the rich. Water skiers and boaters had to dodge emerging rocks as the lake level dropped to half its normal volume. "I was born here and I have ... read more 04/01/2010 07:00 PM Grow your own food revolution plans to seed unused land Guardian: The government plans to launch a "grow your own" revolution by encouraging people to set up temporary allotments or community gardens on land awaiting development or other permanent use. It aims to develop a "meanwhile" lease to formalise such arrangements between landowners and voluntary groups and is considering establishing a "land bank" to broker better links and ensure plots are not left idle. Ministers believe the move could foster community spirit and skills as well as ... read more 04/01/2010 07:00 PM After this 60-year feeding frenzy, Earth itself has become disposable Guardian: Who said this? "All the evidence shows that beyond the sort of standard of living which Britain has now achieved, extra growth does not automatically translate into human welfare and happiness." Was it a) the boss of Greenpeace, b) the director of the New Economics Foundation, or c) an anarchist planning the next climate camp? None of the above: d) the former head of the Confederation of British Industry, who currently runs the Financial Services Authority. In an interview broadcast last ... read more 04/01/2010 07:00 PM Winter system drops record snow, chills the South Assiociated Press: A bitter chill has settled in across the eastern half of the country, threatening crops, closing schools and making Charleston, S.C., feel more like New York City. Records snows were reported over the weekend in Vermont, and farmers in Florida scrambled Monday to save strawberries and tomatoes. The deep freeze will last for at least the rest of the week. The National Weather Service said the mercury could fall below zero in St. Louis later this week for the first time since ... read more 04/01/2010 07:00 PM The comparative costs of climate change Christian Science Monitor: Probably the most widely discussed economic analysis on what the transition to a low-carbon economy will cost is the so-called Stern Review by British economist Nicholas Stern. First released in 2006, the report put these costs at 1 percent of Gross Domestic Product. Then, in 2008, as it became clear that Earth's climate was changing faster than many had forecast, Stern upped the estimate to 2 percent of world GDP. While he acknowledges that this cost presents a challenge, he ... read more 04/01/2010 07:00 PM Extreme weather linked to climate change, say Chinese The Age: FREAK snowstorms and record low temperatures sweeping northern China are linked to global warming, say Chinese officials. But this week's dump appears to have no link to the Chinese Government's relentless efforts to manipulate the weather, which have prompted decades of experiments designed to modify the micro-climate. Beijing's first attempt at weather modification involved a fighter-bomber dumping 200 kilograms of dry ice or common kitchen salt - depending on the source - ... read more 30/12/2009 07:00 PM Shell must face Friends of the Earth Nigeria claim in Netherlands Guardian: A judge in the Netherlands has opened the door to a potential avalanche of legal cases against Shell over environmental degradation said to be caused by its oil operations in the Niger Delta. The oil group expressed "disappointment" tonight that a court in The Hague had agreed to allow Friends of the Earth Netherlands and four local Nigerian farmers to bring a compensation case in its backyard for the first time. Environmental campaigners insisted the case in the Netherlands ... read more 30/12/2009 07:00 PM As threats multiply and power fragments, the coming decade cries out for realistic idealism Guardian: An Islamist terrorist caught trying to crash a plane over Detroit creates a flash of illusory clarity. The decade might have ended with another 9/11. So was George Bush right after all? Is the "global war on terror" the defining struggle of our times? In which case, what about climate change? And the fact that more than a billion human beings have to live on less than $1 a day? And nuclear proliferation; the threat of a worldwide pandemic; the crisis of globalised capitalism – not to ... read more 31/12/2009 07:00 PM United Kingdom: John Gummer quits as MP to force more passion out of West on climate change Times (UK): John Gummer is to leave the House of Commons to lead a new international campaign to make Britain, the US and other developed countries take more responsibility for fighting climate change. The former Conservative Agriculture Minister and Environment Secretary -- who famously tried to feed his daughter a burger to convince people that British beef was safe from BSE -- will step down at the next election. He has been a leading voice within the Conservative Party on green ... read more 31/12/2009 07:00 PM Global warming blamed for rise in malaria on Mount Kenya Times (UK): Global warming has caused a seven-fold increase in cases of malaria on the slopes of Mount Kenya, a British-funded research team has found. A 2C increase in average temperatures around the mountain in the past 20 years has allowed the disease to creep into higher altitude areas, where the local population of four million has little or no immunity. The researchers, funded by the Department for International Development (DfID), found that the average temperature in the Kenyan ... read more 30/12/2009 07:00 PM No rise of atmospheric carbon dioxide fraction in past 160 years, new research finds ScienceDaily: No Rise of Airborne Fraction of Carbon Dioxide in Past 150 Years, New Research Finds Most of the carbon dioxide emitted by human activity does not remain in the atmosphere, but is instead absorbed by the oceans and terrestrial ecosystems. In fact, only about 45 percent of emitted carbon dioxide stays in the atmosphere. However, some studies have suggested that the ability of oceans and plants to absorb carbon dioxide recently may have begun to decline and that the airborne ... read more 30/12/2009 07:00 PM Indian Ocean climate event recurs quicker with global warming ScienceDaily: The Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD), an oscillation of sea surface temperatures in the Indian Ocean, has become a major influence on the weather variations in the Indian Ocean region. During positive IOD events, abnormally warm sea surface temperatures in the western Indian Ocean are accompanied by severe droughts over the Indonesian region and heavy rainfall over east Africa. To learn more about IOD patterns, Nakamura et al. studied a 115-year coral record from Kenya. They analyzed coral ... read more 03/01/2010 07:00 PM North China struggles with icy cold snap Reuters: Beijing authorities shut schools, mobilized extra buses and ordered thousands of residents to help clear icy roads and paths with shovels on Monday, as the Chinese capital struggled with its harshest winter weather in years. North China began the working week after a blast of harsh cold and heavy snow blanketed the region over the weekend, paralyzing highways and forcing the cancellation of many flights. "Low temperatures and ice-covered roads are expected to severely affect ... read more 04/01/2010 07:00 PM Where the Action Is on Climate New York Times: Even as many members of Congress resist as too hard or too costly the steps necessary to address global warming, American cities and states – the largest of which have carbon footprints bigger than those of most nations – have quietly been making serious commitments to curb emissions. Instead of finding reasons to do nothing, Congress should build on these actions to fashion a national response to climate change. According to a recent study by Environment America, an advocacy group, ... read more 02/01/2010 07:00 PM Going Organic Helps A Small Dairy Stay Afloat National Public Radio: read more 03/01/2010 07:00 PM Duke Energy boosts solar might McClatchy Newspapers: Thousands of panels are soaking up the winter sunshine as Duke Energy launches its solar rooftops program under North Carolina's new green energy law. For the first time, in a small but significant step, Duke and Raleigh-based Progress Energy will have to make a smidgen of their electricity this year from the sun. Energy from other renewable fuels, such as wind, wood wastes and chicken manure, will join the mix in two years. Renewables have to account for 12.5 percent of ... read more 03/01/2010 07:00 PM U.S. consul general is 'eyes and ears' for Obama administration on oilsands CANADIAN PRESS: A career diplomat is keeping a close eye on the failures and successes within Alberta's oilsands and is reporting what she learns to the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama. The giant projects in northern Alberta have taken global centre stage of late, thanks in large part to climate-change talks in Copenhagen. And Laura Lochman, the U.S. consul general responsible for Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and the Northwest Territories, has essentially become the eyes and ears for ... read more 03/01/2010 07:00 PM Battle to save tigers intensifies with only 3,200 left on Earth Telegraph: Conservationists say there are just 3,200 tigers left in the world as the future of the species is threatened by poachers, destruction of their habitat and climate change. The world population of tigers has fallen by 95 per cent in the past century. Free flipper! argues scientist Wild tigers in Nepal decimated by poachers Red List of endangered species 'inaccurate' claim conservationists Red List of endangered species - thousands of species at risk of ... read more 03/01/2010 07:00 PM Britain must produce more food, government to warn Telegraph: A soaring global population, climate change, diminishing energy sources and depleted fish stocks mean that society can no longer be complacent about its ability to feed itself, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) will say. Setting out a comprehensive food strategy for the next 20 years, ministers will also say that: Tories must prove they can be trusted with power Digital Britain: 2mbps broadband plans not enough for countryside, says ... read more 03/01/2010 07:00 PM Australia: Beachfront owners left high and dry by planning changes Sydney Morning Herald: HOLIDAY home owners across NSW will find themselves forbidden from making improvements as simple as building a new backyard toilet under planning rules introduced because of rising sea levels. Coastal councils are rewriting their planning rules in response to new State Government policies discouraging the intensification of development in coastal areas. For example, under new rules produced by Shoalhaven Council, homes inside the predicted 2025 sea level line will be defined as ... read more 03/01/2010 07:00 PM Swiss glaciers melting slower now than in 1940s! Economic times: Contrary to popular perception that glaciers are melting faster the world over due to global warming, a new study says that Swiss glaciers were melting even faster in the 1940s when temperatures were lower. Significantly, ETH Zurich researchers attribute the melting of glaciers in the 1940s to a lower level of aerosol - a suspension of fine solid particles or liquid droplets in a gas - pollution in the atmosphere. The increase in winter snow and melting glaciers in summer have ... read more 03/01/2010 07:00 PM Gordon Brown unveils £100bn wind farm gamble Times on line: GORDON BROWN will this week launch a £100 billion green power revolution when he awards a raft of development contracts to build a new generation of offshore wind farms. The government envisages a third of the UK's energy coming from wind power by 2020. The plan is far and away the most ambitious in the world and comprises the central plank of the country's efforts to cut emissions. It revolves round the construction of nine enormous offshore wind farms on parcels put up for ... read more 03/01/2010 07:00 PM Shell CO2 stocking plans under fire Agence France Presse: A plan by oil giant Shell to store 300,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year in a depleted gas reservoir beneath the Dutch city of Barendrecht has drawn the ire of residents and local officials who have vowed to thwart it. "We are going to do everything to oppose this project," declared Barendrecht deputy mayor Simon Zuurbier, who voiced fears for the safety of the city's 50,000 inhabitants. "We are taking legal action to get it cancelled and we'll approve none of the required ... read more News Archive     Back to Homepage
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