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		News Archive     21/07/2009 08:00 PM Kerry panel looks at climate change and national security Boston Globe: Massive crop devastation, melting glaciers, water shortages, millions of displaced people -- all of these will drag the US military into conflict if global climate change goes unchecked, a Senate panel was warned today. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, convened by Senator John F. Kerry of Massachusetts, focused on what so far has received only modest attention in the climate change debate: the effect it is bound to have on national defense. "Addressing the ... read more 21/07/2009 08:00 PM CU study: Climate change threatens Colo. River water supply Colorado Daily: The Colorado River system -- which 30 million people depend on for drinking and irrigation water -- could fully deplete all of its reservoir storage by the middle of the century, a new University of Colorado study shows. Under the most drastic climate change scenario, the study shows a 50 percent chance of depletion if current management practices continue while the West warms and the Colorado River dries up. The study is published in the American Geophysical Union journal Water ... read more 21/07/2009 08:00 PM Geoengineering Climate Requires More Research redOrbit: Geoengineering - deliberately manipulating physical, chemical, or biological aspects of the Earth system to confront climate change – could contribute to a comprehensive risk management strategy to slow climate change but could also create considerable new risks, according to a policy statement released by the American Meteorological Society (AMS) today. According to the Society, geoengineering will not substitute for either aggressive emissions reduction or efforts to adapt to ... read more 21/07/2009 08:00 PM Climate change could put the heat on California crops LA Times: The Lockes have tilled the rich soil along the Mokelumne River since 1850. Now Chris Locke, 57, looks forward to passing down his orchards of 40,000 walnut trees to his four sons. But the threat of global warming has him worried. "I talk to my boys about climate change," he said. When he was young, frigid fogs rolled off the delta into Lockeford, the town named for his forebears. "We would go a week without seeing the sun. But we don't seem to get that weather anymore." If San ... read more 21/07/2009 08:00 PM Climate change could ruin California fruit, nut crops Reuters: Climate change could devastate tree crops such as walnuts, cherries, prunes and peaches in California's fertile Central Valley, researchers reported on Tuesday. These kinds of trees require a certain amount of winter chill to be productive, and winters could be warmer than normal as climate change proceeds, scientists at the University of California-Davis and the University of Washington wrote in the peer-reviewed journal PLoS ONE. The study projected losses of more than half ... read more 22/07/2009 08:00 PM Indonesia: Palm oil companies trade plantation concessions for carbon credits from forest conservation Mongabay: Indonesian palm oil producers are eying forest conservation projects as a way to supplement earnings via the nascent carbon market, reports Reuters. Frank Momberg, Fauna and Flora International's Asia-Pacific director for program development, told Reuters' David Fogarty that plantations companies have agreed to forgo converting rainforest areas in West Kalimantan on the island of Borneo in exchange for a share of the revenue generated from the sales of forest carbon credits. Forest ... read more 20/07/2009 08:00 PM Massive dust storm in China circled the world in 13 days Agence France-Presse: A wind storm that ripped across western China's Taklimakan desert kicked up hundreds of thousands of tonnes of dust that high-altitude winds then carried around the world in less than two weeks, a study says. On May 8-9, 2007 winds reaching up to 36 kilometers (22.5 miles) per hour blew an estimated 800,000 tonnes of dust into the air, according to satellite imaging and computer models. Trapped against the high walls of the Tibetan plateau, the dust was forced higher and ... read more 20/07/2009 08:00 PM US wants China, India to meet climate, labor standards Dow Jones: Commerce Secretary Gary Locke said Monday that China and India must meet the same environmental and human rights standards as U.S. companies to level the playing field for domestic manufacturers. Locke said embedding basic human rights, safety and environmental standards in trade agreements, and making sure developing countries abide by new climate change rules will help make U.S. exports more competitive. "They've got to pay for the cost of complying with climate change. We cannot ... read more 20/07/2009 08:00 PM U.N. approves first new generation carbon offset project Reuters: The United Nations has given a green light to the first of a new generation of carbon offset programs designed to bring carbon reductions to a mass market in developing nations. The panel that oversees the running of the U.N.'s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) gave in-principle approval during a meeting last week to the project that will deploy 30 million compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) in Mexico. The U.N. has released the details of the meeting on its website, ... read more 20/07/2009 08:00 PM CO2 caps central to climate fight: UK Reuters: A dual system of both national emissions caps and carbon trading schemes should play a central role in cutting global greenhouse gas emissions, a report commissioned by the British government said on Monday. At the government level, national caps on emissions should ensure countries take responsibility for limiting their own greenhouse gases. At the individual emitter level, trading schemes should cap emissions and allow trade in carbon permits, the report said. "The current ... read more 20/07/2009 08:00 PM Stimulus brings Calif. petcoke plant closer to reality Greenwire: A proposed power plant in Southern California that would turn coal and waste petroleum into cleaner-burning gas has garnered support from the state and stimulus funds from the federal government. Hydrogen Energy International LLC -- a partnership of BP Alternative Energy and Australian miner Rio Tinto Hydrogen -- is proposing the plant for Kern County near Bakersfield. The 250-megawatt facility is designed to filter out 90 percent of its carbon dioxide for permanent underground ... read more 21/07/2009 08:00 PM Governors call for carbon-neutral buildings by 2030 Greenwire: The National Association of Governors is the latest legislative group to support the American Institute of Architects' goal of zeroing out new and renovated buildings' greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. The NGA -- which is convening in Biloxi, Miss., for its annual meeting -- endorsed the AIA goal as part of a resolution on energy efficiency and conservation. The U.S. Conference of Mayors and the National Association of Counties have also endorsed the AIA goal by vowing to integrate ... read more 21/07/2009 08:00 PM US government pumps $57m into smart grid Business Green: The US Department of Energy (DoE) once again opened up its stimulus fund war chest yesterday, awarding over $57m to eight smart grid demonstration projects across the country. The new investment, which follows $17m of government smart grid funding awarded last year, will aim to accelerate the roll out of projects designed to demonstrate the feasibility of smart grid technologies capable of managing and reducing energy use across the grid. "Modernising our electrical grid to ... read more 21/07/2009 08:00 PM Global ocean temperatures at warmest level since 1880 Mongabay: Global ocean temperatures rose to the warmest on record, according to data released last week by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The combined average global land and ocean surface temperature for June was second-warmest since global recording-keeping began in 1880. NOAA reports that both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres experienced record sea surface temperatures in June. Temepratures in the Northern Hemisphere were 1.17°F (0.65°C) above normal, ... read more 21/07/2009 08:00 PM Parent stress, air pollution up kids' asthma risk Greenwire: Children with stressed-out parents may be more prone to developing asthma associated with environmental "triggers" such as high levels of traffic-related pollution and tobacco smoke, hints a study published today. In the study, researchers found that children whose parents reported high levels of psychological stress and who were exposed to cigarette smoke in the womb and to traffic-related pollution early in life had a much higher risk of developing asthma, compared to children only ... read more 21/07/2009 08:00 PM Montreal Protocol Eyed as Weapon in Fight Against Climate Change New York Times: There's growing momentum for amending the Montreal Protocol, the landmark treaty credited with rescuing the earth's ozone layer, for use in a global battle against climate change. Widely regarded as the most successful environmental treaty of all time, the Montreal Protocol is credited with eliminating 97 percent of gases used in refrigerant and cooling systems that were eating away at the atmospheric layer that protects life from harmful ultraviolet radiation. Now, some ... read more 21/07/2009 08:00 PM US moving toward strong climate action Agence France-Presse: The United States has undergone an important mood-shift on climate change and is on the path toward "strong climate action," a key UN official said here Tuesday. "The mood is completely different now... There's a sense that the country's on the move toward strong climate action," Michael Zammit Cutajar, who chairs the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) working group on long-term cooperative action, told reporters. The US House of Representatives last month ... read more 21/07/2009 08:00 PM Governors say climate policy could create jobs Associated Press: Three Democratic governors told a Senate panel Tuesday that efforts to curb global warming and spur the development of cleaner sources of energy have created jobs and new businesses in their states, a trend that could expand nationwide if Congress passes federal legislation. All three states -- New Jersey, Colorado, and Washington -- have adopted measures to achieve reductions in the gases blamed for global warming and standards requiring a certain percentage of electricity from ... read more 21/07/2009 08:00 PM Informal world climate talks in Bonn in August Reuters: World climate negotiators will gather in Bonn next month to edit an "indigestible" set of proposals into a manageable document for international consideration, the head of a key U.N. panel said on Tuesday. The August meeting is the first step in a timeline aimed at reaching a new worldwide agreement to combat climate change in Copenhagen in December, said Michael Zammit Cutajar, chairman of a working group of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate change. Not previously ... read more 21/07/2009 08:00 PM U.S. green jobs seen taking years of planning Reuters: Alternative energy jobs can provide vocations across many sectors of the economy but policy to spark them can take years to develop, U.S. governors told a Senate committee on Tuesday. State green power mandates and regional cap-and-trade plans on emissions have been useful tools in pushing local economies to begin to convert from fossil fuel plants to green jobs, the governors told the Senate's Committee on Environment and Public Works. "This didn't happen by accident," ... read more 21/07/2009 08:00 PM Climate bill impact on U.S. farms bearable: Lawmaker Reuters: The impact on U.S. farms and ranches from climate-change legislation will be bearable, partly because of the chance to earn money for controlling greenhouse gases, said the House Agriculture Committee chairman on Tuesday. Agriculture Chairman Collin Peterson, during a speech to American Soybean Association members, pointed to think-tank estimates the climate bill passed by the House would drive up crop production costs by 1.8 percent-4.6 percent in the near term. "We don't want ... read more 21/07/2009 08:00 PM Greenpeace charged in Mount Rushmore demonstration Associated Press: A federal grand jury has indicted the environmental group Greenpeace and 11 people involved in hanging a banner on Mount Rushmore. Greenpeace has said three of its members hung the 65-by-35-foot banner calling for a stop to global warming July 8 while others blocked access to the site. U.S. Attorney Marty Jackley says Greenpeace trained the protesters and hired a helicopter to photograph and record the protest. The organization has been charged with helping the protesters ... read more 21/07/2009 08:00 PM Will Global Warming Melt the Permafrost Supporting the China-Tibet Railway? Scientifc American: Building a railway across the unstable soil of the Tibetan Plateau was an improbable endeavor from the start, but an army of Chinese government engineers did it anyway. Now, with the frozen soil disturbed by the process of laying down the rail and a warming climate on the plateau, some scientists question whether the $4-billion rail line will survive as is or require major reconstruction. Three years after the railway opened in 2006, international research shows that the ... read more 21/07/2009 08:00 PM United Kingdom: Workers at the Vestas wind turbine factory stage a sit-in protest BBC: Police said about 200 workers were protesting outside the factory after being turned away when they arrived earlier but management have been allowed inside. The protesters have locked themselves in a first floor office and claimed no members of management had come to talk to them. A demonstrator, who did not want to be named, said police in riot gear had gathered outside the office. He said: "It is our last-ditch attempt to save the jobs. "This is a green industry ... read more 21/07/2009 08:00 PM Pachauri defends India's climate stand Indo-Asian News Service: India will continue to use coal to meet its energy demands, says Rajendra Pachauri, chair of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). "Can you imagine 400 million people who do not have a light bulb in their homes," Pachauri told reporters here Monday. "You cannot, in a democracy, ignore some of these realities and as it happens with the resources of coal that India has we really don`t have any choice but to use coal in the immediate short term," he ... read more 21/07/2009 08:00 PM Gingrich joins call for offshore oil drilling Atlanta Journal Constitution: Newt Gingrich on Tuesday joined congressional Republicans in taking the Obama administration to task for not doing more to promote offshore oil drilling. On the one-year anniversary of the lifting of a presidential ban on offshore oil exploration, Gingrich said the White House is hurting the economy by not pushing aggressively for drilling. "Returning energy production to the United States means American jobs, keeping American money at home," Gingrich, the former House speaker ... read more 21/07/2009 08:00 PM Clinton's Trip to India: Lots of Talk, Not Much Action Time Magazine: The big take-aways of Clinton's visit are three key agreements. The first is an "end-use monitoring" agreement that allows the U.S. to track arms supplied to India to ensure they are not sold or otherwise given to third parties. This agreement, required by U.S. law, enables U.S. companies to sell high-tech military equipment and technology to India, immediately benefiting Boeing and Lockheed Martin who will be able to bid for contracts to supply 26 fighter jets to India for a $10-billion ... read more 21/07/2009 08:00 PM Senate Democrats Prep Team Girds for Climate Battle ClimateWire: When the Senate debated climate change legislation earlier this decade, it generally was understood the bill had no chance of becoming law. Floor debates in 2003 and 2005 came about after high-profile senators forced votes to score political points and embarrass the George W. Bush administration. Just one committee wrote last year's cap-and-trade bill, which crashed on the floor and became a political liability for Senate Democrats. This time around, Senate Democrats are trying ... read more 21/07/2009 08:00 PM Canadian tar sands developers to face fresh legal challenge Business Green: The Canadian tar sands industry became mired in yet more controversy this week following an international appeal for financial aid to support an indigenous community's legal battle against further development. The charitable trust fund has been set up to help the Beaver Lake Cree Nation, which claims that prospecting, strip mining and drilling for oil in their ancestral lands is polluting water supplies and damaging both human health and that of local wildlife. In the latter instance, ... read more 21/07/2009 08:00 PM China wind turbine makers blow over foreign rivals Business Green: China-based wind turbine manufacturers have overtaken foreign competitors in the race to supply domestic wind power projects for the first time -- a lead that is likely to widen due to the government's controversial "buy Chinese" procurement policy. According to figures from the state-run Chinese Wind Energy Association, domestic and Sino-foreign joint venture turbine makers accounted for 61.8 per cent of China's market share at the end of 2008, surpassing overseas producers for the ... read more 21/07/2009 08:00 PM India refuses to set emissions reduction target despite US "pressure" Business Green: The Indian government has insisted that it is under no obligation to set an emission reduction target, despite "pressure" to do so from US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during a visit to the subcontinent over the weekend. Indian environment minister Jairam Ramesh told Clinton that "there is simply no case for the pressure that we, who have among the lowest emissions per capita, face to actually reduce emissions". During an hour-long private meeting with Clinton, Ramesh ... read more 21/07/2009 08:00 PM India says no to emission reduction Guardian: India's minister for environment and forests Jairam Ramesh has ruled out the country's agreeing to specific targets for reducing carbon emissions. "There is simply no case for the pressure that we [India] -- who have among the lowest emissions per capita -- face to reduce emissions," Ramesh told visiting US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton yesterday (19 July). "And as if this pressure was not enough, we also face the threat of carbon tariffs on our exports to countries such ... read more 21/07/2009 08:00 PM Activists reveal plan to storm Copenhagen climate summit Guardian: A network of radical green groups is planning to disrupt the international climate change meeting in Copenhagen in December by invading the conference hall and stopping the talks, it has emerged. The anti-globalisation group Climate Justice Action has said it hopes to mobilise up to 15,000 protesters to storm the climate summit, and a large carbon dioxide emitter nearby, while negotiators try to thrash out a replacement for the Kyoto protocol. "We want to take over the summit ... read more 21/07/2009 08:00 PM Climate Change Effect: Warmer Waters Shrinking European Fish Spiegel: A new study has found that Europe's fish are smaller than they have been in decades and the researchers believe global warming may be to blame. They warn that smaller fish could eventually have a domino effect on the food chain. European fish are getting smaller. Over the past two to three decades some varieties have lost almost half of their body weight. And while smaller fish now make up a greater percentage of all fish species, European fish stocks have also shrunk -- by around 60 ... read more 21/07/2009 08:00 PM Jet turbine could power hybrid electric car Reuters: With a brief, muffled hiss of a jet engine, the test vehicle that an Israeli start-up hopes will be the future of the hybrid electric car, ignites. The car is built on the shell of a normal Toyota Prius, a top-selling gasoline-electric hybrid, but without the need for its internal combustion engine. Instead, an electric engine, containing a supercapacity battery and a micro-jet turbine engine, powers from the rear as it drives almost silently around a test track. With ... read more 21/07/2009 08:00 PM Giant Chinese dustball circles the Earth Telegraph: A group of Chinese and Japanese scientists claimed that the dustball, which weighed 800,000 tons, was kicked up during a storm in 2007 in the Taklamakan desert. The desert, which is roughly the size of France, lies in China's far-Western Xinjiang province, and is fringed by mountains on three sides, including the Pamir mountains on the border with Afghanistan and the Karakoram range, an extension of the Himalayas. The dust ball was formed when a wind storm ripped across the ... read more 21/07/2009 08:00 PM India: Hurdles Aplenty Before Nuclear Deal Goes Commercial Inter Press Service: As U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton began talks with Indian officials in New Delhi on Monday to take a forward a civilian nuclear cooperation agreement, signed by the previous Bush administration, it was apparent that there were many roadblocks to be cleared before deals worth an estimated 10 billion dollars are signed. Robert Blake, assistant secretary of state for South Asia, said last week, that the deal presented a "major opportunity for American companies, and opens up as ... read more 21/07/2009 08:00 PM IPCC to increase focus on economic costs of climate change Business Green: The economic and development impacts of climate change on specific regions and countries will lie at the heart of the UN's next official report on climate change, the head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) confirmed yesterday. Speaking at an event in New York to outline plans for the IPCC's fifth assessment, Rajendra Pachauri said that the focus of the next report would shift to pay more attention to both the financial implications of climate change and the ... read more 21/07/2009 08:00 PM Taiwan climate bill aims for end-2009 vote Reuters: Legislators in Taiwan aim to pass an ambitious bill that would return the island's greenhouse gas emissions to pre-2000 levels by making factories clean up or pay, officials said on Tuesday. The Greenhouse Reduction Act, which stalled after being introduced in parliament in February last year because of industry opposition, passed the first round of voting in December and is seen moving toward a final vote as early as late 2009. The bill would also authorize Taiwan's first CO2 ... read more 21/07/2009 08:00 PM IPCC Chief Raps G-8, Calls for Global Greenhouse Gas Emissions Cuts After 2015 ClimateWire: The chief of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change criticized the Group of Eight summit participants for ignoring the IPCC's scientific findings and the declaration that emerged from the 2007 U.N. climate conference in Bali, Indonesia, in which leaders agreed to work toward a new treaty limiting average global temperature increase to 2 degrees Celsius. Though simultaneously praising the 2-degree commitment as "clearly a big step forward" in international talks, IPCC Chairman ... read more 21/07/2009 08:00 PM Senate agriculture panel begins to stake its claim in Climate Bill ClimateWire: Members of the Senate Agriculture Committee will vet options this week for the sweeping energy and climate bill, which they are expected to play a significant role in shaping. The panel will have a hearing Wednesday to explore the role for agriculture and forestry in climate change legislation. They are scheduled to hear from two major farm groups on opposing sides of the debate and question senior Obama administration officials: Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, EPA Administrator ... read more 21/07/2009 08:00 PM Polluters must pay for clean-up: Advani to Hillary Economic Times: US secretary of state Hillary Clinton"™s efforts to push India to accept a legally binding cap on greenhouse gas emissions received no support from the leader of Opposition L K Advani. During their 35-minute meeting, Mr Advani made it amply clear to Ms Clinton that there was no way India would accept a cap on emissions. The visiting secretary of state also met with UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi. Reiterating the principle of "œpolluters pay", Mr Advani said that the developed countries ... read more 21/07/2009 08:00 PM United Kingdom: UK urged to help end food shortages Press Association: The UK has a "moral duty" to produce more food such as fruit, vegetables and grains to prevent the world from going hungry, MPs have said. With predictions that global food production will need to double by mid-century, the UK must help avert food shortages and the political instability they could lead to. But boosting production needs to be sustainable in order to tackle climate change and conserve the natural world, the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs select committee ... read more 21/07/2009 08:00 PM India, US to hold talks on climate change Asian News International: India`s Special Envoy on Climate Change Systems Shyam Saran and his US counterpart Todd Stern will hold talks on climate change today. Stern, who was accompanying US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, is staying back here for talks. Clinton is on her way to Thailand to attend an ASEAN meeting. The issue of climate change is said to have figured in the discussions Clinton had with Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh. Clinton agreed with Indian concerns on climate change ... read more 21/07/2009 08:00 PM Japan hit by invasion of giant Nomura's jellyfish Telegraph: The massive sea creatures, called Echizen kurage in Japanese, measure up to six feet (1.83 meters) in diameter and weigh more than 450 pounds (204 kilos). For the past four summers, they have mysteriously materialised in the Yellow Sea off China and the Korean peninsula before drifting across into the Sea of Japan. They are expected to be at their most populous in the coming months. "The arrival is inevitable,' Professor Shinichi Ue, from Hiroshima University, told the Yomiuri ... read more 21/07/2009 08:00 PM Bangladesh: Drought threat for Bangladesh as monsoon fails Agence France-Presse: A delay to Bangladesh's monsoon season is posing a severe risk of drought in the impoverished nation and threatening food supplies, officials warned Tuesday. Monsoon rains normally sweep Bangladesh from June to September and the South Asian country gets more than 75 percent of its annual rainfall during this period but a lack of rain is hampering crop potential. "For weeks there have been no rains in the northern and central districts, the country's main food belt. Tens of ... read more 21/07/2009 08:00 PM Canada: Climate change calls for land-use plan rethink Times Colonist: The spectre of rising sea levels and ecological change from climate disruption show land-use plans for Vancouver Island and the B.C. coast will need to be revisited and recalibrated to account for rapid and unabated climate change. As reported in the journal Science in March, sustained atmospheric warming projected for the coming centuries could ultimately produce a worldwide rise in sea level of 12 metres compared with today's levels. In the shorter term, it is currently ... read more 21/07/2009 08:00 PM India: NE faces worst-ever rainfall deficit in 30 years Press Trust of India: North East India, which boasts of the world's wettest place, has witnessed the highest rainfall deficit in the last 30 years which meteorologists attribute to global warming. Official records till July 20 say Manipur has been worst affected recording 67 per cent deficient rainfall, followed by Meghalaya (-55), Nagaland (-62), Assam (-34), Mizoram (-31), Tripura (-30) and Arunachal Pradesh (-29). As a fall-out, summer temperatures have shot up by almost five degrees on an ... read more 21/07/2009 08:00 PM Canada: Coal giant offers cash for biggest clean rival Toronto Star: Canada's biggest generator of dirty power has launched a $1.5 billion hostile bid for the country's leading developer of clean power, including the two largest wind farms in Ontario. Analysts say TransAlta Corp.'s proposed acquisition of Calgary-based Canadian Hydro Developers Inc. could be the first of many moves in an energy sector that sees big polluters trying to green up their assets, partly to limit their exposure to carbon-emission penalties once a national cap-and-trade system ... read more 21/07/2009 08:00 PM Australia: Howard govt minister heads climate body AAP: Former Howard government minister Robert Hill has been appointed to chair a new body to promote energy efficiency and tackle climate change. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd told reporters in Brisbane Professor Hill would chair the Brisbane-based Australian Carbon Trust. "This will complement the location of the National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility at Griffith University, helping make Brisbane a hub of activity to tackle climate change in Australia," Mr Rudd ... read more 20/07/2009 08:00 PM China must 'pay' to cut greenhouse gases - US Reuters: China and other developing nations must help "pay" for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions blamed for global warming, U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke said on Monday, backing off a recent statement that put a greater burden on the United States. As the United States and other developed countries make costly commitments to address climate change, "developing countries like China must do the same," Locke told members of the Manufacturing Council, a private sector advisory ... read more 20/07/2009 08:00 PM Weaknesses In Chinese Wind Power Forbes: Seeking to rein in its emissions of greenhouse gases, China is on an ambitious spending spree in wind power. The government is working on plans to shell out 1 trillion yuan ($146 billion) to build seven massive wind farms with a combined capacity of more than 120 gigawatts, roughly equal to the world's total installed wind power plants last year. The world's largest producer of carbon emissions has been doubling its wind power capacity every year since 2006; it was the world's ... read more 19/07/2009 08:00 PM Australia: House timber a carbon catcher Age: AUSTRALIANS' homes can help fight the threat of climate change because the timber in the houses stores lots of carbon, research shows. Almost 100 million tonnes of carbon is stored in timber in Australian houses, with about 2 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent added each year as new houses are built, according to the research. The annual average of 2.05 million tonnes amounts to 0.4 per cent of Australia's total greenhouse gas emissions in 2006, according to the study, ... read more 20/07/2009 08:00 PM Australian Industry Group warns business not ready for emissions trading scheme Australian: BUSINESS is confused about the proposed emissions trading scheme and worried about compliance costs and greenhouse red tape. Emissions confusion: A plane crosses the sky above the industrial area of Port Botany in Sydney. Picture: Bloomberg The results of new survey by the Australian Industry Group - seen as a government ally on the ETS - and consultants KPMG prompted the leading business group to warn that greenhouse regulation is turning into a policy failure. The ... read more 20/07/2009 08:00 PM India's ugly climate belly - emissions near tipping point Telegraph (India): India will need to accelerate its pace towards clean energy despite its gauntlet that its per capita emissions of Earth-warming greenhouse gases (GHG) will never exceed those of the developed countries, energy analysts have said. Although India produces only 1.8 tonnes of emissions per person, compared to 22 tonnes per person in the US, its absolute emission levels are high -- India is the fifth largest emitter in the world after China, the US, the EU and Russia. Environment ... read more 20/07/2009 08:00 PM New Zealand: Carbon credits may pay more than farming Otago Daily Times: An ambitious high country carbon project is being investigated which, if it proves successful, those involved say could be the start of a new era for high country families, reports Sally Rae. Jim Morris likes referring to the orangutan theory. A chap in Borneo, having read about the money to be made in palm oil, heads out to cut down a patch of rainforest to plant palm oil trees. He is just about to strike the first blow with his axe when the local regional council ... read more 20/07/2009 08:00 PM Climate campaigners say EU carbon trading program may allow polluters avoid emissions cuts Associated Press: Climate change campaigners claimed Monday that flaws in the European Union's carbon trading program could allow major polluters avoid any real reduction in greenhouse gas emissions during the economic downturn. Cap-and-trade forms the main plank of EU efforts to slash carbon dioxide output by a fifth by 2020. Power plants and heavy industry are told to keep emissions under a limit and must buy extra pollution permits to release more. They can profit by selling them if they emit ... read more 20/07/2009 08:00 PM Children's IQ Can Be Affected By Mother's Exposure To Urban Air Pollutants, Study Suggests ScienceDaily: Prenatal exposure to environmental pollutants known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) can adversely affect a child's intelligence quotient or IQ, according to new research by the the Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health (CCCEH) at the Mailman School of Public Health. PAHs are chemicals released into the air from the burning of coal, diesel, oil and gas, or other organic substances such as tobacco. In urban areas motor vehicles are a major source of PAHs. The ... read more 21/07/2009 08:00 PM Spaced Out Trees Reduce Urban Pollution ScienceDaily: A new study published in the International Journal of Environment and Waste Management suggests that we can improve city environments by planting trees down the middle of streets provided they are not too close together. Christof Gromke now of the WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF in Davos, Switzerland, and Bodo Ruck of the Institute for Hydromechanics at the University of Karlsruhe, Germany, have investigated the effects of trees on ventilation and pollution levels ... read more 20/07/2009 08:00 PM China dust cloud circled globe in 13 days Reuters: Dust clouds generated by a huge dust storm in China's Taklimakan desert in 2007 made more than one full circle around the globe in just 13 days, a Japanese study using a NASA satellite has found. When the cloud reached the Pacific Ocean the second time, it descended and deposited some of its dust into the sea, showing how a natural phenomenon can impact the environment far away. "Asian dust is usually deposited near the Yellow Sea, around the Japan area, while Sahara dust ends ... read more 20/07/2009 08:00 PM Trend worsening for pollutant in 16 national parks Associated Press: A pollutant that can slowly trigger changes in the lives of plants and animals is increasingly being found in 16 National Park Service sites, mostly in the Western United States. Air quality data obtained by The Associated Press shows significant worsening trends for ammonium in several flagship parks, including Yellowstone, Mount Rainier and Utah's Canyonlands. Ammonium is often linked with fertilizers, agricultural operations and urban pollution. Rich in nitrogen, the ... read more 20/07/2009 08:00 PM Climate engineering research gets green light New Scientist: Hacking the planet to rein in humanity's effect on the climate has been given a scientific stamp of approval. The umbrella body for meteorological scientists in the US is about to endorse research into geoengineering as part of a three-pronged approach to coping with climate change, alongside national policies to reduce emissions. New Scientist has seen the final draft of the American Meteorological Society's carefully worded position paper on geoengineering. The AMS is the ... read more 20/07/2009 08:00 PM Heat wave to test Southern California power grid Reuters: The largest utility in southern California urged consumer on Monday to conserve power to help keep air conditioners running without interruption as hot weather sends demand soaring over the next few days. Temperatures in Los Angles will reach the low 90s Fahrenheit (low 30s Celsius) Monday and Tuesday with the humidity making it feel more like the low 100s F (high 30s C), according to AccuWeather.com. Edison International's Southern California Edison utility said its ... read more 20/07/2009 08:00 PM Fish are shrinking in response to global warming: study Agence France-Presse: Fish have lost half their average body mass and smaller species are making up a larger proportion of European fish stocks as a result of global warming, a study published Monday has found. "It's huge," said study author Martin Daufresne of the Cemagref Public Agricultural and Environmental Research Institute in Lyon, France. "Size is a fundamental characteristic that is linked to a number of biological functions, such as fecundity - the capacity to reproduce." Smaller ... read more 20/07/2009 08:00 PM UN panel to study impact of climate change on poor countries Guardian: The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the UN body of scientists drawn from around the world, will use its next assessment due in 2014 to look at how the impact of global warming is falling unequally on the poorest developing countries. Two hundred key members of the IPCC met in Venice last week to begin scoping out its fifth assessment. Rajendra Pachauri, the body's chairman, told reporters at the UN building in New York today that the panel was determined to increase its ... read more 20/07/2009 08:00 PM Top UN climate expert faults G-8 goal without deed Associated Press: The chairman of the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said Monday that the Group of Eight nations had "clearly ignored" taking any concrete action to accomplish its new goal of limiting climate change. Rajendra Pachauri, whose scientific panel shared the Nobel Peace Prize with former vice president Al Gore in 2007, praised the G-8 summit in Italy this month for taking "a big step forward" by agreeing to limit the planet's average temperature rise to 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 ... read more 20/07/2009 08:00 PM Global warming may be causing animals to shrink Mongabay: Warming climate may favor small species over large ones, reports a study published Monday in the early online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The research, based on analysis of body mass of fish, plankton, and bacteria in European ecosystems, comes just weeks after scientists reported that sheep on a Scottish island are shrinking due to warmer conditions. The new study, conducted by Martin Daufresne and colleagues from the Leibniz Institute for ... read more 21/07/2009 08:00 PM The Big Question: Is Britain going to be at the centre of the 'green car' revolution? Independent (UK): Because Nissan has said that production of electric car batteries will begin at its Sunderland plant, with the creation of 350 jobs. Some £200m will be invested over the next five years. Through the Regional Development Agency, millions more of taxpayers' money will be spent on all manner of green infrastructure projects to boost the North East as a "low-carbon economic area", including electricity charging points, a test track, an R&D facility linked to local universities, and a ... read more 20/07/2009 08:00 PM IPCC chief: Benefits of tackling climate change will balance cost of action Guardian: Measures 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 ... read more 20/07/2009 08:00 PM Hillary in Indian Climate Change Standoff Business Week: Talk about a rough start. On a three-day visit to India, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton jostled with India's environment minister for her suggestion that India consider curbs on its carbon emissions. Speaking on a tour of a so-called "green building" in Gurgaon, the boom-town-gone-silent on the outskirts of the Indian capital, Clinton offered a thought on India's role in the efforts against global warming. After admiring the double-glassed windows that kept the building cool ... read more 19/07/2009 08:00 PM Role Of Solar Radiation In Climate Change ScienceDaily: A special volume of the Journal of Geophysical Research reviews the growing research field of "global dimming' and "global brightening' in over 20 articles. These phenomena, supposedly human-induced, control solar radiation incident at the Earth's surface and thus influence climate. Special instruments have been recording the solar radiation that reaches the Earth's surface since 1923. However, it wasn't until the International Geophysical Year in 1957/58 that a global measurement ... read more 19/07/2009 08:00 PM Small island states: 2°C of warming too high Green Left Weekly: The 42 nations that make up the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) have called for world governments to set targets that would limit global warming to a 1.5°C increase. AOSIS represents the smallest low-lying islands most threatened by rising sea levels caused by climate change. The 2°C target agreed to by the 17 biggest polluting nations at the July 9 Major Economies Forum in Italy was too high to save their homelands, AOSIS said. In a July 10 statement, AOSIS ... read more 18/07/2009 08:00 PM Climate change threatens more hunger Green Left Weekly: 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. Yet this seemingly small change is already upsetting the delicate balance of the Earth's ecosystems and throwing once predictable seasons out of whack. Closer to the poles, the warming is happening much faster than the world average. Thanks to global warming, locally grown broccoli, carrots, ... read more 20/07/2009 08:00 PM 'Weedy' Bird Species May Win as Temperatures Rise Physorg: Climate change is altering North American winter bird communities in ways that models currently favored by ecologists fail to predict. Based on patterns of animals found in different climate zones today, ecologists would expect that as habitats warm, numbers of species found there will increase, and that those species will be smaller in size and restricted to narrower geographic ranges. Ecologists at the University of California, San Diego have found that only one of those three ... read more 20/07/2009 08:00 PM Coal sales sink Rudd Business Spectator: I thought it a tad ironic last week that, while the Prime Minister was using Al Gore and a new blog as props in his campaign for the August passage of the emissions trading scheme through the Senate, the miners of his home State were telling the world that they have chalked up 887.4 million tonnes of export coal sales in the past six years. By comparison, Queensland`s power generators have consumed about 140 million tonnes of coal in the same period. Even allowing for the ETS ... read more 20/07/2009 08:00 PM Australia needs many energy options: MP Sydney Morning News: Australia needs a broad range of options to meet domestic and export demand for energy, federal Energy Minister Martin Ferguson says. The options include coal, liquefied natural gas (LNG), alternate fuels, uranium, wind, solar and geothermal energy which all must be developed as quickly as possible, Mr Ferguson told the bi-annual QREX resources conference in Rockhampton on Monday. He said an insatiable thirst for energy meant its security was one of the main issues confronting ... read more 20/07/2009 08:00 PM Co-operative gives £53000 to Canadian Cree for tar sands lawsuit Press Association: People in the UK are being urged to support a legal fight by a Canadian Cree community against "tar sands" – a form of fossil fuel which campaigners warn could help push the world into a climate disaster. The Co-operative Financial Services is backing the Beaver Lake Cree Nation, who are fighting the extraction of tar sands from their ancestral lands in the boreal forest of Alberta because of the damage it is doing to their environment. The Beaver Lake Cree claim the strip ... read more 20/07/2009 08:00 PM World starts to act on climate change New Scientist: IT'S like a giant game of Jenga. One by one, pieces of our green future are stacking up, some more precariously than others. At last week's summit in L'Aquila, Italy, leaders of the G8 declared formally for the first time that the world should not allow global temperatures to rise by more than 2 °C above pre-industrial levels. The group also backed Mexico's plan for a green fund to help the poorest countries develop clean-technology economies. Meanwhile, in London this week, ... read more 20/07/2009 08:00 PM Carbon market trading rose 61% last year: study MarketWatch: Trading in global carbon markets rose 61% last year, and European carbon trading during the first half of 2009 exceeded all of the activity during 2008, according to a report published Monday. International Financial Services, London, or IFSL, said global markets trading in carbon dioxide emissions last year rose 61% from 2007 to 4.81 billion metric tons, as opposed to 71% growth between 2006 and 2007. And trading in the European Union's Emissions Trading System rose to 3.2 billion ... read more 20/07/2009 08:00 PM Most Australian Businesses Plan to Reduce Carbon Emissions Bloomberg: Most Australian businesses plan to invest in technology that will reduce their carbon emissions as they prepare for the introduction of laws tackling climate change, a survey has found. Some 74 percent of companies have taken steps or plan measures in the next three years to manage their carbon footprint and 62 percent have invested in cleaner technologies or intend to, the survey of 400 businesses by the Australian Industry Group and accounting firm KPMG found. The government ... read more 19/07/2009 08:00 PM New worry: HCFs chip in on global warming United Press International: Scientists in the United States say hydrofluorocarbons, chemicals credited with helping save Earth's ozone layer, may be contributing to global warming. Some researchers fear HCFs are "super" greenhouse gases, far more capable than carbon dioxide of capturing heat. HCFs were developed as coolants for refrigerators and air conditioners after scientists determined that chlorofuorocarbons were eroding the protective ozone layer. The Washington Post said Sunday the ... read more 20/07/2009 08:00 PM Chemicals That Eased One Woe Worsen Another Washington Post: The chemicals, called hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), were introduced widely in the 1990s to replace ozone-depleting gases used in air conditioners, refrigerators and insulating foam. They worked: The earth's protective shield seems to be recovering. But researchers say what's good for ozone is bad for climate change. In the atmosphere, these replacement chemicals act like "super" greenhouse gases, with a heat-trapping power that can be 4,470 times that of carbon ... read more 19/07/2009 08:00 PM Australia Opposition Signals May Negotiate On Carbon Plan Dow Jones: Australia's main opposition Liberal-National coalition signaled Monday it may be willing to negotiate with the government over its proposed carbon trading scheme, seeking changes that, if agreed by the government, could see the scheme passed into law when it is debated in Parliament next month. The coalition had previously been expected to vote down the controversial legislation in a finely-balanced upper house, the Senate, when it goes to a vote in the week beginning Aug. 11, setting ... read more 19/07/2009 08:00 PM Arctic trek brings global warming into new focus Contra Costa Times: When Jessica Whitlock asks her students what they did over summer vacation, little will they know she has an interesting story of her own to share. The Torrance resident, who will teach biology in the fall at Frederick Douglass Academy High School in Los Angeles, recently spent 10 days in the Canadian Arctic tundra studying climate change with a team of researchers and fellow teachers. "We got to live 10 days in the life of a researcher," Whitlock said. "It was ... read more 20/07/2009 08:00 PM House climate bill was flooded with last-minute changes LA Times: Less than 24 hours before the House approved its landmark energy and climate bill last month, Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-Colo.) got several paragraphs added to the 1,200-page measure -- additions expected to be worth millions of dollars to companies that install solar panels. About the same time, Rep. Melissa Bean (D-Ill.) took the lead in adding another little-noticed provision to the legislation -- a section designed to prevent regulatory action she said could shut down the ... read more 20/07/2009 08:00 PM Fish 'shrinking due to global warming' Agence France-Presse: FISH have lost half their average body mass and smaller species are making up a larger proportion of European fish stocks as a result of global warming, a study has found. 'It's huge,' said study author Martin Daufresne of the Cemagref Public Agricultural and Environmental Research Institute in Lyon, France. 'Size is a fundamental characteristic that is linked to a number of biological functions, such as fecundity -- the capacity to reproduce.' Smaller fish tend to ... read more 20/07/2009 08:00 PM Carbon trading scheme 'target for scams' Agence France-Presse: AUSTRALIA'S proposed carbon trading scheme will be an easy target for organised crime groups, a legal expert warns. The federal government's carbon pollution reduction scheme aims to reduce Australia's carbon emissions through a cap and trade system. Under the proposed scheme, a company that pollutes less can sell credits to a company that needs to increase its emission allowance. Simon Harrison, a climate change law expert with Australian firm Herbert Geer, says the ... read more 20/07/2009 08:00 PM Taxing carbon gases a vital 1st step Arizona Daily Star: The Tucson community has a clear stake in the national climate-change legislation now working its way through Congress. Though the Waxman-Markey bill is imperfect in several ways, it does deserve enactment for many reasons important to our community. Critics complain that the time frames for greenhouse-gas reductions in Waxman-Markey are too distant, that the emission reductions sought are inadequate, that the carbon-trading mechanisms are too unwieldy. Yet despite its flaws, ... read more 20/07/2009 08:00 PM Coal on the slide as renewables top 11 per cent of US power mix Business Green: The renewable energy revolution under way in the US appears to be gathering pace according to new figures from the Energy Information Administration suggesting that zero carbon energy sources are successfully replacing fossil fuel-based forms of energy production. According to the Administration's July Electric Power Monthly report, green energy generation accounted for 11.1 per cent of total electricity production in the country between April 2008 and 2009. Input from ... read more 20/07/2009 08:00 PM World's deserts getting greener despite global warming Asian News International: Contrary to the assumption that global warming would cause an expansion of the world`s deserts, some scientists are predicting that water and life may slowly reclaim these arid places. According to a report by BBC News, the evidence is limited and definitive conclusions are impossible to reach, but recent satellite pictures of North Africa seem to show areas of the Sahara in retreat. It could be that an increase in rainfall has caused this effect. The Sahara is ... read more 20/07/2009 08:00 PM Tuvalu vows to go carbon neutral BBC,: The tiny Pacific island state of Tuvalu has said it wants all its energy to come from renewable sources by 2020. Public Utilities Minister Kausea Natano said his nation of 12,000 people wanted to set an example to others. Tuvalu is made up of a string of atolls with the highest point only 4.5m (15 ft) above sea level, making it extremely vulnerable to flooding. The government hopes to use wind and solar power to generate electricity, instead of imported ... read more 20/07/2009 08:00 PM Uganda likely to lose all forest cover in 50 yrs Stabroek News: Uganda will lose its entire forest cover in the next 50 years if the government does not embark on immediate efforts to halt rapid deforestation, a forestry expert warned yesterday. Forests and tree planting can help mitigate the effects of global warming by increasing carbon storage and cutting greenhouse gas emissions, experts say. Tropical deforestation accounts for a fifth of emissions from human activities. "We have been observing using satellite imagery that over the last ... read more 19/07/2009 08:00 PM India Gives Cold Shoulder to US on Climate Change Emission Caps ABC: Hillary Clinton has been received with feverish media attention here in India on her first visit to the country as secretary of state, but the warm welcome did not win her any of the concessions she sought from New Delhi on climate change, a perennial dispute between the two countries. Indian Agriculture minister Sharad Pawar, in white, greets U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham... Indian Agriculture minister Sharad Pawar, in white, greets U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham ... read more 20/07/2009 08:00 PM 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 ... read more 19/07/2009 08:00 PM India resists hard limits on emissions during Clinton visit CNN: U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton praised India's efforts to reduce carbon emissions Sunday, but India's environment minister said the country won't agree to "legally binding" limits on greenhouse gases. Indian Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh stands with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Sunday in Gurgaon. Clinton toured the ITC Green Center in Gurgaon, outside the Indian capital, with Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh, and she praised India's efforts to boost ... read more 19/07/2009 08:00 PM Will not succumb to any pressure on climate change, India tells US New Kerala: India today made clear to the United States that it would not succumb to any pressure to accept any mandatory cuts in its emission of Green House Gases(GHGs) that cause global warming leading to climate change. It told the US that it would not accept any measure that was not embedded in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Bali Action Plan. In his opening remarks at ITC Green Building Round Table on Green Technologies organised in ... read more 20/07/2009 08:00 PM India Refuses to Bend to U.S. Pressure on Carbon Caps 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. "There is simply no case for the pressure" the U.S. is exerting, considering India produces among the lowest per capita emissions in the world, Minister Jairam Ramesh told Clinton during an unexpected discussion of climate negotiations during ... read more 19/07/2009 08:00 PM India to reveal nuke deal to Clinton: aides Agence France-Presse: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton hoped to seal a defence pact boosting US arms sales to India in talks here Monday that should also see agreement on the siting of two US nuclear reactors. On the business end of her five-day visit to India, Clinton met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and was to meet later with Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna for talks aimed at deepening strategic US ties with an emerging player on the world stage. Washington is especially hopeful of sealing a ... read more 19/07/2009 08:00 PM Global warming means continental crops could take root in Britain by 2030 Telegraph: A report by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), suggests there could be unexpected benefits to climate change with exotic fruits and vegetables thriving. But native species, such as potatoes could suffers as average temperatures rise by around 2C by 2030. Experts predict that within two decades, southerly counties like Devon and Cornwall will be warm enough to support dates, a staple of the Middle East as well as chickpeas. figs, aubergines, peppers ... read more 19/07/2009 08:00 PM France: Sarkozy pushes climate action Agence France-Presse: French President Nicolas Sarkozy and UN chief Ban Ki-moon discussed a variety of key international issues, with a specific focus on climate change, at a working lunch in New York yesterday. During the lunch at the French consulate Sarkozy called for new action on environmental issues, which were a major part of discussions at this month's G8 summit in Italy. "We will fight, hand in hand, a battle against the consequences of climate change. We must create a global organization ... read more News Archive     Back to Homepage
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