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Climate Ark
US proposal to ban polar bear trade voted down at UN wildlife meeting (View Original Story)
Source: climateark.org Posted: 03-19-2010 at 08:00:51
| Associated Press: A US-backed proposal to ban the international trade of polar bear skins, teeth and claws was defeated today at a UN wildlife meeting over concerns it would hurt indigenous economies and arguments the practice didn't pose a significant threat to the animals. The US argued at the 175-nation Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, or Cites, that the sale of polar bears skins was compounding the loss of the animals' sea ice habitat due to climate change. There are ... |
Nations large and small join climate change campaign (View Original Story)
Source: climateark.org Posted: 03-19-2010 at 08:00:48
| Sydney Morning Herald: THEY range from the vulnerable, like low-lying Bangladesh, to the vast, such as the US; from the familiar - England, New Zealand - to the more obscure, such as the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. Many are old hands, like Australia; some are first-timers, including Kosovo and Mongolia. What unites such a disparate group is concern about climate change. They have all signed on to participate in Earth Hour next Saturday. Now in its fourth year, Earth Hour has ... |
United Kingdom: Energy policy 'nowhere near' ready (View Original Story)
Source: climateark.org Posted: 03-19-2010 at 08:00:48
| Financial Times: Energy policy is quot;nowhere nearquot; having the right framework in place to deliver the investment and job creation that will be needed to hit government targets for cutting greenhouse gas emissions, a group of leading academics backed by the Royal Academy of Engineering warns. The academy today publishes the group's report on the prospects for the energy system to 2050, saying quot;fundamental restructuringquot; will be needed to prevent blackouts while delivering the government's objective of an ... |
Their Own Worst Enemies (View Original Story)
Source: climateark.org Posted: 03-19-2010 at 07:00:50
| Newsweek: It's a safe bet that the millions of Americans who have recently changed their minds about global warming--deciding it isn't happening, or isn't due to human activities such as burning coal and oil, or isn't a serious threat--didn't just spend an intense few days poring over climate-change studies and decide, holy cow, the discretization of continuous equations in general circulation models is completely wrong! Instead, the backlash (an 18-point rise since 2006 in the percentage who say the ... |
Czech lawmakers approve curbs to solar boom (View Original Story)
Source: climateark.org Posted: 03-19-2010 at 07:00:49
| Reuters: Czech lawmakers overwhelmingly approved a law on Wednesday to control the boom in solar energy in Europe's third-largest builder of capacity in the sector. The 200-member lower house of the Czech parliament voted 169 to 1 to allow regulators to cut hefty solar energy incentives that have triggered fears of a steep rise in electricity prices and grid instability in the future. This law gives the regulator the freedom to cut the feed-in tariffs that distributors must pay solar ... |
Chaos on carbon market over 'recycled' permits (View Original Story)
Source: climateark.org Posted: 03-19-2010 at 07:00:49
| Times (UK): Europe's emissions trading system was in uproar yesterday amid a mounting scandal over quot;recycled' carbon permits. Two carbon exchanges were forced to suspend trading as panic hit investors fearful that they had bought invalid permits. BlueNext and Nord Pool, the French and Nordic exchanges, suspended trading in certificates of emission reduction (CERs) when it emerged that some had been illegally reused. Concern that used and worthless permits were circulating caused the ... |
Strip mining adds to coal's greenhouse emissions, study says (View Original Story)
Source: climateark.org Posted: 03-19-2010 at 07:00:49
| Charleston Gazette: Mountaintop removal coal mining adds to greenhouse gas pollution by destroying forests and potentially releasing carbon dioxide that was previously trapped inside rock and soil, according to a recent scientific paper. Carbon dioxide emissions from the Appalachian coal industry are up to 17 percent greater than previously estimated if these types of sources are added to emission generated by burning coal in power plants, the paper found. So even if power plants deploy carbon ... |
Automakers urge Congress not to block new emissions limits (View Original Story)
Source: climateark.org Posted: 03-19-2010 at 07:00:49
| Detroit News: Detroit's Big Three automakers, Toyota Motor Corp., and six other automakers urged Congress Wednesday not to bar the Environmental Protection Agency from setting the first-ever limits on tailpipe emissions. The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers -- which includes General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co., Chrysler Group LLC, Daimler AG, BMW AG and Volkswagen AG -- sent a letter Wednesday to congressional leaders urging them to reject efforts led by Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, to ... |
Planes may fly mostly on biofuels with 10 years (View Original Story)
Source: climateark.org Posted: 03-19-2010 at 07:00:49
| Associated Press: Within a decade, passenger planes will be flying on jet fuel largely made from plants ---- flax, marsh grass, even food waste ---- as airlines seek to break away from the volatile oil market and do their part to fight climate change, aviation experts said Wednesday. Though biofuels are still in the experimental stage, the projected shift has stoked concern among environmentalists that the possible insatiable appetite of airlines for plant oil will hasten the destruction of tropical ... |
Sustainable energy: a challenge nearly as great as global warming (View Original Story)
Source: climateark.org Posted: 03-19-2010 at 07:00:46
| EurekAlert!: The goal of the Global Sustainable Bioenergy (GSB) project is to create a global advisory panel for sustainable bioenergy similar to those that exist for subjects such as climate change and biodiversity. To reach this goal, the GSB project has organized five large international conventions in 2010, the third of which ndash;The Latin American Convention of the Global Sustainable Bioenergy Project ndash; will take place in São Paulo, Brazil, from March 23 to March 25, at the headquarters of the Fundação ... |
The science of climate change The clouds of unknowing (View Original Story)
Source: climateark.org Posted: 03-19-2010 at 07:00:45
| Economist: FOR anyone who thinks that climate science must be unimpeachable to be useful, the past few months have been a depressing time. A large stash of e-mails from and to investigators at the Climatic Research Unit of the University of East Anglia provided more than enough evidence for concern about the way some climate science is done. That the picture they painted, when seen in the round--or as much of the round as the incomplete selection available allows--was not as alarming as the most ... |
United Kingdom: Energy firms could be forced to buy low-carbon power (View Original Story)
Source: climateark.org Posted: 03-19-2010 at 07:00:45
| Guardian: The government will next week signal a move towards the introduction of a quot;low-carbon obligationquot; that would force British Gas and other suppliers of energy to buy a percentage of their power from nuclear and clean coal plants. The radical measure ndash; an extension of the renewable obligation that is funding wind farms ndash; will appear in a document to be published alongside the budget next Wednesday. The idea of a low-carbon obligation has been championed by Paul Golby, the chief ... |
United States: Science justifies California water limits (View Original Story)
Source: climateark.org Posted: 03-19-2010 at 07:00:45
| Reuters: Federal limits on water that can be pumped out of a major river delta for California farmers are scientifically justified, a much-anticipated report said on Friday, a finding hailed by environmentalists in the state's epic water wars. But the National Academy of Sciences stopped short of handing a decisive victory to environmental interests over agricultural interests. The academy said further study was required and that threats to Chinook salmon, delta smelt and other endangered fish ... |
Senate climate bill to give free permits: sources (View Original Story)
Source: climateark.org Posted: 03-19-2010 at 07:00:45
| Reuters: U.S. power generating companies would get free pollution permits, at least initially, as part of a compromise climate change bill being written in the Senate that also would give the coal industry $10 billion to develop quot;cleanquot; technology, sources said on Friday. Democratic Senator John Kerry is trying to push a bill through a skeptical Senate this year that would address global warming by reducing the 6.4 billion tons of greenhouse gas emissions the U.S. puts into the atmosphere ... |
States sue EPA to stop greenhouse gas rules (View Original Story)
Source: climateark.org Posted: 03-19-2010 at 07:00:45
| Reuters: At least 15 U.S. states have sued the Environmental Protection Agency seeking to stop it from issuing rules controlling greenhouse gas emissions until it reexamines whether the pollution harms human health. Florida, Indiana, South Carolina and at least nine other states filed the petitions in the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C. on Thursday, states said. They joined petitions filed last month by Virginia, Texas and Alabama. The Obama administration has ... |
China drought leaves millions short of water (View Original Story)
Source: climateark.org Posted: 03-19-2010 at 04:00:48
| Agence France-Presse: A man checks an almost dried-out reservoir in Kunming, southwest China. Millions of people face drinking water shortages in the region because of a once-a-century drought that has dried up rivers and threatens vast farmlands, state media reported Wednesday. Millions of people face drinking water shortages in southwestern China because of a once-a-century drought that has dried up rivers and threatens vast farmlands, state media reported Wednesday. The drought has gripped huge ... |
Asia swelters in heatwave (View Original Story)
Source: climateark.org Posted: 03-19-2010 at 04:00:48
| Straits Times: FEBRUARY is on track to become Singapore's driest month, as well as one of the hottest on record. Peninsular Malaysia is experiencing water shortages, from the Kedah rice fields in the north to parts of Johor in the south, where taps ran dry over the Chinese New Year. China is reporting severe drought and a shortage of drinking water, affecting millions in the south-western part of the country. And in the Philippines, the largest corn-producing region is withering under ... |
Greenhouse Gas Regulations Might Aggravate Climate Change (View Original Story)
Source: climateark.org Posted: 03-19-2010 at 04:00:48
| Physorg: University of Arizona engineers find swapping one chemical for another may actually result in greater energy use, compounding the problems the new chemical was supposed to fix. The U.S. government wants to regulate the use of hydrofluorocarbons, which could lead to an increased use of hydrofluoroethers as a replacement. Both are greenhouse gases, and research at the University of Arizona indicates that HFEs might be worse for the environment than HFCs. Paul Blowers, an ... |
Global warming's grand bargain takes shape (View Original Story)
Source: climateark.org Posted: 03-19-2010 at 04:00:48
| CNN: In the next couple of weeks, lawmakers are expected to unveil an unprecedented climate change proposal that may open up more areas for offshore drilling and cut emissions through a cap on greenhouse gases and a tax on gasoline. Details on the proposal, put forth by Sens. John Kerry, D-Mass., lt;ygg:Entity ref=quot;#nAL74HX03BG-UhFLXWfsEAquot; id=quot;t1quot;gt;Joe Liebermanlt;/ygg:Entitygt;, I-Conn., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., are scant - the actual bill isn't expected until at least the end of the ... |
Arctic animals doing better, but not close to pole (View Original Story)
Source: climateark.org Posted: 03-19-2010 at 04:00:47
| Associated Press: The overall number of animals in the Arctic has increased over the past 40 years ago, according to a new international study. But critters who live closest to the North Pole are disappearing. The report by the United Nations and other groups released Wednesday at a conference in Miami concludes that birds, mammals and fish have increased by about 16 percent since 1970. That's mostly because of decades-old hunting restrictions. The number of geese have about doubled. Marine mammals, ... |
Russia must tap Arctic resources (View Original Story)
Source: climateark.org Posted: 03-19-2010 at 04:00:47
| Associated Press: Russia must defend its claims to mineral riches of the Arctic in increasing competition with other powers, President Dmitry Medvedev said Wednesday. Medvedev said global climate change will likely fuel arguments between nations seeking access to energy and other resources. quot;Other polar nations already have taken active steps to expand their scientific research as well as economic and even military presence in the Arctic,quot; he told a session of the presidential Security ... |
Scientists: new study does not disprove climate change threat to Amazon (View Original Story)
Source: climateark.org Posted: 03-19-2010 at 04:00:44
| Mongabay.com: Recently, Boston University issued a press release on a scientific study regarding the Amazon's resilience to drought. The press release claimed that the study had debunked the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC) theory that climate change could turn approximately 40 percent of the Amazon into savannah due to declining rainfall. The story was picked up both by mass medai, environmental news sites (including mongabay.com), and climate deniers' blogs. However, nineteen of the ... |
Senate Democrats, States Wary of Draft Climate Bill's Pre-emption Language (View Original Story)
Source: climateark.org Posted: 03-19-2010 at 01:00:46
| ClimateWire: Some Democratic senators and state and local air regulators are concerned that the latest draft of a Senate climate and energy bill would unduly strip authority from U.S. EPA and states. Details emerged earlier this week that draft legislation from Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) would curb EPA's authority to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act and would limit states' climate laws and regulations. But that decision is not ... |
China says drought now affecting 50 million people (View Original Story)
Source: climateark.org Posted: 03-19-2010 at 01:00:46
| Reuters: A severe drought across a large swathe of southwest China is now affecting more than 50 million people, and forecasters see no signs of it abating in the short term, state media said on Friday. The drought began last autumn, and is the result not only of less rainfall but also unseasonably high temperatures, the official Xinhua news agency said, citing a central government meeting on the situation. It is affecting the provinces and regions of Guangxi, Sichuan, Guizhou and ... |
Bloomberg predicts renewable energy boom (View Original Story)
Source: climateark.org Posted: 03-19-2010 at 01:00:46
| Business Green: Although annual global expenditure on renewable energy projects is expected to jump from $90bn (£59bn) last year to $150bn by 2020, it will need to increase by up to a third more if the world is to avoid dangerous levels of climate change. That is the conclusion of new research released this week by Bloomberg New Energy Finance, an analyst firm specialising in renewable energy and carbon markets, which warned yearly investment in renewable power sources must rise to $230bn by the end ... |
Indonesia to review forest carbon laws: official (View Original Story)
Source: climateark.org Posted: 03-19-2010 at 01:00:46
| Reuters: Indonesia has launched a review of laws governing a U.N.-backed carbon trading scheme aimed preserving rainforests, a forestry ministry official said on Friday. Indonesia in 2008 became the world's first country to design a legal framework for reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD), a scheme that would allow rich countries to pay developing nations not to chop down their trees. Forest preservation is seen as an important step in slowing global warming ... |
United Kingdom: MPs urge government to prepare for geo-engineering option (View Original Story)
Source: climateark.org Posted: 03-19-2010 at 01:00:46
| Business Green: A parliamentary select committee of MPs warned yesterday that the groundwork for regulating geo-engineering projects must start now. The House of Commons Science and Technology Committee has claimed that hesitation may mean multi-lateral agreement on an international legislative framework is not reached before the impact of dangerous climate change is felt. The Committee published the findings of an inquiry undertaken as part of a unique collaboration with its equivalent body in the ... |
Climate change cited as Mont. leases suspended (View Original Story)
Source: climateark.org Posted: 03-19-2010 at 01:00:45
| Associated Press: A federal judge has approved a first-of-its-kind settlement requiring the government to suspend 38,000 acres of oil and gas leases in Montana so it can gauge how oil field activities contribute to climate change. At issue are the greenhouse gases emitted by drilling machinery and industry practices such as venting natural gas directly into the atmosphere. Environmentalists -- who sued when the Montana leases were sold in 2008 -- argued the industry has allowed too much waste ... |
Protected forests may slow climate change (View Original Story)
Source: climateark.org Posted: 03-19-2010 at 01:00:45
| United Press International: A U.S.-led study involving scientists from 13 organizations, universities and institutions suggests forest protection is effective in slowing climate change. The research, led by the World Wildlife Fund, recommends incorporating protected areas into overall strategies to reduce emissions of greenhouse gasses from deforestation and degradation. quot;Deforestation leads to about 15 percent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions, more than all the cars, trucks, trains, ships and ... |
Ecuadoreans appeal allowing of Chevron arbitration (View Original Story)
Source: climateark.org Posted: 03-19-2010 at 01:00:45
| Reuters: Ecuadorean plaintiffs have appealed a U.S. judge's decision to allow Chevron Corp to seek arbitration of a case of alleged pollution in the Amazon rainforest with a potential $27 billion liability. The plaintiffs, indigenous Ecuadoreans, filed the notice of appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit on Thursday, a week after a judge ruled in favor of the second-largest U.S. oil company in its efforts to seek international arbitration. Chevron cites violations under ... |
EPA to study 'fracking' gas drilling method (View Original Story)
Source: climateark.org Posted: 03-19-2010 at 01:00:45
| Associated Press: The Environmental Protection Agency said Thursday that it will study potential human health and water quality threats from an oil and natural gas drilling technique that injects massive amounts of water, sand and chemicals underground. Hydraulic fracturing, also known as quot;fracking,quot; has gained widespread use to unlock huge natural gas reserves, but the technique also has raised concerns about environmental damage. EPA said the $1.9 million study, expected to be completed by ... |
U.S. wind power growing fast but still lags (View Original Story)
Source: climateark.org Posted: 03-19-2010 at 01:00:45
| Reuters: Wind-generated electricity is growing rapidly in the United States but the pace still lags far behind that in China, the organizer of an industry conference in North Carolina said. quot;With the right policies in place, we can see explosive growth ... It's a global footrace,quot; said Jeff Anthony, business development director of the American Wind Energy Association. Although the United States has the largest amount of installed wind power capacity in the world, the wind power ... |
About 110 nations back Copenhagen climate deal (View Original Story)
Source: climateark.org Posted: 03-19-2010 at 01:00:44
| Reuters: The number of nations backing the non-binding Copenhagen Accord for fighting global warming has risen to about 110 and includes all major greenhouse gas emitters, according to a Reuters compilation on Friday. The accord, reached at the December summit, sets a goal of limiting a rise in temperature to less than 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 F), but does not say how to achieve the goal. Rich nations also aim to give $100 billion a year in climate aid from 2020. Major emitters -- led by ... |
Climate change needs persuasive art, not propaganda (View Original Story)
Source: climateark.org Posted: 03-19-2010 at 11:00:46
| Ecologist: What is art's role in raising awareness of climate change? In this extract from her passionate, poetic essay 'The Far-seers of Art', Jay Griffiths explains why culture without nature is as good as worthless Art's job is not propaganda. Propaganda aims for the cliché and, in attempting to speak to everyone, speaks in fact to no one. Art takes an idiosyncratic line; the more surely envoiced the artist becomes, the stronger the response to their work. You can see agit-prop coming ... |
Mont. drilling leases on hold over climate change (View Original Story)
Source: climateark.org Posted: 03-19-2010 at 11:00:45
| Associated Press: A federal judge has approved a settlement requiring the government to suspend oil and gas leases on almost 38,000 acres in Montana because potential climate change impacts were not studied prior to leasing. Erik Schlenker-Goodrich, an attorney involved in the case, says it marks the first time the Bureau of Land Management has agreed to go back and consider if a lease sale could exacerbate climate change. Thursday's order approving the settlement was issued by U.S. District ... |
Canada: Regulators approve Suncor oil sands expansions (View Original Story)
Source: climateark.org Posted: 03-19-2010 at 11:00:45
| Reuters: Regulators have approved three expansion stages at Suncor Energy Inc's Firebag oil sands project that will eventually add output of 188,000 barrels of bitumen a day, Suncor said on Thursday. The production phases, given the green light by the Alberta Energy Resources Conservation Board, would follow the C$3.6 billion ($3.6 billion) phase 3 expansion being built now and scheduled to be in service next year, said Suncor, Canada's largest oil company. The northern Alberta ... |
United Kingdom: Carbon Trust launches algae "dream team" (View Original Story)
Source: climateark.org Posted: 03-19-2010 at 11:00:45
| Business Green: The Carbon Trust has today launched a new £8m research project designed to establish the UK as a world leader in the development of algae-based biofuels for use in the automotive and aviation industry. The project will bring together a quot;dream teamquot; of more than 70 leading scientists from 11 institutions, including the Universities of Manchester, Newcastle, and Southampton, the Plymouth Marine Laboratory and the Scottish Association for Marine Science. They will work on a wide ... |
EU acts to shut out recycled CERs (View Original Story)
Source: climateark.org Posted: 03-19-2010 at 11:00:45
| Carbon Positive: The European Commission has suspended the compliance process for surrendering Kyoto carbon offsets in the EU Emissions Trading Scheme as it tightens the rules to prevent used credits entering the scheme. The moves are in response to the revelations this week that used CERs ndash; offsets already surrendered for compliance in Hungary - had been re-sold back into the market. This raised the risk that unwitting buyers might be left high and dry with unusable credits, prompting the Commission ... |
EPA begins study of fracturing's effects on water supplies (View Original Story)
Source: climateark.org Posted: 03-19-2010 at 11:00:45
| New York Times: U.S. EPA announced the start today of a study examining the effects of a controversial oil and gas production technique known as hydraulic fracturing on water supplies. quot;Our research will be designed to answer questions about the potential impact of hydraulic fracturing on human health and the environment,quot; EPA Assistant Administrator Paul Anastas said in a statement. quot;The study will be conducted through a transparent, peer-reviewed process, with significant stakeholder ... |
Australia: Global warming changes natural event: first causal link (View Original Story)
Source: climateark.org Posted: 03-19-2010 at 11:00:45
| New Scientist: For the first time, a causal link has been established between climate change and the timing of a natural event quot;quot; the emergence of the common brown butterfly. Although there have been strong correlations between global warming and changes in the timing of events such as animal migration and flowering, it has been hard to show a cause-and-effect link. This is what Michael Kearney and Natalie Briscoe of the University of Melbourne, Australia, have now done. The researchers ... |
Could a rich man's experiment trigger an ice age? (View Original Story)
Source: climateark.org Posted: 03-19-2010 at 11:00:44
| Climatewire: Everything seemed set for the first large Dutch experiment in carbon capture and storage (CCS) last year. The engineering seemed simple enough, piping 800,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide from a Royal Dutch Shell PLC oil refinery in Rotterdam 15 miles to this middle-class suburb (population 50,000). Here, it would be pumped deep underground into an empty natural gas reservoir. The financing was ready. Shell had a €30 million government subsidy to do the work. The technical planning ... |
Salt 'n power: A first look at the lithium flats of Bolivia (View Original Story)
Source: climateark.org Posted: 03-19-2010 at 11:00:44
| Scientific American: quot;Gray goldquot; may be the key to a future filled with hybrid or electric vehicles. That's because lithium is the most important ingredient in the batteries that power these cars. Even without many electric cars on the road today the lightest metal on Earth is more and more a mining target of multinational companies as lithium ion batteries power an increasing array of electronic gadgets. Lithium is found in many places on the planet, but among all of them no deposit is richer than the ... |
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