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Ancient Arctic ponds evaporating (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-03-2007 at 12:00:33
| Reuters: ANCIENT ponds in the Arctic are drying up during the polar summer as warmer temperatures evaporate shallow bodies of water, Canadian researchers have said. They say the evaporation of these ponds - some of which have existed for thousands of years - illustrates the rapid effects of global warming, threatening bird habitats and breeding grounds and reducing drinking water for animals. For 24 years, researchers at the University of Alberta in Edmonton and Queen's University in ... |
Climate to change military role (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-03-2007 at 12:00:33
| AAP: AUSTRALIA'S military will be called on to assist in more disaster and relief missions at home and abroad because of climate change, a policy body says. A report by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute also says defence forces might end up spending more time protecting borders against climate refugees. The paper suggests it is unlikely the Australian Defence Force (ADF) would be deployed to pressure another nation to change its carbon emissions policies. "It ... |
United Kingdom: Floods Show Threat to Farms of Climate Change - Benn (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-03-2007 at 12:00:33
| Reuters: Britain's new farm minister Hilary Benn said on Monday that adapting to climate change was the key challenge for farmers as floods in England damaged and in some cases destroyed crops. Benn had to wade through muddy fields in wellington boots to attend the annual Royal Agricultural Show and cut short his visit to return to London to make a statement to the House of Commons on the flooding. "Farmers are of course amongst the first to feel the impact of a changing climate ... |
How Can Carbon Trading Save Peatlands and Rainforests? (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-03-2007 at 12:00:33
| Reuters: The UN is due to report on proposed carbon-trading schemes that would make it more rewarding for countries to preserve their forests rather than cut them down. The report on "Reduced Emissions from Deforestation" (RED) will be presented at a climate change meeting in Bali, Indonesia, in Dec. 2007. Here are some key facts on RED: WHY IS IT NEEDED? -- Deforestation, especially in the tropics, contributes about 20 percent of man-made global carbon ... |
United Kingdom: Public 'in denial' about climate change (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-03-2007 at 12:00:33
| Telegraph (UK): The UK is in denial about the consequences of global warming, new research reveals. Although the majority of people accept the climate is changing, it is not a priority for most of them. A poll for Ipsos MORI, one of the largest research organisations in the UK, found they are more concerned about national problems of crime, immigration and the NHS. And even local issues such as traffic, litter, graffiti and even dog mess registered higher than climate change. The ... |
Indonesia: Why peat could be the new 'black gold' (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-03-2007 at 12:00:33
| Scotsman: SCIENCE has long known that Indonesia's 20 million hectares of dense, black tropical peat swamps, formed when trees, roots and leaves rot, are natural carbon stores. Now investors around the world are dreaming of the billions they could rake in as the world battles global warming. Peat bogs are the new black gold, some say. "They are 50 to 60 per cent carbon. Peat stores more carbon than all of the planet's vegetation combined," Professor Jack Rieley, a peat expert ... |
Gore, Winfrey, Annan Seen as Climate Leaders - Poll (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-03-2007 at 12:00:33
| Reuters: Former US Vice President Al Gore, talk show host Oprah Winfrey and ex-UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan are best suited to champion work to fight climate change, a 47-nation opinion poll said on Monday. The three were most picked by more than 26,000 Internet users from a list of more than 20 politicians, actors, singers and soccer players to highlight links between celebrities and the environment before Live Earth pop concerts on Saturday. "For a dream ticket across all ... |
American Samoa reports coral bleaching (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-03-2007 at 12:00:33
| Radio New Zealand: There's evidence that global warming is affecting corals in some of the reef flats of American Samoa. The acting chief marine biologist at the Department of Marine and Wildlife Resources says coral bleaching goes up during the summer months. Doug Fenner, who has been monitoring coral reefs for the last four years, says coral is a live organism and the inner part of the coral gets hurt if it gets too hot. Dr Fenner says the first thing that happens in the heat is that ... |
Climate change expected to have impact on livestock (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-03-2007 at 12:00:33
| Herald: Climate change may also have an impact on where livestock is located, and how it is housed, transported and cared for in the future. That will have financial implications for producers and will also have wider environmental consequences for society. This issue is being addressed in a two-year, Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs- financed project led by economist Dominic Moran of the Scottish Agricultural College. There will also be input from industry stakeholder ... |
Renewables Key to Meeting German CO2 Goals - BEE (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-03-2007 at 12:00:34
| Reuters: Germany will only meet ambitious greenhouse gas-reduction targets with a major increase in renewable energy usage, a lobby group said on Monday ahead of a government meeting on energy issues on Tuesday. Rejecting criticism from utilities and industry leaders that the government is too focused on climate protection, the renewable energy association (BEE) said Germany could lift the renewables power share from 12 percent to 35 percent by 2020. "The only way Germany will ... |
Ancient Arctic ponds drying up as climate warms (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-03-2007 at 12:00:34
| Reuters: Ancient ponds in the Arctic are drying up during the polar summer as warmer temperatures evaporate shallow bodies of water, Canadian researchers said on Monday. They said the evaporation of these ponds -- some of which have been around for thousands of years -- illustrates the rapid effects of global warming, threatening bird habitats and breeding grounds and reducing drinking water for animals. For the past 24 years, researchers at the University of Alberta in Edmonton and ... |
Calif. Air Board Leader Quits in Dispute (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-03-2007 at 12:00:34
| Associated Press: The executive director of a state agency charged with implementing a landmark global warming law resigned Monday, saying the governor's office made it impossible for her to do her job. Catherine Witherspoon's resignation comes days after the California Air Resources Board's chairman, Robert Sawyer, was ousted by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. "I think they're trying to control it, and they don't have a very cogent vision for what's needed," said Witherspoon, who has ... |
California's air chief quits, citing meddling by governor's team (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-03-2007 at 12:00:34
| Associated Press: The executive director of the California Air Resources Board resigned Monday, saying the governor's office had made it impossible for her to do her job by interfering with the implementation of the state's landmark global warming law. "I think they're trying to control it, and they don't have a very cogent vision for what's needed," said Catherine Witherspoon, who has managed the agency since 2003. Witherspoon's resignation comes days after the board's chairman, Robert Sawyer, ... |
Climate deals turn up heat in Indonesia's dark peatlands (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-03-2007 at 12:00:34
| Reuters: It used to be malaria that gave people fevers in Indonesia's remote, mosquito-infested peatlands. Now it is carbon. Investors around the world are dreaming of the billions the festering carbon-rich bogs could bring in as the world battles global warming. Peat bogs are the new black gold, some say. Science has long known that Indonesia's 20 million hectares (50 million acres) of dense, black tropical peat swamps, formed when trees, roots and leaves rot, are natural carbon ... |
Europe Makes Early Climate Adaptation High Priority (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-03-2007 at 12:00:34
| Environment News Service: Rising temperatures are already changing Europe, so Europeans must make deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions and adapt now to climate change to lessen adverse impacts on people, the economy and the environment, the EU said in a discussion paper published across the 27 member states on Friday. Issued by the European Commission, the bloc's executive branch, the Green Paper sets out options to help people learn to adapt to global warming by taking action to cope with changing ... |
Global warming could increase U.S. death rate (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-03-2007 at 12:00:34
| Reuters: An increase in summertime heat waves from global warming could mean more deaths among Americans each year, a study by Harvard researchers suggests. It's well known that extreme temperatures, whether in the form of heat waves or cold snaps, can be deadly. However, the new findings suggest that any increase in heat-related deaths from global warming would not be offset by a drop in cold-related deaths. Using weather data and death rates for 50 U.S. cities between 1989 and 2000, ... |
Global warming is evaporating Arctic ponds, new study shows (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-03-2007 at 12:00:34
| EurekAlert: High Arctic ponds -- the most common source of surface water in many polar regions -- are now beginning to evaporate due to recent climate warming, say two of Canada's leading environmental scientists. John Smol (Professor of Biology at Queen's University and holder of the Canada Research Chair in Environmental Change) and Marianne Douglas (Professor of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences and Director of the Canadian Circumpolar Institute at the University of Alberta) will publish their ... |
Global warming will producer higher death rates in the US (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-03-2007 at 12:00:34
| Mongabay.com: Global warming will cause more deaths due to higher temperatures, reports a new study published in Occupational and Environment Medicine. While milder winters will produce fewer deaths, they will not offset high mortality in summer months. "Deaths from all causes are known to rise when temperatures go up, and heart attacks and cardiac arrests are more likely when it is very cold," stated a release from the journal. "It was anticipated that global warming would ... |
Glowing clouds at the edge of space (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-03-2007 at 12:00:34
| Telegraph (UK): They hover on the edge of space. Thin, wispy clouds, glowing electric blue. Some scientists think these mysterious clouds are seeded by space dust. Others suspect they're a telltale sign of global warming. Sky watchers on Earth see them, too, glowing in the night sky after sunset, although the view from Earth-orbit is better. Now a Nasa satellite has captured the first occurrence this summer of mysterious shiny polar clouds that form 50 miles above Earth's surface. The first ... |
United Kingdom: 'Scepticism' over climate claims (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-03-2007 at 12:00:34
| BBC: The public believes the effects of global warming on the climate are not as bad as politicians and scientists claim, a poll has suggested. The Ipsos Mori poll of 2,032 adults - interviewed between 14 and 20 June - found 56% believed scientists were still questioning climate change. There was a feeling the problem was exaggerated to make money, it found. The Royal Society said most climate scientists believed humans were having an "unprecedented" effect on ... |
United Kingdom: Areas at highest risk of flooding will be abandoned in the future (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-03-2007 at 12:00:34
| This is London: Large swathes of floodrisk land will be left without any protection under plans being drawn up. The "managed retreat" policy follows scientific predictions that many coastal areas and low-lying plains will become uninhabitable over the next few decades. The Environment Agency says it cannot fritter away its "limited resources" in a losing battle against climate change. Instead it is preparing to focus on areas with the most homes and businesses. Although the areas ... |
Australia: Climate change will 'change army's duties' (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-03-2007 at 12:00:34
| AAP: THE Australian military will be called on to assist in more disaster and relief missions at home and abroad because of climate change, a policy body has said. The Australian Strategic Policy Institute report also said defence forces might end up spending more time protecting borders against climate refugees. But the paper said it would be unlikely the Australian Defence Force (ADF) would be deployed to pressure another nation to change its carbon emissions ... |
Climate change will impact on health in Asia, scientists say (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-03-2007 at 12:00:35
| Associated Press: Rising temperatures are expected to have a huge impact on the health of people in the Asia-Pacific region, causing spikes in everything from dengue fever to food poisoning, scientists said yesterday. Delegates at a conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, painted a bleak future for the health of those living in the world's most populous region if steps are not taken now to address climate change. Scientists said drought will lead to lower crop yields and higher malnutrition in ... |
Dems' energy plan shifts from fossil fuel to renewable power (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-03-2007 at 12:00:35
| San Francisco Chronicle: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi unveiled new Democratic legislation that marks a tectonic shift in the energy priorities in Congress, revoking $16 billion in tax breaks for oil and gas drilling and creating incentives to produce biofuels and boost energy efficiency. But the San Francisco congresswoman disappointed some environmentalists by announcing that she will wait until this fall to allow debate on a major increase in federal fuel economy standards, which the Senate passed in a ... |
Global Warming Drying Up Ancient Arctic Ponds (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-03-2007 at 12:00:35
| National Geographic: Arctic ponds that have hosted diverse ecosystems for thousands of years are now disappearing because of global warming, according to a new study. These ponds, which lie atop bedrock, freeze solid in the winter and then melt for a few months each summer, becoming hot spots of activity in the forbidding Arctic terrain. (Related: "Arctic Ice Isn't Refreezing in the Winter, Satellites Show" [March 17, 2006].) "If you fly over, you see them everywhere," said ... |
Germany: Pressure mounts on Merkel to drop plans to close nuclear plants (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-03-2007 at 12:00:35
| International Herald Tribune: One day before an important government strategy session on energy, Chancellor Angela Merkel faced increased pressure Monday from her own camp to reverse course on closing Germany's nuclear power plants, despite public opposition, as a way to help fight global warming. Roland Koch, the conservative state premier of Hesse, said it was time the government reconsidered the coalition agreement it made with the Social Democrats in November 2005, when Merkel was about to take office. That ... |
Satellite images reveal link between urban growth and changing rainfall patterns (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-03-2007 at 12:00:35
| Stanford News Service: For the first time, scientists have used satellite images to demonstrate a link between rapid city growth and rainfall patterns, as well as to assess compliance with an international treaty to protect wetlands. The results have been published in two studies co-authored by Karen Seto, assistant professor of geological and environmental sciences and a fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment at Stanford University. "The exciting thing is really for the first time, using a ... |
True environmentalism must oppose capitalism (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-03-2007 at 12:00:35
| Canadian: Preventing our planet Earth's worsening spiral into environmental destruction, including Global Warming, is dependent on the replacement of the global capitalist economic system. That is because the use of capitalism to guide economic development is the root cause of the pattern of over-consumption, pollution, as well as the corresponding repression of ecologically-friendly technologies, and that is responsible for environmental destruction. Environmental destruction is a phenomenon which ... |
Asia warned of climate crisis (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-03-2007 at 12:00:35
| Brunei Times: ASIAN nations must prepare to tackle disasters unleashed by global warming with the same urgency they now focus on fighting disease epidemics, the World Health Organisation said yesterday. And with Asia's share of global greenhouse gas emissions from burning fuels expected to grow, urgent action was needed to mitigate the situation, said Shigeru Omi, WHO regional director for the Western Pacific. "For environmental issues, if you wait until the crisis happens, it will be ... |
Hurricanes may be unlikely saviours of coral reefs (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-03-2007 at 12:00:35
| New Scientist: Hurricanes Katrina and Rita may have been unlikely saviours for the coral reefs under their paths, say researchers. They have found evidence that the cooling effect hurricanes have on sea temperatures may help corals recover from the bleaching caused by warming oceans. Coral reefs get their colour from tiny algae called zooxanthellae that live within them. The corals and the algae live in symbiosis, but if the corals become stressed they can expel the algae – which results in ... |
Green scorecard puts IBM top, Apple last (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-03-2007 at 09:00:21
| Techworld: An organic climate change lobby group has issued green ratings for hardware and software-based IT suppliers as well as other businesses. IBM leads the IT pack while Apple, Amazon and eBay are bottom with zero green credentials. The lobby group is Climate Counts and it is funded by Stonyfield Yogurt, a producer of organic yoghurt, and Clean Air-Cool Planet (CA-CP), a non-profit organisation based in the USA's New England region and dedicated to finding and promoting solutions to ... |
United Kingdom: Public 'still sceptical on climate change' (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-03-2007 at 09:00:21
| Press Association: The UK public remains sceptical about how much impact climate change will have on the country and believes the problem is being overstated by politicians and scientists, according to a poll out today. Research by Ipsos Mori shows that while most Britons recognise the problem of climate change and that humans have played a role in causing it, many are not convinced that the issue is as bad as the scientists and politicians claim. There is also scepticism about ... |
United States: Anti-smog law impeded, papers say (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-03-2007 at 12:00:21
| Contra Costa Times: California leaders reacted furiously Monday to newly released documents detailing the Bush administration's attempt to thwart the state's landmark anti-smog law. In more than 70 pages of internal e-mails and memos released by the U.S. Department of Transportation, agency officials openly acknowledge their opposition to California's request for a waiver allowing it to enact first-in-the-nation emissions standards. The documents also show that the Auto Alliance -- a trade group ... |
Aussie farmers launch tree-felling protest (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-03-2007 at 12:00:21
| Reuters: Hundreds of Australian farmers have begun cutting down protected trees on their properties to protest against strict land-clearing laws designed to help the country curb its rising greenhouse gas emissions. Fed up with government restrictions on the use of their land, farmers from across the country this week began a civil disobedience campaign by felling a tree on each property and vowing to cut down more if restrictions were not relaxed. "How would you feel if the ... |
Australia 'likely to have exceeded' Kyoto target (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-03-2007 at 12:00:21
| AAP: AUSTRALIA is highly likely to have exceeded its Kyoto target, the independent Climate Institute says. But the federal Government has questioned the analysis and insists it is still on track to meet the greenhouse goal. The four year commitment period for carbon emissions targets under the Kyoto Protocol began with the financial year on Sunday. Australia has a target of 108 per cent of 1990 levels. Calculations by the institute released today show emissions from ... |
Broadcasters eye billions for Live Earth (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-03-2007 at 12:00:21
| Reuters: International broadcasters, environmental activists and some of the biggest names in pop music are in the starting blocks for one of the most ambitious global media events of all time. On Saturday, more than 150 acts -- including such marquee names as Madonna, the Police, Bon Jovi and Black Eyed Peas -- will perform at the Live Earth series of benefit concerts in support of a greener planet. The event, organized by Kevin Wall and Harvey Goldsmith -- the producers behind Bob ... |
Climate change threat to crops' wild relatives (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-03-2007 at 12:00:21
| Delta Farm Press: As the climate becomes increasingly temperamental, wild relatives of today's crops are increasingly threatened. Although they may bear little resemblance to today's cultivated crops, the wild cousins play an integral part in breeding programs and maintaining yields. When pests or diseases attack a crop, breeders can often find an answer in the genetics of wild relatives. If such genetics are lost to climate-fueled extinction, solutions to crops' future problems could vanish as ... |
Commission suggests ways to close knowledge gap on climate change (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-03-2007 at 12:00:21
| Cordis: The European Commission has published a Green Paper outlining the EU policy areas where action is needed in order to minimise the threat of climate change in Europe. One of the areas listed is research and the need to address gaps in our understanding of global warming and its impact on the environment. The effects of climate change in Europe and the Arctic are already significant and measurable. Europe has warmed by almost 1°C over the last century, faster than the global average. ... |
EPA reflects Bush's reluctance to curb greenhouse gasses (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-03-2007 at 12:00:22
| Argus: FOLLOWING suit with President Bush's stall tactics, the chief of the Environmental Protection Agency faced House Democrats and said we have to wait until late next year to learn whether the EPA will issue regulations controlling greenhouse gas emissions. This goes along with Bush, who brought four agencies together – including the EPA – to mull over a plan to regulate emissions and have it completed for Bush to look at only weeks before he leaves office. This flies against a Supreme ... |
United States: Governor accused of playing politics on warming rules (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-03-2007 at 12:00:22
| San Francisco Chronicle: Democratic state lawmakers are questioning Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's commitment to fight global warming after the governor's top deputies thwarted an attempt by the state's air quality regulators to enact their own measure to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The executive director of the California Air Resources Board, Catherine Witherspoon, resigned Monday -- three days after Schwarzenegger fired the board's chairman, Robert Sawyer, who had said he wanted to be more aggressive in ... |
United States: Governor's deeds on air quality contradict words (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-03-2007 at 12:00:22
| LA Times: As Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger travels the world exhorting countries to act quickly to reduce harmful gas emissions, his administration is helping California's construction industry stall tough new air quality rules at home. In public hearings and private negotiations, administration transportation officials are working to slow a planned crackdown by regulators on aging diesel construction equipment – among the state's most noxious machinery and a major source of greenhouse gases. ... |
Lake Superior level affecting economy (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-03-2007 at 12:00:22
| Associated Press: Lake Superior is at its lowest water level in 81 years, prompting a local headline writer to question if it's "Lake Inferior?" But it's no laughing matter for those who count on the world's largest body of fresh water for their livelihood or recreation. "I've been here since 1959, and it's never been this low," said Joel Johnson, manager at Lakehead Boat Basin in Duluth. As scientists study how much of the change is part of a natural cycle, and if ... |
Recent warm-up 'unprecedented' (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-03-2007 at 12:00:22
| Sun-Sentinel: The fact that the planet is getting warmer is not much disputed anymore, even by global warming skeptics. But some suggest it is impossible, given the current evidence, to know whether the warming trend is the result of fossil fuel emissions or simply another cyclical climate shift. "There is no compelling evidence that the warming trend we've seen will amount to anything close to catastrophe," Richard Lindzen, an MIT professor of atmospheric science who has been a ... |
Study: Global warming to cause steamier summer nights in Japan in 20 to 30 years (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-03-2007 at 12:00:22
| Asahi Shimbun: Global warming will lead to dramatic temperature changes in 20 to 30 years in Japan, including three times as many "hot summer nights," when nighttime lows are unusually warm, researchers said. A hot summer night in Tokyo, for example, would be one in which the lowest temperature is 27 degrees or higher. The National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES), an independent administrative organization, said global warming will affect not only people in the distant ... |
WHO Says Climate Change Causes More Diseases in Asia (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-03-2007 at 12:00:22
| Voice of America: Health experts at a conference in Kuala Lumpur say climate change is causing an increase in disease in Asia. They warn the situation is likely to get worse and urge governments to be prepared. Claudia Blume reports from VOA's Asia News Center in Hong Kong. The World Health Organization estimates that climate change directly or indirectly contributes to almost 80,000 deaths in the region every year. Higher temperatures and increased rainfall have, for example, affected breeding ... |
Australia: Garrett slams Govt over Kyoto 'failure' (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-03-2007 at 12:00:23
| Australian Broadcasting Corporation: The Federal Opposition has leapt on new research showing Australia will exceed its Kyoto Protocol target on greenhouse gas emissions. The Climate Institute says Australia was only 0.1 per cent shy of its Kyoto target in April this year, and will have exceeded it by now. Labor's environment spokesman Peter Garrett says the figures prove the Government's climate change policies are not working. "The Government has always said that it won't ratify Kyoto, it's always ... |
Australia: Greenhouse targets now law in SA (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-03-2007 at 12:00:23
| Australian Broadcasting Corporation: Long-term targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in South Australia have become law. The Climate Change and Greenhouse Gas Emissions Act is now in effect, setting a target of cutting emissions by 60 per cent of 1990 levels by 2050. Premier Mike Rann says the Act makes SA the first place in the nation to legislate on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. "The legislation commits the Government to work with business and the community to develop and put in place ... |
Greenpeace protests over Poland's carbon output (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-03-2007 at 12:00:23
| Reuters: Greenpeace activists climbed one of Europe's biggest power plants on Tuesday to demand that Poland's government do more to cut carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Eleven people reached the top of the Belchatow power plant in central Poland -- home to some of the biggest carbon-emitting installations in Europe -- from where they slid down on ropes to paint "Stop CO2" on a smoke stack. The Belchatow plant is Poland's biggest energy producer, using brown coal from Europe's ... |
Thousand year old Arctic ponds are disappearing due to global warming (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-03-2007 at 12:00:23
| Innovations Report: Research has uncovered alarming evidence that high Arctic ponds, many which have been permanent bodies of water for thousands of years, are completely drying out during the polar summer. These shallow ponds, which dot the Arctic landscape, are important indicators of environment change and are especially susceptible to the effects of climate change because of their low water volume. Anzeige Marianne Douglas, Professor of Earth and Atmospheric Science and Director of the Canadian ... |
Who'll have the courage to call for gas taxes as energy answer? (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-03-2007 at 12:00:23
| Ocala.com: As long as Congress and its leaders are so unpopular - largely because they can't get anything done - they ought to do something that will be very unpopular in the short run but will vindicate them in the long run: raise gasoline taxes. A hefty hike in gas taxes - better yet, in taxes on all carbon-based fuels - will accomplish far more than mandates and subsidies for what everyone claims to want: "energy independence" and "clean energy." Carbon taxes would ... |
Palm oil firm Wilmar harming Indonesia forests-group (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-03-2007 at 03:00:35
| Reuters: Palm oil producer Wilmar International has been accused by an environmental group of illegally logging Indonesian forests, setting them on fire and violating the rights of local communities in the country. Singapore-listed Wilmar <WLIL.SI>, expected to be the world's largest palm biodiesel manufacturer after approval of a $4.3 billion acquisition, denied the allegations by Friends of the Earth Netherlands. Wilmar said in a statement on Tuesday it strictly adhered to a ... |
World Bank Says Pollution Kills 460,000 Chinese a Year (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-03-2007 at 03:00:36
| Reuters: About 460,000 Chinese die prematurely each year from breathing polluted air and drinking dirty water, according to a World Bank study. The Financial Times reported on Tuesday that the Chinese government, the bank's partner in the research project, had asked the lender not to publish the estimates for fear they could trigger social unrest. The conference version of the study, available at the bank's Web site, says some estimates of the physical and economic cost of pollution ... |
China Bans Production and Import of Two Ozone-Depleting Substances (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-03-2007 at 03:00:36
| Associated Press: China has banned the production and import of two ozone-depleting substances, honoring an international commitment to phase them out by 2010, state media reported Monday. China is a signatory to the Montreal Protocol, which now has 189 member nations and is considered one of the most effective environmental treaties. Almost $2.1 billion (euro1.5 billion) has been spent through an affiliated fund prodding countries to stop using chlorofluorocarbons, also known as CFCs. CFCs ... |
United Kingdom: Environment head admits budget too small to fight floods (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-03-2007 at 03:00:36
| Independent (UK): As Britain tried to cope with a fresh deluge of rain yesterday, Baroness Young, the head of the embattled Environment Agency, has admitted that her £500m budget is too small to cope with the extreme flooding that has put parts of Yorkshire and the West of England under water. She has put in a bid for at least an extra £150m but has conceded that experts say £250m is needed to bring Britain's flood defences to the level that could hold back floods that have left five people dead and ... |
Erosion Slicing Arctic Alaska Habitat (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-03-2007 at 03:00:38
| Reuters: A swath of marshy, wildlife-rich coastal land in Arctic Alaska being eyed for oil drilling is eroding rapidly probably because of the disappearance of sea ice that used to protect it from the ocean waves, according to a study released Monday. Using satellite data and maps compiled from aerial photographs, scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey, or USGS, found that land lost to erosion north of Teshekpuk Lake, Arctic Alaska's largest lake, was twice as fast in 1985 to 2005 period ... |
Greece vows to replant forests after severe fires (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-03-2007 at 03:00:38
| Reuters: Greece's government pledged on Tuesday to replant thousands of acres (hectares) of destroyed forests after the country's worst fires in more than a decade devastated the last vestiges of greenery near the capital. Greece last week was ravaged by fires that took four days to bring under control. The blazes wiped out more than half of the Mount Parnitha National Park, just outside Athens, and the lush Pelion forests in central Greece. The fires, the worst to hit Athens since July ... |
Germany: Merkel rejects call to moderate emissions cuts (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-03-2007 at 06:00:33
| Reuters: Chancellor Angela Merkel rejected industry criticism of her plans to cut Germany's greenhouse gas emissions by a third by 2020 and dashed its hopes of a deal to prolong the use of nuclear power. Merkel called the battle against climate change the "greatest challenge of the 21st century" at a news conference on Tuesday after a third meeting in the chancellery with political and industry leaders to discuss energy policy. "We all know what the costs of doing nothing ... |
Most companies have no environment strategy: survey (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-03-2007 at 06:00:33
| Reuters: Most companies in China, the United States, Canada and Britain have not laid out plans to improve their energy efficiency, despite growing concerns about global warming, a survey showed on Tuesday. Nearly two-thirds of the 420 senior business executives surveyed in these four countries said no one in their organization had been tasked with overseeing the company's energy strategy, according to a report by Hill & Knowlton consultancy. China led the pack with 82 percent ... |
Indonesia: Palm Oil Producer Unethical, Groups Say (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-03-2007 at 06:00:33
| Associated Press: A Singapore-based company was involved in slashing and burning Indonesian forests to make way for palm oil plantations that feed the growing market for biofuels, environmental and activist groups claimed Tuesday. The company emphatically denied the allegations. The Dutch arm of Friends of the Earth and Indonesian rights group Lembaga Gemawan published a 100-page report they said details evidence that subsidiaries of Wilmar International Ltd. dodged environmental rules to plant palm ... |
US considers Indonesian debt-for-nature swap (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-03-2007 at 06:00:33
| Agençe France-Presse: Nearly 20 million dollars of Indonesia's debt to the United States could be re-directed to tropical forestry conservation under a debt-for-nature program, the US embassy said Tuesday. The US Treasury Department is to provide a 19.6 million dollar provisional allocation to be considered under the program with discussions toward an agreement due to begin in the coming weeks. "This is good news," Indonesia's minister of forestry Malam Sambat Kaban, who met with ... |
My carbon footprint (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-03-2007 at 06:00:35
| Fortune: I don't know about you, but I'm starting to take this whole global warming thing sort of seriously. I realize that in saying this I'll offend two groups of people immediately. There are those who will be mad at me for coming to the party late. They've already hit Defcon 2 on the situation - they've been wearing hemp and drinking locally grown chai latte for years. I know, I've been bad. I've ignored my carbon footprint. On the other side will be those who are sick of ... |
Northern Malaysian state shrouded by haze as heat wave persists (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 07-03-2007 at 06:00:35
| Deutsche Presse-Agentur: Malaysia's northern Penang state on Tuesday was shrouded in thick smog caused mainly by smoke from forest fires in Indonesia's Sumatra island, as the country battled a week-long heat wave. Visibility in many areas was reduced to just three kilometres, from more than four kilometres on Monday, the state's meteorological department said in a statement. At the state's international airport, visibility levels dropped for five kilometres but airport officials said flights would not be ... |
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