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Can you be traveling green by buying offsets? (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 03-02-2007 at 06:00:35
| USA Today: Buy an airline ticket online, and you're increasingly likely to see this pitch: Add a payment of a few dollars, and finance save-the-Earth activities to offset environmental damage caused by your trip. Travel companies such as British Airways and travel sites Travelocity and Expedia are giving ticket purchasers the chance to at least assuage guilt, and possibly help the planet, by selling so-called offsets to finance green activism. Cost: About $5 and up. The travel companies ... |
Coal plants get burned (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 03-02-2007 at 06:00:35
| Fortune: These are troubling times for any company trying to build a coal-fired power plants - and more than 150 of them are being planned across America. Opposition is mounting to coal plants because they contribute to global warming. The plants are getting harder to build because activist groups try to stop them, causing delays that raise operating costs. And investors are paying attention. Federal regulation of carbon emissions, which is being actively considered by Congress, could also ... |
Global warming: It's not pretty (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 03-02-2007 at 06:00:35
| Indianapolis Star: The scientific debate about whether there is a global warming problem is pretty much over. A leading international group of climate scientists reported last month that the evidence of global warming is "unequivocal" and that the likelihood it is caused by humans is more than 90 percent. Skeptical researchers will continue to question the data, but this isn't a "call both sides for comment" issue anymore. For mainstream science, it's settled. The question now is ... |
It's not just about climate (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 03-02-2007 at 06:00:35
| BBC: Concerns over climate change should not obscure other environmental issues such as the rapid loss of species, argues Ahmed Djoghlaf, head of the UN biodiversity convention. There is much to be gained, he says, by treating the different issues together. The issue of climate change has never been higher on the world's agenda. What was once something of an afterthought in mainstream political discourse has recently been elevated to the centre stage of international debate, ... |
'Threatened' polar bear listing debated (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 03-02-2007 at 06:00:35
| Associated Press: A marked decline in sea ice off Alaska's coast is not enough for the government to take the drastic step of listing polar bears -- a species dependent on ice -- as threatened, critics said Thursday at the first of three public hearings on the proposal. Restrictions that could kick in with a listing under the Endangered Species Act because of global warming would be too burdensome given the unknowns about the future of polar bears, such as the extent of the loss of Arctic sea ice in ... |
United States: Google tackles climate change (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 03-02-2007 at 06:00:35
| Associated Press: Google Inc., Gap Inc., Pacific Gas & Electric Co. and other firms pledged Thursday to cut their greenhouse gas emissions and help make the Bay Area a leader in combating global warming. More than two dozen companies joined the Business Council on Climate Change, a coalition of Bay Area businesses that promise to report and reduce carbon emissions, share the best green practices and advocate for policies to address global warming. "If the environment fails, markets fail. ... |
United States: Poll finds climate change awareness up Region seems to warm to environmental threat (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 03-02-2007 at 06:00:36
| San Mateo County Times: Four out of five Bay Area residents think global warming is a serious threat, and about the same percentage favor a new law that requires Californians to sharply cut greenhouse gas emissions, a new poll shows. Bay Area residents prefer emission curbs that rely on market forces rather than regulatory fiat, the poll found. Given a choice between two approaches to cutting emissions that contribute to global warming, 49 percent said they prefer a system that would allow companies to ... |
'Katrina-style catastrophes' needed to get people's attention (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 03-02-2007 at 06:00:36
| OneWorld: It will take "one or two more Katrina-style catastrophes" to get people thinking about global warming, Colin Challen, the MP who chairs the parliamentary all-party committee on climate change, has told OneWorld UK. The question is: How long will it take to get action, and will it then be too late? "We know the Greenland ice cap is already melting at an alarming rate", he points out, and compares the situation to forgetting to leave the handbrake on: "You know, in that first ... |
Canada: Carbon tax a possibility, Dion confirms after Conservative attack (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 03-02-2007 at 06:00:36
| Globe and Mail: Conservatives pounced on Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion yesterday, accusing him of supporting the "mother of all tax increases" and backing away from assurances he gave Albertans in January that he would not impose a carbon tax. The Conservatives planted a question from their own ranks yesterday for Environment Minister John Baird, in response to Liberal MPs who said this week that their party may soon endorse a carbon tax on corporations and consumers as a way of fighting ... |
Hong Kong has hottest February as global warming evidence mounts (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 03-02-2007 at 06:00:36
| Earth Times: Hong Kong has had its hottest ever February as well as its warmest New Year Day on record, weathermen said Friday as evidence of global warming mounts in the former British colony. The average temperature of 19.5 degrees is the highest ever recorded and there were 32 hours more sunshine than usual with 129.6 clocked up, the Hong Kong Observatory said. Only 6.9 millimetres of rainfall was recorded, just one seventh of the normal figure of 48 millimetres, an official ... |
Japan has warmest winter ever (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 03-02-2007 at 06:00:36
| Reuters: Japan has had the warmest winter ever and central Tokyo has seen no snow so far - the first time since records began, the official weather forecaster said. "We have never seen a year without snow in the central Tokyo area. We started taking snow records in 1877," an official with Japan's Meteorological Agency said. "If central Tokyo does not see snow before long, it will be for the first time since then." The agency said nationwide average temperatures for ... |
UN hopes US takes lead on climate (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 03-02-2007 at 06:00:36
| Associated Press: Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed hope that the US will take a leadership role in combatting climate change - which he said poses as much danger to mankind as war and is likely to fuel future conflicts. After a Thursday address to hundreds of students from around the world, Ban was asked what he thought about the rejection by President Bush's administration of the Kyoto protocol, the 1997 pact that requires 35 industrial nations to cut their global-warming gases by an average 5 ... |
We are all complicit in global warming, says Ban Ki-moon (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 03-02-2007 at 06:00:36
| Malaysia Sun: United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon Friday called on the world's younger generation to take better care of Planet Earth in the face of global warming than his own. "We are all complicit in the process of global warming. Unsustainable practices are deeply entrenched in our everyday lives. But in the absence of decisive measures, the true cost of our actions will be borne by succeeding generations, starting with yours," Mr. Ban told a UN International School conference in the ... |
Climate change as dangerous as war - UN chief Ban (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 03-02-2007 at 06:00:36
| Reuters: Climate change poses as much danger to the world as war, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Thursday as he urged the United States to take the lead in the fight against global warming. In his first address on the subject, Ban said he would make climate crisis the focus of talks with leaders at a meeting of the Group of Eight industrialized nations -- Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Britain, the United States and Russia. "The majority of the United Nations ... |
Do U.S. Emissions Violate Human Rights? (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 03-02-2007 at 06:00:37
| Associated Press: Northern Canadians told an international commission Thursday that carbon emissions from the United States have contributed so much to global warming that they should be considered a human rights violation. One activist said temperatures have climbed so much that Arctic residents need air conditioners. The case was pressed by the Inuit community before the 34-nation Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. In a petition, the group asked the commission's assistance "in ... |
Nickels warns U.S. Senate to not rein in cities fighting global warming (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 03-02-2007 at 09:00:24
| Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Mayor Greg Nickels told a Senate committee Thursday that state and local governments are leading the fight against global warming, and he warned Congress against reining in local efforts that are under way across the nation. "We are not just signing a piece of paper," Nickels told the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. "We are making tough choices. We are investing our taxpayers' money. We are transforming our cities into laboratories for climate ... |
Scientist calls for end of new coal plants (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 03-02-2007 at 09:00:24
| Associated Press: One of the world's top climate scientists called for an end to building new coal-fired power plants in the United States because of their huge role in spewing out greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming. In the next decade of so, 159 coal-fired power plants are scheduled to be built, generating enough power for about 96 million homes, according to a study last month by the U.S. Department of Energy. "There should be a moratorium on building any more coal-fired ... |
The Climate-Change Precipice (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 03-02-2007 at 09:00:24
| Washington Post: The scientific debate about whether there is a global warming problem is pretty much over. A leading international group of climate scientists reported last month that the evidence of global warming is "unequivocal" and that the likelihood it is caused by humans is more than 90 percent. Skeptical researchers will continue to question the data, but this isn't a "call both sides for comment" issue anymore. For mainstream science, it's settled. The question now is what to do about global ... |
France has Warmest Autumn, Winter for Centuries (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 03-02-2007 at 09:00:24
| Reuters: France recorded its warmest autumn and winter for several centuries, the meteorological office said on Thursday as the government warned it was worried about water supplies. Meteo France said average temperatures from December to February were 2.1 degrees Celsius (35.78 Fahrenheit) above average -- the highest since it began collating "full and reliable" data from 22 French cities in 1950. "This remarkably mild winter follows an exceptionally hot 2006 autumn, which has ... |
Funds: Going with the grain on fuels (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 03-02-2007 at 09:00:25
| Bloomberg: Michael Coleman and Doug King are beating hedge-fund peers by betting on grains for alternative fuels, which are outperforming other commodities. The $450 million Merchant Commodity Fund returned 46.8 percent in 2006, the best performance among 20 so-called relative value funds managed in Asia, according to ranking in January by Eurekahedge, a research company. The Reuters/Jefferies CRB index of 19 commodities dropped 7.4 percent in the period. Corn rose Monday to a 10-year ... |
China: Global warming takes toll on nation (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 03-02-2007 at 09:00:25
| China Daily: Global warming has caused China to experience its second warmest winter in 50 years. It has also caused sandstorms, heavy fog and severe drought. The China Meteorological Administration (CMA) said yesterday the winter season from December 2006 to February 2007 recorded a national average temperature of -2.4 C, following the warmest winter in the country between 1998 and 1999, with an average temperature of -2.3 C. Song Lianchun, spokesman of CMA, told a press conference that ... |
Ridge stabilizes Antarctic ice streams (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 03-02-2007 at 09:00:25
| LA Times: A vast undersea wedge of gravel and grit holds the ice streams of West Antarctica in place like a doorstop, even as rising seas caused by global warming threaten to undermine them, researchers at Pennsylvania State University said Thursday. The discovery may give the world a bit of breathing room. West Antarctica encompasses enough frozen fresh water – 7 million cubic miles – to raise sea levels worldwide 16 feet if its ice sheet disintegrates. All told, Antarctica holds 90% ... |
U.N. chief sees 'active debate' within U.S. on climate change, urges leadership role (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 03-02-2007 at 09:00:25
| Associated Press: Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed hope that the "active debate" in the U.S. administration and Congress on global warming will spur the United States to take a leadership role in combatting climate change. The U.N. chief was addressing a student conference on global warming that brought hundreds of high-schoolers from around the world to the U.N. General Assembly hall on Thursday. One student asked what Ban thought about the rejection by U.S. President George W. ... |
UN chief warns on climate change (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 03-02-2007 at 09:00:25
| BBC: UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has warned that climate change poses as much of a danger to the world as war. In his first address on the issue, Mr Ban said changes in the environment were likely to become a major driver of future war and conflicts. He urged the US - the world's biggest producer of greenhouse gases - to take the lead in fighting global warming. Mr Ban said he would focus on the issue in talks with leaders of the G8 group of industrialised nations in ... |
UN secretary general hopeful on global warming (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 03-02-2007 at 09:00:25
| Associated Press: Secretary General Ban Ki Moon has expressed hope that the "active debate" in the U.S. administration and Congress on global warming will spur the United States to take a leadership role in combating climate change. The UN leader was addressing a conference on global warming Thursday that brought hundreds of high school students from around the world to the General Assembly hall. One student asked what Ban thought about the rejection by President George W. Bush's ... |
Austrade backs climate friendly exports (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 03-02-2007 at 09:00:25
| AAP: Australian businesses have a unique opportunity to play a vital role in curbing global climate change by exporting environmentally friendly technology and services overseas. As the public debate about climate continues, the Australian Trade Commission (Austrade) says it wants to play a role in helping other nations use Australian technology to reduce emissions. "We want to ensure that Australian companies who can help countries like China and India - which may have their ... |
BMW, Daimler to Co-Develop Hybrids for Premium Cars (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 03-02-2007 at 09:00:25
| Reuters: German carmakers BMW and DaimlerChrysler have agreed to co-develop hybrid transmission systems for rear-wheel-drive premium cars, they said on Thursday. The accord on so-called "mild hybrids" aims to start rolling out products within the next three years, they said in a statement, citing benefits of sharing costs, combining know-how and reaping economies of scale once the hybrids go on sale. The move reflects German carmakers' grudging acceptance that hybrids -- long ... |
Car-Addicted Italians Lag Europe on Environment (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 03-02-2007 at 09:00:25
| Reuters: Italians' love of cars and their reluctance to switch from carbon fuels for energy needs means their country is one of the worst environmental performers in Europe, one of Italy's main green groups said on Thursday. The home of Ferrari and Fiat is more car-mad than any other in Europe, the Legambiente group said, quoting figures showing Italians drive an average 15,000 kilometres (9,300 miles) each year -- 31 percent more than the European average and 60 percent more than the average ... |
France Digs Heels in on EU Renewables Target (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 03-02-2007 at 09:00:26
| Reuters: France dug its heels in on Thursday against setting a binding target for renewable energy sources in the European Union, setting up a potential summit clash with its closest ally Germany next week. A French official said Paris continued to oppose making the goal of obtaining 20 percent of the EU's energy needs by 2020 from renewable sources such as solar and wind power mandatory. However, diplomats said Germany was insisting on a binding target to underpin the EU's drive for ... |
Merkel Urges Bold EU Climate Moves (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 03-02-2007 at 09:00:26
| Reuters: Chancellor Angela Merkel urged EU leaders to approve bold steps to combat climate change at a summit next week, but said Germany was not prepared to shoulder the same heavy burden of emissions cuts as it has in the past. In a speech to the Bundestag lower house of parliament, Merkel voiced support for European Commission proposals to cut greenhouse gas emissions in the 27-nation bloc by 20 percent by 2020 and 30 percent if other big industrial nations join in. EU leaders are ... |
United Kingdom: Miliband faces calls for tougher carbon target (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 03-02-2007 at 09:00:26
| Guardian: XDavid Miliband, the environment secretary, may have to strengthen his proposed target of a 60% cut in CO2 emissions by 2050 in his imminent climate change bill. He is being told by MPs that the target may not be ambitious enough, due to the evidence of quickening climate change. In a report yesterday the Commons environment audit committee, which is likely to be given a formal role in scrutinising the bill, also criticised him for leaving aviation emissions out of the proposed 2050 ... |
Shanghai has Warmest Winter on Record (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 03-02-2007 at 09:00:26
| Reuters: Shanghai, China's largest city, has experienced its warmest winter since records began in 1873, the official Xinhua news agency reported on Thursday. The average temperature over the past three months was 8.1 degrees Celsius (46.6 Fahrenheit), 2.6 degrees warmer than the previous average, Xinhua quoted the Shanghai Meteorological Bureau as saying. Lei Xiaotu, director of the bureau's climate centre, attributed the record temperatures to global warming. The warmer ... |
Turkey Plans Measures to Cut Emissions (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 03-02-2007 at 09:00:26
| Reuters: Turkey is planning measures to curb its fast-rising greenhouse gas emissions as its economy booms, but cannot afford to sign the Kyoto protocol now, the minister of environment and forestry said on Thursday. Osman Pepe also told Reuters in an interview that people should cut their water and electricity consumption as the country is facing a drought. Turkey's gas emissions rose 75 percent between 1990 and 2004 due to population growth and fast industrialisation. ... |
UN calls for aid to curb climate change (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 03-02-2007 at 09:00:26
| Financial Times: Rich countries will need to boost the $100bn (€75.9bn) in financial assistance given to the developing world each year by 50 to 100 per cent if they want a global deal to curb climate change, the United Nations' top development official has told the Financial Times. "If donors are not willing to think in these orders of magnitude, I am pessimistic," said Kemal Dervis, head of the UN Development Programme, adding that the extra support was needed to make a deal ... |
World's scientists launch global warming study (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 03-02-2007 at 09:00:26
| Associated Press: Children in Norway plead for snow. Polar researchers describe melting glaciers. Some experts say that within this century, the Arctic may no longer be ice-locked. Facing this prospect, 50,000 scientists from 63 nations launched a study yesterday called the International Polar Year, to investigate how global warming is affecting the Earth's poles and what that means for all those living in between. It has been 50 years since international researchers last pooled research on the ... |
Improved predictions of warming-induced extinctions sought (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 03-02-2007 at 12:00:26
| Innovations Report: In the March 2007 issue of BioScience, an international team of 19 researchers calls for better forecasting of the effects of global warming on extinction rates. The researchers, led by Daniel B. Botkin, note that although current mathematical models indicate that many species could be at risk from global warming, surprisingly few species became extinct during the past 2.5 million years, a period encompassing several ice ages. They suggest that this "Quaternary conundrum" ... |
Tories attack Bush over climate change (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 03-02-2007 at 12:00:26
| Guardian: The world will be a safer place when George Bush leaves office because of his government's "deplorable" record on climate change, a leading Conservative has warned. But Peter Ainsworth, the shadow environment secretary, told a meeting of green campaigners that he had discussed the issue with the Republican senator John McCain - a contender for the party's presidential nomination - and he believed that a future US administration would do better. While David Cameron has ... |
U.N. climate talks stagnate despite public worries (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 03-02-2007 at 12:00:26
| Reuters: Governments are making scant progress toward extending a U.N. pact to fight global warming despite mounting public concern about climate change and U.N. warnings it poses a threat as great as war, experts say. "We're not seeing governments saying 'yes, we'll make new commitments'," one U.N. official said of negotiations sponsored by the U.N. Climate Change Secretariat in Bonn. The world's top climate scientists raised pressure for action with a report last month which ... |
EU likely to miss global warming goal-UN expert (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 03-02-2007 at 12:00:27
| Reuters: The European Union is unlikely to meet the goal of a maximum 2 degree Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) rise in temperatures which it views as a threshold for dangerous climate change, a leading U.N. climate official said on Friday. "It clearly seems very, very difficult to limit it to below 2 degrees," Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), told Reuters in a telephone interview. "But who knows? It's not beyond the ... |
Salinity, sea level rise threaten Sundarbans (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 03-02-2007 at 03:00:18
| Financial Express: Natural resources of the Sundarbans, especially various kinds of trees, are seriously threatened due to the rise of sea level and salinity caused by climate change. The low areas of the world's largest mangrove forest, declared a World Heritage site by UNESCO, are flooded by tidal waters every year due to rise of sea level and excessive silt deposit that cause diseases and deaths to various kinds of trees. Many diseases, including 'Agamora' (top dying), affect different species of ... |
Coal in cars: great fuel or climate foe? (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 03-02-2007 at 03:00:18
| Christian Science Monitor: Coal companies want to fuel your car and lately, they're getting a lot of political support for the idea. Turning coal into gasoline-like fuel has several advantages. It would use America's vast coal reserves. It would reduce the nation's thirst for foreign oil and help dampen spikes in energy prices. There's just one problem: It is not "climate friendly" – at least, not yet. Coal-to-liquids (CTL) fuels could end up emitting nearly double the carbon dioxide that the ... |
EU summit set to agree carbon capture projects (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 03-02-2007 at 03:00:18
| Reuters: European Union leaders will approve a series of carbon capture and storage projects at a summit next week in the search for quick solutions to the global warming crisis, an official said on Friday. With fossil fuels like coal expected to continue to play a major role in power generation, world leaders and scientists are seeking ways to cut the resulting greenhouse gas emissions -- including capturing the carbon before it enters the atmosphere. "We will announce a major ... |
Analysis: EU push for renewable goals (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 03-02-2007 at 03:00:19
| United Press International: The German European Union presidency is trying to reach an agreement over binding guidelines for the push of renewable energy sources, but while Berlin praises its own merits in the battle against climate change, the renewable energy industry wants German Chancellor Angela Merkel to push other countries to do more. Sigmar Gabriel, Germany's environment minister, earlier this week highlighted the successful push of renewable energy sources in Germany. "We have even ... |
Nuclear industry sees fertile ground in green Europe (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 03-02-2007 at 03:00:19
| Christian Science Monitor: While European leaders are at the forefront of fighting global warming, these no-carbon crusaders for building green and promoting renewable sources of energy still tiptoe around nuclear power. It's widely unpopular among Europeans who are worried about what to do with nuclear waste and prickly for politicians who are not keen to swim against the antinuclear current. But hoping to regain some momentum from Europe's push to fight global warming, the nuclear power industry is ... |
State, Local Officials Call for Federal Climate Action (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 03-02-2007 at 03:00:19
| Environment News Service: Congress needs to enact mandatory limits on greenhouse gas emissions, but federal legislation should not impede stricter policies adopted by state and local governments, state and local officials told the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Thursday. "It is imperative for Congress to act ... but we shouldn't have federal legislation that preempts states that are taking aggressive stands," said New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine, a Democrat. Corzine, who ... |
Portugal: Wave farms show energy potential (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 03-02-2007 at 03:00:19
| BBC: Proponents of clean energy have long seen the oceans as a great hope for the future. Ocean waves carry tremendous power, and could, in theory at least, provide much of the world's electricity. But while other sources of renewable energy - such as wind and solar - have been widely adopted in recent years, wave energy has been slow to take off. But that's changing. Scottish engineers will soon deploy an offshore "wave farm" in Portugal. They have also signed a ... |
Will Congress Learn from the TXU Deal? (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 03-02-2007 at 03:00:19
| GreenBiz.com: While all eyes were on the Oscars last Sunday, a dramatic new script was unfolding down in Texas: Gordon-Gecko-meets-Al-Gore; "Wall Street" crossed with "An Inconvenient Truth." Corporate raiders with a heart of green. A reckless energy company that got a second chance and learned to change its ways. As any good story does, this one has a moral. Question is: will it be lost on Congress? The story, of course, is the unprecedented set of commitments by a ... |
United Kingdom: London Mayor challenges Heathrow runway expansion (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 03-02-2007 at 03:00:20
| Press Association: Local authorities have welcomed the Mayor of London's change of heart over the benefits of a third runway at Heathrow. In his climate change action plan announced earlier this week, Mayor Ken Livingstone said he would "challenge the need for further runway expansion" as part of a new approach to cutting London's carbon emissions. The Mayor has previously supported expansion at the airport as part of the London Plan, citing the economic benefits. The 2M group is ... |
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