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Asia-Pacific Coal Rush Worsens Global Warming - WWF (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 09-05-2007 at 12:00:41
| Reuters: Growing dependence on cheap coal to power rapid economic growth in the Asia-Pacific could undermine efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that is blamed for harmful changes in the world's climate, experts said on Tuesday. Between 2001 and 2006, coal use around the world grew by an unprecedented 30 percent. Asia, led by China, accounted for almost 90 percent of the growth, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) said at the launch of a climate change report in Sydney. "The ... |
China Plans US$265 Bln Renewables Spending by 2020 (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 09-05-2007 at 12:00:41
| Reuters: China plans to invest 2 trillion yuan (US$265 billion) in renewable energy by 2020, most of it corporate cash, to wean itself off polluting coal as it aims for cleaner growth, a top energy planner said on Tuesday. Chen Deming, vice-chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission, added that China aimed to be using domestically made and designed equipment by then, which could cut prices for clean energy worldwide. "We expect the majority of the funds to come ... |
Australia: Climate petition signed by 500000 (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 09-05-2007 at 12:00:41
| AAP: Climate change campaigners have appealed to world leaders attending the APEC summit to take notice of a petition signed by half a million people around the world. Believed to be the largest worldwide petition on climate change, it contains the names of about 91,000 Australians. Progressive political group GetUp, which coordinated the collection of Australian signatures, unveiled a hard copy of the petition, which filled 18 cardboard boxes. The signatures endorse the ... |
Australia's dry threatens wine drought (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 09-05-2007 at 12:00:41
| Reuters: The winding lines of shipping containers outside Casella Wines may mark the high-point of Australia's A$3 billion wine export market as drought and possible climate shift bite. John Casella heads the country's biggest family winery, based 600 km from the coast in the farming town of Yenda, the "enda the earth" jokes Viticultural Manager Kelly Drysdale. The booming business dispatches 40 containers of wine to the world every day, turning over A$300 million ($244 ... |
Australia: Cautious climate talks (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 09-05-2007 at 12:00:42
| Border Mail: PRIME Minister John Howard believes APEC nations are making "reasonable progress" towards reaching agreement on climate change, but refused to suggest it was a done deal. Mr Howard had hoped Sydney's APEC legacy would be a significant deal on climate change, but getting agreement between industrialised nations and the developing world is proving more difficult than anticipated. Officials from the 21 Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation economies were yesterday thrashing out the ... |
China Names Negotiator for Climate Change Talks (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 09-05-2007 at 12:00:42
| Reuters: China named a senior envoy on Tuesday to handle tough climate change negotiations it fears will cramp economic growth as the country faces pressure to slow rising greenhouse gas emissions. Former ambassador to Tanzania Yu Qingtai will represent his country in complex negotiations over how the world will address global warming caused by carbon dioxide and other gases from farms, factories and vehicles. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said "special ... |
Australia: Kyoto failure 'costing $3.8bn a year' (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 09-05-2007 at 12:00:42
| AAP: THE Government's failure to ratify the Kyoto protocol is costing the nation $3.8 billion a year in lost investment opportunities, according to a new study released by the Australian Conversation Foundation. Under Kyoto, mechanisms have been set up that allow companies to receive carbon credits for investing in low-emission and renewable energy projects, and sell them. But the report, conducted by sustainability consultancy Cambiar, finds the Government has given "limited ... |
Solar May Hit 5-10 Pct of Italy Power Mix by 2020 (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 09-05-2007 at 12:00:42
| Reuters: Italy may meet 5-10 percent of its total power needs from solar panels by 2020 as it boosts incentives to develop the sector, the head of an industry association said on Tuesday. "Photovoltaic energy may cover 5-10 percent of global power demand in the future," said Gert Gremes, chairman of GIFI, a body grouping 45 companies in Italy that are active in photovoltaic energy, which turns sunlight in power. Italy, which lags behind European leaders like Germany in ... |
EU climate flight plans 'deluded' (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 09-05-2007 at 12:00:42
| BBC: European Union proposals to reduce the climate impact of flying will not work, a report concludes. The EU plans to include aviation in its Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS). But analysts at the Tyndall Centre, a prestigious UK climate research body, say this will have minimal effect without a major rise in carbon prices. Friends of the Earth (FoE) which funded the study wants mandatory efficiency goals for aircraft, tax on aviation fuel and curbs on airport expansion. ... |
Indonesia: Orangutans squeezed by biofuel boom (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 09-05-2007 at 12:00:42
| Associated Press: Naingolan shunts the excavator into high gear and tears into a patch of smoldering forest on Borneo island, clearing the way for yet another palm oil plantation that Indonesia hopes will tap into a surge in global demand for biofuels. Despite government claims pristine jungles are escaping the effects of the "green solution" to the energy crunch, the boom is threatening the survival of animals like the endangered orangutan and turning the country into a major global warming ... |
Car makers focus on fuel efficiency at autoshow (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 09-05-2007 at 12:00:43
| Reuters: Car makers will show off their latest efforts to fight pollution at Frankfurt's autoshow next week by unveiling models with improvements rather than substitutes to the standard internal combustion engine. Under pressure to reduce harmful emissions produced by their vehicles amid fears of global warming, they are keen to show the greenest of intentions with the latest line of engines that consume fuel more efficiently. For anything more advanced, like a hybrid engine, PSA ... |
China Unveils $266 Billion Renewable Energy Plan (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 09-05-2007 at 12:00:43
| AHN: China unveiled on Tuesday a plan to increase its use of renewable energy by 15 percent or the equivalent of 600 million tons of coal by 2020. The plan is meant to reduce the country's green house gas emissions while sustaining its economic growth. State-run media said China derived only 7.5 percent of its energy from renewable sources in 2005. Now, Beijing says the plan, published by the National Development and Reform Commission, will spend $266.7 billion from 2006 to 2020 to ... |
Australia: Dams 'contribute to global warming' (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 09-05-2007 at 12:00:43
| AAP: THE world's dams are contributing millions of tonnes of harmful greenhouse gases and spurring on global warming, according to a US environmental agency. International Rivers Network executive director Patrick McCully today told Brisbane's Riversymposium rotting vegetation and fish found in dams produced surprising amounts of methane - 25 times stronger than carbon dioxide. "Often it's accepted that hydropower is a climate friendly technology but in fact probably all ... |
Huge Hurricane Felix hits Central America (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 09-05-2007 at 12:00:44
| Reuters: Hurricane Felix slammed into Nicaragua and Honduras on Tuesday as a potentially catastrophic Category 5 storm, lashing remote coastal villages with violent winds and torrential rains. Felix made landfall at 8 a.m. EDT (1200 GMT) north of the small port of Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua, and was moving westward at 16 mph (26 kph), the U.S. National Hurricane Center said. Thousands of people hunkered in storm shelters early as Felix, upgraded to an extremely dangerous Category 5 ... |
Hurricanes Felix, Henriette, Set Records, Wreak Havoc (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 09-05-2007 at 12:00:44
| Associated Press: Felix walloped Central America's remote Miskito coastline and Henriette slammed into resorts on the tip of Baja California as a record-setting hurricane season got even wilder Tuesday with twin storms making landfall on the same day. Felix roared ashore before dawn as a Category 5 storm along Nicaragua's remote northeast corner - an isolated, swampy jungle where people get around mainly by canoe. The 160 mph winds peeled roofs off shelters and a police station, knocked down electric ... |
More than 50 world leaders to attend UN climate change meet (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 09-05-2007 at 12:00:44
| Agence France-Presse: More than 50 world leaders have agreed to attend a climate change meeting to be hosted by UN chief Ban Ki-moon here on the eve of the General Assembly later this month, an official said Tuesday. Richard Kinley, the deputy executive director of the United Nations' Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), told reporters that there had been "a tremendous response" to invitations from Ban to world leaders to take part in the one-day meeting scheduled for September ... |
Pennsylvania to Host Largest East Coast Solar Power Plant (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 09-05-2007 at 12:00:44
| Environment News Service: A new solar energy power station is being built in southeastern Pennsylvania that will be the fourth-largest facility of its kind in the country and the largest east of Arizona when operations begin next April. Plans call for more than 16,500 solar panels to be installed on 16.5 acres, adjacent to Waste Management's GROWS Landfill, in Falls Township, about 30 miles north of Philadelphia. Upon completion, the plant will produce approximately 3,700 megawatt hours of power, ... |
Britain pushes for climate change agreement at APEC (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 09-05-2007 at 12:00:45
| Australian Broadcasting Corporation: British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has reminded world leaders meeting in Sydney that any talks about climate change should include discussions on greenhouse gas emissions. He says the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting has to work within the framework set by other conferences hosted by the US and the European Union (EU). On climate change, some in the British Labour Government have in the past been frustrated by the approach of the Australian Coalition ... |
China to use more non-grain biofuels to replace oil (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 09-05-2007 at 12:00:45
| Reuters: China plans to expand its use of biofuels to reduce its reliance on petroleum, utilizing 2 million tonnes of bioethanol from non-grain feedstocks and 200,000 tonnes a year of biodiesel by 2010, a senior official said on Tuesday. Beijing's plan also seeks to move away from corn, now the feedstock for most Chinese biofuel, amid concerns over supply security and food price inflation. By 2020, China aims to use 10 million tonnes of bioethanol and 2 million tonnes of biodiesel, ... |
Chinese Foreign Ministry sets up climate change int'l working group (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 09-05-2007 at 12:00:45
| Xinhua: The Chinese Foreign Ministry has set up a leading group in charge of the international work on climate change, the Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu announced on Tuesday. Jiang said the group was headed by Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi and has two deputy heads, Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei and Assistant Foreign Minister Cui Tiankai, adding a mechanism on the international work on climate change has also been set up. "The Ministry's move is not only an important step to ... |
Times atlas altered to reflect climate change (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 09-05-2007 at 12:00:45
| Agence France-Presse: Creators of the Times Atlas have had to make significant changes to their latest edition because of changes to the world's landscapes caused by climate change, their chief said Sunday. Cartographers have had to redraw coastlines and reclassify types of land to reflect changes to geographical features like Lake Chad in Africa, which is now 95 percent smaller than it was in 1963. The last edition of "The Times Comprehensive Atlas Of The World" was published in ... |
Australia: A burning desire to put coal industry out to pasture (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 09-05-2007 at 12:00:23
| Sydney Morning Herald: MURIEL HALSTED and Marjorie Eather have been worrying about coal for a long time. Like others in the Upper Hunter, the Scone residents are well aware the industry has been a lifeblood for the region. But that lifeblood is in danger of turning septic. Greenhouse gases generated when coal is burnt are a major contributor to climate change. "The wages are very attractive for young people looking for jobs," Ms Halsted said. "But coal is a worry because it ... |
Gray whales are skin and bones (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 09-05-2007 at 12:00:24
| Associated Press: Researchers off Mexico's Pacific coast have observed what might be a case of global warming's effects in the far north: gray whales returning to calving grounds malnourished. Where layers of fat should have covered whales' spines last winter, researchers saw vertebrae sticking out. They spotted other signs of malnutrition -- depressions around the blowholes and head, and protruding shoulder blades -- that may indicate declining health. At least 10 percent of gray whales ... |
United Kingdom: BBC scraps plans for day-long TV special on climate change (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 09-05-2007 at 12:00:24
| Times (UK): The BBC has scrapped plans for Planet Relief, a big television special on climate change, after a revolt from senior corporation executives. Planet Relief, a day of programmes designed to "raise consciousness" about the environment and starring Ricky Gervais and Jonathan Ross, was to have taken place next year. The event would have involved viewers in a mass "switch-off" to save energy. But BBC figures raised concerns that the programme concept might breach impartiality guidelines. ... |
China intensifies rat plague prevention (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 09-05-2007 at 12:00:24
| Xinhua: China's Ministry of Health has revised an emergency response plan on the prevention of rat plague in line with the country's public health emergency response plan after rampant rats attacked flooded counties surrounding central China's Dongting Lake this June. The new plan, made public via the State Council, requires relevant departments to set up a national plague emergency command with clear duty division and close cooperation among different agencies when facing an "extremely ... |
Climate change sucks life from rare leech (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 09-05-2007 at 12:00:24
| Reuters: A rare European leech seems to be headed towards extinction as global warming dries out the Austrian forest home of the tiny blood-sucker, scientists said on Wednesday. Researchers at German and Austrian universities found only one juvenile leech in birch forests near Graz, Austria, in searches from 2001-2005. Scientists had found 20 specimens, up to 4 cms (1.6 inches) long, in the same forests in the 1960s. "Recent human-induced warming may have led over past decades to ... |
Ice-free Arctic could be here in 23 years (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 09-05-2007 at 12:00:24
| Guardian: The Arctic ice cap has collapsed at an unprecedented rate recently and levels of sea ice in the region now stand at a record low, scientists said on Tuesday night. Experts said they were "stunned" by the loss of ice, with an area almost twice as big as Britain disappearing in the last week alone. So much ice has melted that the north-west passage across the top of Canada is fully navigable, and observers say the north-east passage along Russia's Arctic coast could open ... |
Pope says he has 'growing awareness' of need to save the planet (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 09-05-2007 at 12:00:24
| Associated Press: Pope Benedict XVI said Wednesday he has a "growing awareness" of the need to save the planet, and urged the faithful to pray and work with him for the protection of the environment. It was the second time in four days that Benedict had launched his eco-friendly message. This weekend, the pontiff attended an environment-conscious rally that drew 500,000 people to the town of Loreto in central Italy. "Protection of water resources and carefulness toward climate ... |
Take climate change seriously, Pope urges (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 09-05-2007 at 12:00:24
| Reuters: Pope Benedict on Wednesday made another strong appeal for the protection of the environment, saying issues such as climate change had become gravely important for the entire human race. The Pope made his appeal, his second on environmental issues in four days, at the end of his general audience before some 16,000 people in St Peter's Square. "Care of water resources and attention to climate change are matters of grave importance for the entire human family," he ... |
Australia: Tassie tiger no match for dingo (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 09-05-2007 at 12:00:24
| EurekAlert: The wily dingo out-competed the much larger marsupial thylacine by being better built anatomically to resist the "mechanical stresses" associated with killing large prey, say Australian scientists. Despite being armed with a more powerful and efficient bite and having larger energy needs than the dingo, the thylacine was restricted to eating relatively small prey while the dingo's stronger head and neck anatomy allowed it to subdue large prey as well. Earlier studies had given ... |
Warmer seas will stress coral (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 09-05-2007 at 12:00:24
| Eureka Street: While the need to protect vulnerable people around the globe is widely recognised, people are less aware of the need to protect the vulnerable areas of the earth itself, including its rivers and oceans. Climate change is perhaps the greatest challenge confronting the international community. The study of oceans and reefs offers us insight into the consequences of not taking immediate action to combat this challenge. On a recent trip to Heron Island, I visited the Heron Island ... |
Most Britons ignorant about carbon offsetting (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 09-05-2007 at 12:00:25
| Guardian: Most UK adults don't know what carbon offsetting is, though some suspect it is a process linked to fizzy drinks, according to an exclusive survey released today to GU Environment by the British Market Research Bureau. Some 55% of survey respondents had either never heard of carbon offsetting, or had heard the name but didn't know anything about it. When asked which term best described carbon offsetting, 66% were unable to give an accurate definition. One in five said it was ... |
Australia: Regional areas realise power of renewable energy (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 09-05-2007 at 06:00:21
| Age: SOLAR power earning twice the money on the grid. The number of consumers in Australia buying GreenPower from renewable sources doubling in a year. The first of these two events happened in South Australia, where new laws mean people feeding excess power from their solar panels into the grid will be paid twice the price of its fossil-fuel-generated equal. It's also interesting to note the slow but inevitable rise in consumers turning to GreenPower – power generated from nationally ... |
Australia: Govt engaging in 'climate change stunt': Greenpeace (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 09-05-2007 at 06:00:21
| Australian Broadcasting Corporation: Greenpeace has today written to all the countries attending this week's Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, saying the Federal Government is not serious about reducing greenhouse gas emissions. It says that earlier this year, Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer referred to aspirational targets for reducing emissions as "code for a political stunt". It has accused the Government of trying to mislead APEC leaders about climate change ... |
Can the World Improve on Kyoto? (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 09-05-2007 at 06:00:21
| Time Magazine: If you were to draft one international politician to be your front man on climate change, Australian Prime Minister John Howard would not be high on your list. The conservative politician – and "mate of steel" to George W. Bush, according to the U.S. President – refused to enact the Kyoto Protocol and has long expressed doubt about global warming. Australia is second only to the U.S. in per-capita carbon dioxide emissions among major countries, and it's the world's biggest exporter ... |
China launches large-scale renewable energy plan (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 09-05-2007 at 06:00:21
| SciDev.Net: China has released an ambitious plan to develop renewable energy to cut its surging carbon dioxide emissions. The 'Middle and Long-term Development Plan of Renewable Energies' promises to derive ten per cent of China's energy supply from renewables by 2010 and 15 per cent by 2020. The plan was published yesterday (4 September) by China's energy watchdog, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC). "I know these big targets [for renewables] have not been ... |
US coal reserves on Govt lands total 957 bln tons (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 09-05-2007 at 06:00:21
| Reuters: The United States has about 957 billion tons in coal reserves on federal lands, with more than half that amount held in an area that straddles Montana and Wyoming, the government said on Wednesday. About 550 billion tons of coal is in the so-called Powder River Basin in Montana and Wyoming, but the government is leasing only about 11.6 billion tons of the region's coal to mining companies. The new coal reserve inventory, required by Congress under a 1995 energy law, came from ... |
Bush pushes China on climate change (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 09-05-2007 at 06:00:22
| Associated Press: President George W. Bush urged Pacific Rim nations Wednesday to band together on tackling global warming, saying all major polluters must be part of any solution. But finding consensus among Asian leaders at their annual summit has proven elusive. Mr. Bush backed an Australian proposal that Asia-Pacific countries endorse a new, inclusive approach to the divisive challenge of climate change – one that unlike the current Kyoto Protocol would require firmer action by China and other ... |
Carbon trading - the Chinese report card (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 09-05-2007 at 06:00:22
| Science Alert: Only the foolish learn from experience - the wise learn from the experience of others. Romanian proverb The major parties have given us only a rough sketch of their climate change policies, which rest heavily on carbon trading, and then moved on to other issues. When our national attention finally returns to this policy area, we should keep in mind some lessons from the world's single most expensive carbon emissions trading deal - the flagship of the Kyoto Clean Development ... |
Developing nations resist Australian climate change move (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 09-05-2007 at 06:00:22
| Agence France-Presse: Developing nations led by China and Southeast Asian states are resisting efforts by the United States and Australia to forge a new framework for cutting greenhouse gas emissions, diplomats said Wednesday. Sharp disagreements over a statement on climate change to be issued at an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit here have highlighted the divisions, the diplomats said. Australian Prime Minister John Howard has put climate change high on the summit's agenda, ... |
Germany set to buy more coal from S.Africa (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 09-05-2007 at 06:00:23
| Reuters: Germany's plans to phase out nuclear power plants and shut coal mines will increase its dependence on coal from South Africa, the head of a coal trading firm said on Wednesday. "South Africa has a great potential to expand its exports to Germany and strengthen its market position in that country even further," Patrick Steifert, managing director at Germany's Hanseatic Coal & Coke Trading, told the Coaltrans meeting in Johannesburg. Steifert said South Africa was ... |
United Kingdom: Higher River Levels Predicted As More Carbon Dioxide Makes Plants Less Thirsty (View Original Story)
Source: Posted: 09-05-2007 at 09:00:23
| Science Daily: Rising carbon dioxide levels will increase river levels in the future, according to a team of scientists from the Met Office Hadley Centre, the University of Exeter and the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology. The findings, published on 30 August 2007 in the journal Nature, suggest that increasing carbon dioxide will cause plants to extract less water from the soil, leaving more water to drain into rivers which will add to the river flow increases already expected due to climate ... |
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